Connected TV

What Can Awareness-Driven Brands Learn from Direct-Response’s Movers and Shakers?

Learn why this direct-response channel is a triple threat trio.

What Can Awareness-Driven Brands Learn from Direct-Response’s Movers and Shakers?

4 Min Read

“Cord cutting isn’t just a trend, it’s the meta. There’s a major opportunity for brands on streaming television – which is not up for debate anymore,”  explained MNTN Senior Director of Content, Tim Edmundson during yesterday’s Bringing CPG to CTV: Why Awareness Driven Brands Must Rethink Measurement on Television webinar with Adweek. Whether you’re a CPG or ecommerce brand, or an advertiser that tracks performance and ROI a little differently, we hope you found yesterday’s conversation insightful. Continue reading for the key takeaways, or tune into the recording here if you missed it.

DTC Loves Direct-Response Marketing

“We’re in a transitionary period when it comes to Connected TV. People are still figuring out how to use it…and there [exists] a knowledge gap for awareness-driven brands,” Edmundson summarized in yesterday’s webinar. While this learning curve still exists, we’ve made sure that awareness-focused brands who have an offline focused endpoint, can also benefit from Connected TV advertising, too. Its wealth of data makes it supremely useful for awareness-driven campaigns looking to reach as many viewers as possible–and it’s also useful for some who are starting to consider a more direct approach.

Some awareness-driven brands have taken the plunge head first into the world of direct-response advertising, and set trends for similar brands to follow. Let’s take mega-CPG brand Procter & Gamble as an example, who have been focusing more on direct outcomes and finding success through reaching users and driving conversions without the help of a middle-man. The company had decided to shift their marketing strategy by stepping away from their usual Upfront buys in favor of a more direct approach. Procter & Gamble’s Chief Brand Officer Marc Pritchard explained to the Wall Street Journal that “we’ve taken control of when we negotiate and buy TV media. Buying too much inventory is inefficient at best, and at worst, leads to excess frequency through heavy ad loads in programs — annoying consumers and wasting money. The system must change.”

Has this strategy paid off? You bet. This strategy, which cut out media agency costs, paired with more than a $100 Million increased marketing spend, drove P&G’s revenue up 9% to $19.3 Billion in the first quarter of this year. 

So, What’s In It For Awareness-Driven Brands?

Everything. “Connected TV offers stronger reporting, deeper insights and razor-focused targeting…so if you’re shopping around for an ad tech solution, make sure it does all of this,” says Edmundson. The key piece here for awareness-focused brands is CTV’s tie-in with linear television. While it’s not a correlation by any means (because Connected TV and linear TV advertising are like night and day), the former has enough real-time insights and data to help inform your linear TV strategy.

“We can show performance based on where the viewer saw the ad…and [which] audience is gravitating towards certain programs.” Could this be the crown jewel of digital advertising? We think so. Furthermore, Connected TV advertising makes it apparent that other forms of digital advertising may not be as efficient as you think. Our audience-first approach makes sure that ads are served to the right audience, no matter what network they are watching. Compare this to the antiquated way of buying television advertising inventory, where brands would make a calculated guess based on outdated Nielsen stats, and place their bets on a TV network and then hope for the best. On Connected TV, “you’re following the audience and targeting the viewer across different shows…you’re not leaving them behind. Wherever they’re going, we’re creating those touchpoints.”

Lastly, MNTN’s Connected TV solution, Performance TV, helps all types of brands cement an omni-channel presence, and reach your intended audience no matter where they’re spending their time the most. “Connected TV advertising removes a friction point for users, and they’re likely to visit your site as they don’t have to interrupt your ad experience to do so.” This is why MNTN only serves ads only on high-quality CTV inventory via 150 TV Networks. We like to call this Living Room Quality Inventory, and it delivers the best possible results.

Check out our other blog pieces here and here leading up to the webinar for more information.