As digital companies continue to tout the reach of their online properties, television networks are compelled to demonstrate how their shows influence consumers on multiple media platforms. This is certainly evident during Upfront Week, the four days in mid-May when the big broadcast TV networks—as well as some of the more popular cable channels—pitch new programming schedules to advertising executives and media buyers. This year the marathon of presentations and parties that hit New York May 12 to 15 were filled with talk of transmedia initiatives, Web series, social-media sharing, and second screen apps. (Conversely, there was also plenty of chatter about television as a live event, with references to the FIFA World Cup taking place this summer and the live productions of musicals from NBC and Fox.)
So, it came as no surprise the many of the brands participating in Upfront Week promoted their efforts with dedicated hashtags and activities that encouraged attendees to share. Fox brought back its Fanfront, an experience that let consumers meet the TV network's stars, see performances and sneak peeks, and submit questions via Twitter and Facebook. The Twitter Mirror, a tablet the enables people to pose and send out selfies, made appearances at several events, while the stars of the CW shows Supernatural and The Vampire Diaries even mimicked the infamous Oscar selfie by gathering for a group selfie on stage. Univision promoted the effectiveness of its audience on social by touting the concept of "return on influence" and using the hastag #ReturnonInfluence, while Discovery U.S. Hispanic brought in the event team from Discovery Communications to help craft a more immersive concept to match the tagline—and hashtag—of "feel closer."
The biggest change, however, was for NBCUniversal. Under the umbrella of "All Together. Different," the media company brought its portfolio of entertainment networks to Upfront Week, starting at the beginning of the week with the broadcast property NBC Entertainment and ending with the first ever upfront for NBCUniversal's cable entertainment entities—including USA Network, Bravo, Syfy, E!, and Oxygen. With the exception of the events for Telemundo and Mun2, which took place at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall, the presentations were held in the Jacob. K. Javits Convention Center's north pavilion. There was a dedicated Twitter account, @TogetherNBU, tweeting updates from all three and E! provided a live stream of the cable entertainment upfront on its website. “Showcasing our entire portfolio to our advertising partners all at once is in response to marketplace demand and a natural next step in the evolution of the NBCUniversal portfolio coming together as one. In a world of fragmentation, aggregation and scale means everything for our clients,” said Linda Yaccarino, president of advertising sales for NBCUniversal in a press release.
Even with so much focus on the power of digital, the Upfront Week presentations remained very much live experiences, and many brands continued the tradition of bringing network brass and talent to the stage. NBC had jokes from Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon, Fox opened with Ryan Seacrest and rapper Pitbull, and Outkast made a splash at Adult Swim's late-night outing. Univision's executive vice president for advertising sales, Steve Mandala, entertained with a parody of the song "Talk Dirty to Me" that was dubbed "Talk Spanish to Me" and Alan Cumming spoofed Cabaret for CBS, stripping to reveal the network's eye logo on his rear. ABC closed its affair with Modern Family stars Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Eric Stonestreet emerging from a cake, while NBCUniversal's Cable Entertainment upfront capped the week with an after-party that featured a performance by English singer-songwriter Jessie J.
Telemundo returned to Jazz at Lincoln Center's Frederick P. Rose Hall May 13 for its presentation. Much like the other events for NBCUniversal properties, the Spanish-language network and its sibling, Mun2, emphasized the "all together" tagline.
“Now that Telemundo and Mun2 are fully integrated into the world of NBCUniversal, there has never been a better time for marketers to connect with Hispanic consumers with unprecedented scale and power, regardless of language,” said Mike Rosen, Telemundo Media's executive vice president of advertising sales. “That is why our ‘Total Market Innovation’ approach is so special, as no media company delivers on the promise of R.O.I. like NBCUniversal, the most uniquely diverse, game-changing media company in the marketplace, now and in the future.”
One of the most significant moves this year was one by NBCUniversal, which, for the first time, held presentations for all its entertainment properties during Upfront Week. The first outing was for broadcast network NBC, which opened Upfront Week with a presentation at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on Monday, May 12. The event took over Javits Center North, using the passageway that connects the space to the main convention center for talent arrivals.
Inside the north pavilion at the Javits Center, NBC built a stage that used the colors and shape of its iconic peacock logo.
Also on May 12, Fox held court at the Beacon Theatre and brought back the "Fanfront" it introduced last year, inviting consumers loyal to the network and its shows to an experience that included a chance to meet stars such as Chord Overstreet from Glee, MasterChef judge Graham Elliot, and American Idol contestant Jessica Meuse. Cletus, the Fox Sports robot (pictured), also made an appearance.
The Fox Fanfront also had performances by Glee's Darren Criss as well as swag and previews of new fall shows. For social media integration, the network splashed the #FoxFanfront hashtag on the backdrop for the stage and invited attendees to submit questions to Fox stars via Facebook or Twitter.
On May 13, Discovery U.S. Hispanic brought ad agency executives and media buyers to Stage37 for its event. To help plan the affair, the U.S. Hispanic group tapped the event team at Discovery Communications, which sought to match the activities and entertainment to the "feel closer" tagline. That included staffers at the entrance offering hugs.
Inside the raw space, the creative and production team—which included DePalma Production and Syzygy Events International—crafted a sensory environment modeled after outdoor movie screenings. That included park benches and colorful beach chairs for seating, Astroturf carpeting, and surrounding screens that displayed images of trees.
To better engage attendees and convey the idea of more intimate and personal connections, the Discovery U.S. Hispanic upfront offered mezcal drinks from its "mezcaleria" bar. Guests could choose the type of fresh fruit, herbs and spices, and juice or mixers they wanted to customize their drink with and staffers placed the orders for them.
Given the time constraints of attendees—the upfront was directly preceded by Univision's affair and followed by ABC's presentation—the Discovery U.S. Hispanic held its reception before the presentation. Lighting and projections were used to transition the space from daytime to night, the star-lit visuals signifying the start of the presentation.
Underscoring how serious the company is about the Hispanic market in the United States, Discovery Communications' president and C.E.O., David Zaslav, opened the presentation for Discovery U.S. Hispanic.
Ray Bloch Productions produced Telemundo's upfront, which used a 15- by 50-foot LED screen as the central visual for the stage. The piece, which was the full width of the stage, rose up and down to reveal performers, including Paola Guanche (pictured, center), winner of La Voz Kids and Prince Royce, one of the singing competition's coaches.
One of the few upfronts to change venues was Adult Swim, which has previously hosted its presentation and party at Roseland Ballroom, a site that closed this April. This year the Turner Broadcasting Systems' cable channel took over Terminal 5 for a late-night bash on May 14 that included plenty of on-brand, tongue-in-cheek activities. Screens on stage and on the facade of the second floor promoted the brand's reach with graphics that read "Our apps have 61MM downloads" and "Bumps + Commercials = Engagement."
As with previous years, the biggest draw was a live musical performance that followed a short video presentation. This year Adult Swim brought in Outkast, the hip-hop duo that only recently reunited at Coachella. André 3000 sang alongside Big Boi for a set that included big hits including "Ms. Jackson" and "Hey Ya."
Adult Swim also brought elements of its Funhouse—the activity-laden experience it first debuted at last year's Comic-Con in San Diego—to the upfront, including a mirrored maze and a room criss-crossed with fluorescent bungee cords.
There were plenty of other activities to keep media buyers and ad executives busy. One floor held a booth where guests could create their own slo-mo videos.
Rounding out the busy week of presentations was NBCUniversal's affair for its cable entertainment properties, the first time the company held an upfront that combined presentations from Bravo, E!, Esquire Network, Oxygen, Sprout, Syfy, and USA. The outing took place at Javits Center North, where NBC Entertainment's event had been held just three days previously. To capture a broader audience, E! hosted a live stream of red carpet arrivals, with stars like Kim Kardashian interviewed by Ross Mathews and Giuliana Rancic. Inside the pavilion, the live interviews were projected above the bar for upfront attendees to see.
Stars from each property introduced new programming on stage, with just brief appearances by network executives like Bonnie Hammer, chairman of NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment Group and Linda Yaccarino, president of advertising sales for NBCUniversal. That included Joan Rivers cracking jokes, host Joel McHale making an end-of-show appearance, and Jenni Pulos of Flipping Out and Mark Feuerstein of Royal Pains (pictured) rapping about the company’s cross-brand marketing initiative, dubbed Symphony.
Following the presentations, where different networks used a variation on the "all together" slogan—such as "all together. imaginative" for Syfy, "all together. original" for USA, and "all together. loyal" for Bravo—the crowd moved to the after-party where Jessie J performed.
