Timing

Oprah launched her new network, OWN, on New Year’s Day. That was a smart move. While New Year’s Day featured the typical crunch of football games, this year it fell on a Saturday. That meant the normal weekday programming of soaps and talk shows which would be OWN’s competition was not available. In addition, usual Saturday programming does not have broad appeal because people don’t watch much TV during the day on Saturdays.

New Year’s Day Saturday, however, was different. Most people had the day off and, due to the holidays, were around the house, whether their’s or someone else’s. Not all of them wanted to watch football. In fact, OWN’s target market of predominately women were interested in something other than football. They were looking for fresh, interesting programming that they could watch while the guys watched football. The time was ripe to introduce OWN.

A mix of original programs, strips, specials, original documentaries, and acquired movies, OWN was watched in 85 million homes on New Year’s Day. Wow! That’s an impressive number, particularly for a holiday.

When I sold TV, many clients avoided holidays, but those who used them got excellent response. One client who managed a summer music festival took my suggestion and ran a schedule on Thanksgiving Day. “Think about it,” I urged my client. “Families will be mulling around the house with the TV on, discussing what they did last year and what they plan for next year. Your commercial airs and gives them an idea to attend your music festival and have a good time. They may even go as a family. Or, they may think of giving the gift of tickets for Christmas.”

My client had been listening intently. “You’ve got a good point. Let’s try it.”

We did, and he was amazed at the response. Many people saw the commercial because of the holiday. In addition, they had an urgency to call immediately after the holiday due to an early bird ticket price cut off date of December 1.

In both of these instances the timing was right.

Do you have an opportunity which could be advertised on a holiday? Would your target market be watching? Would the timing be right?

Think this through. Don’t dismiss a holiday as a “bad” time to advertise just because it is a holiday. The holiday could actually make it attractive. Consider whether your target market would be watching. Discuss if your target market would notice your commercial. Decide if the timing would be right. Think beyond your normal boundaries.

Remember, timing is critical.