As group director of advanced TV at MediaVest, Jen Soch leads the agency’s Emerging Media practice. She recently spoke to [itvt]’s Tracy Swedlow about her role at the agency, which includes educating the company’s clients about interactive advertising; about the emerging importance of telescoping and of dynamic ad insertion for VOD; about the future of the 30-second spot; about why she believes that disabling fast-forwarding through commercials in on-demand programming would be a "mistake"; and more.
[itvt]: Could you tell us what you do at MediaVest, Jen?
Soch: I’m the director of advanced TV at MediaVest where I focus in the area of emerging media. For over four years, I have focused on video trends in the marketplace for our clients. Basically, I help our clients navigate this crazy and fantastic new media landscape. I spend a lot of time educating both internally and externally on marketplace trends. At Starcom MediaVest Group we participate in a great deal of research, both from domestic and international perspectives, helping us navigate the changes in the video landscape. We’ve also done a lot of tests and trials in the actual marketplace itself–trying to push things out into the field. I work with our vendor partners and technology partners, in order to make sure we’re all on the same path and going in the right direction as an industry.
For example, we have done a number of tests for our clients with TiVo. As an agency, we have tested out their Gold Star Showcase, RFI and Product Watch offerings. With each trial, we have been able to work together to evaluate the learnings, in order to improve on the advertising product and the technology product. We hope to continue with this type of partnership to help identify what types of interactive TV areas are effective and worth pursuing. Another example is a beta test that is currently in market. Our agency and several clients are working with the Joost platform to evaluate the Internet TV experience and how it can also relate to social networking. This beta test is allowing us to put advertising in the forefront of their ideas. Certainly, when I started, advertising was definitely an afterthought, and you’d end up trying to put advertising in whatever way you could. Now it’s much more of a partnership from the ground up.
[itvt]: Are you getting a lot of clients approaching you, looking to conduct interactive campaigns?
Soch: All our clients are keenly aware of the changing landscape and, in some shape or form, are involved in some form of research or testing: we have a number of clients that have tested, or are interested in testing, content platforms–MSO, satellite or TiVo. We also have a number of our clients active in the marketplace–whether through VOD placements or through placements on interactive channels on satellite.
This model allows consumers to interact with our products and have a more active role. For example our client, EarthLink, was one of the first brands to test the RFI function on TiVo when it first came to market. One screen opt-in was new in the market, and this test helped identify the potential behind this new form of direct marketing on television.
[itvt]: Could you list some of your clients?
Soch: The MediaVest Advanced TV practice engages with Kraft Foods, P&G, MasterFoods, Capital One, UBS, Activision, EarthLink, Continental Airlines and our newest clients, Wendy’s and Wal-Mart. On behalf of our clients, we work with a variety of vendors, from networks to technology companies, to help examine the landscape and further educate ourselves on changing trends, so we can point our clients in the right direction.
[itvt]: Could you talk about some of the research and educational functions you perform for your clients?
Soch: We look at the consumer reactions to new, emerging media–to help us understand the future landscape. What will consumers react to–positively and negatively? What new technology will consumers want to use to further interact with our brands?
[itvt]: Do you attempt to proactively push your clients into interactive advertising?
Soch: Yes. We’re constantly working to develop specific strategies that will help our clients reach consumers in this new landscape. Basing our work on client objectives and strategies, we see if we can find tactics that will reach the client’s goals. For example, when Kraft Foods ran a holiday program in People magazine and on A&E linear TV and KraftFoods.com, it was a TiVo campaign, along with a VOD component, that helped us solidify a 360-degree approach. Targeting moms during the busy holiday season, we came up with a way to allow them to watch the A&E program on their own time.
[itvt]: Now I understand that part of what you do is push technology providers–and presumably also network operators–to implement the interactive features that your advertiser clients are looking for. Could you talk more about the kinds of things your clients are looking for?
Soch: Well, I think we all need to push towards the ability to telescope out of linear TV into VOD. The possibility for more virtual channels on any platform in the future is going to hinge on the ability to navigate with one button on the remote control. When I see an ad for extended consumer content, I want the consumer to be able to navigate as easily as possible.
But I think the biggest thing that we’re pushing for every day is dynamic ad insertion. The ability to change out creative during a VOD flight–typically four weeks per program insertion–is critical to bringing more advertising dollars to VOD. Currently, we have to send ads to VOD networks up to eight weeks prior to a campaign start date. This is such a huge shift from traditional television where ads can arrive the night before and still make it on air. Many brands simply cannot make these deadlines work with their production schedules. These lead times often preclude promotional messages from being considered for VOD.
[itvt]: Well, telescoping, at least, is already supported on a number of platforms…
Soch: Yes. And we’ve done some telescoping campaigns on TiVo, DirecTV and EchoStar–all of which obviously support telescoping. However, I’d like to see us take this to the next level. Let’s allow advertisers to telescope from within programming–perhaps from a branded entertainment piece–into long-form content. Or allow consumers to pause the program when they telescope out to content. Today, unless you have a DVR that is recording the channel you were watching, you miss the program you were on. Consumers might only try something once: let’s make sure it’s a good enough experience to get them to come back.
We also need to start standardizing these experiences. Everyone has different specs and requirements–and that means more costs to the advertiser. We need to work together to standardize the process for scalability. Scale is the way to move from trials and testing to campaigns.
[itvt]: Definitely one of the problems with telescoping, as you mention, is that viewers who interact with a telescoping commercial will miss the other commercials in the break and even miss the program they were watching…
Soch: Well, I know that, in the past, BSkyB in the UK only allowed you to run an interactive commercial as the very last commercial in the pod, so that the network that sold that interactive commercial would only affect their own programming. Now I’ve heard that this is no longer the case, but I do think there is a good argument for this model 
where each interactive ad is the last in its pod. Clearly, this is something that needs to be researched more–we need to determine the consumer tolerance for this. Obviously, as I just mentioned, everything will change as soon as DVR’s are universally deployed: then it won’t matter that viewers are off interacting with a commercial, because the program is paused. That, for me, is the Holy Grail. However, until we all have DVR’s, my enthusiasm for telescopic advertising will be tempered. We’ll certainly try it, and we’re thrilled to do so. But once everyone can pause the programming stream while they interact with a commercial, that’s when I think telescopic advertising will really come into its own.
[itvt]: How do you see the long-term future of the 30-second spot? Do you think that, as a result of time-shifted viewing and ad-skipping, for example, it will eventually be superseded by product placements, show sponsorships, and other, less intrusive, less skippable forms of advertising?
Soch: This is a question that we’re definitely researching. I think that the 30-second ad will be fine, if we can do two things: if we can make it a navigational unit and very actionable; and if we can add more addressability into the process. Addressability is going to make a big difference in the viewership of 30-second spots, because people are obviously more likely to watch an ad if it’s targeted at them. If you’re a first-time mom, for example, there’s a good chance that you’re going to want to watch a diaper ad when it comes on.
So while we’re definitely experimenting with some of the alternative forms of advertising that you mentioned in your question, we still believe strongly that the 30-second spot is not dead. It just needs to be reworked.
[itvt]: What are your thoughts on the emergence of broadband TV and how it affects the advertising industry?
Soch: I don’t focus much of my time of broadband, but I have been working with Joost. What I find intriguing about their service–and it’s something that can apply to other broadband TV services as well–is the addition of social networking functionality on top of the television experience. Not only does Joost provide this great full-screen experience–it’s really very good quality–it also gives you the ability to instant-message your friends and to communicate to other viewers while watching the same show. And, of course, it gives us the opportunity to try out different forms of advertising–including long-form–from the traditional 30-second spot. We have a number of clients doing fantastic tests on Joost, and getting ready to launch new types of ad units on that platform. In general, I’m very excited about broadband TV. At the very least, it extends what we’re doing on linear television onto another screen.
Now, while I’m very enthusiastic about how Joost and other broadband TV services add a new social element to TV watching, I should stress that this social element works better for some kinds of content than for others: drama, for example, doesn’t necessarily lend itself to this kind of thing. Reality TV, however, lends itself really well to dialogue and communication between viewers, as do awards show broadcasts. So I think, for example, that bringing all the MTV content into Joost was a really good idea.
I also think that adding social networking elements to television is just a very natural progression: so many people these days are on their computers, talking to their friends via instant messaging, while watching TV. We have this new, multitasking generation that’s now becoming increasingly important in the marketplace, and we older people need to be aware that the audience is capable of doing more than one thing at once. I think the best thing that we in the advertising industry can do is to help support this phenomenon–for example, by putting social networking tools in place that are "Brought to you by" and "Sponsored by" the program advertisers.
[itvt]: As you know, a lot of brands are now creating their own destination broadband TV Web sites with their own programming. Are your advertisers interested in engaging people with long-format adverprogramming?
Soch: Yes. I think that the best example I can give you is KraftFoods.com. They have a beautiful section devoted to instructional cooking videos, and it’s become extraordinarily popular. They advertise the site out in the marketplace. They’ve also pushed the same kind of content to the television screen, as well–by doing virtual channels specifically around the holiday season. So I think that destination broadband video sites are a great way of getting a company’s message out, as long as they’re properly promoted and easily navigated.
[itvt]: What are you doing in the area of virtual channels?
Soch: We’ve done a few. We’ve actually been doing them since 2003. If you have the right content and you have the right navigational unit, you can have a lot of success. For example, Kraft Foods put together a holiday-focused VOD virtual channel when Cox launched its FreeZone service in San Diego. The question is usually: Do you have enough content? And, is that content something that’s going to engage the viewers and make them want to come back? But I think that virtual channels–whether they are microsite destinations on a satellite platform, TiVo showcases, or a straight virtual channel on an MSO–have a lot of potential for success. These platforms allow our clients to interact with consumers for a longer period of time. The consumers have self-selected to view, so they are there because they want to be there, not just because it’s a commercial break. We have a number of clients we’re working on this with: everyone’s examining long-form and what to do with it.
[itvt]: There are a number of efforts underway that use technology to prevent viewers from fast-forwarding through commercials on VOD programming. What’s your view on this kind of strategy?
Soch: My feeling–at least at this point in time–is that disabling fast- forwarding would be a mistake by the industry. We have given consumers the ability to fast-forward, it’s something that they expect now, and I would definitely not want to be the one who takes that away. We need to leave fast-forward alone, now that it’s been out there for so long.
[itvt]: What about technologies, such as TiVo offers, that present you with some form of simple, static advertisement in lieu of the commercial you’re fast-forwarding through?
Soch: I think there’s a right and a wrong way to do this kind of thing. For example, I think it’s important to make sure that there is plenty of room on the screen, so that the consumer can see that the program is still fast-forwarding behind the ad. I believe consumers will become comfortable with these so-called "speedbumps," and they could become a useful branding and even a telescoping tool.
[itvt]: A while back, at least, it seemed to be a frequent complaint in the interactive TV industry that the advertising industry wasn’t interested in new technologies, was afraid of interactivity, and was hiding its head in the sand. Was that initially your experience, and do you think that things have changed?
Soch: Well, as you know, Tim Hanlon was here at MediaVest before me, and laid the groundwork for a lot of what we do today. One significant advantage I had when I started here was that he was so well-known in the industry. So both internally and as far as our clients were concerned, people were already interested in interactivity thanks to the work he’d already done.
That said, I still find myself devoting a lot of time to educating the industry. I’m not only giving one-on-ones on the interactive landscape to our clients, but even to some of our partner creative agencies. We’re actually spending more time talking to all these parties than we ever did before, and I think that’s definitely a step in the right direction. They are starting to realize that the entire advertising ecosystem needs to be part of the interactive equation. That’s a really wonderful change that I’m starting to see in the industry. There definitely needs to be more, but we’re definitely moving in the direction of full agency involvement.
[itvt]: Could you talk a little about how measurability plays into your clients’ interest in interactive TV advertising?
Soch: Set-top box measurement is critical to the success of advanced television. As we move to commercial ratings, advertisers are demanding more metrics and measurement. Knowing what consumers interact with, when, how and where are all critical questions we need to answer.
[itvt]: What are your thoughts on the mobile phone as a tool for interactive TV?
Soch: Two-screen voting has certainly enjoyed success in programs such as "American Idol." But can you imagine what will happen with voting when all you need to do is pick up your remote control to vote? No phone, no additional charges….
[itvt]: What challenges, if any, do you feel that the interactive TV/VOD advertising space will have to meet over the coming months and years?
Soch: As I just mentioned, metrics, metrics, metrics. We need to vastly improve where we are today, and continue to make progress in pulling aggregated data from set-top boxes.
[itvt]: What current kinds of interactive/non-traditional advertising do you find most inspiring?
Soch: The advertising that gets the most learning about the consumer interaction.
[itvt]: Can you say, in general terms, what kinds of features and content result in an effective red-button commercial?
Soch: Clean and clear communications will work the best. The interactive idea must be something that inspires consumers to want to see more.
[itvt]: Finally, what attracted you to the advertising business, and to the specific area of it that you work in?
Soch: I’m in this business because it is constantly changing. No day is ever the same. It seems as if an earth-shattering change hits this industry–and my desk–at least once a week. As for the specific area I work in: well, I’ve always been interested in technology, and so I’ve been very lucky to be able to keep following technology trends, in a medium that I truly enjoy–which is television. It’s clear that consumers really do want to involve themselves more and more with brands. Until now, the main way that they’ve been doing this is through the Internet. I believe that the television will ultimately provide an easy way for them to do this as well, as it’s right there in their living room. I think the key is making sure that interactive TV advertising is scalable.
URL: MediaVest
Originally Published: July 2, 2007 in [itvt] Issue 7.35
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