New business agency blog

A few days ago I read that Ofcom are changing the rules regarding how many minutes of advertising can be broadcast per hour during films screened on TV. This will be increasing from the current 7 minutes to 12 minutes. Another way of looking at it is that up to 20% of what you are watching will be an ad.

This story caught my attention for a number of reasons:

Firstly, I had no idea that there was a seven minute cap until now. Disgraceful I know, considering I work in a new business agency and should therefore be an expert in all legislation across all marketing disciplines. I’ll be having a long hard think tonight about how I’ve let my colleagues down with my ignorance.

If this 7 minute cap does currently exist it seems to me to be like “London Underground minutes” – you know, where you look at the first train board on the Northern Line platform at Bank station and it says 1 minute but really you know it could be nearer 5.

Secondly I didn’t realise that films were treated differently to other types of programmes until I read that article. Personally it doesn’t make me any happier to have a show like The Wire interrupted more often or for longer than “Bridget Jones – The Edge of Reason” (which is no doubt being repeated tonight for the eighth time this month on ITV2) just because one is a film and one isn’t.

I do know, however, that most channels I watch already synchronise their ad-breaks with each other so that if anyone dares to channel surf during a break they will be subjected to a commercial from someone or other, whether they like it or not. I also know that commercials tend to be broadcast at a higher volume than the programmes – a bit like shouting for our attention just in case it lapses when the break starts.

 So the other reason this story had me interested is from the point of view of cost, competition and coverage.

Does the increase mean that brands will put their TV advertising budgets up to spend more money marketing to us during the extra allowed time? Or will it be the case that more availability actually leads to the overall cost of buying ad slots decreasing simply due to the laws of supply and demand – maybe leading to smaller brands that would not have previously had the budget available to look at advertising on more mainstream TV channels as a viable option?

As more and more channels launch, coupled with the fact that people can now watch films and programmes via the internet, audience share is becoming increasingly fragmented. To a certain extent this has been good news for some brands because it allows them to target their audience with much better accuracy. For example, you can guarantee that any new film by Nick Love about football hooligans will be advertised between 9 and 10pm on Bravo as the demographics are a very snug fit.

It’s a far cry from the pre-digital/Sky days where only the biggest brands of all could afford a similar slot on ITV and even then the ad may be wasted on a significant proportion of the audience.

In order for advertisers to win new business from viewers they may have to work harder to keep the audience interested. After all, if people know they have longer during a commercial break, they are more likely to leave the room to do things like make a cup of tea. One option would be for shorter breaks but more frequently, although the annoyance factor of having a film or programme interrupted too often would be pretty high.

My final thought was how all this is pretty irrelevant to me as a viewer anyway. Why? Because since mankind’s second most important invention after the wheel – i.e the Sky Plus box – I’ve watched less ads than ever before. I simply record everything I’m going to watch and then start viewing it about 15-20 minutes after it starts, skipping through every ad break and still finishing the show at the same time it finishes it real time.

How ironic that the company who reaps such a huge revenue from selling ad space to brands also provides such an effective means of allowing us to avoid watching them.

Alchemis is in the business of New Business and for that you need fresh, vibrant minds that have the eagerness and tenacity to represent your company.

Why?

Because they will mould themselves to become an organic extension of your existing team thus being able to sell your offer and put you in front of the right people, generating high quality opportunities for you to secure new business in 2011.

I joined the Alchemis family in June of 2010 with a limited amount of sales experience from a property management company. Daunting? Yes!

I plunged in at the deep end and made the decision to be open minded to whatever came my way. Well, my first months were a complete blur of intense training sessions, learning the marketing lingo, campaign plans and role plays. The buzz on the sales floor from some 12 New Business Managers was enough to make me want to get my first meeting up on the board and until I did, I felt out of my depth and full of doubt in my ability.

Well, that first meeting came and I have not looked back. With the help of Dave our Sales Director, who has been very patient with my incessant questions, I came to realise that the art of ‘selling’ is really rooted in psychology and once I began to understand this suddenly something clicked!

8 months into the job and I have four clients of my own.

It is a testament to the quality of training and the encouragement of my colleagues that I have started to understand how to wear hats for a variety of marketing clients. My numerous hats have included creative clients, a PR agency, a market research agency, a customer management outfit as well as design and digital clients. By gaining solid insight to how these companies operate, their heritage, ethos and ambitions for their business, I am able to put together a campaign strategy to represent them in the most honest and appealing way to potential prospects.

In my experience, I believe that the blueprint for a successful New Business Manager would be one that found the right balance between flair and fluency on the telephone, up-to-date knowledge of the market and sectors they are working within, strong communication with their clients and good time management skills. I can say with confidence that these are attributes found amongst the team at Alchemis and qualities I strive to emulate. So if you want to join a team that encourages you to be the best you can be and rewards you for it, a team that supports, stimulates you and teaches you to think on your feet in any situation then this is the right experience for you and your career. It is certainly a group of people I am happy to continue learning from, socialising with and bouncing ideas off for some time to come!

The advertising and marketing column in the Evening Standard on 7th February focused on the pharmaceutical world and how recent and future changes offer opportunities for specialist healthcare agencies.

Alchemis has successfully served numerous healthcare agencies over the years. These have been in the traditional PR, communications and advertising space, but more recently the digital sector.

Healthcare and pharmaceutical work is something in which we have thrived and one of the few areas where we have worked for both UK and overseas clients. The nature of the business is interesting and diverse and a break from the more mainstream sectors in which we operate.

One key difficulty in this arena for new business prospecting is that of data and contacts and this is a key reason why these specialist agencies turn to Alchemis. We have spent a long time building data in this sector and this helps us get around the no name policies, which provide the biggest barrier to success.

As the article highlights, political reform and a change in consumer behaviour and access to information is opening up new avenues for agencies. With the power moving away from the NHS trusts, doctors’ surgeries will take charge of buying medicine. This change brings big opportunities for communications experts.

The article goes on to suggest that global demand for medicine will increase as developing countries such as India and China increase their expenditure.

However, it is the digital world that has really put the cat among the pigeons. Even in my days on the phone for several healthcare agencies in the early noughties, “Direct to Consumer” communications (or DTC) was the buzz phrase. With the internet and the growing influence and power of social media, there is huge potential for well positioned agencies.

Digital communication is also a great tool to help work around the ever increasing time constraints of the healthcare professional.

Due to our experience of the sector, Alchemis is set up to help healthcare focused agencies really benefit from all these changes. We enjoy the challenge the industry brings and would welcome the chance to deploy our skills in this area further.