Back in March, Channel 4 chief executive David Abraham revealed this summer it will launch 4Seven – a channel that will allow viewers to recap on Channel 4 shows that have caused the most online buzz over the past seven days. It will serve as an interesting barometer of the success of social TV.
But 4Seven’s launch also offers a great opportunity for savvy marketers to use the insight generated by its users to deliver even more targeted communications.
If it takes off beyond just another catch-up service, mainstream TV advertising has the potential to be even more targeted and allow brand and sales messages to be reinforced using other media, by using insight beyond traditional broad regional targeting, segmentation and viewer personas.
This is because media planners and marketers also have the opportunity to use data not only from TV habits, but also online behaviour: keywords, search targeting, and social media data. Access to this information allows for the potential targeting of TV campaigns by household rather than genre, and therefore means consumers begin to look very different to media planners.
With this development, the importance of integrated marketing campaigns – particularly using door-drops and advertising mail with TV advertising – becomes increasingly important. Door-drops can be even more effectively targeted at consumers and cleverly married with the ads being broadcast, or any banner ads and social media activity, to deliver improved cut-through and ROI from any campaign.
A huge amount of useful data is now available about the people watching TV: tracking information such as location, sentiment, gender and volume of people talking about your product. This allows the delivery of even more targeted integrated marketing campaigns, that play on the strengths of on and offline media routes.
The hit-and-hope nature of the broadcast medium is over. Bringing the brand into a home can be difficult, but door-drops and advertising mail can be the creative spark on the doormat that ignites a two-way exchange with brands and consumers made possible by these new developments in the broadcast arena.
Philip Ricketts is head of door to door strategy, sales and marketing, at Royal Mail
