Stay Above the Value Line: A Message for Marketers - Mike Shaw - MediaBizBlogger

The television upfront is going to be relatively simple and straightforward this year. Suppliers will have a healthy or a disappointing upfront experience based on these factors:

* Do you have programs people want to watch?

* Do your programs deliver an audience that actually sees the commercials? And,

* Does the audience that sees the commercials have the desire and the ability to buy branded goods and branded services?

To a marketer of goods and services nothing else should really matter. Why in the world would you want to put your message in front of consumers who predominantly purchase generic products? Isn't that a waste of time and money? Tell me that those people are consumer prospects. Tell me that the move toward generic is temporary and that most of those consumers will be back buying your brand when the economy improves. I don't think so.

The challenge to reduce waste in the message delivery process is the single most important factor facing agencies and their clients this year. Of course it's not like a buying strategy that minimized waste shouldn't have been the key decision driver in the past. But, when times were good it was possible to take a more liberal approach and get away with it because the universe of prospects was larger. And the people making the decisions were not held to the same standard of accountability. Cheap was good. Waste went with the territory. And I'm talking about all media, not just television.

The focus this year will be to put your message above the value line. And what I mean by that is that marketers have to think long and hard about who they want to talk to because their best prospective consumers may very well have shifted. And then they need to spend their money – and, again, I'm talking all media here - where that person can be reached most efficiently and effectively. A value index can be applied to any media opportunity using metrics available to all of us. It's simple:

* Decide who you want to talk to.

* Apply a value using a tool such as ABC's own advertising value index to the audiences of the media options that are being considered. Some will index well above average and some will not. The average is "the line".

* Buy above the line, beginning with the places that index highest – those platforms that have the highest concentration of your target.

And for God's sake, let's all agree that a marketer who defines his or her target as a gender and age group doesn't stand a chance. What, household income doesn't matter? Presence of kids doesn't matter? Women, who make 75% of family purchase decisions, don't matter? Using media that delivers 30% - 35% of its audience in the top 10 markets, from where at least that much of your business originates, doesn't matter? You have to be kidding me!

Listen, all media delivery is measureable, whether it's television, radio, print, search, outdoor, or whatever. We work with some really smart advertisers and we know who's done their homework and I know I'm preaching to the choir in this blog to those marketers (who also happen to be among our best customers). But I was asked to give a perspective and I do know this: If you're marketing a branded product or service in today's world, you'd better make sure you're talking to the audience that both wants and can afford what you're selling. If that's what you're doing, you're being responsive to the realities of today's economic environment and you are doing the right thing for your company. And if any of you are being pressured to screw the reality of the situation and buy cheap, not smart, your company's branded goods and services are going to take a hit and it won't be pretty.

So keep it simple; stay above the line. This is 2009 for God's sake. Do not try to tell me that this business hasn't progressed to the point where strategic value in media selection is not recognized as being more important than cheap, nonsensical GRPs!

Mike Shaw is president, Sales and Marketing, ABC Television Network. He is responsible for sales and integrated marketing efforts for all dayparts of the ABC Television Network, including ABC Primetime, ABC Daytime, ABC News, ABC Late-Night, ABC Interactive and Sales Development. He also oversees Disney/ABC Unlimited, the cross-platform sales unit of the Walt Disney Company, as well as SoapNet.