TVLOWCOST AVOIDS STATION DEALS TO PROVIDE ITS CLIENTS WITH BEST VALUE “LOW-COST” TV ADVERTISING.
Media Agency “Deals” started when the Independents moved in on Full Service Agencies’ business some 20 years ago. The proposed benefit? Advertisers would gain by their budgets all being added together and used to beat up the TV Stations for better prices. And to varying degrees this has been the result, benefitting the high-spenders particularly with their priority status. Convenient too for the Agencies themselves who, once the Deals had been sorted at the start of the year, could plan/buy/administer their Briefs easily, on train-track guidelines, and off Table d’Hote. Balancing their books end-year would arguably be simple as well, although deviations during the year would often give headaches.
And Clients’ benefits? Besides the all-important costs and argued savings – easily bought and rationalised upstairs – this was all ok … IF the individual brand’s Brief and Targeting fitted the Agency’s Station ’Blueprint’. Job done then, right? And why would this not necessarily be the case with most mainstream consumer high-rollers ? With a few swings and roundabouts with cost-efficiency.
Smaller Challenger Brands will rarely fit this required blueprint though, even though the long proffered arguments of lower costs could be seductive. The plain truth is out however. Their smaller budgets and tighter targeting requirements need to [must] punch well above their weight . And box clever with precise, ‘tailored’ Station/Programme selection. Wastage – so common with Terrestrial Peak Only schedules – can be huge. They cannot afford the ‘affordable blase’ of high-spenders with their ‘12-bore shotgun’ approaches. Only an accurate ’rifled’ siting will do. Minimum wastage, an essential. And whilst consumer bums on those TV seats might be smaller with Impact scores taking longer to build, they can get there with time and consistency. Again, with far less wastage.
This truth and challenge aside for these brands, it is time that Deals were buried now anyway; they’ve had their day and should now be considered blunt instruments in a vastly fragmented and more spohisticated Media world. With all the varied competitive pressures that TV is wrestling with. Our Industry needs to offer Value and not just Cheap airtime now, and that calls for pure tailor-making of Brand Schedules.
And A La Carte usually tends to hit the spot and be better remembered anyway, right? At TVLowCost, we avoid Station Deals for all these reasons. Our Challenger Brands need to box well above their weight. And they do.
