Commentary

Why D2C Brands Should Invest In TV Advertising

Traditionally, D2C brands, digitally native since inception, have relied mostly on digital channels such as social media to attract and retain customers. However, there is now a trend of D2C brands rushing to buy TV ads as they look to scale and differentiate themselves.

As Internet use escalates across the globe, more D2C brands will be seeing their heyday and hitting mainstream status. However, traditional TV still reigns supreme in the U.S. as the most popular entertainment medium and still holds power as an advertising channel.

Since the D2C ecosystem is undeniably hypercompetitive, it’s crucial for those brands past the startup phase to explore TV advertising as well. Here’s why:

TV provides reassurance that a brand is legitimate. With the digital landscape being very crowded and consumers being bombarded with questionable ad messages online, advertising on TV provides reassurance that a brand is legitimate. When consumers see that a brand is advertising on TV, they typically get the impression that a brand is a leader in the pack and is trusted among audiences. TV exposure also helps D2C brands augment their digital and social content and reassures followers of a brand that the brand is a market maker.

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TV advertising allows you to tell a story. TV by nature tends to be more interruptive than other advertising media and thus allows brands to tell more cohesive stories.

It’s no secret that consumers have learned the tricks of avoiding ads online, from installing ad blockers to only watching the first couple of seconds of an ad and then skipping the rest, there is an ample number of ways that a brand’s message can get lost. With TV, it can be more difficult to multitask, making it more likely that viewers will watch what’s being transmitted on the screen.  

TV is then the perfect medium for D2C brands as it enables them to tell their story from beginning to end via 30-second commercial spots. The underwear company ThirdLove began investing in TV back in 2017 with a small budget of about $300K per month (it has since increased its budget to the millions) and has seen tremendous growth since. As D2C brands yearn to tell their unique stories and get consumers to listen to their messages, there’s no better way to do this than through a TV ad that will most likely be noticed.

Multimedia experience leads to higher conversions. Consumer attention is inevitably becoming more fractured, with competitive brands all advertising on the same social channels.

In order to resonate with consumers, D2C brands need to provide a multimedia experience by advertising on disparate channels. Increasing the frequency of exposure by adding TV advertising to an existing media plan (that also includes web and social content) will create reinforcement and increase the likelihood of conversion.

Additionally, shorter-form communication (due to media costs) on TV can be augmented by the longer and multi-creative unit formats that social affords.

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