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Engaging the Common Couch Potato

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The ways in which brands engage consumers digitally are constantly changing. Online, brands are conversing with consumers through social media. In print, consumers are interacting with brands via QR codes on their ads. But there is one behemoth in the media world that has been very slow to accommodate a society that enjoys instant interaction: television.

Brands are just starting to realize the potential of engaging consumers though TV advertising. Over the past few months this has become misoprostol more noticeable. Cable companies are beginning to offer interactive ads to brands. Here’s how an interactive ad works: a commercial will start playing and shortly after, a prompt will appear at the bottom of the screen allowing viewers to decide if they would like to see more information. Brands can also choose to offer product samples, coupons, or other types of perks for the consumer. For example, recently, Comcast customers in Pennsylvania were able to use their remotes during Hershey’s commercials to opt to receive coupons for Hershey’s candy.

There are also ways to engage with television viewers without going through cable companies. Old Navy, after killing their ‘Supermodelquins’? campaign, is partnering with Shazam, a music recognition application for smartphones, to interact with television viewers. While Old Navy ads play, a notification appears in the corner of the screen prompting viewers to pull out their smartphones and ‘Shazam’? the song playing during the ad. When they do, they are directed to ‘secret goodies, song downloads, style tips and more.’? Utilizing methods such as these can provide brands with quantifiable results as to how many consumers actually took the time to interact with their ads – this will aid in gauging the effectiveness of their media spend.

In my opinion, television advertising needs to become less ‘traditional’? and more innovative if it wants to better compete in the new media market for many reasons. First, viewers are usually engaged in other activities while watching TV ‘ they are more than willing to multi-task. Second, with the saturation in the market of video game systems like Nintendo Wii, Xbox Kinect, and PlayStation Move, consumers are becoming more accepting of interacting with their television. Finally, if brands don’t start engaging viewers via television, they won’t appear as technologically savvy as their competitors. We as marketers work in a multi-screen, multi-tasking world and we need to constantly adapt. The possibilities for instantly engaging consumers via television are endless, and worth figuring out.

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