What Michael Jackson taught me about marketing: The Art of Reach & Frequency
Back in 2010, a young sprightly executive with big dreams found himself staring at a marketing challenge: how do we make Sony PIX’s premiere of “This Is It” - Michael Jackson’s posthumous documentary - a ratings hit? PIX had already delivered a smashing performance with Slumdog Millionaire. Expectations were sky-high, and as the junior-most member of the team, I had a chance to experiment and learn on the fly.
Through some old-school data analysis I discovered something powerful about reach and frequency that still guides my campaigns today.
Our secret weapon was PIX’s signature “single scene promo” - full 90-second clips from the film (imagine that luxury in today’s 5-second attention economy!). My analysis showed that high-frequency advertising early in a campaign builds initial reach, but you need to continuously add new audiences to maximize impact.
So we orchestrated a symphony of content: 10-second teasers built early awareness, 30-second exclusives deepened interest, 20-second contests drove engagement, and those magnificent 90-second single scenes delivered the emotional punch.
The strategy? Build hype with teasers for 15 days, then unleash exclusive promos and single scenes. In the final 10 days, we reversed course: more quick teasers and fewer long scenes. We frontloaded emotion, then optimized for reach.
The result? “This Is It” became one of the most-watched non-fiction English movies on Indian TV at that time.
This principle translates perfectly to today’s digital landscape. Think about your social campaigns - how often do you start with your best creative, only to see engagement drop? Instead, consider this:
-> Phase 1: Quick, thumb-stopping content to establish presence. On YouTube, short non-skippable ads (6s) work much like our initial 10s teasers, driving quick awareness without losing attention.
-> Phase 2: Deep, value-rich content to build emotional connection. leverage sequential messaging. Platforms like Meta and Google allow you to retarget audiences with sequential ads, guiding them through a journey much like our phased promo strategy.
-> Phase 3: Return to quick, action-oriented content with clear CTAs. Don’t forget Frequency Capping. Ensuring that ads are seen enough to build recall but not so much that they lead to fatigue—a digital marketer’s version of scaling back the 90s promos.
I’ve seen this exact framework deliver for streaming platforms, where we start with character teasers, progress to scene previews, then finish with “streaming now” urgency messages.
The fundamental truth doesn’t change: reach without frequency falls flat, but frequency without expanding reach just creates annoying ads. Balance creativity with analytics, and experiment fearlessly to hit the right notes!
What’s your experience balancing these elements in the digital space?
Let us talk more the comments on the right➡️
