The
Media Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival (MGEITF) is an annual industry event for the media and television industries. New trends are discussed, channel controllers share their visions and industry experts get the chance to network.
This year, Bite attended for the first time. The two and a half day conference was jam-packed with talks from some of the biggest players in broadcasting, including Jay Hunt, chief creative officer at Channel 4, Josh Atkins, studio designer director at Microsoft and Elisabeth Murdoch, CEO of Shine International.
Jay Hunt talked Paralympics and the challenges Channel 4 faced. Jay highlighted that the coverage required high ratings and the team needed to ensure that the
London 2012 Paralympics leave a lasting impression. She also talked about the strategy behind Channel 4’s 360 marketing and advertising campaign to ensure that key messages for the Paralympics were consistent in all communications. Hunt also joked about the marketing message aimed towards the BBC which read, “Thanks for the warm up” which played straight to the Channel 4’s cheeky personality.
The times they are a changing and so is the way consumers watch TV. Gone are the days of couch potatoes where people just sat back and watch the show. It is the era of engagement; spawned from the connected/second screen TV – another big talking point at the festival.
Microsoft continued this theme by demonstrating on how brands can engage directly with consumers, almost instantaneously. Using
Xbox Kinect and Sesame Street as an example, Josh Atkins stressed that brands need to create content that can be played out on a connected TV system in order to create magic moments with their target audience and thus delivering that next TV experience.
My favourite seminar by far was by Zeebox: a fun, social and clever TV sidekick, which also focused on the connected TV. Anthony Rose, co-founder and CTO of Zeebox listed the five consumer ‘wants’ from a second screen TV:
- information
- social
- discovery
- participation
- shopping
As part of the some research for a recent pitch, we quizzed Richard Eyre, Chairman of
Next 15 and the
IAB UK where we asked him about what are the most effective mediums to reach a specific audience are. Richard specified that television is one of the most important mediums for brands to communicate their key messages as it has the most impact on consumers. As a communications agency of the future, we have a role to play to make sure our messaging is at the heart of the conversations through the correct channels – and the above list goes some way to help ensure we have all the right touch points for our campaigns.
Overall, my key takeaways from
MGEITF is that we need to create campaigns that take marketing and communication messages to the right audiences through multiple channels and where they can engage with the brand and create as much noise as possible while gaining momentum and achieving longevity. So I ask you all this, what are you doing with your clients to make them seen and heard across the various television channels?
