Customer Marketer, Digital Strategist, Dedicated Father. Passionate about the current & next web. Enjoying life online as much as offline. Eager to see how they converge.
As a true True Blood aficionado I really dig this promotional campaign by HBO for the release of the Season 3 DVD. The host of the promotion video invites you to the interactive website where you are encouraged to take a closer look. To enter the contest you actually have to zoom in on the video sequence and discover clues that are relevant to Season 3. By finding and tagging all the 60 clues you can win an ultimate True Blood fan experience trip to the States.
More and more people surf the web on their laptops, smartphones & tablets whilst watching TV.
Here’s an experiment from television network ABC, providing an enriched viewing experience by live syncing an iPad app to the popular TV show 'My Generation'.
The app uses the iPad's microphone to listen for audio cues from the TV and then displays relevant interactive content as every episode progresses.
One such effort I deem worth mentioning is the Dockers “Wear the Pants” campaign that was aired during the last Superbowl.
Dockers teamed up with music recognition company Shazam to produce a tv ad that is “clickable”, just like other digital media. The spot includes the song “I Wear no Pants” which consumers can “tag” using the Shazam app on their mobile device. Shazam will then identify the song and directs the user to a mobile website that has been created especially for this campaign.
A Forrester study among US advertisers indicates that marketers are increasingly disenchanted with tv advertising. Some of the findings include:
A lack of confidence in tv ad effectiveness. Sixty-two percent of respondents think that TV ads have become less effective in the past two years driven largely by ad clutter
Dissatisfaction with measurement. Nearly all advertisers who responded think that the TV industry needs new audience metrics beyond reach and frequency, and 82% of respondents would be interested in ratings for individual commercials.
A desire for more targeted tv ads but reluctance to pay for them. Seventy-eight percent of respondents say they would be interested in the ability to target consumers more precisely, but only 59 percent would be willing to pay a premium for it.
High interest in branded entertainment and interactive media. Eighty percent of advertisers agree that branded entertainment will play much more of a role in TV advertising, and 38 percent plan to spend more on branded entertainment in 2010 as an alternative to the 30-second spot. Social media, web advertising and search are stealing budgets from TV and other media.
Which makes a nice addition to my post earlier today… :)
A couple of weeks ago some Belgian commercial tv channels started airing an intriguing ad in which Kanne VV, a local amateur football club, called on the viewers to come and support them during their next match. They desperately needed new fans as they usually play their home games for a public of not more than 5 people. Not surprisingly since they are left pointless at the bottom of the lowest football league there is.
Because such a small club could in no way afford this kind of airplay, the speculating soon began about who was the real advertiser behind the spot. At first, everything pointed towards a famous agency that recently had launched an online community for amateur football clubs commissioned by the no 1 Belgian beer brand.
Last week, the mystery was finally revealed. None other than the tv network that aired the commercials was the actual sponsor of the entire campaign. The goal: to prove that tv advertising really works. To back up this claim, the following results were announced with pride:
A post campaign study showed that 60% of the respondents knew that Kanne VV was a football club.
In 3 weeks time the website totaled over 40.000 visits.
On game day Kanne VV welcomed 400 supporters, about 395 more than usual.
And all it took was 3 weeks of prime time campaigning on 3 national channels which aired the spot in total of 222 times. So, does this really prove that tv advertising works? I beg to differ.
Seeing VV is the Dutch equivalent of FC (football club) and football is still the no 1 sport in Belgium, it’s not that big of an achievement to get 60% to recognize a football club.
Furthermore, I manage sites that attract well over 10 times as much visits each and every month at a fraction of the cost of developing and airing a tv campaign.
And I wonder how many of those “converted” fans will stick around until the end of the season.
I do realize that this campaign was set up as a conversation starter for agencies and advertisers about the efficiency of television as an advertising medium. But that makes it even worse. Not only do they want to prove their point with an unsuccessful campaign, they have no clue about who is interacting with their message.
No where, at any point in the campaign there were clear action triggers: subscribe now, contact us, … Even now when the campaign has ended, nothing is being done to convert that little buzz there is into short term profits and/or long term relationships.So my guess is, within a week from now, everything will be lost and forgotten. I’m just glad I’m not the one that has to present the ROMI calculation to the client…
