By Megan O'Malley
A new ad creation interface from Visible World is breathing new life into the good ol’ 30-second spot.
Not only can clients use the resource to create ads from a selection of scenes and content in a matter of seconds, they can also instantly adjust the advertisement to fit each select individual, demographic or geographic target of television viewers.
TV advertising traditionally meant targeting audiences by assuming groups of similar consumers watched certain types of programming. With new ad customization tools, companies can adjust ads based even on live programming events.
Marketing implications? Television can now be used to target segments just like direct mail.
Take Wendy’s, which surprised viewers of an NFL football game by featuring animated raccoons whose dialogue mirrored events in the game right before commercial break.
Subaru is also taking advantage of the condition-based advertising by setting ads for vehicles in weather conditions that mirror the weather of the day in certain regions.
Customized TV advertising generation could reinvent media placement. TV as an advertising channel has drawn recent skepticism from marketers caught on a digital buzz. However, TV remains the highest used media in America by minutes used per day and television advertising still makes up a vast majority of most marketing budgets.
Jerry Dow, Medill IMC alum and Chief Marketing and Sales Officer of Suddenlink, offered insight on the importance of understanding the new with the old.
“Students with an understanding of targeting, segmentation and integration of new and old tools are going to be infinitely more valuable to take advantage of today’s customization trend. IMC students are especially needed to help those stuck in the traditional ways to understand this shift in television advertising,” he said.
The automation of television advertising presents challenges to the traditional creative process in that it requires storylines that are adaptable to varied target audiences. Although quick customization tools are no substitute for the creation of exceptional ideas and creative content, they do serve as powerful tools for creating targeted ads on the fly. Such tools allow creative marketers to quickly speak in a more engaging way to each and every consumer.
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Megan O’Malley is a graduate student in Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University's Medill School. She misses the good ol' days of Saved By the Bell and Daria on television. She can reached at MeganOMalley2010@u.northwestern.edu.
