Today Effectv, the advertising sales division of Comcast Cable, announced the launch of Mnemonic, a full-service creative agency for its clients, as well as a self-service creative portal through Effectv Ad Planner.
Effectv works with local advertisers to plan, buy and execute television and digital video campaigns in their markets. With the addition of a full-service creative agency, Effectv will extend its current services, making television advertising a seamless process, from creative concept to end-of-campaign performance measurement. For self-service customers, the option to create cost-efficient spots using their videos, photography and logos greatly decreases the creative barrier to entry into TV advertising.
“Making television advertising as easy-to-use as possible, and as impactful as possible, is a goal of Effectv. In fact, it’s become an increasingly important focus for the industry overall as the viewing landscape continues to change,” said Brendan Condon, Chief Revenue Officer, Effectv. “We’re already using our insights to develop smart media strategies for clients. Now we’re putting them to work in our creative strategies. Increasingly, as television becomes more data-driven and addressable, the two must go hand-in-hand.”
Mnemonic is led by Joe Alesi, Executive Creative Director, who was hired in 2018 by Effectv to develop its creative services offering to meet the evolving needs of local advertisers. Mnemonic will focus on the development of linear TV and digital video advertising campaigns for Effectv clients, including a multi-channel approach extending the advertiser’s brand message for optimal impact.
Said Alesi: “Mnemonic’s goal, as its name suggests, is to help its advertisers tell memorable brand stories in today’s complex media environment with the support of a best-in-class creative team.”
“Mnemonic is in a position to help advertisers uncover the consumer insights that are at the heart of any good creative campaign,” he continued. “When we meet with a client, if we can tell them something new that they didn’t realize about their business or their customers, that’s often the starting point for a creative strategy that can set them apart from competitors and truly move the business forward.”
Alesi is also overseeing the creative component of Effectv Ad Planner, a self-service TV buying option launched in July, including the addition of a new creative portal. Customers choose the desired buying parameters of their TV campaign and from there, they can upload logos, photos, videos and even create a voiceover to produce a customized broadcast quality commercial in minutes.
“We know that creative has been a key factor holding back small businesses from using local TV advertising. Their concerns are about the cost and creative quality,” added Alesi. “Our creative portal answers both of these. For a small investment, and literally a few minutes of their time, advertisers get a quality, broadcast-ready commercial that showcases their business.”
One current Effectv Ad Planner customer, Chris Delpha, echoed this sentiment: “My largest challenge with television is creative content and ideas. The concepts, ideas and finished product Mnemonic provided eliminated my concerns about returning to television. After starting our new TV campaign, we have been able to increase total website traffic to its highest levels since we’ve been tracking that metric back to 2011.” Delpha is the Director of Marketing & Creative Services at Hoffman Auto Group, which is based in Connecticut.
Creative is known to be a primary driver of advertising effectiveness. A 2017 study of advertising effectiveness by Nielsen Catalina Solutions found that quality creative drove 47% of contribution to sales. The combination of what Effectv provides with its media metrics, plus creative through Mnemonic, establishes 83% of a brand’s sales lift.
“While the exact percentages of ad effectiveness drivers will continue to shift over time, research supports one overarching thesis: Great creative paired with smart media strategy drives the strongest advertising results,” said Condon. “When we walk into a client with a cohesive creative and media strategy, we’re offering a solution that covers almost all of known drivers for campaign performance.”