In July 2004, Sprayette SA of Buenos Aires teamed with Solo Tango, a cable channel devoted to this mid-19th century dance, to create instructional videos/DVDs for beginners and avid enthusiasts. The partnership led to a DRTV campaign that included successful short-form spots.
By Vitisia Paynich
The tango is a passionate dance that tells a story through movement and music. It's an artistic and dramatic expression that continually attracts millions worldwide. Even countries like France have historically adopted the tango--incorporating the movements into their own Parisian-style dance. Given the interest level in this seductive art form, Sprayette SA in Buenos Aires, Argentina, saw a prime opportunity to bring this popular type of dancing to the local consumer market via direct response television (DRTV).
The direct response company partnered with Solo Tango Television Network, a 24-hour dance cable channel. The programming was perfectly suited for VHS/DVD products, especially as instructional content. This led to the creation of a short-form DRTV campaign.
"Sprayette started in 1977 with direct response in Argentina," explains Guido Michanie, manager, media and product strategies for Sprayette, "not with DRTV but direct response in print advertising and catalogs."
In 1989, Michanie says the deregulation of television broadcasting stations in the country prompted Sprayette to establish the first DRTV company in Argentina. "Since then, we have had more than 70 percent of the DRTV media in our power," he notes. What's more, Sprayette has evolved into a full-service company offering multi-channel marketing services to clients.
"We are involved with the Internet, e-mail, e-commerce and direct mailing, catalog, and outbound services," says Michanie. "We also offer outbound services to Spain, the rest of Latin America and the U.S. Hispanic market."
DANCE PARTNERS
Solo Tango Television Network is a very popular cable channel that was launched 10 years ago in Argentina. Every day, television viewers are entertained by programming created by some of the top dancers as well as musicians in the tango profession.
Realizing a potential customer base comprised of fans of the network and the ability for them to access more TV content as well as videos to actually learn how to dance the tango, Michanie and Sprayette approached network executives with a business proposition. "So, we went to them and [said], "Why don't we put together a tango collection and market it on TV?' They were very enthusiastic about the project," Michanie recalls. The next step was to go over Sprayette's ideas and give the go-ahead to the DR company to create a full-fledge marketing campaign.
He adds, "It was really easy for us to [put together] a show because it was already produced. We had the demonstrations and we had the orchestra, so we only had to put [the content] on DVD and VHS."
MAKING BEAUTIFUL MUSIC
Solo Tango gathered the best footage to produce the video collection, which was named "This Is the Way to Dance Tango" (Asi se Baila el Tango). The content included techniques for learning the tango, as well as another type of dance called the milonga. World-renowned tango dancers Osvaldo Zotto and Mora Godoy appear in the tango instructional videos. Fans of the Solo Tango Television Network were already familiar with Zotto and Godoy as network regulars. Complementing the dancing is the music by Ryota Komatsu and Orquesta del Tengo de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires City Orchestra). In addition, popular dancers Pepito and Suzuki Avellaneda appear in the milonga videos. Sprayette put together an eight-piece package that included five tango DVDs/videos and three milonga DVDs/videos.
The first spot launched on-air in July 2004. "We started to test the market and as soon as we put the spot on the air, it worked fantastically," says Michanie. "There are a lot of tango fans out there and when you have a network that's the best, [the product] would likely be a success."
He adds that once they knew the product was a winner, they moved forward with the full DRTV campaign. Sprayette produced 60-second, 90-second and 120-second spots for the tango products. Besides the dancers, the music was key to gaining consumer response. "The music was the star of the show," he affirms. According to Michanie, the spots ranked in the top five among short-form products.
He adds, "We had it on the air for two months with very good exposure. And after that, we slowed down the exposure because it was a more targeted product." The product was marketed to consumers 30 years old and older.
MINOR CHANGES
For the most part, Michanie says the project went quite smoothly. Sprayette handled both the product's front-end and backend, which included inbound and outbound services. The only part that was modified was the offer.
"We started with one offer that worked, but we wanted to make it work better," he notes. "So, we started to think about what we could do to maximize the offer." In the end, the company upped the ante by offering one more video free of charge.
The marketing campaign wasn't limited to DRTV. Consumers were also encouraged to visit the company's web site to purchase the video collection online. Although Michanie says he cannot reveal sales data, he does admit that Internet sales for the tango videos have accounted for 5 percent of the TV sales.
What's next for the tango video collection? Michanie contends there's enough interest in the tango to market it globally. He explains, "In January, we're going to launch the international offer at the ERA conference in Miami."
| A History of the Tango |
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When picturing the tango, most people might envision elegant and glamorous dancers on a ballroom floor donning flowing gowns and tuxedos. However, this famous dance actually began in the lower tiers of Argentine society. During the 1880s, Europeans and Africans immigrated to Buenos Aires, settling in the outer areas of the city. Lonely and displaced from their homelands, many gravitated toward the brothels or portenos to drown their sorrows in alcohol while seeking companionship.
Within this cultural melting pot, the tango was born. Musical historians have long disagreed about its early beginnings; however, most contend that the tango was a multi-cultural creation of music and dance that evolved from the rhythms created by African slaves (the candombe) who beat on their drums, called tan-go, and the milonga that integrates Indian and Spanish music. Others argue that the term tango originates from the Latin word tangere (to touch).
These poor immigrants used a combination of dance and music to create a form of expression--mainly to escape the loneliness and feeling of alienation. Although the tango is considered the ultimate expression of love and passion, it was also performed to communicate feelings of frustration, sorrow and pain. What's more, the tango dance served as a way to act out the relationship, which during its early beginnings, was regarded as overly sexual or obscene.
 As the tango moved into the 20th century, it underwent a renaissance of sorts when it was introduced to Parisians. The dance moved toward the upper echelon of society, while being performed in front of wealthy onlookers throughout Paris in the cabarets and theaters. During the late 1930s, the tango in Argentina became a symbol of political freedom and solidarity.
Today, the tango is regarded as a sophisticated and expressive art form enjoyed by many people of all ages and of diverse cultures. |
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