Trends in special forms of advertising

"If I had to settle on just one single trend in retrospect for 2013, it would definitely be special ads," says Jacqueline Sasse, Sales Director TV at Goldbach Media (Switzerland). The demand for individualized pre- or post-splits, ad-break moves, channel logomorphing and similar effects has never been so high. Goldbach's revenue increases "everywhere in the double digits." All these special forms of advertising show: Advertising and actual TV programming are increasingly merging.

Special advertising formats have already made "an insane leap" from 2011 to 2012, but have now increased massively again in 2013. "Today, with the special advertising format, you can stand out as an advertiser and secure your spot in the desired position," says Sasse, explaining the development. Specifically: a customer can stand out more than others because he can be seen first in the commercial break with a pre-split. A single spot makes the customer even more conspicuous. With such a spot, the advertiser enjoys a unique position with his appearance. With a logo morphing, the brand's icon can be completely merged with the program. "All these are measures for customers who are looking for solutions with which they want to stand out from the competition," also explains Lorenzo Leutenegger. As Sales Director TV at Goldbach Media, he is responsible for "the very many special interest channels" outside the RTL or ProSiebenSat1 groups.

Since SRG stations are only allowed a certain number of interruptions, and these are only allowed after 90 minutes in prime time, the possibilities - desired by law - are correspondingly more limited. "We can offer many more creative ways to enhance advertising with our private stations," Leutenegger says, also referring to the structures of stations from Germany. These often have fixed interruptions already built into their formats, which allows Goldbach Media to also play more individually and thus more exclusively with the more frequent commercial breaks that result. "Because Publisuisse has fewer breaks available due to its structure, they also want to use them as much as possible in their entire length and not need them for creative gimmicks such as the singles spots. In terms of inventory, we have a very big advantage with our windows," Leutenegger is convinced.

With all these special forms of advertising, there are basically three different categories. Firstly, there is sponsorship, the very individual possibilities of which will not be discussed further here. A second type is "exclusive positions. With these, an existing spot does not have to be changed. It runs as it is delivered by the customer. However, it is given a special placement. For example, as a single spot that is exclusively placed embedded between two broadcasts. "With a single spot, almost no viewers are lost, because hardly anyone zaps away when only a single spot is running," says Remo Hämmig, Project Manager for Special Ads at Goldbach Media. Such an exclusive placement in an individual setting can also be achieved if the spot is embedded in the broadcasting logo. As particularly exclusive at 3+, highlighting a single spot is even considered a "tip" by the station.

For Christian Zweifel, Sales Director TV for the ProSiebenSat1 Group, the pre-split and the single spot are "the easiest advertising forms to implement, with which you can achieve a special position in the advertising block without having to change a spot". Pre-splits were one of Goldbach Media's "best sellers" in 2013. A clever addition with this offer: A countdown runs along at the bottom of the picture. This tells the viewer that the spot has only 12 seconds left and that it is no longer worth zapping away. News may not be sponsored. In this case, RTL has therefore come up with a special form of advertising with a pre-split that is specially embedded in the station's news design, for example in the program "RTL aktuell. For this exclusive stand-alone position, all that is needed is to deliver an existing spot, and Goldbach will then adapt it accordingly, as Joël Knapp, Junior Partner Relation Manager for RTL, explains.

Special creations can be summarized in a third group of special advertising formats. Here, an existing spot is subsequently edited by the broadcaster so that it can be integrated as creatively as possible into a commercial break. The individual options are correspondingly versatile - for an opener, for example. It gets a bit more complicated with the "freestyle", i.e. a Move or Move Split, where the spot has to be adapted to the program. With all these creative possibilities, it is important to note that the wording is also constantly becoming more creative. Depending on the station, the offers can therefore also be called openers or trailersplit, for example. The latter would then be embedded in the editorial framework, i.e. in the station design after the station's promotional trailer and thus before the subsequent program section. A diary split is broadcast directly after the program without an advertising separator "in an absolutely unique position" before the commercial break. Here, too, the customer's existing spot must therefore still be individually adapted and thus edited by the broadcaster.

But the effort involved in such editing is said to be worthwhile. "We have between 30 and 40 percent more viewer performance with exclusive placements, because people don't even get to zap away," says Jacqueline Sasse. Special advertising formats thus help build reach in TV campaigns. "Net reach can be built up more favorably with them."
Andreas Panzeri