Advertising & Marketing: Individualized TV Advertising

This is the first idea I've had in awhile. I wouldn't have the resources to do this but I would think it could be a very successful business for a company that did it.

Ok, so we all know that there is a lot of advertising money going to waste everyday. Example: Running a Viagara or Levitra ad. The ad is essentially worthless when it is shown to anyone under 35 - most 20-somethings don't need or consider viagara (I assume). Or Mercedes or some other luxury car company runs an ad, it is basically worthless when shown to any household with an income of, say, less than $100,000 per year because they simply can't afford it.

Shows are already defined based upon demographics like age and sex, but advertising is still at heart a hit or miss venture. Why not switch the marketing from the general expected audience of a show to a concrete individual? When a customer signs up for cable or satellite service, they fill out a survey or questionaire about what sort of advertising they would like to see and about the makeup of their family. If its a 30 year old couple with two small children and an $80,000 income, that information is noted and the viagara and mercedes ads are removed from their docket for the reasons listed above. Instead there might be more adverts for kids snacks, cheaper cars, etc. This way the family gets better defined commercials that are more likely to apply to them.

On the television end, the stations place households in defined "groups" or "pools" based on their demographic information and their survey results. The station beams out specified advertising to these pools during programs, much like how local ads are inserted into local markets during national broadcasts. Because of the enhanced accuracy of the demographics, the station can charge advertisers a higher per capita rate (but less overall rate) to send their message out to only specific households.

Example: Before, Viagara payed $1 million to send their advertising out to 10 million people, only 5 million of which actually were potential customers. Now, Viagara pays $750,000 to send their message just to those 5 million, and the station finds another advertiser who will pay $750,000 for the other demographic of 5 million. Both advertisers achieve the same advertising results at less cost, the station increases revenue from that slot by 50%, and the television viewers receive advertising that is more appropriate and agreeable to them.

You could make this more complex, obviously, and adjust rates based on viewership. Thoughts?

I think its a really good idea but by 2010 tivo and dvr sytems a like will rule the television world. As a person who has tivo and people who tried tivo or dvr, they never want to watch commercials again, only time you really want to watch t.v. are for live sporting evets, or maybe an award show something on those lines. In the future the economy will actually benefit from this, because of now being defined to the t.v. at a certain time to make sure you watch your favorite show no you can record leave out for dinner or drinks at the bard, come home wacth the shows you recorded and go to sleep with a complete smile of the evening.

In my opinon the media and ad execs out there need to stop focusing so hard on television trying to change demographics when in actuality commercial viewing will just decrease annually. The smart execs would realize that now or in a year or so and get a focus group working on other mediums for advertising/marketing/branding for companies. As television declines other avenues will present themselves and some creative companies will make there own path for new ways to get consumers attention.

In regards to your comment; the method I mentioned would only be customized for the appropriate audience. So it's really based on the location and specific demographics of target markets. Like you said, Viagra ads wouldn't be customized with playful graphics for an 8 year old girl; with this system she wouldn't ever see the ad, much like you said.

An advertising method that I ranted about way back when on Ihaveanidea.org involved a feedback system to track and customize ads. To somewhat summarize my "dream", ads would have an interactive feedback system. If a person likes an ad they're watching on tv they can "digg" it and press the green button. In this case the advertiser would pay a premium, just like Google Ads, for being noted and liked. If the person presses the red button because they didn't like it, the ad would no longer be shown on their tv and their preferences would be customized like Pandora.com does to show more ads of similar interests.

Advertisers would pay a low base rate to run the ads, a premium for each time the ad is liked, and possibly a slap on the wrist for each time it's not liked. :lol: I think this would be a great filtration system to weed all of those lawyer ads out of daytime television.

Hmm...their site isn't coming up for me.

Okay, This doesn't have much to do with your TV advertising idea, however, it does work with one of my ideas I recenlty posted here. I was considering building a mobile billboard truck similar to the one seen in the picture, http://limeads.com/

Only difference is i'll be using 102in tv screen to display my images. Now i'm sure most of you're thinking the same think I was when I came up with this "Cost".

I currently work for an engieering firm, so designing the board to control the display would be not problem. I would only have to purchase the LCD. I could save money by not purchasing printer cartriages, printer paper, etc etc.

Cornering the market; I could display still pictures for 10-20 seconds then the next advertisment will be displayed. I could also could play 10-30 seconds clips of advertisment. I could promote events, football games, baseball games, concerts.

I haven't completly thought this idea out, so...any
"Pessimism" would be quite helpful.:)

[quote="Jason G"]Okay, This doesn't have much to do with your TV advertising idea, however, it does work with one of my ideas I recenlty posted here. I was considering building a mobile billboard truck similar to the one seen in the picture, http://limeads.com/

Only difference is i'll be using 102in tv screen to display my images. Now i'm sure most of you're thinking the same think I was when I came up with this "Cost".

I currently work for an engieering firm, so designing the board to control the display would be not problem. I would only have to purchase the LCD. I could save money by not purchasing printer cartriages, printer paper, etc etc.

Cornering the market; I could display still pictures for 10-20 seconds then the next advertisment will be displayed. I could also could play 10-30 seconds clips of advertisment. I could promote events, football games, baseball games, concerts.

I haven't completly thought this idea out, so...any
"Pessimism" would be quite helpful.:)[/quote]

In general I like where you're going with it. I think the resistance to environmental wear and tear is the key to a profitable venture (eg. rain/snow/rocks/other vehicles nudging up to it). This will work better in smaller cities/towns where there's less in-your-face advertising already (eg. I doubt it would get much notice in NYC with all the massive electronic billboards already there).

[quote="Jason G"]Well, I can have my mechincal engineers design an environmental housing for climate condition and ad shock absorbs to control bumps in the road.

Not to mention I live in florida, only climate problem we have here is HEAT.[/quote]

Don't forget hurricanes :D

Overall I think it's a pretty good idea, one that, if the screen can withstand more severe climates, is easily transplantable (franchise/licensed out) to other locales.

Awesome, thanks for the feed back Jdoc.

Come on people I need more pessimism!

Would you purchase a few hours or days to rent my truck with your advertisements.

lol, and please don't ask how much its going to cost. I haven't gotten that far yet. I just started e-mailing people with mobile billboards, just waiting on their response. They're very slow at responding.:(

Okay everyone,

I'm working out most of the bugs on this project. I have come up with a design for the trailer to haul the LCD's. I have created a fully enclosed case for environmental and vibrations.

I also have worked out the viewing angle issue. I've started implementing my ideas and I'll send some pictures once everything is completed.