TvLowCost New Zealand Blog – Where the grass is greener for NZ Brands

TVLowCost’s unique approach to “affordable TV advertising” also adds further campaign impact too!

You likely know the theory of the “last metre”, developed by many Design, Packaging and SP specialists. This shows the vital importance of “product visibility in-store” so that consumers, with only a few seconds spare, will see and hopefully grab your brand and not competitors.
TVLowCost believes a similar theory applies to TV advertising: the “Last 60 minutes” theory. Whilst avoiding Peak Terrestrial airtime for cost and wastage reasons – priorising TV commercials in a tailored combination of Off-peak and Peak Terrestrial/MCH – we make it possible for Clients to advertise their brands only minutes before consumers are in the shops. Better for purchasing, right?

This tangible “proximity to purchase” will undoubtedly also benefit brand sales when considering that consumers are hit, they say, by 5000 brand messages a day! Hard to believe, but true. Studies undertaken by ROBERT HEATH in the UK clearly show the reality of this “carpet bombing”. By “commercial messages”, we are talking all forms of advertising of course but also the thousands of logos that surround us in our [mostly] city lives.

ROBERT HEATH demonstrated the importance of what he calls LOW INVOLVEMENT PROCESSING (LIP). Namely, that our brains – consciously or subconsciously – record ALL such information, there being “no dustbin” function as such. It simply arranges this information in different “baskets”…

Eg. If a consumer is seeking a foot cream, information acquired will pop to the surface of her mind whereas info on cars – not on her shopping list – will not.

What do we draw from these studies at TVLowCost ? Quite simply: the closer a branded message is to the act of purchase the more likely a sale. ie. Cost-effective Daytime TV advertising – far from being “bad” for a brand – is on the contrary much more effective. Hugely over-priced Peak spots the night before will have long faded into obscurity. Worth noting too that Daytime viewers tend to be more “available and focussed” than during evenings when all manner of domestic disruptions get in the way: kids coming home, homework, supper, laundry et al! Terrestrial Peak advertising really is NOT all that it’s cracked up to be in today’s TV market, where better value and efficiencies are readily available through other Channels.

This “Last 60 minutes” theory is also supported by dozens of TVLowCost campaigns across our network. We can also demonstrate that the “affordable TV advertising” that we create can really deliver remarkable business Results!

This theory is actually just common sense … in an ad agency world where obsession for “Peak only” should have come off the rails a long time ago!

Yes, “Affordable TV advertising” can generate excellent Return On Investment !

This is the issue everywhere. Every advertiser knows that TV advertising is the most efficient way to boost one’s business. No discussion. But, how many can afford national TV advertising ? Since decades television channels, traditional ”high cost” media agencies and advertising agencies have made everything to put in the advertiser’s minds that TV is a fabulous media, BUT, that they need a lot of money to get in.

Because they MUST be on Prime Time, because they MUST shoot their TV commercial in an exotic location, because they MUST do it in 35mm, because they MUST pay monthly fees during several months to the ad agency to elaborate the creation, etc.

At the end of the day, many advertisers say “TV advertising is not for me, too expensive”… and they invest in other less efficient and powerful medias.

In every business, low cost pioneers have demonstrated that there was a way to do things differently and reduce spectacularly the costs of things without losing quality. They show that inexpensive does not necessarily mean “cheap” or “poor quality”. They have created new business models from scratch, new working methods much more efficient, new team mentalities. They have demonstrated that a large number of customers (also including B to B clients) are ready to pay much less to get “the function without the frills”.

Television advertising needed a revolution. It was more expensive every year despite audiences fragmentations, despite new shooting cameras, despite travel cost reductions…

TVLowCost is born because too many clients are unable to get on TV with the traditional “high cost” agencies. TVLowCost “All inclusive TV Packs” changes completely the relation with advertisers. They know that, for a fixed amount in each country where we are, EVERYTHING is included :

“GET MORE. WORRY LESS”

No bad surprise, no additional costs. Our clients discover a very different kind of TV advertising agency :

An agency focussed on sales efficiency and not on winning new “creative awards and chocolate medals”.

An agency working hard to reduce the delays, in order to save money, and not taking months to elaborate a TV campaign.

An agency where clients are treated as partners to conceive the most economical campaign, and not only as “cash machines”…

“GET MORE WITH LESS” is our commitment to our clients, our international “Mot d’Ordre”!

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

Here we are, recession seems to be very probable 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 sound manager 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 investment 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 that Advertising Aggressively during Recessions not only Increases Sales but Increases Profits.

(source: Meldrum & Fewsmith)

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.

At TVLowCost, we love this picture, just for the fun!

It really makes us think about TVLowCost facing the big global “high cost” advertising networks.

When we did open our doors in 2004, all the industry said : “ridiculous”, “impossible”, “it will never work”… 3 years and a half after, everywhere, our TVLowCost agencies beat regularly the big players and attract their clients … no more willing to pay their outrageous tariffs!

So… apparently, there is a BIG NEED among advertisers to break the rules and the prices of TV advertising!

We do believe that there is room for two kind of ad’ agencies : the “low cost” and the “high cost” ones.

Advertisers it’s your choice!

Launched 3 years and a half ago in PARIS (october the 1st 2004), TVLowCost is now present in 9 countries with subsidiaries launched with local entrepreneurs joining us. They own 65% of the capital of the local agency, and we own centrally 35%. This is the best way to have solid native managers in each market with a perfect dedication to make TVLowCost succesful in each market!

TVLowCost agencies are currently in France, UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Canada, Australia and NZ! We work for 80 brands and have shot 420 TV commercials in just 3 years and a half…

Our book “LowCost Attitude” is being translated in many languages in order to share our philosophy with clients and prospects. We demonstrate every day that our “Low Cost Attitude” approach is more and more shared by marketing managers allover the world. Companies are under pressure in every country to save money and improve their ROI on their advertising campaigns. The “High Cost” traditional ad agencies are unable to answer this need, they are too “rich”, too “superficial”, being obsessed by creative Awards and not by obtaining visible results for their clients.

A new generation of ad’ agency is waited everywhere, we have the pretention to believe we answer perfectly to this need! Have a look at our web site TVLowCost

Why democratising television advertising is a top priority for brands everywhere in the world ?

Because TV it is the most efficient medium.

It is television that makes certain brands world famous, such as Coca-Cola, Pepsico, l’Oréal or the products from Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Henkel, … Television is the perfect impact medium. In 2008 television is watched by the general public all over the world on an average of more than 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 clients. Early in the morning or even in the middle of the night or at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, there are hundreds of thousands of viewers watching TV programs. To apply Low Cost to television advertising is to democratise it and make it available to all advertisers who need it to build their reputation and boost their sales to defend their position in the market.
The TVLowCost All-included Packs: a Revolution that meets the needs of advertisers everywhere.

For 250 000 €, 100 000 € or 200 000 £, according to the countries where we are established, TVLowCost agencies allow advertisers to broadcast a minimum 100 TV commercials on national televisions contacting millions of consumers with high level of repetition! Knowing that usually this is just the cost of producing the ad .

With a recession hitting the vast majority of the world, more so than ever there is a need for advertisers to develop quality advertising that sells – but without the overhead, wasted time and “high cost” associated with almost every traditional advertising agency.
That is why TVLowCost International was developed. Think about it. Almost every industry has a player that changes the model and delivers a low-cost product without sacrificing QUALITY.
They do this by streamlining processes and doing away with frivolous steps that add hoopla and cost, but very little in terms of the ultimate deliverable. Airlines, food, telecom, computers, cars, even legal services.
Why not a low cost TV advertising agency?
Quality television advertising that sells, at an affordable price, that is accessible to everyone…but is right for QUALITY BRANDS.
A simple concept whose time has come. At last!

Why democratising television advertising is a top priority for brands everywhere in the world ?

Because TV it is the most efficient medium.

It is television that makes certain brands world famous, such as Coca-Cola, Pepsico, l’Oréal or the products from Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Henkel, … Television is the perfect impact medium. In 2008 television is watched by the general public all over the world on an average of more than 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 clients. Early in the morning or even in the middle of the night or at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, there are hundreds of thousands of viewers watching TV programs. To apply « Low Cost » to television advertising is to democratise it and make it available to all advertisers who need it to build their reputation and boost their sales to defend their position in the market.
The TVLowCost All-included Packs: a Revolution that meets the needs of advertisers everywhere.

For 250 000 €, 100 000 € or 200 000 £, according to the countries where we are established, TVLowCost agencies allow advertisers to broadcast a minimum 100 TV commercials on national televisions contacting millions of consumers with high level of repetition! Knowing that usually this is just the cost of producing the ad .

Let me give you an example : in 2008 the average budget to produce a TV spot in France is 250 000 €. 250 000 € is also the cost of 3 TV spots of 30 seconds at 8 o’clock PM in the evening on the main channels in the different markets.… Compare for yourself: ask to your HIGH COST agency how much it would cost to produce and broadcast an advertising campaign in comparable conditions…

Is low cost Tv a cheap and low quality TV advertising ?

The spots proposed by TVLowCost are real television commercials, it has nothing to do with “home shopping spots” or certain cheap TV commercials that can be found on cable television channels. There is no worry either of ‘outdated’ advertising messages which could be dangerous for the brand image.

Our TV commercials are shot by very demanding and experienced directors. The “TVLowCost All-included packs” have demonstrated in every market the efficiency of short formats, such as 12, 10 or even 8 seconds. Is a 10 or 8 second TV spot too short ? Not that short : at a normal pace of 3 words a second you can say between 24 to 30 words. Whereas billboards work with only four or five words.

A 8 or 10 second spot will “get to the point”, it is a guarantee to concentrate on the essential, the famous USP Unique Selling Proposition ». Short means less expensive and more television commercials broadcasted, thus the brand has more possibilities to repeat its message to the consumers. Never forget that …

REPETITION CREATES REPUTATION !

The ideal solution for challengers or secondary brands belonging to global companies. TVLowCost democratises TV advertising by giving access to the “king of the medias” to advertisers who do not have huge marketing budgets.

2 types of advertisers are particularly concerned : small businesses and challenger brands who need television to “boost” their consumer demand otherwise they risk to be ejected from the retailers. And large global groups who cannot support each of their local brands with large media expenditures. Instead of focussing exclusively on promotion to support their secondary brands, they can keep up their brand awareness and top of mind presence thanks to TV.

Nowadays, all over the world, many advertisers have to reduce their advertising budget to “absorb the shock” of the dropping prices. With TVLowCost, these brands are able to continue their appearances on television.

By reducing the necessary budgets to go on TV drastically (by 4 to 5 times what advertisers usually pay), TVLowCost offers a credible solution for thousands of advertisers exhausted by the relationship with their traditional HIGH COST ad agencies!

I am reading a very interesting book at the moment. It is 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!