WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THAT HOLIDAY MAGIC?

Here in the Market Share column, we showcase successful marketing or promotion campaigns.

Most often we highlight an original sales promotion whose simplicity has created a new source of station revenue. Other times, we’ll focus on a particularly creative adaptation of a national campaign. But sometimes we scrutinize the horizon to identify a missed opportunity.

And here’s a big one: What has become of the magic of Christmas?  Most especially, where are the great holiday-themed image promotions that every station used to produce? Sure, many stations run “Happy Holidays” station IDs, but those are a pale reminder of the sheer cornball delight of news anchors and station personnel at home with their families, wrapping presents in the newsroom, or literally dashing through the snow in a one-horse open… . Well, you get the idea.

Too expensive, you say? Not necessarily. Not inclusive enough? Please! I’m Jewish, but throw in a menorah and a dreidel and I’m cool with Santa. Adds clutter with no upside? Maybe you’re undervaluing the magic of television itself. Maybe all of us are guilty of squandering one of broadcast TV’s great advantages, namely, the affectionate bond between our on-air talent and our viewers.

Last April, Market Share looked at the growing phenomenon of old TV promos and news clips showing up on YouTube—occasionally posted by stations, but more often by viewers themselves.

A thorough search of YouTube suggests that holiday-themed image spots didn’t disappear overnight. The most recent set of promos posted there is this 1994 series starring the WJZ  Eyewitness News team in Baltimore.  (To see the musical theme piece that establishes the series, click here.)

While the WJZ campaign benefited from a well-lit film shoot and custom post-scored music, the basic format is one that almost every station could emulate. The spots are built around the spoken memories of the news talent themselves, smartly prompted to include treasured holiday memories that Baltimore viewers were sure to recognize.

Another affordable strategy: take the station’s theme music, or even a holiday standard, and have a good singer perform it on camera, replete with festive images shot all around town. This adaptation of Frank Gari’s syndicated “Hello (Milwaukee)” theme rang in the holidays for Hearst’s WISN in 1985.

To be fair, a number of today’s stations find other ways to make a big deal of the holidays, often on behalf of charity. Just two weeks ago we profiled Gannett’s WZZM in Grand Rapids and its award-winning Toys for Tots drive.

And my alma mater, CBS’s KDKA Pittsburgh, has been raising money for Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh since it signed on as a DuMont Network station in 1948.

Regular viewers of Peacock flagship WNBC New York have come to expect the annual primetime special that celebrates the lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree.

But with Christmas just two weeks away, I’ve given up hoping for a Christmas version of their revitalized "We’re 4 New York" campaign, although I’m still hopeful they’ll honor their other annual tradition, an irony-free holiday song performed on camera by all station personnel.

By the way, if we’re overlooking a holiday campaign on your air this month, we’d love to know about it, especially if you can provide a link to watch examples online.

In the meantime, here are a few more holiday video treats to remind us all how well it can be done:

• This award-winning Christmas animation by cartoonist R.O. Blechman ran for years on CBS, beginning in 1966. A 60-second interstitial! What would Sumner Redstone say?
  
  
• Perhaps the best holiday-themed commercial of all time. A surprise visit by a prodigal son, bearing Folger’s Coffee.
  
  
• Billy Ingram’s treasure-laden Web site tvparty.com currently features a cornucopia of Christmas-themed ads, and clips from holiday specials both classic and lamentable, including this rare excerpt from the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special. It must be seen to be believed.

Every Monday Market Share by Arthur Greenwald showcases another winning station sales and marketing promotion. So what’s going on at your station promotion-wise, sales-wise, and marketing-wise? There’s a three wise men joke in there somewhere. While we search for it, let us know what you’re up to. Write to Arthur at greenwald@tvnewsday.com.