History of Advertising

 

I was reading a very interesting book, called “AD LAND, A global history of advertising”, by Mark Tungate. It helps us going back to what the pioneers of our industry have made and said. Big Names such as BILL BERNBACH, or ROSSER REEVES, the inventor of the “USP” (Unique Selling Proposition) and, of course, DAVID OGILVY. It also make you understand that those people were not in advertising with the sole objective of winning awards in the numerous creative Grand Prix… Something many advertising executives of nowadays should remember!

I have probably read more than ten times, since I am in advertising, the fabulous book “OGILVY ON ADVERTISING” it really helped me to define the concept of TVLowCost. Let me quote one or two of his sentences:

“A good advertisement is one which sells the product without drawing attention to itself.”

“I do not regard advertising as entertainment or art form, but as a medium of information. When I write an advertisement, I don’t want you to tell me that you find it ‘creative.’ I want you to find it so interesting that you buy the product. When Aeschines spoke, they said, ‘How well he speaks.’ But when Demosthenes spoke, they said : “Let us march against Philip”.

He also quoted several times his old friend ROSSER REEVES who said :

“Do you want fine writing? Do you want masterpieces ? Or do you want to see the goddamned sales curve start moving up ?”

All his life long, DAVID OGILVY repeated the same message : “SELL OR ELSE”

We, at TVLowCost strongly believe that our only mission, when we do a TV advertising campaign for any of our clients, is that one. Nothing to add!

 

Why do you NEED a TV advertising agency and not a « regular » advertising agency to promote your brand on television? Not only is TVLowCost a 100% “TV expert “but is, also, the only advertising agency international network with a low cost positioning.

 

When a company decides to “accelerate”, it must, one day or another, communicate on television. No big success can “escape” investing on TV advertising. Television advertising has a long record of efficiency. All the big brands we know in any category built their business by a strong presence on the TV screens.

But, television advertising is not as simple as some other forms of brand communication. It can generate high investments and create BIG successes or BIG failures… Because the costs involved tend to rapidly become heavy for the company.

This is why we believe that advertisers should be very careful about the choice of their advertising partner when they want to invest on television advertising.

Let us do an analogy. When you have, let’s imagine, a “heart problem”, do you tend to visit your family doctor or the cardiologist? Well, of course, when it is a serious health issue, you will logically go to the SPECIALIST…

We believe that for any brand, going on TV is a very important decision; it will “change” the size and image of the company. Going on television, the “KING OF MEDIAS”, necessitates a very careful approach of it in order to be successful.  And today, one will also add another dimension: it has to cost the minimum money possible, because times are tough and every marketing manager or general manager has to spend money very carefully!

This is why we strongly believe that a 100% SPECIALIST “TV advertising agency” such asTVLowCost is the RIGHT ANSWER for clients willing to go on TV and willing to save money!

Except in USA, where the size of the market is so different, in the vast majority of the countries where TVLowCost is established, the “regular” advertising agencies only shoot a few commercials per year. The Top Ten will shoot 30 or 40 per year. 

Let us take an example, when at TVLowCost in Paris; we have shot 150 commercials in 2007 and will probably achieve 170 this year. In the last 3 years and a half TVLowCost has shot 420 TV commercials. Very few agencies in our markets can compete with those numbers.

So when you are looking for an agency to bring you efficiently on TV and to help you saving a lot of money, why not giving our local TVLowCost agency a phone call?

In health issues as well as TV advertising,

a specialist will always give you better advice than a “generalist”!

 

Call us : Estelle Saint-Martin 415 571 5524 

estelle@tvlowcost.com 

 

Cannes advertising Awards create creative dictators directors !

Stop the creative ayatollahs and dictators!

With this blog, we risk losing the last friends we’ve kept in the world of traditional high cost advertising agencies. It’s not too serious…they’ll get over it and so will we!

What we’re going to describe is obviously biased. Clearly, all advertising agencies are not to be put “in the same basket”! Nonetheless, a number of advertisers have this type of relationship with their agencies on a daily basis; they know who they are…

What is fascinating for anyone who observes this world with a critical eye is the propensity of advertising agency practitioners to consider that they are “always right”. The creative team “knows” what the consumer wants to hear and knows better than anyone what’s happening in the consumer’s mind! Consequently, there is no question of putting forward the slightest criticism of the creative idea, the text or the layout used…or, worse, the size of the logo! (for, of course, the logo shown on the model is often minuscule and in a corner…)

Immediately, the “poor client” finds himself facing a creative team member who’s going to defend his project “tooth and nail” without tolerating the slightest change to his “creative work” (which should get nothing but applause and hurrahs). And what should be a normal discussion meeting of a few minutes between two partners becomes a psychodrama in which the client must beg to be kindly offered an alternative at the next meeting…(if it’s not asking too much?)
This incredible nerve is sometimes excusable, or at least a bit “explainable”, when you’re dealing with experienced creative directors who know the category of products in question particularly well. By dint of designing campaigns for various food brands, you end up knowing some of the effectiveness triggers for food advertising messages, and the same thing goes for cosmetics, cars etc.

The “hiccup” occurs when this attitude, on the part of the creative ayatollahs (by ayatollah, we mean “absolute rejection of criticism”), is not limited to a few seniors in the creative department but is a “culture” shared by most advertising agencies’ creative departments.

The consequence is, alas, predictable: how many times a day do you have the impression that you don’t understand anything in the TV commercials that you see on your screen?
 
How many times do you ask yourself who can these billboards, these classified ads, these commercials be aimed at? How many times do you say that, obviously, everything’s happening too quickly for you and that there, you were “really cast adrift”…Don’t worry, you’re not the only one to react this way to the TV commercials; there are hundreds and thousands of us, indeed millions, every night.

You know what the problem is? In a lot of advertising agencies, nobody gives a damn about you understanding the product or buying just about you talking about it and noticing it – which I am sorry does not lead to sales!

What counts is that the creative team who make these ads find them “faaan-taas-tic”!!!

Furthermore, when the prize winners’ season arrives, a deluge of awards (Grands Prix, Golden Lions, Silver Lions, Bronze Lions etc) rains down on this kind of impenetrable commercial from the Art Directors’ Club, the Cannes International Festival of Advertising Film and a few other “chocolate medals”issued by judging panels of professionals who engage in self-congratulation while “returning the favour” to each other from one year to the next.

Moreover, even creative teams are aware of the “impenetrable excess” they have sunk into to get a chance of coming back crowned from Cannes. In this respect, listen to what was said by a “star of French creative talent”, the secretary-general of the very influential Art Directors’ Club, Gabriel Gaultier, also CEO of the Leg agency, a very fashionable agency:

“French advertising’s conformism is especially prompted by the race for international awards, which is logical and not harmful in itself, just harmful in its consequences if we limit ourselves to this cryptic language which still works in Cannes.”  

Ah Mr Gaultier, we fully agree with you!

You think we exaggerate? Well, OK, a little but basically not all that much. You only have to look at the repeated results, year after year, of studies and investigations that measure the advertisers’ degree of satisfaction with advertising agencies to realise to what extent advertisers complain of the excesses and extravagances of advertising campaigns that are too often disconnected from consumer “realities”, expectations and levels of understanding.

The advertising agency sector has been in a deep and lasting credibility crisis vis-à-vis advertisers for many long years, and bit by bit advertisers are getting rid of entire areas of their agencies’ services: space buying, then media planning; more and more communication strategy is withdrawn from agencies and entrusted instead to large consulting firms (ie in the USA)…
 
The real question that has to be asked from now on is as follows:
how long will creative design remain in the hands of traditional advertising practitioners? 

Affordable low cost TV advertising is possible, but “High Cost” ad agencies hate that idea! They prefer Awards…

 

Anyone can find different ways of selling cheaper without making a loss.

But you do need that will-power, and most ad agencies won’t even give it a try. In truth most advertising agencies priorise awards : look at how “mad” they are to show you the Gold Lions they have won in Cannes Festival, right from the entrance of their splendid headquarters!

To be sure to come back from their annual trip to the french riviera with some “Lions”, they try to convince their clients to accept expensive production costs to gain that ultimate prestige, despite the pressures of today’s economic reality. So shooting is in 35mm, in South Africa or Argentina, with the last “à la mode” director who has been awarded in the recent festivals, and of course, he works in exclusivity with a production company. And everybody explains to the client that there is NO other solution to do this commercial!

Whatever the climate, whatever the difficulties of the client, some seem to have their heads well and truly planted in the sand.

But not all brands can afford such high-rolling attitudes [and good luck to those that can] since their scales and lower experience with Media generally make them more cautious. Happily, for all brands tip-toeing around TV for the first time – perhaps some lapsed TV ones too – and for smaller brands in larger company portfolios, there is another way … TVLowCost

CALL US AND LET’S TALK ABOUT YOU AND YOUR BRAND NOT US ! 

Estelle Saint-Martin 416571 5524

 

 

Advertising during a Recession : “When times are good, you should advertise. When times are bad, you must advertise.” Why recession should incitate you to choose TVLowCost, the affordable TV advertising agency?

 

“When times are good, you should advertise. When times are bad, you must advertise.”

Here we are, recession seems to be very pobable in front of us in the vast majority of countries. All the reasons seem to be joined to create a slow down in many markets. Many companies will start reducing their marketing expenditures in order to save money and try to keep a normal level of profitability. Every soud mananger knows it is not a good decision to stop advertising, but“what else can I do ?” will they say… It is not so easy to maintain the same level of advertising investement when you know that your billing will probably be reduced in the months to come.

In a famous study of U.S. recessions, McGraw-Hill Research analyzed 600 companies from 1980-1985. The results showed that Firms that Maintained or Increased their Advertising Expenditures during the 1981-1982 recession Averaged Significantly Higher Sales growth, both during the recession and for the following three years, than those that eliminated or decreased advertising. By 1985, sales of companies that were Aggressive Recession Advertisers had Risen 256% over those that didn’t keep up their advertising. In addition, a series of six studies conducted by the research firm of Meldrum & Fewsmith  (below) showed conclusively thatAdvertising Aggressively during Recessions not only Increases Sales but Increases Profits.

Plenty of evidence demonstrate this, but, I still hear many advertisers saying :  “OK, I agree on this, but I cannot afford the costs of advertising on TV in this moment ?”

Well, then it’s time for you to change your habits and quit the world of “HIGH COST” TV advertising, and discovering that with TVLowCost, TV advertising is not only affordable, but also very efficient, for budgets several times inferior to what you used to pay! With the power of TV advertising to boost your business.

Recession should be the opportunity to adopt a “Low Cost Attitude” in TV advertising.

 

TVLowCost is visibly different from any traditional advertising agency. We believe that TV advertising should be affordable and low cost in order to help advertisers “get more for less” with their advertising budget!

Down to its very roots, TVLowCost is a unique advertising agency with a very different approach of TV advertising than the usual “high cost” traditional agencies. We have these ‘low cost’ principles in mind.
We have developed 4 key steps to handle an advertiser’s TV communication problem.

1. TV Media Planning … avoiding the obvious, finding the “clever” spots

When the majority of advertisers concentrate on Peak-time with its larger audiences but huge resultant costs, TVLowCost exploits the many opportunist buying occasions on other channels during Off-peak. With great effect. The laws of ’supply and demand’ at Peak-time force prices radically upwards with so many competing but airtime during the Day or Late can often be 5/6 times cheaper. Add to this that such programming often has more tightly focussed target audiences with stronger reasons to watch … and you can gain great added value plus better cost-efficiencies from such a strategy. All consumers are “good and interesting” consumers at the end of the day; it’s only what you need to pay in order to reach them that’s the real issue.

2. The All-in-One ‘TVLowCost’ revolution !

Having worked with all categories and sizes of advertiser, we appreciate the enormous pressures on ad budgets and the ease with which they can be exceeded. The Ad Industry is not often sympathetic to such constant headaches. In turn and with TV always being seen as an expensive medium, many advertisers avoid the risk altogether.

Too risky, right? We’d say ‘No’ and our ‘All-in-One TV Pack’ is the answer. Our contract (for £200k in UK, or 250 000 euros in France or 300 000 euros in Germany)) guarantees the following all-inclusive services with no extra costs:

Management of the entire process [8 weeks from Brief] … Creative fees and rights of use … full TV Production through to copy clearance, on-air transmission and running costs … a qualitative pre-test plus a two-stage quantified pre- and post- campaign Impact & Awareness check by IPSOS … and a tailored Off-peak TV airtime package with minimum 100+ national TV spots. No extra costs. No nasty surprises.

3. A minimum of senior staff focussed on the essentials

A key principle of ‘low cost’ generally, and it works.

Avoid expensive non-essentials and hangers-on; only deliver what the consumer actually needs. A ‘low cost’ airline’s planes are just as reliable as those of the major carriers. Its crews just as competent. But the lounges, free drinks and over-generous staffing levels can stay with their competitors … simply because they are not needed in this case.
TVLowCost applies these same rules. A tight team and not a troop. Modest offices with no OTT HQ’s. No shareholders applying constant pressures on margins at all costs, profits being their sole mission. We apply only the skills necessary to ensure total success, and from one combined team. Our 4-step process and ‘low cost’ culture enables a new TV campaign to hit all those screens on time, on budget, andin only 8 weeks too.

4. TV Production – the less expensive way

Campaigns can cost more or less, as you like. But great creative ideas are simple and don’t always have to be executed expensively. They also sell by themselves.

A commercial complete with famous actor and shot on 35mm on the Barrier Reef will certainly cost, but is it all to mask … that there’s no great idea there in the first place? Maybe. We’d prefer to focus on bringing out the product’s tangible plusses – its competitive edges - rather than applying loads of expensive seduction techniques to do the selling.

There is a difference in approach here. Our advertising is here to sell and boost your brand’s awareness!
Our system of TV Production at TVLowCost concentrates on producing the best in the most tailored and so economical way possible. Every time. Always shooting in our studios or out locally, with digital High Definition film and simultaneous cameras, with Directors with wider experience than just ads, and with production methods proven in the US … these are only some of the methods we use to trim costs down to ‘as needed only’ levels. TVLowCost then uses this leverage to deliver quality work … to our Clients. And then together celebrates converting both non-TV advertisers and lapsed users to using TV advertising again, still the most powerful of all media today.

Why make TV advertising more accessible?

Because it is still by far the most effective medium. It is television that makes certain brands world famous, such as Coca-Cola, L’Oréal, Procter & Gamble, Danone… Television remains the highest impact and persuasion medium of all. In 2004 TV was watched by the general public all over the world on an average of 3h30 everyday. 73% of our free time is spent watching television! In just a few days a brand can be shown to millions of potential customers. Early morning, 3pm in the afternoon or even in the middle of the night, there are hundreds of thousands of viewers watching programmes. Applying our ‘ Low Cost ‘ approach to TV makes it far more accessible to advertisers who want it – need it – to build their brands’ profiles and reputations, boost their sales, and defend their market positions.

The ‘TVLowCost All-in-One Pack’ is the most economical, value for money entry ticket to TV available. For a very limited budget in comparison with what you will pay with a “traditional HIGH COST agency”, your brand will benefit from a full strategic, creative, production, research and media airtime package. All-in-one. No surprises, and with nothing else to pay.

With an average UK 30 sec TV commercial costing around £140k for production alone today or 250 000 euros in France – and with running costs and airtime on top – the added value within this all-inclusive opportunity is indeed exceptional. The Off-peak TV airtime Package, tightly targeted, will also deliver around 50% coverage at 3 OTS – an equivalent to a minimum 100+ national TV spots. We have a variety of primary Target Groups – Housewives + Kids, Housewives 16-54, Adults 55+ and Kids 5-14 – but can tailor Packages to suit.

TVLowCost: 100% solutions for Challenger Brands

TVLowCost makes TV advertising accessible – and very affordably so – to all advertisers with smaller budgets. So, what do we mean by  Challenger Brands – and what are the circumstances of the 3 types of Client who will gain most from our ‘All-in-One TV’ proposition?

Challengers are secondary/tertiary brands with high ambitions but limited resources and skills – certainly against their larger competitors who probably out-gun them 5x [even 10x] in marketing spend terms, their war-chests bristling with armoury. So, our ‘Davids’ have to be altogether smarter and out-think, out-create, out-tactic, out-whatever … their respective ‘Goliaths’ in order to make their limited funds work harder. A ‘2+2=6′ challenge.

TVLowCost … is a remarkably low-cost but  high-impact new weapon to this end, offering remarkable value for money . Our ideal Clients are:

1] New-to-TV Brands … a brand that sorely needs TV for the first time but previous cost appraisals have scared them away, so they’ve existed in print advertising and other lesser means, propped up well by effective BTL. But … still they face delistings and the second of the Big 5 Grocers is threatening again.

2]  Lapsed TV Brands …  whose fortunes have similarly driven it to use lesser media props but, with a previous TV ad heritage and strong residual brand values, a good dose of TV would see them all dusted off and re-born. And the Trade would love it!

3] Smaller Brands in larger Company portfolios …  those deserving but lesser brands residing in the Marketing Director’s bottom drawers at the ‘Big Company’. Whilst his/her priority brands enjoy fuller marketing funds, these make do with the crumbs and valiantly keep their heads above water. Most monies have to go to retaining distribution but … wouldn’t TV be great? And right now? And we surely do have that small budget needed to make this a reality!

At TVLowCost, « we try harder »! Like in this famous slogan, we fight against traditional advertising agencies, pure products of the « high cost » culture. We demonstrate everywhere that a TV advertising agency can be both low cost and high quality.

“We try harder”, AVIS famous campaign is a perfect example of what we try to do every day in the different countries where our TVLowCost network is established. Convincing advertisers that, at last, TV advertising is affordable for their brands, and that what they heard from “high cost” advertising agencies is not true anymore.
NO, to be seen on national TV channels, one does not need to invest its advertising budget on Peak Time exclusively. TVLowCost will provide you with excellent alternative media planning, using plenty of cheaper possibilities, with a high degree of efficiency.
NO, to shoot a creative & convincing commercial, it is not necessary to travel abroad to an exotic location. Excellent TV commercials can be shot “in town”, creativity is not function of the number of kilometers! TVLowCost reduces your bill like that!
NO, 35mm shooting is not better that High Definition Video, consumers will not see the difference, but the cost will be very different! TVLowCost uses the latest HD digital cameras, much more adapted to modern televisions diffusion.
NO, to conceive a brilliant TV advertising, your agency does not need to be situated in a very expensive and “ modern design” headquarter located in the most expensive area of the town. What counts really is the talent and dedication of the people working on your brand! At TVLowCost, our offices are situated in convenient and simple offices. Our client’s money does not have to pay for our “luxurious way of life”
NO, it is not necessary to wait for months to leave your agency plenty of time and plenty of monthly fees, to elaborate several convincing TV spots. In 8 weeks, TVLowCost will deliver you the finalized spots, consumer pretest included. 8 weeks and 6 steps involving you… and no monthly fee…
NO, covering the walls of your advertising agency’s entrance and agency’s meeting rooms with Awards is not a proof that this agency will do an efficient TV advertising for your brand! It could even be a sign that this agency is mostly interested by its “glory”! Never forget that to win awards, agencies have to seduce other creative jury’s, it has sometimes little to do with seducing and convincing consumers… At TVLowCost our only obsession is your market share!

TvlowCost Canada: Estelle Saint-Martin 416 571 5524