The ability for advertisers to integrate the tried-and-true medium of broadcast television with today’s emerging media has always been a challenge. In the advent of the TiVO revolution, marketers must either find innovative ways to reach consumers or suffer the consequences. The CW Network is taking a step in the right direction by giving advertisers the ability to reward consumers through their smartphones for their TV-viewing activity. The mobile application Shopkick allows TV viewers’ mobile phones (through the microphone) to recognize a TV commercial when the application is open. The advertiser then automatically delivers an instant reward or special offer through the phones’ email or text messaging functionality.
Shopkick will initially only be available this fall through the CW Network (home to such quality programming as Vampire Diaries, Gossip Girl and 90210). Given the viewership of CW’s programming, this could prove to be a very successful test. Consider the potential here: if advertisers can move towards verifying that offers/rewards are being given exclusively to viewers that are actually watching the commercial, the whole GRP ratings model can actually be replaced with a truly quantifiable and ROI-focused value structure. Shopkick connects the dots between TV brand interactions and in-store purchasing (consumers have their phones when they watch TV and when they shop in the store). Join us this fall, same bat-time, same bat-channel, for an update on the success of Shopkick.
Michael Orpen, Program Design Leader
