Thanks to the range of technologies now available, the number of TVs in a British home has increased, irrespective of household income. Viewers are now as likely to be watching individually as they are as part of a group. At the same time, new technologies have brought personalised scheduling and a vast growth in viewer choice.

This growing diffusion of audiences represents an unprecedented opportunity for advertisers. From archaeology to sci-fi, from marshal arts to macramé, it is now possible to target discrete audiences with a vast array of interests and lifestyles, but with minimum wastage.

This is not at the expense of those advertisers who need to reach mass markets. TV retains its ability to connect with more people, more quickly than any other medium. But now media planners need to use more channels to do it. People are still watching TV in vast numbers. However, new developments in technology and programme content mean that they are watching it differently.

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A lot of the jargon comes from the media-buying world and refers to trading rather than general marketing or planning. Because many ad agencies use technical production language on a day to day basis, they forget that is can sound confusing to those unfamiliar with it.

This language issue can form unproductive barriers between advertisers and their clients. But with the right guidance, even clients with no prior knowledge of the medium can successfully use TV at the heart of their communications strategy.

Thinkbox is running a series of training sessions aimed at explaining in straightforward language how TV works. Meanwhile, take a look at our ‘jargon buster’ Glossary of TV language.

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The size of budget advertisers need depends entirely on the campaign objectives they are trying to achieve. Reaching the whole country, lots of times, with an ad obviously requires a hefty budget.

However, TV can liberate small budgets to do big and exciting things:

The University of Salford focused just under 75% of a relatively modest budget (£500,000) into a campaign on Channel 4’s North macro region. Faced with an ‘insurmountable’ image problem, the university needed to reverse a 5% year-on-year decline in undergraduate applications.Following the campaign, enquiries for information increased by 56%, with conversion of applications into acceptances increasing by 22% - conclusive proof that the university’s image had been substantially re-appraised by students in the area.

So, TV works for all budgets and it can be used to deliver against a multitude of briefs. But to do it means challenging agency norms and embracing new and different ways of using the medium.

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Suzuki Jeep trialled interactive advertising on Sky channels as a means to encourage brochure request and drive sales. 1500 brochures were requested over the life of the campaign. The red button generated an estimated £500,000 sales of Suzuki Grand Vitaras – 25 times the cost of the interactive element of the campaign. Suzuki have now added interactivity to all its campaigns.

It is possible to isolate the effects of TV advertising using techniques such as econometric modelling. For Waitrose, Taylor Nelson Sofres evaluation tool ‘MediaSPAN’ was employed to correlate BARB TV viewing data with actual sales, to estimate the revenue generated as a result of the TV advertising. Two bursts of TV-led activity generated an extra 1,372,000 shopping trips to Waitrose and an extra £17.5 million revenue. The TV media cost for Waitrose was £2.6 million - the incremental revenue was £17.5 million.

TV does work, and there are a variety of accurate measurement tools available to prove it.

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Audiences can be targeted on the basis of where they live, their retail habits, their lifestyle and their attitude or their mindset.

Advertisers can communicate with people when they are on their own, or in a group, eating or relaxing.

The magazine sector is well versed in using highly targeted TV. Many women’s magazines, such as Red, Glamour and Grazia, have launched using the medium. Their approach has been to create programming clusters on the basis of lifestyle ‘types’ e.g. shopaholics or fashionistas, (Sex in the City or Desperate Housewives), which allow them to avoid wastage by talking to discrete segments.

The FMCG sector has enjoyed a particularly good track record in using TV’s targeting capabilities to best effect.

BreatheRight designed a campaign to test and improve brand awareness in the Granada and Yorkshire ITV1 regions.

The campaign targeted women sufferers of snoring male partners, and bought the majority of air-time in late peak to be front of mind as the target audience prepared for another restless night.

The two week campaign was also booked to run between the months of December - January, when people are typically suffering from snoring-inducing colds, proving that TV can not only be used to target a specific mindset, but it can take into account day-part and seasonality in order to be used most effectively.

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There are now more opportunities than ever to innovate on TV. For instance:

3 second blipverts (O2)
Mini films (Mini)
Ad-funded programmes (Renault Scenic on UKTV Gold, Style and History)
Branded station idents
reality TV ads (Nike FreeStyle)
real time messages (London Pride)
Fullers’s London Pride advertised on ITV1 during the Rugby World Cup, incorporating the latest scores at half-time and full-time. This gave Fullers a ‘live’ feel to their communications, creating extra cut-through and relevance for their core audiences.

From 25 – 28 March, ITV1 viewers saw two 30 second ads during primetime, the first a brand commercial for the new Ford Focus, and the second informing audiences how they could win a car by answering a question relevant to the commercial. Viewers had to call, text or go online for a chance of winning. Later that evening, viewers saw a 30 second branded commercial and a 10 second 'advertainment' spot with a live graphic overlay announcing who had won .

TV advertising formats are changing all the time - the challenge is for commercial TV companies to work with clients to exploit these innovations.

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TV advertising may have reached maturity, but it can still be both leading-edge and edgy. Citroen C4, Nuts magazine and Levis have all exploited this aspect of the medium in recent launch campaigns.

TV’s influence can go deeper than trends in popular culture – it can engender real social change. The Channel 4 series Jamie’s School Dinners drew attention to the quality of school meals, and attracted audiences of over five million during February and March 2005. The programme found a place in the nation’s conscience and ultimately led to a change in government policy.

Unlike other media, TV can dominate the attention and imagination of the nation to such an extent that the first thing people want to talk about is what they saw on TV the night before. MORI Research shows that TV is the subject of more conversations than family and children, education, work or celebrities. TV gets people talking and gives advertisers an opportunity like no other to be part of the conversation.

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TV gets brands talked about!

What’s happening on Coronation Street or in the Big Brother House fuels conversation at home, at work, at school. TV can gel even the most diverse group. And when a TV ad ignites people’s imagination, it becomes as much a part of the current culture as any programme. End-lines, gestures and characters in ads are adopted and adapted, almost over night: ”You need some Naomi-style anger management sessions – remember – Hate Something, Change Something”.

Although being talked about is a desirable ambition in itself, at its very best, TV advertising can evoke a level of brand involvement which goes beyond conversation and actually tips into a cult following. The vests worn by the 118 118 characters were recently auctioned on eBay. Levi’s Flat Eric inhabited the both the commercial break and the charts.

TV is a mass medium. When people settle down to their favourite programme, they are sharing their experience at the same time with huge numbers of other people. This ‘shared’ consumption makes TV one of the most likely things people will talk about.

TV ads can live far beyond the moment of viewing. They stay with us, and whilst it is useful (and necessary) to measure the success of a campaign based on short term sales uplift or awareness generation, the fact that good TV ads are often talked about years after they were last on TV (think Smash Martians or Nescafe Gold Blend) is a very real indication of the power of television.

TV gives brands stature
We all know that what you say about a brand is imperative to its survival, but what about where you say it? Media choice is a crucial element in any communications strategy. Thanks to its coverage and frequency capabilities, TV’s great value is its ability to change widespread perceptions in a relatively short space of time. Putting a brand on TV is a bold decision - to get out there and talk to an audience on a mass scale imbues a brand with a significant sense of confidence.

To have enough self-assurance to pitch to an audience in (typically) less than a minute, suggests an absolute faith in what you are talking about. Unlike most other media, TV uses moving images and sounds, creating entertaining brand demonstrations which can turn even the smallest thoughts into iconic brand properties.

The launch of O2 is one of the most memorable advertising campaigns of recent times. The idea followed a simple logic: 02 = oxygen = bubbles. But would 02 be the brand giant it is now without using TV to bring the ‘bubbles’ to life? The post launch analysis suggests it would not. Without TV in the media mix, it’s estimated that brand awareness for 02 would have been 20% lower following launch. Smart use of TV helped the brand develop into one of the major players in the UK telecoms market.

Before Honda launched its ‘Power of Dreams’ creative idea, perceptions of the brand had slipped in the public’s estimation and it had become ‘just another Japanese car manufacturer’. The ‘Cog’ execution which used an atypical 2 minute TV slot, and more recently the ‘Hate Something Change Something’ campaign for its diesel range have allowed the brand to take the aspirational high ground over the competition. Going on TV has allowed the brand to develop a confident position which gives it a differentiated presence in an otherwise cluttered marketplace.

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