Client Background
- Gift and prepaid card industry leader
- Clients include Apple, Microsoft, AT&T and Starbucks
- Holiday TV campaign promoting their Vanilla Visa gift card
Solid Results
- National campaign with a focus on targeting three of the largest US markets
- Cable TV reach of 65% to 75% into Adults 25-54 with a 4 to 5 frequency and 80 GRPs per week in each market
- Google TV reach of over 109 million household impressions and 35 to 60 GRPs in Adults 25-54 per week
- Delivered 15,000 TV ad units across 3 cities, including 3,500 bonus ads and over 900 bonus tagable spots
Overview
InComm is a leader in the stored-value gift and prepaid products industry, providing marketing, distribution and back-end technology solutions for prepaid products for many well-known brands such as iTunes, Xbox Live, GoPhone from AT&T, and Starbucks. In 2011, InComm began plans to promote its Vanilla Visa gift card over the holiday season with the goals of creating greater product and brand awareness and increasing in-store sales of the card.
The Challenge
InComm knew they wanted to reach as many people in their target demographic (Adults 25-54) as possible and felt that TV advertising was the best way to reach them. So InComm challenged AdBuy to develop a TV media plan that maximized reach, while staying within budget.
Since the holiday season is crucial time of year for the gift card industry, InComm wanted the Vanilla Visa name to be holiday shoppers’ first choice for gifts. And since the card is available in stores across the country, their goal was to reach as many buyers nationally as possible.
To further incentivize consumers and deepen brand awareness and engagement, InComm decided to supplement their TV campaign with a sweepstakes offering $1,000 Vanilla Visa gift card to five winners. A micro site (www.amillionoptions.com) was created for the campaign and sweepstakes registration.
The Solution
Upon receiving the challenge, AdBuy immediately negotiated the best possible pricing with Cable TV (Comcast, ViaMedia, AT&T Uverse and DirecTV) to run the two 15-second ads InComm’s creative agency had produced for the campaign. Budget constraints led InComm to make a strategic decision – advertise nationally during off-peak hours on non-ideal channels/shows, or select certain markets within which they could choose prime channels/shows that will better reach the target market. InComm chose to advertise on prime channels/shows in three of the largest markets in the country – Chicago (#3), Philadelphia (#4) and San Francisco (#6).
Responding quickly, AdBuy offered an alternative solution to supplement the local Cable TV coverage – Google TV. Through Google TV, InComm was able to buy national coverage on Google’s network (DirecTV, Dish Network, Viamedia and Verizon FIOS) during targeted times and shows at a lower rate than Cable TV.
“Google TV provided a tremendous advantage when coupled with the traditional Cable TV run,” said Frederic Bien, CEO, AdBuy. “Not only could we provide national coverage at lower pricing, but through Google TV’s platform, we could also make changes mid-campaign to optimize our strategy and outcome.”
The Results
The Vanilla Visa holiday campaign exceeded expectations. We delivered 15,000 TV ad units across 3 cities, including over 3,500 bonus ads and over 900 bonus tagable spots. Overall the Cable TV run provided a 65% to 75% reach into Adults 25-54 with a 4 to 5 frequency and 80 GRPs per week in each market for a total of 320 GRPs per market. The Google TV rounded out the run with over 109 million household impressions and 35 to 60 GRPs in Adults 25-54 per week.
More detailed information on this success story, including hard, well-defined metrics of the results achieved, is available. Contact an AdBuy representative to learn more.
