Reaching the serious sports fan would seem to be a no-brainer.
Reach for the tv schedule and perhaps the radio schedule, too, and buy time around and during big league hockey, baseball, basketball, and so on.
But, is that it?
Apparently not for The Sports Network, the well-established specialty tv service that opted for an all-newspaper campaign that seeks to position it as the pre-eminent sports broadcaster and to introduce TSN Multimedia, its foray into cybersports and interactivity.
Neil McOstrich, creative director at BBDO Retail in Toronto, which developed the advertising for the campaign, says he chose newspapers primarily for their reach and immediacy, although budget was another, lesser factor in his decision.
What McOstrich wants to achieve with the campaign – which uses sports sections of papers exclusively – is to give people the tools to enjoy sports more.
The tsn campaign broke Sept. 27 using the tag ‘Go Deep!’, a common piece of sports advice.
The advertising runs until major league baseball spring training gets under way next year.
As well as their reach and immediacy, McOstrich says he went for newspapers for their informational capacity.
What, he wonders, can really be said in a 30-second tv spot, whereas ‘long copy’ in newspapers has something to say.
Carol Wood, marketing manager at tsn, says the reasons are simple why the service went with an all-newspaper campaign: to address directly its target audience and to be where the sports are.
Craig Bentley, account manager at BBDO Retail, says tsn went with newspapers – all dailies, with the exception of some trade newspapers – so it could reach its target audience frequently over a long period.
Bentley says newspapers were also chosen for their flexibilty since their ad deadlines are not anywhere nearly as onerous as those demanded by some media.
Sue Alexander, account director at Media Buying Services in Toronto, says the two different phases to the Go Deep! campaign require the use of different papers in different markets at different times.
For example, Alexander says TSN Multimedia advertising is national, but, beyond that, the campaign will focus on key sports properties or match-ups that may be local in nature.
She says tsn’s top four markets are Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary, with the sports sections in The Toronto Star and The Toronto Sun, The Vancouver Sun and The Province, The Edmonton Journal and The Calgary Herald being the vehicles of choice.
tsn will also advertise in daily sports sections in Winnipeg and Halifax; Ottawa, Kitchener, Hamilton and London in Ontario; and Moncton and Saint John in New Brunswick.
Further, Alexander says, newspapers provide continuity throughout the sports and calendar year with one sporting event of significance or another happening every week.
She will not say how much the tsn media buy is worth.
She says the target of the advertising is men 18 to 49, considered medium to heavy viewers of sports on tv.
Bentley says PMB Print Measurement Bureau data were used for targeting: hours watched per week by men aged 18+.
The opinion that medium to heavy tv sports fans do not bother with newspapers is dismissed by Bentley and McOstrich.
Both say these fans are regular and loyal readers of their hometown sports sections, a piece of the newspaper McOstrich says is ‘their bread and butter.’
McOstrich says what will make the tsn newspaper ads stand out is perhaps not their design but rather their content.
He says the body copy of the ads will provide the sports fan – and anyone else interested – with insights into sports.
He emphasizes it will not be the sort of trivia usually passed off as knowledge, and the type of insight passed along will depend on the subject or sport.
McOstrich uses a couple of examples from Boston to explain his point, although neither will actually show up in tsn advertising.
He says at the old Boston Garden, built in 1935 and slated for demolition some time this year, the boards around the rink were built with much less ‘give’ than in other arenas so a stiff check from the likes of a Cam Neely or a Stan Jonathan became much more effective.
He says across town at Fenway Park, home to baseball’s Boston Red Sox, part of the outfield fence has been nicknamed the Green Monster and is a formidable obstacle for batters, so how they overcome it could be discussed.
As well as the body copy, the newspaper ads will provide information about an upcoming game, advising fans to watch it on tsn.
The ads will be further distinguished by the agency’s plans to publish the full schedules for the National Hockey League, the Canadian Football League and major league baseball.
Bentley says the schedules will be broken up by banner ads for tsn.
McOstrich says the Go Deep! campaign has huge potential.
One part of that potential could be fans’ preferences and what they want on the air.
McOstrich says tsn’s Internet address (tsn.ca) and 1-900 phone numbers are being placed at the bottom of the newspaper ads.
