Hello,
Becks here reporting on training (held on Tuesday due to the Media Week awards last night). In our fifth week of the course, having already formed opinions on the use of the internet, cinema and radio as viable advertising mediums, our attentions were turned to the use of TV. The presentation opened with the assertion that TV is the most effective advertising medium, for a few reasons, firstly the combination of sound, colour and movement engages the viewer in a way that other mediums can’t (something that we covered last week in our cinema presentation). Secondly, we Brits watch a phenomenal amount of TV, the average being 25 hours and 53 minutes each week, that’s over 1/7th of your time! This figure doesn’t seem quite that bad when you consider passive viewing whilst cooking, talking, drying your hair etc… or the collective hours of hangover TV watched by millions every weekend. However, if you take this figure that equates to just over 3 hours of TV viewing a day, with a few handy calculations, you can work out the number of ad’s that people should see (if they watch the ad breaks), 30 each day in case you were wondering (based on 30 second ad’s). Then came the really astounding fact, the average Britain will watch… wait for it… over 300 DAYS of ad’s in their lifetime! Being 65 days shy of a year, it’s a horrible thought from a consumers point of view, but great for us Ad Agencies! Then came the question that the presenters were dreading… what about PVR’s (Personal Video Recorders) that allow you to fast-forward through the adverts, surely that’s the end of TV advertising? Apparently not
I personally found the ideas that were explained to us about the future of TV advertising very interesting, when the analogue signal is switched off in 2012, it truly will be the digital age. This opens up whole new avenues for advertisers to explore, from tailoring ad breaks to fit the consumer that you know from previous viewing habits is sitting on the other side of the TV, to downloadable promotions with ‘chip’ cards (such as the Boots advantage cards) that can be inserted into your digibox. It really is quite amazing the direction that media is moving in, interactivity is set to boom in the next few years as we move into the truly digital age. Sky has just launched the Sky Gnome, a cunning and very cute little pyramid that picks up the signal from your digibox so you can listen to your favourite programmes around the house (or even in the garden, hence the name). High Definition TV is also going to be huge when it is introduced in 2006, the picture quality is set to be four times clearer than current levels, but it will only work through Sky and with a compatible TV. Still, its something to think about!
After the lecture we had a task to complete downstairs, lured by the promise of free champagne for the winners everyone happily obliged! The task was to plan a schedule of adverts for a fictional low fat chocolate bar that targeted an audience of 16-35 year old women, we were provided with a brief, budget and outline of all the possible programmes that we could advertise around (an opportunity too good to miss was putting an ad after Fat Friends) Our group was lucky to have a member that had experience in TV advertising, her expertise allowed us to devise a campaign that started in a strong position (Corrie on a Monday evening) made use of all the day-parts and ended with an extra push on Saturday and Sunday morning. We avoided programmes such as Xtreme Wrestling and The World At War that, although cheaper, did not directly appeal to our target audience. Perhaps this was a mistake as we sadly didn’t win, but it was definitely a good exercise to do, especially in a group.
The lecture was the first to receive a round of applause at the end, quite rightly I would say. It hit just the right tone in its delivery, the content was engaging and thought provoking and we got first hand experience of planning a TV campaign. Next week has got a tough act to follow!
Until next time
Becks
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