The ‘Agencies’ Category
This past week's Consumer Electronics Show was all about the usual Apple accessories and much of the talk was about the Macbook Air-like Ultrabook. Aside from that, major TV media buyers were also at CES in abundance – though at first glance, it may have been hard to see why.
Sure, there are a great many products that will be looking for agencies this year. But with "smart TVs" being viewed more and more as "TVs" plain and simple, maybe this is the year that media buyers have start looking at biggest screen in the living room as a platform in its own right.
That's why the execs from WPP's GroupM were there. While a small tour with GroupM CEO Irwin Gotlieb that showcased touched on some truly spectacular improvements in HDTV sets (you didn't know you needed them, but really, look to OLED and 4K sets in 2013) and even LG's very impressive 3D sets, Mike Bologna, Managing Partner Director of Emerging Communications at the agency, offered some quick thoughts about what it all means for advertisers – and why broadcast buyers needed to be here this year.
TVExchanger.com: You were just trumpeting the value of Google's Android system. Google TV has been getting a few more positive notices recently, after a disappointing debut last year. But why is Android so impressive to you?
Mike Bologna: Android 4.0 is the greatest operating system for connected devices available right now. It works just the same on a 4-inch tablet, a 5-inch smartphone or a 75-inch connected television. Remember, with connected televisions, last year, there was maybe 20 million in play and one million actually being used because you needed a wire to connect it. All of the connected televisions are wireless now. Just like your laptop. No one has an extra wire on the wall where their television is, except for an HDMI line and a power cord. That is the future of this business.
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The merging of online advertising methods, with its emphasis on direct response and calls to action, and television, with its traditional promise of reach and frequency to drive lavish spending to promote brand affinity among consumers, promises the best of both worlds – eventually. Amid all the excitement around the changing nature of marketing across TV and digital, industry executives at last week’s TV of Tomorrow conference in New York City also debated the potential threats: namely, will digital, with its endless supply of inventory, drive down the more valuable branding dollars long associated with TV’s incomparable promise of reach-and-frequency? And what exactly is the value of social TV apps, that can serve as the connective tissue between the TV and internet as users increasingly watch their favorite shows, shop and surf the web at the same time?
TVExchanger caught up with Ashley Swartz, who leads Digitas’ iTV practice, following a panel appearance at the conference.
TVExchanger.com: As digital and social media converge on consumers’ living rooms – with the TV at the center – will television advertising become more like online advertising? Or will digital become more like traditional TV advertising? Or will it evolve into some form of it be a hybrid form of branding and direct response together?
Ashley Swartz: It doesn’t have to be a choice – television as a reach medium is always going to exist. TV is not dead and it is certainly not dying – not when people are watching 22 minutes more TV on average per month. But we now have the same challenge with television today that we have with every emerging channel: what does truly integrated planning mean for an advertiser? How do you take a core marketing message and deliver it across different screens, different constructs, to create a clear value exchange with you consumer? It's half art, half science.
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Jen Soch is SVP, Activation Director Advanced TV at MediaVest.
TVexchanger.com: First, please tell us a bit about your responsibilities at MediaVest?
JS: I oversee Advanced TV, which spans four main areas, beginning with Video on Demand followed by interactive TV, the addressable space, and set-top box data.
So when you hear the term "targeted television," what does that mean to you?
Targeted television is interchangeable with addressable. In our addressable space, we’re looking to get beyond just targeting to the household level, because that's actually the most finite.
Where is the industry in targeted TV right now?
In conversation, we've gotten really far here at MediaVest over the last three years. We know what it is that we want, and we're just waiting for it. In practice, when it comes to household-level addressability, we're on the cusp of hopefully something bigger. The industry is moving in the right direction, but not fast enough for me.
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