Overview: Time Warner Cable – through their ad agencies Evantus and OMD – hired Jigsaw Media to produce a grassroots custom content program as part of their back-to-school college strategy in the Midwest.

Challenge: Reach college students who live off-campus with a unique media vehicle that would promote various Time Warner Cable offerings and push for signups via special offers. The competition for these students is fierce with cable and various satellite options all vying for the same business. Targeted schools included Ohio State, Nebraska, Cincinnati, University of Wisconsin (four campuses), University of Missouri at Kansas City among others.

Solution: Jigsaw Media created a magazine titled FRONT ROW that featured customized storylines of direct interest to the college-age demographic. All advertising within was owned by Time Warner Cable and the piece was distributed at twelve schools within the TWC footprint as a newspaper FSI within the school newspapers and via street team during on-campus events (football games, campus bookstores, welcome back events, etc.)

• Cover story featured ESPN's Michelle Beadle, who is the co-host of SportsNation – the #1 ranked ESPN show in the 18-24 year-old demo. Interview and photo shoot took place at Jigsaw Media offices in SONO Studios, Norwalk, CT.
• Secondary stories included interviews with former Ohio State and Tennessee Titans star Eddie George and Rolling Stone Editor Austin Scaggs.
• Each version of the magazine was customized through the use of school colors on the cover and internal TWC ads.
• Strategic use of advertising inventory allowed TWC to promote their most important products (Roadrunner High Speed Internet, Movies On Demand and Digital Cable) within a competitor-free publication custom created for the college demo.

A closer look at FRONT ROW Magazine...