Loading ...Press release from Freesat on the launch of their joint marketing initiative with US channel BET:
Freesat, and US channel BET (Black entertainment television) have launched a targeted retail marketing campaign in the lead up to the key pre-Christmas sales period.
In-store posters/displays and a specially made ’sizzle’ DVD have been created which highlight the upcoming BET Hip Hop Awards which premieres in the UK on Friday October 24th at 8pm, and are exclusive to BET. Last year’s winners and performers included Kanye West, Ludacris, Common and Nelly.
Freesat has worked with the Glen Yearwood group, who provide communications strategy to BET UK, to target areas around the country with high densities of a Black and mixed race population, a key target demographic for BET.
The campaign has been rolled out to 176 Freesat stores across Freesat’s retail partners Currys Digital, Argos, Comet, John Lewis, as well as independent retailers.
BET launched onto the Freesat platform in August and reaches 87m households in its native North American and Caribbean territory, broadcasting a wide range of entertainment, music, news and public affairs programming aimed at consumers of pop culture inspired by African - American music and lifestyle.
Commenting on the campaign, James Atkins, Freesat’s trade marketing manager said,
Working with BET means we have been able to draw on their specialist demographic knowledge to focus the campaign towards consumers that are likely to respond to BET content and the Freesat proposition.
Michael Armstrong, SVP at BET International added,
The retail partnership with Freesat underscores BET’s commitment to share and add value by unlocking data on our consumer demographic and approach marketing and communications from emotional brand recognition and content differentiator that is BET. Above all, we are excited at the long term and embedded commitment to our consumer group that is shared by Freesat, we expect to make a difference.
October 14th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
What an absolute nonsense statement from the BET chappie!
October 14th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Absolutely true, Kevin!
October 14th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
PR garbage at it’s best! Hilarious stuff.
October 14th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
v interesting article on the BBC internet blog regarding the ongoing work that is being undertaken to improve the digital sound and picture on the BBC hd channel. I’m glad its not just me having problems with the sound switching from a digital source to a non digital source!!!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/
October 14th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
Pretty rough isn’t it, but it’s news nether the less
October 14th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
can someone please translate this into plain english, please !!!!!
October 14th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
It roughly translates as ‘We will wilfully pass on Freesat customer’s details to all and sundry so that they may mercilessly bombard them with junk mail’
October 14th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
DOES ANYBODY WATCH BET?
October 14th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
I don’t - its utter rubbish
October 14th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
HEAR HEAR!
October 14th, 2008 at 11:20 pm
Considering all the talk of HD TV BET must take 1st or 2nd prize in the Low Definition/smeared/fuzzy TV picture quality category on Freesat.
I suspect it could be a surprisingly popular channel though.. Bro . .
October 14th, 2008 at 11:27 pm
I think that any joint venture that targets a significant ethnic minority can only be good news if it help raises the profile of Freesat. The wider the appeal of the service the more it is likely to encourage other significant minority interests to broadcast e.g the Horse and Country Channel.
Although BET might not appeal to the majority of the first wave of Freesat users (assuning most of us are none-black) it should’nt be dismissed as rubbish.
Being of Irish background I am looking foreward to the RTE channel, even though I’m sure some will say they won’t watch. Everyone has access to the delete button! Perhaps some subscribers to this site should be more tolerant and less judgemental.
October 15th, 2008 at 8:16 am
No-one complains about Teachers TV on Freeview as bandwidth wasted on a minority audience so I don’t see how BET should be different.
BET’s content is complete garbage of course but frankly I’d rather watch an hour of BET programming than be forced to watch 2 minutes of “Twiggy’s Frock Exchange”.
How did that BBC production meeting go?
“What C4 show can we shamelessly rip off? ”
“Err how about that Bert Kwok fashion thing?”
“Don’t you mean Gok Wan?”
“Oh yeah, him. Specsaver bloke.”
“But he’s got a small quantity of personality and screen persona. We need to be different. We need someone with absolutely no charm, wit or charisma and a total inability to string a coherent sentence together which doesn’t involve the words sixties, boyish, model or kings road”
“Well, we could use Twiggy”
“Brilliant!!”
October 15th, 2008 at 9:26 am
Stop faffing around and get C4 up and running
October 15th, 2008 at 9:27 am
ooooooooopppppssssssssss sorry C5 I mean
October 15th, 2008 at 9:32 am
Will we get a WET channel too ?
October 15th, 2008 at 10:22 am
Now if this was a hi-def channel this would be news, but its not
October 15th, 2008 at 10:26 am
When is my channel for black single parent albino left-handed she-males coming?
October 15th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
While not spectacular, I think this is all to the good. I haven’t really watched BET, other than to check it out, but at a glance it looks rather more interesting (and certainly more intelligent) than some other recent additions to the Freesat EPG. And while BET would seem to be aimed at a particular minority, I think it could generate some crossover appeal as the brand name becomes better known. Speaking for myself, I didn’t even immediately pick up on the fact that BET was aimed at a particular ethnic group, so if there are others just as oblivious as me, that might suggest crossover potential.
On the subject of channels aimed at a particular demographic, I am eagerly awaiting RTE International (and, no, I’m not Irish - well, only by distant descent - but I’ve been very impressed by news, current affairs and documentary programmes on Irish TV when I’ve been over there - and the Angelus, while culturally peculiar to me, provides a pleasant pause for reflection.
October 15th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
What happended to smellavision?
October 15th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Sorry, typing worse than ever. I notice that on the night C4 show the last episode of the last series of Desperate Housewives, RTE shows the first episode of the new series - great timing (if you enjoy that kind of mush)