Boardroom View

The Medium Can be The Marketing

Ian Parmiter, Discovery Communications
Mar 26 2008

Many of us schooled in advertising have heard Marshall McLuhan’s famous phrase, "the medium is the message." Advancements in the sophisticated ways advertisers' brands can be woven organically into TV programs have broadened the ways media companies can be a big part of the marketing as well.  These partnerships can play a big role in a brand’s core plan for growth.

These run the gamut from a single product integration in a show to complex multiplatform deals.

Having shepherded over many TV partnerships during my own experience, advertisers that have seen the best ‘return on their objectives’---(many with a corresponding ROI)---have followed five simple rules of the road:

1) Is it a match made in heaven or hell?  
Is a female-oriented fashion TV program the best place to park your money for your 55% female, 45% male target audience?  Vicarious watching behavior for the men aside, look at the ‘Brand Match’.  Look hard at the match between the program, its on-air personalities and your brand.  Will partnering advance the type of brand positioning you have or are trying to achieve?  Will it hit your key targets, based upon the demographics/relevance of the program to your audience(s)?  Is it the best program to hit your biggest objectives? What are the product integration/other marketing opportunities?

2) Put your foot down---set objectives.
Do set concrete objectives for what you expect from this TV partnership—just like you would for any brand investment program.  These objectives can range from basic ratings to relevancy measurements/purchase intent.  There are a number of companies that now provide research services in these new areas, like IAG and Media Metrics.  Incorporate benchmarks—as you gain additional learning –to improve your ‘yardstick’ of evaluation.

3) Guard this partnership once established like good creative, because it IS good creative.  
A customized TV partnership program takes time to create, and a successful one typically needs more than one year to build real value.  Just like a good advertising campaign, don’t be tempted to change if things are working.  Stay the course, measure consumer response and make sure someone senior on the brand side is the ‘guardian’ of the effort.  An important note about fickle consumer viewing patterns---if a TV program is not performing well in ratings, but you’re satisfied with the partnership, be open-minded to shift to another program that is a good match.  Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.

4)Know your partner---this is a type of ‘marriage’.
Look for media companies that have an established track record for developing and flawlessly executing marketing extensions, then ask them some hard questions about how they will handle your partnership. Ask your marketing peers which companies are good to work with. Just like good creative, you don’t want 'great concept, bad execution.'

5)  “In Each Other We Trust”  
You cannot expect to do a complex multiplatform partnership if you’re under-rescourced on the agency/client side.  This runs the gamut from designating who will get the product to the production companies to shoot, to who will provide brand guidelines, and if necessary, who will attend the shoots, i.e. food stylists for the client, celebrity talent that will appear in the program on behalf of the client, etc. and who’s handling PR.  Nobody really wants to hear this, but it’s an incredibly time-consuming process--much more so than a “standard” media buy.  Ask the media company to make a list of responsibilities, agree upon them and then put your agency/client names next to the appropriate accountabilities to get the job done.

Those are the ‘rules of the road’—hopefully they’ll help you as you develop your next opportunity—Happy Motoring!