SeeSaw Networks' integration of the DirecTV Starship — the world's largest airborne LED screen, at 2,100 sq. ft. — into its digital out-of-home (DOOH) ad strategy has helped launch the company's new "Sports Enthusiast" Life Pattern Marketing sector. Broadcasting TV-quality video from 1,500 feet above ground at marquee sporting events such as college football, NFL, NASCAR, etc., the DirecTV Starship (from Atherton Communications) delivers real-time messaging on a 30- by 70-foot screen, with full motion and full color displays, customized by region, sport and day of week.
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The DirecTV Starship features a 30x70-foot screen, with full motion and full color displays. |
The DirecTV Starship will deliver messages to 50,000 to 250,000 fans at specific sporting events, according to Rocky Gunderson, vice president of marketing and network development at Seesaw. "A brand can reach 60,000 major league baseball fans, while another could touch 250,000 NASCAR enthusiasts or more than 100,000 pumped-up college football fans in the air with the DirectTV starship, and on the ground before and after the event with our other network affiliates," he said.
Additional new players on SeeSaw's new Life Pattern sports marketing team include The Onsite Network, ONTrack and The Bar Network. Together the four will increase SeeSaw's sports-centered delivery of ads on DOOH networks by about three million weekly impressions for a total of over 14 million, reports Gunderson. They bring SeeSaw's capacity to 40 digital networks across 26,000 national venues delivering 50 million impressions per week.
The Onsite Network engages sports fans by wrapping live, HD network TV sports programming with interactive sports games and content, while ONTrack reaches horse racing aficionados at 1,100 locations with 66,000 screens, and via online video streaming. The Bar Network delivers infotainment on 50-inch plasma screens in high-end bars and lounges, primarily to the coveted 21- to 34-year-old demographic.
According to Gunderson, several of SeeSaw's advertising clients, especially those in automotive, telecommunications, financial services and consumer electronics, are very active in targeting sports enthusiasts using digital networks. "Sports fans are passionate entertainment lovers who look for sports information and news in all the places they go," he said. "They also are significant spenders of entertainment-oriented products and services. We suspect these new media affiliates will grow very quickly among advertisers wishing to reach targeted sports enthusiasts as they are tuned in, not tuned out."
He reports that the four network additions are part of SeeSaw's process of creating the perfect mix for its advertisers to reach the sports fan demographic. "To this end, we have now established a new 'Sports Enthusiast' Life Pattern Marketing sector. The new sector is all about making it easier for brand marketers and agencies to connect with sports enthusiasts as they go about their daily lives."
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SeeSaw’s "life pattern marketing"
The "Sports Enthusiast" sector joins 12 other Life Patterns pinpointed and pursued by SeeSaw in the DOOH space. Gunderson said that Life Pattern Marketing is a SeeSaw methodology that allows advertisers and agencies to map the daily routines and behavioral characteristics of a target audience with the places where they go. The methodology takes into account a person's interests, jobs, families and other behaviors to provide a fairly complete picture of the "day in the life" for the audience that an advertiser is trying to reach.
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Life Pattern Marketing allows advertisers to map routines and traits of a target audiences. |
"Advertisers are looking to connect with a particular type target audience during their daily lives when they are most receptive to advertising," Gunderson said. "Research from OTX shows that people have high awareness of and pay attention to digital video advertising in the places they go, whether at work, in social environments, in the gym or playing sports. This research points to the notion that delivering a brand message in a contextually relevant environment is a more effective way to reach people."
In a study released by SeeSaw in June 2008, the 12 targeted Life Patterns — and the percentage of people among them reporting that digital signage advertising catches their attention when compared to other advertising media — are: "Affluents" (60 percent), "Alpha Moms" (68 percent), "Avid Moviegoers" (69 percent), "Business Professionals" (67 percent), "College Students" (65 percent), "Families On-the-go" (62 percent), "Hispanic Families" (63 percent), "Mobile Millennials" (63 percent), "Nightlifers" (65 percent), "Older Affluents" (61 percent), "Teens" (54 percent), and "Young Urban Professionals" (65 percent).
Media planners targeting one or more Life Pattern mindsets can access SeeSaw's aggregate of 40 different networks at SeeSawAds.com. This media service uses an algorithmic approach to mapping, customizing and measuring digital signage across venues, markets and demographics — which now include sports fans.
Next on SeeSaw's agenda is building its "College Students" segment, which addresses the millions of unbranded consumers entering the marketplace, and to where the billions of dollars spent on 35- to 54-year-olds will be moving.
The company also is increasing its investment in network operations technology that links its planning and calculation systems so that planners can react quickly to variable conditions such as changes in weather, audience makeup, stories, etc. Similarly, "we are interested in technology that allows media planners to manage and change their own campaign elements, in real time - which is the real power of digital space," Gunderson said.
With these new network plays, along with team additions like the DirecTV Starship, it appears that for SeeSaw's lineup, the sky’s the limit.
