B&T have this interesting report:
TV networks ban LG’s ad skipping campaign
Maria NguyenThe free-to-air and pay-TV networks have banned a 30-second spot by LG Electronics, scheduled to air this Sunday, that promotes the ad-skipping technology of its new television sets.
Earlier this month, LG launched Australia’s first LCD and plasma TVs with built-in DVRs, allowing viewers to pause, rewind and replay live TV.
It also allows them to skip commercials in 30-second intervals.
The ad, created by BWM as part of LG’s $1m launch campaign for the new LCD and plasma TVs, shows a man throwing a tuna fish and DVR player into the TV set to highlight the product’s built-in digital tuner and DVR.
However, it’s the line, “And when you replay, you can skip the ads”, that has had the networks grumbling.
LG’s media agency, Ikon, booked the ad for a four-week run on Seven, Nine, SBS and the major pay-TV networks through MCn.
Earlier this week, MCn told LG it objected to the ad-skipping line and pulled the TVC from its schedule.
LG was also informed today by the Seven and Nine networks that they would not be running the ad that had been booked for prime-time spots starting this Sunday.
“We received material instructions from the company’ agency last night and declined to accept the booking for this specific commercial,” was all the Seven Network would tell B&T.
MCn and Nine were not available for comment at time of publishing this story and SBS said it had yet to view the ad so was not able to make an official statement.
MCn’s initial rejection of the spot earlier this week prompted LG and BWM to amend the TVC last night.
The “offending” line has now been replaced with: “And when you replay, you can skip straight back to the action”, referring to a “Live TV” button on the remote control that skips back to live TV.
BWM worked overnight to finalise the new spot, which was delivered to the networks this morning, and LG expects the new ad will run as scheduled this Sunday.
However, the networks were not able to confirm whether the amended spot would run at the time of publishing.
Darren Goble, LG’s marketing manager for audio visual, told B&T he was surprised and disappointed by the networks’ stance.
“I’m surprised they have a problem with that line. Maybe it’s a little too upfront. The ad-skipping feature is an important benefit of the product so we’re disappointed we’re not able to communicate that in the ad’s [original] format,” Goble said, adding he was left with not much choice but to amend the spot, given the importance of TV in LG’s media strategy.
“We’re not taking on the concept of advertising—we’re one of the biggest consumer electronic advertisers in the market and will continue to be so and TV advertising is really important for us. It’s still a relevant means of getting our messages out into the market.”
Commenting on the urgent amendments, Goble added: “It is an inconvenience for us. The objective when creating the concept of the ad was to try and clearly communicate the benefits of the product and we thought did we had done that in a slightly humorous and fun way that was easy for people to understand.
“We were happy with the ad, so now we’ve had to adjust the message in a way that doesn’t discard the ad-skipping benefit totally and I’m very pleased with what BWM has done and their fast turn around in developing an alternative”.
While he expects the amended ad to run on Sunday, Goble said he’d “had had no assurances but no feedback to the contrary”.
LG’s $1m launch campaign is also being supported by magazine, outdoor and online ads, however, TV represents more than 50% of the total spend.
Goble said the supporting ads did not focus on the ad-skipping technology.
Asked whether he would now look at emphasising ad-skipping on these ads to compensate for the TV ban, Goble said he would reassess the financial implications of changing the messages on the print, outdoor and online work and whether it would ad value to the overall campaign.
Goble also told B&T LG would extend the campaign and invest “multiple millions of dollars” in the next couple of months with another media buy.
LG spends more than $10m a year on advertising, the majority on television.
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