Kill Your Television: Local Media Rules
A few years ago at a conference, I heard a presentation on the “Three Ages of TV.” Going all the way back to 1947, the speaker listed the evolution of television viewing—how consumers had changed and what advertisers did in response.
- 1947-1979: The age of no remote, or the “Interrupt & Irritate” age. Ads could be more obnoxious because most folks wouldn’t get off the couch to change the channel or turn it down.
- 1980-2004: The remote appears and the game changes significantly. Now viewers can change the channel or mute the sound. Advertisers respond by using an “Entice & Entertain” strategy; in response, ads become more humorous.
- 2005-2010: The age of TiVo, also known as the “Skip & Omit” age. Advertiser response is to embed ads (product placement) or tie them into the show. Think Ford on “Fringe,” or nostalgic ads on “Mad Men.”
From today forward, it’s anyone’s guess what age we will enter. My guess: television is about to enter the “Age of Irrelevance.” The current trends in marketing are all about local relevance, and television advertising can’t keep up; there is just no way to incorporate the level of local that consumers are looking for today.
The driving force behind this focus on locally relevant engagement is, of course, mobile. With apps like Foursquare, and the recently launched ShopKick, shoppers are “checking in” at local businesses in the hopes of receiving some sort of locally relevant or, even better, personally relevant offer.
According to a new report from San Francisco-based JiWire, 39 percent of consumers are interested in receiving offers for nearby stores through their mobile devices. And at least 50 percent of 18-54 year olds expressed willingness to share their location to receive relevant offers.
Note that age demographic: 18-54. These aren’t teeny-boppers toting cell phones and their allowance; they are valuable shoppers who are at the height of their earning and spending power. In fact, the 25- to 44-year-old group had the highest positive response to this question. That is a good start to the typical retailer’s target market.
Make no mistake, this isn’t the future. It’s right here, right now. And the learning curve is pretty flat—your shoppers are already engaging via mobile devices every day. If you’re looking ahead to fiscal 2011 and still thinking how much money you’re going to spend on newspapers and television, you might want to add mobile into that mix—and give it a healthy boost.
Which leads me to the magic question: What are you doing to maximize this opportunity in your store?
Great Blog Jeff. I have recently been impressed by marketer’s efforts to bring local, relevant ads via Pandora. The music streaming entity draws its mobile app listeners in on the promise of “nearly” commercial free radio listening and customized station creation ability, all the while hitting you with hyper linked ad banners at the onset of every new song played. While ad banners themselves have long since had there day as the new kid on the block, they continue to be staples for companies like Pandora seeking to fund their free to the public services. What I find impressive is the innovative approach of using the location services of the GPS enabled phone to now allow local markets to deliver targeted banner messaging to listeners in the area. What a brilliant move on the part of the content provider, and what a great opportunity for local markets.