In today’s media saturated world, is there really a benefit to ‘exclusive’ offers anymore? Farhad Divecha, Director at AccuraCast,explains why there’s no longer any such thing as an ‘exclusive’, and what can be done instead to make an online launch a success.
It wasn’t so long ago that a great way for brands to secure some really high profile launch coverage for a new product or service was to do an exclusive. Sticking to one communication channel or media outlet could create an intense period of interest, adding value for the brand and the exclusive partner alike.
Today, that approach hasn’t just gone out of fashion, it’s almost impossible to achieve.
For instance, a straw poll of friends and colleagues revealed how they had first seen a recent high profile product launch – in this case the iPad 2. Almost everyone had seen some kind of online video content, and had arrived at that content through a variety of channels including traditional media websites, blogs, social media links, newsletters, email and mobile. The interesting point was that almost everyone remembered that video was involved, be that in the form of a report, some product or promotional footage or even a spoof, and they’d used many different sources and outlets.
Brands just can’t afford to plan for a launch with exclusivity in mind, primarily because there are so many more ways to reach people, and any attempt at exclusivity risks missing out on entire groups of consumers. Equally, they are impossible to control – it’s totally impractical to believe that product launch content exclusively supplied to one website can be completely ring-fenced.
So what factors help make to create a successful online launch? Top of the list are content and its distribution. There is a never-ending stream of hugely entertaining and creative campaigns out there, but distribution is where many brands still struggle. For instance, search works at its best when the target audience already knows about the product being launched, or at the very least the general category of product. If you don’t know what you are looking for, how can you find it?
Online display advertising can offer very good reach and increasingly allows for the creation of high impact, targeted campaigns as websites learn more about their visitors, but continues to suffer from comparatively poorer conversion rates. Launching via social media or seeding a viral campaign can be extremely powerful if the launch trends well. It also has the added benefit of personal recommendation. People respond more positively if they don’t think (or realise) they are being sold to. This strategy too can be risky if relied on exclusively, as there are no guarantees that a campaign might turn into a viral success.
We’re also seeing the increasing importance of mobile apps in helping to engage consumers in the launch of a product or service, but despite the huge number of downloads taking place, it’s still a very young market.
The result is that digital-savvy brands mix these promotional channels to achieve the best impact, and while they’re still happy to spend big to reach big audiences – for instance, a 30 second TV ad aired during the Superbowl now costs an eye-watering $2.6 million – no brand in its right mind would now focus on a TV exclusive alone.
Instead, TV campaigns are supported by a variety of strategies to suit each launch.
Seeding a viral campaign can drive word of mouth, and search marketing picks up the resulting search activity generated for the brand or product. A good PR campaign can secure online editorial and trade coverage, and email marketing is useful in order to inform existing customers about the launch.
We’re in a period of unprecedented opportunity for brands to reach their customers from day one of a launch, but they need to embrace the full range of digital advertising and promotion options out there to make use of the video content they are creating, via inclusive campaigns of promoted video ads, enhanced channels, search, social or mobile.
Farhad Divecha
Director
AccuraCast
www.accuracast.com
