An unconfirmed report by The Wall Street Journal says that Procter & Gamble is sharply cutting its advance purchases of television commercials. My reaction was "So some advertising folks are finally getting it!" In fact what surprises me is that there are still so many ad executives who continue to spend their dollars on television advertising - what is clearly a very low ROI channel.
The report says that P&G will reduce its spend with cable channels by about 25 percent. So where is the money going? Product placement is clearly happening. I had talked about this in the past in the context of what you need to do when traditonal advertising is not effective. The approach that I like is what you see on a program like the Queer Eye for the Straight Girl. I had used the example of Crest Whitestrips placement by P&G.
If P&G were to do what the Journal is reporting, it is nothing surprising to us here at iProceed. However, since it has become public knowledge now, other advertisers will follow considering that the company is the No. 1 U.S. advertiser, spending roughly $2.5 billion on TV.
What does it mean for you?
- Think of your advertising effectiveness all the time by measuring ROI.
- Take action when your advertising ROI is lower than your target. It is better not to advertise than to advertise with a low ROI. (Related article: How to change advertising strategy?)
- Explore other channels to advertise. Be creative. See if online advertising will work for you. Check out affiliate marketing or whatever other channels are appropriate for your business.
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Keywords: Television advertising