How to turn a TVC into a Facebook ad, the PockeTVC way
In a world where 47% of a video’s value needs to be delivered in the first three seconds, simply shoving your TV ad up on Facebook and hoping for the best isn't good enough anymore - something Facebook's new PockeTVC program aims to set right. Mumbrella's Josie Tutty sat down with Facebook's May Seow and Naomi Shepherd to unpick the mechanics behind the tech giant's new program.
Ever wondered why your beautiful TVC simply isn’t getting the views it deserves on Facebook?
If your ad doesn’t get to the point in the first three seconds, your potential customers are going to simply scroll right on past
Put simply, it’s not designed for mobile. It’s probably wider than it is tall, doesn’t make any sense without sound, and reveals your brand far too late in the game. On Facebook, if your ad doesn’t get to the point in the first three seconds, your potential customers are going to simply scroll right on past.
This is something May Seow and her team at Facebook’s Creative Shop know all too well. Seow heads up the team working with brands and agencies to reinvent their existing creative to work on mobile, through a new global program known as PockeTVC.
Creative Shop is growing fast, with four new hires in Australia and New Zealand in the past week alone.
Seow is Facebook’s global story director
Seow explains how consumers behave differently when actively scrolling through a phone than passively sitting in front of a TV, something brands need to get to grips with, and fast.
“PockeTVC is a program where we work with brands and agencies to take on their existing asset and make them work for mobile,” says Seow.
“You’ve put so much money and so much time and so much effort into that one piece, and we’re asking: How can we celebrate it more?”
Naomi Shepherd, Facebook ANZ’s group industry director, points to Pepsi’s summer 2016 TVC by Clemenger BBDO Sydney as an example of what PockeTVC can do for brands: “We went to them and said ‘We know you’ve got this gorgeous TV asset and we know we can make it work much harder if we give you a couple of the pointers from May’s PockeTVC program.’
“It’s less about Facebook doing this for brands or taking away from agencies, it’s providing them the framework. They’ve been asking us about this. It’s handing over the program and saying ‘make it better, and then tell us how to do it’.”
Shepherd: “Make it better, and then tell us how to do it”
Shepherd explains that brands already have these assets – it’s simply a case of making them work for mobile. Even a simple looped Boomerang-style clip can be an effective asset for a brand’s campaign.
As is always the case in the digital world, mindsets are shifting fast. Seow recalls:
“I was called in once to give feedback on a PockeTVC commercial and when I was called in I thought somebody had mixed it up, because what I saw was already mobile optimised. There was a nice rhythm in there, all the context was there in the first three seconds – it was perfect.
“They said ‘No, that’s the TVC’. That was the moment when I had to pause and say ‘I think our job’s done. We’ve influenced TV – we’ve gone the other way.'”
Robbert Rietbroek, CEO of PepsiCo Australia believes the program is one of the main drivers behind the beverage giant’s success in the Australian market. He says of PockeTVC: “These marketing programs have taken us to being the fastest-growing cola brand in Australia and number one non-sugar cola in the country.”
In an industry that’s traditionally collaboration adverse, how does Facebook deal with those critics who say marketing should be left to the marketing agencies?
Seow explains: “It’s not a matter of ‘Well this is a creative thing why are you touching it?’ … It’s sharing learnings, sharing behaviours, sharing trends – it’s more of that than a line drawn. It’s not a you or me, it’s more of an ‘us’.”
Just like any other vertical, Shepherd points out how mobile has its own set of challenges that advertisers are often to quick to dismiss:
“This is such a great time for brands – you have more touch points than ever before to reach your consumers, this is actually a great thing. But building those assets, those creative assets, is going to require doing it in a slightly different way. Reaching them on mobile is totally different to outdoor, to TV, but there are some of the similar themes that we can pull together.”
The current tendency is for brands to consider more traditional advertising approaches before Facebook, something Seow sees changing over the next few years:
“Ideally they will be doing mobile first i.e. Facebook ads … but in between that and now, it’s to get brands comfortable with playing with assets they already have because we’ve taken care of the cost. There’s no need for new production. These are costs that they’ve already put into the TV commercials. What they need to do is stretch it and celebrate it in different ways with a mobile lens on. So that allows them to see results very quickly and at the same time boost that campaign.
“If you have insights you make your creative shop better and more relevant. This is going to be a continuum, we have a lot more data, now the question is: How do you interpret that data and make much more relevant communication? Together with a great creative, it’s invincible.”
Shepherd adds: “We always talk about arts and science coming together. You can create a great commercial or piece of content, but if you’ve got the science that sits behind it … you can generate a more elevated response from people, which ultimately leads to better business outcomes.”
