Television Commercials (TVC's)- Do they work?

Hello Reader,

Why do brands spend so much money on TVCs? Does it affect consumer buying behavior, decision making, or switching behavior?Does it work? Yes it does. A TVC is created to generate top of the mind awareness among target audiences (Primary, Secondary, Tertiary and Peripheral).

A memorable Television commercial will help in getting the brand name/message out to the audience and also aid recall either by heart, humor, tagline or a jingle. 

Growing up in Nigeria, my favorite beverage brand was Milo. This is not because of its taste or quality, frankly I see no difference between the brand and its competition. Why I loved the brand was because of that particular jingle - Milo PA PA PAPA PAPA MILO! This also extended into my love for Choco Milo. The first thing that comes to me when I see either brand is to recall that message because it instantly plays in my head.

     TVCs create impact and persuasion which arouses viewer interest immediately and remains memorable.Television advertising has continued to strengthen,this can be attributed to television excelling at brand building and raising awareness thereby making audiences  appreciative of memorable commercials. 

Alcoholic beverage brand “Star” has always used commercials TVCs to push its brand to audiences, and growing up I saw a lot of these commercials. I was in a bar with my Dad and his friends for the first time when I had become legal, and when the barman came up to me and asked what I wanted, ‘Shine Shinebobo’ just played in my head. That started my love affair with the brand. How fitting that it would be another commercial that would make me switch brands. 

About a month ago Gulder launched the ‘BE THE MAN YOU'RE MEANT TO BE’ commercial. I was attracted to it because of its humor, and just last weekend, I was out, and even though I had never had the brand before, I wanted to be the man I am meant to be, so I ordered Gulder instead.

Television commercials impact us more than we think when it comes to making decisions on FMCGs such as Toothpaste, Milk, Cooking oil, beverages, noodles, e.t.c, or services such as  Telecommunications, insurance, banking a funny commercial, jingle or tagline, might just be the deciding factor in picking between two very good brands.

Please drop your comments and share memorable TVC's you have seen in recent times and in the past.

This write up was done by Anire Eyesan. Anire is a Brand Strategist at Switcheroo IMC.

I will be accepting guest bloggers like Anire every last Monday of the month. Kindly forward your write ups to onijokotee@gmail.com

Have a lovely week.

Joko.

The Apple Watch... To do or Not to Do.

Hello Reader,


I am sure you had a wonderful holiday.

Today, I want to talk about what crossed my mind last week Wednesday.

Over lunch on Wednesday, I was thinking about the Apple watch. I am a big Apple fan and I keep myself up to date with their latest devices. I was thinking to myself, will advertisers see this as an opportunity to connect with their consumers?Advertisers are constantly looking for ways to connect with consumers, is this another way?

Some of the key features of the apple watch include the ability to bring key messages and other pieces of information closer to consumers than ever before. Messages, Alerts, to-do lists, emails, sports scores are part of a consumers daily life and for brands, this is an opportunity to have a personal connection with the consumers. However, we need to take cognizance of the fact that as the devices people use to consume content becomes more immediate, it by definition becomes more intimate. Brands need to make sure they are not encroaching in the consumers private space.The engagement over a wearable has to be precise, because if it goes wrong the consumer may label the brand as intrusive.

I had a discussion with my colleague and I asked his take on advertising on an Apple watch, or any wearable device. He responded thus "The watch is very expensive, how many people can afford it?" Immediately, I thought to myself, there are some ostentatious few, and since the watch is more or less an auxiliary for the iPhone, I'm sure a few people will purchase the watch. I also asked a very good friend what his take is on connecting with consumers via the Apple watch. His response was..." Arrrrgh, Must advertising be everywhere? must you guys be everywhere?" This was a great insight for me with regards to privacy.

Real life scenario, I was in an Uber taxi a few weeks ago, and the driver had an Apple watch. He was getting series of calls, and all he had to do was click a button on his watch. I felt that was super cool, plus he wasn't distracted from driving.

In conclusion, I will say brands should do a journey mapping exercise to find out whether their brand is ready for the Apple watch. They also need to remember that in addition to the intimacy of the wearable device, the consumer only really glances at it, so its critical to determine where a brand can communicate information in a glance able time frame.

Imagine the possibility of a  branded "Time Check" on the Apple watch similar to what you have on radio. E.G "It s 8:00 AM have you had your Dano milk today?

Again I'm thinking, will digital marketers need to optimize in-app advertising on smartphones for the Apple watch and any other wearable device?

What are your thoughts? Kindly share in the comment section.

Thank you.

Joko.

Hawking of Alcoholic Beverages

Hi Guys,

Whats your take on the hawking of alcoholic beverages in traffic?

A particular brand gets me so upset the way they hawk their alcoholic beverages in traffic. I must say that they are very strategic with their timing, it must have been well thought through.

I am not sure which law enforcing body should probe this very irresponsible act, but someone needs to do something about it.

The law enforcement agents responsible for the conduct of drivers and the safety of motorists are too engrossed in bribe collection that they over look such an irresponsible act.

It strikes me as this company is more interested in the sales of its product than the safety of Nigerian citizens. With the increase of road accidents in Nigeria, I don't think motorists should be tempted with alcoholic beverages.

What do you think?

I know, I had to take a picture of this guy.

Advertising in another West African State.

Hi Reader,

Since I joined this field, a lot of things have changed for me. I query every commercial, every billboard, every print advert, everything. I ask my self, why was this ad placed here? Why this copy? Sometimes I say to myself, this is so nice, if I work on a similar or competing brand, I definitely will do this. I think it comes with the job or passion for the job.

So I was in Ghana over the weekend and even from the airport, I observed a lot of things. How strategic Zeniths airport branding is- I don’t know why I never noticed in times past- when boarding the flight, there are different boards (about the size of a lamppost) on both sides of the walkway. I thought that was quite creative. I do not have an idea how much that would have cost them.

I was reading Wings on the flight- picking it up didn’t ever occur to me in times past, but because I had proposed it in one of my media charts, I wanted to see what the content was- and I saw a few brands advertising on it. It was dominated by the banking sector. GTB, Stanbic, First bank, to mention a few.

I saw the Mountain dew “do the dew” on wings as well, and I wondered, why? It’s quite some money to spend for a soda to get awareness. I have seen the billboard at Dopemu, I have seen the BRT branding as well, why wings? I for one haven’t bought the drink and I am pretty sure I am a potential target. Maybe my training is wrong, but I thought Media planning has to be cost effective. I stand to be corrected, but I think that money could have been invested in other mediums that would have delivered greater ROI.

 On arrival, I found out that beyond advertising in Murtala Muhammed Airport, Zenith bank was also advertising in Kotoka. I really like the persons(advertiser/media planner) thought process.

I must say that Ghana does a whole lot of billboard advertising. There are billboards everywhere, and it got me thinking to myself, does OOH deliver so much ROI for these lot? Their OOH ranged from Unipoles to portraits, to LED’s to something that looked like the shape of a light box except it wasn’t lit and mounted on a pole, it was just on the floor (Roll up banner)

I also observed that they had these directional signages with different offices or companies on it with arrows indicating which way they were. To me, that’s exposure for the different clients/ brands.

The most fascinating is one that I haven’t seen in Nigeria as yet. On construction sites, brands are allowed to advertise. I saw something like a wall drape that star did on a construction site in Osu, Accra. Good exposure for the brand, I also saw something similar done by Eco Bank.

 I got Microgynon FE brief, a contraceptive, its not an emergency pill, its more like a family planning pill. I struggled with my strategy and plan. I didn’t know what time belts will suit such a brand and what placement will be appropriate. What was critical for me was to not expose the brand to younger people and in turn encourage pre marital sex. I called up some radio stations and they told me I could place commercials between 8 and 10 and others said as long as the message is not explicit, it could be aired at any time of the day.

In Accra, I saw a billboard advertising an oral contraceptive Lydia and boldly written was “The power of choice” Although the billboard was mounted close to the Military hospital; it just didn’t sit well with me. I don’t know about their culture and what is morally acceptable, but I’m sure such billboards wont sit well with Nigerians.

What do you think? Feel free to drop your comments.

                                                   

                     Star advertising on a site. I gathered that some Lebanese guy owns the building and                        intends to build office spaces.

                                       Would this billboard work in Nigeria? what are your thoughts?

                                                Cover of Wings by Arik. An in flight magazine.

Regards,

Joko.