The acclaimed new series from IFC, Dinner For Five (D45), created and hosted by Jon Favreau, is currently the centerpiece of one of the industry's most successful 2002 local marketing efforts. Early results of the "D45 Phenomenal Campaign," named for its multi-tiered approach to driving sales of digital tiers and cable modem units, demonstrate the strength of partnering between IFC and affiliates. The campaign is comprised of a full scale, customized marketing initiative geared to drive affiliate revenue through increased sales of cable modems and digital tiers. Participating MSO's to date include Comcast in Nashville, several Pennsylvania/Philadelphia Comcast systems, AT&T in Chicago, Charter Communications in St. Louis and GCI systems in Anchorage and Fairbanks, Alaska. In one month, (April '02) the campaign has yielded thousands of new revenue generating units.
This campaign was centered on IFC's new original series, Dinner For Five — the network (IFC) also announces today that it has picked up the critically acclaimed original series for a second season. The series created and hosted by Jon Favreau (Swingers and Made) will begin production this summer on 13 episodes to kick off first quarter 2003. Each episode features Favreau and four guests sharing an evening of food and banter. The season opener will feature Favreau's Daredevil co-stars Ben Affleck (The Sum of All Fears), Jennifer Garner (ABC's Alias), Colin Farrell (Minority Report) and director Kevin Smith (Clerks).
Building on the network's new original series Dinner For Five, IFC developed cross channel spots featuring Jon Favreau that demonstrated the value of digital cable and cable
modems. This unprecedented advertising approach was customized to drive the affiliate's digital and cable modem businesses. In addition, the opportunity to add local media to the campaign was significantly enhanced through a matching funds program. Some of the tactics executed in the campaign included (but were not limited to) customized digital cable up sell cross-channel spots, print advertisements, radio promotion giveaways, billboard advertisements, direct mail and development of an innovative online game, IFCTV.com's Dinner for Five IFQ (Independent Film Quotient Test). As a method of further enticing customers, many markets offered various incentives including a free subscription to the network's magazine IFCRant, and a highly valued IFC premium watch.
"The IFC campaign has proven to be a great promotional vehicle for us and
has helped us to drive our digital business" commented Joe Higgins Marketing Manager, AT&T Broadband-Chicago.
Jill Inman, Regional Marketing & Communications Manager, Charter, St. Louis added, "The Dinner For Five campaign has all of the elements for success. It's generated truly phenomenal results."
"This campaign has generated outstanding results for IFC and our MSO's. This is a testament to the quality programming that IFC offers its viewers, as well our commitment to our MSO community to help build their digital and cable modem businesses. We are confident that we will see an increasing number of viewers become motivated to upgrade to digital subscriptions. Furthermore, we remain committed to delivering a tier driven product that helps our partnering cable affiliates enhance their revenue and drive the cable industry forward" commented Gregg Hill, Executive Vice President, Affiliate Sales & Marketing.
"We took a fully integrated approach to marketing Dinner For Five. Our national consumer marketing effort was linked on the local level to driving revenue generating units" commented Caroline Bock, Senior Vice President, Marketing Bravo.
In addition, the Dinner for Five IFQ with preview clips highlighted the compelling talent in the series, promoted show airtimes, and incorporated links to IFCTV.com's "Get Broadband" page. The "Get Broadband" page touts the benefits of a high-speed cable connection and directly links to CableLabs' Go2Broadband database, facilitating the purchase of a cable modem from participating cable operators. Since the promotion commenced, more than 10,000 site visitors have accessed the Dinner for Five IFQ and more than 3,400 users have accessed the IFCTV.com's "Get Broadband!" page.
The Independent Film Channel (IFC), managed and operated by Bravo Networks, is the first and most widely distributed channel dedicated to independent film presented 24 hours a day, uncut and commercial-free. IFC Entertainment, a division of IFC, consists of IFC Productions, a feature film production company; IFC Films, a theatrical film distribution company; Next Wave Films, established to provide finishing funds and other vital support to emerging filmmakers; and IFC Originals, which produces cutting-edge original programming for the network. In addition, IFC Productions launched InDigEnt, an initiative that helps established filmmakers shoot productions on digital video. For more information, viewers can log on to www.ifctv.com.
The Independent Film Channel (IFC) is owned and managed by Rainbow Media Holdings, Inc., a leader in news, sports and entertainment programming. A subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corporation (NYSE:CVC) and NBC, Rainbow manages American Movie Classics, WE: Women's Entertainment, Bravo, The Independent Film Channel, MuchMusic USA, Rainbow Sports Networks, News 12 Networks, and MetroChannels as well as the Rainbow Advertising Sales Corporation and Rainbow Network Communications. In addition, Rainbow is a fifty-percent partner in FOX Sports Net. IFC is one of the assets included in the Rainbow Media Group tracking stock (NYSE:RMG), a series of Cablevision common stock. MGM (NYSE:MGM) owns a 20% stake in four of Rainbow's national networks – AMC, Bravo, IFC, and WE: Women's Entertainment.