Sony: TMZ & SONY INTERNET TV

Credits & Description:

Category: Best Use of Integrated Media
Advertiser: SONY
Product/Service: SONY INTERNET TV
Agency: 180LA
Date of First Appearance: Oct 27 2010
Entrant Company: UM, Los Angeles, USA
Associate Media Director: Karen Rosen
SVP Director of Digital Communications: Gregg Colvin
EVP Global Managing Partner: Karen Hunt
Media Planner: Jason Yoong
Media Planner: Bryan Ware
Account Director: Andrew Saunders (TMZ)
VP Digital Media Sales: Corey Spiegel (TMZ)
Account Director: Michele Tebbe (180LA)
Account Director: Go Wakimoto (180LA)
Account Manager: Mike Slatkin (180LA)
Media placement: Online Placement - TMZ - 18 October 2010
Media placement: Date of 1st Integration - TMZ - 25 October 2010
Media placement: Date of 2nd Integration - TMZ - 29 October 2010
Insights, Strategy & the Idea
Sony is synonymous with quality, forward-thinking, and innovation. In the beginning, full TV viewing and full internet viewing were separate – someone could only be doing one at a time. Sony had the idea to combine the mediums – into one product - "Sony Internet TV". The objective was to educate a consumer audience on a brand new product and technology. Through data analysis, focus groups, and brainstorming, we concluded that this product was ideal for Millennials. This product was an efficient space-saver and the cutting edge technology elevated status seekers to a higher level than their peers.
We called upon our long-standing agency relationship with TMZ to best serve our client. TMZ was one of the first successful on-line entities to successfully translate into the TV space. This, combined with their core Millennial demographic made TMZ the perfect partner to align with to showcase simultaneous TV and internet viewing.
Creative Execution
TMZ installed the TVs in the studio and used them to effectively reference video and their site content picture-in-picture on the Sony Internet TV. It was such an organic integration that they continued to use the product post-campaign doubling, tripling, quadrupling the estimated added value. In the end, the Sony Internet TV picture-in-picture technology provided such a value to the show that TMZ continues to keep both products installed in their studio and integrated within the show free of cost to Sony. In addition to the on-air integrations, we maximized the exposure of Sony Internet TV with the TMZ audience by purchasing homepage media on the days of the product integrations. Plus, we filmed a training session of the TMZ staff learning how to use the Sony Internet TV and virally distributed it throughout the TMZ network.
Results and Effectiveness
Overall, the value FAR exceeded our wildest expectations. We ended with an estimated $2.5 million in added value - about 200% over our investment level. We received 8 on-air added value integrations of the Sony Internet TV on the TMZ TV show. Online, the training video was the most played video that week surpassing their average play benchmark by 600%. 530 products were sold through SonyStyle stores alone to users who could be directly linked to having seen the on-line components on TMZ.