On June 21 and 22, 2000 media experts gathered in Cologne for the “Screenforce Days”.

Dear reader, do not be mistaken, this is not an egtabite about one of the many TV days organised in Europe. This is a case study on how an entire market joined forces to prove that their industry is alive and kicking, and far from afraid of international giants’ competition. Which is why they invited clients to witness a world premiere in the TV business: competitors airing their screenings together: one TV, united.

Background

After 13 years of a very successful annual TV day gathering the entire advertising industry (see previous egtabite on the topic here), and in the context of an increasingly omni-present international competition (Germany is no exception: the likes of YouTube and Facebook are coming aggressively after advertisers’ budgets), German broadcasters decided that it was time to use the power of their medium to prove their point: TV has an unbeatable power. Not only does it create emotional experiences at scale, but it is also brand-safe, transparent and reliable, and therefore provides unquestionable effectiveness.  

What made this event so special?

The 12 sales houses involved in this mega-event went above and beyond to create a show clients would never forget. To make this possible, the only solution was to use their own strength: the power of images, i.e. the content they usually keep for their own screenings. All sales houses cancelled their individual screenings annually and show-cased their upcoming TV programmes for the season 2017/18 and explained their priorities; all at the same event, in front of their clients… and direct competitors.

Top: Thomas Wagner (SevenOne Media) Andreas Kösling (El Cartel Media), Uwe Esser (ARD-Werbung SALES & SERVICES), Martin Krapf (Screenforce), Susanne Aigner-Drews (Discovery Communications Deutschland), Thomas Deissenberger (Sky Media) Matthias Nieswandt (ServusTV)
Bottom: Franjo Martinovic (Visoon Video Impact), Torsten Braun (Disneymedia+), Martin Michel (Sky Media), Matthias Dang (IP Deutschland), Patrick Fischer (Sport1 Media)

How did it work concretely?

» To open and close the day, prestigious key note speakers gave insights into marketing trends. Key leaders from the industry were also interviewed over the course of the day on specific topics, off- and on-stage, to link the various screenings seamlessly.

» TV sales houses were attributed a time-slot proportional to their size on the market (between 15 and 90 minutes) during which their biggest TV celebrities interacted on stage with sales house C-Suite executives and aired show-reels of their upcoming programmes on giant screens, accompanied by fireworks, concerts, dance performances and DJ-acts.

» Over lunch and coffee breaks, a “Technic Lab” offered visitors insights and experiences with new technologies such as virtual reality, addressable TV and 360° Videos.

» A party with a famous German band closed the first day in a joyful mood. 

Some highlights that made the event so special

» The day reflected perfectly the variety TV has to offer: Whilst ProSiebenSat.1 and RTL offered Superbowl-like entertainment, the public broadcaster ARD focused on their seriousness and reliability, Disney made everyone laugh and dream, Discovery took the audience on a trip, Sport1 emphasised the passion created by sports, whilst Sky joined them on that field and made the viewer vibrate with major TV series and RTL2 made the audience cry by emphasizing the role reality TV plays in accompanying “real people” in their daily struggles. The message could not have been any clearer: the emotions TV creates speak to everyone’s mind and heart.

» Small channels, such as ServusTV (a thematic channel dedicated to nature, Wanderlust and Red Bull’s thrilling content) could present their programme to a room packed with more than 2000 executives… an audience they usually could never have reached at their own screenings.

» The opening keynote of the event was surprisingly made by the press: The Chief Editor of the biggest German Newspaper (“Die Zeit”) made a strong call to action to the advertising industry to react by investing in proven media such as TV and the press. He asked in his keynote “to what extent do social networks on the one hand and traditional media on the other care about their social responsibility?”. He openly criticised Facebook and Google for their lack of transparency and compliance.

» International branding expert Martin Lindstrom talked about “small data” and the need to pay attention to people’s daily behavioural habits to make important marketing decisions, rather than relying on “big” but dull data.

» The closing image of the day probably sums it all up the best - and is one that would not be possible in many markets: 12 competitors, Germany’s TV advertising industry’s most powerful men and women, arm in arm, to thank each other and the audience for a unique event, determined to dominate the TV (as in “Total Video”) experience, today and tomorrow.