Marketers will spend some $236 billion in the U.S. on print, radio, online and broadcast advertising this year, fueling consumers’ sensory overload when it comes to marketing messages.
“People are just tired,” Scott Kellner, CEO Tambourine, Inc. told attendees yesterday during a session on entertainment content. “Consumers are starting to tune out the messages you are sending.”
Whether it’s through TV spots, direct mail, packaging or out-of-home advertising, marketers need to find new ways to break through the clutter and are turning more often to entertainment ties to do it. Marketers are hitching their brands to entertainment options, including music downloads, video games and user-generated content to keep their brands relevant and top of mind, Kellner said.
Entertainment content should capture consumers’ attention in a manner that would set the tone for a meaningful relationship between the brand and consumers. Examples include online video, online audio, event marketing, P-O-P, direct mail and mobile marketing.
For example, Bloom stores use scanners to co-market other products when consumers check product prices. Coca-Cola has created an online tool where teens can blend and mix hip-hop, house and break music and e-mail their creations to friends. Olay added a spa CD to its packaging of its daily facials product to stand out on store shelves and move merchandise targeting women 35 to 54.
“Engagement is key,” Kellner said. “Engagement is a state of mind…it’s how you get people to stop.”
Kellner gave attendees tips on how to engage consumers through entertainment:
- Identify touch points and make them as interactive as possible.
- Increase traditional marketing tools (think direct mail, event marketing, print ads and newspaper circulars).
- Engage consumers at the “physical realm” (at point of sale, events and performances).
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