What do a family restaurant in Oregon, a car dealer in Texas and a building supply store in Massachusetts have in common? They've found successful ways to capture the attention of customers spending more time than ever with "screens"—TVs, phones, tablets and computers.
Those businesses joined others during a recent webcast, Take Five for Your Future, presented by Comcast Spotlight, the advertising sales division of Comcast Cable. The companies participated in Comcast Spotlight's LAMP Awards, which recognize multi-screen advertising—combining television and digital marketing.
The benefit is two-fold: some prospective customers will see a message on one screen that they missed on the other, while another group will see the message on both screens, and thus hear that message more often.
Amy Schearer, Chief Marketing Officer of the Philadelphia Zoo, said during the webcast that this approach allowed the tourist attraction to "reach people at multiple points during the day." The zoo's multi-screen campaign, highlighting a new exhibit for children, contributed to one of the best years for total attendance. The growth came despite a harsh winter and spring, which dampens attendance. Once Mother Nature relented, though, the campaign worked its magic.
A recurring theme from webcast participants was the ability of cable TV and digital advertising to reach specific neighborhoods. For People's Federal Savings Bank in Massachusetts, it turned out that their network of branches aligned well with Comcast Spotlight's zones, or groupings of neighborhoods, in the market.
According to Thomas Long, Principal of the Long Group, the bank's marketing agency, a targeted approach meant their advertising "worked smarter and harder." The result of the campaign was a 250% increase in monthly checking account sales. Also noteworthy was that the new customers coming to the bank were, on average, 16 years younger than the bank's existing customers, meaning a new generation of consumers was getting the message as a result of TV advertising on networks like ABC Family and Bravo coupled with the same commercial appearing before online video and in banner advertisements on XFINITY.com.
That approach also worked wonders for Chace Building Supply, the Massachusetts retailer. Chace competes with several national, "big-box" retailers, a challenge for many small businesses. In addition to being able to focus advertising near its store location, what also benefited the store was the ability to reach both men and women. For men, it meant commercials in programs like ESPN's Monday Night Football and Boston Bruins games; for women, networks like Lifetime, E! and Food Network hit the mark.
For Elmer's, the Portland restaurant chain, reaching multiple audiences meant something different: attracting new customers, including those new to the region and not familiar with Elmer's 55-year history, while appealing to long-time guests. Like other webcast participants, Elmer's took advantage of the cost savings by using its existing commercial as an online advertisement, and added a little something extra to the online ads: pictures of seasonal menu items. That had customers clicking to learn more: 12% of the 12,000+ people who watched the online video visited Elmer's website. In the hyper-competitive restaurant business, Elmer's recorded a five percent increase in total sales, a figure Director of Restaurant Support Jill Ramos called "truly a win in the restaurant industry
." Some businesses take a hybrid approach to local advertising. Ron Carter Cadillac, the Texas auto dealer, aired advertising throughout the full Houston market, with additional commercials focused on the area immediately surrounding the dealership. It was an effective strategy to maximize the marketing budget, and included a mix of morning, primetime and weekend time periods. Ron Ross also wanted to reach a younger audience than is typically thought of as a Cadillac customer, so networks like ESPN, TNT and USA were a key component in its plan. The digital advertising element of the media plan did its job, nearly doubling traffic to Ron Carter's website, while overall vehicle sales increased about 50%. Chris Premant, E-commerce and Business Development Manager for the dealer noted that those results underscore "the reality that traditional drives digital" when it comes to advertising.
Comcast Spotlight recently began accepting entries for this year's LAMP Awards, and will announce the winners this fall.
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