TV Viewers Flocking To Mobile

In the most recent research to come from the USA, mobile devices are being seen to attract regular TV viewers – but not in the way you may think.

A survey from the Council for Research Excellence of 6000 Americans aged 15-64 who have broadband internet access at home and watch five hours or more of TV each week found that the greater part of tablet and smartphone TV viewing (22% and 28% respectively) occurred between 9am and 3pm – a time slot that account for only 19% of traditional TV viewers.

Traditional TV usage rose to 25% during primetime Monday to Saturday schedules, while at the same time smartphone usage halved to 14% and tablet viewing fell marginally to 20%.

Moving even deeper, the report has shown that mobile TV viewing was dominated by dramas and comedies, while TV kept the lead as preferred source for news and business.

We have often discussed the penetration rates of smartphones and tablets, as well as the increase in mobile viewing percentages across different demographics, and this new research not just adds to the findings already discussed, but refines that data by targeting what exactly consumers are watching in each different media.

What it means for us: Speaking from personal experience, this research fits perfectly. Many days on the train I have seen people viewing dramas and comedies on their mobile devices – yet I’ve never seen anyone watch the news. Extrapolating this to our online and TV advertising campaigns is the next step in understanding this research. By knowing precisely what people are watching, on what device, and what time can help us target these consumers more effectively across different media.

Brands Seek Omnichannel Customers

In a session delivered at the Luxury Summit in Vienna this year, American Express head of Merchant Services for France and the Netherlands Armand de Milleville has reported that luxury brands should focus their marketing efforts towards consumers who engage with their brand across stores, online, and mobile.

“Omnichannel customers have become the most valuable," he stated. "Those that experience your brand across all channels are the most profitable consumers."

He cited US data showing that omnichannel shoppers, just 16% of all luxury consumers in that country, accounted for 45% of luxury spend, roughly equivalent to the 49% of spend generated by the 60% who shopped only in-store.

In addition, 41% of the omnichannel spend share was on premium luxury, while 59% was on accessible luxury. And this split was even more marked globally, with respective figures of 62% and 38%.

While this is all well and good for luxury brands, where does this leave the rest of the business community?

Omnichannel consumption has become the new norm – consumers want to interact with brands across all media. Who nowadays sees a TV ad and are satisfied that that product or service is for them? Consumers research online, visit websites on their mobile device, and even thumb through the odd catalogue when the mood strikes. A great example of this omnichannel activity is the upcoming Big W Toy Sale campaign – a TV ad to drive interest, a catalogue to flick through to see what catches the eye, and an online and social media presence for research and engagement.

What it means for us: Australia as a country is moving quickly towards recognising and capturing omnichannel consumers across all forms of brand and service offerings, be they luxury or value based. A solid online, social, and search backing for broadcast and print advertising campaigns can drive engagement and top of mind recall for customers who consume different forms of media throughout different portions of their daily lives.

Brands Share Social Love

The usage of social media within a brand’s consumer message is a difficult and complex issue. The question of using platforms such as Twitter or Facebook in a meaningful way to interact with customers – and not just as a digital customer service platform – is often difficult to fathom, although as the below examples show one small act to one person can be the catalyst to turn a brand’s social presence into shareable content.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC

As part of its “Flying in the Face of Ordinary” campaign, Virgin Atlantic decided to send its marketing team and cabin crew members to cheer up people in Boston by making special deliveries and doing good deeds for people who weren’t having the best of days. The airline brand looked at its Twitter followers to find people in Boston tweeting about things like having to wait in the snow for a train or other everyday annoyances. The Virgin Atlantic team reached out to these people via Twitter direct messages to locate them and arrange things like delivering 100 cupcakes to a blogger and his co-workers and giving a woman a ride to a business meeting and preparing her for the cold with a pair of gloves and a hat.

SAMSUNG

Last August, Samsung customer Shane Bennett took to Facebook to ask the mobile phone brand for a free Galaxy X3. Bennett also included a cute drawing of a dinosaur going “rawr,” you know, for brownie points. Samsung responded playfully explaining why it couldn’t give him a free phone and also included a drawing of a kangaroo on a unicycle to return the drawing favour. The whole exchange obviously ended up on Reddit and created a lot of positive buzz for Samsung, so Samsung ended up actually giving Bennett a free Galaxy X3 with a custom design: Bennett’s dinosaur drawing.

TACO BELL

Taco Bell recently created a set of eight custom Taco Bell rings to send to its influential Twitter followers. The ring set included two rings, one that says “Taco” and the other “Bell.” The recipients of the rings happily tweeted and Instagramed pictures of their new rings.

CHEVROLET

David Bowers is a soccer fan who lives in Australia. Earlier this year, it was his dream to go see his favourite team, Bradford City, play in the finals at Wembley. Thinking he wasn’t actually going to make it all the way to the U.K. from Australia, Bowers posted a photo of himself on Facebook with a note asking for 1 million likes to persuade his wife to let him fly to the UK for the match. To his surprise, he quickly got hundreds of thousands of likes. That’s when Chevrolet, a sponsor of international soccer stepped in and promoted Bowers’ message. The auto brand helped finance Bowers’ trip to see the game and gave him a Chevrolet Volt to use during his stay in the UK.

PEPPERIDGE FARM

One day a random blogger named “Rob G.” posted on his “autobiographical” blog a post about his love of Pepperidge Farm Milanos entitled “The Milano: An Ode to Pepperidge Farm.” It’s a bizarre and long-winded piece describing how the author randomly bought Milanos and just fell head-over-heels in love with them. Anyway, Pepperidge Farm found out about the post and did something awesome. The brand sent Rob G. a package full of bags of Milano cookies, accompanied by a handwritten note thanking him for his post and his love of its product. It’s a simple, small gesture, but it’s a cool thing for a brand to do.

What it means for us: This shows a few great ways that brands can interact with their consumers across social media in a meaningful way. The opportunities are there for businesses across all different facets to create a piece of content that has the legs to go viral of its own accord. By rewarding segments of the social consumer base, it encourages others to become engaged with the brand across the social space.

Sneaky SEM in FMCG

It has been announced this week that DARE Ice Coffee has extended their “Head All Over Place” campaign by buying the top 300 incorrectly spelled search terms on Google. These paid search ads tie-in with their campaign in a cheeky way, giving them a fantastic entrance into the viral marketing scene.

Although this campaign has not been without its detractors. It has come to light that early in May of this year, Snickers ran the same idea to tie in with their “You’re Not You When You’re Hungry”, with the paid search terms delivery an ad for “You Can’t Spell When You’re Hungry.

When deliberately tried in the office, it worked like a charm. But when we looked a bit closer at the execution, a few flaws started to appear. With Google’s new update-as-you-type interface, there can be seen a possible reduction in incorrect searches. The other portion is the auto-complete of words that Google also offers, meaning in the example above (Accomodate) you only need to type A-C-C-O-M before being offered the complete word – one letter prior to intentional misspelling.

Don’t let those issues detract you – they are only small cracks in an otherwise brilliant idea (despite who thought of it first).

What it means for us: This is the type of campaign that has “viral” written all over it – it can be shared on social media but not hosted there (unlike video clips and other content) and is therefore accessible by those who work in companies with strict social media policies. It’s also easy and accessible enough that everyone wants to try it for themselves – case in point I asked one person in the office to try it, and ended up with everyone in hearing distance giving it a go. This is another facet of the fantastic options available through the digital medium for companies of all walks of life.