Viewpoint: Honda: Martin Moll, marketing director

Every marketer’s dream is to understand who their customer is and be able to engage in a very bespoke, measurable way and then find out what more they want, what level of engagement, and how far down the consideration path they are.

The more you are able to tap into your true consumer groups, the more you will find out what they want from you, or indeed if you have got your target group wrong.

The unique selling point is the TV programme content, but what broadcasters need to shift is how they can segment the audience. And they need to be flexible with the package they sell, as well as just giving you airtime at a market rate.

The challenge for a marketer now is that consumers have so much flexibility and choice; they have different expectations of engagement and involvement.

We have gone from what has historically been a passive model into something that now has to be interactive. You have to create a series of rewards and benefits for the consumer as opposed to your message washing over them, or hoping that by osmosis it will make them favour your brands.

Using idents on Channel 4 documentary programmes is a far better place to be. Conventional TV advertising has its challenges because the cost of the creative, the whole nature of the buying space actually limits you. It can pull your budget too far in one direction and you do not have the immediacy of measurement behind that either.

Ultimately, if you do find yourself with good content, a good idea will always out. There will always be a platform for it. If there is resonance with its market and it is congruent with what consumers are looking for, they will share your message for you and they become your advocates very quickly.