While television is still the first medium of choice for major advertisers, Perth agencies and their clients are looking at new alternatives to break through the growing advertising clutter and reach an increasingly fragmented audience.
While television is still the first medium of choice for major advertisers, Perth agencies and their clients are looking at new alternatives to break through the growing advertising clutter and reach an increasingly fragmented audience.
Gatecrasher Advertising media manager Kelly Dienaar said the percentage of total expenditure allocated to television was generally decreasing and press readership was also slowly falling.
“Audience fragmentation and growing advertising clutter have led to the need to seek more effective alternatives to accumulate reach,” she told WA Business News.
“Obviously, the capacity to operate effectively in more than one medium requires effective planning and the necessary budget, but mixed media campaigns take advantage of the fact that placement within a new medium is likely to be more effective than the excessive repeat placement in an existing medium.”
Ms Dienaar said one of these new advertising markets was online.
“Over the last year or so we have seen online advertising and digital marketing move well into the mainstream, and these channels are now generally an expected part of the media mix rather than an optional extra,” she said.
“Virtually all of Gatecrasher’s clients ask us to help them plan online activity and integrate elements with other promotional vehicles.
“Online advertising is enabling advertisers to close the gap in communication and create an opportunity for dialogue. Unlike traditional media, new technology is flexible, more consumer friendly and widely used. If new technology is distracting the target market then our clients need to be there.”
Greatly improved suburban and community newspapers are also getting the attention of the big agencies.
“The whole ‘think global, act local’ concept is reflected within the Perth market, with certain fast food, telecommunications and retail clients still using local advertising to cut through competitive activity, provide new touch points and in a way, sneak under the radar of competitors,” Ms Dienaar said.
“The improvement of the suburban print product has made it more appealing to the reader and therefore to the advertiser.
“However, I still struggle with the fact that the community newspapers are not protected during the wet weather and go straight from letterbox to rubbish bin when soaking wet.”
Ms Dienaar said she has found localised out of home advertising – bus shelters, transit media and shopping centre activity – very effective when coupled with local press.
She stressed that, although press readership was slowly decreasing overall, it was far from dead as a medium and still performed a critical role in most of Gatecrasher’s media schedules.
“Ultimately, our evaluation still has to be based on cost/reach analyses and campaign needs. We have not noticed significant movement from print to electronic media.”
Ms Dienaar said reports from the media owners suggest there was still an upward trend in advertising spending.
“Government spending was buoyant last year and we expect some correction as we move into 2006. However, the last few months have seen a substantial amount of new business out to pitch in the commercial sector, a sector which we expect to be very competitive over the next 18 months.”
