WPVI Grateful For Philly’s Turkey Day Parade

When the 6abc Dunkin’ Donuts Thanksgiving Day Parade, now in its 94^th year, kicks off tomorrow morning at 9 o’clock on the streets of Philadelphia, it will continue its reign as the longest-running Thanksgiving Day Parade in America. But it almost wasn’t to be.

The idea for the parade originated with Gimbel’s Department Store in 1920. Rumor has it that when Macy’s saw what the parade was doing for Gimbel’s sales, it followed with its own parade in New York City in 1924. But when Gimbel’s closed down in 1986, the Philadelphia parade almost went with it.

That’s when ABC O&O WPVI (6abc) and its corporate sponsors stepped in to not only broadcast the parade, but produce it in its entirety.

“We organize everything from the porta-potties to security to the helium balloons,” says April Carty-Sipp, WPVI’s director of programming. “It’s a very interesting process.”

More than a half-million people watched the parade last year on WPVI, according to Carty-Sipp.

Watch the WPVI Thanksgiving Day Parade:

“It’s one of the biggest days of the year for the station,” says Tom Davis, WPVI’s news director. “It extends our brand. It shows how important community is to us. And consistently doing it every year, our viewers expect that of us.”

Mike Monsell, WPVI’s creative services director, estimates the station commits $250,000 to $500,000 of the station’s on-air inventory to promote the parade. “It’s a Philadelphia tradition, and a priority for us every year.”

More than 10,000 people participate in the parade, including volunteers, marchers, dancers, singers and performers. This year, the parade features 14 balloons, 15 floats, and 17 marching bands from across the country as well as stars from stage and screen.

The WPVI Thanksgiving Day Parade Volunteers:

 “We produce it with the support of WPVI. Every department is touched by the event and every single person in the station plays a role,” says Maria DiBenedetto of Uniquely Philadelphia, one of three outside companies the station uses to help produce the event. John Best of Best Productions and Todd Marcocci of Under the Sun Productions are the others.

When I asked DiBenedetto what was the hardest part of producing the parade in the 15 years she’s been doing it, she says, “to improve it each year.”

DiBenedetto says the station did research a couple years ago, looking at every single minute and how the viewership changed. “We adapted and shortened our production numbers down to 2 minutes.”

The biggest changes from 15 years ago?

“We wanted more children to participate. We added 700 tap dancers and a choir with more than 1,000 members from schools and churches. There’s not a dry eye when that choir sings,” DiBenedetto adds.

This year, WPVI debuts what it’s calling “Virtual View” to its broadcast. 

WPVI Thanksgiving Day Parade, Virtual View:

Davis says it’s the direct contact his people have with parade goers that’s important to him. During the parade, one camera follows Action News meteorologist Adam Joseph as he works the crowd, giving away coffee and donuts.

“It’s a mirror of who we are, two traditions, watching Action News and watching the parade.”

When I ask Monsell how the parade adds to the station’s brand, he says: “Lots of TV stations talk about being involved in the community but we walk the walk. I bet every other TV station in town wishes they had the parade.”

Over the years, through trial and error and with the help of others, I developed a criteria to help stations maximize its community involvement and get credit for it.

In some markets, the No. 1 reason viewers gave as their decision to watch the news in that market was how involved the station was in the community. Whether that’s a reason in your market or not, most stations are actively involved in their communities, but struggle to get credit for it.

There are lessons we can all learn from WPVI’s association with the Thanksgiving Day Parade:

• Make it a priority for your station.
• Own it or co-own it. 
• Do it consistently every year.

(Editor’s Note: Paul Greeley has been a freelance writer/producer in the creative services department at WPVI Philadelphia.)

Market Share by Paul Greeley is all about marketing and promotion at TV stations and appears every Monday. Greeley has more than 20 years of experience in local TV marketing. He’s been a writer, producer, editor, creative services director and VP of marketing for a top-20 broadcast company and has experience in markets large and small. Read other Market Share columns here. If you have some ideas or stories you want to share, please let him know. You can reach Greeley at [email protected] or at 817-578-6324.