The Key to Transitioning Linear TV Spend Into Programmatic? It’s Complicated

Brian%20The%20BasementWhat was the key to success when agency The Basement was tasked with helping smart lock device maker Schlage transition its linear TV ad spend into a programmatic TV plan? Basement CEO Brian Phillips talks strategy. 

Cynopsis: What goal did Schlage have when they came to you?

Brian Phillips: Schlage provides a variety of locking devices for consumers and businesses. In 2017, Schlage’s primary goal was to promote lower-funnel activity to drive growth in its mechanical and electronic businesses, both in brick & mortar retail and eCommerce. In addition, we collectively wanted to gain a deeper understanding of engagement within our consumers’ buying patterns. 

Cynopsis: How did you make it happen? 

Phillips: To drive lower-funnel activity, we first needed to establish a full-funnel narrative and strategy. The efficacy of our strategy required us to create a framework around the consumer’s journey to purchase with measurement integrated into every possible tactic. We utilized Centro’s technology to plan, buy and analyze media on TV, display, social, search, and mobile. Our primary programmatic TV supply partner was placemedia, helping stretch our TV budget (without changing it YoY) to more networks, more on-air time and with more intelligent targeting of audiences. Once we deployed our strategy, we monitored the consumers’ engagement within the framework and optimized accordingly.

Cynopsis: How complicated is this strategy?

Phillips: This is a complex strategy in the beginning because every brand’s consumers are unique. As an example in Schlage’s case, a typical purchasing household may have multiple people making decisions during the purchase journey. For Schlage’s 2017 campaign, we analyzed over 150 data points across our full-funnel strategy. It becomes less complicated and more logical as we listen to the data and it informs us where we should focus. 

Cynopsis: What were the results?

Phillips: Collectively we delivered a 60% YoY advertising efficiency reaching 60% more potential Schlage consumers with each dollar spent. We increased leads to commerce retailers by 50% YoY throughout the campaign. In general all tactics contributed to an overall increase in retail and eCommerce revenue by 9% and 35% YOY respectively.

The Cynsiders column is a platform for industry leaders to reach out to colleagues, followers, and the public at large. In their own words and in targeted Q&As, columnists address breaking news, issues of the day, and the larger changes going on in the ever-evolving world of television, video and digital. Cynsiders columns live on Cynopsis’ main page and are promoted across all daily newsletters. We welcome readers’ comments, queries, and column ideas at Lynn@Cynopsis.com.

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