Brands must connect on- and offline advertising

 A Key feature of communication planning is how consumers can control their on- and offline media experiences. They expect brands to understand when, where and how they want to be engaged with and be ready to respond to these demands.

Digital media innovation has given consumers greater choice and fuelled market complexity, and has rapidly expanded the scope for advertisers to harness insight and creativity to respond.

As C John Brady states in his article about the future of media landscape (Market Leader Q1, 2011): ‘Consumers don’t think that way; they see it as a joined-up journey.’

Microsoft has approximately one billion global customers consuming a variety of media content across different devices at varying times of day. From mobiles to PCs, gaming consoles and TVs, at home or work, the opportunity for advertisers to reach audiences has changed and consumers want their experiences integrated and connected.

To ensure that advertising remains relevant we have to learn how technology is changing behaviour. Key to this is insight. Digital media enable a more sophisticated approach to how we gather and utilise insight, ranging from integrating online and offline data, planning new targeting strategies and measuring the effectiveness of campaigns.

We conducted a research study* to explore the behaviour and attitudes of multi-screen consumers – people aged 18 to 64 who actively use TVs, PCs, smartphones, and game consoles to consume media.

Summary findings show that multi-screen consumers crave a connected experience across devices and believe that it provides numerous benefits, including making the content more useful (69%) and their media experience more relevant and informative (69%). Younger multi-screen consumers are most likely to value consistency across screens, believing that it greatly improves their media experience; 75% of 18- to 24-year-olds believe having the ability to access content across multiple screens makes content much more useful.

The ability to gain insight across different devices to develop and track campaigns that span media platforms means we have the greatest opportunity for creative exploration that advertising has ever experienced. Brands that are making this journey are realising the rewards with improved return on investment and greater brand loyalty.

* Study conducted by Microsoft Advertising, in partnership with Wunderman (a WPP company). The study surveyed 1,200 of these consumers across the US in the spring of 2010.

 Ashley Highfield is UK managing director at Microsoft Consumer and Online. msadvertising@3-monkeys. co.uk