Television Ads: Useful or Dead?

[KristineS]

It seems like every time I turn around I read some marketing newsletter or article that says that traditional television advertising is useless. Yet many companies still do it, and will even pony up millions for a spot in the Super Bowl, the Olympics or the Academy Awards.

Do you think television advertising still has a place in the average marketing budget, or is it past it's sell by date?

[cbscreative]

I personally don't use it, and I don't feel I need to, but I think to say it is "dead" would be too far over the mark. Consider things like home improvement shows where you can target your local area for an ad if you sell things like paint, fences, carpentry, or other products and services that would be of interest to people watching those shows.

If your target market is retirees, I think TV is still a good way to reach them. It's not for every business, but I think it has a place, and you don't have to be a large corporation.

With many people fearing a recession, I suspect TV advertising can be obtained for lower rates. That is true of many advertising methods during slower economic times. The winners are the ones who recognize the need to advertise even when things are lean. Lean times are actually all the more reason to advertise, whether TV or other methods.

[Ad-Vice_Man]

It seems like every time I turn around I read some marketing newsletter or article that says that traditional television advertising is useless. Yet many companies still do it, and will even pony up millions for a spot in the Super Bowl, the Olympics or the Academy Awards.

Do you think television advertising still has a place in the average marketing budget, or is it past it's sell by date?

Not at all, it certainly has it's place. Especially in programming that isn't conducive to delayed viewing such as sports, news, and other timely (live) events.

As mentioned before, some of the cable channels are perfect for niche markets as well, many people watch them as they would listen to radio.. by format and they leave it on all day. For instance at my house... the home and garden channel is on all day on saturdays and sundays and more often than not during the week... the food channel

[thehunterswife]

I like the Super Bowl beer commercials. :p

[KristineS]

I think event commercials, like the Super Bowl commercials, are probably one form of tv advertising that still has some traction. People talk about those commercials so they get a lot of play even if people don't watch them.

[vangogh]

I think it depends on the company that's doing the advertising and who they're marketing to. A lot of tv advertising is just branding. We may not think we're paying attention, but often we'll subconsciously make choices because we keep hearing one company name associated with a certain image.

TV advertising is changing though. We're seeing more and more product placement mixed in with the content. Years ago your favorite tv characters drank soda or cola. Today they drink Coke or Pepsi. TV used to hide product logos today they show them often. I think most every time I see a laptop on tv or in the theater it's got an Apple logo on it.

[cbscreative]

That reminds me of something you may or may not be already familiar with, but there is an interesting story behind the movie ET back in 1982. They wanted to use M&Ms in the movie and approached M&M/Mars with the idea. They were turned down and resorted to using Reices Pieces instead. Sales for Reices Pieces skyrocketed after the movie was released. I'm sure M&M/Mars was kicking themselves, but I don't know if anyone got fired or not.

I believe this is actually where the trend to "brand" products through movies actually got started. At least in modern times anyway. I can't remember what the movie was called, but it seems like it was in the 50's. I don't even remember what the movie was about, but for some reason, I rmember the lead character ate a lot of Butterfinger candy bars. I suspect Butterfinger sales went up when that one was released, but the idea didn't seem to catch on like it did for ET.

[KristineS]

Product placement on television shows and in movies is now a huge business. There's a reason the judges on American Idol have large cups of Coke in front of them. Coca Cola pays huge money for that placement.

[vangogh]

I think I had heard the ET story before, but wasn't remembering it. You might be right about it being the first real product placement. Most of us would probably say product placements don't affect us, but if all your favorite characters are using one product I'm sure it has an affect on your view of that product.

[KristineS]

I think product placement has had a huge impact for some advertisers. Aston Martin has probably sold a few cars because those are the cars James Bond drives in the movies. I think the trick is to get your product associated with the right tv show or movie. If you can manage that, you can get some nice sales.

[billbenson]

Mentioned above was the use of coke or whatever in tv shows etc. The food network goes to great lengths to relabel products on shows and show no brands. I'm talking about food products like hellmans mayonnaise. Viking stoves are a sponsor and their stoves are used on a lot of the sets.

TiVo might force "better" commercials. Some of the Geico commercials have been quite funny. I would actually replay a few of those.

[KristineS]

A lot of the reality shows or shows about cooking or something have to do a lot of relabeling because they're usually sponsored by one or two big companies. It's bad form to show a competitors brand when you're being sponsored by someone else.

[vangogh]

Bill it's interesting you mention more entertaining commercials. I agree we'll see that. It's really the same thing as the product placement in a sense. Ultimately it's more of a blending of content and ads until the two become less recognizable.

It's happening online too. It's why a link embedded in the middle of a post works better than a banner sitting in the sidebar.

[KristineS]

I think we're already seeing an increase in the quality and entertainment value of some commercials. In fact, I embedded a video of a Discovery channel commercial in my latest blog post (http://settlingformore.com/?p=131), just because I liked it so much.

I think people who make commercials are starting to catch on that really good or entertaining ones can have a life beyond simply being shown on television. They can become viral if they catch the attention of the right people.

[vangogh]

That is a cool video. Discovery Channel is also one of my favorite channels. And it's just like you said. They make a short commercial, put it up on YouTube and next thing it's embedded as content on blogs around the web. Blends content and advertising.

That's where advertising is heading.

[KristineS]

The trick then becomes being creative and original and creating things that people are going to want to spread around. You can also kill an idea. I think the Geico caveman is an example of that. It was a good idea that people liked and then they started trying to leverage the brand and people got tired of it. Too much of a good thing can sometimes be too much.

[lav]

I think I had heard the ET story before, but wasn't remembering it. You might be right about it being the first real product placement. Most of us would probably say product placements don't affect us, but if all your favorite characters are using one product I'm sure it has an affect on your view of that product.It certainly has had an affect on me. Ive been craving a Krusty Burger for about ten years now. i wonder how many would have sold if people could get them.

[vangogh]

I think you might have a really long wait to get that Krusty Burger. If you want I can draw one for you. I can't say how good it will taste, though. I'm going to use construction paper and crayon to draw it.

[KristineS]

Krusty Burgers always struck me as being not very well made. I think Krusty cuts corners in his restaurants.

[Aaron Hats]

We use tv and it more than pays for itself. We shoot a new commercial twice a year and it is played at least twice a day, everyday. We're in a tourist town so it plays on the "local" tourist station which broadcasts about an hours drive in each direction of us so it gives us good exposure. This station also does a live tv morning show on the weekends and I'm on there at least once a month. I get a lot of feedback from customers that they saw the ad or the live show so I know it works. You can see our current spot here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5WehQ2pfkI).

[vangogh]

Aaron those are great commercials. I assume it's two commercials back to back in the video.

You come across well and I really like the way you show specific hats. Mentioning the celebrity associations is a nice touch too. I can see how that would work to bring people into the store.

Did you ever think of adding the video prominently on your site? I think it could do well to help bring more customers in through the site. I see you have old commercials in there if you dig, but I'm thinking featuring the video more prominently. Normally I'd say it would be ideal on the home page, but it wouldn't really fit in with your home page. A link to it on the home page could probably be added without too much trouble though.

[KristineS]

That is a terrific video Aaron. Very informative and well done.

I agree with Vangogh, that would be great on your site somewhere. Videos are a great selling tool, and it would be interesting if you did some on subjects like why to wear a hat or sun protection.

[Aaron Hats]

Thanks for the feedback. Yes, I think it does deserve a more prominent place on the site. I'll just need to figure out how to do it without disrupting the theme.

I do plan on doing some product specific videos but I need some time to dedicate to it.

[vangogh]

Aaron you could probably add a link to the video on the home page. One place you could add it is on the right side of the red bar above the image. You could even add a text link on top of the image itself. There's room in the upper right.

A link could be added in the menu on the left below the other three links or it could be added in the space below the main image.

There are definitely places to add it, the question is where will it be most effective without disrupting what's already there.

[Marcomguy]

TV advertising still works. Lots of people watch the ads and remember them - both good and bad ones. Next time you're in a group, just bring up the Mastercard "Priceless" ads or the Verizon "network" commercials and see how many nod in recognition.

[vangogh]

I agree tv advertising can still work. However remembering an ad isn't necessarily the same as the ad being successful. Some of the more memorable ads never led to more sales.

But I do agree with your point. TV ads aren't going away anytime soon. I do think the future is blurring the line between ad and content, though.

[KristineS]

I don't think ads will ever go away entirely, if for no other reason then the fact that smaller local affiliate stations make a lot of their money from local advertising. I do agree with vangogh, however, the line between content and advertising is getting increasingly blurred.

Marcomguy, it's also interesting that the ads you mentioned "Verizon" and the "Priceless" ads for Mastercard are more image ads than ads designed to sell something specific. I think that will also become more of a trend, and we'll see a lot more tv ads used to cement a brand, while the actual selling goes on elsewhere.

[Marcomguy]

Yes, those are awareness-building ads. That's an ongoing battle in advertising - some people say awareness ads are a waste of money, others say they're necessary.

My view is that you need to build awareness; the only question is how much. All measurements of awareness are based on audience research. And the fact that if you stop advertising your sales drop.

When you visit a networking group, that's analogous to running an awareness ad. You're in that group to be seen. You don't expect to do business on the spot. But people see you, remember you, and maybe call you later with some business.

The alternative to awareness ads is direct-response ads. Like those 2-minute commercials for vacuum cleaners and CD compilations. If every ad on TV were a direct-response ad, we'd turn it off in an instant.

Actually the line between awareness and direct-response isn't all that clear. If you see a direct-response ad but don't buy the product, you've still gained some awareness of the product.

[cbscreative]

There's another category of ad that hasn't been discussed except maybe in passing. My brain is not remembering the official marketing term for it right now, but it's product awareness not associated with a particular brand. The best example of this is "Got milk?" This ad campaign promoted milk, but not any certain brand. From my understanding, the research was inconclusive on whether this helped boost milk sales or not, but I'm sure other campaigns were more successful even if they weren't as memorable.

[KristineS]

Most of those ads are called "image" ads and they're usually used to boost recognition of a company or a product. In the case of "Got Milk" the ads were trying to make milk seem like a cool drink. In the case of the MasterCard "Priceless" ads, they're trying to encourage people to use Mastercard instead of Visa. Visa's "Life Takes Visa" campaign is trying to do the same thing.

[Steve B]

I think the Got Milk ads fall into a category of Market Expansion ads. If more people drink milk, the whole industry benefits.

I think the whole story on that ad had to do with wasting some government grant - but, I could be wrong on this - I forgot where I heard it.