Posts Tagged ‘tv’

New Strategies Used in Spending this Holiday Season

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010

koeppel_headshotThe economic downturn first hit just before the holidays last year and companies were by no means eager to continue to throw money into advertising when it was clear no one was buying.

Consumers and companies alike were panicking, and everyone stopped spending. This year, though, we may be seeing the economic boost the holidays have always promised – and we might be getting that present a little early.

A wide range of retailers put money into holiday campaigns, and they showed more enthusiasm for spending ad dollars than they have in previous years, especially in TV.

The Gap, for example, hasn’t bought television ads for two years, but returned to the tube this year with a new campaign. Wal-Mart, K-Mart and other bargain-priced stores pitched the savings tip hard this year, as consumers cautiously began to spend money again while sticking within their budget.

By positioning themselves as the places where consumers can get the most bang for their buck, both stores hope to see a good return on their ad investment.

Best Buy, J.C. Penney, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Sears, OfficeMax and many others jumped on the ad bandwagon. While strategies and ad mediums differed, the message was the same: Spend money this holiday season, but shop here and you’ll spend much less.

I think you will see an extension of this message following the holidays, to try and tap into a more cost conscious consumer mentality even as the recession recedes. Retailers and marketers who can effectively position their products and services as good values will have more success in today’s challenging marketplace.

Peter Koepell is the President of Koeppel Direct and has over 25 years of advertising, marketing and media experience.

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Posted in Advertising, Branding, media | 3 Comments »

Bing One and Bing Two: Double Takes on Microsoft’s New Search Engine

Monday, August 24th, 2009

koeppelpeter031Microsoft’s new search engine has garnered a lot of media attention as it seeks to directly compete with Google, especially in a time when it seems no one in their right mind seeks to compete with Google.

The giant of the search-engine industry has its fingers in every possible pie, and it’s very rare that it doesn’t come out ahead. So what are Bing’s advantages and disadvantages?

Here’s two ways of gauging its chances of survival:

1. The Product Advantage

Bing is supposed to yield more relevant search results, which may actually sway consumers over to its side. The advantage to advertisers in that relevance is more precise, target marketing, which could change their game plan as well - if, that is, Bing’s searching is in fact superior to Google’s.

The content-driven approach helps sell that relevancy claim, as the system also adds consumer comments and reviews on the search results, e.g. getting customer reviews on a restaurant from services like Yelp.com.

2. The Marketing Advantage

Google has rarely spent money on advertising its own products. Consumers are ready to jump on just about anything that Google puts out, which means that the usual big spenders in a marketing budget are moot - television ads, for example. Microsoft’s Bing may have an advantage here, as the company seems to be willing to pour a near-endless stream of funds into promoting its new product.

It’s not a bad strategy, especially since nothing short of full media saturation is likely to sway loyal Google enthusiasts. Since they have no competition in many of their outlets, it might just give Bing a chance to play with the big boy.

Peter Koeppel is a Wharton MBA and president of Koeppel Direct, a full-service media buying agency based in Dallas.

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Posted in Advertising, Branding, Marketer, Mobile, Online, Research, Retailer, SEM/SEO, Social Networks, Web Analytics, e-commerce, technology | 3 Comments »

TV Marketers Target Demographic Beyond Age 18 to 49

Monday, March 16th, 2009

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Television is starting to realize that not all “hot” demographics fall within the ages of 18 to 49.

For the past 20 years, television has focused its efforts on appealing to the 18 to 49 demographic, also known as “demos,” a Madison Avenue slang term. Marketers have always believed that this younger group was most likely to become attached to certain brands and those networks that pulled the most viewers under the age of 50 were considered the winners and thus received premium rates for commercial spots.

Finding the right programming
What’s happening now is network executives have become distracted chasing this younger audience and are challenged trying to find the right programming that appealed to the views of 20- to 30-year-olds.

Network executives spent significant money searching for just the right youth-oriented programming that would match the appeal of “Friends.” What they failed to notice is that viewers in other age groups began drifting away from niche programs on cable TV and other media.

The trouble with demographics
Now it seems as though there is a shift in the industry, and executives and others are moving away from focusing so much on demographics. In the age of DVRs, multichannel systems and much lower ratings, the “demo obsession” may have ended up reducing its own ratings and excluded programming with more mass appeal.

Peter Koeppel is president of Koeppel Direct Inc.

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Posted in Advertising, Branding, Direct Response, Infomercials, Marketer, Research, Retailer | 2 Comments »

Your 2008 Sales Got You Down? Let’s Turn it Around

Monday, January 5th, 2009

ais-ceo-mike-ferzacca.JPG As we wind down the holiday buying season and start to look ahead to next year, the question on many direct response marketers’ minds continues to be how to target the right customer with the right offer. And perhaps even more importantly, how can this be done without increasing CPA.

Marketers need the ability to capture their audience’s response through any channel. For instance, what happens when your customer sees that spot on TV and decides to purchase via a mobile phone or the web days after the airing? What about the customer who saw the ad, visited the site and did not buy? Or, what about the client who did not see the spot, but is a potential buyer because of his or her past history?

The key is to cover multiple media channels and add new channels for response. It’s much more cost and time efficient for marketers to integrate all channels, as opposed to planning for TV, online and mobile separately. It only makes sense to consider multichannel response options because you can’t tell a customer where to buy; you can only suggest mediums through which to engage. Try to cover as many POS areas as possible, so the experience for the consumer is as integrated and easy as possible. You will extend the reach and effectiveness of media buys and capture sales that might otherwise be lost.

Not all customers want to transact the same way, so behavioral targeting and dynamic scripting which changes “on the fly” adapting for each customer’s specific responses is critical. By providing them with multiple options in the most important segment of the purchasing funnel – the actual buy itself – you can convert them from a shopper to a buyer.

Let’s take a brief look at a typical customer journey. Let’s assume that the consumer sees something they like on TV and calls the 1-800 number flashing on the screen. Depending on what the consumer is asking for in the phone call, you need to provide them with the right automated response and guide them down the purchasing path. Next, look at all the buying criteria and create individual scripts for each product. If the transaction was not completed the first time, follow up with email or SMS campaigns to help close the deal.

For your next keystone-marketing event, don’t leave sales on the table. Direct your consumers’ response through a multichannel program to capture ALL the sales generated by your advertising activities. Make a New Year’s resolution not to lose the right customer to the wrong channel or wrong offer.

Michael Ferzacca is CEO of Ignite Media Solutions.

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Posted in Advertising, Direct Response, Marketer, Mobile, Online, Retailer | 2 Comments »