Delayed TV Marketing Reaction: It's Still Good, Even At Half The Absorption

by Wayne Friedman, Jun 21, 2010, 1:30 PM

• Comment
• Recommend (6)
• Tweet
• 

So I'm driving in a rental Toyota Camry to a convention in Las Vegas.

About an hour and a half into the drive, I'm cruising along -- maybe at a quicker speed than I realized -- rushing to get to my location. Then it dawns on me what the Enterprise staffer told me back at the rental office: "Yes. This Camry is good. It accelerates nicely."

Wait a second. Toyota? Camry? Acceleration? Hello!

It's the delayed gratification of information -- necessary information -- that consumers sometimes latch onto. But it's better late than never. Television delivers this sometimes -- which may not be the optimum way of messaging, given TV's penchant for tune-in promotion.

People talk about the importance of "recency" of TV advertising -- meaning that only one airing of a TV commercial is needed to hit its targeted consumer to be effective. It isn't really necessary for marketers to wait for those "three" exposures -- long thought to be essential -- for consumers to take action.

That said...

- I didn't realize cable network Versus was offering a $29.95 package for a complete airing of the network's live coverage of the Tour de France next month.

- I didn't realize TV Land had an out-of-nowhere new hit -- "Hot in Cleveland," starring Betty White, Wendie Malick, Valerie Bertinelli, and Jane Leeves.

 -I didn't realize ESPN would be running virtually no traditional commercials in its telecast of the World Cup.

All this is good news for me as a TV viewer, and it's all delayed recognition on my part. TV marketers would probably wish I'd set up an alert on my smartphone calendar. Still, delayed response is of some value.

And the Toyota? Maybe I got there a bit faster than normal. But here's the good news. Though the desert, it handled 40-mile-an-hour gusts way better than many other cars I have driven.

Better still, I now realize my foot was on the gas pedal all the way.

• Comment
• Recommend (6)
• Tweet
• 

0 comments on "Delayed TV Marketing Reaction: It's Still Good, Even At Half The Absorption".

1. Zach Tassell from McCormick Company
   

   commented on: June 21, 2010 at 2:13 p.m.

   Totally missed the mark on recency...it's not a frequency of one vs. three, but rather the most important exposure is the one closest to the purchase...and since you don't know when that purchase will take, it is important to have continuity thereby increasing the chances you have that exposure at the right and more effective time...

2. Paula Lynn from Who Else Unlimited
   

   commented on: June 21, 2010 at 2:48 p.m.

   Assuming everybody remembers everything they have seen once when the time comes to buy the one time seen thing is not marketing. It falls somewhere between ignorance and egoism and cheap.

Leave a Comment