10 rules for TV strategy

Phil Shaw
Admap
December 2014
 
 

   Title: 10 rules for TV strategy

   Author(s): Phil Shaw
   Source: Admap
   Issue: December 2014
 

10 rules for TV strategy

Phil Shaw
Ipsos

TV ads should be compellingly creative, simple, emotionally powerful, integrate the brand and feature a catchy
tune. These are among 10 evidence-based learnings from Ipsos' tracking and testing database.

TV strategy

This article is part of a collection of pieces on perfecting TV advertising strategy. Read more.

By 2015, the amount of media asked for and delivered daily to consumers on mobile devices and to their homes will take more
than 15 hours to see or hear (University of Southern California, 2013) and every day, the average person is exposed to a
volume of information equivalent to almost 200 newspapers – a more than fivefold increase since the dawn of the internet.

In this environment, it would be easy to assume that the power of TV would be diminished. But the evidence refutes this: TV is
not dead and spend continues to grow, while its role in campaigns has broadened. TV works increasingly in tandem with
online and social (e.g. as a second screen to amplify in the moment or as a recruitment or publication vehicle for online
activity) and this has extended its ability to drive effectiveness.

John Lewis: its Christmas ads, in particular, focus on the use of music, without competing with any voiceover or narrative

What follows, combines learnings from Ipsos' tracking and testing database for TV ads. It's an evidence-based point of view
rather than a formula for success – great TV advertising can't be built from a template and many of the best ads break all the
rules.

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1 75% Of tv cut-through is due to creative

Creative is still king. If you want your campaign to be noticed and remembered, then it must have compelling creative. After
accounting for differences in media weight, our data shows huge variance in the ability of ads to cut through and to leave
brand-linked memories. The variance is mostly explained by creative diagnostics, and media weight cannot make up for weak
creative. It's very rare to see ads that 'wear in'. If a TV ad or campaign fails to engage and cut through from the outset, then it's
unlikely to perform better by putting more spend behind it.

2 Half of all tv ads fail to achieve objectives due to weak branding

Ipsos' database shows that 50% of the reason why TV ads fail to achieve brand impact is due to weak brand attribution – that
is, outside of media issues (e.g. lack of support), ads fail if people are unable to recall which brand they were for. It seems so
simple, but it's also incredible how often this happens.

There is no standard formula for achieving good brand attribution but our database shows that TV ads that are more
successful at communicating the brand name include those which feature: Brand Integration – a relevant and integrated role
for the brand within the scenario; Brand Cues – elements and iconography that help identify the brand and tie it back to what
the brand stands for; and Brand Presence – recognisable brand shots or mentions.

3 Successful tv ads use and reinforce brand iconography

We've known for some time that a brand exists in each individual's mind as a network of thoughts, feelings, images,
associations, colours, symbols and memories. This network is built up over time from brand and product experiences,
exposure to communications, word of mouth, etc. At the same time, brands are not fixed entities and different associations are
triggered under different circumstances and

contexts: TV ads that use brand iconography make it easier for these associations to be triggered; they also reinforce the
iconography, thereby strengthening associations. TV ads with continuity from prior ads and campaigns – theme, characters,
celebrities or creative style – outperform those without. They more readily trigger brand associations and experiences.

4 Simplicity is vital

Viewers won't work to understand your ads. Our database shows that TV ads that underperform often: try to communicate too
much – more than one message (or product benefit); have situations, settings, contexts that are not immediately clear or
confusing; have discontinuous cuts, distracting camera motions, incomprehensible visuals that detract from the product or
brand story; and also suffer from audiovisual disconnect – they don't work well together.

5 Emotionally powerful creative drives more business effects

People have different experiences if brands are connected to areas of the brain involving long-term memories, higher-order
goals and personal values. So if your ads pull the brand into contexts relevant to the individual viewer, then this will increase
the chances of the stories, images and associations it conveys becoming embedded in that person's mind.

This is why we believe emotions can play such a powerful and effective role in TV advertising and why measurement of
emotions (using facial coding) is an important part of how we evaluate ads.

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Ipsos data shows that TV ads with more emotional associations create greater brand desire and deliver stronger sales
potential than those with fewer emotional associations.

6 Music can improve tv ad effectiveness – if you get it right

Music can stir emotions like nothing else, so it's no surprise to find it can have a powerful effect in advertising. Our database
shows that TV ads that contain music create, on average, stronger desire for the brand and deliver better brand linkage – the
latter being sometimes due to ads that use consistent soundtracks over time. However, music has a detrimental effect on both
these things if it is perceived to compete with any voiceover or narrative or is not felt to be a natural fit with the style of the ad
and its other content.

7 Continuous or pulsed maintains cut-through better than on/off

It's worth remembering that most people don't spend lots of their time thinking about brands. Those of us whose professional
life is all about brands may do, but for most people, there are many other priorities: besides family, friends and careers, there
are favourite sports teams, TV shows, music, hobbies (life!) and other more salient concerns. Consequently, an important role
of advertising is to foster and maintain brand presence in the mind.

This may explain why our data shows that with the same spend, a continuous presence maintains brand linked memories
better than pulsed or flighted. This is largely due to a more continuous media schedule avoiding off-air periods and, thereby,
reducing decay.

Of course, many budgets don't allow for the luxury of a continuous presence, in which case a pulsing or blinking approach can
minimise the time off-air without resulting in substantial ad decay, in contrast to big bursts followed by long periods with no
activity.

8 Focus on maximising reach before frequency

Ipsos' database shows that excessive frequency is not a strong driver of TV ad performance and there are three main points to
remember here. First, brand desire tends to build and peak early, in correlation with the build in 'reach' for new creative.
Second, the key to enhancing media efficiency is to maximise reach, while reducing frequency. And third, creative approaches
to media buying which seeks to minimise excessive frequency can deliver stronger returns (e.g. including use of other media
that drive incremental reach, such as VOD).

Why does reach matter? Because most brands have lots of light users and comparatively few heavy users – so growth often
comes from increasing usage among light users and drawing in new ones. Therefore, it's vital to reach as wide an audience as
possible. This is also why 'fame' campaigns have been found to be a more effective subset of emotional campaigns.
Campaigns that get talked about (on- and offline) and are shared widely, generate free reach and amplification, as well as
gaining social approval and advocacy. Hence campaigns that become cultural reference points are very often highly impactful
– though, of course, this is easier said than done.

9 Campaigns with fewer executions tend to be more effective

There are several points to bear in mind here. First, TV ad memories (that are correctly linked to the brand) are stronger when
fewer concurrent ads run. Second, running several ads can dilute the amount of media exposure per ad to levels that are not

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always offset or enhanced by the synergy of different executions. Third, in the same way that consumers won't work to
understand complex or multiple messages in a single ad, so campaigns that use multiple executions can also be less effective
as consumers tend to internalise only the best ad. We've found these issues with TV campaigns that chose to air two or more
pieces of creative concurrently or in rotation, versus dedicating all of the media weight to one execution.

10 Wear-out can be measured

Of course, sometimes there are good reasons to introduce new executions, wear-out being a key one. Wear-out can, and
should, be measured by ad response and brand impact – that is, response to the creative (i.e. message recall, ad diagnostics);
and impact on brand (i.e. effect on brand perceptions). If budgets allow, an ideal media plan would include moving to new
creative (from the same campaign/ad pool) after the first ad shows signs of wearout – that is, opinions towards advertising
weakening (and fatigue increasing); message communication declining; diminishing or no impact on brand objectives.

About the Author

Phil Shaw is a senior director at Ipsos ASI, where he leads innovation to drive better understandingof advertising and
communications effectiveness, particularly digital and mobile.
Philip.Shaw@ipsos.com

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