Dannon is bringing coupons to television through the use of mobile with a downloadable coupon for yogurt, as call-to-action experiences become imperative in the overcrowded marketing field.

With mobile rapidly evolving with new ways for advertisers to connect with consumers or retailers sharing deals, advertising for television has remained relatively the same. Dannon is innovating the traditional television ad by allowing users to text a number as they watch to download a coupon.

“This is the first time that a CPG brand has been able to distribute CPG coupons through national television ads,” said Steven Boal, Founder and CEO at Quotient. “Interactive TV reach has previously been limited to households with smart TVs or streaming devices such as Apple TV or Roku.

“But now CPG brands can run these campaigns without the need for special hardware,” he said. “It’s such a quick and easy process that we’ve enabled manufacturers to take existing television campaigns and overlay them with calls to action that directly drive sales.

“This opens up a whole new, multibillion dollar channel for highly-measurable advertising.”

Innovating TV
Dannon is ushering in a new campaign for its natural Yogurt with a TV spot that also encourages viewers to download a coupon. The yogurt brand’s ad starts off with a visual comparison of natural versus unhealthy food.

A narrator discusses how Dannon’s yogurt is the solution to the issue of wanting to eat healthy but not wanting to pay extra. Dannon advertises its product as natural but affordable.

Throughout the spot, a small icon appears in the left hand corner that is easily seen but does not obstruct the view of the commercial. The stamp instructs viewers to text the word “Dannon” to 78166 to download a coupon for “buy two, get one free.”

Users that text the number will receive a text back with the message “Natural is back! Touch this link and a get a coupon for a free Dannon Whole Milk Yogurt when you buy two.” The link brings users to coupons.com to download the Dannon deal.

Dannon partnered with digital promotions creator Quotient for the campaign.

The campaign will run on various networks in the United States including TLC, A&E, VH1 and Hallmark Channel, from Jan. 18 until March 31.

Interactive television
While Television ads have remained relatively stagnant in the past, there maybe a surge in innovation soon. For instance on top of Dannon’s campaign, German automaker BMW was at the start of what could be a dramatic shift in the television advertising industry by allowing users to interact through their remote controls.

Consumers with smart television sets such as Roku are able to interact with new BMW ads for a more personalized and helpful ad experience. Interested users can grab their remotes to view a BMW X1 in various colors or different angles while the ad is playing (see more).

While not on television, but still innovative AOL and Verizon similarly built an ad experience designed to increase sales for ad partners across its media properties with useful capability such as downloadable coupons.
The new ad platform BrandBuilder allows brands better control over unique campaigns designed to entice consumers with rewards. Two ad experiences are available for advertisers through the platform – one, a new pre-roll video format and the other, an incentive program to save data on Verizon (see more).

“Consumers will see an overlay on the television ad that prompts them to text a five-digit number to retrieve a link to a digital coupon from Coupons.com, which is our flagship consumer site and app,” Mr. Boal said.
“They then print the coupon to redeem at checkout, just as they would with a printed or paper coupon.”