Future of the TV ad – will it impact the PR World?

5 January 2011
by Charlotte Stoel
Tags: Advertising, Cadbury Gorilla ad, PR, Social Media, TV advertising, YouTube

I was reading the story about advertisers beating the fast-forward button on TV that got me thinking about the future of TV advertising. With more and more of us taking control of what we watch (we pre-record, we go online, we download episodes and films on iPlayer), are we also increasingly reluctant to be ‘forced’ to watch adverts? Advertisers seem to think so, and have taken the reins to ensure their adverts are seen… but will it last? And could this mean more emphasis is placed on other communications channels, such as social media?  

Consumer habits – and the types of information they are happy to digest – are constantly changing. Brands should be – if they aren’t already – looking at alternative approaches for mass dissemination of their messages. You may remember back in 2007 the Cadbury Gorilla ad which went viral on YouTube and to-date, has near to five million hits. This was a great success story for brand that saw an increase is sales as well as positive brand perception.   

In the constantly-moving B2C world, PRs also need to be ready to evolve with changing times. In our industry, force-feed tactics have never worked; so will 2011 see a smorgasbord or fine dining approach to serving up great content? Watch this space.