Media Bytes
March 8, 2007
The Quiet Majority May Rule the Upfront
By Jeffrey Mahl
The Quiet Majority May Rule the Upfront
Jeffrey Mahl, April 09, 2007 - It's going to be a defining upfront for smaller advertisers.
While the widening array of media options has freed advertisers from being held captive by networks in the upfront—you can sit out the big game and still make your numbers—the multiplatform extensions that networks are compelled to offer present smaller advertisers with an unprecedented opportunity. You can design your own multimedia program that leverages the brand relationship across touch points, makes TV dollars stretch further and dramatically increases the value of media's priciest channel.
As a result, a kind of reverse logic applies to the quiet majority of advertisers whose budgets have not traditionally been considered TV-worthy. Given the right mindset and toolkit, there are more reasons to get in on the game than to skip it—particularly if the brand has multiple quarters of budget and can commit a majority of its dollars. In fact, it's nimble, entrepreneurial advertisers that can best take advantage of all the assets TV brands now bring to the table.
There are a number of reasons for this. For one, network multiplatform opportunities are being presented like a Chinese menu. You can get a memorable meal, if you know how to order. The onus is on the advertiser to turn raw assets into meaningful programs, because the networks are moving so fast just to create the individual components (e-mail, podcasts, text messaging, VOD, etc.).
That means you need to be able to get together and move fast. Smaller advertisers confront far less of the bureaucracy that typifies larger advertisers and the mega-agencies catering to them. So, whether it's piecing together the request, or responding to changes, there's an advantage to smaller organizations that strategize and execute seamlessly.
The smaller you are, the more easily you can get a preferred deal. For the same reason networks can offer preferential pricing to some smaller advertisers, they can create custom multiplatform packages for smaller brands (which give them a higher share of a lower budget). The network can hold up a showcase of creativity and cross-platform work without having to make it standard fare.
More than ever before, this upfront will demonstrate what really constitutes power in media buying. The mindset and toolkit required represent a break from convention. Among the tenets:
Leverage isn't in money; it's in ideas. The more multiplatform assets the networks put in play, the more leverage is determined by smarts—gelling an effective program where the impact is greater than the sum of the parts.
You don't have to be big to think big. The groundbreaking Tastemakers campaign that debuted in 2005-2006 (creating a Lifetime show and integrating it with Condé Nast magazines and online programs) and is being copied widely did not come a Goliath. It came from a fast-growing entrepreneurial brand that hasn't lost its pioneering spirit.
It's not what you can buy; it's what you can create. Time at cost is a commodity that cannot separate a brand from the pack, particularly when the mega-shops have set a CPM standard the networks cannot afford to better.
The right questions are worth everything. A TV rep came in the other day to present spot options for a client. As I asked about additional media extensions one by one, I came to find out she fielded the same assets as a competitor who was in two days before. The result: two media companies competing for a multiplatform program. The reps weren't prepared to talk about other assets, let alone combine them in a way that would be meaningful for the brand. They were entirely ready to respond to the right questions.
The best way to take advantage of multiplatform is to focus it within a brand family and thereby leverage a consumer's affiliation with the brand. That's why the network presentations this year—from broadcast to cable to online—made so much sense. Event, place-based and mobile media have always complemented conventional media; now they make the established options more meaningful platforms for a larger universe of advertisers.
The more entrepreneurial brands apply their creativity to integrated deals in the upfront, the more networks will gain real showcases that can only be achieved with true alignment—something the mega-agencies continue to struggle with. And the more business strategy, inspiration and integration will become the ante in media.
Size has its advantages, after all.
Jeffrey Mahl is executive vp, chief buying officer at independent media agency KSL Media, whose clients include Spalding, Grey Goose Vodka, and Callaway Golf. He can be reached at Jmahl@kslmedia.com.