Tag Archives: TV advertising

Advertising and PR, And Why They Work So Well Together.

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Advertising says: We’re a great company
PR: News24 says: They ARE a great company

Differences and similarities between advertising and public relations (PR) have long sparked fierce debate as to which discipline is the most effective in interacting with a target market, whilst delivering the highest return on investment.

Advertising and PR differ substantially. Firstly, in the way in which messages are conveyed to the public and secondly, to the extent of control the business has of the communication once it’s been released into the public domain.

When, where and how one’s advertising appears is controllable. Whereas in PR, whilst message creation is controllable, once the news is out there, there’s no turning back. The fact is, viral communication and the internet render a large portion of corporate communication outside the control of the client, or PR agency. Be it positive or negative. But, this is where fame turns to fortune. As Oscar Wilde said “The worst thing than being spoken about, is not being spoken about”

Despite these differences, PR and advertising go together like salt and vinegar in flavouring the perfect marketing mix. They are both vital tools through which to generate and manage public interest and awareness around a brand or service, with the aim of increasing sales.

PR and advertising also engage the same channels of communication ie print, television, radio and the internet.
As such, the combination of the two communication types is extremely powerful. Consumers receive ‘one way’ messages through advertising, but by adding the power of PR, are able to be moved closer to the purchasing decision through interactive calls to action through the media, online articles and social media platforms.

Whereas advertising raises awareness NOW, and shouts the message from the proverbial rooftop, PR amplifies and supports the message over time, and in a variety of ways – with the aim of keeping the communication uppermind.

Well positioned and timed PR increases public exposure to niche target groups while third-party communicators such as bloggers and journalists increase the importance of the brand message via endorsements through blogs, articles and reviews.

Advertising ensures paid for strategic and creative visual exposure while PR secures free editorial exposure based on tailored, timeous, well-written and relevant news around the product or service. The two combine to ensure that consumers not only see the brand advertised on the various advertising media-types, be they TV, cinema, radio, outdoor, print or online, but come across articles online a day later, see a column in their community paper or a link to the company’s Facebook and YouTube through inbound marketing.

PR adds to an advertising campaign and gives it longevity. It also adds credibility.

Whilst advertising can break through the clutter and stop people in their tracks, it is after all only advertising and is seen as “just advertising”. Public relations, on the other hand, has more credibility and is seen to be more believable. In a cynical world, this is important.

By adding credibility to hype, advertisers get more bang from their buck.

That said, if your marketing budget extends to PR, it makes perfect sense to do so. Just make sure you utilise the services of a PR person who has contacts amongst the press, and who lives in the digital space.

There are too many PR companies out there – in my opinion anyway – that are stuck in the 1980’s and do the same tired things over and over. These days, the action is online and digital PR is the way to go. By appointing a young, savvy, go-getting PR person, you can get great coverage at little cost. And your advertising – be it TV advertising, Radio advertising, Cinema advertising, Print Advertising or Outdoor advertising – will be aided in the process.

How Does Cinema Advertising Compare With TV Advertising?

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Whilst both are visual electronic advertising mediums, they don’t really compare – not in terms of reach anyway.

Whereas Television advertising is mass media, reaching millions, cinema advertising is more niched and its reach is limited.

That said, cinema advertising has a lot going for it, and as an ad agency, I’ll often look at incorporating it into a media schedule where there is a product/target audience fit. It’s clear that the advertising medium appeals to many marketers, judging from the number and types of advertisers currently flighting ads on cinema screens around the nation. Advertisers include the large national advertisers as well as small advertisers and hence, its appeal spans the divide.

In my opinion, the strengths of cinema as an advertising medium are the fact that it allows for:

Targeting
Flexibility
Intimacy

It’s also cost-effective and affordable, and comes in far cheaper than TV advertising which, is by and large, expensive.

Television advertising is a national medium, reaching millions of people whereas cinema advertising lends itself more to geographical targeting.

Irrespective of the product being advertised, TV advertising will always have “wastage” – where a percentage of people will not, and will likely never be, interested in your product or service. Whilst this is the case, though, people talk. So whilst someone will have no interest in your product, he or she may know someone who may be – and may well choose to tell that person. The importance of “Word of mouth” can never be underestimated in terms of advertising. People will always be more open to making a purchase if a friend or family member has made a recommendation.

Whilst this is true of both TV advertising and cinema advertising, cinema advertising has less wastage as advertisers can better target their advertising. In terms of targeting, an advertiser with a limited advertising budget could decide which cinemas to advertise in and which not to advertise in. So if, for example, you run a plumbing supplies business in Boksburg, you could advertise in cinemas in only the Boksburg area. Or you could choose a number of cinemas in adjoining areas so as to reach a wider audience. This is a huge advantage as it means that you won’t be advertising in places where your target market is too geographically distant to take advantage of your products or service, and you won’t be wasting money unnecessarily.

Besides deciding on cinema location, the cinema advertiser could also select particular cinema releases. This is important. As Ster-Kinekor and Nu Metro will always make a big splash about forthcoming releases they consider to be “blockbusters”, you’ll have the time to plan your campaign. By booking your ad in the cinemas of your choice, and before a movie that you know will be well attended, you’ll be in a good place.

Ster-Kinekor or Nu Metro will promote the movie with a view to getting bums on seats, and so long as you have an ad that “talks” to those there for the movie, you’ll be positioned to capitalise. You must have a decent commercial to flight though.

There are a number of really good advertising agencies in South Africa as well as a number of really good TV producers who could produce a quality cinema ad for you, and the costs do not have to exorbitant. Whilst a quality TV commercial could set you back R650 000 (and upwards), a cinema ad could be produced for a lot less – depending on the concept, storyboard, location and number of actors.

Unless you’re an established marketer with an unlimited budget for production, there are a number of ways to keep your cinema ad production costs down:

Have it produced in-house (there are a number of talented people about who could help you with this)
Call in a freelance TV producer
Get in a good freelance copywriter and art director (a Google search will likely bring up a few)
Insist on a simple storyboard (requiring no actors, or maybe one at the most)
Consider simple animation or pack shots with titles
Source library music (and avoid well-known soundtracks)

Do your homework and you could probably get a decent cinema ad shot for R150 000 to R180 000 excluding VAT.

Once you have a cinema commercial produced, you’ll need to have a media planner compile you a media schedule which will show you when, where and how many times your commercial will air or flight. If you have an ad agency, they’ll be able to put this together for you. (If you don’t, I could put you in contact with someone).

Advertising on the big screen ticks a number of boxes in my opinion – although it’s product-dependant ie a chocolate bar or new energy drink would lend itself to being advertised on cinema whereas a new brand of cement might not be.

If your target market is children, parents of children, or people aged 34 or less, advertising in cinema is worthy of consideration. Especially when you consider that you have a captive audience that will be receptive to your message – and focused on your message. (Something that can’t be guaranteed with TV advertising).

Also in cinema advertising’s favour is that, as an advertiser, you could bolster your advertising on-screen by, for example, give-aways, leaflets or other promotional items in cinema foyers. (It’s difficult to do this with TV advertising).

At the end of the day, cinema advertising and TV advertising are both excellent advertising mediums, with the former probably more suited to smaller companies with smaller advertising budgets looking for local penetration and television advertising more suited to companies with larger advertising budgets, looking for a national reach.

Online Advertising vs TV Advertising vs Newspaper Advertising vs Outdoor Advertising vs Radio Advertising vs ???

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Online marketing is the way to go for the marketer with a small ad budget

With tough economic times having been with us for quite a few years, and with things likely remaining tough for the foreseeable future, advertisers need to ensure that their advertising works as hard as it can.

As an advertising person running his own agency, and having been in the advertising industry 29 years, I am often  asked called into brainstorming marketing sessions and asked for my thoughts as to an “advertising way forward”.

Whilst experience dictates that the building blocks must be present before going to market (read, logo, corporate  identity and website in the case of start-up businesses), “gut feel” is often not enough to go on these days.

The media landscape is forever changing, and it’s changing faster than anyone could have imagined. So much so  that even experienced advertising-types are battling to keep up. Whereas in the past one could look at a brief and think “TV advertising” or “Radio Advertising”, today, things are not as clear-cut.

Fortunately, there are now analytical tools, data, forecasts and research available that can remove much of the guesswork and help marketers arrive at better decisions. That said, the following excerpt from a Pricewaterhouse Coopers article throws up some interesting facts that may (or may not) reinforce your existing beliefs, or raise an eyebrow or two.

“Revenue generated through advertising will increase by R18 billion between 2013 and 2018, with the fastest-growing segment – online advertising – showing double-digit growth as a result of the substantial increase in Internet access over the period.

Online advertising’s anticipated compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22.7% will be driven by search and mobile advertising, with Google propelling the South African search market. This will grow digital to a 10% share of adspend by 2018.

Mobile advertising will be driven by an increase in smartphone penetration and the increasing number of South Africans who are becoming mobile internet subscribers is forecast to rise from 15 million in 2013 to 35.2 million in 2018.

Display advertising will grow at a CAGR of 18.8%, driven principally by the second most visited site, Facebook, while video advertising will grow substantially from a low base of R2 million in 2013 to R9 million in 2018, as broadband speeds gradually improve and internet access widens.

The second-fastest growing advertising segment is video gaming, albeit from a low base of R29 million which is expected to grow at a CAGR of 15.4% to reach R60 million in 2018. This growth will be inextricably linked to the number of video gamers who play online, as video game advertising’s main asset is its ability to target users based on their playing behaviour while online.

Radio advertising, the third-fastest growing segment, will enjoy a healthy CAGR of 8.2% thanks to radio still being widely consumed throughout South Africa.

TV advertising remains comfortably the largest South African advertising sector. It will grow at a CAGR of 6.8% over the forecast period, reaching a projected R18.4 billion in 2018. This growth will be driven by more competition and larger broadcasting audiences, as television continues to have the largest reach of any media format. A growing middle class with greater disposable income will lead to a rise in pay-TV households.

Magazine and newspaper total advertising revenues will show growth of 4.0% and 6.0% respectively, and in both cases, the advertising spend from printed editions will consume the overwhelming majority of total advertising revenues. Who said print was dead?

Printed newspaper advertising growth can be attributed to locally distributed, free newspapers which build strong connections between consumers and brands, while print magazine advertising will be driven by niche magazines covering topics like home improvement. Digital advertising in both instances is still in its infancy, but will see a double-digit CAGR over the forecast period.

OOH (Out of Home media) maintains its ground, with growth over five years forecast at 5.9%

A compound annual growth rate of 7% across all segments is a fortunate position to be in.

Despite dramatic growth of the Internet, traditional advertising media will prevail. The likes of television and radio revenues are still guaranteeing the kind of captive mass audiences that online cannot yet offer.

The tipping point from traditional media to digital media remains a long way off in South Africa, atleast in terms of revenue. Advertisers would do well to focus on the digital consumer, who may well have greater disposable income, but for the time-being, traditional media will constitute the majority of revenues”

Having read this, it’s clear that whilst online (digital) marketing is important in the media mix, it’s certainly not the only game in town: something I’ve believed for a long time. Conventional media, such as TV advertising, radio advertising, outdoor advertising and newspaper and magazine advertising are still big, and will be big for some time still.

In meetings with clients, I tend to find that the younger the client, the more adverse he or she is to advertising in “mainstream” media, whereas the older (and probably more conservative) the client, the more adverse he or she is to advertising online or participating in social media.
This is of course understandable. If you’re not on facebook or don’t “do” twitter, you’ll likely not want to advertise on them. And if you don’t watch TV, you’ll assume that not many others watch either. As a result, you’ll shun TV advertising.

This is of course problematic. As responsible marketers or advertisers, with responsibility for our brands, it requires of us, less subjectivity and more objectivity. By analysing data, by seeking out articles like the one above and by being guided by people who study media consumption for a living (rather than being swayed by our own personal perceptions and beliefs), we can do justice to our available marketing budgets and spend our advertising monies wisely.

What’s important is that we fish where the fish are. Not where we’d like them to be. We need to establish which media is consumed by our target markets, and when. Once we have a clear picture on this, we can then plan our advertising campaigns. Whilst gut-feel will always be important, gut-feel backed by research and armed with knowledge and foresight will serve you better.

By requesting the involvement of an experienced media strategist or media planner, you’ll be better positioned to see whether TV advertising might be more suitable than radio advertising. Whether outdoor advertising might be more cost-effective than newspaper or magazine advertising. Whether you should shun all of the aforementioned in favour of a digital marketing campaign. Or whether a multi-media campaign encompassing all media might be the optimal approach.

It’s all about arming yourself with knowledge, with a view to minimising risk and maximising the effectiveness of your next advertising campaign. I’d be happy to point you in the right direction if you like.

Vox Telecom’s Street Pole Posters. Anyone Give a Hoot?

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Vox TelecomYou would have seen them: a series of street pole posters in the middle of the M1 North Highway, between Vox Telecom’s Head Office in Waverley and the Melrose Arch business precinct.

The posters read : Hoot if your blood runs green.

Now without sounding flippant, I honestly don’t think anyone gives a hoot. And doubt very much whether anyone will EVER hoot.

As a Vox Telepreneur (dealer) myself, I think that the good marketing people at Vox need to replace this message with one conveying tangible product benefits – and there are many. For the uninitiated, users of Vox products (the Vox Supafone for instance) can reduce their monthly telephone bills through the making of cheaper calls to cell phones (just 96c per minute to either MTN or Vodacom numbers) national numbers and international numbers – plus they can earn a rebate of 15c per minute on every call received on their Vox 087 numbers. (Similar benefits apply to Vox PABXs and switchboards).

Now these are tangible benefits. Especially to a populace battling to make ends meet in what has become a never-ending recession. Therefore, why not trumpet these benefits loudly and clearly?

The point is, many products these days are parity products offering only perceived benefits. There are not that many when you come to think of it that provide real benefits, such as money back in your pocket.

Yet this is what Vox products do. So why beat about the bush with something like “Hoot if your blood runs green?”. It sure beats me. As The Star newspaper proclaims, “Tell it like it is”.

But to be fair to the marketers at Vox (decent people if there ever were), the company has been advertising widely on TV and Radio and their advertising messages on these advertising mediums are spot on. They’re understandable and benefit-driven. People understand the “You and your ADSL” campaign through the accompanying analogies and as a result it is hard to understand why someone with an ADSL line would NOT want a Vox phone – especially as the product comes with no contracts. (Thirty days notice if you’re not happy and the phone gets collected from you, no questions asked).

Back to the street pole campaign however: the positioning of the posters is awesome. There cannot be too many motorists stuck in the morning traffic heading north to Sandton or Pretoria who don’t see the posters. I have been in this traffic many a time and as the posters are on a bend, they are hard to miss.

But I haven’t heard one motorist hoot in response to Vox’s urging. (At taxis and other motorists maybe, but not at the Vox advertising campaign).

So, to Maggie and Clayton at Vox Telecom: ditch this messaging and replace it with copy that will resonate with the passing traffic.

How about the following?

  • Just 96c per minute to MTN numbers.
  • Just 96c per minute to Vodacom numbers.
  • Cheaper calls to national numbers.
  • Cheaper calls to international numbers.
  • 15c paid to you on calls received.
  • Now have a nice day.

Direct. To the point. Selling the benefits of a Vox product.

You can tell I’m a copywriter.