Automated Long-Form Buying Process

 Will Save Time and Increase Accuracy for Long-Form TV Buyers

             Fairfield, NJ, May 14, 2012—In June, CoreMedia Systems, Inc. will integrate its direct response campaign management system, CoreDirect, with WO Central, WideOrbit’s online ad marketplace that directly connects media buyers and sellers, making it much easier for advertisers and agencies to purchase long form TV commercial time.  CoreDirect is the nation’s most widely used direct response media management software.

With this new, integrated, automated process, all long form direct response buy information is transferred automatically from WO Central to CoreDirect, eliminating manual entry.  In addition to new buys, revisions to existing buys made in WO Central, such as rate changes or cancellations, are automatically updated and tracked in CoreDirect, eliminating steps in the accounting audit process. Data can be delivered on a scheduled transfer or on demand ensuring both buyer and seller have the most up to date information.

“The upcoming integration with Wide Orbit is another enhancement to CoreDirect that will greatly improve accuracy and efficiency for our clients,” said Glenn DeKraker, CoreMedia CEO. “By eliminating the manual entry of information, CoreDirect users can spend more time analyzing and optimizing their buys.”

“We are excited to bring WO Central’s direct, two-way connection between advertising buyers and sellers to Core’s thousand-strong user base,” said Eric R. Mathewson, Founder and CEO of WideOrbit.

Long-form media, or infomercials, consist of TV airings of 30 minutes or more. CoreDirect also electronically facilitates the planning, purchase and analysis of short-form direct response TV inventory.

About CoreMedia

CoreMedia Systems, Inc. develops and supports CoreDirect, the industry’s most widely used direct response media management software. The system is used by more than 100 direct response agencies and marketers to plan, buy, manage, measure and optimize direct response media campaigns. Corporate Web site: www.coremedia-systems.com

About WideOrbit

WideOrbit (www.wideorbit.com) is the leading provider of advertising management software for Media companies. WideOrbit is the #1 deployed system for ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CW and Telemundo affiliates (as measured by households) and client stations and networks reach 50 of the top 50 DMAs in the U.S. WideOrbit manages more than $14 billion in advertising revenue annually.

CONTACTS:

CoreMedia Systems: Steve Ellwanger, 203-856-8303, steve@presscounselonline.com

WideOrbit: Diane Perro, 415-675-6704, dperro@wideorbit.com

Rowe Media aims to improve client’s business by providing strategic media planning through the use of accountable forms of media.  Since inception, Rowe Media has helped to open a DRTV agency in Florida, acted as Media Manager overseeing $30 million in DR media spend, helped to migrate a client from 100% online to a more balanced media mix through the inclusion of DRTV, and consulted on how to increase profits through including online leads as part of the optimization process for DRTV.  Susan was part of the original team that developed URL/Vanity tracking and custom ID tracking through Core Direct, and has been instrumental in helping Core to upgrade their offering.

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- Susan Rowe, May 3, 2012

While this is an inherently difficult question to answer, it can make the difference between success and failure of a DRTV campaign.

Our first question is: why would we need to measure? For many clients we are already capturing phone data, so what purpose does it serve to include web data in our results? We know what stations are working and those that don’t, so how would incorporating web leads into the data stream that I feed into Core Direct (the leader in DRTV tracking and reporting) help my process? The answer is rather simple. Our DRTV activity is pushing more people to a website than to a call center for most clients and categories. Only the 65+ market is an exception to this rule.

For one client, in the financial services category, over the course of two years’ time, we saw the percent shift from 80% phone volume, 20% website volume to the reverse – 20% call volume, 80% web volume. And this was years ago. Using a small subset of the overall data to make decision is fraught with error. We learned that fact on this account when we finally incorporated web leads into our analysis and saw that we had been over-rewarding older-skewing cable networks and canceling younger-skewing cable networks. One company, in the Education category, actually has seen their phone calls dwindle down to almost nothing and decisions are made to keep or jettison a daypart on a station based on one or two calls, while over 90% of their leads are occurring online. So we must incorporate web leads into our data stream. My mantra is every day one more person decides to go online to check out your website instead of picking up the phone.

So let’s get started. There are a number of interesting challenges in grabbing web leads and putting them into a tracking system, such as Core Direct. One is, what data do we take from the website? Luckily for us, in the online world, many streams of customers are from known sources, such as affiliate marketing, email marketing, behavioral and retargeting. We also can ignore people who search (organic or paid) in the category, like car loans or insurance, for example. What we can capture is direct type-in, branded search and organic search (such as queries for Mixbook, Allstate and Jenny Craig). DRTV will drive those areas.

The second challenge is how we determine that an unidentified lead was generated from our DRTV campaign. SEM/SEO teams are already claiming all the leads generated through branded search, so often we need to try to identify lift generated when the DRTV commenced compared with a preperiod, factoring out seasonality as well and perhaps normal velocity of business. Direct type in also had volume prior to commencing with a DRTV campaign so we can also employ a preperiod, as well as other adjusting metrics, to determine lift, in order to more accurately determine the value of DRTV.

Over the years in DRTV, I have seen a variety of online website maneuvers to effectively “carve out” DRTV only leads. Each carries its own inherent problems and I do not recommend employing them. One way, clients claim, to determine if the online lead is coming from DRTV is to simply ask. For one client, during the application process, they would ask, where did you hear about us?

At the time, Internet was receiving by far the bulk of the responses. When the client rotated the entities and put Television first on the list, TV received the bulk of the responses. Same when Magazine or Newspaper was in the first position. So the position was driving the result, not the media type. Using the customer to provide us the answer does not give us an accurate read.

Another method, which is losing popularity, is the /TV or /Radio or /KABC method to bring consumers first to a micro-site or at least track the visit before they go to your home page. Many consumers have wised up to this and don’t bother with typing in the /… unless there is an extremely compelling offer to do so. Also it does not include anyone who is using search to navigate to your site and depending on the complexity of your website name determines the percentage of people employing that method.

Finally, and undoubtedly the most popular, is to use an entirely different website name altogether to capture web leads driven by DRTV. The issue with this is that it denigrates your primary brand and dilutes what branding you could be gleaning from your DRTV effort.

So let’s look at how we incorporate web leads into our data stream employing Core Direct for example. As mentioned above we pull data from three streams of business: direct type in and branded terms from both SEO and SEM. Core Direct’s URL tracking methodology allows us to look at those leads generated within a time window after a spot airs. This way we can see what type of spike of volume we have brought up to the website from our efforts. While we also provide drag through DRTV and that should be incorporated into our overall results, the spike of activity, added to our call leads, should be what we optimize our media against.

Bringing Web leads into the optimization picture for direct response is critical. Someday, when IPTV really takes hold, we may have the ability to “know” what DRTV has provided in terms of clickthroughs. Until then it is up to our industry to employ the best method possible to optimize our media.

 About Susan

Prior to embarking out on her own Susan Rowe held the position of Senior Partner, Managing Director within the Digital and Performance Marketing media practice for Ogilvy Neo in New York and Chicago (Feb 07 – July 08). Her charge was to oversee Performance Marketing for a number of high profile clients, including Allstate, Investools, TD Ameritrade, Select Comfort and Six Flags. She was also responsible for leading NeoVideo, the video unit that works with new forms of video on TV and online. She was selected to be part of a Google TV’s first panel primarily for her work in development of ground breaking research with Google TV on the effect of attentiveness on response.

DIRECTV’s Nielsen ratings are integrated into CoreDirect to allow users to measure and post audience data on DIRECTV buys.

Proceeds From Sponsors Will Benefit Good Tidings Foundation

FAIRFIELD, NJ, March 9, 2012—Platinum recording artist O.A.R. has signed on for an invitation-only charity event on May 24 in Manhattan to mark the 20^th Anniversary of CoreMedia Systems, Inc. Proceeds from sponsors of the event will benefit the Good Tidings Foundation.

O.A.R. added a special stop on its 2012 concert tour for the CoreMedia event at the Hammerstein Ballroom, one of New York City’s premier venues.

The event, titled Response Responsibility, expected to draw more than 1,000 direct response media professionals on an invitation-only basis. Sponsors of the event are making contributions to the Good Tidings Foundation that are 100% tax deductible.

Good Tidings Foundation has long been a recipient of financial support from CoreMedia. In a recent project, they teamed up with PitCCh In, the charitable organization of New York Yankees pitching ace CC Sabathia, to renovate the baseball field at Vallejo High School in California, Sabathia’s alma mater.

“We installed a new lighted scoreboard, a new infield, new clay and bullpens,” said Sabathia.  “PitCCh In and Good Tidings Foundation worked together to complete the project in three months.  CoreMedia’s continued support will help fund similar projects that enrich opportunities for deserving youth.”

Kerri Walsh, the two-time Olympic volleyball gold medalist, along with her charity,

Chase the Stars Foundation, began working with the Good Tidings Foundation four years ago.  “We have built two Sand Pit Volleyball Courts to serve the needs of children in Northern California,” said Walsh. “A portion of the funds raised from CoreMedia’s 20th Anniversary event will go toward a third ‘Kerri Court’ which we will build shortly after I return from the Olympic Games this Fall.”

Said Glenn DeKraker, founder and CEO of CoreMedia: “Thanks to our supportive clients, we’ve been able to celebrate other milestones in our company history by helping charities like Keep a Child Alive, Shine on Sierra Leone and Bono’s Project Red. For our 20^th anniversary, I can’t think of a more deserving recipient of assistance from the direct response advertising community than the Good Tidings Foundation.”

About CoreMedia:

CoreMedia Systems, Inc. develops and supports CoreDirect, the industry’s most widely used direct-response media management software. The system is used by more than 100 direct response agencies and marketers to plan, buy, manage, measure and optimize direct response media campaigns.  Corporate Web site: http://www.coremedia-systems.com. 

Press Contact:

Steve Ellwanger, Press Counsel Group: 203-856-8303, steve@presscounselonline.com

DirecTV’s direct response advertisers and agencies will now have a easy time getting and analyzing ratings and demographic information.

Agency systems provider CoreMedia System has begun integration of Nielsen TV ratings for DirecTV into Core systems. Previously data had to be manually inserted.

Core is a major provider of media management systems for DirecTV advertisers and direct-response agencies. It is used by more than 100 direct-response agencies and marketers to plan, buy, manage, measure and optimize direct response media campaigns.

Amy Leifer, vice president of advertising sales, DirecTV, said by using CoreDirect, “agencies will be able to more easily analyze DirecTV’s market performance so they can better manage their return on investment.”

The companies say the move will provide more accurate performance data for the satcaster’s 11 cable network “clusters,” which focus on particular genre, including precise quarter-hour data.

“Our clients will now be able to reference DirecTV’s ratings data during the planning, in-flight and post analysis stages of DRTV advertising campaigns,” said Glenn DeKraker, CoreMedia Systems CEO.

To Needy Families Via Morristown Neighborhood House

Fairfield, NJ, November 17, 2011—CoreMedia Systems, Inc. and GE Aviation will provide Thanksgiving turkeys to needy families in conjunction with the Morristown Neighborhood House.

On Monday, November 21, 2011 at 12:00 Noon employees from GE Aviation and CoreMedia Systems will deliver more than 250 frozen turkeys and trimmings to the Morristown Neighborhood House, located at 12 Flagler Street, for distribution to Families in need.

“All of us at CoreMedia Systems appreciate the opportunity to participate,” said Glenn DeKraker, Core’s CEO. “as a New Jersey-based company this is a way for us to give back.”

“We are pleased to have this opportunity to work with local businesses on this important project that we know will truly make a difference for those in our communities,” said David Walker, Executive Director at Morristown Neighborhood House.

“There is a great need for food to share with residents who are experiencing difficulty feeding their families during these challenging economic times,” said Steven Neblett, Assistant Executive Director at Morristown Neighborhood House. “The generous donations will go a long way in helping to make the Thanksgiving holiday brighter for so many.”

Update!

Employees of  CoreMedia Systems and GE Aviation helped the Neighborhood House provide a nice Thanksgiving meal to almost 300 hard working (but low income) families.

To read more, please see our story posted in both the Daily Record and MorristownGreen.com.

About CoreMedia

CoreMedia Systems, Inc. develops and supports CoreDirect, the most widely used software for direct response advertising agencies. The system is used by more than 100 direct response agencies and marketers to plan, buy, manage, measure and optimize direct response media campaigns.  For more information visit our web site at www.coremedia-systems.com or contact Jim Paull 973-276-0882, ext. 316 or jpaull@coremedia-systems.com.

About GE Aviation

“We provide electromechanical motion control subsystems for civil and military applications, with product offerings including control electronics, motors, high power mechanical transmissions and actuators.”

About Morristown Neighborhood House

Morristown Neighborhood House was founded in 1898 as a settlement house that helped Italian immigrants in becoming acclimated to a new culture. Our core mission; helping new immigrants, helping families who are confronting economic challenges and fostering cross cultural acceptance; has remained the same. We currently run programs in five cities and seven locations in Morris County. Through programs in Morristown, Dover, Randolph, Denville and Frelinghuysen Middle School, on an average day over 1,500 children and youth receive services from Neighborhood House. For more information, please visit our website www.neighborhood-house.org or contact David Walker, Executive Director, at (973)538-1229 ext. 26 or walkerd@neighborhood-house.org.

CoreDirect integrates long form media buy information to the Wide Orbit platform allowing users to electronically place buys and receive post logs.

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CoreDirect accepts station invoices electronically from TVinvoices.com.

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CoreMedia is a third party processor of Nielsen ratings. We also intregrate with Sigma, their overnight spot verification service and Keeping Trac.

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