the changing face of the Media

and the Law

I noticed the other day that Heineken – the beer that refreshes the parts other beers cannot reach – has, after an illustrious and often memorable campaign over many years, given up TV advertising.  This was of interest to me as I was reviewing my Firms advertising commitments for the forthcoming year in response to the perpetual pestering of the Yellow Pages salesmen. 

Marketing Legal Firms such as my own has moved a long way in the last 20 years.  It is only recently that Law Firms have been able to advertise directly and even now there are restrictions on how Law Firms are able to generate work. 

Heinekens abandonment of TV advertising seemed at first sight strange me being from the generation that still remembers when Morecambe and Wise regularly attracted 20m TV viewers for their shows and Saturday nights TV schedule was the highlight of the week.  Surely TV was, and still is, the most effective way for any commercial organisation like Law Firms to reach a large nationwide audience having first worked out the likely socio economic profile of the audience of programmes like the Coronation Street, The Bill or News at Ten.

If the Heineken example is to go by not any more.

TV’s star in the advertising firmament is apparently on the wane and has been for some time and Heineken’s example is likely to be repeated with increasing rapidity over the coming years.  Who or what is the pretender that is usurping TV and to a lesser extent radio’s leading advertising role which has been so dominant over the years, when TV adverts became mini series in their own right and made stars of their leading actors.  Well the answer is simple.  The internet.

Gone are the days when the internet was some inaccessible academic tool that allowed Universities to share information and belonged more to episodes of Star Trek than every day life.  According to many, internet search is far and away the cheapest and most effective way for advertisers to reach their target audience.  This year (apparently) Google and Yahoo’s advertising revenues are expected to exceed those of America’s three largest TV networks.

The digital age is also facilitating the use and (for advertisers) the effectiveness of the internet.  In the 1970’s we had 3 TV channels to choose from.  Today you can count the number in hundreds.  Online delivery of even more TV channels is also becoming a reality.  The BBC for example is pushing hard internet delivery of not only its TV and Radio schedules but also the background resources employed to make those programmes.

The trend to delivery of TV and radio via the internet is increasing and Sky recently entered the market with its purchase of Easynet, a broadband supplier.

Music and video is also being developed along the same lines.  Yahoo has recently invested $100m to start producing TV content.  Google is following suit.

As any lawyer will testify E-mail is still the most popular use of the internet but coming in a close second is web search.  A recent survey showed that 90% of internet users used search tools.  These tools are increasingly used to find a lawyer either in an appropriate geographical area or with some specialist expertise.  Altogether web search engine providers like Google and Yahoo handle over four billion queries each month during which a lot of valuable user information is gathered about the users of these services- you and me.  This information is key to the increasing effectiveness of internet advertising.  Using the internet and being able to exploit this user information companies like Heineken have more chance of hitting their key audience than with the previous TV ‘blunderbuss approach’ where the advertiser was sure that some of the audience of a particular TV programme would be responsive to its advertising but a lot would not.  The internet now provides a means for advertisers of preaching to the ‘even more likely than not’ willing to be converted audience.

These developments are likely to spill out into the mobile media market.

The upshot is that the delivery and marketing of legal services via the internet will soon to become the norm and will be critical to the success of Law Firm.

For more information contact;

Paul Grimwood

Tel: 01482 324662

Fax:  01482 223110

Email: enquiries@sandersonssolicitors.co.uk

Source: Commerce & Industry, January 2006