Just as CBS Corp. is tapping multiple divisions and platforms around Super Bowl XLVII, marketing efforts for CBS Sports Network and its coverage of the NFL Championship are manifesting across myriad vehicles.
“We’re going all out for CBS Sports Network, which will have more than 50 hours of Super Bowl programming from New Orleans,” said Kelly Dunne, senior vice president of marketing for CBS Sports. “It’s certainly our biggest event marketing programming for CBS Sports Network to date.”
CBS Corp. will deliver unprecedented coverage of the “Big Game,” marshaling assets in network and local television, radio, cable, premium television and digital in presenting the title tilt from all angles, including entertainment, news and sports.
Promos have been airing on CBS Sports Network’s air, as well as CBS Sports programming, including during the AFC Championship post-game on Jan. 20 , touting the cable net’s upcoming weeklong coverage from the Super Bowl. CBS Sports Network has made the spot available for affiliates around the country to run in their cross-channel avails. As of press time, CBS Sports Network had gained commitments from among others, Comcast in San Francisco, Time Warner Cable in various markets and Cox New Orleans, which launched CBS Sports Network in high-definition earlier this month.
CBS Sports Network has also made reservations in key area hotels. Since the service didn’t have a position on hotel lineups, “we started working early on that,” said Dunne, noting that executive vice president of distribution Bob Rose and his team secured channel placement in six hotels, where key partners are staying. Dunn said there will be room drops of table tents with CBS’s Super Bowl information on one side and CBS Sports Network’s program schedule and channel number on the other. Flyers with similar information will be disseminated at hotels.
Working with CBS Outdoor, CBS Sports Network is sharing space with CBS Entertainment on billboards across New Orleans, conveying the message that the service is the 24-hour home of CBS Sports and it will proffer Super Bowl coverage from Jackson Square all week long. The billboard depicts CBS Sports and cable network talent.
Dunne said the network is also enlisting two street teams to trumpet the network’s presence. Starting from a base at Jackson Square, the groups, comprising jazz musicians, revelers and brand ambassadors, will fan out to key spots around the Crescent City, distributing such New Orleans trappings as beads and masks, along with network programming and schedule information, from Thursday Jan. 31 through Super Bowl Sunday. They will also take photos of people, inserted into network sets, which can then be uploaded to social media outlets.
In addition to working closely and sharing social media content with CBS Sports, CBS Local and CBS Entertainment, CBS Interactive, “CBS Sports Network Countdown To Kickoff Sweepstakes” is engaging fans via an app on Facebook that encourages participants to play every day via an assortment of actions: tweets, polls, trivia questions, comments and sharing. The sweepstakes awards a daily prize, as well as a 60-inch HDTV set to the grand prize winner. The game lives on Facebook pages of CBSSportsNetwork, NFLonCBS and CBSSports, and many of these outlets have tweeted out about the contest.
Elsewhere, the network is running print and online ads in national consumer and trade outlets.
