Mediamark, with its media brand partners, will be running a first of its kind ‘silent’ auction on Cyber Monday, 30 November 2020.
“Over the last few years, Mediamark has been recognised for its successful Black Friday campaigns, where for one day only, inventory is made available to the industry at highly incentivised prices,” explained Charlie Wannell, head of marketing.
“However, 2020 has brought about significant changes in everything, including media buying trends, and inspired Mediamark to take a new approach. Frayed marketing budgets and the need to energise our industry also sparked an idea to auction premium interactive and generic inventory.”
Mediamark has partnered with the 100% local tech firm, Auction Soft, to customise an online bidding platform. The live auction takes place on 30 November 2020 with pre-bidding starting on 23 November 2020.
Cindy Diamond, group sales director, said the pandemic had a created a “significant need for advertisers to increase their connection and engagement with consumers.
“This has been evident though the increased number of non-traditional or interactive solutions coming through our doors. Advertisers have recognised how loyal radio audiences moved even closer to their favourite radio stations during lock-down, and how innovative and entertaining competitions or feature programming really compel them to engage. These solutions have seen some stellar results for advertisers which has motivated us to include this inventory in our Cyber Monday auction for the first time,” said Diamond.
“The need to maximise festive and back to school trading days using media that mobilises and engages audiences has never been greater. This has been confirmed by a recent survey run by two of our radio brands, East Coast Radio and Jacaranda FM, where over 17 000 listeners participated. The stats indicate that participants will either be staying at home this December or having shorter local breaks. In fact, an average of 80% of respondents across these two brands will be home based this holiday season. The aim with the auction is to give advertisers access to inventory over this period,” she added.
Evaluation, re-iteration and disruption of traditional marketing methods is critical to pave new buying trends that unlock additional value for customers, Wannell said. “We are thrilled that our forward-thinking radio and digital media partners have trusted us enough to innovate in this way and release high value inventory for auction. Our hope is that our advertising partners will come on the journey with us and trial this exciting innovation.”
