Consumers’ Changing Expectations

Rewind a few years when brands invested billions on TV advertising to connect with consumers and create deep impressions. A lot has changed since then. Consumers aren’t watching TV the way they used to. In addition to consuming promotional content via TV spots, today’s social-savvy consumers are expecting more from their favorite brands. They are moving online to:

1. Further engage with brands and other viewers
2. Build strong, lasting relationships with brands
3. Look for more information about brands/ ads they see on TV
4. Analyze and discuss campaign content further
5. Contribute to campaign content

According to the 2012 THR and Penn Schoen Berland study , television lends itself to social network multitasking more than any other medium does. This change in viewing habits has prompted marketers to follow consumers online and extend their brand identity to social platforms. This is exactly what some of the biggest sponsors of the Super Bowl XLVII did. Whether it was Taco Bell’s “Viva Young” commercial or Kia’s “Space Babies” ad (both created on Thismoment Distributed Engagement Channel), sponsors of the 2013 game did an excellent job of creating more than TV ads; they created experiences.

Creating Dynamic Brand Experiences

Marketers who have jumped aboard the social media bandwagon want to create lasting impressions and establish emotional connections that differentiate their brands and impact consumer behavior. To do this, it’s important to create dynamic brand experiences. How can marketers do this?

• Reinforcing Brand Message : While designing social brand channels, marketers need to keep in mind that the featured content needs to be an extension of their brand’s identity and is not just an extension of their TV spots. The online experience has to incorporate the brand. Therefore, while planning content for their social channels, brands need to:

  

  • Ensure that the content deployed by the brand and the content that’s coming from users reinforces the brand message
  • Define the identity and personality of the brand and extend the same to social campaigns/channels.
  • Be consistent with the messaging : Whether it’s TV advertisements or cross promotion across various social platforms, your brand experience lives in multiple places. To reinforce your brand identity, it’s crucial that the branding and messaging across multiple distribution points, both online and offline, is consistent.

    Powered by Thismoment DEC, P&G’s household odor eliminator brand, Febreze, delivers dynamic brand experiences across various social platforms. Present on Facebook as well as YouTube, the Febreze DEC not only features TV commercials, but also reinforces the brand’s “breathe happy” message. The content, despite being dynamic, is consistent across multiple social sites.

• Secret to the 6-Minute Milestone : In this age of digital Darwinism, survival greatly depends on how engaged your brand is. As audiences increasingly adopt second screens along with live TV, it’s evident that they are looking for more engagement than that offered by traditional TV advertising. How can marketers create innovative, engaging online brand experiences? Let us explain with an example.

  According to Thismoment’s estimates, three quarters of the Super Bowl audience were on a second screen device during the game. Major brands like Kia, Adobe, Hyundai and P&G (among others) extended their ad campaigns and engaged with audiences online, using Thismoment DEC. As seen in the case of Taco Bell’s “Viva Young” commercial, the ad was not only watched, but also discussed online before, during and after the actual event. Taco Bell’s YouTube channel allowed audiences to post comments and engage in discussions via the featured social conversation module.

  We believe that an average time-on-site of +6 minutes is very impressive and recommend this as a milestone for online engagement. This translates into the time consumers spend not only viewing content, but also interacting with the brand. By interaction, we don’t just mean through conversation modules, but also via UGC campaigns, live events, testimonials etc.

• Extending Brand Experience to the Mobile Platform : According to Nielsen’s 2012 Social Media Report, consumers spend 20% of their total time online via their PCs, and 30% time using mobile devices. The study also indicates that 46% social media users use smartphones to access social media, while 16% use tablets. This increase in use of mobile devices to access social media has made it imperative for brands to optimize their social sites for mobile viewing. Which is why we believe that the creation of dynamic brand experiences is not complete without the extension of brands’ social experiences to the mobile platform. For every social campaign/brand channel created, including mobile optimization will deliver a seamless experience to customers. Keeping in mind that people are consuming content on smaller screens, we recommend:
  • Keeping content crisp and easily digestible
  • Ensuring it’s an extension of your brand
  • Keeping it consistent with your messaging

• The Importance of Measurement : While measurement of effectiveness of TV ads requires marketers to explore numerous factors and is time-consuming, the dynamism of the social space makes it crucial to measure performance in real-time. Using a robust content management platform, you can:
  • Measure and compare your campaign’s performance across various distribution points and geographies. E.g.: If a campaign is performing better in Europe when compared to the US, or if it’s more effective on Facebook vs. YouTube, etc.
  • Measure the number of Likes, clicks, Shares, views, conversions etc.
  • Know who your brand’s followers are and how influential they can be
  • Measure the time-on-site

Summary

Social media has revolutionized the TV viewing experience. Consumers, while watching their favorite TV shows and adverts, are also talking about it in real-time, across various social platforms. This rise in adoption of the second screen indicates that consumers’ expectations from brands are changing. In addition to the 30-second TV spot, today’s consumers are looking for interactive, engaging experiences on brands’ social channels. In today’s socially connected, mobile world, the boundary between TV ads and online campaigns is fast blurring. With the second screen experience rapidly finding its way into the living room, it’s unsurprising to see marketers looking beyond the typical 30-second TV ad to power dynamic brand experiences online.

- Shama Ahmed
Thismoment

Andrew Sielen

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