What is All-Inclusive TV Advertising and How Does it Work?

TV advertising is complex and expensive. And the traditional agency model isn’t built to make it any easier. 

Which is why Marketing Architects founder Chuck Hengel decided there had to be a better way to build an agency. A way that would de-risk TV advertising for brands pursuing profitable growth. 

 

What is All-Inclusive TV advertising? 

All-Inclusive TV is a one-of-a-kind approach to TV advertising created by Marketing Architects that covers the cost of everything needed for success on TV beyond media. Yes, everything. 

Instead of worrying about hourly agency fees, clients instead get just one bill for media. This means every dollar in your TV budget is dedicated to getting your message in front of more people—helping your campaign achieve maximum efficiency and your marketing efforts drive meaningful business results. 

 

What does All-Inclusive TV include? 

When we say we cover everything, we mean it. You invest in media, and we’ll cover all other campaign costs. That includes: 

● Brand Positioning. Prepare your brand for category leadership. 
● Strategy Development. Connect with customers to power your growth. 
● Creative Development. Craft remarkable work that works remarkably. 
● Creative Pretesting. Inspire your audience to action. 
● Production. Bring your brand to life through video. 
● Conversion Tech. Avoid wasted leads by optimizing every piece of your campaign. 
● TV Attribution. Prove and improve campaign results. 
● Campaign Reporting. See what complete data transparency feels like. 
● Client Partnership. Identify growth opportunities, even beyond TV. 

Why was All-Inclusive TV created? 

Founded in 1997, Marketing Architects originally took a more traditional approach to campaign development. But we faced a repeated challenge: clients were unable to invest in everything needed to make their campaigns successful. 

It started with creative production. Clients were hesitant to produce multiple versions of their commercials. This was understandable. The steep price of producing more than one commercial was a powerful deterrent. But it was an important step. We could take our best guess about creative direction, but nothing could beat actual consumer data telling us what the people thought.  

(We now use pretesting to predict performance before launching in-market, but at the time, this was the best option). 

Finally, when we suggested a new creative direction for a specific client, they flat-out refused. They didn’t have the budget.  

So, we offered to cover the cost. It was an investment—if their campaign performed better with new creative, they would continue advertising with us. And it did. The new commercial dramatically outperformed the previous one. 

Seeing an opportunity, we overturned our business model and began covering the cost of creative production across the board. Clients were thrilled. They could get their brand on-air for a fraction of the cost of working with our competitors. And we were happy because these brands stayed on as advertisers and scaled their campaigns. 

Over the years, we expanded the offering. When clients struggled to measure TV’s results, we built our own attribution models and analytics team. When leads weren't converting, we invested in conversion technology and experts to accelerate the sale. When clients required more sophisticated account planning, we invested in strategists and advanced research tools.  

And so All-Inclusive TV was born. 

 

How does All-Inclusive TV generate revenue for Marketing Architects? 

Like any media agency, we have a media margin. But we typically don’t make money during a pilot. When a new client launches TV, the upfront investment in services like strategy and creative production outweighs the client’s media spend. We only profit when clients stick around. And they only stick around when their campaigns perform.  

This means we’re extremely selective about who we work with. We only partner with businesses we believe can drive profitable growth on TV. Because if they can’t, it means sunk costs for both of us. 

 

What does launching a campaign with All-Inclusive TV look like? 

The standard process for launching a pilot takes around 16 weeks, but we can move as quickly as you need. And every step is customized to your brand’s unique goals on TV. 

1. It starts with a conversation. We’ll work with you to identify growth opportunities on TV. And we’ll be honest if the timing isn’t right, or if we’re not the right fit for what you’re hoping to achieve. 
   

2. If it is a fit, we’ll next discuss the services needed to support your campaign, now and in the future. Do you already have an ad? Or an in-house analytics? That’s great. We're here to bridge any gaps, not make campaign planning more difficult than it needs to be. We regularly work with creative agencies or partner closely with in-house teams. That said, we’re also glad to provide those services from the ground-up—we have a team of more than a hundred people eager to make your campaign happen! 
   

3. With the help of our media buying AI, Annika, we’ll forecast TV test scenarios to predict results—before you spend a dime. Based on Annika’s forecast, our team will draft a launch plan. Finally, once your campaign’s live, we'll analyze performance and prepare to scale. 

 

If you’re interested in learning more about what All-Inclusive TV could do for your business, we’d love to connect! If you’d prefer to keep exploring All-Inclusive TV on your own, you can also check out our book all about it.