6 Reasons To Use 15-second TV Spots to Power-Surge Your Media Budget

These days you need to get the most out of your media budget, especially if you’re battling in the retail arena. We have a tactic that is working well for many of our clients in the highly competitive furniture retail chain market. Among the many ways we’ve found to enhance results without a huge impact on the bottom line, using 15 second spots is one of the most successful. Here are six reasons to consider adding a dose of :15s when you’re looking for additional impact.

1. Frequency. With the cost of a :15 second TV spot roughly 60% of a :30, our clients are getting lots of additional spots and exposure without increasing their budgets significantly.

2. Message integrity. Mixed with :30s, message values are sustained. Details are outlined in the :30, while high points are driven home in the :15s. This strategy works best when a brand is mature, but it can work in brand development too.

3. 80% attention for about 60% of the dollars. Ameritest’s Charles Young, in his thoughtful article on TV spot length showed that a :15 had approximately 83% effectiveness in generating attention with only half the cost. Sure, you won’t make as many brand impressions as in a :30, but you will get their attention and make your point.

4. Bookend ‘em. Bookending :15s generates a strong perceived presence. Here’s how it works. You buy two :15 spots within the same commercial break. The first one runs as the first spot in the break and the second one is the last spot in the same commercial pod. This grows perceived importance, brand impact and frequency. Even channel surfers often catch the first spot before clicking around, and will likely see the second when they return from their explorations.

5. Bookends are even cheaper than straight :15 buys. Our media department negotiates a pair of bookended :15s at the :30 price, generating twice the impressions for the same dollars.

6. Different Bookend message strategies. There are multiple strategies for using bookended :15s, depending on your goals. When we need to hammer home a point, we use the same :15 spot in both bookend locations. To show multiple sale items featured in an event, we create two or more :15s , each with a different price and item in it and rotate them into the slots. If the goal is to feature different product lines or brands, we create different 15-second spots for each (example: one featuring furniture and another for mattresses) and place them in each bookend slot at equal weight within the buy.

Bonus Reason: You can promote a specific product line or department within your store. Most retailers are forced to think in the weekly bottom line sales cycle mentality. This makes it hard to promote a specific brand, product line or department within the store. By using two :15's instead of one :30, you can devote time to a specific product, service or department without risking a downturn in your promotional sales. To see exactly how to do this, read our blog post "How To Use :15 Second Spots to Promote Products or Departments in Your Store.

Generating and sustaining media weights in the competitive retail environment is critical for our clients, and :15s, bookended or not, are a strong way to achieve the goal. As with any strategy, it might not be right for everybody or every situation. But for our retail clients, we have seen consistent sales increases using smart strategies like this one.

Editor's Note: To see another perspective on when to use a :30 or a :15 second spot, see our blog post by Executive Creative Director, Mike McClure: "The :15 Second TV Spot vs. The :30 Second TV Spot – Creative Perspective"

Buffy O'Connor, Media Director