So where does DISH advertise more then just a token...

[fredp]

Gees, just how big is DTV's ad budget compared to E*? I realize both must target certain DMA's but at least in my neck of the woods first we had months of Alex Trebek followed by months of Thomas Haden Church voice for whole house DTV and now the Russiian with the bimbos and miniature giraffe. What does Charlie offer up..."lets watch some TV"... and that ad only three times..

Maybe Charlie needs to add some shock ads like sitting and petting a puppy followed by him saying "bad puppy, we are the leader in HD" while ripping its head off and looking into the camera. Oh crap, sorry PETA.

Again all in jest.

 

[Lkr]

E*'s ads have always seemed like they were produced by a high school television production class. They are worse quality than the filming local programming does. Not to mention they show them nonstop if you are an E* sub. I hardly see them now.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I know the guy who is in charge of the DISH ads.

He believes that the DISH ads are better because they are "honest" and more importantly not yelling at you.

So as long as he is there you won't see any flashy in your face ads.

While I haven't agreed with him on a number of things his ads have worked as shown by the earnings reports by beating DIRECTV in new subscribers over the past year. Obviously he knows better then me what works.

I should mention to be fair to all that the person we are talking about Ira Bahr is my boss at DISH and is the one who hired me to work on DISHsupport.COM.

 

[Ghpr13]

I'm a Dish Sub, but I love that tiny Giraffe in the new D* commercial!

Ghpr13

 

[yaz96]

You can be honest and still have a little pizazz.

 

[DishSubLA]

Put simply, Dish would probably use just as much celebrity endorsement as DirecTV, but Dish is a much smaller company and can't afford the hefty fees big stars demand. Dish did briefly foray into the "celebrity" waters by hiring Frank Caliendo as their pitch-man, but Dish can't afford more than that. The "honesty" argument cited as Dish's preference not to pay for big celebrity endorsements is something of sour grapes designed to not call attention to the fact that Dish can't afford top celebrity fees and in one Dish commercial even criticizes DirecTV for paying out big bucks for celebrities as one of the reasons DirecTV is more expensive in most cases when compared to Dish. Very much like how Dish referred to DirecTV's last multi-billion dollar agreement to the exclusive rights to NFL ST as "No Funds Left [NFL]," as if Dish wouldn't pay that if they could afford it, and given the chance. But you have to admire that Charlie won't put Dish is such a financial risk, and that is why Dish is doing so well: he won't bankrupt the company just to get rights to MLB IE, either.

Ergan himself has always been very honest about the fact that all the competition is much larger and has deeper pockets than Dish. However, Charlie is still competitive and Dish is doing quite well despite its much smaller size and budgets. Charlie's business acuman is what has take Dish very far and still able to compete with the much larger mega-conglomerate media companies that are his competition. He's that good.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

DISH can afford the big names... they just choose not to spend the money.

 

[HDRoberts]

He believes that the DISH ads are better because they are "honest" and more importantly not yelling at you.

I think he does have a point on honesty. Look at the latest ad where the imply you get 5 months "free" Premiere. Except they fail to mention you need the $300 NFL Sunday ticket. How is paying the equivalent of $60/month "free"? Not that Dish is perfect, but that is just an example of DirecTV seemingly stretching the truth a bit more than Dish does.

 

[rapidturtle]

I think he does have a point on honesty. Look at the latest ad where the imply you get 5 months "free" Premiere. Except they fail to mention you need the $300 NFL Sunday ticket. How is paying the equivalent of $60/month "free"? Not that Dish is perfect, but that is just an example of DirecTV seemingly stretching the truth a bit more than Dish does.

The Sunday ticket deal really is a great deal, if you are looking at D*. Lots of people go with them for the Sunday ticket alone, and getting the best package for 5 months is just icing on the cake.

 

[HDRoberts]

The Sunday ticket deal really is a great deal, if you are looking at D*. Lots of people go with them for the Sunday ticket alone, and getting the best package for 5 months is just icing on the cake.

Not if, like me, you could not care less about Sunday Ticket. Nice if you want that, but not that great of deal if you just want the programming. I'll stick with my $36/month Dish bill.

 

[lsilvest]

Let's see......

DVRs, FFW, Skip Forward.........What Commercials?

 

[rapidturtle]

Yeah, if you don't like football, not the time of year to sign with D*.

 

[bgee]

Dish is advertising on Yahoo. Every time I check my Yahoo mail with IE (no ad block), I see a Dish ad in the right sidebar.

 

[DishSubLA]

. . . And after exhaustive research Dish decided to have Frank Caliendo as its celebrity spokesperson because Frank is so well known and a big superstar house-hold name comedian who millions would instantly recognize and demand attention by the TV viewers because of his stature among show business talent, which had noting to do with the notion of "honesty."

"Honesty" is cheap and doesn't cost a lot of money that Dish truly doesn't have to blow on big time celebrity fees while being just as effective as a multi-million dollar fee celeb. Dish's best spokesman is Charlie who we need to see address the viewers in more commercials.

This is classic Dish, outspent and competing against the behemoth deep pocketed multi-media conglomerates, Dish OUT SMARTS and innovates with an efficient business and focuses on Dish's strengths, such as lower price and better value or better technology. Yes, Dish could decide to blow its money on multi-million dollar celebrity endorsements like DirecTV, but Dish has much more shallow pockets and it would leave Dish with much fewer financial resources for the company, unlike DirecTV and and the deep pocketed competition who have mountains of money to blow and still have lots left over for the company.

Charlie is "cheap" or frugal more out of necessity, than preference. He really is forced to make his comparatively fewer resources stretch much further, and he has done so magnificently throughout the years.

As Charlie himself said a few years ago: "For many years, if we [Dish/Echostar] made a million dollar mistake, we would be out of business [his competition could afford to make such a mistake]. Today, if we make a billion dollar mistake, we'll be OK."

Keep in mind that his competition (Liberty Media, Time-Warner, Comcast, et al.) can make several multi-billion dollar mistakes (such as Verizon's billions on FiOS roll-out that it now has suspended until they get more subscribers, but Verizon is not even close to going out of business; it would have bankrupt Dish) and still be OK.

Like him or not, I can't think of another CEO who can so effectively compete with fewer resources and political influence stacked against him (DirecTV under Rupert Murdoch rammed in the "all LIL's using a single dish" provision) and still grow the company than Charlie Ergan. It makes you wonder what he can do with DirectTV's or any of his other competitions resources. Then the Charlie haters would probably really hate Charlie.

 

[MikeD-C05]

Billion dollar mistake Charlie? How about all those high outrageous additional receiver fees? $17.00 ring a bell? I sure hope that DISH's churn rate went up on the last quarters financial earnings report. Then old Charlie can see his billion dollar mistake. I am sure that many subs dropped additional receivers on their accounts or they just plain canceled DISH out right.

 

[Slamminc11]

Billion dollar mistake Charlie? How about all those high outrageous additional receiver fees? $17.00 ring a bell? I sure hope that DISH's churn rate went up on the last quarters financial earnings report. Then old Charlie can see his billion dollar mistake. I am sure that many subs dropped additional receivers on their accounts or they just plain canceled DISH out right.

and I am guessing that things aren't going to be as doom and gloom as you and the bobs expect them to be...

 

[dish5150]

Dish needs to fire their marketing staff, I've seen waay better commercials/productions put out by high school students. Each time I see a dish commerical, I get a feeling only poor people or minority people get them for dish latino or dish international channels. in my mind the average american family gets direct or cable. I fit in the prime demographic target for marketing too

 

[MikeD-C05]

and I am guessing that things aren't going to be as doom and gloom as you and the bobs expect them to be...

Maybe not, but I can hope that Charlie reconsiders his rip off additional receiver fees can't I? I say increased churn or return to churn, might help him do that.