Digital has become a proxy term for an explosion of new marketing channels and techniques. Omni-channel, personalisation driven by big data, marketing automation and power plays between the providers of content, audiences and delivery define how consumers interact with companies. In the digital mix, where does direct marketing stand? Has the indisputable media platform of the 20th century been knocked off its throne by more subtle methods of audience outreach?
The spread of visual content streaming through Netflix and its imitators has sparked predictions of a future of thousands of internet TV channels where all television is viewed on demand. Recent statistics from Thinkbox show that in the UK it’s still far from the truth:
55 per cent of adults say they’ve only ever watched TV on a TV set, while 37 per cent of adults felt TV is where they’re most likely to find trustworthy advertising. Websites stand at 7 per cent, while search comes in at only 3 per cent. TV racks up impressive metrics in the report, and like Pay-Per-Click (PPC), can retain immense influence as a marketing channel.
Sky was the first to throw its hat into the ring. The viewing habits of its subscribers, as well as their purchasing habits, have been transformed by the new way to advertise on TV. As AdSmart uses Sky's data to target ads to specific households, the ads you see on Sky channels will be different to those seen by your next-door neighbour, even if they're watching the same programme. This enables advertisers to access specifically their target audience directly, while retaining the prestige of TV advertising.
Perhaps a group previously more comfortable advertising through Google, SMBs can now advertise on television in the knowledge they are reaching a specific audience and only pay when their ad is seen. As a result, big companies are able to reduce their TV budgets, therefore inviting an influx of investment into the TV channel by small businesses. Perhaps the identity crisis that could ensue from the deep cuts to BBC budgets will lead the broadcaster to adopt a similar method.
Most importantly, personalised TV ads fill a gap that Google ads cannot. Through tech-focused metrics and often roughed-out campaigns, Google has neglected what has been at the core of advertising: emotion. Google’s AdWords has been very effective in its targeting of specific searches, enabling the big and the small to compete on a level playing field, yet for TV advertisers, the “pay what you like” approach has not – until now – been surpassed.
While the skeleton of Google’s display network might be effective in delivery and guiding customers to a purchase, it could be more creative. In TV ads there is far more scope to experiment with creativity and design, enabling advertisers to find the most effective way to appeal to consumers’ emotions. In the future there will be ways to buy directly through TV ads like we do today through Twitter, YouTube, as well as – possibly – talk to specific individuals.
While marketers were quick to dismiss TV with the flurry of digital activity, the monolithic medium endures, weathering the criticism in half-slumber, waking to capitalise on great content and rich seams of data.
By Patrick Tame, CEO of Beringer Tame.
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