As autumn festivities draw to a close, with fireworks and bonfires smouldering, festive season planning however, is red red hot. There’s nothing that gets people thinking about Christmas quicker than the welcome arrival of holiday adverts that tug on our heartstrings and get us excited about the most magical time of the year.
But whilst all the big brands have started to debut their Christmas ads, let’s not forget the people behind the creative, the individuals making sure this content arrives on time, and in perfect working order.
Media strategy, planning and delivery are by far the most increasingly complicated tasks for advertisers to address this season. Multi-channel multi-device viewing has driven a content boom but that means more destinations and more dispersed eyeballs for marketers to reach. And in the wake of the global pandemic, 83 per cent of UK marketers feel this holiday season is make or break for their businesses.
It can seem like a daunting task for creatives, makers and marketers alike. Not only are ads here to get us excited and engaged, they need to get us spending. So, how can the people behind the scenes of this year’s ads make sure they go off without a hitch and maximise on revenues?
Counting down the Christmas clock
Getting your advert on TV is a well grooved and understood process. As such, it is relatively easy to turn an ad around from final finish in under three hours, meaning it is rare (although not impossible) for some unforeseen circumstances to come along and disrupt your chance of meeting a deadline.
Digital, however, is a completely different story. It can sometimes take 2-3 weeks to get a digital campaign live and there are potentially unlimited reasons why a digital campaign can be blocked at the last minute.
You’ve got your deadlines ingrained in your memory but what about the other things that might slow down getting your ad to screen? How long will partners need to make changes? How long will it take for them to then come back to you? Will this give you time to pre-warn any other stakeholders of potential delays and how long that delay will be?
Also don’t forget that Christmas is typically a time of year which will see businesses working on a skeleton staff – clients, production companies, post production companies and broadcasters included. Production takes so much of peoples focus that it’s easy to forget about the various spinning plates for different digital channel deadlines and the time frames you have to work in with all of your creative partners.
Don’t get put on The Naughty List!
Compliance, quality control, and formatting are three of the issues that brand marketers come up against most at the last minute. The multi-channel world we are traversing as an industry is complex and every platform has its own specifications and rules. Knowing what you need to deliver and where is crucial. With delivery times tighter than usual at Christmas, you don’t want this to go wrong.
What’s more, broadcasters need to be safe in the knowledge that they are meeting audience expectations, if an advert doesn’t arrive on time or in the right format, it may not be possible to transmit at all.
Work with someone who can ensure the right content is where it needs to be with the right formatting, notifications and specs for each media outlet and broadcaster you are delivering to.
A gift to you
Having spent many years at Peach helping clients with their campaigns, I know that last minute hiccups can make the most magical time of year undoubtedly the most stressful.
Traditional methods of delivery often left me fighting fires last minute. It is one of the reasons we originally developed Peach. We wanted to create a platform that gives you peace of mind that your deliverables are going to be just that – delivered, on time and in perfect quality.
The Peach platform is designed to reduce headaches by letting everyone throughout the ecosystem know the status of a campaign, frantic phone calls or last minute panics are a thing of the past.
The recent addition of Advalidation as part of the Peach family is also a surefire way we ensure your ads are going to be picture perfect. Improving ad performance and compliance by testing VAST files, video and display ads, AdValidation alongside the Peach platform will let you sleep soundly knowing that Santa’s going to make it down the proverbial chimney and onto consumers devices! Let the excitement for Christmas begin.
