Buck this! GM at it again…I love it!
What's even better is that the networks apparently think they can do without a share of that $1.8 billion in advertising revenue. Lest they forget there is an outside chance that if they take no share of on-air dollars, they will get no share of the digital dollars? Coming from a broadcast television station I have seen it hundreds of times, tell them we don't need their money (Q1), to maybe we should have taken the money (Q2), oh well we have political now and don't need it (Q3), audit report comes out and stations find a major shift in rev share – why didn't we take the GM money (Q4)?! I say continue to act on this well planned and well played attack on an industry that needs to have a trend bucked from time to time.
I think the best thing to do is buck the traditional spot schedules and force a more competitive interactive approach from the networks. Make them earn the ad dollars by being more creative than punching some numbers into a system and generating a schedule with day parts that are “must-have”. Force the network hands to creating a package that a $1.8 billion budget demands. There has to be a better effort at product placement, social contesting and interactive digital experiences, to warrant any real investment. I would challenge the networks to develop an interactive online campaign that the market has never seen, really make the digital dollars go to the next level. If you can tell we have some ideas for you…
At the end of the day just continue to do what you are doing and it will be just what the media industry needs…to be bucked!
Broadcast Televsion Part II
I think it stands to reason you can understand the PUT would be much higher for Monday Night Football, or Sunday Night Football (NBC). But if you are a local business can you really afford to pay $3k-$5k to reach all these people using television? Here in Jacksonville you can get a spot in one of these programs for pretty close to the above mention rates…and the program will do a fairly good number, could be as much as a 20. Which means that program was watching by 20% of the entire television viewing audience. But what if the game is a blow out? What if that “20” was only a true 20 for the first half or worse yet the first quarter.
You see you really have to be careful not be sold a shinny number that is all mirrors. Again, like last week, when buying a program you have to be careful to be sold on the sizzle of a program. TV stations would rather put you in a program that cost them upwards of $75k to air, and free up some inventory for other spots that need to run for a national buyer or inventory that was oversold previously. Getting you to buy 1 spot for $3k, if you are moving money, means a TV station can free up as many as 5 or more spots that you had reserved for your schedule.
While on it's face buying a great “number” in a special program seems like a great thing…stick to the day parts I discussed last time and never sacrifice frequency for sizzle. Next week I am going to discuss how TV inventory works and why you should know how to play the game. Stay tuned…
WARNING: You really don’t know that much about branding…do you?
I bet if you are in marketing you probably have no clue why a good brand is important…or what you think a brand is, truly isn't what a brand should be…only read on if you are ready for some podium soap box ranting about branding…well lack there of – WARNING: this is kind of winded. I learned a great deal the past 7 years being steeped in brand strategies. I have a learned a great deal the past 7 years from hearing colleagues discuss what a proper brand strategy is. I have even learned a great deal in the past from previous clients as to what their thoughts are on branding their company. The most important take away from all this “learning” – companies need to do some “learning” about what brand strategy really is. It appears to me that most brands out in the national spot light are becoming too self-serving. What if Anhueser-Busch had worked to develop “This 110 calories is for you” – well it passes the consumer driven approach we preach here at Mad Men Marketing. Or even worse, they could have developed “Introducing Our Flagship Light Beer”, or “Our Flagship Light Beer Since 1982”. Bud Light – “This beer is amazing!”, Bud Light – “Our beer is low in calories”…and so on. You see Bud Light and Budweiser thrived for years with the brand statement – “This Bud's For You”. It IS NOT about them.
Which brings me to the genesis of my rambling – Why is branding so terrible now days? Why have companies seemed to forget that everything is about the consumer, not their product or service? You see this is not a new topic for me, I have brought up consumer driven advertising in the past and will continue to bring it up as long as I continue to see terrible advertising in the market place. UPS – what can brown do for you? – I don't know you tell me in a way that is memorable in your spots. Chevy – an American Revolution – really? I mean really? I am not going there. How about Pizza Hut – wait are they still making and delivering pizza? I have tried to find their brand statement to no avail, but I did find “Big-Time Value Lives Inside The Box” – jazz Yum Brands! “Think Outside The Box” and now “Think About What's Inside The Box for Another Brand?”
You see this is the kind of thinking that get's a brand (Pizza Hut) in trouble. What if I went to the store and got some things and came back with the bread and milk and said “Honey I got the bread and milk but dang it I forgot the “Big-Time Value Lives Inside The Box” at the store – I will be back I HAVE TO have some “Big-Time Value Lives Inside The Box” – it really get's me thinking about how delicious Pizza Hut pizza's are and makes me want to get some for dinner.
I am sorry this went on for so long, but the lack of consumer driven brands must stop. Call our office and ask for me and I will be HAPPY to explain to you my thoughts on this topic! If you can't tell it is important to me.
Broadcast Television
Better yet, if you are small business with a budget of less than $100k per year – have you ever considered buying broadcast? You may be shocked to learn some things…Have you ever wondered how great it would be for your business if you could have a spot in American Idol? Or CSI, Blue Bloods or any other big prime time show? Isn't it great how well the local broadcast stations sell – yes I am going here again – THE SIZZLE? Prime time is some sort of mystical day part for some reason. So you spend $1200-$5000 on this mystical day part…and why? Because you get convinced it does a great number? By number I mean ratings of course. Did you know you can get the same number of eye balls if you buy local news or syndicated programming? The same people watching American Idol are the same people watching other programming…programming you can buy more efficiently and get more frequency. So you pay $1,200 for a local spot in prime…did you know that gets you a weeks worth of spots in a local news/syndicated programming schedule. Your best bet is to stay away from prime programming, unless you really want to waste your advertising budget. Next week I will discuss this problem more in depth. Stay tuned!
Why aren’t you looking for an ad agency? Going from good to great!
One such conversation happened about a week or so ago…when the “marketing” person at this particular company said he doesn't believe we can get better rates on ad space and that he is doing everything right and wouldn't want to risk a good thing. Now, I can agree with not wanting to mess with a good thing, but why would you not want to hear some ideas from experts on the issue and potentially go from good to great? You see, there is a major misconception in the marketplace, namely the Jacksonville market; ad agencies are over priced and don't yield results – this is what we tend to run in to. Well, what if I said HP computers are cheap and wear out quickly — does this mean that a Mac should fall under this category of cheaply made equipment? What about saying I purchased a used Mercedes and it broke down in 2 years, so all Mercedes break down in 2 years? You see there is quite a bit of flaw in my logic if this were the case.
I think it foolish to not take a meeting with an ad agency because the marketplace has made you feel jaded. Not all companies are created equal and to believe so is logical fallacy – as my attorney friends might say. So I pose this questions again, Why aren't you looking for an ad agency? If you are passively looking or waiting for an agency to call you – well you must not care too much about growing your business through advertising. Marketing is a strange game, especially today with the consumer taking in media almost always on demand. Focus on what you do best, whatever that is, and let us be your marketing arm. It's too risky to play games with your money.