Can TiVo Go Prime Time?

Step One: Make Claims That Connect

A quick primer on TiVo: It's essentially a giant hard drive in a box that hooks up to your TV, a cable or satellite feed, and a phone line. Using the phone line, TiVo dials in to a server to collect information about what shows are on when. Then, from the couch, you use the TiVo remote control to navigate the schedule, selecting shows that you'd like to record. You can even tell TiVo to record every new episode of The Sopranos that airs over the course of a season. Unlike a VCR, certain versions of TiVo can record two shows that happen to air simultaneously.

You can also use TiVo to put a show "on pause" while you answer the door -- and return to it without missing a thing. And if you let TiVo store the first 15 minutes of a show before you start watching it, you can skip through the commercials. On its lower-quality setting, the Series2 can record up to 60 hours of programming. There are countless auxiliary functions as well. TiVo can track what types of shows you watch frequently and suggest others that you might enjoy.

But here's the rub: There's a big difference between what TiVo can do and what even the most accomplished couch potato has the energy to learn how to do. Most people aren't really itching to change their viewing habits -- even if there's no doubt that new habits would vastly improve their experience. "There's tremendous inertia associated with watching TV," explains Brodie Keast, a TiVo senior vice president who spent 10 years in product marketing at Apple. "There's no other human behavior that's as entrenched. We've been watching TV the same way our whole lives."

Convincing consumers that there is, in fact, a better way to watch TV is a big part of Keast's job. "When I first started here, people would say, 'Oh, TiVo. They make those great sandals,' " he recalls. Since then, he has been trying to hone how TiVo tells its story and explains what its product can do -- all without the multimillion-dollar marketing budget that was slashed in deference to Wall Street's demands for financial performance. "We're trying to build a new category and brand and change human behavior on a mass scale. We're also trying to do those things on a shoestring budget," Keast explains.

Initially, the company tried to avoid comparing its product to a VCR. "People don't like their VCRs, because they don't know how to use them," Keast says. "They don't understand why they should want another VCR, even if it is a glorified VCR."

TiVo's original position was that the device was like having your own TV network where you get to decide what's on and when. "But there was no context," says Keast, recalling the shortcomings of that message. "People said, 'What the hell are you talking about? Personal TV network? Huh?' "

Keast caved in on the VCR comparison. Now the positioning statement says that TiVo is like a VCR, except that it digitally records your favorite shows on a hard drive, letting you watch them whenever you want. "There were questions about using the word 'digital,' " Keast says. "We worried that people might envision their TVs crashing. But our market research found that people were comfortable with it. They figure that if it's digital, it's good."

TiVo doesn't have the money to shout its carefully crafted message from the rooftops, so the company has decided to focus instead on strategic whispering campaigns. Keast has worked to put TiVo sets into the hands of Hollywood celebs and sports stars such as Jay Leno, Joe Montana, and Rosie O'Donnell. "These are people who are influential with consumers and who have a big impact on pop culture," Keast says. "It's incredibly valuable to have them talking about TiVo in a positive way." In exchange, the company sometimes asks celebs for photos or endorsements, some of which appear on its Web site.

TiVo also tries to foster word of mouth among its less-renowned users. The company encourages TiVo owners to host what might be dubbed "TiVo-ware parties," bringing together friends for an event like the Grammys, the start of the NFL season, or the season opener of a hot show. TiVo-ware parties give nonusers the chance to experience some of TiVo's features, such as pausing the show or rewinding it for an instant replay. TiVo sometimes creates special content around a big event, such as the Super Bowl or the Oscars, that only TiVo owners can watch.

"We want our prospects to get to experience the product in a comfortable environment from people they trust," Keast says. TiVo-ware parties are more low-key than their Tupperware-oriented predecessors, however. "The TiVo owner doesn't have a sales quota," Keast says. "The evening doesn't end with, 'Can I take your order, please?' "