Commentary

Spend Lots On Commercials, Hope For The Best -- And Have Clear Nostrils

 

Governor Rick Perry spent the most TV money of all Republican Presidential candidates in Iowa -- $17 million, according to one estimate -- only to gain a low fifth place in Tuesday’s caucus.

Does TV still work as a marketing tool? Yes, up to a point. 

Other candidates' efforts were more analog, less digital. Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum made sure to visit all 99 Iowa counties -- with less organization and less media money. All that was good for a close second place.

Movie marketers might tell you spending the most TV advertising dollars will almost surely gain you some interest in the first weekend of a big wide-screen release -- even when insiders know they have a turkey on their hands.

No matter. Whether you have a lame film or a candidate people are iffy about, sometimes consumers can smell failure.

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Now, social media advocates might tell you that heavy consumer engagements in popular consumer products, ideas or political candidates might offer up better clues as to what is going on -- that in fact, you may not need to spend all those traditional TV dollars unless other parts of your marketing plan are working.

Old habits die hard. Right or wrong, the good news for TV stations should begin to roll in. Expectation is that there will be $3.2 billion in TV political advertising, a 52% increase versus the last presidential campaign season in 2008.  By himself, President Obama is expected to have a record media budget of $1 billion.

Still, you can't blame Perry's heavy media strategy too much. Creative may have a lot to do with those low-results, as well as other "pre-existing" candidate perceptions and being unable to break through the din of rising TV news noise from the Romney-Santorum-Paul-Gingrich block.

NBC is spending a lot to market new shows like "Smash" and returning big shows like "The Voice" -- including using prime Super Bowl real estate for promotional pushes. It too has to find a way to rise over the marketing effort and noise that Fox's "American Idol" -- and mid-season newbies -- will get.

What are TV consumers smelling now? Place your bets.

 

 

 

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