Finding (Southern) Comfort in Online Marketing

Lena DerOhannessian, US Marketing Director at Southern Comfort (Brown-Forman), talks to us about the benefits of changing media spend and thinking outside the bottle. A swig from the full interview available to eMarketer Total Access subscribers:

eMarketer: Southern Comfort just announced that it’s taking its entire media buy online. What prompted this switch?

Lena DerOhannessian: The idea of communicating in more passive environments, like on TV or in publications, doesn’t work for brands anymore. Certainly not for brands competing in a very aggressive space, such as the spirits category, or brands that want to give their target audience a brand experience, as opposed to just telling them, “This is who we are. Take it or leave it.”

eMarketer: Let’s talk more about Southern Comfort’s media plan.

Ms. DerOhannessian: One of the biggest pillars in the plan we’re most excited about is access to consumers and online TV. That’s the foundation upon which we’re building this reach for 21-to-29-year-olds. We’re able to access late-night programming like “David Letterman” and “Saturday Night Live”, as well as primetime shows like “The Office” and “Ugly Betty.” These are shows we’d never be able to touch on live TV.

The ad selector model that we’re running with Hulu serves up three different options of commercial messaging for consumers to pick. Most consumers expect there to be some kind of preroll messaging, and now they have a say in what kind of messaging they get from Southern Comfort. It might be an original content vignette or a responsibility ad or an actual branded commercial.

We’re trying to respect consumers in the digital space way more than, I think, advertisers sometimes do now, and certainly way more than advertisers have done in the past.

On Hulu, we’re able to not just be a commercial within those shows, but also to own that entire consumer watching experience by owning all of the real estate in and around those shows.

The social and community networking piece is also a really big step forward for us, whether it’s something as basic as the Thrillist partnership or the NBC local partnership—that’s all about what’s happening right now in a consumer’s particular town.

Also, within two weeks of launching our Facebook fan page, we had upwards of 20,000 fans. With music, we’ve working with FADER and Pitchfork and then the more iconic mass-arena at Playboy and Spin.

eMarketer: What best practices have you learned that you can pass on?

Ms. DerOhannessian: One of the most interesting transitions for us between 2009 and 2010 was understanding that online—just because you may get an impression or some kind of interaction—will not help build your brand or win any favorability with your target.

It’s about delivering value beyond what’s in your bottle. For us, that means having a Facebook community where fans of the brand can talk about music, recipe ideas or our local events. Or, it’s about fans of shows like “The Office” or “24” having the opportunity to watch commercial-free or limited-commercial programming online where we’re encasing them in our messaging, but not disrupting the viewing experience.

The full version of this interview is available here, to eMarketer Total Access subscribers only. Every day they have access to new interviews with digital marketing leaders and trendsetting entrepreneurs.