Is This Needed?

his past fall, TiVo introduced the perfect, long awaited companion for the TV junkie's high definition television: the TiVo HD. But being the fun, quirky, exciting brand that it is, TiVo wanted to create some serious buzz around the highly anticipated, $299 offering, aligning the box's launch with the availability of Rhapsody Music service on TiVo. Ruder Finn answered the challenge with a seven-week "Perfect Companion" launch campaign starring the nation's favorite matchmaker: Chris Harrison, longtime host of The Bachelor, and eventually nailing more than 90 million impressions in a few short weeks.

The Companion campaign kicked off in late September with the tongue-in-cheek "Hook Up With TiVo" contest, encouraging TiVo-tees to submit their very own personal ads on behalf of their lonely HD television sets in search of an understanding TiVo HD. The team also "hooked up" top technology writers and influencers with brand new review units in order for them to test the new HD system.

The following week, just days before The Bachelor's eleventh edition premier, Harrison appeared on a national satellite media tour to talk about the qualities people look for in their perfect companion, drawing on the oftentimes humorous experiences of past Bachelor and Bachelorette contestants and making the link to TiVo's contest. Harrison's rose-ceremony banter helped land the brand more than six million impressions in many of TiVo's core local markets. The highlight of the program, however, was Harrison's TV HD DR giveaway, and visit to the set of The View to gossip with Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg.

The culmination of the program was an invitation-only, star-studded night at Arena Nightclub in New York City, with Chris Harrison hosting a Rhapsody demonstration and a live performance by Fountains of Wayne, of "Stacey's Mom" fame. Guests, including approximately 50 top-tier reporters, enjoyed an opportunity to rub shoulders with TiVo CEO Tom Rogers and enjoy TiVo HD Crystal Clear Cosmopolitans and the Rhapsody Rhaps-a-Tini Cocktails. The event enjoyed nationwide pick-up in The New York Times and USA Today, even making The New York Post's Page Six the following morning. Overall, the program was a successful one with 2.75 million music subscribers using Rhapsody today and 25,709 signing up for free trial since the launch.