Media

Creativity Beats Media In TV ROI

~ K. Quesenberry ~ 1 Comment

If you merely glanced over a recent article in Advertising Age you may have thought it was about media buying. The first sentence of the article tells us Demographics have almost no effect on whether TV ads produce sales, and consumers’ purchase history is the most reliable predictor of success. Okay I say, but how do I buy TV media based on purchase history?

The article goes on to tell us that ads produce a greater sales lift the closer they come to the purchase decision. Again, can I buy TV ad slots based on my target’s purchase decisions? We do learn however that we shouldn’t shy away prime time placement and higher prices because in general prime time’s sales return on media investment trumps other day parts. That is something we can use – keep buying prime time.

But you may have read this entire article except for the last sentence and missed the most important conclusion highlighted by TRA President Bill Harvey at the Advertising Research Foundation 360 Measurement Day Workshop in Chicago. His company has been pairing data from set-top TV boxes with retail loyalty-card purchase data since 2008.

There are limits to what media choices alone can accomplish. The ads themselves matter most. Mr. Harvey said, “Data suggests 65% of TV ROI is attributable to the creative and 35% to the media.” Now that is something I can control. The worst mistake of all is to spend all your time nitpicking media choices and neglecting to invest in choosing great creative.

Why this lopsided emphasis? Maybe because it was a media workshop and not a creative conference.

Yahoo Cheers Associated Content Acquisition–Society Jeers.

~ K. Quesenberry ~ 2 Comments

The latest news in web content involves a veteran player and a start up. Yahoo has acquired Associated Content for more than $100 million and that gives Yahoo a new strategy for producing low-cost media content. They have paid $100 million for a bunch of stories about reducing stress, fixing broken garage door springs and how to make a home office look homey.

Analysts say this is good and bad for Yahoo, which tried a more expensive, Hollywood-style approach under former studio box Terry Sernel, but now are focusing on cheaper productions such as Yahoo Sports. But this low-ball content also contradicts the quality content that consumers and advertising currently have come to expect from Yahoo.

I am worried about whether this is good or bad for us as a society. Associated Content cranks out enormous amounts of freelancer-produced content paying as little as $5 a story. What does that do for a journalism industry that is already suffering from closings and struggling to find a viable financial model?

Bob Garfield from Advertising Age has written a new book called The Chaos Scenario. “The chaos scenario is the period falling between the end of mass media and mass marketing, and the ability for the microworld” –the realm of peer-generated and user-generated content –”to replace what we’ve lost.” He predicts that this brave new world will take away the ability for marketers to market to large numbers of people, and with that, high production value content.

What are we left with? Home movies about making home offices more homey.