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Ozometer by Play
The campaign was created to celebrate Foster's famous ‘No Worries’ attitude. In creating the campaign, Play searched for some of Britain’s most, and least, ‘No worries’ people, celebrities and places. More on Play's award winning campaign.Strategy, Planning and Setting Objectives
Written by Matt Gilbert, Commercial Development, The Guardian
Online does not operate in a vacuum. To get the best from an online campaign, the strategy and planning should be part of the overall process. The role for online will entirely depend on the campaign idea and the consumer insight that has shaped the overall media communications. The following are a selection of typical strategic approaches to planning an online campaign.
Online reaches the majority of adults in the UK, and for some younger audiences it is the dominant medium. For some older audiences it still equals the amount of time they spend with television. For some marketers, using online is simply a matter of following where their audience chooses to spend their time.
Tip 1: use Target Group Index (TGI) to check where your target audience spend their time online. TGI now has many websites detailed separately, so that you can drill down into detailed site usage.
Tip 2: use an online planning tool like Comscore that can calculate duplicated reach across several websites.
Tip 3: use a press and online planning tool like GNM’s Total Audience, which can help you calculate how your audience consumes both their press and online media, and how much duplication that creates.
Tip 4: the reach and frequency of your campaign can be tracked on a daily basis, and it is possible to optimise midcampaign.
Online is great at explaining the detail and innovation behind a new product or service. This can be in a format similar to an advertorial in a magazine, but remember that websites allow an audience to explore as little or as much as they wish; and it does not have to just be text, but 3D models, video and audio guides.
Tip 1: identify an appropriate media owner partner using the tips from the first example and then build a content area (or microsite). Then ask the media owner to forecast the number of users they think they can attract into the site. Ask them for case studies of previous work with similar sector advertisers.
Tip 2: track all the pages of your microsite, to measure the interest from the visitors, and how many pages they read.
Tip 3: use the same system to track the amount of time spent on the site (dwell time). Ask your media owner partner to compare this to their average dwell time to build a picture of how strong your content performed.
Online has had to work hard to convince marketers that it is more than an information medium but that it can also touch the hearts and minds of consumers. For certain products like finance, travel, recruitment and even the automotive sector consumers are driven by high needs for information and online delivers this well. More recently advertisers have realised that other brands can benefit, even when the message is not particularly information rich but simply a campaign to build a tone and feel of the brand.
Tip 1: consider using online video. TV and cinema ads work well because audio/visual media provides a rich palette to communicate with. Online is not just about the user generated video content of YouTube. Established quality television broadcasters like ITV and Channel 4 broadcast a selection of their programmes online, MSN broadcasts live music events, Bebo and MySpace have been producing original programming, and some of the newspaper websites have produced their own high quality feature programmes, as well as breaking news bulletins.
Tip 2: ask media owners for any research about how their users respond
to pre-roll advertising within their video content. Research has suggested that capping the number of ads is important, as is using short form 10-15 second length formats to minimise irritation.
Tip 2: contact the IAB for documents, standards and advice!
Agencies and media owners have been investing in specialist online departments that can guide advertisers through the options. Media owners who are serious about the medium have been investing heavily, to improve their services and understanding of their audience.
It is a collaborative process, so don’t be afraid to ask media owners and agencies to get together even just to talk through an idea; any company worth working with will be happy to sit down and develop ideas with you.
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Strategy
Online does not operate in a vacuum. To get the best from an online campaign, the strategy and planning should be part of the overall process. The role for online will entirely depend on the campaign idea and the consumer insight that has shaped the overall media communications. The following are a selection of typical strategic approaches to planning an online campaign.
Example 1: Build awareness of your brand and product by building reach and frequency
Online reaches the majority of adults in the UK, and for some younger audiences it is the dominant medium. For some older audiences it still equals the amount of time they spend with television. For some marketers, using online is simply a matter of following where their audience chooses to spend their time.
Tip 1: use Target Group Index (TGI) to check where your target audience spend their time online. TGI now has many websites detailed separately, so that you can drill down into detailed site usage.
Tip 2: use an online planning tool like Comscore that can calculate duplicated reach across several websites.
Tip 3: use a press and online planning tool like GNM’s Total Audience, which can help you calculate how your audience consumes both their press and online media, and how much duplication that creates.
Tip 4: the reach and frequency of your campaign can be tracked on a daily basis, and it is possible to optimise midcampaign.
Example 2: Build interest and consideration in your brand and product by offering depth and substantiation to your product claims
Online is great at explaining the detail and innovation behind a new product or service. This can be in a format similar to an advertorial in a magazine, but remember that websites allow an audience to explore as little or as much as they wish; and it does not have to just be text, but 3D models, video and audio guides.
Tip 1: identify an appropriate media owner partner using the tips from the first example and then build a content area (or microsite). Then ask the media owner to forecast the number of users they think they can attract into the site. Ask them for case studies of previous work with similar sector advertisers.
Tip 2: track all the pages of your microsite, to measure the interest from the visitors, and how many pages they read.
Tip 3: use the same system to track the amount of time spent on the site (dwell time). Ask your media owner partner to compare this to their average dwell time to build a picture of how strong your content performed.
Example 3: Generate desire in your products and services
Online has had to work hard to convince marketers that it is more than an information medium but that it can also touch the hearts and minds of consumers. For certain products like finance, travel, recruitment and even the automotive sector consumers are driven by high needs for information and online delivers this well. More recently advertisers have realised that other brands can benefit, even when the message is not particularly information rich but simply a campaign to build a tone and feel of the brand.
Tip 1: consider using online video. TV and cinema ads work well because audio/visual media provides a rich palette to communicate with. Online is not just about the user generated video content of YouTube. Established quality television broadcasters like ITV and Channel 4 broadcast a selection of their programmes online, MSN broadcasts live music events, Bebo and MySpace have been producing original programming, and some of the newspaper websites have produced their own high quality feature programmes, as well as breaking news bulletins.
Tip 2: ask media owners for any research about how their users respond
to pre-roll advertising within their video content. Research has suggested that capping the number of ads is important, as is using short form 10-15 second length formats to minimise irritation.
Tip 2: contact the IAB for documents, standards and advice!
Summary
Agencies and media owners have been investing in specialist online departments that can guide advertisers through the options. Media owners who are serious about the medium have been investing heavily, to improve their services and understanding of their audience.
It is a collaborative process, so don’t be afraid to ask media owners and agencies to get together even just to talk through an idea; any company worth working with will be happy to sit down and develop ideas with you.
[back to top]
