"News . . . never . . . stops," the announcer raps. Jazzy techno music thumps. Cameras pan on the station's chopper and news van. Quick cuts of anchors and reporters on the go at night. And u-n-f-o-l-d-i-n-g in glittering fonts: "The News Station."
It's WHDH-TV's new 30-second news promotion, or image spot, and it's one of many that have been airing the past few weeks. As local stations have been duking it out in the highly competitive February sweeps period, which ends today, their creative services divisions have been redoing their promos to flaunt what they're all about.
Now playing on WFXT-TV (Channel 25): Maria Stephanos, Mark Ockerbloom, and fellow anchors floating in giant saucer-shapes as an announcer boasts that the station has "more hours of news than any other local station." Starring on WCVB-TV (Channel 5): Harvey Leonard and Dick Albert intensely studying the station's high-definition weather technology as an ominous voice promises "local live coverage you can count on."
Producing a news promo is a daily task for creative service directors and their teams, the in-house advertising departments for the news stations, and the sweeps periods are their busiest times.
"It's about attracting eyeballs and keeping them," says Frederic Brunel, a marketing professor and consumer psychologist at Boston University. "You keep reminding people what you do for them so they don't take you for granted."
Stations use news promos to build viewer awareness and get people to tune in. Like action-packed movie trailers, the spots feature twirling, spinning, in-your-face graphics and dramatic music.
Some take unconventional approaches. WBZ (Channel 4) recently began broadcasting its newest promo, "As Curious As You Are," with a solemn montage of news events in Boston set to bagpipes and the music of the Dropkick Murphys.
"Promotionally, we are not so traditional," says Wendy McMahon, creative services director at WBZ, where she produces about 500 promos during a sweeps period. "We've made a conscious decision to be viewer-focused in our promos. Does it respect the viewer's intelligence and is it conversational? Does it make you want to know more?"
For image promotions such as WHDH's "News Never Stops" video, creative service workers can spend two to three months to shoot and edit. Topical promotions, pegged to news, are done daily, says Steve McDonald, vice president of creative services for WHDH (Channel 7).
"To us, it's an ongoing image campaign every day," he says.
Susan Pascal, vice president of creative services at Fox 25, remembers producing 540 promos during one sweeps period. "We constantly keep the viewer aware of what you are doing and it's a lot of work," she says. "It's always communicating a clear message" - what the station wants viewers to remember.
Johnny Diaz can be reached at jodiaz@globe.com.
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