Heated marketplace flares at Promax; 'counterpromoting' a controversial trend.

Promotional campaigns for shows that are launching in September and for "hot" returning shows will be unveiled at Promax's marketing workshops this month. Syndicators' Creative Services departments have been busy preparing the workshops, which will also be attended by visiting stars and production executives from the shows. Attending station executives, who number in the hundreds at some workshops, will be presented with ways to help shows "breakthrough" in the increasingly cluttered marketplace.

Some syndicators advocate national campaigns while others prefer localized promotional approaches, but all share a common aim to "prove to the station how important the show's success is," said Douglas Friedman of Genesis. "But, hopefully," he added with a laugh, "they already know that." On every marketer's agenda is an effort to wrest control of coveted station on-air promo time. Said Richard Mann of All American, "The competition is intense to have your show promoted by stations. There's so little air time." The workshops at Promax, each emphasizing an individual show, are designed to help stations "feel a real sense of ownership with the show," Mann added.

Genesis' Friedman, who will conduct a workshop on the Mark Walberg talk show, said that the shows that would naturally tend to draw the most support from the stations are usually chosen for the workshops. Successful ongoing shows are in less need because they are already well-supported by the stations. "Repackaging" older shows to make them fresh to audiences is also a common practice, but most workshops this year feature new, shows or launches of some kind.

In the extremely competitive talk show arena, many marketers such as Friedman are secretive about their campaigns. In the case of the Mark Walberg show, Friedman was reluctant to discuss his new promos, as "We are going to unveil our campaign in the workshop. We want the campaign to be a surprise. There are some competitive strategies that I can't really, speak about." Friedman did reveal that Walberg promoters are using a technique he dubbed "counter-promoting," or directly addressing competing shows. Friedman explained: "The biggest challenge now is to stand out from a flood of other talk shows, because in many cases we'll be up against two other talk shows [in the same time slot]. The talk show audience is going to be fragmented so the challenge isn't that there are 40 other channels, but that there will be two other [talk show] choices."

Friedman said Mark Walberg's will be a localized market campaign, and the host will be available to travel to many markets for promos. "We will be providing spots that can be localized," Friedman allowed, adding that station involvement with the show is key. That goal is also reflected in the format of the workshop: "Everyone will have a chance to meet Mark the host. My creative services department people will each talk about their respective functions on the promotion of the show. And [Executive Producer] Brandon Tartikoff will be there to answer questions on the production as well," Friedman said.

Ira Bernstein of Rysher, whose workshop will detail the launch of the George & Alana Show, said that his promos won't address the competition, which in this case is Regis $ Kathie Lee. "For a great number of stations we're a lead out at 10 from Regis $ Kathie Lee," Bernstein said. He added "our show has achieved a Hollywood look and feel. It will be unique." George Hamilton and Alana Stewart will attend the workshop.

A similar approach is espoused by Richard Mann of All American who's offering a workshop on the new talk show Richard Bey, launching in the fall. "The talk show arena is as competitive as it gets," Mann said, but added that All American doesn't recommend counterpromotion. "Our strength with Richard Bey is that he is well known. We feel that it is not your average talk show because it doesn't go for the jugular like other shows," Mann said. Stressing that the Bey show is more comedy-oriented. Mann maintained that "when you are unique in a crowded field you don't need to take pot shots [at other shows.]"

As for All American's plans for Baywatch - The Strip, Mann said: "We feel that Baywatch is not just the world's most popular show, it's the world's most promotable." Even though he's promoting reruns of a syndicated show, Mann said that this is not a case of "repackaging" because the June offering of Baywatch - The Strip is essentially a launch. "We're taking the episodes that have aired for the past few years into daily syndication for the first time," Mann acknowledged.

As for the promotional campaign, Mann said, "There are a lot of opportunities to promote the show with things viewers may have forgotten. A lot of people seem to forget that we've had cast changes every year and that many former cast members are now major motion picture stars, along with current stars Pamela Andersen and David Hasselhoff. People forget that it was on NBC the first year then went into first run syndication. And of course it thrived in syndication." Mann said that former stars will be highlighted in the promos to reinforce the strength of the show over five years.

As the first-run weekly series is still so well known, the promotion of the daily strip is particularly important, according to Mann, who chose it for the marketing workshop over other shows. "We could have sat back and said stations have had Baywatch for years," Mann admitted. He is adamant, however, that stations not rest on their laurels just because the weekly show has been such a success: "All American has done more promotion for Baywatch than they've ever done before for any other show, but without success on the local level the [strip] won't succeed. It needs a major local push." Mann argues that top shows need promotion just as much or more than beleaguered ones: "It's important to be aware that what other companies are doing will impact you and the viewers you light for. You don't just stay at the top by standing still."

Alan Daniels of Columbia Tristar voiced similar objectives for top show Seinfeld, which premieres in off-network syndication in September. It joins Tempestt and Ricki Lake on the company's workshop slate. Daniels expects that the Seinfeld workshop will be attended by around 200 promotion executives. "With Seinfeld, the main marketing challenge is to educate viewers that the #1 show on network television will now be airing five times a week, possibly on a different station and definitely in a different time period. We want to remind viewers of Seinfeld's unparalleled comedy and encourage sampling by new viewers," Daniels explained. Like others interviewed by TV Executive, Daniels was reluctant to describe just how the promos will approach this objective, acknowledging, "We don't want to tip our hand before the presentation."

Varying approaches were outlined for Columbia Tristar's two talk show offerings. For Tempestt, which launches in first-run syndication this fall, Daniels said, "We want to create an awareness of a new, exciting and young-skewing talk show. [Our] hostess is already a recognizable "personality," so our promotion will focus on her accomplishments and how her skills will translate into a successful relationship-oriented talk show." For Ricki Lake, Daniels hopes to "remind our core demographic group of why they fell in love with 'Ricki.'"

Jonathon Barbato at MGM will present plans for LAPD and Outer Limits - two shows that launch into syndication in the fall. While the two campaigns will be very different, both were chosen for the workshops because of their success. "Not a lot of programs have made it into first run syndication, and it's a statement to the quality of the shows," Barbato allowed. For both shows, Barbato takes a similarly relaxed attitude towards the competition, arguing that competition can "work for you as well. If a station carries two "like" shows it can be better for both shows - it attracts more attention to the genre." According to Barbato, when two "like" shows compete, "it makes it more necessary for the station carrying your show to do even more promotion. The real competition is bad shows that leave a bad taste in stations' mouths towards a certain genre." All in all, Barbato advocated an attitude of "being aware of what the competition is doing, but not with a neck-in-neck kind of attitude."

The LAPD presentation is a "value-added local marketing" campaign, according to Barbato, designed to maximize the value of the show not only through promos, but through tie-ins with station news programs, contests, and other special events. "Anything that happens in L.A. happens in the rest of the country," Barbato said, stating that this makes the show a natural for tie-ins. Regarding the promos, Barbato was reluctant to disclose details, but hinted that they were designed to "put an interesting spin on the program. People will be talking about it afterwards."

Bobbi Fisher of MCA will be work-shopping the Hercules action adventure hour and introducing a new hour companion show called Xena. "The show has been an enormous success in syndication and we want people to know where we are going with the show in the future. We'll be introducing a new companion show that's really a spin-off of Hercules," she said. Fisher's presentation of two shows at once makes the MCA workshop unique: "We'll have the show producers there and we'll give people a little overview of how well the show has done and the future of Hercules. The same producers will be introducing Xena for the first time to the promotion people right then and there. They'll get their first look at footage and the character."

A national approach, rather than the localized marketing approach espoused by others interviewed, was outlined by Fisher for Hercules: "[Stations] get a whole promo package, print and on-air." While the national push is emphasized, Fisher said that doesn't rule out localized promotions. "We also help each local station if they want to do a special promotion. Any time a station seeks help from us we really try to help them out," Fisher maintained. Means of maximizing promotion, such as co-op and other plans for the shows will be presented along with the on-air promos, except for spots for the Xena, which aren't ready as the show hasn't been produced yet, Fisher said.

Fisher explained that the heavy competition introduced by the new 40-channel environment does effect her marketing efforts: "Obviously you really want your product to stand out. The good news is we have a hit on our hands, so it makes it that much easier. When you have an audience already, you want to make sure that they stay loyal and make that audience grow." While Fisher is careful to watch the promos of "like" shows, she said that being overly aware is also a hazard. "I try not to think in a box [about what the competition is doing] because we have such a unique property. I don't think 'Oh well they're done this maybe I can expand on that.' I try to go in a totally different direction," Fisher said.

Fisher expects an excellent turnout among 140 stations that carry the show, each of whom will receive special gifts at the workshop as they have in former years. "Everyone always walks away with something," Fisher concluded.