Combining Online and TV to Boost Brand

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by: Matt Rhodes

Recent research from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and Thinkbox shows the power to the brand of using TV and internet together.

The research provides the data behind a trend that we’ve been observing for some time. Around 50% of the tech-savy population in the UK will be online whilst they’re wathcing TV (this kind of multi-tasking is why some people claim we now have 38 hours in our day!). People are truly cross-platform and so brand building needs to operate cross-platform too.

The other headline statistic from this research is that combining TV and online leads to a 47% increase in positive brand perceptions compared to using either in isolation. A consumer is more likely to purchase when the two are used together, and so it’s great for conversion too.

Digging beneath these headlines, it’s interesting to look at how best to combine these media:

  • TV is best for telling people about a brand they have not yet heard of, sparking interest in a brand or persuading people to try a brand or product
  • Online, on the other hand, is great at helping people to decide which brands are relevant, helps people to re-evaluate brands (and their existing brand choice) and is the best source at giving specific information to inform a purchase decision

Looking at this split, it is clear that TV and online both play different roles in the minds of consumers. TV is about the new and the now, it is good as an interventionist medium to tell people about new things they might not have considered. Online is about reflection and information. It’s less interventionist and more about the consumer using it to find the information they need and to inform themselves.

This seems to fit with the pattern of consumer behaviour online that we witness. More consumers are using online to find information about and even discuss a brand. We also see a high success rate of TV advertising causing people to go and visit websites in their own time to get more information about the brand or product.

It’s clear that the two media work well together and that to build a brand successfully a strategy is needed both for television brand building but also online. Brands need to own their online space and create successful and effective campaigns that are about building the brand online, and not just transactional.

Some more reading

Original post: http://blog.freshnetworks.com/2008/07/combining-online-and-tv-to-boost-brand/