COLUMN /
Dirk van EUnen

Too many times I still come across campaigns that have an amazing impact on the TV screen, but are subsequently given only a tiny, inconspicuous place on the website or in the stores. It sometimes seems as if you’re looking at two completely different brands; that’s how far the touchpoints are separated from each other. An unforgivable sin! And then, when I continue my customer journey on Facebook or Instagram, there’s usually nothing more than a picture of the campaign. But isn’t this precisely where you should be inspiring fans and promoting interaction? Your loyal fans actually can’t wait to see every new campaign you have. A missed opportunity!

So where does it all go wrong? Why does one channel give it 100%, while the other channel simply lets it all slide? In many cases, the reason seems to be that the campaign’s idea is created based on one specific channel or on one determining touchpoint. This campaign is then translated to other channels with the best intentions, but it is not allowed to conflict with the standard communication, like existing social calendars, dedicated POS materials or webstore rules and associated email calendars. If things get a little bit tough or inconvenient, the campaign quickly gets side-tracked and loses value. impact on all fronts!

Is this then entirely the ‘other’ channels’ fault, because they don’t want to help build the campaign? Not at all! The campaign was conceived from one particular channel, so the content of the campaign is automatically tailored to that channel. Above all, most communication departments insist on having a clear and uniform campaign image and want to preserve this uniformity at all costs. A utopian idea! For a start, TV commercials are generally shot using a horizontal aspect ratio, whereas many in-store screens are positioned vertically. So you see, this content has just become useless for in-store advertising. And for social content too, you’re looking for additional image material that really engages the fans; they’ve already seen that commercial plenty of times. One way is to go behind the scenes. It’s time to let go of the myopic idea that you should work from a single campaign image. Make the bold choice and let the campaign speak in a language that all channels, with a little creativity, can work with.

By giving channels and resources first priority and creating a campaign language around them, you’re also forging an opportunity to become more relevant in every channel. Which story should you tell and through which channel? You see, while Instagram (and especially mobile) is a great channel for inspiration, you’re looking for interaction on Facebook (mobile and tablet). On your homepage, it’s mostly about inspiration, whereas your list page should lean much more towards interaction, and the product page has to lead to a quick transaction. In the end, it’s all about making sure your campaign language is agile enough to do all of this!

So let’s make a deal and from now on try to make the next campaign image 360-degree savvy. I’m sure every specialist will then use this fairly and squarely for maximum

 

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