Sales Overnight, Brand Over Time
By Craig Thomas, Managing Director, U.S.
The advertising industry has long operated under the premise that some ads are used to build brands while others to drive sales. The belief that advertising must fall into the “brand” bucket or more immediate “direct sales” bucket – and that it is the only choice – seems illogical and certainly out of touch with today’s marketplace. The truth is there are many benefits to be reaped from the marriage between brand and DRTV advertising.
In the Beginning
The hit television series, Mad Men, glamourizes advertising during the dawn of the television era. It was a simpler time of only three networks – no cable channels, Facebook, Twitter, internet or a 24-hour news cycle. The job of advertising was to sell product, not entertain viewers.
My first DRTV client in the mid-eighties was BusinessWeek, and our task was to acquire subscriptions. Even then, DRTV cast a wider net, which meant the direct mail (DM) efforts were a bit more efficient and newsstand sales increased when we were on air. The cost per subscriber (CPS) obtained through DRTV was only a few dollars higher than the CPS that was sourced by DM. But that combination of making DM a little more efficient and the substantial lift in newsstand sales was enough to keep BusinessWeek’s budget growing every year. In fact, our last DRTV creative change resulted in a CPS equal to DM acquisition costs.
There are many companies using DRTV to help build their brands because brands are ultimately built by the sale of products. Procter & Gamble, The Home Depot, Sears, Campbell’s Soup and Kodak – just to name a few – are looking for accountability in the advertising dollar when, in these times, every marketing dollar is precious. Over the past several years, Kodak, in particular, has been getting a lot of attention for the promotion of their printer line and low-cost ink cartridges through the use of DRTV. Kodak’s CMO discussed the positive halo effect of the DRTV commercials on retail in a recent article because they had tagged their retail partners around the strategy, “if you can’t wait for the product to arrive in the mail, they should go to Best Buy, Staples, Wal-Mart, etc.”
Playing the Budget Game
The evolution of separating brand and DRTV is, to some degree, a by-product of the budgeting process used by many companies. At its simplest level, budgeting is a choice between general advertising, promotions, PR, direct mail, DRTV and so on. It is probably fair to say that the overall concern is not the total size of the budget as much as it is the effectiveness or the returns on each allocation. When items are separated at the budget level, they usually remain separated at the execution level.
I think the growing pressure for accountability and to ensure that every dollar of the budget can be justified is contributing to advertisers placing DRTV at the center of a fully integrated approach. Advertisers are trying to optimize all channels so that the strengths of each are maximized. We know based on our experience that DRTV sets the foundation for everything, just like in the earlier case of BusinessWeek – the difference being that, today, there is so much more to influence. The by-product of effective DRTV advertising is that all channels, particularly online, are bolstered. Not only do the results for search substantially increase, but related results from email, banner ads, etc. do, as well.
DRTV: The CMO's Knight in Shining Armor
The days of “above the line and below the line” are over. There is no line.
DRTV provides a vehicle to tell a meaningful story and deliver a sale at the same time. It’s cost-effective (self-policing). If it’s not meeting your objectives, you simply adjust the campaign or stop it all together. It’s highly measurable and digitally integrated (“call this number or visit this URL”).
Like everything else, integrating brand and DRTV advertising is a process that is refined over time.
1. The Creative Product: Whether it’s a 120- or 60-second DRTV commercial or online video, one should weave a story that will compel the target to act. It should be well-produced, well-cast and prove your trustworthiness while generating sales.
2. Media Buy: You can buy at lower DRTV rates, plus the buy should be optimized, just like your personal portfolio (i.e., moving money in a re-allocation process to capitalize on what is working best while minimizing what is not performing as well). Plus, you are still building awareness as you engage with the target audience.
3. Call to Action: Both an 800 number and drive to online through a memorable URL should be used. The URL should drive you to a unique microsite – not the corporate site – to both measure and increase sales.
4. Measurement: It’s critical to measure initial results, as well as lifetime value.
5. Database: Continually optimize both your media and creative product to add to your proprietary database for further solicitation and upselling.
In these challenging economic times, every marketing dollar is precious and brands are ultimately built by the sale of products and services. With DRTV, you can truly make the case for sales overnight and brand over time.