Englewood Cliffs, N.J. — LG Electronics kicked off its new global integrated marketing campaign for “Full HD 1080p” flat-panel TVs, which will carry the “Don’t Just Watch It, Live It” tag line.
The company’s first fully integrated marketing campaign commences today in the United States and will extend through the Christmas selling season. The effort will also roll out to more than 70 countries over the next month, the company said.
LG Electronics will invest about $25 million in the United States and substantially more globally to highlight its 1080p LCD and plasma HDTVs.
“Last year’s campaign was considerably smaller from a dollars position and it was more of a branding campaign,” Allan Jason, LGE USA consumer electronics marketing VP, told TWICE. “Our spending this year is more than double the previous year, and there will be a number of components including online, retail and merchandising, which we will be developing further as the year goes on.”
Key elements of the campaign include a series of broadcast, print, outdoor and online advertisements in three creative concepts all featuring an LG Red Couch, which “serves as a symbol of the consumers’ all-encompassing high-definition viewing experience,” according to a statement announcing the effort.
The campaign also incorporates LG’s corporate sponsorship of the Cannes Film Festival and targeted public relations activities centered on LG’s 1080p flat-panel lines.
“The Red Couch campaign is a key initiative that addresses the growing high-definition market and the expansion of our HDTV product line,” stated Jason. “LG is a global leader in flat-panel HDTV technologies, and no company is better positioned to deliver the Full HD 1080p high-definition viewing experience.”
The global campaign, developed by Young & Rubicam’s BrandBuzz, was produced in high-definition and will make its network premiere in the U.S. today.
The U.S. broadcast spots will reach “all of the major networks,” and will include many of the leading cable networks including ESPN, CNN, TBS, TNT, The History Channel, National Geographic and others, said Jason.
LG has also selected many leading programs including CBS’s “Survivor,” “CSI,” and “Cold Case;” ESPN’s coverage of the NBA playoffs and the U.S. Golf Open at Winged Foot; NBC’s coverage of the The French Open; and FOX’s coverage of Major League Baseball, for example.
The ads will focus on two sports, leading off with golf and later adding a bobsledding spot in the fourth quarter. In both spots, consumers sitting on a Red Couch are placed in the middle of the action, capturing the realistic viewing experience of LG 1080p HDTVs, LG said.
Jason said bobsledding was selected for the second ad because “we liked the concept of the fast motion of the sled, which reminds me of a rollercoaster, and we thought it was the most visually compelling.”
The ad will feature a family sitting on a red couch as it is launched down a bobsled course.
LG said the spots were filmed on location in South Africa by director Paul Butterworth.
The television commercials will run globally throughout the summer and fall on primetime network and cable television, complemented by print ads in major consumer publications.
LG also will be launching a Red Couch online component where visitors can experience exclusive content and learn more about 1080p HDTV and LG’s Red Couch campaign.
“The Web is becoming increasingly important,” Jason told TWICE. “We will be developing a viral campaign, posting semi-exclusive content, placing information in a number of different places, all with the intent of engaging the consumer, and ultimately driving them back to our micro site.”
The micro site, which will launch in the next 10 days, features a room where visitors can view a host of rotating content, in addition to the LG ad spots, and an educational area featuring a “product configurator” that will help guide a consumer to the appropriate TV for their living conditions.
The viral campaign will be added to LG’s “traditional online media campaign,” which will also involve variations on the TV ads, Jason said.
LG is also finishing up details of an in-store promotional component to the campaign, Jason said. Some of the TV commercials will feature regional and national retailer tags.
On June 10, LG will launch a freestanding newspaper insert that highlights the ad campaign theme and features a host of LG 1080p LCD and plasma products. That will drop to about 10 million households across the country, Jason said.
LG will also run related ads in a wide range of national consumer sports enthusiast, lifestyle and shelter magazines, he added.
For 2007, LG is launching a dozen new Full HD models in the United States. The expanded 1080p lineup includes nine LCD HDTVs in screen sizes ranging from 37 inches to 52 inches, and three plasma models in 50-, 60- and 71-inch sizes.
“This is the first year that we have full distribution and cooperation with our retail partners to make this a good business decision for us, the industry and our retail partners,” Jason said. “Our intent is to drive consumers into retail to purchase LG TVs and the consumer has a whole range of options of where they can buy an LG TV this year.”
