ING Group NV is again testing ways to sell to Americans while they are fast-forwarding past ING commercials.
On Dec. 31 its ING Bank FSB of Wilmington, Del., which runs the all-Internet ING Direct operation in this country, started using two of the tools — “branded tags” and “gold star” — that TiVo Inc. has developed to solve a marketing puzzle it made tougher.
Though several financial companies — including E-Trade Financial Corp., American Express Co., Visa U.S.A., and Charles Schwab Corp. — had already used versions of one or the other, ING was the first to use both in the current form, TiVo said.
A “branded tag” is a stationary blurb that floats in the corner of the screen during a commercial on playback through a TiVo digital recorder. When the viewer fast-forwards and the action of the commercial goes into overdrive, the inviting blurb is unchanged.
In the ING campaign that began Dec. 31 and ran through Sunday, the branded-tag ad read: “Open an ING Direct Orange Savings Account and get a $25 bonus.”
A “gold star” ad is a choice on the main menu from which users program their TiVo machines. Only one gold-star ad is offered at a time; the service rotates through several companies’ ads.
ING’s gold-star ad read: “Here’s $25 from ING Direct to get the ball rolling ... .”
Viewers who pushed a remote-control button to choose ING’s branded-tag or the gold-star ad were taken to a screen where they could select from several choices. They could ask for ads to watch; learn how to apply for an account over the Internet (to a special Web site, so the bank could evaluate the TiVo campaign); or ask to be mailed marketing materials and applications.
Todd Sandler, the head of deposit services at ING Bank, said Friday that it was too soon to fully gauge the effectiveness of the promotion. One reason, he said, is that ING is mailing applications this week to people who asked for them through the TiVo service. (It is using special envelopes that tell the recipients they requested the mailing.)
But Mr. Sandler said the early days of the promotion suggest that acquiring a customer costs 35% less through the twin TiVo features than through traditional marketing approaches such as TV ads.
An advertiser using the branded-tag ads must send the commercials to TiVo before they are dubbed and distributed, so TiVo can set its boxes to recognize them, Mr. Sandler said.
“It’s an extra step, but it’s worth it,” he said.
ING advertised through TiVo last March, but using only the gold-star menu ad.
TiVo sells a downloaded program schedule and digital recorders. It also licenses its technology to manufacturers. It said last fall that it had more than 4 million subscribers.
TiVo subscribers are the kind of tech-savvy consumers likeliest to use an all-Internet banking service like ING Direct, Mr. Sandler said. The challenge is persuading them to watch the ads.
TiVo marketing is unique because people choose to receive it, he said. “They are making that specific decision at that specific time” and can act immediately if they like what they see.
TiVo, of Alviso, Calif., introduced branded tags in July. (Unbranded tags, which do not mention the company and simply ask people to press a button for more information, have been available longer. )
E-Trade and American Express, both of New York, ran branded-tag promotions in August. Visa used gold-star menu ads during the 2004-2005 football season. Schwab was the first financial company to advertise on TiVo; it used menu ads and unbranded tags during the 2004 U.S. Open, Ms. Kent said.
A spokeswoman for E-Trade said it plans to use TiVo’s branded tags again sometime this quarter. Spokespeople at Visa, and Schwab did not reply to inquiries, and Amex did not provide someone to discuss the TiVo ads before press time.
Ms. Kent said financial companies have not been big TiVo advertisers. Most TiVo ads sell automobiles or movies, she said; marketers think viewers will want to see an extensive pitch for a car or an exciting movie trailer. But financial companies tend to doubt that their commercials will hold the viewer for long, she said.
TiVo is working with banking and brokerage companies to make their ads more enticing to TiVo users, she said. It is an attractive market, she said, because half of TiVo households make $100,000 or more.
Another attraction, she said, is that “everything’s trackable on TiVo,” so ING will get a report on which of its ads consumers clicked most often.
Robert Passikoff, the president of the New York branding company Brand Keys Inc., expressed skepticism about ING’s TiVo advertising. “You’ve just got to wait and see if anyone signs up,” he said.
