There was a time, not so long ago, when a simple question, such as
’What’s on the telly tonight?’, provoked a simple answer, not a lengthy
monologue. A time when a TV listings guide was a single sheet of paper
on which was printed a short list of programmes and times.
Nowadays, couch potatoes need the manual dexterity of touch typists to
cope with all the programming choice, and increasingly the stations are
the stars. Even before Channel 5 launched, it was happy to tell the
media about the one really important point of difference from its
competitors; no, not its programming or scheduling, more the fact that
it would have its very own marketing supremo. The station managed to
attract David Brook from the Guardian.
He got the Spice Girls and the rest is, well, if not history at least
not the catastrophic failure we have come to expect of media
launches.
Last week, Brook moved to Channel 4 with a brief to extend the brand
into other areas such as publishing, videos and merchandising. ITV, too,
has ordered its own marketing rethink, showing its seriousness by
raiding Procter & Gamble for a marketing director. But the truth is, we
have only just become used to the idea of TV stations as brands. Are we
already at a point where we can start talking about brand extensions as
well?
Channel 4’s head of sales, Andy Barnes, understandably, has few
doubts.
’None of the TV stations have done any more than scratch the surface of
this whole area,’ he says. ’The BBC has probably gone furthest, and it’s
now got 16 magazines, but the scope for all of us is enormous. There has
been such a train of cash coming through from spot revenue that we
haven’t really had to look elsewhere but, with increasing fragmentation,
that is bound to be pegged back, and we are going to see not just books
and magazines, but things like holidays sold off the screen. The
possibilities are endless.’
The Incorporated Society of British Advertisers’ TV spokesman, Bob
Wootton, isn’t so sure that TV companies have quite as strong a
connection with their viewers as they think they have. ’ISBA is made up
of companies that recognise the importance of branding and so we are
likely to applaud any steps that TV is making in this direction. But it
is a more complicated process than it appears. In fact, any TV station
is two different brands, with completely separate holds on the consumer.
One part is the station itself with its on-screen personality. David
Brook at Channel 5 created a distinct look, for example, but in reality
this is a weak brand relationship, only as good as the last programme,’
he says.
’The really close relationship is between the programme and the
customer. This is more like the relationship customers have with their
chocolate bar, and is ripe for the sort of brand extension - magazines,
videos and so on - that David Brook is talking about doing at Channel 4.
The relationship viewers have with the station, on the other hand, is
much less committed.’
Zenith Media’s chief executive, Graham Duff, also expresses caution
about the channel’s ability to make its own brand name add any value to
the programmes it shows.
’All TV marketing should start from the basic premise that they are
trying to attract the very best audience for their programmes -
obviously that can mean the biggest audience, but it can also mean the
best quality audience.
As the first step, all the marketing effort should be concentrated on
delivering audiences. The sort of corporate ’jerk-off’ advertising and
marketing that the channels actually do might be appreciated by the ad
industry but I’m sure it isn’t attractive to the general public. There’s
no doubt that David Brook has created a distinct brand image at Channel
5 as far as the London ad industry is concerned. Whether that extends to
the people who actually watch the station, I’m not so sure,’ he
says.
George Michaelides, a partner at Michaelides & Bednash, worked on the
Channel 5 launch and has no doubts that we are right at the beginning of
an explosion both in TV brands and brand extensions. He comments:
’Because of increasing media fragmentation, it’s getting even more
important for TV stations in general to develop themselves as cultural
brands such as Tango, Nike or Body Shop - brands with a bit of attitude
that people can relate to. Tango could launch a TV station tomorrow and
it would do well because it has those brand values. TV channels are shop
windows and the way they are dressed can make a real difference to the
success of the station. A show like Absolutely Fabulous will do half the
audience on BBC 2 as it will on BBC 1 because there will always be some
people for whom BBC 2 is just a bit much to make it their first choice.
Similarly, Have I Got News For You would probably do as well as They
Think It’s All Over if it was on BBC 1. Personally, I think there is
huge opportunity for all the TV stations to really start to exploit
their brand personalities off-screen.’
Motive’s managing director, Mark Cranmer, agrees that the opportunity is
there, even if no-one has yet succeeded in making it work. ’I think we
are embarking upon an era where the media brand will occupy an
increasingly important part of the overall infrastructure. It has to
really. There are already more media brands than anyone needs and TV is
in the strange position of being potentially the strongest of them all
and yet also the easiest single brand - and I’m not just talking about
the media now, but anywhere - for people to ditch. Brand loyalty is
resting at the touch of a button. Which is a pretty interesting
contradiction.
’So, of course it makes sense to stretch a brand beyond a single product
consumption, to take it into other areas. But I’d have to say that this
process is entirely latent in TV at the moment. There is a powerful
connection between viewers and TV stations but it just isn’t being
exploited, not even by Channel 4. I think because consumers can easily
be promiscuous with TV, it has helped foster the illusion that there
isn’t a powerful connection, but in reality it is there.’
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