FreshNetworks Blog

Honda believes that ‘Difficult is Worth Doing’. And with a bit of cajoling from Channel Four, they also seem to believe that innovation is worth a try.

Last week in the UK saw a live advert in prime time on a national broadcaster. Not only was the advert live, it was also quite adventurous, and rather good. At 8.10pm during a commercial break on Channel Four, a team of skydivers jumped out of a plane over Spain and spelt out the word HONDA for all of us to watch. A good concept, well realised. But for me what’s interesting is what this says about advertising and broadcasting more broadly.

Times could be challenging for traditional TV advertising in the future. Two trends are meaning that the existing models may no longer apply:

1. A shift to multi-channel and on-demand TV means that people have much more choice. It was only a few years ago that most people in the UK had, at most, five channels to choose from. By 2012 all of the UK should be on digital television with tens, if not hundreds, of options to choose from. In this environment, attracting advertising spend will be more challenging - more channels competing for the same viewers and the same advertising spend. Add to this the rise in use of hard disk recorders and on-demand TV which can let you fast-forward through commercial breaks. You need to find a way to make people want to watch your adverts. You need to be more innovative.
2. Marketing is shifting from a traditional interventionist approach - above the line advertising which is on the brand or advertiser’s terms - to an approach where marketing is more integrated into consumer’s lives, where it’s more of a conversation. You need to find new ways to engage people.

Honda’s live ad last week will be just the first of a series of different innovations in TV advertising in the near future as people experiment with new formats, and new ways of engaging the audience and making them watch.

And if you weren’t one of the 2.2 million people who saw the live Honda ad last week, here it is (look out for the special message from the cameraman).

There’s a great article over at MyCustomer.com about how social networks and online communities can add value to the customer experience (see article here), building on a recent report by the 451 Group.

The article is a great read and explores how firms are meeting their current and future social software needs. Indeed, the research is a validation of how young the market for such software is - of the 2,081 firms interviewed for the research, only 24% are currently using social software of any kind. Of those who are using this software, there is a spread of use between larger vendors, newer organisations and open source.

What’s interesting is to look at the intended use of those who are planning to implement social software, 23% plan to use open source software. Just slightly more than the 22% who plan to build something themselves. It is only after these two categories that the larger vendors appear - the Microsofts and Googles of the social software world. In fact some of the best enterprise-level solutions aren’t from the big providers, but from open source or from organisations who combine the software with other services, such as community management, insight, customer relations or marketing.

People are using social software for a variety of business needs, and many companies are looking to firms who can help them with both the business need and the software.

The full article is well worth a read (see here).