Turner Sports

Jan 26, 2009

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Turner Sports didn't invent the wheel. But the company certainly has improved upon its design. Time and again, Turner has used properties such as Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association and the Professional Golf Association to give marketers an ongoing array of innovative and clutter-busting marketing solutions.

    That's also true with Turner's NASCAR coverage, which recently introduced a new graphic element called Wide Open Coverage. The initiative created special areas on the TV screen during races that could be sponsored by advertisers, all without interrupting the action for viewers. In addition, Turner produced branded content interstitials that were displayed during race action. However, due to the uniqueness of the concept, advertisers needed quite a bit of explanation at first, recalls William Funk, senior vice president for Turner Sports.

    "We took some big risks with our Wide Open Coverage," Funk admits. "This was a radical departure to take to the marketplace. It took some time to explain exactly how it would work and how the advertiser benefits, and even more work to figure out the technical and production aspects. But ultimately it's paid off because we've delivered something truly unique that addresses virtually all of the big issues that face television advertising, such as viewer engagement and clutter."

    That willingness to think outside the proverbial box has been a boon for Turner Sports advertisers looking to meld their brands with other sports programming offered by the company. Funk cites a recent example that involved Applebee's and a series of baseball-themed interstitial vignettes that were shot inside the restaurant chain and aired during MLB games.

    Another cast a spotlight on automaker Hyundai, which is a presenting sponsor on the TNT series Leverage. To broaden its marketing campaign, a Hyundai vehicle also appeared on the set of TNT's Inside the NBA, which the car company also sponsors, right alongside show hosts Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith.

    "The most important thing is finding the right balance between the commercial messaging and product integration and making sure you're developing compelling and relevant content," Funk notes.

    The ability to stitch together unique programs like these is partially due to the structure of Turner Sports, he adds. While Turner Sports is intrinsically linked to cable outlets TNT and TBS, it is not, in and of itself, a consumer brand. The company, therefore, can focus most of its attention on coming up with new ways to work with marketers while also tapping into the plethora of programming resources available on the two cable channels.

    "We have an inherent advantage in that Turner Sports is not a consumer brand, so we're able to customize our marketing platforms around our advertising partners." he says. "So our Sports Sales and Brand Integration group is really focused first and foremost on how we can creatively showcase our advertising partners. But at the end of the day, we really see our platforms as viable to any advertiser buying television, not just sports."

    And lately that could apply beyond just television, too. Turner Sports recently took over operation of the NBA.com online portal. The company already handled NASCAR.com, PGA.com and PGATOUR.com. This growing list, Funk believes, is another important competitive arrow in Turner's quiver of offerings to sports marketers.

    "Adding NBA.com and NBATV to our mix makes sense on so many levels," he says. "Now we have the ability to distribute our great content and use our talent across TNT, NBA.com and NBATV. What this means from where I sit is that anything we create for an advertiser can live across all these platforms with the same look and feel as well as cross-promotion. The digital distribution for all of our sports properties also provides an outlet for long-form branded content."

For more Sports Marketing coverage:
Turning Lemons into Lemonade Part I
Turning Lemons into Lemonade Part II
Sony Ericsson WTA Tour
Turner Sports