Bad TV is no good for brands

David Benady’s article “Content crisis” (MW May 11) was informative and raised a number of important points. The scale of the technological revolution was always going to outstrip the ability to deliver a sufficient level of quality content and innovation to UK viewers, hence the trend of “dumbing down”. The implication for marketers is that the more an audience enjoys a programme, the more likely they are to recall advertising and brands which appeared in those programmes.

So with the creative drought in television programming, no matter how well targeted or creative an advertising campaign is, consumer awareness of the product or service is likely to be limited. And if this happens, the effectiveness of a campaign (perhaps unfairly) will be hit.

ITV in particular has struggled to deliver enough “destination programming” (as it defines its most highly appreciated programmes) to satisfy planners and advertisers. Even the success ITV has found in driving audience figures with the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? formula does not suit many media strategies.

All of this means that the communication planner’s job has become both more difficult and more important. It is also why they increasingly have to look at a wider range of media options, and why in particular they need to know how to construct a more integrated strategy to deliver their client’s objectives.

Jeff Hyams

Managing director

Zed

London W1P

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