Red-button TV advertising has long been viewed as less effective and more costly than other forms of digital marketing, despite investment from the likes of BSkyB, BT and Virgin Media. However, the medium has been boosted in recent years by developments such as faster set-top boxes and more sophisticated user interfaces.
Next-generation iTV (interactive TV) ad formats include VALs (video advertising locations), launched last year by Sky. This format enables viewers to see a video behind the red button rather than just graphics and text, with the aim of encouraging them to engage with the brand for longer. "Interactive TV advertising is stepping away from the early red-button period towards a more advanced environment that is linked to the PVR (personal video recorder) and broadband internet," says Nigel Sheldon, digital consultant and formerly director of digital at Starcom Digital. It is a medium of obvious appeal to FMCG brands. Claire Valoti, business director at Mindshare Interaction, argues that because the sector spends much of its marketing budget on TV ads, iTV helps campaigns to work harder.
"FMCG brands are investing large amounts in iTV - it makes the medium of TV more accountable for brands as they can measure response and have a two-way conversation with consumers," she says. "The challenge brands in this sector face, however, is that consumers have become more demanding of iTV. As a medium, iTV is also much slower than the internet."
Barry Richards, senior planner at Publicis Modem, says that interactivity in an ad break can be highly effective at allowing consumers to order products, search for more information, or respond to an initiative. For the advertiser, it is an opportunity to capture data. Richards says FMCG brands can have a form of response-led advertising and generate the economies of scale needed to be cost-effective.
To put iTV advertising to the test, Revolution commissioned Decipher to rate the campaigns of two major FMCG brands - Ribena and Cadbury. The Cadbury ad used the red-button capability to allow the audience to watch the full-length version of the popular 'Gorilla' TV ad repeatedly. Meanwhile, the Ribena activity built on the brand's 'Splat' campaign to allow customers to see various videos and play an interactive game.
Both brands used Sky's VAL format, with each campaign rated against criteria including creative used, response mechanism, content, call to action and strategic use of interactivity.
According to Nigel Walley, founder and managing director of Decipher, VALs offer all the benefits of the original red-button ads but are quicker to load than previous iTV formats, offering up to 12 minutes of video time behind the main broadcast campaign. He says the format is becoming increasingly popular with entertainment, retail and FMCG brands.
Overall, the Cadbury ad came out on top and scored impressively in areas such as use of interactivity and effectiveness of response mechanism. "Cadbury kept the focus on video, whereas Ribena assumed that consumers wanted to engage with its brand by providing other interactive content," says Walley.
Frances Dovey, interactive and emerging media manager at Cadbury, says the level of interaction exceeded expectations. "This ad has been our only use of iTV advertising to date and it was highly successful, but you can't always expect such high levels of interaction," she says. "Ultimately it comes down to the strength of the creative to draw in consumers."
Cadbury also performed better in its strategic use of interactivity. "The execution was a perfect use of iTV advertising's on-demand capability around a piece of content that generated lots of media debate," says Walley.
Ribena scored highly when it came to the quality of interactive content used. For the brand, iTV advertising is a way of reaching out to a large number of people. The iTV ad was run alongside a range of online activity.
"This allows consumers to participate in what would otherwise be an interruptive TV campaign," says Sarah Williamson, senior brand manager for Ribena at GlaxoSmithKline. "Successful interactive campaigns give a rewarding experience. The challenge is to create one that is consistent with the TV spot and engaging. Online provided accessibility and the chance to gather user-generated content, while iTV delivered awareness and provided an incentive for people to participate."
Mark Brown, partner at Weapon 7, which created the Ribena activity, adds that when consumers participate with iTV campaigns, they have an increased propensity to buy.
Sheldon believes that Cadbury's use of long-form video and Ribena's inclusion of user-generated content exploited the interactive element well. Interactive TV's links with PVRs and broadband are likely to give more scope to FMCG marketers, as well as improving the experience for consumers. "Ribena can look to use TV to showcase consumer-produced content captured and uploaded through another channel, while Cadbury can reflect the on-demand nature of its web content by allowing viewers to press the button to see the full film," he says.
Mike Colling, managing director of media agency MC&C, says iTV could be a blessing or a curse for FMCG brands. "Such brands will be able to use data to select the consumers interested in their product," he says. "The downside is that consumers will quickly get wise to this and question the validity of the interruptions, unless these are demonstrably relevant and of value."
As Dovey acknowledges, the challenges for brands using iTV ads are varied. Consumers, for example, know they can get most content online and may not want to interrupt their scheduled viewing, and the connection times can be slow. It will therefore be increasingly important for brands to understand what consumers want from iTV in this evolving multi-platform space.
SITE PERFORMANCE
Cadbury
- Call to action
Cadbury used a simple but effective 'Press red to see the full 90 seconds of joy' call to action. It simply told viewers that they could watch the TV ad again and again. 8/10
- Reason for interactivity
Cadbury wanted to give viewers a chance to see the full-length version of a popular piece of creative. 8/10
- Execution
The execution is a great use of iTV advertising's on-demand capability around a piece of content that generated lots of media debate. 8/10
- Content type
The campaign comprised a single 90-second ad shot for mainstream TV looping in a basic VAL frame. 6/10
- Quality of content
While this was a great chance to see the main content again, it was a missed opportunity to use the other ad that ran as part of the campaign or to change the content. 6/10
-北京赛车pk10 performance
The Cadbury iTV ads were watched by 119,600 households, representing an impressive click rate of 7.3 per cent. 9/10
- Response mechanism
There is debate about whether an iTV ad needs a response mechanism when allowing a consumer to interact with content. Cadbury doesn't think so. 5/10
- Effectiveness of response mechanism
Not having a response mechanism is a good call when all you need the consumer to do is revel in your video. 10/10
- Average dwell time
The average dwell time in the iTV ad was two minutes and six seconds. This shows the power of great content to drive interactivity. 9/10
- Role within a 360-degree campaign
The Cadbury work was not planned as part of a larger digital campaign, but did generate YouTube activity, including tribute versions that eventually made it onto TV. 5/10
OVERALL TOTAL: 74/100
(analysis provided by Nigel Walley, founder and managing director, Decipher)
SUMMARY - CADBURY
The creative outcome from the original brief was a popular piece of advertising that had originally been shot as a 90-second TV spot and was much too long and expensive to run in broadcast format more than once. In this instance, iTV delivered on its promise as the first 'on-demand TV ad format' by allowing consumers to watch the longer version repeatedly.
This creative was then spoofed quite affectionately on YouTube, but Cadbury missed the opportunity to bring some of this content and experience onto mainstream TV via the interactive red button. This is what the red button is all about, and would have prompted greater click-through in the later stages of the campaign. Even so, the red button achieved a respectable click-through rate of more than seven per cent of Sky households that had an opportunity to view.
(analysis provided by Nigel Walley, founder and managing director, Decipher)
Ribena
-Call to action
The campaign used two calls to action. The initial 'Can you splat a berry better?' was followed with a more powerful 'Splat a berry and you could win £1,000'. 8/10
- Reason for interactivity
Ribena wanted to build interaction with consumers through video and gaming. 8/10
- Execution
The iTV ads increased the opportunity to interact, but the ultimate consumer benefit of this was not completely clear. 6/10
- Content type
Ribena ran two different interactive sections featuring videos and a game. 8/10
- Quality of content
A 'Splat a berry' game offered a £1,000 prize. Ribena ran 'Berry splat TV' where consumers could vote for their favourite video (and get 50p off a bottle of Ribena). 8/10
- 北京赛车pk10 performance
The Ribena iTV ads were watched by 94,000 households, representing a respectable click-through rate of 3.5 per cent. 7/10
- Response mechanism
Ribena used a full data entry response mechanism to generate customer details and send out vouchers. 9/10
- Effectiveness of response mechanism
Response mechanisms do tend to make consumers wonder why they are being asked for their details. Brands should treat iTV ads as an on-demand video medium. 6/10
- Average dwell time
The average dwell time in the interactive content was one minute and five seconds. 8/10
- Role within a 360-degree campaign
There is still an unresolved debate about whether iTV ads complement or replace the role of the web. Ribena had an accompanying web-site but there was no connectivity. 5/10
OVERALL TOTAL: 73/100
SUMMARY - RIBENA
Ribena did a great job of building on its TV campaign with extra video and deeper interaction. This was evident in the usage figures, with more than 40 per cent of visitors playing the 'Splat the berry' game and more than 60 per cent voting for their favourite video. The brand also evolved its use of the iTV ad functionality through different calls to action.
This campaign represents the perfect use of red-button functionality and allows TV advertising to be much more responsive. It is hard to remake content for the main ads during a campaign, but the content that sits behind the red button can be much more flexible and dynamic. As a result, Ribena was able to demonstrate a significant improvement in brand perception among those homes that interacted with the ads, compared with those that chose not to.