Time to get creative – TV brands, content and marketing in a multi-platform world
In an increasingly crowded TV marketplace it is vital that broadcasters make the most of multi-platform strategies to engage with their audiences. Johnny Webb, managing director of Virgin Media TV, looks at how this can be done…
The UK has one of the most crowded and advanced TV markets in the world, sitting inside a bewilderingly complex digital landscape. With an ever growing number of players moving into the “content” arena, and more and more platforms appearing, broadcasters need to be both smarter about what they do and more creative about how to engage their audiences.
Brands are the natural starting point. At Virgin Media Television we understand it’s all about creating franchises that people are willing to follow across multiple media platforms. These days you don’t commission or buy a TV show, you buy a complete brand. The digital landscape provides unimaginable possibilities and the pitfalls to match. Utilising new media capabilities while maintaining the integrity of your brand is a delicate balancing act, but an essential one.
Our emphasis has been on building a truly cross-platform strategy that incorporates broadcast, on-demand, online and mobile. With the power of Virgin Media behind us, I can say that we are one of only a few broadcasters that have truly incorporated all the technological possibilities available to us.
Livingtv.co.uk is a great example of how new media capabilities can be used to extend a brand across multiple platforms. While continuing to support key programme brands, the recently launched site now also showcases style, celebrity, beauty and relationship content. The new site now attracts seven million unique users per month – up from the two million the previous site was achieving. Excitingly, viewers will also increasingly see bespoke video content, as well as content commissioned, acquired or created by our in-house video production unit on the site.
We have also pushed the boundaries when it comes to allying our brands with potential media partners. We need not look further than our recent tie-in with Coffee Republic in promoting the smash US hit Lipstick Jungle. This was LIVING’s biggest marketing campaign to date which featured across Coffee Republic’s chain of 67 stores. Each of the stores created special Lipstick Lattes, which were vanilla flavoured coffees featuring a chocolate kiss shape top as well as Lipstick Cupcakes featuring similar iced branding. ‘Lipstick Jungle‘ was also branded on coffee cup sleeves, tables, loyalty cards, A-boards, in-house posters, window posters and screensavers across all stores.
And let’s not forget mobile. The promise of a full-fat TV-like experience on handsets is still a long way off – but there is plenty of scope to use the platform creatively and powerfully to extend brands into new spaces. After only one series, Virgin1’s Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is firmly established as one of the channel’s monster franchises. The nature of the show gives us licence to give it the full treatment on the mobile platform. To support the launch, we commissioned a bespoke mobile application that uses a specially-created Terminator mobile video clip to target users based on their whereabouts, using GPS-style location technology. The Terminator is coming to get you… and he knows where you are! Such activity goes beyond straightforward marketing, and adds real value for the show’s devoted fans. The second series is launching this autumn and we have another ground-breaking marketing campaign in the pipeline.
Of course, making the most of a multi-platform strategy creates serious challenges in measuring and monetising it. With the LIVING website already grabbing over seven million page impressions this month, and with content from LIVING, Virgin1 and Bravo available to 3.5 million Virgin Media on-demand customers, we can’t just rely on BARB ratings any more.
Our aim is to measure success whenever and wherever our viewers consume content and engage with our brands – but this requires a step-change in how the industry does its maths. At the recent Edinburgh TV Festival, internet guru Clay Shirky questioned why the TV industry values seven million distracted viewers more highly than six million engaged and passionate ones. A multiplatform approach builds on pay-TV’s proven ability to capitalise on – and generate – real affinity and engagement from viewers. With this opportunity to extend that relationship to new touchpoints, we must find a way of rewarding those brands that command the most loyalty and affinity from consumers in a crowded marketplace, whatever the medium.