Super Bowl Showdown: Mass Advertising vs. Branded Direct Response Advertising.
When it comes to TV, advertising pros know that Super Bowl ads are powerful.
Audience
What gives these ads their powerful impact? In a word, exposure. This year alone, roughly 111.3 million pairs of eyes all collectively turned their gaze to the epic battle between the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles, according to Nielsen Ratings, Feb. 2018.
TV has created the biggest stadium the world has ever seen—and advertising in such an arena has a very broad demographic reach.
However, that amount of exposure comes at a very high price.
Production Costs
Production of these flashy commercials costs upward of $1 – $5 Million – and that is before anyone ever actually sees the ad.
Network Media Buying
This year’s average price for major network airtime during the 2018 Super Bowl was -wait for it… approximately $4 Million dollars for a 30-second spot, and upward of $8 Million for 60-second spots, according to AdWeek.
The Overall Super Bowl Advertising Spend
Essentially, these advertisers are paying around $170,000 PER SECOND of air time. That’s after already having incurred the high price of producing their commercial.
Which means the overall spend was modestly around $10,000,000 Million dollars!
So who’s actually purchasing Super Bowl Advertising?
Well, if you watched the big game, you probably already know the answer to this one: huge, gigantic brands with enormous budgets.
This year’s list of heavy hitters included ads from companies like Amazon, Coca-Cola, Tide, Michelob Ultra, T-Mobile and, maybe a bit surprisingly, a Squarespace ad featuring Keanu Reeves creating websites in the desert.
What do all of these companies actually have in common, aside from their huge advertising budgets and star-studded actors?
They are all looking to gain large amounts of brand exposure, looking to reach the masses. To get their brand in front of a wide demographically diverse audience through this one big event.
How Branded Direct Response Advertising Stacks Up Against the Alternative
Unlike Super Bowl advertising, direct response television advertising (DRTV) has a target audience and is meant to evoke an immediate action from the viewer.
Let’s break it down a bit more…
Audience
With direct response television advertising (DRTV), we pinpoint and target a specific audience our advertisers are looking to reach.
With Branded DRTV advertising we hone in on the target audience & demographics, conversely to advertising to the masses.
Make no mistake about it, direct response TV advertising is an extremely powerful form of advertising.
Direct response TV advertising is designed to elicit an immediate response from the ideal target audience/consumer.
Production
Production in Branded DRTV commercials is similar between both 30-second and 60-second commercials, right up to long-form infomercials. Each requires scripting the creative studio production and media buying.
Unlike subliminal brand awareness advertising, the creative production for branded direct response commercials encourages consumer purchasing decisions by clearly conveying the product’s / service’s benefits. In addition, even though these ads are direct-response driven, they must maintain all of the brand’s guidelines in their look, feel and tone.
Nonetheless, the production needs to communicate the company’s offer straightforwardly followed by a clear call to action, usually an 800 number “Inquire Now”.
An example from NMC, an Educational DRTV Campaign via I-Spot TV
https://www.ispot.tv/ad/wYQq/independence-university-college-is-great
Media Buying
We buy media time on major networks and cable TV that align with the advertiser’s targeted demographics, reaching those most likely to make a purchase.
We choose media buys where the greatest number of demographically and geographically qualified viewers are actively watching.
Overall DRTV Advertising Costs
Here’s where DRTV advertising really takes the edge over Super Bowl ads.
DRTV is performance-based advertising.
With NMC, the advertiser ONLY pays for the live leads generated based on the “performance” of the ad. No leads generated – no money wasted!
Most full-service DRTV agencies can provide a complete range of strategic, creative, production, campaign services and media buying, but usually not on a pay-per-call basis.
We write, produce and test a branded DRTV commercial for a modest investment of approximately $10,000 dollars, paid upon receipt of live inbound calls on a pay-per-call basis, which varies depending on the number of calls received.
Companies that Benefit from DRTV Advertising
With branded direct response TV advertising, we create commercials aimed at capturing the attention of the specific target audience and encourage them to respond through an immediate call to action.
DRTV provides a great opportunity for companies with new, emerging consumer products to get immediate results while paying only for in-bound calls received.
From women’s wardrobe subscriptions like Stich Fix (see Ad Age article) to gourmet meal delivery services, new hearing aid devices, nutritional supplements, beauty, travel, cookware, educational enrollments and hands-on guitar instruction – the DRTV success list is truly limitless.
Branded DRTV empowers new and mid-size companies to reach their target audience without breaking the budget.
National Media Connection
National Media Connection is a full-service nationwide direct response advertising agency. At NMC we deliver live TV lead generation on a pay-per-call basis.
We are so confident about DRTV’s success rate with emerging consumer-driven companies that we are extending a limited time offer.
For any new branded TV campaign – created by us, we will give you the FIRST 10 Live Leads – TOTALLY FREE!
Give us a call or fill out our form and let NMC show you how DRTV can work to score you the winning touchdown every time! 1-800-257-0485
https://www.nationalmediaconnection.com/brandedpaypercall.html
At NMC we are RESULTS Driven!
