The media industry is clearly more full of holes than a Ron Davies
statement if the number of new media agencies who claim to have
discovered a gap in the market is anything to go by.
Last week it was Quantum, a joint venture between Booth Lockett Makin
and Paul Longhurst (see Headliner), sticking its flag firmly in what it
insists is unclaimed territory.
Now, one of the gaps Quantum hopes to plug is the one which direct
response advertisers apparently keep falling down when they try to get
to grips with the new-media future, the hole which yawns ever wider as
technology improves and the prospect of interactive TV advertising
looms.
That this particular hole really needs stuffing right now, Quantum will
no doubt work hard to prove. But it’s not one that other agencies are
simply sidestepping. It takes a lot to get hardened media men excited,
but mention direct marketing to your average media chief right now and
watch them drool. OK, maybe the pound signs in their eyes are a bit of a
giveaway, but there is genuine interest from the media community in
investing in the direct marketing discipline.
Yet one quite astounding piece of news last week suggests that whatever
inroads agencies are making to get under the skin of their clients’
direct marketing communications needs, some marketers are taking matters
into their own hands. Unilever, Cadbury-Schweppes and Kimberly-Clark are
getting together to launch their own magazine next year which will be
door-dropped to a million homes in a bid to drive awareness, sampling
and loyalty to their brands. As these clients don’t have the sort of
brands which lend themselves to interactive TV advertising (can’t see
myself sitting through a half-hour promotional video for Huggies), it’s
hardly surprising that they’re looking at a simpler method of direct
communication.
At a stroke the magazine will reach more people than all but a handful
of newsstand titles. With editorial comprising recipes, household tips
and competitions it won’t be the most scintillating of reads, but throw
in a few celebrity interviews and - crucially - some money-off coupons,
with editions targeted at different demographic and lifestage groups,
and the chances are it won’t go straight in the bin.
While no-one is suggesting that the idea will see swathes cut from
above-the-line marketing budgets, it’s a sobering indication of how some
advertisers may respond to the issue of media fragmentation,
particularly when it’s allied to the need to drive loyalty in the face
of own-label supermarket products.
Perhaps traditional direct marketing is enough of a new sand-pit for
most media agencies right now. But rather than simply investing in the
direct marketing present, agencies need to invest in the direct
marketing future. Clearly their clients can’t and won’t wait and
see.
Comment, page 51
