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ANARCHY IN THE MONARCHY Premieres With Limited Commercial Interruption Sunday, March 15 10|9c after the
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The People! The Parties! The Buzz!
Last year at this time, Pivot, the cable and satellite network created by Participant Media for socially conscious millennials, was making lots of promises to advertisers. Launched in August 2013, the network was less than a year old and didn’t have a lot of success stories to share during Upfront season. But this year’s entirely different. In addition to producing award-winning programming (Pivot’s variety show HitRecord on TV with Joseph Gordon-Levitt won an Interactive Media Emmy for Social TV Experience in 2014), the network has forged successful partnerships with key advertisers in a number of categories. “We’ve delivered on the promises we made last year,” says John Arianas, Pivot’s EVP, Advertising Sales & Partnerships. Pivot opted for an advertiser-only Upfront presentation this year, held this morning at the Lamb’s Club in Manhattan; but Arianas was happy to give Cynopsis the rundown on what media buyers heard over breakfast.
A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM NBCUNIVERSAL
ANARCHY IN THE MONARCHY FROM THE CREATORS AND EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS OF ONE TREE HILL Premieres Sunday, March 15 10|9c. Only on E!
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The Pitch
“From the beginning to the end, it’s all about the value of the conscious consumer. That’s going to be the real buzz. We don’t target all 85 million millennials. We target the 25-34 year old doers-the people using social media who are active in their communities. The whole vibe of Pivot is to use entertainment as an awesome hook to spark action. Most of broadcast or cable’s mission is to entertain you. We take entertainment and create impact you can measure (ROI). We’re a research-intensive company.”
What makes us different from other Networks
“We have resources to take people to our website, TakePart.com, so they can get involved. These people care. They’re doing something positive. Our research shows that they’re also likely to tell friends about the purchases they make on social media. In addition, we have a history of getting the conversation started. When Participant Media produced Food Inc. in 2007, no one knew what a GMO was. Today it’s a household term.”
Pass the Food Programming, Please
“I can’t tell you how many people have told me they became vegetarians after seeing Food Inc. That’s why we’re developing a series with that same mindset. It isn’t a cooking show; it’s a smart show that provides information about what’s on your plate and how it got there. We have a couple of food-themed projects in development.”
Don’t Pigeonhole Us
“We don’t want to be known for one type of programming, and we’re not. Pivot’s a lifestyle brand and there are a lot of ways to represent that. One of my fears when the network launched was that we’d be known as the ‘green network.’ But in a short time, our programming has won an Emmy; the comedy Please Like Me has been on Top 10 lists around the country; the scripted drama Fortitude was critically praised and the comedic reality show Human Resources has been picked up for a second season. The content speaks for itself.”
New Advertising Sectors We Want to Break
“We have every large category on air in 16 major categories. We hope to grow the auto category; CPG personal care is also great for us and we want to grow that, too. But our goal is to concentrate on brands specifically-not on categories. We’re targeting a dozen or so guys out there who are doing something cool, like Unilever and Subaru.”
And Speaking of Brands…
“When most people think of Clorox, they don’t think about creating clean water. But the company has the Clorox Safe Water Project in Peru, where around 4.5 million people don’t have access to clean water, so a small amount of Clorox is used to purify it. We created a digital campaign online with them to raise awareness of the project. For every tweet using the hashtag #safewaterproject, $1 is donated to the cause. That’s enough to provide clean water for one individual for four months.”
How We Approach our Clients
“Other networks are taking millions from e-cigarette companies and predatory loan companies that charge 30 percent interest. We won’t go there. Advertisers say they have never heard a pitch like ours. We talk about our partnerships with more than 600 nonprofits in the last 11 years. So many of the clients we speak to do really good things but don’t necessarily tell those stories well. All research proves people want to hear about brands doing something positive. It’s not bragging. We’re that one place where it’s a mission to tell these stories.”
What Clients Want
“What they’re looking for is what they used to get 10 years ago-what we used to call ‘added value.’ We co-create content with advertisers and we tell them to put it anywhere they want, even on a competing network. Bigger networks are so much more isolated-they only want the custom content on their screens. We say, ‘If you want to put it on your YouTube channel, do it.’ We’re not limited by 20-30 years of saying, ‘This is how we do it.’ We’re talking to clients now about co-producing series or docs together.”
A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM NBCUNIVERSAL
ANARCHY IN THE MONARCHY "LATEST TV OBSESSION," "NEW GUILTY PLEASURE,"
"OMG-WORTHY" and "DEVIOUS AND SCANDALOUS" Premieres Sunday, March 15 10|9c.Only on E! NBCUniversal Lifestyle Group | together.nbcuni.com..
Just Asking…
Luke Treadaway, star of Fortitude
What’s your favorite social media platform?
“The only one I use is Twitter. It’s very good for finding out what’s really going on in the world as opposed to the mainstream, politically motivated, conservative, news channels. I used to have Instagram, but I forgot my password.”
Tom Szaky, founder and CEO of Terracycle, co-star of Human Resources
What’s your can’t-miss TV show?
House of Cards
Quote of The Day
“For us, it’s about the double bottom-line: We’ve got to keep the lights on but we do it in a smart, sustainable way.” – John Arianas.
If you’re a client and spent a ton of time chatting with Amy Winter, EVP/GM of UP and Lisa Fischer, EVP Ad Sales, UP & ASPiRE, don’t worry about being late to your next event. The Up/ASPiRE Upfront bus is providing courtesy transportation to other networks’ upfronts for large groups of clients.
Jeremy Steinberg, Head of Sales for The Weather Company, tells Cynopsis that he’s counting on WeatherFX, which is their ad product, data and technology and creative group, to help the business expand further into the CPG, QSR and retail categories.
BabyFirst is bustin’ out all over with news for the marketplace, including Nielsen inclusion, a new daypart … and did someone say "Funyuns"?
Keep Watching & Reading,
Lynn Leahey, Editor
Roberta Caploe: Editorial Director @robertacaploe
Diane K Schwartz: Senior Vice President, Media Communications Group
Cynopsis Ad Sales: Mike Farina | VP, Sales | 203-218-6480
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