Figures released from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) this October revealed that online adspend overtook TV spend for the first time. Online set out its stall from the very beginning as the ‘measurable’ advertising channel. And it has now stolen a march on TV. ITV, for one, is widely reported to be suffering financially – so what can TV chiefs do to turn the tide of demand?
Despite online being the current darling of the advertising world, TV undoubtedly offers broad reach. It still creates ‘watercooler chat’, if not national debate. And if people aren’t going out so much, chances are they’re staying in, and watching TV. As an advertising medium, television is also now significantly cheaper.
Combining TV and online
This is, in part, why British Airways chose to use TV as a lead channel in its current ‘Opportunities’ campaign, which includes B2B elements. Despite the airline’s widely reported financial woes, it was able to find the budget for a high quality TV ad – as Abigal Comber, British Airway’s manager for brand, proposition and insight explains, “TV is the biggest channel in terms of spend with this campaign. The message is emotional, so it works better with vision and sound. You can’t achieve that with digital in the same way, although we do drive people to a specific site for a ‘private viewing.'”
We are, after all, a nation of sofa surfers. Insurance giant Aviva chose the channel for this reason, for a series of advertisements, which – like the BA Opportunities campaign – includes a B2B execution. It wanted to leverage television’s wide reach for a campaign promoting the brand’s business insurance, and it wanted to promote brand consistency. Brian Spinks, head of sales and marketing at Aviva, described the current, reduced cost of TV as a “very nice side effect” but claims that brand awareness was the key driver behind the choice of channel.
Can SMEs leverage TV too?
But what about smaller brands? While we’re being told we’re still in the grips of a recession, can they really stretch to producing a high quality TV ad?
“TV is around the same price as when I first started in this industry 16 years ago. The price reductions have been significant,” says Graham Hawkey-Smith, planning director at Truly London.
“However one of the big barriers that remains is production costs.”
Despite this, Truly chose to use TV as a key channel for clients Alibaba.com and Air Southwest. “TV is a story-telling environment,” Hawkey-Smith explains. “And you can run TV ads on digital posters and online, to create consistency and increase efficiency. It’s not either/or nowadays. You need a combination of channels, a touchpoint system.”
What’s the future for TV?
Many experts believe that the future for television advertising holds an array of new formats, sometimes used interchangeably between media. Rules on product placement in the UK have also changed, and there is a wider selection of low cost environments on TV, with the advent of new channels.
“The huge growth in personal video recorders (PVR), such as Sky Plus and TiVo, will turn standard commercial advertising into something cleverer,” adds BA’s Comber. “Commercial stations will have to think around this and I’d say sponsorship will increase dramatically if more and more people are fastforwarding ad breaks.”
Maryanne Murray, client director at Elmwood admits to this. “I watch programmes when I want to, and I often don’t have the patience for commercials,” she says. This kind of behaviour is likely to push advertisers further towards product placement, red button or interactive promotions.
New formats emerge
“We’ve already got used to ‘bookending’,” she adds. “This is about aligning brands, it’s smart. With bookending, you can also be more specific about who you’re tracking.”
Innovation within television in unlikely to end here. “TV is being forced to rethink and to reinvient itself. Things will change. That’s what makes the present time really interesting,” says Warren Gaskell, creative director at Gyro Manchester. “I think we’ll see an emergence of opportunistic formats, where you don’t need to spend £3 million.”
What’s for sure is that TV isn’t going away. Broadcasters will find ways to compete with online, or, more likely to work alongside it – because, if nothing else, they have to.
Can B2B brands leverage product placement?
The Government’s announcement on 16 September that it is to legalise product placement on TV has opened the doors to another tool for B2B brands wishing to promote their wares. “We’ve had a few enquiries about product placement,” says Graham Hawkey-Smith, planning director at Truly London. “But we have to ask, ‘How will the British audience react to more overt product placement?’ Just look at the reaction when Ford featured in a Bond film…Bear in mind also we are operating in an environment of extreme accountability at the moment.”
Business marketing experts certainly aren’t ruling out the medium, but do voice some warnings. According to Maryanne Murray, client director, Elmwood, “Business brands will leverage product placement if they’re smart. It can be just as successful for business brands as for consumer. But it needs to be quite subtle – it can’t be about slapping your name on something.”
“It also boils down to specific programming – the right advertiser for the right audience,” adds Claire Butcher, media director, Ogilvy Primary Contact. “For example, our construction clients might look at build-your-own-house-style programmes, which would attract architects and building contractors.”
