Laser dips below the line with TV

BYLN: By Meg Carter

Laser, the ITV airtime sales house, unveils a strategy to encourage fmcg brand owners to advertise their sales promotions on TV at a one-day conference in London later this week.

Details of a new advertising package will be announced along with findings from consumer research conducted by Millward Brown which shows that 94 per cent of shoppers believe advertising promotions on TV “is a good idea”.

Although promotions including Walkers Crisps’ Monopoly Money and Ribena’s Harry the Lime have been successfully advertised on TV, too few brand owners make use of TV to boost below-the-line activities, Laser marketing controller Martyn Rattle believes.

The initiative is an attempt to stem the decline in fmcg TV

revenue, he adds. “The only way ITV was going to achieve this was by looking at other marketing techniques being used by that category.”

Laser commissioned research from Nielsen which tracked 45 brands over three years. The findings show that brands relying on sales promotions only lost brand share while those on TV fared better.

The sales house identified a need for a forum to discuss the perceived barriers to using TV – such as its cost, Rattle adds.

The new advertising package is a continuation of this strategy, offering advertisers high coverage quickly using mainly peak time at a low price. It also includes brand awareness tracking, commercial production, use of teletext pages and a “Lasergram” service to alert the trade before the campaign breaks.

Speakers at the TVSP ’95 conference on Thursday include: Zenith Media deputy managing director Andy Tilley, DMB&B group chairman John Farrell and former Lever Brothers managing director Andrew Seth. Laser chief executive Mick Desmond will also speak.