Lee Hunt, who has worked with more television brands globally than any other
strategist, presented his annual round up of New Best Practices at PromaxBDA
Africa.
“Media brands are different to consumer brands. Media brands are dynamic –
that is, they are constantly changing; always moving forward. A consumer brand
remains the same, but a television network changes continuously, week by
week, series by series. It is always evolving and expanding. The paradox is that
media brands must be fresh, and reliable and consistent, but it makes what we
do very inspirational,’ said Hunt at the start of his presentation.
So what is dynamic branding and what does it look like? Hunt demonstrated
using an hour of USA Network programming as an example. “USA Network
thought about this hour and how to make the viewer experience as engaging
and entertaining as possible. Putting all the elements together created a bigger
picture and that’s dynamic branding. The lesson here is that if you take care of
the small details then the big issues take care of themselves,’ he added.
Hunt emphasised the fact that television lends itself to social media multi-tasking
more than any other activity. “It is the social numbers and conversation that is
impressive so we know that social television is important.’ The reason? It can
increase ratings. “Premieres and finales are even more susceptible to social
television. It can make people watch a show, ie. after reading about it then
going onto the internet to get more information. It leads viewers to new shows.
It engages them.’
Social media and television also works for advertisers as it allows them room to
do more, for example create a website or an app. “With the advertising model
crumbling, social television is an important development,’ he added.
“There has been a real change in storytelling and audience viewing. Now it is not
just about what you watch but how you watch it. Free on-demand television is
growing. Viewers are watching content without watching a channel, going to
where the content is and not caring about the identity of the channels at all.
All these are changes in viewer behaviour. So how do we measure it?
TiVo, the Digital Video Recorder pioneer, conducted research and analytics on 78
broadcasts in 350 000 households, including live television, DVR viewing and
time shifted viewing. One of the objectives of the research was to determine
which was more popular – promos or commercials? According to Hunt, the
research showed that, viewed live, commercials are initially more popular than
promos but within a 72-hour period, promos edged commercials out.
Within the seven-day period promos continue their advantage over commercials.
Promos have a longer shelf life than commercials and a rating advantage over
commercials. “Promos continue to be our most effective tool in the marketing
world.’
So what can channels learn from all this? Firstly, keep your channel brand
relevant. Recognise that you’re more than a distribution vehicle. Find ways to
blend your channel brand with your content brand – on your own air and
everywhere else. And keep your brand focus.
Secondly, understand the new ways that people watch television – whether it’s
time shifting, “binging’, or watching ahead – and use your advertising and
promotion to exploit those opportunities and challenges. But, at the same time,
don’t forget to promote and enhance the unique attributes of our “old media’.
Thirdly, learn the new metrics of our business, whether it’s C7, second-by-
second, or big data, and let that knowledge inform your strategy, tactics and
creative.
Another point is to take a good hard look at every platform and how you can
make your advertising and promotion work better and harder in that
environment. Don’t assume that, because it works in one place, it will work
everywhere else.
Finally, have fun with it! While all these new changes may seem overwhelming at
times, they should inspire lots of new, different and breakthrough creative,
solutions no one has ever considered before.
