Richard van Hooijdonk

Always choose for a crossmedial communication chain aimed at your target audience

Your client uses multiple media simultaneously. This is no longer limited to offline media such as print, radio and television. Consumers have become fully crossmedial, exposing themselves to all crossmedial stimuli before choosing to convert. Today's consumer combines radio and internet, television and print, a phone conversation and the direct mail they receive. The ultimate combination of crossmedial instruments is the combination that gives the best returns, and it may not always be the most obvious combination. It takes creativity, a lot of testing and analyzing to figure out your perfect crossmedia combination, and it won't be the same for different target groups.
A communication chain for a young target group will contain a lot more online media, while an older target group will prefer more offline media. An interesting fact however, is that online sales in Q3 and Q4 are largely determined by the latter category: older people do find their way online. When setting up your crossmedial communication chain, make sure to put your channels in the right order. Study the customer insights and find out which instruments are used. Study the combinations used and the results. Once you've figured out which instruments to use, you can determine their functions, content and connection. For instance, you could launch a teaser through text messages: the content will have to be interesting and connected to the follow-up direct mail or e-mail. A similar procedure can be used for television and radio commercials, a mini website, specific online campaigns or telesales. For each target group and for each action, you engage the right instruments. Having done so, it's time to take a look at the campaign management system and keep track of the results in a crossmedial campaign dashboard. Often, executing a campaign using your own 'systems' is impossible: new techniques or possibilities are limited when a marketer's own IT department is not up-to-date. When it comes to crossmedial campaigns, outsourcing is often a viable if not the only solution. The costs are worth it: in return you gain speed and flexibility. Smart crossmedial campaigns can lead to very significant and very large results. Keep in mind though, as said in a previous article, when it comes to innovations and launching new processes: start small, finish big!

Interactive communication gaining ground

Big brands are increasingly attempting to create interactive communication. It's happening through billboards and bathroom advertising and soon interactive advertisements will be found in newspapers and magazines as well. One of the brands experimenting with interactive communication is Hennes & Mauritz.

 

Clothing brand Hennes & Mauritz is working hard to increase customer involvement with H&M. The main tool to reach this goal is interactivity with their customers. When using modern techniques on their mobile phones, consumers can scan the bar codes on H&M billboards, bringing interactivity one step closer. The mobile phone recognizes the bar code and opens the H&M website, allowing consumers to order products on the spot.

 

It's not just communication that's becoming more interactive, products are also becoming more interactive. In the near future, it may be possible to order products in an offline store at the push of a button. This ease of use should greatly stimulate impulse buying in consumers.

Wehkamp creates hype with 'film your catalogue' campaign

Create a funny movie and you've got a chance at 20,000 euro. Last year, such were the basics of post order catalogue Wehkamp's campaign, which resulted in a true hype among its customers. The campaign, called 'filmjouwgids' (film your catalogue), caused quite a stir in the Netherlands: Wehkamp even extended the deadline to have more people enter the competition.

 

In a few weeks time, Wehkamp gathered some 70 homemade videos, all of remarkably high quality. Having a go at the 20,000 euro prize money, people submitted movies ranging from cool to hilarious, touching to crazy. Wehkamp's campaign was based on a similar campaign from Nesquick, which gathered over 320 entries from American consumers.

 

Wehkamp asked the question: what exciting things can you do with our post order catalogue? Movie entries were uploaded to Youtube and a link to the entry was submitted on filmjouwgids.nl. The first prize was 20,000 euro; second prize an Acer notebook and third prize a Sony Playstation 3.

 

The judges had quite a hard time nominating the top three videos. Wehkamp is looking into developing the winning entry into a commercial.

Advertisers reluctant to invest in online advertising

 There are more internet connections than ever and they're getting faster and faster. But despite the increasing number of potential customers online, advertisers are still reluctant to advertise on the web. Management consultancy agency McKinsey & Co. interviewed over 400 management executives.

 

More than half of them said not to invest in online advertising because of lacking measuring methods. Another reason given (41%) is a shortage in staff and means. A third of the respondents blames the inability to convince upper management while 18% states their advertising agency simply doesn't have the capacity to invest in online advertising.

 

Multichannel operations: mixing online and offline

It's no surprise to salesmen anymore: increasingly, consumers research products online before heading to an offline store to make a purchase. Research company 'Frank about Women' found out the average adult visits approximately four web pages to inform himself on a product, before deciding to buy. In their “Multichannel shopping transformation study”, 'the e-tailing group' poses that 37% of all consumers first do online research before buying in an offline environment.

 

So online information is used for offline purchasing. It also works the other way around. A post order catalogue (such as Wehkamp or Neckermann's catalogues) is the most important stimulator for consumers to visit the website online. In this case, a complete array of well-integrated channels is essential for the company's multichannel strategy to succeed. The consumer has come to expect any multichannel operation to at least contain excellent communication, helpful information, a wide range of options to choose from, products in stock and timely delivery. When running an integrated multichannel business, getting these things right is an absolute must.

Bright future for IPTV and mobile media

Traditional television commercials may still generate the highest revenue, the medium is about to be caught up to. Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) and mobile media are the prime opportunities for advertisers to offer content aimed at specific target audiences.

IPTV lets advertisers control content and frequency for specific target audiences. Besides television commercials other content can be offered through IPTV as well, including screensavers, streaming video and click through functions. Not only international or large national advertisers benefit from this: local advertisers also benefit from these developments. Last but not least, IPTV has an excellent chance at reaching target audiences previously not interested in electronic media.

Besides IPTV mobile media offers these advantages as well. One thing advertisers do have to keep in mind when it comes to mobile media is consumer privacy. But when this is done, mobile media will be an important competitor to traditional television advertising.

Interesting campaigns can be used to entice consumers to watch commercials. Virgin Mobile USA for instance used its 'Sugar Mama' campaign which let mobile callers call for free in return for watching the mobile commercial. The mobile medium isn't just limited to such 'on-demand' commercials: advertising on mobile websites is also gaining momentum.

Reliable personal contact more important than ease of use in booking vacations

Many travel agencies let internet users book their travelling arrangements online. The number of bookings done online is rising continuously. The British holiday planner however appears to put more faith in service and personnel: 60% of British consumers prefer personal contact when booking their holidays, be it by telephone or at a travel agency itself. Research agency The Listening Company and the London School of Economics came to these conclusions.

British consumers on holiday advise others to book by telephone (81%). 80% recommends booking through a tour operator. Booking online is recommended less often: only 77% advises fellow consumers to book online.

Although booking holidays online is often praised for its ease of use and efficiency, the reliability of personal contact is still preferred by British consumers. Face-to-face contact in particular is appreciated. One perculiar detail from the research results is that young people and men in particular are least likely to name their tour operators, travelling destinations or airline agencies.

Internet gaining on traditional media

Internet is fast becoming the most used form of media for news, entertainment and sports. MediaWeek asked Lightspeed Research to look into the matter, who then asked 2,000 people what medium they prefer for said content.

David Day, chief executive at Lightspeed, says internet is quickly gaining on traditional media such as television, radio and print. Sports content is one particularly strong example, as twice as many people prefer to look up their sports information online instead of hearing it from the radio. 24% says to have stopped using teletext for their sports results, they prefer looking it up online. When it comes to the most up to date content however, 80% still reaches for the television remote. Of this group, 20% uses interactive television and 30% uses teletext. 50% of respondents listens to radio and uses print media; 40% uses internet.

Internet as extension to magazines

Although consumers spend more and more time online, this doesn't necessarily mean doom and gloom for print magazines. In fact, when magazines manage to use internet as an extension to the print form it can even have big advantages. Unfortunately, because of the inherent differences between magazines and newspapers, this theory doesn't apply to newspapers.

Some users stop reading print newspapers entirely in favor of reading online newspapers. Magazines however appeal more to people and manage to offer exclusive content. Internet can be used to offer additional content and extra services, such as an online community. A community of people who all have a subscription to a magazine, for instance. Such a community would obviously have to be of significant size to compete with already existing communities, but if added value is offered consumers will recognize that.

Before magazine publishers run off to their computers to launch community websites, a word of warning though. While women enjoy reading a magazine and then discussing it online, men strongly prefer to read their magazines privately, without then joining an online community. Magazines aimed at men should, it seems, be a bit more careful in what they set up online.

Multichannel operations: mixing online and offline

It's no surprise to salesmen anymore: increasingly, consumers research products online before heading to an offline store to make a purchase. Research company 'Frank about Women' found out the average adult visits approximately four web pages to inform himself on a product, before deciding to buy. In their “Multichannel shopping transformation study”, 'the e-tailing group' poses that 37% of all consumers first do online research before buying in an offline environment.

So online information is used for offline purchasing. It also works the other way around. A post order catalogue (such as Wehkamp or Neckermann's catalogues) is the most important stimulator for consumers to visit the website online. In this case, a complete array of well-integrated channels is essential for the company's multichannel strategy to succeed. The consumer has come to expect any multichannel operation to at least contain excellent communication, helpful information, a wide range of options to choose from, products in stock and timely delivery. When running an integrated multichannel business, getting these things right is an absolute must.