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So the crucial thing is to respond
rapidly, repeatedly, in detail, in
public and ideally with some
humour and charm. There is always
a risk of looking defensive, but that
is hard to avoid if you are being
attacked. Ultimately you must try
to engage whoever is behind the
questionable data in a constructive
debate and encourage them and
others not to do similar things in
the future. Generally, the industry
and its commentators need to be
more critical of all data – especially
if it is unaudited, partial and self-
serving. We all need to expect the
highest standards.
e g t a : T h i n k b o x i s
w e l l k n o w n f o r
c o m m i s s i o n i n g
a u t h o r i t a t i v e p i e c e s
o f r e s e a r c h : w h a t d o
y o u t h i n k w o u l d b e t h e
m o s t e f f e c t i v e a r e a s
t o f o c u s r e s e a r c h o n
i n t h e c o m i n g m o n t h s ?
ST:
Re-proving everything we have
proved before is important. It is an
ongoing responsibility to keep the
insights fresh and up to date. Next
we need to further demonstrate the
immense and unrivalled contribution
that TV advertising makes in the
long-term, and why this is so
important. Nothing else comes close
to TV’s power at building long term,
profitable brands. But a creeping
trend towards short-termism is
at risk of overlooking this. It would
also be very useful to gather hard
evidence of the damage brands who
have come off or reduced TV did
to themselves. And there is more
work to be done in laying bare the
video advertising environment and
different forms of TVs’ roles within
it – especially for younger people.
e g t a : C a n y o u t e l l
u s a b i t a b o u t y o u r
s t r a t e g y f o r p r o m o t i n g
t e l e v i s i o n , a n d h o w
T V ’ s s t o r y h a s b e e n
t o l d b y H a r v e y , R a b b i t
a n d H a r m o n y ?
ST:
All roads lead to effectiveness.
Our
strategy
is
built
on
demonstrating TV’s effectiveness
in its many different guises –
everything from its impact on hard
business measures to how it works
in our brains, how it affects things
like multi-screening, why people
continue to love watching it, and
how it works with and boosts other
media.
Our TV advertising has been the
single most effective activity we
have done in our ten years as an
organisation. Although our most
obvious audience is the media
and marketing community – the
people who make decisions about
advertising investment – the halo
effect of creating an emotionally-
driven TV campaign which caught
the public’s imagination at large has
been incalculable really. Especially as
we are a not for profit organisation,
so cannot trace its effects in that
way. But in all the many other
ways that we know TV advertising
works – brand awareness, website
traffic,
increased
engagement,
turbo-charging our other marketing,
opening doors that were previously
closed – it continues to deliver
brilliantly.