BR 111
"Google TV Ads is a thousand times simpler than regular TV advertising."
Floored
BR-111 uses Google TV Ads to cost effectively reach millions of viewers through multiple television networks.
Ricardo Moraes knows what wood is fit to walk on. At age 19, he and Daniel Pagano founded BR-111 with a clear mission: to introduce new wood types - known as exotics - to the hardwood flooring market. "When we started 15 years ago, exotics just weren't available over here," says Ricardo, president of BR-111. "Not only did we educate the market, we helped create it."
Ricardo attributes much of that creation to BR-111's marketing efforts. "We understood early on that shaping the market went far beyond simply offering products," he asserts. "First we reached out to distributors, then retailers, builders and consumers. With every new initiative and engagement, we tried to be innovative." One major initiative was leveraging the Internet as a marketing channel, which led BR-111 to sign up with Google AdWords™ and Analytics™ in 2006.
"We were new to online advertising, and AdWords turned out to be fantastic. Traffic to our site our increased dramatically," says Erica Biser, creative director at BR-111. "Next we tried Google's Display Network, and the text, image, and video ads we ran on publishers' sites also drove strong traffic to our site. Reporting was immediate, and in combination with data from Analytics, we got a real sense of who our customers were and the return we were getting on our investment."
Tuning out
In 2006, BR-111 also began advertising on television for the first time. "Our main challenges continue to be educating people about BR-111's products and getting our brand out there. Television is natural medium for doing both, and we felt the time was right," Erica explains. "We worked with an agency to develop two commercials. We ran them on two networks, and we waited. And waited. That's when we started to think maybe TV wasn't for us."
BR-111 often had to wait weeks for reports relating to ad performance. "It was totally frustrating. We felt like we had little control over the process and not much information to go on, so we really couldn't tell what kind of value we were getting from our ads. We decided it just wasn't worth it, so we stopped."
Tuning in
But the team found themselves returning to television in May of 2007, when Erica heard about the beta test for Google TV Ads. With Google TV Ads, advertisers use the AdWords interface to upload their ads, set their own budget, and decide when and where they'd like their ads to air. "As soon as I heard about Google TV Ads, I was sold on the concept and signed up for the beta," says Erica. "But since we already used some of our budget on the earlier runs, I thought we'd be limited in what we could do."
To optimize her budget, Erica used demographic information gleaned from AdWords and Analytics to determine which audiences and networks BR-111 should target. "I was surprised by how many networks we could choose from, from CNN and MSNBC to Bravo and HDTV," recalls Erica. "It was so cost-effective, we decided to test various campaigns on more than 50 networks. Since Google TV Ads collects second-by-second data through millions of set-top boxes, within 24 hours, Erica was able to see for herself how viewers interacted with BR-111's new ads. "After each campaign, we reviewed our targeting approach. Getting campaign data back quickly meant we could tweak our campaigns even further to reach our target audiences and make the most of our budget."
Results have validated BR-111's original decision to tap the power of television advertising. "Ever since we began running our Google TV Ads, we've seen a lot more online traffic and a lot more sales," says Erica. "And our ads on Google's Display Network have blown up in the last month - in a good way. We believe this is directly related to the branding effect of our TV ads. The difference between our first experience with TV advertising and Google TV Ads is like night and day. In fact, we probably wouldn't be advertising on television if it weren't for Google TV Ads. It's a thousand times simpler."
Effective and efficient
Part of BR-111's mantra of innovative marketing is making sure initiatives aren't just effective, but efficient as well. Erica currently manages all of the day-to-day oversight of BR-111's marketing activities - online, print, and now television. "Using the AdWords interface to manage TV Ads makes my life easier," she says. "I can upload ads, view data, and make changes to our campaigns all in one place. Even adjusting our budget or accessing different networks is straight forward. I love how easy it is - I don't know why every company wouldn't want to do it."
BR-111 not only has big plans for its television advertising, it plans to leverage Google AdWords and Analytics to coordinate its brand messaging across ad channels. "Our market segment continues to grow, and in concert with our other advertising, we plan to use television to help educate and shape that growth," says Ricardo. "Google TV Ads has definitely made television part of our long-term marketing strategy."