This Industry Is Big Enough For The Both Of Them

As I come to the end of my placement in MEC's digital department I feel the time spent has been extremely beneficial and I have got to grips with one of the newest and most unpredictable media platforms. Although the knowledge I have gained has barely reached the tip of the iceberg, I have left feeling excited about my future work in media agencies.

One thing I am certain and have been consistently reminded during my time in digital is that it is the future and it is an exciting department to work in. However I can't help but question the strength of digital as a sole media platform. I don't doubt online's extensive potential however a new advert for retailer Tesco came to my attention.
This was a TV ad for Tesco's grocery shopping app (please watch the below):

Tesco is the first high street supermarket with a full digital strategy however it is interesting how much it relies on traditional media such as TV to advertise and promote it. There have been countless predictions and statements that the digital space is soon to overtake traditional media.

Although more and more consumers are buying into digital technology and spending increasingly more of their time online, one thing remains constant - TV is still trusted in penetrating a mass audience especially since it is at a time when people are relaxed in their home environment. In comparison consumers face digital advertising every time they carry out daily tasks such as online banking, email, online shopping, gambling sites, social networking, gaming, researching and much more. Thus my point is that most people are online for a certain reason other than to relax and so are maybe less likely to take notice of ads. It is all very well for a brand to have digital services but in order for these services to be used and appreciated, traditional means of creating awareness play a key role in their success. This is why I believe digital advertising will never be superior to TV, maybe not for another 10 years at least.


This blog has moved to www.laurarobinsonblog.com

Online's Big Brother

With the Christmas break fast approaching and the adverse weather causing havoc, the last few days at work have been really busy as my team and I are trying to implement all the digital campaigns in time for their January 'Live' date. Like most things in life there is more to a display ad than meets the eye and a lot of behind the scene work is carried out in order for it to exist.

An example of this is creating and layering the advert with tags which track how well an ad is performing. This is one of the reasons online has become so popular - it offers increased measurability. Being able to track a campaign's performance is extremely desirable for all parties (the client, the media agency and the media owner). Every display ad you see on a site whether a standard banner, a video or expandable ad has a tracker to measure how many people view and interact with it. Therefore ads which are not reaching a great enough audience can be optimised so that the client achieves the results it desires.

You may not think it but most, if not all the ads you see online are targeted to you directly in some way depending upon your online behaviour. Targeted display or 'behavioural advertising' is exploding and is getting more personal than ever before particularly now that audiences are even more fragmented. Another way to think of behavioural targeting is when you use online shopping at Tesco.com. It tracks and remembers what you have previously purchased and offers you a list of your most popular items so you don't have to trail through the pages and pages of groceries to find what you're looking for. It is applications like these which make using online so appealing. The implementation of such services make using the internet a breeze.

Ultimately this is what display advertising aims to achieve. Rather than be seen as obtrusive, it aims to be identified and used as a useful tool to minimise the stress and lengthy process of surfing the world wide web.

Taking Over the Home of Online

I am now half-way through my rotation in the digital department and I can now talk the language of cyberspace.

A lot of my time has been filled doing reports and PCA's (post campaign analyses). Although reporting is not the most thrilling of tasks, it has taught me a great deal about how to measure the success of a digital campaign and especially what works well for particular clients. The higher the CTR (click through rate) the more efficient the campaign has been and the cheaper the CPC (cost per click) the more cost effective the campaign has performed. Put this together and you can work out the overall best site placement. This could be an expandable MPU on MSN's homepage or a leaderboard on the guardian.co.uk. However it's not just choosing the format of the display because the placement of the display ad is actually most important. Targeting consumers at the right time in a contextual environment is key. This brings up an age old debate about creative agencies and media agencies and who has the most important role.
Personally collaboration is what constitutes great advertising and working together to maximise the ad creative so that the right consumers are exposed to it is where an idea turns into results and ROI.

In relation to online advertising I had to put together a powerpoint deck for all the different Home Page Take Overs (HPTO's) available on the digital marketplace. Who would have thought there was so much scope to be creative with display advertising on websites. From my research and speaking to different media owners I found a HPTO for the film Avatar which is to be particularly engaging.
Click on link to see:
http://ads1.msn.com/ads/demos/Avatar/12.18.09_Fox_AVATAR_Homepage.htm

Once on the page the user is instantly greeted by a rich media MPU (multi-purpose unit) which when clicked on, glides the whole homepage down to reveal an interactive trailer page.
(Note: on the MPU there is a text button to enable the Avatar skin on/off)

Before being exposed to the variety of display possibilities I was unsure about the future of display advertising. However I do believe that as an industry we have only scratched the surface of display ads and it won't be long before we see video display ads that change their copy (message) to speak to the user directly as soon as they land on the webpage.

Watch the online space!

This blog has moved to www.laurarobinsonblog.com

Goodbye Traditional...Hello Digital

It's been a few weeks since my last blog and the reason for this is because I have recently moved departments as part of my rotation. I completed my first 8 weeks in Communications Planning and am now working in MEC Interaction our 'Digital' department.

Within digital there are a number of sub-departments including Social Media, Search (SEO - Search Engine Optimisation and PPC - Paid for Search), Brand, and Acquisition (digital direct response). So far I have found digital to be a real eye opener and a completely different experience to Comms Planning. Having not had any experience working in digital before there is so much to learn and understand, let alone getting to grips with the digital jargon.

Everyone I speak to about working in digital says the same thing: It's the most exciting place to be and the most rewarding in the long term future. If you specialise in digital media you will be highly sought after. I haven't yet got my teeth stuck into any really interesting digital campaigns but I think this will come the longer I spend in this department. I think until I fully understand and appreciate the extent of what brands can do with digital media I will be naive to it's capabilities. However I am both intrigued and excited about my future weeks in MEC Interaction and look forward to blogging about what is to come.

This blog has moved to www.laurarobinsonblog.com