NBC tries for marketing touchdown

Madonna and Cee Lo Eco-friendly Fox arranging guru Preston Beckman has known towards the millions who stay tuned for large sports occasions -- such as the Olympic games, Super Bowl or World Series -- as "lent audience."So using the knowning that most who viewed the Titans defeat the Patriots Sunday inside a nail-biter that went lower towards the last play will not return, how did host network NBC -- getting pointed toward this very day to assist initiate a turnaround -- do in changing this loan into having to pay returns to individuals who may be receptive to the promotion?For the short term, not too great. Oddly, NBC's shrewdest flourishes had little related to its much-ballyhooed push immediately being released of the overall game -- starting "The Voice" and "Smash" -- but instead moved more effectively toward the summer time.NBC Universal Boss Steve Burke has recommended the business's Symphony approach, made to together leverage its various assets to buttress one another. Yet in comparison to Fox, say, NBC was relatively restrained in pushing its assorted qualities, unless of course you count in-game advertisements for 2 Universal movies, "Battleship" and "The Lorax," which did not always make you need to hurry out and find out either.Granted, the network faced some apparent restrictions. It's possible to second-guess using football to produce programs which will skew so heavily toward women, but lots of women watch the Super Bowl too -- greater than catch a typical installment of "The Greatest Loser." Nonetheless, the "Smash" spots were not particularly potent -- offering the large-title people from the cast appears just a little tone-hard of hearing, and pushing Katharine McPhee's attractiveness will not generate many males -- along with a certain disconnect might be observed in the large action-oriented promo the network come up with for "The Voice," featuring the ubiquitous Betty Whitened. Sure, tee hee, however the creative appeared from sorts using the show's likely audience.While NBC has clearly put lots of eggs within the midseason basket, its best spots were really for Howard Stern joining "America's Got Talent" -- both clever and possibly probably the most direct utilisation of the showcase to achieve males -- which summer's London Olympic games, representing the network's next large chance (in addition to a more protracted platform) to market itself to some mass audience. A late-in-the-game plug because of its new drama "Awake" also did a great job of encapsulating the premise.Oddly enough, NBC limited its marketing focus -- throwing in spots for that return of "Celebrity Apprentice," a moved "Rock Center" and Jay Leno, and something generic ad because of its Thursday comedies. Typically, though, NBC made an appearance to appear forward, presuming the majority of its established goods were not worth giving such time.NBC did take advantage of "The Voice's" musical bent to sprinkle additional promotion through the festivities, from Cee Lo Eco-friendly appearing in Madonna's halftime show to Blake Shelton singing "America the gorgeous.Inch Still, the network opposed the temptation to splash graphics under individuals idol judges in mid-performance screaming "Please, by all that's holy, watch 'The Voice!"Obviously, when the network's winter plans don't yield the wished-for Symphony of advantages, maybe search for that throughout the Olympic games. Contact John Lowry at john.lowry@variety.com