‘Should we advertise on TV–or online?’

By Ned Roberto, Ardy Roberto
Philippine Daily Inquirer


LAST December 18, we published our Rx to this question from a reader: Last year, we had an online ad agency present to us how much more cost-effective it is nowadays to advertise via online channels (versus TV).

So we tried online advertising via both banner ads and display ads. But we did not give up our TV advertising.

Last week, we got a summary monitoring report on our “online ad effectiveness” projected to yearend. It was disappointing, to say the least.

The number of responses to our online ads (both banner and display) was way below the year’s forecast. Daily responses were often zero!

When we contracted for online advertising, many of us in the marketing committee were asking: “Should we still advertise on TV?”

But after reading the report on our online advertising, all of us are now asking: “Should we advertise online at all?”

Not bad

This column got readers to put on their thinking caps and submit their own prescriptions:

Raj De Los Santos says, “having many TV channels, each with its own audience, is not a bad thing. More channels mean more markets to sell a product. Instead of spending money on major networks, funnel the funds into channels where target audience tunes in.

“Put money in market and media research, too... [But] imagine [the effect of TV advertising] if TiVos and/or DVRs are introduced in the Philippines.”

According to Wikipedia, TiVo is a brand and model of digital video recorder (DVR).

TiVo was introduced in the United States and is now available in New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Taiwan, and the UK.

TiVo DVRs provide an electronic television programming schedule and features such as Season Pass recordings, which ensure subscribers never miss an episode of their favorite shows.

A benefit of TiVo is that you can skip or fast forward through the commercials of the TV shows that you recorded.

Another reader, Alberto Villa-Abrille, submits this:

“I have been in the [Internet marketing] industry for five years and have run numerous large budget campaigns in each channel/aspect of Internet marketing.

Unfair comparison

“Regarding your article ‘Should we still advertise on TV?’ It really is unfair to compare television with banner and display ads on the net. The reason is that these are the least effective forms of online advertising.

“In fact, in the company I am affiliated with, banner advertising would comprise a minority of the budget.

“That being said, I am not against advertising on television. In fact, while we have historically advertised purely online, we are now looking at advertising on television. However, since our market is in the United States, we will be doing our TV ads via Google.

“The challenge is quantifying the response from traditional media. However, we have found innovative ways to do so. We will be running a large campaign Q1 (2010). If you are interested, we can exchange notes on the effectiveness of traditional vs online media once we get our campaigns launched. Also, I would be curious to know how your online advertising campaigns were run. I can be reached at albertova3@gmail.com.”

For those who think that online “advertising” is tricky and think online is just banner and display ads, think again. Next time, attend industry events and conferences like those organized by the Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines (Immap).

Here you’ll discover what and how marketers – whether they are small and medium scale enterprises or multinational corporations –are doing online to maximize their marketing budgets.

Marketing campaigns

Multinationals like Nestle, P&G and Unilever are using WEB2.0 / Social media (think YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) with great bang for their bucks. Go ahead and Google these online and digital marketing campaigns:

Nestle’s Kitkat Space Promo 2011

Nestle Philippines and Rapper Balagtas

Gillette India’s (To Shave or Not Debate). Increased the market of P&G’s Gillette razors in non-shaving India by 35 percent!

Pringles Philippines campaign. 60-percent increase in business reported.

Charmin Toilet Paper viral e-mail campaign

Unilever’s Axe Deocologne Digital marketing campaign (Unilever reports that it is increasing spending in digital marketing by 400 percent every year. So what does that tell you?)

Charice Pempengco’s 2009 concert at MOA (more than 7,500 tickets were sold through their Friendster campaign).

So we hope these Immap conference cases add light or help reframe the follow-up question “should we advertise online at all?”

At the conference, the JuniorMRxer bumped into former Inquirer marketing director, Donald Lim, who is now the head honcho/CEO of Yehey!. Donald shared with me that they now help companies and entrepreneurs navigate the online marketing “maze” that is Web 2.0.

Yehey! now acts like an Internet advertising and marketing agency (and not just a search engine/portal offering advertising packages). So consider these non-traditional “agencies” next time you seek advise or plan to “advertise” online.