Launching a TV campaign: 9 mistakes to avoid

Did you know that more than 43 million people watch television every day? So it seems obvious that advertising on TV can be a good marketing strategy. But before embarking on a TV campaign, there are a few things you need to know: what to do to create and broadcast the ad and, above all, what mistakes to avoid in order to succeed in your TV communication. In this article, we reveal 9 mistakes to avoid before launching a TV campaign.

Here are some figures concerning the behaviour of the French:

• More trust in companies: 73% of TV campaigns increase trust in the brand
• More web traffic: 55% increase in web traffic during a TV ad

Summary of the 9 mistakes to avoid when launching a TV campaign:

1. Reminder of the advantages of a TV campaign
2. 1st mistake to avoid: Not knowing the objective of your TV campaign
3. 2nd mistake to avoid: Not knowing the target of your TV ad
4. 3rd mistake to avoid: Not choosing the right channels and broadcasting times for your TV campaign
5. 4th mistake to avoid : Underestimating the cost and production time of a TV spot
6. 5th mistake to avoid : Choosing the wrong broadcast format for your TV ad
7. 6th mistake to avoid : Confusing the power of the TV spot with the number of spots broadcast
8. 7th mistake to avoid : Not taking advantage of TV advertising opportunities
9. 8th mistake to avoid: We advise you to communicate in the slow periods of TV
10. 9th and last mistake to avoid: Running a TV campaign without an optimised website

We remind you of the many advantages of a TV campaign:

• TV advertising generates higher visibility
• TV allows you to reach a very large audience
• It is a medium that greatly improves a company's reputation
• TV increases website traffic
• TV can complement an advertising campaign on social networks for example or in a 360° communication
• The messages broadcast are effective from the first contact

As you can see, TV can have its place in a communication campaign, but be careful to avoid a few pitfalls!

Defining your objectives is an essential step in creating your TV campaign. Indeed, it is necessary to answer this question precisely: do you want to acquire more customers or increase awareness of your brand?

Therefore:

• If you sell a product: this is a sales objective
• If you are a start-up company: this may be a brand awareness objective

You need to have a very clear idea of the image and the message you are going to convey to the viewers.

Here is an example of a TV commercial to help you build your own:

In this TV spot, the brand lesfurets.com aims to generate more traffic to its website and increase its number of online conversions. We notice that the slogan and the brand name are repeated several times for a better memorization. Then an overview of the site and the figures are used to put some context around the product to reassure and make the viewer want to visit the lesfurets.com site.

Details of the advertisement:

• Length: 23 seconds
• Format: classic TV ad
• Broadcasting time: January 2022

All the steps to launch a TV campaign are important, but this one is even more important! Indeed, the target must be chosen precisely so that the advertising campaign generates more consistent results.

First of all, the essential questions to ask yourself:

• Which consumers do you want to reach?
• Do you want to reach the general public, i.e. a wider audience?
• Or a pre-determined audience (women 25-49, children under 15, etc.)?
• Do you want to reach a localised audience?

Today, television advertising agencies analyse the actions of viewers to refine their targets. It is thanks to this data that advertisers can know which target is the most interesting for their advertising.

So, to choose your target well, you must know it intimately. A well-known method for identifying your target: the buyer persona. First of all, you can define these 3 points: gender, age and socio-professional category. The design of your buyer persona will require you to know the family situation of your target, as well as their needs, geographical data, interests, etc. This technique allows you to build your advertising spot as close as possible to the needs of consumers.

In short, your TV spot should be as relevant as possible to your target group!

>>> We let you know the targets of the TV channels.

This is probably the most important mistake, why? Because the choice of channel and the time of broadcast of your commercial must reach a precise target to obtain more results. That's why it's important to identify your target audience so that you can identify the channels, programmes and times of day that are best suited to your audience.

Most television channels have a specific theme. 

If you choose a well-known national channel, your ad will be exposed to a wider audience. If you choose a regional channel, you will reach a localized audience.

Let's take some examples with the regional channels of BFMTV:

• BFM Paris: the channel is only broadcast in the Paris region
• BFM Lyon: the channel is broadcast exclusively in the Lyon region
• BFM Nice Côte d'Azur : the channel is only broadcast in the PACA region

TV commercials have a price. Indeed, the overall price does not include the cost of creating the advertising video, editing the video, the material needed for creation and editing, the time needed by the editing team, etc.

Here are some price ranges for the production costs of a TV spot:

• Sponsored TV spots: between €3,000 and €5,000 for a motion design video
• Classic TV commercials: between €20,000 and €100,000 for example for a 30 second spot that requires filming with actors

>>> Discover all our negotiated TV rates.

Two advertising formats exist in TV: classic TV advertising and TV sponsorship advertising.

We give you some indications to know how to differentiate the two advertising formats:

• Classic TV advertising: the length of the TV spot is longer than sponsorship (between 10 and 30 seconds on average). It is an ideal format for conveying a message, promoting an offer or generating traffic to a website
• Sponsored TV advertising: the length of the spot is shorter than the classic format (between 6 and 12 seconds). TV sponsorship allows the advertiser's name to be highlighted, which leads to rapid and effective recall

>>> Find out what the differences are between sponsorship and traditional TV advertising.

It is not uncommon for advertisers to confuse the number of spots broadcast with their advertising power. But in reality, a TV campaign can have 100 spots in a programme on a DTT channel but with a lower GRP* than a programme with 20 TV spots that better cover your audience on a historical channel for example.

*GRP is a power indicator for TV ads. In short, a programme is powerful if the number of GRPs is high.

The example of a TV commercial in sponsorship is used:

Two possible choices:

• Choice A: Weather sponsorship

Target: 25-49 year olds
Presence on 1 TV channel (250 8-second spots)
Broadcast during weekends for 4 weeks
Cost: €30,000
Performance: GRP 25-49 years old with a GRP cost of €1,071

• Choice B: Film and entertainment package

Presence on 2 TV channels (131 8-second spots)
Broadcast on 5 dates over 2 weeks
Cost: €30,000
Performance: GRP 25-49 years old with a GRP cost of €800

Of these two examples, choice B is the most interesting in terms of power: the number of GRPs and CGRPs is more interesting. However, we notice that there are fewer presences and a lower number of broadcasts (5 days of broadcasts over 2 weeks) compared to choice A.

The aim is to get the lowest possible GRP cost: this is what shows you whether it is a 'good deal'.

Yes, it is possible to get good rates on TV, there are two good plans.

The first is the opportunities or last minute offers. These offers only concern sponsored advertising and are fixed for specific periods. How can you find out about these offers? Once again, there are two solutions: you can consult our Last Minute Offers section or contact the advertising agency directly.

The second good deal concerns classic advertising inserts. If you know in advance when you want to advertise, you can benefit from early bird rates. If you book your advertising space when the schedules open, you are likely to get very attractive rates. There is a global calendar which groups together the dates of the opening of the schedule. This is set by the SNPTV (Syndicat National de la Publicité Télévisée) and approved by its member agencies.

Here is the schedule of the SNPTV (Syndicat National de la Publicité Télévisée) which includes several advertising agencies:

You might think that communicating during the slow periods of the year is a bad idea... but on the contrary! Let's take the example of the summer holidays (July-August), one of the biggest slack periods of the year because consumers go on holiday and are not necessarily available to buy certain products. Communicating during this period allows you to stand out from your competitors because few brands broadcast their TV campaign during the summer holidays.

For a company that sells ice cream, summer is a very appropriate time to sell its products. The same applies to swimwear, which is obviously essential in summer.

In addition, during off-peak periods, TV rates are more advantageous for broadcasting your TV ads.

>>> Know the important dates with the 2022 marketing calendar.

Viewers will go to your website after seeing your commercial.

That's why it's important to prepare your website before launching your TV campaign.

To do this, there are a few key points to optimise:

• The customer journey: what will automatically increase your online sales
• Graphics: to keep visitors on your website longer
• Adding call to actions: which allows more impressions/conversions by users
• Page loading time: the shorter the loading time, the more visitors will stay on your website (and we love that!)

>>> Find out why it is important to prepare your website before running your advertising campaign.