Public Relations in Spike TV: Case Study - Essay Example

Public Relations in Spike TV: Case Study Public relations (PR) refers to a way in which corporate organizations, enterprises, management and individuals communicate with the target audience either directly or indirectly. Every organization, regardless of its size or age depends on its reputation in order to succeed in today’s market which is characterized by excessive competition. It is therefore important for managers to adopt an essential PR plan which could entail, formative research, strategy establishment, tactic implementation and evaluative research. A good analysis, implementation and evaluation of a public relations plan could help to assist a corporation to increase its return on investment, due to its increased reputation. Initially, Spike TV enjoyed success in broadcasting the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) competitions (David Ogilvy Awards [D.O.A] 1). However, in the year 2011 there was a shift of UFC’s broadcasting rights from Spike TV to Fox TV, FX, and Fuel networks. The management team of Spike TV was not ready to walk away from broadcasting these competitions and they therefore, stroke a deal to start broadcasting the “unpopular but up-and-coming Bellator league starting early 2013” (D.O.A 1). This implies that in order for Spike TV to increase the program’s ratings, it would need to formulate and implement a comprehensive launch marketing campaign. This campaign focused on two primary objectives. First, it aimed at increasing the number of viewers by at least 200% from the previous levels recorded during its air in MTV2 network and secondly, to change the viewer’s perspective of the sport. It wanted to reinvent the sport’s image from that centered on cruelty to one that showed the dedication of fighters. Doing this would attract more sponsors. Spike TV noted that marketing Bellator was a whole different exercise from marketing UFC, since it was not only less popular, but also a new program to be aired by the TV channel. Following the previously used UFC strategy would therefore not work in this scenario. Spike TV therefore adopted a strategy that had three essential components. First, they had to inform the MMA fans and viewers of the new Spike-Bellator association. This would enable the viewers to be familiarized with the sport thereby making them to be curious and develop an interest in watching it. Second, it had to elevate the profiles of the Bellator’s register of fighters since most viewers like to assess the credibility and professionalism of fighters before watching the competition. Lastly, it had to pinpoint and highlight the valuable points of differentiation that existed between Bellator and UFC. This would enable it to know what marketing strategy to employ so that the newly introduced Bellator sport, could gain as much popularity and views as UFC had. To ensure the success of this new program, an exploratory research was carried out. This research aimed at determining the audience knowledge on Bellator sport, developing an indulgence on how the viewers related to the media’s broadcast of this sport and eventually to disclose sources of the sport’s appeal. To address these and other issues, Spike TV a study in two phases. The first phase included of ethnographic interviews with small groups of individuals who watch the MMA. They participated in watching the interviews along these viewers in order to get their reaction in the different aspects of the sport. This would provide them with a clear picture on the knowledge that the viewers have on Bellator. The second phase consisted of a nationwide survey aimed at measuring the relative appeal of the various components of Bellator. This would help Spike TV to know what plans and strategies to employ. Since there was a very large perceived difference between Bellator and the UFC, Spike TV decided to position Bellator as an underdog league. They therefore, had to look for ways and plans that would make it more alluring within that positioning. Through the research, Spike TV found out that their brand image was closer to the sport than that of their competitors, Bellator was seen as an inferior version of UFC, and there was a strong interest in Bellator’s bracket approach. It was also found out that the viewers liked to root for individual fighters and there was a high degree of usage of digital resources among viewers which could enable them to engage with the sport and the individual fighters. It was therefore important for Spike TV to develop measures and plans that could enable the viewers to participate even more directly in the sport. Several strategies were adopted in a bid to increase the viewer’s awareness on the principal fighters of Bellator. For instance, a teaser spot “Coming Home” was created (D.O.A 3). This would increase the viewer’s sense of heart and grit and even solidify Spike TV’s brand image. Comparatively, a 30 seconds on air campaign, each dedicated to a single fighter was implemented. Doing this would result to an increased viewer awareness on the Bellator fighters and sport. In addition, viewers were provided with a platform that could enable them vote for their favorite fighters prior to the match day. An online fantasy league was also developed with the actual fighters as the ‘model’ competitors (D.O.A 3). This actions would extensively increase the viewer’s passion and thus it would enable them to develop a liking of the sport. By doing this, the goals, objectives, strategies, and tactics established by Spike TV, appropriately followed the PR guidelines. After the planning process, implementation phase was carried out. Spike TV used the media strategy as the base of this phase. Since it could not mount a national television campaign due to lack of resources, it had to depend on the local market TV and the deployment of other digital media. To implement this technique, men of between 18 to 49 years were used. They were segmented into two groups, the first one composed of MMA fans and the other one consisting of the general sports fanatics (D.O.A 4). For the MMA fans, TV advertisements were ran in local markets in times when the UFC broadcasts were carried out on Fox and FX television, page takeovers were done and an in-depth “vote for the fight” (D.O.A 4) fighter profile were hosted. This would help the UFC fans to develop an interest on the Bellator sport thereby increasing Bellator’s fan base. On the other hand, for the general sports fans, emphasis on more mainstream media was carried out. Bellator advertisements were ran during basketball broadcasts on ABC and TNT channels, banners were ran on popular sports websites, announcements concerning the impending match fixtures were made on twitter feeds and Facebook platforms. Besides, Spike TV aired multiple radio spots on the popularly recognized sports talk radio show Ferrall on the Bench (D.O.A 4). This strategy ensured that there was a maximized outreach of potential viewers who could be lured into becoming the fanatics of Bellator sport. Other than the use of media, the campaign also employed the use of TV adverts on “entertainment cable networks like VH1, Comedy Central, and TV Land” (D.O.A 4). This was done to enable individuals who rarely use ‘controlled media’ to gain knowledge about Bellator. Doing this increases the population of potential viewers and it could thus lead to the general increase in the number of Bellator’s fans. Pretest were carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of these campaign messages before the campaign. Awareness and viewing intent hunt down assessments were also conducted and a calculation was carried out to determine if the audience volume goals were met. This was done by using a branded algorithm that had been developed. The program was evaluated on the basis of the number of viewers and a comparison to the more established UFC was made. According to D.O.A, Bellator earned a 65 percent rating in men aged between 18 to 49 years and it had an overall viewer fan base of up to 1 million (4). This implies that it had greatly gained popularity and it was therefore the highest and most watched Bellator broadcast. Bellator was also found to have an increase of up to 400 percent viewers thus surpassing the set target by an extra 200 percent. Comparatively, it even matched the total number of viewers in UFC’s MMA “The Ultimate Fighter” series (D.O.A 4). This therefore implies that the strategies and tactics deployed by Spike TV had yielded commendable results. Due to the resounding success attained by Bellator and its high popularity gain, several promoters signed on to sponsor it (D.O.A 5). This is therefore a clear indication that Spike TV was able to the prior image of the fighting program, from that perceived to be of a violent nature to that of an ideal sporting event that all the sports fanatics can be comfortably associate with. Although the campaign process did not suggest further areas or issues for future campaign initiatives, it is important that Spike TV should increase its fan base by use of communication medium such as emails and leaflets. This will even increase the number of viewers thereby cementing their competitiveness in the TV industry. Public relation is therefore an essential tool that all organizations can rely on to improve their performance and competitiveness. Setting up of a formative research, establishing and designing of an effective communication strategy, tactically implementing and evaluating the strategic plan are the key essential tools of public relations that can be used by organizations to improve their competitiveness. Works Cited David Ogilvy Awards. “Bellator MMA Live Launch.” n.d. Web. 29 Oct 2014. . Read More