Video Email, Create a Synergy with Television Ads

For most of the past century television has been the dominant advertising vehicle for most advertisers. While the types of television programming available for advertising have evolved over time form purely network, to network and local, from VHF and UHF, to broadcast and cable, to spot cable, to satellite and now high definition television (my apologies if I missed something but you get the point), advertising on television itself has remain largely unchanged.

In the past, many companies when planning ad campaigns worked hard to insure a synergy between the various elements of their advertising, be it television, radio, print or outdoor. I remember one client years back requesting a research evaluation regarding how specific ad elements actually were received physically by prospects. We called this the right-side/left-side brain evaluation, and there was much information available to write about how the brain processes audio and video messages.

With the growth of the Internet to where it is now represents a major element in the daily life for most people we need to look for new ways to reach out to potential customers. Online, the three most utilized elements are email, chat and search. Any company marketing in todays world should not only have a website, but should look for the best ways to integrate these online elements into their advertising programs.

To create a synergy with offline television advertising, email provides perhaps the best potential. Up till now, sending video via email has been difficult due to both the file size for sending and how email products most often strip out attachments. Many advertisers have sent "links" to video messages IN their emails with modest success and some today are using videos posted on sites such as YouTube with some decent results. However, these methods are a little sloppy and do not really deliver with regard to synergy of message.

CJR Media is now offering a product that achieves this desired synergy. Using VISMAIL's technology, we are able to send an email message where the video advertisement is essentially "embedded" into the DNA of the email. Depending on the email software being used, a user will either mouse over the video window or click on it and the message instantly plays. the quality is perfect, and up to a :60 second spot can be served. Of course, print graphics are also included and there is viral capability in that with a click the message can be forwarded to friends. While specific campaign results may vary, combined with a strong offline typical results have been 8-10 times greater than traditional email campaigns.