The next time you’re watching live TV, pay attention to the ending of commercials. What you’ll find are an increasing number of them tagged with a URL, or even better, a URL with voice-over to go online.
There’s a reason for this as smart marketers understand the natural human behavior to go online for more info in response to an offline ad. They also embrace the fact that many people are sitting on their couches watching TV with their laptops in front of them.
One of the most common reasons I’ve heard that brands do not include URLs on their TV spots is:
["We want to drive people in-store. We don’t want to confuse the message by driving them to the web." ]
But how will making it easy for someone with piqued interest to learn more about and engage with your message/brand confuse them? I don’t know of many people upon seeing a TV ad who’ll stop what they’re doing , get right up from their couch, and head into a store/restaurant/business to make a purchase on the spot.
[Instead, why not harness the momentum of their interest, reinforce and build upon your message online to help tip their consideration to act/purchase?]
If that’s not enough, then consider the fact that:
- You can only do so much within the constraints of a 30-second TV spot
- Neilsen recently reported that 28% of the time people are online at home they’re watching TV
- According to Forrester, initiating an online search is the most common response to an offline ad
- 64% of the 2008 Super Bowl spots had a URL; in 2009, 95% had some kind of online component
- There are hundreds of thousands of TV commercials on YouTube that are watched and shared
Driving to the web from TV can only help to reinforce your message and, if done well, marry TV and web in a way that’s greater than the sum of their individual parts. It’s the 1+1=3 effect in action. This is only the beginning as TV and web continue to converge. Just ask TiVo, Verizon Fios, IBM, and Cablevision.
As for the future? If the Vitamin Water TV spot featuring Kobe Bryant vs. Lebron James is any indication, brands will start to favor directing TV viewers to their social media properties over their corporate websites.
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