Just as the way viewers watch content has evolved across numerous platforms, so too has the way brands and marketers connect with their audience.
Effectv, the advertising sales division of Comcast Cable, broke away from offering traditional advertising solutions, evolving its products to empower advertisers with more data-driven capabilities and advanced technology than ever before to reach audiences wherever they’re watching content. No longer was the company focused on outdated spot-cable delivery; now, it delivered results for advertisers using the power of multi-screen television.
And as a result, it needed to change its brand to reflect this mission. Therefore, the company set out to change its former name of Comcast Spotlight, along with its logo and brand identity, to signal to the industry, marketers, employees, and clients that it was doubling down on the power of TV.
As the first step in its rebrand, Comcast Spotlight developed a name that reflected its new goal of redefining TV as an intelligent and precise medium that delivered results for clients. And that name was right in front of its eyes: Effectv (pronounced “e-FEC-tiv”). The name and its unique spelling highlight the effectiveness of TV as the world’s most powerful advertising medium, as well as putting emphasis on the company’s focus on attribution and performance.
Next, the company created an eye-catching, symbolic logo to match its name. The slanted, lower-case letters reflect the personality of the new brand: modern and bold, yet optimistic and relatable. The purposeful connection of the letters ‘t’ and ‘v’ place a subtle emphasis on the platform. The open-ended frame represents the ever-evolving innovation of television screens. And finally, the color spectrum is derived from the Comcast-NBC Universal logo, which includes the iconic NBC peacock design that first debuted in 1956.
Finally, the company developed a brand identity that ties the name and logo together in a way that is both meaningful and unique. To convey a brand that is fresh, innovative, and empowering, Effectv uses audience segments across all creative. These audience segments – such as Power Elites, Young City Solos, and Golden Year Guardians – are consumer personas that advertisers can target using Effectv’s products. By highlighting these audiences and framing them within the Effectv logo, the company brings a much-needed humanizing and one-of-a-kind approach to the adtech and media industries.
The rebrand from Comcast Spotlight to Effectv was a significant transformation of one of the industry’s largest TV advertising companies, and therefore needed to be loudly announced from the outset. The new brand was officially revealed in November 2019, anchored by a launch event at Studio 8H in Rockefeller Center that was attended by hundreds of employees, clients, and key industry professionals, and live-streamed to Effectv’s 160+ offices across the country.
Upon the new brand reveal, Effectv’s social channels went live. Handles, skins, headers, and all other social creative were updated to reflect the new brand. Captivating content was posted from the beginning to coincide with media outlets breaking the news. This content included new imagery and creative that explained the meaning behind the new name, exciting sizzle videos that further brought the brand to life, and a recap video that captured the energy and excitement of the launch event.
The hashtag #WowEffectv was created to express and record the enthusiasm of employees and clients as the brand rolled out across the country. Multiple launch events were held in key markets – from San Francisco to Chicago – in the weeks following the rebrand announcement. Attendees at each event, including celebrity guests, used the hashtag on social media platforms, increasing the visibility of the new brand.
To advertise its new name, Effectv launched a paid media campaign, debuting TV commercials nationwide. Additionally, eye-catching print ads ran on key websites like AdAge.com and TheDrum.com
The brand launch announcement was heard far and wide. Industry enthusiasm was at a high. Brand sentiment, strong with Effectv’s social media engagement, saw followers grow nearly 5%. All 24,000 LinkedIn followers, 26,000 Facebook followers, 11,000 Twitter followers, and nearly 2,000 Instagram followers were retained and migrated to new Effectv-branded channels and pages. In the ten days following the launch, Effectv gained nearly 1,000 new followers, and saw 15,176 clicks and engagements and 67,900 video views. Effectv was mentioned on Twitter by many key accounts, including but not limited to: Ad Age (984,000 followers); brand expert Anthony Miyazaki (143,000 followers); MediaPost (114,000 followers); and Broadcasting & Cable (21,000 followers).
Additionally, within Effectv’s employee-driven social advocacy platform, rebrand-specific content was shared nearly 1,000 times across all social platforms, garnering one million impressions, 2,500 clicks, and 2,200 reactions.
Lastly, 20+ major media outlets covered the rebrand. The Effectv website saw a 160%+ increase in direct traffic, gaining more than 40% new users.
The word was out: there was a “new” player in the advertising world making a splash and delivering results for marketers. This rebrand was truly “Effectv.”
