Power for moving images

The genre initiative "Wirkstoff TV" of the German TV marketers for television and moving images organizes the TVWirkungstag every year with top-class speakers such as Byron Sharp and Ulrich Tilgner. This year, the Impact Day is also being held in Switzerland for the first time. The event is supported by Goldbach Media (Switzerland) and Werbewoche as media partner. Werbewoche spoke to Martin Krapf, Managing Director of Wirkstoff TV in Germany, and Guido Trevisan, Marketing Director Goldbach Media, about the aims of the initiative.

WW: How did the active ingredient TV genre initiative come about in Germany?
Krapf: Wirkstoff TV was launched five years ago. Our motivation for founding the company was simple: in Germany, we did not have 100% satisfactory conditions for the capitalization of television and moving images. Many topics that we considered important and convincing were not getting through to the individual marketers as we would have liked. We came to the conclusion that there were some relevant basic topics that we needed to address credibly - and the best way to do this was for all TV marketers to work together. That's how the lecture series came about, and it's working so well that we're now also coming to Switzerland and Austria with the TV Impact Day.

Why is Wirkstoff TV coming to Switzerland?
Trevisan: We have been a guest at the German Wirkungstag for years and found that the successful format fits perfectly into our concept. Switzerland still lacks an industry organization that covers trend and marketing topics. The relevance of TV as a medium is still not sufficiently present in the Swiss market.

How often will the impact day take place, Mr. Trevisan?
Trevisan: This year, we'll see how the event works for us. However, we are already planning to hold the Impact Day annually in future. Wirkstoff TV also has other platforms, such as an expert forum that is held twice a year in Germany. We could imagine something similar for Switzerland. There are also various research series in Germany. We are already focusing on the topic of research in Switzerland this year, starting with the Impact Day on April 17.

Mr. Trevisan, Goldbach is only briefly mentioned as a "partner" in the media release for the first event. Why are you staying in the background like this?
Trevisan: In Germany, we are just one of 13 cooperation partners of Wirkstoff TV. In Switzerland, we have a coordinating role, someone has to push the event. However, it is very important to us that the focus is on the cause. It's about TV, about the advantages that TV has - not about Goldbach. Krapf: We've also had this experience in Germany: the initiative works extremely well because competitors work together on one thing.

Are you both more interested in highlighting trends - or do you want to present marketing opportunities on TV?
Trevisan: Both. Switzerland does not yet have an event like the Wirkungstag and there is a lack of external knowledge. We are now able to link up well with the concept from Germany and thus also gain access to speakers who would not travel to Europe for Switzerland alone. This enables us to bring relevant expert knowledge to Switzerland, which ultimately benefits everyone who has anything to do with the media.
Krapf: ... and Switzerland's commitment helps us enormously. We get a lot of input back. And the more know-how comes together, the more different approaches pursue the same goal, the better the quality of our work becomes. Things that we take for granted in Germany are questioned by someone in Switzerland and vice versa. This leads to better discussions, better studies and better results.

The program of the Swiss "Wirkungstag" is almost the same as in Germany. Are there no differences between TV in Switzerland and TV in Germany?
Krapf: In Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the conditions and basic themes are very similar: television and moving images are undercapitalized and, compared to other media, there is still a lot of potential that can be tapped into. The basic mode of action of moving images is not only the same in German-speaking countries, but worldwide. There are also inspiring TV initiatives in England, Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands and France - similar issues are being addressed in all countries. The advantage we have in the DACH region is that we have similar traditions in television and moving images and a comparable language area.

If such initiatives already exist in many countries, Mr. Trevisan, is Switzerland late with its commitment to moving images?
Trevisan: So far, we have also seen efforts by individual marketers to address the issues raised, such as the Swiss TV day Screen up. But the individual measures of individual marketers simply have less power than a joint measure on the topic. By Swiss standards, 100 people is a lot - we want to start with 300 people. Of course, this is still small compared to the German Impact Day, which attracts around 1600 people. However, I am convinced that it makes sense to support an issue that affects everyone together. I am proud that we have been able to get all the major marketers to participate in the initiative.

Thanks to digitalization, viewers can now watch what they want, when they want and where they want. What does this mean for television producers?
Krapf: That's terrific. For one simple reason: in the past, when there was only linear television, television was primarily a mass medium. Today, TV and moving images can do much more thanks to digitalization: target groups can be addressed specifically, new local and regional targeting is possible, you can interact with target groups and complete campaigns with moving images. These many new possibilities open up great potential for the use of moving images.

What does this mean for advertising clients?
Krapf: Moving images are now becoming particularly interesting for them. Take a campaign with viral elements: In Germany, for example, the testimonial of an Edeka campaign became a celebrity because the commercial generated many reactions in the social networks and was hotly discussed and shared. A huge success for Edeka. That would have been unthinkable in the past. Or you can create campaigns for car manufacturers, at the end of which a test drive can be arranged. We have thousands of opportunities that we didn't have before. For local or regional advertising, you used to place an ad in the newspaper or a spot on the radio. You can still do that today, but you don't have to. With moving images, campaigns can be targeted regionally or delivered via ad servers, the target group can be precisely defined, etc.

High reach, high impact - but that can quickly backfire. And then properly.
Krapf: Of course you are right: if you want to reach a lot of people, you have to implement an idea correctly; if you make a mistake, the negative consequences are hardly foreseeable. But first and foremost, new opportunities arise. You just have to think carefully about how to proceed. We certainly still have a lot to learn in this respect in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, but also internationally. Very often, we still base our campaigns on television commercials and then simply make them a little shorter for online. But that can't be the solution, we have to think much further ahead. We need to tap into this development potential together.

How will the medium of TV develop over the next few years, will images become ever more powerful?
Krapf: I think so. Communication will become increasingly audiovisual in many respects. In Germany, audiovisual media are used on average eleven hours a day, and it will be similar in Switzerland. You can only manage that if you use several media at the same time - which shows how important audiovisual media already are. And the forecasts for audiovisual communication of content and advertising are very positive. The power of images is therefore growing. But this also increases the need to understand things better.
Trevisan: In the past, we had one transmitter and many receivers. Now we are no longer talking about TV, but about moving images. And in this medium, we communicate from many to many. That's a challenge, but it's also nice to see what content is being produced on different advertising media.

Interview: Anne-Friederike Heinrich