The king is dead! #LongLiveTheKing
Not so long ago this would have been some serious media blasphemy. Television is king right, and surely beyond question if you are able to afford it? Or maybe it’s not anymore?
Digital is the new slicker solution that seems to be the media elixir, it mesmerises and is able to sell everything from roast chickens to cars within a couple of clicks. Albeit to one person at a time.
It also often seems to carry a get out of jail free card that allows many indiscretions that would never have been acceptable from television in the past, and many that still aren’t. You can hear clients saying : Television is expensive! Where’s it flighting? Which programme? At what time? Did it flight? Can I get a copy of the flighting logs? A recording of my ad, please? Let’s run a post campaign?
Most clients are way less comfortable with digital than they are with traditional (I said most. I’m not talking about you – before you fire back a response!).
The fact is for some clients (and yes, unbelievably some media and ad people too) digital is like a moving critter in a sack that’s just been dumped on their desk. They point a finger at it, control their breathing while holding composure and without showing anyone else their fear while waiting for someone else to get rid of it. Hopefully the agency knows what they’re doing? Hopefully I’m getting what I’m paying for? How times have changed!
So digital is the giant killer. It killed print, and now it’s coming for television and everything else? I call bullshit!
Channels are not competing with each other! At least not from where I’m sitting.
If you are a media owner and you are hedging your next international holiday on advertising on one channel over another, then yes, maybe they are competing.
Channels are fluid – they change and they are just different ways of placing a message in front of a client in a particular format or at a particular time. The way brands engage will forever be changing form as technology changes and life and habits change. It’s not meant to stay the same. Just as fast as the channel is changing, so is the format and the device.
Accept the fact that the media opportunity is a moving feast and one for us to cleverly exploit as things change, and we move from the front page of the Sunday Times to talking fridges…We shouldn’t be looking to select a media 'winner', but rather be using the channels to their strengths. Use them in combination. Research shows that brands that launch without television for instance have 44% of the impact of campaigns that combine television with digital at the beginning of the launch.
Is this a punt for television? Absolutely not – nor is it a cheap shot at digital. Digital has changed the media landscape compeletely and frankly made my job a whole lot more enjoyable. It’s about the right channel solution.
People have, and always will want content, information, news, learning, etc. Brands will always need to build relationships with consumers, or at least communicate if they are to sell, build awareness or survive.
Don’t hate the channel! All channels can work in the right situation. Nothing is broken – you are not using it properly! Work out what the right mix is. When is the right time to use it, and use it in the right way. How can you combine strengths to get the best results? Results should be the only thing that counts! Do what works. Be smart. Try new things.
10 things...
Quinton Jones 11 Jan 2018
About Quinton Jones
Quinton Jones is director of TMI Media, TMI is future focused. Media of the future is predictive and data-led. It's about insights and bringing the cost of marketing down through intelligence. TMI is a media agency that provides data driven media solutions using the analytics and insights that digital provides, and then matches this with a very creative approach to media solutions.
