Closing The Loop On Today’s Multi Media Campaigns

It’s a buzz word older than Marshall McLuhan. Multi-media has had many lives in this business. But it has never lost its importance. Running campaigns across different media has been proven to be a huge boost since the days of Mad Men. I still don’t know why smart brands have failed to close the loop on them.

First, let me qualify. At Yahoo in 2001 -- as the chief architect of the wildly successful Pepsistuff.com promotion -- I loved seeing, up close and first hand, how a multi media ad campaign could bring life to CRM initiatives for top brands like Pepsi and Mountain Dew. In the name of customer relationship marketing, the team at PCNA used every ad opportunity – TV, digital, radio, print, outdoor, in-store, even the labels of its bottles -- to push traffic to a single online destination: pepsistuff.yahoo.com. There, consumers were enrolled in a point-based loyalty program and marketed to with kit gloves. Pepsistuff.com was a game-changing event during a somewhat-turbulent time in the history of the digital market.

Why am I thinking about this stuff now? Am I just getting old and feeling nostalgic? Nah! I’m thinking about it now because, today, multi media is still the goal. Not only are we seeing new and exciting ways to activate digital, broadcast, radio and print campaigns, but most of the creative we are seeing today, cross platform, is deeply integrated. TV ads are promoting YouTube partner channels, radio ads are pushing people to Facebook pages and print ads often spotlight websites, Twitter and Facebook pages and QR codes. Many researchers are also bringing more elaborate tools to the party to measure the efficiency and effectiveness of these multi media campaigns.

With multi media campaigns being activated at a feverish pace, with creative executions being integrated like never before and with research studies proving the efficacy of these programs what is left for marketers to do? Marketers need to cross promote every single ad, they need to drive consumers to a single online destination and they need to close the loop. Many marketers are already using their TV, radio and print ads to push consumers to their website or Facebook page but many are not. I am looking at a Rolex ad, under the banner Live For Greatness that features singer Diana Krall. The ads copy actually begins with the line “Her stories come from within.” Surprisingly, there is no link to “her stories.” How easy would it have been for Rolex to drive potential consumers to the Diana Krall Partner Channel on YouTube, or to the Diana Krall fan page on Facebook, or to cross promote with an event on Pandora. Opportunity lost.

Here are some examples of great multimedia campaigns that cross promote and drive consumers online where CRM programs can be launched or expanded upon. The new Best Western TV ad campaign where the creative is built around the screen of a tablet. The consumer is taken through the value of the online destination by following the point of a finger. The ad fades-to-black with the words “our lowest rates are always at BestWestern.com.” The newest Chase Ink ad is another good example where the TV creative prominently features a smart phone app in action. The TV commercial fades-to-black with the words “learn more at Chase.com/Ink.” Honda is doing a nice job pushing consumers to the web with their new Honda CRV “leaplist” campaign. Prominently featured is the all-important call to action: “Make your leaplist at leaplist.honda.com.”