It’s television, but not as you know it, according to Mim Haysom, EGM Brand & Marketing at Suncorp Group.
The celebrated marketing boss said the evolution of the medium continues to feed into the evolution of brand campaigns such as Suncorp’s award-winning One House work.
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Talking about TV, Mim Haysom explained: “It’s evolved and it’s changed. There’s BVOD, there’s streaming and addressable TV. There are always new and exciting ways that we can tap into the format and the channels. I look forward to seeing how it continues to innovate in the future in combination with other channels.”
Of course, it’s not just TV that has changed. The entire media landscape has shifted led by digital.
Haysom continued: “We’ve seen more change than we saw probably in the last two decades because of Covid. The shift in the digitisation of businesses and all the things that led to huge amounts of change, more than I could have ever imagined.”
This shift has expanded the role of marketers and challenged them to upskill.
Haysom said: “One of the greatest challenges facing marketers today is the pace of change and the changing, shifting consumer needs and keeping up with that. So it’s a bit of a juggling act.”
For Haysom, the key is staying connected.
“I keep up with the pace of change by talking to consumers, listening to our voice of the customer, doing a lot of research and staying attuned to customers’ needs and wants.”
To complicate matters further, the economy also continues to shift, along with societal and culture influences which is not something Haysom believes marketers can ignore.
Haysom said: “You have to be in tune with that. You have to tap into that, and you need to know how to be agile to make your brands remain relevant and meaningful for customers while being consistent and true to their core purpose.”
For Suncorp, that core purpose is building futures and protecting what matters. And this is where the One House campaign stems from.
Haysom added: “The concept of One House was to design, build, prototype and test a house that would be more resilient to bushfires, floods and cyclones. And then democratize that information so customers could make their homes more resilient. That was important for us because we were increasingly seeing customers impacted by weather events.”
Image from Suncorp’s One House campaign
The campaign was an extension Suncorp’s storm season campaigns which had been helping people prepare their homes to weather the seasons. “We wanted to do something even bigger, bolder and braver to really cut through with that message. We’d been doing similar things for a few years, so we put that briefing to our agency partners,” said Haysom.
To tell a deep, complex story, Suncorp needed time and space to create emotional engagement. Additionally, the media supporting the campaign needed to deliver reach and frequency.
Haysom said: “Video is a fantastic tool to deliver campaigns where you want to tell stories. It does that better than any other medium.”
TV was integral for realising the vision.
“TV was a really important part of the multi-dimensional media strategy. The beauty of One House was that we filmed the building, prototyping, designing and testing. We created a 26-minute documentary and aired that on TV as well as having short-form content and TV commercials running.”
Moving forward, Haysom sees TV playing a part in the brand’s campaigns.
“We’ve got nine brands and campaigns have different requirements and different objectives. But from my perspective, while TV is still working for us and helping us achieve those business and brand objectives, then, of course, it absolutely plays a role in what we’re doing,” she said.
And as for marketers looking to follow her lead, her advice is to find a balance.
“Get that balance right between commercial and creativity. You need to be commercial as well as creative to secure investment that you need to make great creative campaigns.”
To find out more about how Mim and other leading CMOs are using TV in their campaigns, go here.