WDTV: Friend Of The Car Dealer

[Mr. Jones]

MARKET SHARE BY ARTHUR GREENWALD
W. Va., Station Gives Car Dealers a Boost
By Arthur Greenwald
TVNEWSDAY, Dec 15 2008, 11:37 AM ET

Now that the recession is official, and advertising revenues are taking an even bigger hit, here's an interesting question: Are broadcasters actually making the economy worse than it really is? Tim DeFazio thinks so.

"We're suffering more from psychological effects of national media than the local effects," says DeFazio, general manager of Withers Broadcasting's WDTV in Bridgeport, W.Va. "The economy is what it is, but TV news headlines are way out of proportion to the actual problem."

But DeFazio's quick to admit that while feeling the economic pinch, his market (Clarksburg-Weston) is faring somewhat better than most communities. "West Virginia hasn't seen the same decline in employment or increase in foreclosure rates. Our lending institutions aren't faltering and money is still available to borrow."

That's partly because in DMA 166, the banks mostly operate like Bailey Bros. Building and Loan in It's A Wonderful Life. They avoid unsecured loans and invest chiefly in local mortgages and business ventures. "We have many million-dollar projects up and running," says DeFazio, who cites the United Hospital Center and the hotels and businesses growing around it.

Yet, despite this continuing growth, local newspapers and other broadcasters obsess over dire national jobless figures. "They speculate about another Depression, when unemployment was around 30 percent, even though we're barely at 6.5 percent," says Defazio, who believes all that negativity takes a disproportionate toll on local business, especially on the 35 or so car dealers in his 12-county DMA.

"These auto dealers are our clients and often our personal friends. They contribute a lot to the community and they're 40 percent of our revenue," says DeFazio. "So we asked ourselves, ‘What are we doing to help the local economy, especially our best customers?'"

Apparently not enough. So, the WDTV sales team set out to rectify that oversight. The result is West Virginia Strong, a campaign to promote the region's strong points by bolstering local industries, especially beleaguered car dealers, during this challenging fourth quarter.

The centerpiece of the campaign is two, half-hour primetime specials that showcase 15 dealers at a time — at no cost. Each dealership is featured in an edited 90-second interview with its owner or general manager. That translates to 12 minutes of free airtime because each special is airing eight times between Dec. 4 and New Year's Day.

Dealers were free to use that time to offer insights on the auto industry, deliver a hardcore sales pitch or anything in between. WDTV account executives accompanied station videographers, both to conduct the interviews and to reinforce the campaign's larger mission of client service.

Not surprisingly, dealers responded enthusiastically, many by instantly increasing their existing ad buys in order to become a sponsor of the specials.

The format of the first special was kept deliberately simple. A short introduction by DeFazio is followed by the dealer interviews. The second special was made only slightly more complex to accommodate a message from another West Virginia booster: Governor Joe Mansion, who wanted to lend his support to the local effort.

It's too soon to tell how much of an impact the campaign will have on fourth-quarter car sales, let alone WDTV's future revenues. But several dealers have already called to report customers coming into their showrooms after seeing the specials. Others called just to thank the station for setting the precedent.

But nobody in the market seems surprised by the source of this innovation. WDTV is already well known for supporting such vital local institutions as fire departments and EMS units. This fall the station televised the local high school football championship, and plans to do the same with basketball semifinals early next year. Proceeds from the ad time are donated to the featured schools.

Efforts are already underway to evaluate the car promotion and to repeat it in 2009. The station also plans to expand West Virginia Strong to promote two other local industries. First is banking, to explain the region's economic vitality. After that comes the furniture industry.

"As broadcasters, we all have a very strong voice in our local communities," says DeFazio. "We need to use that promote our local strengths and business opportunities."

Got a story about an especially novel or successful local sales or marketing campaign? That's what we feature every Monday here in Market Share by Arthur Greenwald. Write to Arthur at greenwald@tvnewsday.com.

[Mr. Tom Jones]

Gotta wonder what CBS shows DTV is preempting. Of course, given that CBS pretty much stands for "Crime Broadcasting System", whocoodanode?

NBC stations gotta be wondering how to get rid of some of their primetime shows with local programming...