It seems that only a specialised few in the ad industry have
first-hand knowledge of how digital interactive television might affect
TV commercials as we know them. And those in the know believe we are
likely to see a fundamental change to advertising. With British
Interactive Broadcasting gearing up and ONdigital looking to offer basic
e-mail services by the middle of next year, that change is on our
doorstep.
Linking from an ad to order a brochure or catalogue, get a product
demonstration, access interactive services such as home shopping and
banking, and linking to a website and teletext page will all be possible
on our screens next year.
We will have information ’pop-ups’ - hypertext pages of information
linked from an ad - buttons and other interactive hotspots which all do
something when pressed.
The chief way this could affect the TV break in its traditional form is
when ads encourage viewers to migrate to a home shopping site or
internet page, thus missing the subsequent commercials or even the next
programme.
Alan McCulloch, the commercial director of Saatchi & Saatchi Vision,
sums up the dilemma: ’Clearly, broadcasters will not want to divert
viewers away from traditional programmes. They will also not want to
lose new revenue opportunities.’
The French television stations, Canal+ and TPS, are already tackling
this problem in their digital broadcasts. Regis Saint Girons, the
vice-president and general manager of Open TV Europe (the provider of
software for TPS and BiB), explains that the TPS interactive trial
allowed the interactive ad to be positioned anywhere in the break. When
a request for further information was made by the viewer, this was
logged. Then, at the end of the break, the request was acted upon, which
meant that the viewer didn’t miss any subsequent ads.
Saint Girons does, however, concede that ’real time is preferred by the
user’. He describes a second option: to reduce the video background to a
quarter-size screen so that you don’t end up losing contact with the TV
screen.
By contrast, the solution adopted by Canal+ is to put interactive ads at
the end of the break. ’This avoids the confusion of bypassing other
ads,’ according to Remi Collard, the director of Thamatiques Rejie. He
adds: ’We can’t make an interactive solicitation at every break.’
But even if these solutions are workable, will we be talking about
’advertisements’ at all? ’The arrival of digital is the start of a new
media form, a new industry,’ Marcus Vinton, the creative director of
Ogilvy & Mather, says.
Many believe we are actually dealing with infomercials. Instead of a
30-second slot, we are likely to have ten-minute promotional films. This
will be more suitable for certain products, such as white goods and
consumer durables, where a purchase is made every five years or so. ’A
click-through on the ad demonstrates the product in action. Viewers will
be able to have demonstrations of leading brands, each highlighting the
main benefits of their product,’ Ken Helps, the managing director of
Cabot Software, says.
The potential to change the shape of the ad break most definitely
exists, but there are stumbling blocks. There are technological problems
such as dealing with the fact that websites are not yet designed to deal
with TV display.
Andrew Curry, the head of interactivity at Cable & Wireless
Communications, says that CWC’s concerns are mainly operational. ’The
last thing we want is for viewers to migrate to the internet only to
realise they have missed an important point in the film plot they were
watching. We may require a reminder on the screen, something to remind
the viewer that the programming has started.’
But there is also the very different attitude that the consumer has to
using the web and using TV. ’Asking the viewer to make a distinction may
be very difficult. People are used to having information fed to them on
a TV.
The web requires the viewer to interact,’ Collard explains. Regis
agrees: ’Our experience indicates that most websites do not apply well
to the TV.’
Most believe that, whatever happens, there will be a large difference in
the emotional interpretation of the interactive ad compared with the
traditional commercial.
Jane Ostler, a managing partner at MindShare Digital, emphasises that
’creativity is still important. The challenge for the advertiser is to
retain the integrity of the brand. It becomes important to retain
consistency across all new media. How they will work together is the
challenge.’
One of the most significant effects on the break may be sound. ’When you
are navigating the web, you are used to going through sites without
sound. On the TV you are used to hearing sound. When designing the
interactive applications we need to consider the whole creative
environment,’ Ostler says. Open TV has recognised this issue in its TPS
trial. ’There will be sounds like in the TV ad. In one interactive
commercial we had sounds in the background. Our customers are also
putting sounds on their site,’ Saint Girons says.
In addition to sound, Collard sees the actual interactive proposition
itself as crucial. ’To say ’If you want to know more, click here’ is
just not good enough. Interactive advertising must be based around a
clear offer. ’If you want to try this, click here’ is a better
statement.’
But the very first thing that must take place before advertising in the
UK changes is for clients and agencies to climb a steep learning
curve.
According to McCulloch, ’There is not a high level of awareness of what
opportunities lie within the interactive field. Broadcasters really have
not outlined what type of relationship will be established. Most
projects are on an individual basis, no standard route for an
interactive commercial has been established.’
Will interactive advertising create a significant revenue stream for UK
ad agencies? Judging from the examples in France, expenditure on
interactive advertising will rise rapidly - whatever form it takes.
Saint Girons outlines an example from Open TV: ’We placed an interactive
ad for a ski catalogue on the weather report and gained ten times more
requests from the TV compared with the web. The ski commercial generated
1,000 calls when it ran on a digital channel with 200,000
subscribers.’
Canal+ is also experiencing success. ’Our first interactive ad was with
Audi. We had 2,500 click names of clients and sold nearly 150 cars from
a two-week period. Over this time, the interactive commercial was shown
on two channels. The price of the commercial came to pounds 50,000,’
Collard says.
It could be argued that the advertising task in the future will become
much harder, with viewers zapping through hundreds of channels and
generally being more elusive. Another, more optimistic, view is that
advertising will successfully adapt to make the most of the new
technology - ensuring that only relevant advertising is sent to, or made
available to be selected by, the most receptive audience.
