Innovative Advertiser Initiatives from Hallmark Channels
Hallmark Channels’ advertising sales group, now under the direction of Ed Georger, Executive Vice President, Advertising Sales, created the Sponsorship Solutions Unit in 2004. The unit was established to recognize such issues as clutter, DVRs and fragmentation which were making it increasingly difficult for advertisers to reach and influence their target audiences. The Sponsorship Solutions Unit continuously works with advertisers to find new and creative ways for them to partner with the trusted Hallmark brand within their consumer messaging and across many platforms.
Following is a summary of the many opportunities created by Hallmark Channels’ Sponsorship Solutions Unit including the networks’ commitment and dedication to celebrating the holidays.
Holiday Countdown Celebration
Hallmark Channel, the premiere television destination for family entertainment and holiday celebrations, will debut its new year-round, holiday countdown programming and marketing campaign, “Hallmark Channel Holiday Countdown,” a cross-platform initiative that will launch with “Countdown to Halloween” and continue with Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. Advertisers will align with custom holiday countdown vignettes, a heartwarming series of spots portraying a personal look at these celebrations between family and friends. A guaranteed “Hallmark Moment!” The following advertisers are participating in these “Holiday Countdown Vignettes.”
• Halloween: Ferrero, Canon
• Thanksgiving: Kohl’s, Build-A-Bear, V-Tech, Canon, Miramax
• Christmas: Big Lots!, Kohl’s, MGA, Folgers, Burlington, Build-A-Bear, Canon
• Valentine’s Day: Bayer, Weight Watchers
• Mother’s Day: Kohl’s, IHOP, Dairy Queen, Storck
• Father’s Day: Dairy Queen, ACE, IHOP
Custom Solutions
Hallmark Channels’ Sponsorship Solutions Unit recognizes that sponsors have unique needs for their products and brands. The unit works with advertisers to develop custom solutions to address their specific needs.
• Countdown to Thanksgiving & Christmas – This holiday season, Pillsbury will partner with the “Hallmark Channel Holiday Countdown” initiative for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Hallmark Channel will offer Pillsbury a custom Countdown vignette with product integration for the following holiday brands: Crescent Rolls, Pie Crust and Ready To Bake Cookies.
• Everyday Is a Holiday -- Believe it or not, every single day of the year has an official or unofficial holiday associated with it and Hallmark Channel never misses an opportunity to celebrate a holiday. Whether it’s National Shopping Day Reminder (11/27), Love Your Pet Day (2/20) or National Heart-to-Heart Day (2/14), Hallmark Channel celebrates by creating on-air spots and an online microsite that provides history, events and/or ways to celebrate these holidays. The customized spot and microsite allows an advertiser to leverage the Hallmark Channel brand as the destination for the holidays both on-air and online.
• What’s The Story? – Hallmark Channel leverages our emotional connection with viewers and our storytelling ability to communicate IHOP and Florida’s Natural versatility with pertinent brand information by educating consumers on the many uses of their respective products while sharing recipes and creating excitement. Hallmark Channel will use its comfortable and trusted on-air environment to offer these advertisers’ stories that support their brand positioning during key seasonal time periods.
Movie Entitlements
Hallmark Channel is a leader in the production of original movies, evidenced by a stellar record of continuous top 10 ratings in both Prime Time and Total Day. The network also has an extensive library of quality movies and series in a variety of genres. Movie entitlements allow advertisers to exclusively sponsor an original movie with a reduced commercial inventory of four minutes per hour creating a showcase for their brand with maximum audience retention. In addition to the clutter-busting reduced commercial load, the entitlements include the brand’s logo placement attached to the title treatment of the film on all on-air elements, a custom movie open and custom tease bumpers. Following is a list of upcoming entitlement sponsors:
Kraft -- “The Christmas Choir,” during the holidays in 2009, and three additional entitlements in 2010 along with custom vignettes.
SCJ -- “The Most Wonderful Time of Year” during the holidays in 2009 and a World Premiere Original Movie Entitlement in Third Quarter 2010.
Fast Breaks
Hallmark Channel has created a new commercial format for its on-air advertisers titled “Fast Break,” which features shorter commercial pods exclusively sponsored by a client. The format is intended to help advertisers’ products and services break through the commercial clutter. Each “Fast Break” within a program begins with a 10-second bumper that tells viewers the show they are watching will be back in 30 seconds and features the sponsor’s logo. It is followed by the advertiser’s commercial before returning to the scheduled programming. The “Fast Break” execution will be used in 30-minute, 1-hour and 2-hour show formats. The network has signed Mutual of Omaha as its first sponsor.
Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Cards have a special night of programming entitled “Movie Night with hoops&yoyo,” the first-ever synergistic creative on-air programming and marketing endeavor between the world-renowned card company and the Hallmark Channel cable television network. The beloved animated characters will be featured each Friday night November 27 – December 25 hosting programming on Hallmark Channel during the network’s holiday season-long “Countdown to Christmas” initiative.
It represents the first time that the popular animated characters have appeared on television. “Fast Break” will be included in each of these sponsored movies.
“Inside Story” Vignettes for Movie Studios
Because of the success of Hallmark Channel’s custom vignette packages for advertisers, movie studios approached the network about creating similar short features to help promote their theatrical releases. Airing exclusively on Hallmark Channel, these theatrical “Inside Stories” are a behind-the-scenes look at soon-to-be-released movies featuring footage and interviews with the stars to create an entertainment short feature that goes far beyond a traditional 30-second spot. Upcoming clients for “Inside Story” studio vignettes include:
• Sony DVD – “Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs”
• Sony DVD -- “Hachiko”
Holiday Cross-Platform Opportunities
Three times each year (Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, winter holidays) Hallmark Channel offers a limited number of sponsors the unique chance to elevate their brand throughout Hallmarks’ properties – on Hallmark Channel, online at hallmark.com and hallmarkchannel.com, and in the Hallmark Gold Crown® stores. The partnership is tied to a Hallmark original holiday movie and a consumer sweepstakes, and promotes the advertiser’s brand across multiple platforms. The following advertisers are involved in the upcoming holidays:
• Holiday 2009 -- OceanSpray
• Valentine’s Day 2010 -- Weight Watchers and Silk Soy
• Mother’s Day 2010 -- SC Johnson, A Family Company and Golden Corral
Product Integration
As a leader in original movie production, Hallmark Channel provides numerous opportunities for product placement, when appropriate and as dictated by the storyline. Recent product integration clients include:
• Kay Jewelers – “Always & Forever”
• FDOC -- “Always & Forever”
• Sears – “Christmas in Canaan”
• Pedigree --“You Lucky Dog”
Programming Events
Coming exclusively to Hallmark Channel, the comical pair from Hallmark Cards, hoops&yoyo, will host and narrate select holiday movies on Friday nights at 10 p.m., ET, during the months of November, December and February. New advertisers that will sponsor these hosted movies are VTech, Canon, Mastercard and the Sony DVD release “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.” Also the hosted movie nights will allow the above advertisers to incorporate a “Fast Break” sponsorship as well.
This holiday season, Hallmark Channel will partner with Ocean Spray to create a custom movie event entitled the “Ocean Spray Family Holiday Movie.” This event will be hosted by Ocean Spray’s very own Justin and Henry who will introduce the film and make appearances throughout the film. The presentation will also support Ocean Spray’s national advertising and Hallmark Channel’s animated vignette series, “What’s The Story on Cranberries?”
Online Opportunities
HallmarkChannel.com is a robust website with many interactive features such as shopping, tips, gaming, community, custom content and more. This holiday season, Hallmark Channel is launching all new Holiday Countdown microsites with a countdown widget. Advertisers can integrate content through: couponing, recipes, holiday decorating tips and pre-roll opportunities within the holiday countdown vignettes.
Hallmark Movie Channel HD
The Sponsorship Solutions Unit also develops custom opportunities for advertisers for Hallmark Movie Channel. Launched on April 2, 2008, Hallmark Movie Channel HD – simulcast alongside Hallmark Movie Channel SD – offers audiences an unparalleled viewing experience. Hallmark Movie Channel is dedicated to bringing viewers the very best family movies of all time with a mix of classic theatrical films, presentations from the acclaimed Hallmark Hall of Fame library,original Hallmark Channel movies and special events. Recent advertisers to Hallmark Movie Channel HD include:
• GEICO – Customized Hallmark Hall of Fame Sponsorship
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