Volume 4 No. 4: Fitting TV into your marketing mix

56% of Americans say ice cream is their favorite dessert. Right behind ice cream though, brownies snag second place in the list of top desserts. Based on these results, you wouldn't say that brownies are bad or unpopular. Most people clearly like brownies. 

 

But for some reason, this type of conclusion is drawn based on similar results in the ongoing “battle” between TV and digital advertising.  

 

   Marketing Myths   

TV advertising isn't a popular marketing channel.

Each week, we break down a common misconception around TV advertising.

For years, TV advertising was the top marketing channel based on ad spend. But in 2019, digital ad spend surpassed spend on TV for the first time in the US. News publications quickly announced the shift, leaning into misconceptions that TV had “died.”  

 

But advertisers still prioritize TV advertising in their marketing mix. It remains the second largest marketing channel by ad spend and has even seen a resurgence recently as marketers look for ways to diversify their marketing mix and prepare for the decline of third-party cookies. 

 

Besides, options like Connected TV advertising blur the lines between “traditional” TV and digital. In our brownies and ice cream analogy, CTV might be an ice cream sandwich—offering a bit of both options. So it’s easy to see why leaning into competition between the two channels feels unhelpful. Even more so when you consider how well TV and digital work together to improve marketing performance and guide the customer from first brand interaction to making a purchase. 

 

What's the takeaway? TV is still the second most popular marketing channel by ad spend. Both TV and digital advertising are incredibly important tools for marketing success. Plus, after TV and digital, no marketing channel even comes close to being prioritized the same way as those two. 

 

  Advertising Answers  

Question: How have you seen brands transformed by TV?

We take the web’s most searched questions about TV advertising to a range of marketing experts who can’t help but love TV.

 

Answer: “I think about the big players that have leaned on TV to define who they are, what they stand for, and create memorable messages in a competitive space. But it's not just massive brands investing in TV, it's also digitally native brands. We're seeing a lot more direct-to-consumer brands use TV because they need reach to drive business. And with all the ways we can measure TV now, it’s becoming a critical part of the media mix for increasingly younger brands.” 

 

— Faye Doyle, VP Client Growth

 

  Channel Changers  

Watch: Start with Why

Here we celebrate books, podcasts, videos, and influencers that are actively pushing marketing into the future.

What do Apple, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Wright brothers have in common? These leaders and pioneers communicate the same way—but differently from everyone else. Author Simon Sinek talks about how he developed the Golden Circle theory, which explains how both individuals and organizations can be shaped to inspire others.  

 

Our favorite insight? The best way to distinguish your organization is to define your purpose because “people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.”  

 

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