With the advent of the internet and multiple search engines offering a vast amount of information, today’s audiences have grown increasingly sceptical and savvy when it comes to accepting statements and claims made in advertisements. As creative and fun as an advertisement might be, it is essential that it reaches out to the required audience. This is where a data-driven strategy comes into play.
Data-driven marketing is based on science while creative marketing involves, well, art. The difficulty lies in making the twain meet. However, creativity and data can go hand in hand. There is a fine line between the two, and a good campaign involves both. In this blog post, we discuss how to achieve that fine balance between the two strategies to maximise the potential of an advertising campaign.
With the recent credit crunch, companies have also become increasing wary about ideas that are creatively ‘out there’ and require facts and figures to help shape their campaign. Audiences are cagey too and would not necessarily accept the word of a big cuddly brown bear as easily as they might have in the past.
Get both parties involved from the get go
Marketing strategies are often developed based purely on data collected and analysed from previous campaigns, surveys and other such data gathering resources. The marketing strategy once developed is then handed over to the creative team. Sounds like a good way to go about it? Wrong!
Involving the creative team right from the start enables the analytical team to gather additional data that they might require to actually create the campaign. Knowing the target audience from age and income demographics to their preferences right down to colour can greatly influence the creative process of the advertising campaign. Simply put, the creative teams put the numbers crunched by the analysts into pictures and words that are appealing to a target audience.
Source: dailyinfographic.com
Why does this work?
The data provides information about the target audience pertaining to their likes and dislikes. It also helps with information that will retain existing customers by explaining what has worked as a strategy in the past and what has not allowing for future strategies to be designed scientifically.
Throwing numbers and facts at a target audiences will not work, as advertisements need to appeal to their emotional sides as well as their rational. This is where creative advertisement steps in, to translate the numbers in to an appealing campaign. The numbers help bring transparency to a campaign audience if incorporated in the advertisement well and the creatives (fluffy pink unicorns or dragons as the case might be) bring an emotional appeal. A campaign is most likely to work when the audience is given the facts in a way that appeals to their sense of humour, surprises them while yet conveying the facts succinctly.
Source: thetimes.co.uk
A great example where data driven and creative marketing have been effectively used together is the Compare the Meerkat campaign run by Compare the Market. Compare the Market is a large insurance comparison company based in the United Kingdom. Their campaign stars Aleksandr Orlov, a Russian meerkat, who explains the difference between comparethemarket.com and comparethemeerkat.com. It makes an essentially dull topic (insurance) instantly appealing while still managing to get the brand’s message across. Orlov’s eccentric family and their escapades keep existing users continually engaged.
Production
Once you have both the analytical and the creative teams working harmoniously together (we did not say this was going to be easy, just possible) and the strategy is planned, it is important that the advertisement is executed well. A good production team can make all the difference. The script, storyboard and the visuals must be used to enhance the campaign.
The marketing strategy can influence the visuals which might vary from live action camera shots to animated videos as the requirements maybe. The final format for the video would be influenced by the avenues of its distribution.
At Toolbox Studio, we offer a wide range of video production services ranging from commercial videos, digital videos to animated ones. Our teams include some of the best professionals in the field today. Since we commit to deliver cutting-edge solutions that culminate into products with exceptional visual appeal, we’ve earned ourselves a reputation of being a leading integrated media services company.
To find out more on how we can help you turn your marketing strategy in to a successful campaign, contact us at +91 20 46607590 or write to us at [email protected].
