Shopping, lines at the check out counter, holiday travel, family time, kids home from college, skiing, visiting with family and friends. All of these activities represent how people spend time during the holiday season. Malls are packed with holiday shoppers until the very last possible moment. Airports are jammed with travelers trying to reach their destinations. College students travel home for the holidays to spend time with their families and reconnect with friends. The slopes are filled with skiers trying to improve their skiing and snowboarding skills from the previous season. It’s quite possibly the busiest time of year in the U.S. and advertisers using traditional media find three key challenges in reaching holiday shoppers.
Holiday Challenge #1: Effectiveness
According to a Forrester Research Study, DVR users admit to skipping over 20% of all TV ads. Mass-affluent 25 - 39 year-olds have reached new lows in newspaper readership. And, the three news channels–Fox News Channel, CNN and MSNBC– experienced their third no-growth year in a row. As a result, traditional media is not providing the results that advertisers and agencies need from their advertising spend. These media consumption shifts combined with the increased time spent out-of-home during the extended holiday season create a challenging environment for many advertisers. The stakes for retailers and brand manufacturers are high – a slow start to the holiday season can mean missing annual revenue targets. With the declining effectiveness of traditional media, one question on the minds of advertisers is how to reach and engage their audience during the holiday season to ensure their business success.
Holiday Challenge #2: Efficiency
In addition to effectiveness, the second key issue for advertisers is efficiency. Consumers are beginning to start their holiday shopping earlier. In a recent survey by Advertising.com, over 50% of the respondents said that they begin their shopping in October or even earlier. This forces retailers and brands to extend their advertising budget over a longer period. Because of the longer shopping period, they need to ensure that their media plan will allow them to efficiently reach their target audience – at significantly lower costs than it would with traditional media such as TV and print. The right mix of media can help them stretch their advertising budget, while still achieving their ‘reach’ objectives.
The Solution: Digital Out-of-Home Media and Life Pattern Marketing
One part of the solution to these challenges lies in digital out-of-home media. In fact, it’s the hottest form of digital media on Madison Avenue, racking up a 35% Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) according to InfoTrends/CAP Ventures.
Digital out-of-home networks are popping up virtually everywhere holiday shoppers are likely to be: in grocery and specialty stores, movie theaters, hotels, vet clinics, doctor’s offices, gas station pumps and travel centers, not to mention health clubs as they work out to start the new year. The 2007 Digital Out-of-Home Media Awareness & Attitude Study conducted by OTX confirmed the effectiveness of digital signage advertising in capturing people’s attention, with nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of people reporting that digital signage advertising “catches their attention” – tops among all the media surveyed in the study.
The second part of the solution is Life Pattern Marketing. This new methodology enables advertisers to effectively and efficiently reach their target audience during their holiday routines. Mapping people’s life patterns allows advertisers to more precisely intercept people where they work, play and socialize thereby weaving their brand message into everyday experiences. For example, looking to reach college students? Weave a flighted media strategy through digital screens on and around college campuses before the holidays, at malls, health clubs, bars and restaurants, airports and travel centers during the holidays and again on and around campuses as they return to classes in the New Year.
With digital out-of-home media and SeeSaw Networks, it is now possible for advertisers to reach holiday shoppers efficiently and effectively during this holiday season or any holiday be it Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day or any relevant holiday in order to deliver the right message to the right people at the right time while they are out and about and more likely to take action in response to an advertiser’s message.
For more information on Life Pattern Marketing, be sure to download the white paper “Life Pattern Marketing” by Monte Zweben, Chairman and Co-founder of SeeSaw Networks.
