MUMBAI: A well-executed multichannel campaign is a thing of beauty. But over one in four of the campaigns we see are not well integrated, and consumers are much more critical than marketers about campaign connectivity. Also, less than half of all campaigns take full advantage of different channels by properly customising content to different contexts.

The address the issue, Kantar Millward Brown conducted a study which examined the global state of multichannel advertising campaigns. The study revealed that 78 per cent of consumers surveyed in Asia Pacific are seeing more ads in a wider variety of places than they did three years ago and consumers in India are seeing the most substantial uplift followed by Philippines and Singapore.

People believe multichannel advertising builds brands and leaves a stronger impression. Well-integrated and customised ad campaigns can improve overall campaign effectiveness by 57 per cent. This implies that brands can have a larger impact with their investment and more than half of marketers are missing out on the opportunity to substantially boost their activity.

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Ineffective and disengaged advertising runs the risk of alienating the viewers and people are uncomfortable with the increase in intrusive advertising. Indian consumers feel most bombarded by intrusive advertising (81 per cent), followed by New Zealand (76 per cent) and the Philippines (72 per cent). On the contrary, Koreans and Indonesians are the least bothered by intrusive ads but more than half the population see ads in a negative light and that should be a wake-up call for marketers.

While stating that marketers need to start thinking intelligently about how they integrate their campaigns, Kantar Millward Brown head of media and digital for APAC Pablo Gomez opines that marketers are putting enough focus on customisation. “Consumers are exposed to more advertising than ever before and are becoming more judgemental of what they see as a result. Importantly, the study showed that people react to advertising differently depending on the channel, and crucially, they are least receptive to ads on digital media,” he said.

Consumers expect multichannel campaigns to deliver basic connective elements or hygiene factors like the same logo and slogan. To some extent consumers are right. All brand cues contribute to campaign effectiveness, and the more cues the better. However, consistent characters or personalities are the individual cues which most help brand impact; these differentiate the best campaigns.

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Viewers expect TV to be the best with the rest of a campaign, but integration benefits all channels. Brands should plan for synergy because about 25 per cent of all brand contributions from media are typically attributable to synergy effects. We know that all channels benefit from synergies, but some channels work particularly well with each other. The strongest overall synergy combinations are TV & Facebook, and TV & outdoor. A recent Budweiser campaign in China was strongly integrated thanks to multiple consistent elements (celebrity, colour scheme, bottle, logo, slogan) across TV, online and outdoor executions. It is a well-executed example of ‘matching luggage’ which also extends to the style and mood of the content.

At the end of the day, brands need to use all senses. Visual cues are important, and memorable characters differentiate, but audio cues like consistent voiceovers and music also help. Consumers will not notice all brand integration cues, so test to see if the campaign fits together. Additionally, marketers need to develop content for channels where they can adapt excellently and make the most of the format. They need to find a balance between integration and customisation and a great campaign needs enough familiarity to tie campaign elements together, but enough novelty to engage with complementary content.

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