MIPCOM - the blurring of lines between media platforms

This creates new challenges for brands and advertisers as audiences fragment across these various platforms. It's about getting another bite at the cherry - audiences may not catch a TV ad but can be engaged via their mobile phones or even via the web.

Synergistic

It's also about creating an entertainment experience that works across the various platforms as synergistic marketing communications. If the campaign is good enough, it will drive audiences from mobile to a TV broadcast and visa versa.

It's also a great opportunity for brands to develop multiple platform marketing communications to create and even own a new "brand" from an entertainment concept and not just have a limited TV communication. We have seen the phenomenal growth of mobile, user-generated content and IPTV internationally and brands are taking this very seriously as they need to find and follow their audiences again.

Brands are even creating their own Web-based TV stations and are investing substantial amounts in them, to the detriment of traditional above-the-line marketing. BUDtv (Budweiser) has created a seven channel offering, investing US$30 million at start up. Interestingly, the channel is being run by two former Ad Agency staff who worked on the brand.

Brand community

New media platforms also allow for far better measurement and database creation - the audience may be smaller but are far more of a brand community and also create a new form of viral marketing. Brands who understand their consumers fully are the ones who will benefit for using new media platforms, especially if the market is youth or young adult.

We've still got three full days of seminars dealing with wide range of topics. It's interesting to see the large number of ad agencies at MIPCOM, not just as delegates but also as speakers, covering branded entertainment successes and the new rules of engagement. I'll be covering these in future postings on the blog and we'll also be doing MIPCOM Feedback Sessions in Cape Town and Johannesburg.

Branded entertainment

I recently wrote an article on branded entertainment/advertiser-funded programming and how viewers would win if broadcasters accepted this type of content. My comments have been re-affirmed at MIPCOM where I attended a session on The Best of Branded Content. This type of content, where brands become intrinsically part of the content is gaining momentum, with more and more ad agencies attending MIPCOM to see how brands can merge with content.

Brands are putting their money behind content in a big way and getting a very good return on investment. The longer form content lives far beyond the traditional TV ad campaign and, in the case of global brands, even stretches across continents. They are also using multiple new media platforms for their marketing, using mobile, web, video podcasts and blogs to find the audience where they are in a new on-demand world.

In the case of Seers which is involved with the wildly successful Extreme Makeover Home Edition, the series brought the emotion back to the brand.

Empty promise

Its payoff line "........." was simply an empty promise, as many pay-off lines often are. Consumers and even staff simply didn't buy into it. Their TV advertising pushed the message but with little success. Payoff lines thought out in boardrooms and not entrenched in very part of an organisation have very little chance of success.

The series changed this, and in a way it never expected. It also changed the brand perception internally where staff's attitude towards Seers changed dramatically. Consumers absolutely loved the series and their attitude towards Seers also changed. The series added the emotion that the brand needed and missed - customer interaction with staff was a whole lot better and of course sales increased.

How about a brand creating a new sport? Red Bull did this with Air Race.

It created and owns an event which gets huge coverage on TV channels.

Big investment

It's a big investment but again the ROI has been there for it. I don't know if this concept was client or agency driven but one thing is for sure, it certainly wasn't the broadcaster who would have taken the risk.

Internationally, the model for branded content is that the broadcasters would be given the content for free and in return they would give the brand various ad spots. Unfortunately, this is not the case locally.

We were exposed to a Science and Technology series which is funded by Duracell and has been developed into three series with 39 episodes. The series is very entertaining and has very high production values, something that would not have been able to be achieved on the commissioning budgets allocated by our local broadcasters for this type of content.

The Explorations series from Duracell has also been extended to multiple platforms and even into schools where DVDs and lesson plans are created for teachers. The Audi Channel on Sky digital in the UK is the first TV channel owned by a brand and has also been very successful. Audi UK's agency, BBH drove the TV channel concept because of ad skipping.

This is a major concern for agencies worldwide but it's not just a case of saying that the 30-second ad is dead, it certainly isn't; it's just that it got a lot more competition as new media platforms are developed. Agencies and brands need to embrace these and build on the strength of the various new media platforms.