What is cross-platform advertising?

Erik Manu
A/S Media - Unit 2

What is cross-platform advertising?

Throughout this essay i will be exploring the definition of cross-platform advertising; i will be referring to sites such as Quora, Wikipedia, Degordian Education Hub, Los Angeles Times and The Drum, which will help me determine the real definition and meaning of cross-platform advertising. I will also be analysing cross-platform ads such as Facebook, Google Analytics and a usual business campaign such as subways 'train with tommy' competition.

What exactly is cross-platform advertising? The official Quora tells us: Cross-platform, also known as cross-media, is a reference to the state of your advertising spanning multiple media types, e.g. TV, mobile and paid search . I say "reference" because the phrase out of context doesn't have useful meaning. Anyone with a decent with a decent budget advertises across multiple platforms/media types. Not even a decade ago, advertising campaigns were created specifically for one platform such as TV. But why should we use cross-platform advertisements/campaigns rather than single platform? This is because nowadays, single platform campaigns are slowly disappearing. Advertisers have recognized the advantages of new technologies and are starting to implement them into their traditional TV, radio and print advertising campaigns. Today, more potential costumers spend time on the internet and social media than watching TV or listening to radio. Services such as Facebook or Twitter manage to connect people and provide them with a place to share their experiences and conversations with their friends. With internet being more accessible to a wider audience, social media services can just increase in use and popularity.

Cross-platform advertising also increases reach and engagement, this is due to advertisers integrating campaigns. advertisers can dramatically increase the reach of their campaigns , as well as the engagement of potential customers. Increased reach and engagement produce better results which are relatively easy to track and analyser. For example, Facebook's ad platform enables easy tracking of conversions through Facebook, while Google Analytics enables integration of conversion tracking into any web site or application. To find out more about conversion tracking on Facebook. Subway recently ran a 'Train with Tommy Competition' across INM (Independent News and Media). The competition allowed rugby teams, schools and tag rugby teams the chance to win £872 for their club and a training session with Irish International rugby player Tommy Bowe. This multi-platform campaign was driven through native content, display advertising, print advertising and a strong social strategy. The completion attracted entries from over 100 rugby teams across Ireland. In addition to running on Independent. i.e., this campaign ran across our regional titles online and The Herald newspaper. By using the right advertising placements, we ensured we reached Subways target audience.

Campaigns that integrate multiple platforms in their implementation are called cross-platform campaigns. Such description of an advertising campaigns will have to be cross-platform in order to reach relevant audiences. Nowadays, it is not enough for an advertiser to create a TV spot or place an ad in the daily newspaper and expect miracles from their advertising campaign. It is necessary to adapt the campaign and its communication across multiple channels in order to achieve the best possible results in terms of brand awareness.

A 2014 Tribune company study recently discovered that consumers are 75 per cent more likely to take action when they've viewed an advertisement on more than one platform. This includes both print and digital formats. For those who follow the advertising niche (denoting or relating to products, services, or interests that appeal to a small, specialized section of the population) closely, this isn't too surprising. Why do combination print and digital campaigns work? Todays society are very tech-savvy and like knowing what's happening now. They're still reading the print newspaper over breakfast, but might check the evening edition on their tablet later in the day or might look up the latest news on their laptop over lunch. But what's crucial about this is that they are fully committed to using two sources to get the information they want which is print and digital.