The death of the30 second spot?

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IntroductionWelcome to issue three of Fast Forward, ZenithOptimedia's marketing newsletter. In this issue we discuss the alleged death of the 30 second spot, the traditional unit oftelevision advertising. We brought experts in sponsorship (from Sponsorship Intelligence),product placement (Propaganda), production (Coast) and broadcasting(Discovery Networks) to talk to us about the subject.

Among other topics, we discussed how effective the 30 second spot is now, how tomake better use of it and combine it with other forms of marketing, the reality of adavoidance and what can be done about it, and how to get brands into television pro-grammes. This newsletter contains only the highlights of the wide-ranging conversationwe had.

Jonathan Barnard (ZenithOptimedia)Mick Brown (Coast)Jonathan Gladwin (Propaganda)Andy Kowalczyk (Sponsorship Intelligence)Nick Lawrie (Sponsorship Intelligence)Rupert McPetrie (ZenithOptimedia)Jules Robinson (Discovery Networks)

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ContentsIs the 30 second spot dying? ...............................4

Making better use of the 30 second spot ..........5

Extending the 30 second spot .............................6

Ad avoidance, relevance and incentives .........7

Getting brands into programmes ........................8

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Is the 30secondspot dying?Television is changing. Digital televisionhas greatly expanded the number oftelevision channels available to viewers;technology like the Personal VideoRecorder (PVR) has allowed viewers totake more control over their viewingexperience; and the internet has veryquickly become a strong competitor forconsumers' time. Several commentatorshave suggested that these develop-ments have made the 30 second spotmuch less effective, and may even bekilling it. It is too early to talk of thedeath of the spot, which retains a lot ofits power, but agencies have to workharder to get the most out of it.

Jonathan Barnard(ZenithOptimedia):

So, do we think the 30 second spot isdying?

Rupert McPetrie(ZenithOptimedia):

Absolutely not. I think it's a great ques-tion for us to address. The TV landscapeis changing so much and the fact thatwe have such a diverse range of peo-ple in the room is testament to that. The challenge for us all is how to use TVeffectively. The 30 second spot used tobe the only answer, but there are somany more opportunities. You canargue that the effectiveness of the 30second spot in isolation has diminished,but the 30 second spot still plays animportant role as part of an

Jules Robinson(Discovery):

I think creativity is important. The 30 sec-ond spot is all about creativity and themessage. Marketers are having to workharder now and be cleverer to gainimpact. The 30 second spot is not dying,but marketers have to think more abouthow to use it, and how it works withother forms of marketing.

Andy Kowalczyk(SponsorshipIntelligence):

Sport plays an important role in mass TVbecause it's one thing that people willall converge to watch. It will help keepthe 30 second spot powerful. When theWorld Cup is on, people want to go to a trusted broadcaster and hear theirfavourite pundits, so you'll always getbig audiences watching that coverage.

Jonathan Barnard (ZenithOptimedia):And watching it live, as well.

Nick Lawrie(SponsorshipIntelligence):

Look at the Super Bowl, for instance. It'sthe one event that can draw the wholeof America together, and advertiserspay millions for their 30 seconds.

Jules Robinson (Discovery): It's thebiggest live showcase of advertising,possibly in the world. They are tradition-al ads.

Jonathan Barnard (ZenithOptimedia): Inthe Super Bowl the ads are an event inthemselves. The next day they'll beanalysed in newspapers around theworld. It's a great example of how adsare still a form of entertainment.

Jules Robinson (Discovery):When I do focus groups, everyone startsoff saying, 'As soon as I see the ads I getup and walk out'. Twenty minutes later,they're saying, 'I love that ad', and theyrelay it word for word. I think people likeadvertising more than they'll ever admit.

overall communicationsplan in television.

In fact, as technology pro-gresses and the areas inwhich we can behave com-mercially expand, the 30second spot will probablymake the plan much moreeffective.

“Marketers are having to work harder now and be cleverer

to gain impact. The 30 second spot is not dying,

but marketers have to thinkmore about how to use it, andhow it works with other forms

of marketing.”

Jules Robinson (Discovery)

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Makingbetter use of the30 secondspot coverage). Ads can

also be tailored to thechannel in which theyappear, particularly ifthe channel serves aspecial interest.

Rupert McPetrie(ZenithOptimedia):Agencies - both cre-ative and media -have tried to makethe traditional spotthat bit more effec-tive. They are lookingto the future, but stillusing the foundationof the 30 second spot.Think of interactiveads, which have beenaround for a whilenow. More recently,think of live ads - abeer ad in the RugbyWorld Cup, for exam-ple, which showedthe score at half time.That to me is brilliantbecause, one, this isthe right brand for theprogramme and, two,you're exploiting thetechnology, makingthe ad that muchmore relevant andengaging.

If you have a time-sensitive message youneed to pick a pro-gramme that con-sumers will watch live.

Some people may record amatch and watch it a weeklater, but it's old news bythen. It's the same with reali-ty TV. You don't want to bea week behind when you'retalking at the water-cooler.

Jules Robinson (Discovery):I think it's all about relevance.

Mick Brown (Coast):You need to look at the 30second spot through its rela-tionship with the editorial,which is the reason why theconsumer is there in the firstplace. The challenge is tocontextualise the message.The media and the creativeshould come together toreflect the particular inter-ests of the consumer. Youwant to get your messageto the consumer through aninterest that you demon-strate you both share.

But in mass TV, you don'tnormally make your ad towork around a particularprogramme, because youdon't know where it's goingto go. The media buyer canput it in the context of thetarget audience, but not ofthe editorial, unless youhave very specifically setout to make an ad that isaround that programme.That does happen, but it'snot common.

Jules Robinson (Discovery): I think fundamentally peo-ple are still making ads toappeal to a specific audi-ence. You then have to findthe right environment.

Mick Brown (Coast): You take the consumerthrough a shared interest,which is the hook, to a mes-sage about your brand.That way necessitates multi-ple creative executions.

Rupert McPetrie(ZenithOptimedia):The onus is always on thebuyer to get the mostappropriate placement. TheTV buyer will always look fora creative buy; even if youhave a fairly generic mass-market ad, you can find res-onance with programmesthat are relevant. Or yousay, 'OK, we know there arefour things that are relevantfor the brand. Let's say,Formula 1, football, high-quality drama and adven-ture programming. Let's getfour bits of copy that work

with all those programmes.'The media buyer would loveto have that at his disposal.

Jules Robinson (Discovery):We have lots of clients tak-ing their 30 second ad,which is used across manychannels, and adding tothat a vignette piece thatlocalises it to each channel.They're using that 30 sec-onds for broad messagingand then adding on a bitthat fits it into the environment.

Television advertising worksbetter when it is relevant tothe viewer. Advertising canbe made relevant by forg-ing a relationship betweenthe spot and the pro-gramme that surrounds it:either a direct relationship(such as a car ad in Formula1 coverage), or an indirectone (such as a beer ad witha rugby theme in rugby

“The challenge is tocontextualise the message. The mediaand the creativeshould come togetherto reflect the particular interests ofthe consumer. Youwant to get your message to the consumer through aninterest that youdemonstrate you bothshare.”

Mick Brown (Coast)

Rupert McPetrie (ZenithOptimedia): I think that creativity comes in twoforms; there's the actual creativeof the commercial, but there's alsothe creative way in which we usemedia and all the means ofreaching the target market. Part ofthe bigger question is, given thechoice and power that viewersnow have, how do we move fromjust exposure, which a 30 secondprime-time spot gives us, toengagement? We really need tocommunicate, almost on a per-sonal basis, with the viewer. Theviewer can now choose to watchprogrammes through a TV,through a PC or on a mobilephone. There are so many differ-ent points for viewing the messagethat our job as an agency hasbecome that much more compli-cated. But if we conduct researchand gain insight from media own-ers, then the effectiveness can bethat much greater.

Andy Kowalczyk (Sponsorship Intelligence): It used to be very much a case ofpush; you used to push these 30second ads out to a mass of peo-ple, hoping that a certain numberwould pick up that ad, recall itand then go out and buy thatproduct. Now it's a lot more aboutpulling people toward you andyour brand and your product,through TV, internet and all the dif-ferent platforms.

Jules Robinson (Discovery):We have a very media-savvy audi-ence. People know when they'rebeing sold to. This means we haveto be clever, and expand beyondthe 30 second spot, rather thansee the death of it. This would thenmean extending campaignsonline and introducing competi-tions to increase exposure, as wellas putting them into context withinthe programmes they air in.

Rupert McPetrie (ZenithOptimedia):The good news about the way themarket is evolving is that everyonehas to think more, not just becausethere's choice, but because newtechnologies help us understand

“...given the choiceand power that view-ers now have, how do we move fromjust exposure, which a30 second prime-timespot gives us, to engagement? We really need tocommunicate, almost on a personalbasis, with the viewer.”

Rupert McPetrie(ZenithOptimedia)

more about viewing and purchas-ing behaviour in digital homes. It'sonly once you have the proof ofthat relationship between expo-sure and engagement that wecan then really understand howwell the 30 second spot works, andhow it interacts with the surround-ing content and other points ofcontact.

Jules Robinson (Discovery): Taking a step back, the heart of acampaign is the client's creative,the way they want to be present-ed and the message they want toget across. We are asked how wecan take our shows and use themto make the creative more rele-vant. We can then create onlinecontent and hold special events.For instance, we put together amassive, global package for atourism office, where we used rele-vant shows and created vignettes,competitions and websites. Wewere involved in tourism events sothe client could communicatewith travel agents and not just theconsumer. The media ownerbecame part of their marketingdepartment, working with theiragency to produce a campaignon a global scale, in many lan-guages.

We've had to develop part of ourbusiness to make it possible to fullysponsor a proper multimedia plat-form, rather than just negotiatingan ad spot. For years TV hasbeen about awareness; there'sno better medium for buildingawareness and understand-ing of a product. Now TVcan do more and that's exciting.

Agencies have to make better useof the spot because viewers havemore choice and power over whatthey watch. However, the technol-ogy that gives viewers this choiceand power also allows agencies tounderstand more about viewersand assess the effect of televisionadvertising more accurately. Itallows agencies to extend cam-paigns that are based on the 30second spot into other forms ofmedia and marketing. These worktogether with the spot to engagethe viewer and forge a strongerrelationship between the viewerand the brand.

Nick Lawrie (Sponsorship Intelligence): Media owners are now offeringmuch more diverse platforms, so amarketer can come in with cre-ative ideas for a 30 second spotbut also link into all sorts of othermedia elements.

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Extending the30 second spot

engage-ment? Canwe makepeoplewatch anad? Or do we incen-tivise them? The broadcaster canlet viewers earn reward points bywatching ads, for example.

Andy Kowlaczyk (SponsorshipIntelligence): You have to give peoplereasons to watch ads.

Mick Brown (Coast): Consumers are ask-ing why the advertiser is there.Advertisers need to ask how they canbe relevant.

Jules Robinson (Discovery): I think it's stillfundamentally about programmes, andentertaining people or informing peoplein the right way. You've got to be care-ful about forcing someone to do some-thing that then ruins their experience.

We shouldn't put more barri-ers between viewers

and programmes,because what theinternet has done istold consumers,

'You can goanywhere'.

Mick Brown (Coast): But don't peoplestill flick through the ads?

Rupert McPetrie (ZenithOptimedia):You're right that when people recordprogrammes, a proportion of them dofast forward the ads. But those whodon't are more attentive to the advertis-ing, because they have selected thatprogramme and taken the time to sitdown and watch it.

Andy Kowlaczyk (SponsorshipIntelligence): Internet penetration ishigh and broadband speeds are get-ting to the level where we can actuallywatch high-quality coverage on ourPCs. At that point you can avoid theads.

Rupert McPetrie (ZenithOptimedia):There are ways of signposting the adsthat are about to come on air. Look atthe listing pages in your newspaper onyour way home; there will be some sign-posting for an ad that will be on latertonight. You can signpost on air. We didit for one of our clients; we got thechannel to say at the end of the pro-gramme, 'Stay tuned to thisbreak to see this exciting devel-opment about your credit card'.

Looking to the future, are there waysthat we can use this technology, which

we perceive as a threat, to force

PVRs and internet video make iteasier for viewers to avoid ads,though by no means all those whohave the ability to avoid ads actually do. Still, the spread of ad-avoidance technology makes itimportant to ensure that ads arerelevant to viewers, and to giveviewers reasons to pay attention to them.

Rupert McPetrie (ZenithOptimedia): Theconventional wisdom is that traditionalmedia is suffering as technology devel-ops. To a degree that's true, but peopleactually watch more television whenthey have more choice. We have to bea bit smarter about where we try toreach these people because the audi-ence is more fragmented, but morechoice does mean more viewing.

When you look at early audience datafrom homes with PVRs, a lot of pro-grammes were being recorded and alot of the playback was being fast for-warded through the ads. That gave usa problem. But the people who boughtthis equipment were the early adopters,who don't have traditional viewinghabits anyway and have a high under-standing of the kit. In fact, as the uni-verse of those who have PVRs increas-es, the ad avoidance data suggeststhat we're not missing all that muchcommercial viewing. Ad avoidance is achallenge and we'd be foolish not tothink about how we can deal with that

in the future, but there are alreadysome great examples of a more

creative approach beingused to try and negate

that effect.

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Ad avoidance,relevance andincentives

“...broadband speedsare getting to the levelwhere we can actually

watch high-qualitycoverage on our PCs.At that point you can

avoid the ads.” Andy Kowlaczyk

(Sponsorship Intelligence)

all surrounded by brandsevery day. The day itbecomes uncomfort-able is when viewersfeels a brand has beenshoehorned into a showwhere it doesn't fit.

Mick Brown (Coast): The problem is when youwant to make the prod-uct the hero and youfocus in too much on it;nobody wants that.

Jonathan Gladwin(Propaganda): It's thedifference between theproduct being the heroand being just part andparcel of the action. Butyou want it to be natu-ral; you don't want it tojar. Leave the produc-tion company to natu-ralise the products in theshows, then let the 30second ad do all thesales pitch in that con-trolled space.

Andy Kowlaczyk(SponsorshipIntelligence): I don'tthink brands have to betoo sensitive aboutproduct placement,because people aresavvy now; they under-stand what's going on.They understand thatthese programmes needinvestment. We've donea lot of research thatshows people don'tmind sponsors beingthere any more, as longas they don't get toointrusive and the spon-sorship is relevant and incontext.

important now, becauseyou can't avoid them.Break sponsorship is verygood because it tellsviewers who are fast for-warding the ads whenthe programme will startagain.

Mick Brown(Coast):

Because it's a signpost.

JonathanBarnard

(ZenithOptimedia):Clearly, we have to bevery sensitive about howwe get brands into con-tent.

JonathanGladwin(Propaganda):

It's about making surethat the programmeswe're working on fit withthe brand, and makingthat fit right and rele-vant for the audience.We've got to make surethe audience feels com-fortable with the brandbeing there. And audi-ences expect to see thebrands in programmes.They don't expect to seeno brands in a pro-gramme, because thatdoesn't feel right. We're

Even if viewers startavoiding ads in largenumbers, they won't beable to avoid brandsthat appear in the pro-grammes they watch,hence the growing inter-est in sponsorship andproduct placement.Product placement rulesvary from country tocountry; it is common inthe Americas and Asia,but banned (at least inmost forms) in much ofEurope. Even in coun-tries where it is banned,brands can often beplaced in programmeswhere their appearanceis editorially justified, aslong as there is no edito-rial interference.

Wherever it takes place,product placementneeds to be conductedcarefully, to avoid alien-ating the viewer andensure the broadcasterretains its credibility.

In the future, technologyis likely to make productplacement more power-ful, by allowing viewersto find information aboutthe products they see onscreen, or even buythem, with a touch of abutton or click of amouse. This technologyshould also do the samefor the 30 second spot,by helping advertisersinteract and engagewith viewers more closely.

AndyKowalczyk(Sponsorship

Intelligence): Productplacement and sponsor-ship - having brandsexposed within cover-age - are becoming so

If you have any questions or would like to discuss anything you have read here, please contact your local ZenithOptimedia office or Jonathan Barnard, Head of Publications (+44 20 7961 1192, Jonathan.Barnard@zenithoptimedia.com).

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Jules Robinson(Discovery): The mainpoint I've picked upfrom this is the questionof how to bring brandsinto programmes andhow to pull down thewalls, without affectingthe credibility of thebroadcaster.Fundamentally, I thinkbroadcasters need toretain the responsibilityfor the quality of theirprogramming.

Andy Kowalczyk(SponsorshipIntelligence): There willbe more options in thefuture. I saw Microsoftgive a presentation onnew technology, usingFriends as an example.You clicked on Rachel'sjacket and the televisiontook you to a shopwhere you could actual-ly buy that jacket. Itstopped the programmecoverage, allowed youto buy the jacket and,when you'd finished,carried on from where itleft off.

Jonathan Gladwin(Propaganda): I thinkthat's the key, gettingproducts into the con-tent and allowing peo-ple to adapt to that. Astechnology developswe will be able to gofrom seeing a product ina programme to buyingit, and to click on on-screen text to go to awebsite.

Jules Robinson(Discovery): We haveinteractive TV now, sothere is already a two-way process in TV. Nowvideo creators andbroadcasters are explor-ing this online.

Jonathan Barnard(ZenithOptimedia):Going back to the 30second spot, we alreadyhave interactive ads,but the scope of inter-action is still quite limit-ed. As this sort of tech-nology becomes more

common, it will allow usto do so much morewith television ads: totake consumers directlyfrom ad to website topurchase, for example,or engage them withpersonalised content.

Getting brands intoprogrammes

“We’ve got to makesure the audiencefeels comfortable

with the brand beingthere. And audi-

ences expect to seethe brands in pro-

grammes.”

Jonathan Gladwin(Propaganda)

“...people don't mindsponsors being thereany more, as long as

they don't get toointrusive and the

sponsorship is relevant.”

Andy Kowlaczyk(Sponsorship Intelligence)