SMART SMART

In 2020, Virgin Media launched AdSmart, an innovative product that combines the power of TV with digital advertising. It’s the latest advancement in addressable advertising that allows brands to target specific audiences on TV using geographical and lifestyle attributes. “With AdSmart from Virgin Media, different ads can be shown to different households watching the same programme at the same time, meaning your brand can advertise to specific audiences that matter to them. The platform allows brands to select households based on factors like location, province, county, Eircode prefix or even lifestyle behaviours,” said Cormac Doyle, National Sales Manager (AdSmart & New Business Development) at Virgin Media Television. It’s a really clever platform, says Cormac, and the options really are endless. AdSmart can be utilised for all brands, from the big multinational to the small niche business. “We’re seeing all kinds of businesses from all industries taking up the platform. A small business that’s looking to target their local area is finding AdSmart particularly effective.” Businesses in the hospitality industry are using the platform to drive traffic from their target areas. “Say for example you had a hotel in Galway that wanted to attract guests from Cork or perhaps they want to increase business from the Munster region. We can create a campaign specifically targeted at these people. Small firms are seeing the platform work really well for them. It’s also relatively cost-effective as the amount of wastage is essentially nil. If a hotel in Dublin wants to attract more visitors from Cork, they’re not going to want to advertise to people in Dingle. It’s that very targeted, specific advertising that we can provide with AdSmart.”

Virgin Media also provides a host of other advertising solutions for small businesses. In-show competitions on the likes of Ireland AM and The Six O’Clock Show are working well for hotels at the moment, says Cormac. “Generally, these competitions would offer viewers the chance to win a two night stay with breakfast on both mornings and dinner on one of the evenings. We would run those types of competitions over a week long period where the brand would get 60 seconds in their show of choice, be that Ireland AM or The Six O’Clock Show, to describe the prize, hotel amenities and/or any special offers they are running. These competitions are very effective, particularly when they run on Ireland AM or The Six O’Clock Show as a good proportion of hotels see that audience as their target audience.” Quite often, larger hotels will run ads to be screened nationwide during ad breaks too. “Advertising on our Virgin Media Linear channels or Virgin Media Player platform is also an option. We can create bespoke packages to suit all budgets for individual clients and we’re finding that the AdSmart element is a really attractive cost-effective option, particularly for smaller businesses.”

Hoteliers have welcomed the extension of the 9% tourism VAT rate and energy supports