Missouri Fox affiliate had the best local Super Bowl promo

The Super Bowl brings a lot of eyeballs to a local station. And for Fox 5 (KRBK) in Springfield, MO, it was hoping to take advantage of the large audience to re-introduce itself. The station had become a Fox affiliate just five years ago, but the station’s execs acknowledge that viewers may think they’re still watching the old Fox station. Airing in prime broadcast real estate just before Lady Gaga’s halftime concert, Fox 5 gave itself an opportunity to establish its base.

The station’s creative services director told Broadcasting & Cable magazine that they wanted to use the promo to let viewers know which station they’re watching:

“One of the things we are trying to overcome is getting people to know who we are,” creative services director George Davis said. Five years after becoming Springfield’s Fox affiliate, it’s not unusual for viewers to think they are still watching the former Fox affiliate, KSFX—whose call letters don’t even exist anymore. That KYTV, Gray’s NBC affiliate, is a “powerhouse station,” doesn’t help, either, he says.

And so the station decided to film the promo in areas that are well-known to Springfield residents including the town’s Fox Theater. In addition, it used talk show host Jeff Houghton to tell viewers they were watching the game on Fox 5.

As we have seen with Super Bowl ads, sometimes humor is the best way to stand out and the video of Houghton leading a crowd of people walking through Springfield has gone viral and received positive feedback on the station’s Facebook page.

Here’s the video:

https://youtu.be/HenEm9rz0jA

Fox 5 is hoping that the publicity will bring more awariness to their station and the video may have done its job.

[Broadcasting & Cable]