Sun, Surf, and CTV: Summer Marketing Has Returned

3 Min Read

Can you feel it? This summer has a different energy. For the first time in over two years, people are booking trips, out-of-office notices are being sent, and live events are selling out. Summer has finally returned. It’s a welcome sight for brands in the experiential, travel, and tourism verticals after years of lockdowns, social distancing, and virtual events as we see a return to 2019-levels of activity.

But despite this summer being poised to be the biggest in years, brands may find themselves unprepared for the coming seasonal wave. To help brands out, Mike Scalise, Director of Customer Success at MNTN, is giving a detailed guide on how to make this a summer to remember—and how Connected TV gets you there. Don’t miss out on this important webinar—RSVP now for free. In the meantime, keep reading to see just a few things Mike will be discussing.

Breaking Out the Classics

Thanks to low-to-no activity for the last few years, many advertisers will need to rethink habits they formed during the pandemic and reactivate existing strategies that went dormant. Geotargeting, the ability to target an audience in a certain zip code or region and serve them specialized CTV ads, is set to play a big part this year as brands look to drive nearby audiences to live events. Even organizations outside of the experiential vertical, like restaurants, can benefit from geotargeting as they target travelers coming into town for an event and unofficially tie themselves to it.

Another established strategy that should be in every brand’s playbook this summer is the creative refresh. Thanks to CTV’s nimbleness, creative can be updated and deployed quickly. As a result, brands should take advantage of updating their ad creative to not just prevent ad fatigue but generate excitement for upcoming events. As an example, a sports team could refresh ads each week to reflect the upcoming game and showcase their next opponent—which was exactly the strategy that Atlanta Hawks used with the successful campaign they ran on MNTN Performance TV.

Sizzling New Strategies

While it may feel like the world stopped turning for two years, CTV technology and marketing strategies kept evolving quietly, waiting for a summer like this one to be deployed. Affinity-based targeting, an increasingly popular strategy, is being used by brands to find potential customers who never engaged but have strong interest in similar products or competitors. For instance, a music festival could target “high spenders for music concerts and festivals” or a car race could target “performance car enthusiasts.” As people look to experience more this summer and form new brand loyalties, affinity-based targeting helps advertisers unlock new ways to connect.

Similarly, audience segment reporting is helping brands uncover new growth opportunities. This solution lets advertisers drill down and see performance data tied to each audience segment—giving a detailed picture of what customers drive conversions. Against a backdrop of growing concerns regarding a recession, audience segment reporting is playing a crucial role by enabling advertisers to prove revenue generated, optimize expansive targeting, and drive better performance.

The Party’s Just Getting Started

This isn’t even scratching the surface of what brands need to maximize this summer’s opportunities. Don’t let your brand get locked out of the party—RSVP to Get Your CTV Campaigns in Shape This Summer to learn more about established tactics, hot new strategies, case studies of successful brands, and why CTV is uniquely positioned to give brands their most successful summer yet.  Sign up to save your seat today.