So what is brand activation?
Brand activation: An increasingly curious term actively touted by two familiar parties; clients – who more often than not use it to define the activity they’re spending their Ad-pounds on; and also by some agencies, who use it as a positioning statement when asked ‘so what does your agency do?’
But what does the term actually mean in a world that is experiencing media convergence at a rate of knots and with many brands struggling to execute truly integrated campaigns, based upon a singular, insightful, organising thought?
We’ve found ourselves in a world cluttered with meaningless content. Tactical experiential activity that lacks any strategic consideration and endless social media campaigns that are still finding their way, picking up the occasional ‘like’ or ‘re-tweet’.
Where is the commercial return and what is this contributing towards the equity of the brands they represent?
As advocates of multi-channel marketing, we must get back to the basic values of understanding data (which is critical in the ideation process), insight, timeliness, relevance and creativity to ensure any activation activity is effective and memorable.
It can be done.
It’s also essential to understand the importance of a seamless, joined-up approach to activation; rather than a series of disconnected, tactical executions. Either one agency needs to manage all elements of activation or agencies need to work collaboratively and stop protecting their ownership of the client for the benefit of the wider brand activity. The answer ultimately lies in the ambition of the brand combined with the insight, expertise and planning unearthed by agencies from a strategic, data and creative point of view. Only these components coupled with collaboration will deliver engaging activity that captures consumers’ hearts and minds.
Brand Activation rallies around activity that brings brands to life and encourages positive participation – physically or digitally. Regardless of how we deploy this activity, let’s get the basics right. This will in turn deliver tangible and mutually beneficial value to clients, brands and customers alike.
Russell Perry is a managing partner at MWorks, McCann London
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Business Learning Terms
Frequently Asked (read Annoying) Questions (FAQS) in Digital Media Planning Series 1
Posted in Digital Media Planning & Strategy
Q1. I am not able to see my banner? I tried refreshing the page too.
I am sure every digital planner has faced this question at least once. I want to put this possible reason for it in black & white for all clients who dont understand the reason behind it and for everyone else who needs a ready made answer for the same.
Here are the some of the possible reasons (when you buy on CPM):
1. You might not have bought sufficient no. of impressions as compared to what the selected site delivers and what other brands might have bought. This happens usually when there is a budget constraint & clients still insist on buying high traffic sites with choosing some presence versus no presence.
2. Impressions might have been spread thinly over a longer duration making your SOV (per day basis) too low.
3. Check the frequency cap in case you are trying to see the banner again.
4. In case you are running on an Ad Network, its difficult to control where and when your ad would appear.
5. Try clearing your Cache (CTRL+F5).
6. Check if there is a road block or a fixed buy running for that particular day by another advertiser.
If all the above things are in order, do check if your campaign is really live. This question really ranks high of annoyance, especially when you have made the presentation and secured the media approval.
Q2. What is our SOV on digital?
For CPM Deals:
This question is result of too much traditional media (TV & Radio) exposure for clients. In offline media, inventory is limited. You have content and in between you have Free Commercial Time or FCT. This FCT is available to brands. So out of 24 hours, only X time is allocated for commercials, which is limited. Demand is more than Supply. Hence, SOV becomes a good measure of presence. Compare this to online media. Most of the cases, Supply is usually greater than demand, especially for high traffic sites.
Direct Response Awareness
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