In today's fast-paced advertising landscape, the pursuit of growth and effectiveness has taken center stage. Stewart Gurney, Director of Strategy and Effectiveness at Nine, recently delivered a thought-provoking keynote at the Future of TV Advertising conference, challenging the industry to rethink its obsession with ROI and efficiency. Gurney's message is clear: it's time to prioritize growth and unlock the true potential of advertising.
The ROI Trap
Gurney begins by exposing the allure of ROI as a "shortcut for success." While it's an important metric, the sole focus on ROI can lead to a myopic view, prioritizing cost-cutting over profit maximization. This trap, as Gurney puts it, results in an estimated $4 billion in missed opportunities for brands. It's a stark reminder that efficiency alone is not the key to success.
The Growth Project: A Commitment to Proof
Nine's Growth Project is an ambitious initiative aimed at proving the impact of Total TV on driving bottom-line results. Gurney believes that by shifting the mindset from ROI to effectiveness, brands can reclaim lost profits and achieve sustainable growth. This project serves as a testament to Nine's commitment to helping advertisers unlock their full potential.
Growth Pillars: A New Mindset
Sales Growth: The Power of Scale and Saturation
Gurney's session delves into the inverse relationship between ROI and profit growth. The key insight here is that while ROI improves with reduced spending, it often leads to underinvestment in channels that truly drive results. Total TV, for instance, is a revenue powerhouse, contributing significantly more than platforms like YouTube. Gurney's analogy of media channels as movers, with Total TV as the "gym bro" capable of lifting heavy furniture, is a creative way to illustrate the importance of scale and saturation.
The Australian market, with its high saturation point for TV, offers a unique opportunity for brands to invest aggressively without diminishing returns. Yet, a staggering 83% of advertisers remain underinvested in this medium, missing out on a powerful growth driver.
Brand Growth: Content, Context, and Co-Viewing
TV's superiority in brand building lies in two key dynamics: content association and viewing context. Gurney highlights the often-overlooked impact of cross-screen planning, where the content and context of viewing can significantly influence ad recall and trust. Viewing on a TV screen, for instance, produces a 60% higher ad recall compared to mobile or tablet devices, largely due to the relaxed and receptive state of viewers.
Co-viewing, a unique feature of TV, creates social resonance and memory structures, making audiences more likely to mimic ads when watched together. In an era of fake news, professionally produced content on TV generates higher trust and recall, a powerful advantage for brands.
Short-Term Growth: Priming the Performance Pump
While TV is often associated with long-term brand building, Gurney emphasizes its critical role in driving immediate performance. TV investment leads to a 14% improvement in search and social conversations, and with AI tools disrupting traditional search, getting consumers to go direct-to-site is vital. TV-initiated searches are largely direct or organic, allowing brands to bypass expensive generic search terms.
Data from Adgile confirms TV's immediate impact, with 1 in 3 media-attributable actions driven by TV. This highlights TV's ability to supercharge digital efforts and drive short-term growth.
A Call to Action
Stewart Gurney's message is a wake-up call for advertisers. It's time to challenge existing biases and think differently. If growth is a priority, effectiveness must be at the heart of advertising strategies. And when effectiveness is the focus, TV becomes an indispensable tool. The Growth Project is a testament to Nine's commitment to helping advertisers unlock their full potential and achieve sustainable growth.
As Gurney puts it, "If growth matters to your business, effectiveness matters. And if effectiveness matters, then TV matters." It's a powerful reminder that in the pursuit of growth, sometimes it's necessary to take a step back and rethink our strategies.
