Our goals for this effort relied less on traditional communication measurement and more on delivering ESPN’s marketing goals of serving sports fans, promoting tune-in of ESPN programming, providing sports information and reinforcing the ESPN brand.The 150 taxis currently deployed equates to a 20 showing, meaning ESPN reaches 1.75 million New Yorkers in the metropolitan area every single day. Additionally, through the national and local television, newspaper and magazine coverage the taxis have garnered, our delivery has far exceeded any planned goals. Due to television network policies of refusing to promote competitive networks, ESPN’s media plan was concentrated on one-dimensional out-of-home and print. These media vehicles are limited in their ability to communicate the multi-dimensional energy and enthusiasm of sports and ESPN. So, the media group decided to take the sports ticker, a typical, sports-oriented media form that is featured prominently on ESPN and ESPN.com, in the form of Luminated Electronic Display (LED), and install them in unexpected places around New York City. The LEDs would display real-time sports scores, promote tune-in of ESPN shows and include topical messages providing a more engaging, two-dimensional experience previously unavailable in out-of-home. We discovered a company, Adapt Media, who had the ability and technology to outfit taxi cabs with web-driven LEDs that are independently addressable and traceable by Global Positioning Systems (GPS). This means that when an ESPN taxi is in front of Madison Square Garden, where the New York Knicks basketball team plays, the LED reads “WATCH SPORTSCENTER FOR KNICKS HIGHLIGHTS TONIGHT AT 11.”Initially, 10 taxis were installed with LEDs in March of 2001 to satisfy the New York Taxi and Limousine Commission pilot program. However, the ESPN taxis garnered such positive press, they were easily approved and welcomed by the commission. Currently, there are 150 deployed and we are planning on rolling into other US markets including Boston, San Francisco and Miami. This idea was created, developed and executed entirely by the media team. It wasn’t part of a formal brief and was a proactive initiative on behalf of the media group. The ESPN Ticker Taxis were borne of a thorough understanding of the client’s business and creative, innovative, media thinking. ESPN has significant promotional barriers on competitive outlets. The media team pioneered the solution of engineering a media form that met all of ESPN’s marketing needs. This submission is truly unique, taking a traditional, static media form and converting it into a revolutionary, unconventional vehicle that is contributing to the transformation of out-of-home media in the United States. While previous taxi tops were commonplace, low interest, and lost in the cluttered backdrop of New York City, the ESPN Ticker Taxis break through, command attention and engage consumers in a compelling, relevant manner.

For ESPN, the Ticker Taxis are a grand slam. These taxis accomplish all of their marketing goals in one place: branding, promoting tune-in and providing sports information in the largest TV market. Most importantly, ESPN exists to serve sports fans and New Yorkers are notoriously vigilant about their teams and difficult to please. By adopting yellow cabs, patently New York icons, ESPN is part of the fabric of New York, resonating with both Yankees and Mets fans alike.

Local and national features on CNN, New York Post, Daily News, New York Times, Advertising Age, Adweek and local news stations are certainly testaments to the taxis’ success. And local ratings, which are ESPN’s barometer, for the programming the taxis have supported (i.e., SportsCenter, X Games) have increased 6%-11% and aggregate ratings consistently out deliver the national average.

The media team engineered a concept-driven, multi-media approach incorporating completely original media forms and placement tactics. While the initial brief and concept called for television, radio and print, the media group adopted the concept and transformed it into a non-conventional, multi-media program.

It was the media insights into the category and the audience that led to a dramatically successful, media-driven campaign. In a departure from standard agency protocol, when media forms and placements were created, creative executions were designed to accommodate each media form.