David Becker, president of Blue Plate Media Services, talks about influencers and marketing strategies in the Toy Book’s annual State of the Industry Q&A.
The Toy Book: How can toy companies best take advantage of influencer marketing?
David Becker: Managing creators can be tricky, expensive, and a time suck on resources, so plan prudently, pay attention to the metrics, and stay on tactic and budget. Even when relying solely on non-paid influencers, and your only investment is product and time, cost of goods, and the need to sell through, you must still ask yourself three very important questions: What is the social impact of your efforts? Is there a measurable return on your investment? Where does influencer marketing fit into your marketing mix? A smartly executed influencer campaign standing on its own with no media to support it can come up short and dilute the impact of your overall messaging. Media works best when levers are working in tandem, not isolation. When adding influencers into your media mix, take the time to look at the metrics of each influencer to ensure they are adding value, targeted reach, and relevant influence to your campaign. Check their content history to ensure they are in line with your values.
TB: What new marketing strategies are working now that haven’t in the past, or vice versa?
DB: TV has morphed monumentally and continues to change at an accelerated rate. With this drastic shift in viewing behavior, new video consumption patterns have emerged. Our elusive consumer is still there — you just have to know where and when to engage. While you have a front row seat to these changes, be sure to match your media spending to the change in behavior or you may be losing pivotal reach, paying for duplication, or spending media dollars that are not delivering a return on advertising spend.
The toy industry has spent years investing in media plans that were built on gross rating point (how impact is measured) weight, audience delivery, reach and frequency, and dayparting, just to name a few. Some of these metrics still matter, but more on an alternative, digital screen. With meteoric shifts in content delivery, and digital TV buying and targeting becoming quite complex, how are you incorporating smart methods of planning and buying and media management and measurement metrics into your connected TV (CTV) and cross-screen channel buys? Do you understand CTV and why, where, and how it belongs on your plan? Take the time to understand the medium before you invest your dollars.
While linear TV was largely an awareness platform, CTV is now pushing the boundaries, testing opportunities to drive beyond the view to a click to buy. While still in its infancy, we are seeing opportunities to engage with the consumer that never existed before, such as QR codes on CTV screens and highly targeted podcast ads with calls to action.
As you embark on your media planning, be sure to vet your advisors if you are to trust the advice they are sharing. There is an old expression: If you don’t know where you are going, you will end up someplace else. This could not be more true than in the world of media strategy and planning. Starting today, lean into sophisticated marketing and let your marketing prowess pave the way to successful brand building.
This article was originally published in the February 2022 edition of the Toy Book. Click here to read the full issue!
