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Hiding - the Latest Challenge in TV Marketing
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by Graeme Newell
gnewell@602communications.com
http://www.602communications.com

After a few clicks on some broadcast web sites, you will be asked to "register."  Some sites simply ask for your name and zip code.  Others get very personal, asking for intimate facts like income, family size, contact information and personal interests.  In these days of identity theft, registration is a very spooky process for many people.  For years TV newscasts have warned that identity theft is rampant and viewers should never give out personal information over the internet.  Yet some sites are asking audiences to ignore the warnings and trust them.

When I point this out, network administrators reassure me they are very careful with the security of internal data - but the viewer doesn't know that.  Many of these stations send on-going advertising emails to the people who sign up - effectively turning a trusted news source into a run-of-the-mill spammer.

Email has lost its luster.  What was once a simple and effective way to communicate has now become a daily burden for most of us.  A recent study by the Radicati Group shows that the average business person receives 142 emails a day.  That's a 55% increase since 2003.  By 2011 that number is estimated to be 228.  They estimate all of us will spent 41% of our time just managing our email box.

Hiding from unwanted intrusions like advertising is something that has been going on in the TV world for years.  DVRs are the latest way, but some even more powerful new tools are emerging that will make it exponentially more difficult for traditional advertising and promotion to hit the mark.  This phenomena has major implications for TV advertisers.

As with most things internet, the kids have figured out smart ways to eliminate the chatter of unwanted advertising and erect a bunker that only trusted friends can enter.  The mindset is that if I don't know you, I don't want to communicate with you.  Only trusted friends will be allowed access.  All others will be ignored.

More and more young people are abandoning email.  They rely on social networking sites and text messaging to communicate.  Only people on their "friends" list are allowed access to their time and attention.  If you aren't on their list, you don't get to communicate to them.  Technology makes it possible for them to hide from anyone who might waste their time or try to exploit them.

Free web-based voicemail systems like YouMail are another example of this high-tech screening trend.  The easy-to-use system allows users to create custom greetings for every person on their call list.  More importantly, if you are not in the user's address book, it can quietly send your call to message oblivion.  It can even play a bogus "this number has been disconnected" message for anyone you never want to talk to again.  Friends receive wonderfully warm custom greetings.  Everyone else gets banished to the unwanted calls folder.

This means any advertisers allowed access to these secluded individuals are truly special.  They have been purposefully invited to join that person's circle.  They have been elevated to "friend" status.  Consumers expect these advertisers to act like a friend too.  Self-serving ads are not tolerated.  They want personal communication and a giving mindset.  They will read your product announcements and sale notices, but only if you don't abuse the privilege and keep their needs as a top priority.

Last week Facebook did some serious damage to this kind of relationship by launching Beacon, a system that tells a user's friends about the user's actions on sites outside of Facebook.  For example, if I bought a coat on Overstock.com, my Facebook friends would be automatically notified and could click on a link to see the coat I purchased.  50,000 Facebook users quickly created the opposition group MoveOn.org, and signed a petition entitled "Facebook, stop invading my privacy!"

It wasn't just typical Facebook members that got upset.  Major advertisers joined the group, including ad execs from Ogilvy and DDB. Even Facebook investors from Microsoft were on the list.  In a savvy move, Facebook quickly admitted its mistake in a very public way.  It has since drastically cut back on the system.  Facebook learned the hard way that privacy on social networking sites is a sacred thing and treating their community like cash cows was not acceptable.  Like all social networking sites, Facebook is trying to adeptly walk the line between monetizing their audience and losing the confidence of their carefully cultivated user base.

Now, the latest generation of email software is taking the trusted friends mentality to the business community.  Companies like ClearContext, Seriousity and Xobni have created email software that automatically prioritizes your inbox.  It quietly watches your daily email routines and banishes unwanted emails to a specific folder.

For example, it notices that every time you get an email from your boss, it gets opened almost immediately.  It will move future emails from that person up the list.  It notices that the email about the after-work beer party was cc'ed to 12 other people and moves that email down the list.   By watching you work your inbox for weeks on end, it quickly deciphers your priorities.  It banishes those trying to sell something or people who would waste your time.

Most social networking sites are still primarily focused on the youth community.  Social networking in the business community has yet to take hold, but it is coming.  Many of you may have received invitations to LinkedIn, a strong contender that is trying to achieve critical mass with this very lucrative niche.  Once this software reaches critical mass, recruiting new customers is going to be harder than ever.  Only trusted referrals will get access.  Unless you are friends with one of their friends, your email will be quietly moved to the bottom of the list.  This new technology will set up walls to cold calling and unsolicited communication.

So what are the implications for those of us in the TV business?

Social networking will move to the next level.
Right now, Facebook leads the pack with a community of outside software developers that are building custom applications that amplify the usability and loyalty of the company's incredibly numerous daily users.  From playing scrabble (Scrabulous) with your friends, to finding people who share your weird taste in music (ILike), these thousands of add-on applications make Facebook an incredibly functional and innovative experience.

Google has been behind the curve in social networking, so it has teamed with some other social network players to launch OpenSocial, which holds the promise of a common standard that will allow social networking to be implemented by many different companies across numerous platforms.  Whether it is MySpace, Facebook or Google, a standard will be defined and the social networking will move from being a teen dalliance to a powerful community and business communication pillar.

What you should do now
Few TV web sites make active use of sophisticated social networking and that will probably not change in the near future.  While you many not be able to effectively integrate it into your site, it is still important that you explore social networking's many uses and understand how it works.  Start a Facebook page for both yourself and your station.  Get familiar with its innovative modular architecture.

"Spam" will grow to include any message that does not come from a trusted source.
As consumers get more and more overwhelmed by the amount of communication in their lives, smart technology will help them prioritize and eliminate all the time wasters in their daily routine.  These systems will filter TV ads, email, text messages, web interaction, phone messages and all other forms of personal communication.  The trend will be that if I don't know you, then I don't want to talk to you.

What you should do now
Learn how to effectively use targeted online media placement tools.  Start an AdWords account with Google and begin the process of learning how to use keyword advertising.  Take an online search engine optimization class at Lynda.com.  Learn about things like negative keywords, ranking priorities and Google's ad budgeting tools.  Make a small test buy on Facebook.  Make a non-traditional buy such as "new mothers who live in the suburbs."  Learn the ins and out of targeting by lifestyle.

Technology will seek to eliminate "interruption" advertising
There is an adage on the internet that if you obstruct the flow of information in any way, the community will not fight you, but simply go around you.  You will quickly find yourself irrelevant.  As technology gets better and better, tools will continue to arise that simply eliminate unwanted interruptions like mass advertising and promotion.  Holding people hostage and forcing them to watch a non-targeted ad is not going to be tolerated in the future.  The audience will demand that the ads they let in be customized to their individual tastes and desires.

What you should do now
Take a hard look at the creative approach of your on-air promotion.  Have you established a real relationship with your audience or is your branding campaign completely self engrossed?  Do you relate to the audience on their terms or do your promos consist entirely of chest pounding theatrics?

Connecting with your audience on a human level will be more important than ever.  That means less reliance on fear-based promos, sweeps stunting, and  buzz word branding campaigns.   Knowing about the power of your doppler radar will not be enough for the audience.  Now, they must feel a genuine emotional connection with your entire weather mission.  To put it simply, if the message ain't all about them, it ain't getting through.

Mass media advertising will move towards a system of "mass personalization."
People want products in their lives that share their priorities, interests and values.  As mass markets continue to splinter into ever more fragmented and specialized groups, consumers will expect advertisers to follow their lead. Technology will allow truly personalized ad communication with millions of people - all of it customized to the emotional and intellectual needs of the buyer.

It won't be enough for Ford to use national TV to mass advertise automobiles as a category.  The Long Tail phenomena will require personalized ad communication that meets the needs of each niche of this amazingly fragmented group of buyers.  All of these buyers relate to cars on very different levels and customized ads will be a necessity to continue the company's relevance.  Any company that attempts to create a one-size-fits-all brand will simply be shut out - blocked by filtering technology that will treat their ad as an annoyance, not a valued communication.

What you should do now
Create small and carefully controlled direct communication campaigns for targeted projects.  The goal here is not to broadcast to the world, but to learn the ways your audience likes to communicate.  Create Facebook accounts just for the weather team and explore which type of communication works best with specific groups.

Do the same with your own web page.  Which gets more response, daily blog posts or having an anchor lead a discussion on the forum?  Which is more popular - behind the scenes action, or follow-up discussions on big important stories?  Each specific audience will be different.  Use your own web page to feel out your audience's preferences and limits.  Test, test, test.

So in the future, the ability to hide from TV marketing will make delivering our message and recruiting new customers exponentially more difficult.  For an increasing percentage of the audience, the TiVo box will effectively eliminate all the commercial breaks in your 10pm show.  That means the prime news topical doesn't have a chance.   The pop-up blocker will eliminate the weather ad.  The spam filter will zap your email weather alert.   Being boring, annoying or intrusive will not be tolerated.  TV marketing will enter an entirely new stage - one that establishes a real relationship with viewers.  It will require a whole new set of marketing skills and tools.

Graeme Newell is a marketing and web specialist who shows broadcasters how to grow their brands using core emotional drivers.