1. Evaluate Media Options – NSWTADV403A
Television
Television allows the advertiser to reach a mass market directly into their home with a 15, 30 or 60
second audio visual message that conveys emotion and delivers a call to action in a manner
unsurpassed by other mediums.
The finite analysis of broadcast television facilitates precision targeting of advertising
communication via media buy (placements) based on TARPs.
Advertising on television requires a large production budget to produce content of a technical and
creative standard adequate for the medium. Television media spots are also very expensive to book
(purchase).
Television advertising is effective for launching a new product (using a “roadblock”, for example), or
for maintaining and increasing consumer awareness of a brand, service or product. One category
particularly adept at TV advertising is FMCG, where a connection needs to develop between the
consumer and the brand/product to influence their (immediate) next purchase and differentiate the
product from the variety of seemingly identical competitors on the supermarket shelf. For example,
cereal brands, like Kellogg’s Special K. It effectively employs television advertising to give its generic
product a personality and effectively target its audience.
Radio
Radio provides low cost broadcast medium to reach a designated segment of your target audience
via either pre-recorded advertisements or live reads, transmitted at the most effective time of the
day for your advertisement, with a much shorter production and broadcast lead-time than
television. Radio also offers product/segment sponsorship options (ie, competitions, outdoor
broadcasts), with an advertiser’s message able to be aligned with the station’s editorial content.
Advertising messages broadcast on radio are limited in the depth and length of content they are able
to functionally communicate (long, detailed messages are easily forgotten). Radio is not broadcast
to a captive audience and messages must be able to cut through the competing distractions the
listener may be concurrently processing (ie traffic). Radio is also not particularly conducive to
advertising all product categories. The content of the advertising message must quickly be able to
conjure a mental association between the audio and the consumer for the advertising to be
effective.
Radio is most effective in reminding the consumer and maintaining awareness of a product/service
they are already acquainted with ie new cinema releases for Hoyts (and upcoming concert dates).
Magazines
Magazines provide advertisers with the space to communicate with the target audience in bright,
glossy colour, aligning the brand / product / service with the editorial content of the magazine and
providing the scope for the creative to be executed in a variety of options, depending on the budget
(ie inside front cover, inside back cover, gatefold, sealed insert etc), the clarity and crispness of
magazine printing technology also facilitates the inclusion of QR Codes in the advertisement and for
the advertisement to be optimised for scanning by Google Goggles, and potentially other smart-
phone applications. The magazine market is highly segmented, with popular magazines reaching
large sections of the Australian population, making it possible to communicate with most
demographic segments through magazine advertisements. Magazine advertisements also facilitate
the inclusion of product samples and perfume panels.
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Most Australian magazines are national publications, making it difficult for advertisers with geo-
specific requirements. Certain magazine titles also have a long lead-time to publication for
advertisers. Unlike real-time broadcasters, magazine publications are a passive medium and may
not communicate urgency or a time-sensitive call to action particularly effectively.
High quality paper and printing techniques bring added depth and richness to images of luxury brand
products, fashion, fragrance, cosmetics, jewellery, watches, automotive, tourism/travel and interior
furnishings. Cosmetics brand Estee Lauder successfully utilises full page colour advertisements in
women’s magazine titles to depict elements of their cosmetics range and to communicate up-
coming department store events and special offers.
Newspapers (hardcopy)
Newspapers are able to reach out to a large percentage of the mainstream Australian population on
a daily basis, with a loyal readership habitually tied to consuming their news and sport content in
hardcopy tabloid/broadsheet format. Newspaper layouts provide the scope for a variety of creative
advertising layouts and the larger sized available space provides the opportunity for quite large
graphical/pictorial advertising content, including in colour, or long copy advertisements, to convey
more detailed/explicit technical product content. Newspaper advertisements may incorporate
direct marketing coupons. As most metro newspapers are daily publications (local newspapers are
weekly or twice-weekly), the advertisements have a shorter lead-time. Newspapers are geo-specific
in nature, with local papers able to be used to communicate to a target audience refined to within a
handful of suburbs.
Hard copy newspaper readership is declining. Newspaper readership reflects an older demographic.
The main focus of newspapers is their editorial content, and there is the potential for advertising
content to be overlooked. The quality of newspaper printing and paper stock is the lowest of all
print publications.
Newspapers are time specific publications and have a narrow window of relevance. Newspapers
inform the reader of what is occurring on a defined day, and, especially at this time of year, are a
particularly effective means of communicating retail store sales, for example the David Jones half
yearly clearance and the Myer end of year sale.
Out of Home (outdoor, static and transit)
Out of home advertising provides the scope for advertisers to have their visual advertising
communication placed in a variety of formats (billboards, supersites, static posters, incorporated in
outdoor furniture etc), in locations relevant to the audience targeted, with the potential for the
communication to be customised to include product sample dispensers, transmit to mobiles via
Bluetooth, contain QR codes, in a myriad of locations chosen by the strategist/media planner, that
allow for the brand/product/service to be, by virtue of its relative positioning, aligned to the
surroundings of the advertising space.
Out of home advertising is subject to a large amount of wastage. The sites require a high level of
ongoing maintenance. The content of an out of home advertising message has approximately 3 to 5
seconds to be communicated and understood by the target audience, impacting how the space may
be most effectively utilised.
As a large, out of home, visual reminder, this category of advertising is effective at keeping a product
at the top of mind of a consumer, particularly for products with a short product life cycle. Fast food
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companies are quite effective at utilising out of home advertising, with McDonald’s using billboards
to visibly depict their products, with roadside billboards used to inform motorists of the distances to
the next restaurant.
Internet
Internet advertising encompasses a variety of online options, including banner advertising, website
takeovers, search and mouseover (rollover) to name a few. The technical capabilities of digital
advertising, and its ability to provide the context to translate a call to action, straight through with
the click of a mouse, to the desired action, be it a transaction, competition entry, database signup,
information request, recommendation to friends, or a Facebook “LIKE”, for example. Internet
advertising provides advertisers with the opportunity to communicate to specific demographic
groups, mainstream and niche, in a cost effective manner.
Internet advertising may not be appropriate for all product categories, and where the advertising
communication slows down an internet connection or interferes with regular browsing, the target
audience may not be as interested in responding to the communications call to action.
Internet advertising is successfully employed by brands with slightly complex products that may be
purchased online, but that may have a fair amount of information that a consumer may reasonably
want to understand at the point of purchase, for example health insurance providers like Medibank
Private.
Mobile (phone)
Current mobile phones are able to transmit and receive location based information and, utilising
Bluetooth technology, may send through (via sms) location specific advertising messages relevant to
the mobile phone owner, based on their demographic / psychographic information obtained at opt-
in. Advertising sent through to a mobile phone is more likely to be read. Advertising through mobile
phone is relatively cheap and minimises wastage by ideally being sent through only to people who
have demonstrated an interest in receiving advertising from participating categories. Given the
dynamics of the technology, there is scope to broadcast an immediately effective call to action, and
to heighten the relative importance of time and place to influence the message recipient.
Not everyone has their mobile powered on all the time, and people sometimes leave it on “silent”
for prolonged periods. The effectiveness of this form of advertising has a finite window of
opportunity, as more categories and brands include mobile advertising in their campaigns
consumers may be less keen to allow their private/personal communication device to become
cluttered with advertising content.
Harnessing the physical nature of a mobile, with the digital capacity of what may be sent through to
it, the options for advertisers are extensive and may include offers, vouchers, coupons etc, either
building on customer loyalty, or increasing a consumers brand awareness of a product in a category
they have previously indicated an interest in, for example Oporto sending out mobile advertising to
shoppers in a suburban plaza just before it hits lunchtime, with an offer valid for a limited time.
Viral
Viral content disseminated through YouTube, Vimeo, 4chan or some such similar content sharing
service, propagated by consumers using social networking sites, increases a brand or product’s
authenticity/credibility with consumers, and allows a brand or product to carry the effective
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endorsement of the cumulative viewers of the piece of viral content, most importantly of all, the
endorsement of the friend or relative that made you aware of it, shifting a brand’s presence from
the bought and owned space into the earned space.
Viral content is only successful if it resonates & is successfully seeded and may only be successfully
employed when reaching certain demographics.
For viral content to be successful is must be funny, bizarre or cool, and must be worthwhile for
individuals to pass on. An example of a recently successful piece of viral content is the Old Spice
advertisement that has gained traction via YouTube.
Branded Entertainment
Allows a brand’s product or service to be aligned to the pretext and relative positioning of the
branded entertainment environment. By having a product or service placed into the storyline or set
environment of a TV show or film, an attitude or behaviour towards the item may be successfully
demonstrated, and, by association, affiliated with the aesthetic of the production.
Success depends heavily on the popularity of the programming.
Hardware store Mitre 10 associated with lifestyle / home improvement programming, with home
renovation products etc.
Cinema
Cinema advertising provides advertisers with a larger screen for more powerful, action-filled,
emotive advertisements, with the scope for a slightly longer time format. Cinema advertising gives
the advertiser the opportunity to make an extended use of a television commercial. Advertisements
may be geographically specific, based on products or services focused on a location in the vicinity of
the cinema. Cinema advertising provides the ability for an advertisement to be targeted
demographically according to the movie genre, broadcast to a captive audience, with a pricing
structure and local focus that makes it more attractive to smaller local-based business.
The timing of sessions makes it possible for cinema goers to skip cinema advertisements totally by
arriving just prior to commencement of a feature film. The audience members that are exposed to
the advertising may have very low recall of it, after passively sitting through a ninety minute to two
hour feature film, reducing the capacity of a cinema advertisement to transmit a successful call to
action.
Heightened audio visual capacity of cinema advertising makes it conducive to content that benefit
from the effects of combined sound and vision to deliver an advertising message that is memorable
and will improve recall. The types of advertisements that are most successful in this environment
are advertisements for upcoming feature film releases, for example The Green Hornet.
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