ESPN Deportes Tackles New Marketing Strategy

ESPN Deportes, the first Spanish-language all-sports network in the US, needed to grow its audience reach. But as with any other cable network, the budding branch of the vast ESPN sports empire does not sell its services directly to customers. Rather, it is dependent upon consumers reaching out to their cable or satellite providers and requesting ESPN Deportes. Most often the only call to action in campaigns was "call your local cable operator." These vague instructions did not create a clean message or quantifiable results.

Although many other network programmers use an 800-number in their ads, ESPN Deportes was too well aware of the pitfalls associated with this marketing strategy.

In order to make a nationally available number work, the network would have to pinpoint each caller's location among a complex tangle of cable service providers.

Traditional call routing methods — ZIP code and area code/exchange assignment tables — are notoriously hard to manage. What's worse, neither of these designations bears any correlation to the maze of nearly 9,000 cable franchise territories in the US. More than one cable system operator (MSO) may serve any one ZIP code or area code/exchange, so using either traditional method to route callers to cable providers often sends the consumer to the wrong company and prevents the caller from becoming a customer.

Call-Routing Issue Hamstrung Marketing

The inability to make a straightforward and measurable call to action was also creating a drag on ESPN Deportes' marketing.

"It was hard to give people a mechanism to act," said Juan J. Alfonso, Senior Marketing Director for ESPN Deportes, "because the most we could say is, ‘Call your cable provider or satellite operator,' which was inefficient, for one because people don't do it. It was messy and it got in the way and it made our communications less efficient, frankly. We had to do many, many versions of local ads versus doing one national ad now that we can put the 800-number on there."

Solution Brings Automated Efficiency

ESPN Deportes found a solution to its routing and marketing issues when TARGUSinfo paired its On-Demand Location^SM with its turnkey solution for a newly obtained national number, which created 1-800-DEPORTES. TARGUSinfo identifies the caller's telephone number, determines the exact physical location of the home and routes the call to the appropriate cable or satellite provider based on a routinely updated National Cable Operator file. This unique and proprietary process eliminates any need for clients to maintain large tables for identifying each consumer's cable and satellite provider. TARGUSinfo incorporates any interim changes to provider phone numbers by using a table update that is not possible with traditional ZIP code or area code/exchange routing."

Creating New Branding Opportunity

Beyond simply routing callers, the network also acquired new marketing capabilities. "Instead of national publication ads saying, ‘Hey, call your local operator,' which is tricky," Alfonso said, "we can say, ‘Call 1-800-DEPORTES.' It's easy to remember, it helps our branding and it just gives that mechanism for action. Which is something that's really important — direct response."

ESPN Deportes is also using that direct response tactic and the same 800-number to fuel campaigns for the magazine ESPN Deportes La Revista as well as the Fútbol a Football sweepstakes.

The contest, a $10 million promotion, was also enabled by a turnkey solution provided by TARGUSinfo. Using On-Demand Location to capture caller identification, TARGUSinfo incorporated transcription, speech and Interactive Voice Response reporting applications to meet each of ESPN Deportes' needs for telephone-driven registration.

Making Marketing Measurable

Direct response has also helped ESPN Deportes measure the effectiveness of its marketing. It can, for example, compare the number of calls that it gets after running promotions for UEFA Champions League soccer or Dominican baseball programming. This has become an important gauge for the pioneering network's strategic planning for marketing.

"We don't take it as a scientific measurement," Alfonso said, "but we use it as a metric for level of interest."

Initiating A Dialog

The call volume is giving ESPN Deportes much more than a proxy for campaign interest level. Web-based reports are also available for ESPN Deportes marketers to track each call and its result as well as provide access to caller name, address and cable or satellite provider information. This contact information also feeds ESPN Deportes' database for future marketing. What's more, it lets the network track its callers to each provider. This gives the network a measured response that it can cite in discussions with MSOs about adding ESPN Deportes to their channel lineups and tier packages.

'They always come through'

Just as important to ESPN Deportes, implementation was a snap. "I like the fact that when I talked to TARGUSinfo staff, they're always very helpful. They always call you back right away, they always have a solution on hand and they're not afraid to say, ‘I don't know, but I'm going to find an answer for you by the end of the day,'" Alfonso said. "And they always come through with a good solution for me."