Five Experts on Branding: Yes, It's Critical and TV Is the Key

Some though have been quotteam brandingquot all along For Marci Cohen vice president of market insights at Spectrum Reach the advertising sales division of Charter Communications brandbuilding is step one in any successful advertising campaign quotAdvertisers need to be part of the consideration set to be purchasedquot Cohen says quotAdvertising builds trust and awareness and desire Over recent years there39s been so much noise so many 39shiny things39 for advertisers to consider that it was easy for some companies to just focus amp8230 on media towards the bottom of the marketing funnel That39s changingquotCohen who leads a team of more than 40 research experts across the country amp8212advising on both traditional and advanced advertising amp8212 recently helped develop a campaign and whitepaper aimed at educating local advertisers about what national advertisers already know When it comes to brand building television in all its forms is vital quotEvery single person uses media differentlyquot she says quotBut between the amount of time consumers spend with television television39s broad reach and brandsafe and fraudfree premium environment and the impact of TV creative on the big screen where most people watch TV does unparalleled things for businesses of all sizesquotThose benefits she says make the activation side of advertising more effective Consider directtoconsumer advertisers such as UNTUCKit and Wayfair which have also begun investing heavily in traditional media producing what the Video Advertising Bureau calls quotshort and longterm successquotAmy Bobchek chief revenue officer of realtime advertising optimization platform Advocado agrees comparing businesses that focus only on search engine advertising to a restaurant that advertises only in the back seat of taxicabs because most of its customers arrive that way She says that not only is TV the number one way to build brands but also quotit boosts online ad effectiveness People choose brands online that they39re familiar with offlinequotResults and branding are also important for Miriam Quart president of agency Madison Avenue Consortium known for its work with national beauty and packaged goods advertisers I caught up with her as she was punching up the script for a TV commercial for a regional hospital For her the conversation about branding versus activation is about impact quotWith so many ways to activate online I39m seeing the pendulum swinging back to big ideas and the strategic planning and creative concepting that bring both parts amp8212 brandbuilding and executions which are more salesfocused amp8212 together There39s no divide between traditional media and digital anymore it39s all just content and how it works best for the brand39s strategyquotEven advertising consultant and speaker Tom Ray who wrote Branding Is Out Results Are In asserts that branding is one of the most important elements of an advertising campaign quotIt39s a myth that TV is just for branding and that digital is for activationquot he says quotTraditional media particularly television can do both If we allow advertisers to believe that it can39t and let them run only commercials that don39t give customers a real reason to buy visit or sign up for something we39re doing them a disservicequotNicole Penn president of EGC Group whose clients include brands in automotive education healthcare and retail says that the balance between branding and activation depends on the marketer39s strategy EGC worked on a campaign for an urgent care center in the Northeast last year which had previously been focused completely on activation at the point of need amp8212 when people were making the decision to see a doctor amp8212 because the advertiser assumed that sick people would just choose the nearest centerquotOur hypothesis was that if customers understood the value the brand offered amp8212 specially trained doctors no wait times amp8212 they would be willing to drive a little furtherquot EGC kept the activationfocused search and social advertising adding broadcast and cable television including ads during sporting events quotThe resultsquot Penn says quotwere 39ginormous39 By the end of flu season we had a client who understood that traditional media truly makes an impact on results and on the longterm value of the brandquotSpectrum Reach39s Cohen says she expects more advertisers to be focused on branding and in turn television in 2020 even as companies selling traditional media offer advertisers more ways to measure advertising impact through platforms such as her company39s AudienceTrak quotMarketers do need to track sales performance amp8212 it39s not really an eitherorquot she says quotThey need both results and branding amp8230 but branding should come firstquotDon39t stop now Stay in the know on Spectrum Reach with more from Spectrum Reach InSitesClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet

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Five Experts on Branding: Yes, It's Critical and TV Is the Key

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Kathy Newberger

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Five Experts on Branding: Yes, It's Critical and TV Is the Key

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Kathy Newberger

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