Experimenting with TV? Tatari and Vuori Show Why TV is No Longer a Crazy Growth Gamble

Television advertising used to be the domain of large, Fortune 500-type companies with deep pockets who could afford to invest in channels with low ROI visibility. For startups, TV advertising seemed to be an expensive experiment that would be pretty tough to prove its effectiveness. However, in this episode of the Breakout Growth Podcast with Sean Ellis and Ethan Garr, we find out that things have changed dramatically. TV advertising is now more accessible, trackable, and very scalable if a test yields positive results. To unpack the new potential of this medium we brought Philip Inghelbrecht, co-founder and CEO of Tatari, and Jamie Fontana, Senior Director of e-Commerce at Vuori to the conversation. You may already know Vuori, the fast-growing performance apparel company, and if you do it may be because of their television presence. Tatari executes Vuori’s ad-buying strategy, but Philip, who previously founded Shazam and TruCar, sees his company as a data and analytics company facilitating digital advertising and less as a media buying agency.  As digital streaming is rapidly replacing broadcast television and cable, Philip’s team has developed technologies to unlock systems for measuring, buying, and optimizing television ad spends. Where companies used to face entry points north of $3 million just to test TV advertising, Philip says $100,000 is now a big enough budget to get in the game. For Vuori and even for smaller brands this puts the credibility of TV within reach.  To measure the value of a campaign, companies used to depend on the slow and rudimentary feedback loops of Neilson surveys, but Tatari has developed technology to provide accurate, next-day reporting that brands can use to effectively optimize campaigns. At the same time, the costs and speed of creative development have dropped to more manageable levels making this a much more accessible medium. Vuori’s experience is proof that TV can be an effective channel for growing brands. Jamie explains, “If you have a brand story to tell then TV and streaming are potentially valuable across your entire marketing funnel.” So, if you previously looked at TV as only a brand marketing channel, or a channel out of reach for your business, take a listen and see if this old channel has something new to offer for your business. We discussed: * Why better measurement, more transparent buying, and better creative optimization are now possible (11:45)* The shift that has changed TV into a performance-centric, digital advertising platform (13:15)* Putting TV credibility within reach for smaller brands and businesses, and  Vuori’s growth with TV through the pandemic (14:15)* TV as a viable channel in an “outcome marketing” world (29:12)* Far from dead! The future of cable, broadcast, and streaming opportunities (31:28)And much, much, more . . . Get full access to Sean’s Substack at seanellis.substack.com/subscribe