Thinkbox
Encyclopedia
Thinkbox is the marketing body for the main UK commercial TV broadcasters - Channel 4
, ITV
, Sky Media
, and Turner
Media Innovations. UKTV
joined Thinkbox in January 2011. Its aim is to work with the UK
marketing community to help customers get the best out of television in all its forms. Thinkbox was launched in February 2005 with a consortium consisting of eight companies, and was initially run as a virtual organisation
. In 2006 the group changed direction, hiring Tess Alps as the CEO and undergoing significant internal changes, including the loss of one of the original eight companies involved in creating the organisation. Five left the organisation at the end of 2010.
Thinkbox's activities include supporting research into aspects of marketing using television, supporting various television marketing awards (including their monthly Thinkboxes), training programs and providing information to marketers about television advertising.
In 2010 Thinkbox won the Best B2B Marketing Award at the Marketing Society Awards for Excellence.
, Five, GMTV
, Sky Media
, IDS, ITV
, Turner
Media Innovations, Viacom Brand Solutions
and Dolphin TV. With an initial £1.5m budget, gained by charging a flat fee to each of the eight member organisations and an additional variable rate tied to their share of the TV advertising market, the new body was developed to improve sales of television advertising. Nevertheless, the member organisations were expected to continue to compete for advertising, and they retained their existing sales departments.
Structurally, Thinkbox began as a virtual organisation
, lacking both a dedicated executive body
and physical headquarters. Instead of a dedicated executive, the staff working on the project were overseen by a committee consisting of representatives of each of the eight member organisations, and Thinkbox was initially chaired by ITV's Justin Sampson. However, this structure – particularly the lack of an executive body – was met with a degree of criticism from both inside and outside the organisation.
Things changed in 2006. Following Samson's departure from ITV, the role of chair was passed to Channel 4's Andy Barnes
, Thinkbox's budget was increased to £3m, and Tess Alps was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer
in April of that year. In particular, the appointment of Alps was seen as a positive move by industry commentators: her experience with PHD suggested that she would already be aware of the various personalities and agendas in play, which was highly relevant given the "varying agendas" of the member organisations and the potential for dissent.
Some of this potential for dissent was realised later that year, when, in August 2006, IDS left the consortium. In a statement after its departure, IDS accused Thinkbox of giving in to ITV demands, moving away from a one-member, one-vote model to one which provided greater weight to ITV. (Under the new structure, ITV had gained additional voting power and a veto
). Shortly after the departure of IDS, the remaining seven organisations increased the funding being provided to Thinkbox – although the exact figure was not available at the time, it was said to be "substantially bigger" that the £3m which the organisation had been operating with prior to the increase.
In spite of rumours in the first half of 2007 that ITV were considering removing their support from Thinkbox, the remaining seven companies have continued to be a part of the organisation. Since the beginning of 2007 Thinkbox established permanent staff and hired Red Brick Road and MediaCom to handle advertising, media buying and strategic consultancy, and they released their first television advertisement. They also inaugurated the annual TV Planning Awards and the monthly Thinkboxes, and ran the second of their Thinkbox Experience conferences.
study examining how consumers engage with TV ads; two "payback" studies with PricewaterhouseCoopers
examining the impact of TV advertising on long- and short-term sales and brand equity; a study into "Generation Whatever", looking at the lives of young people and their media consumption; an analysis of attitudes towards online TV and how it works with established broadcast TV.; a study with Mediacom examining the impact of television on immediate web response and other short-term response channels; a joint study with the IPA which analysed the correlation between campaigns' performance across a wide range of the worlds' most respected creative awards determined by The Gunn Report, and their performance in hard business terms recorded in the IPA Effectiveness Awards Databank between 2000 and 2008; a ‘TV Together’ study that explored the shared viewing experience and the phenomenon of social networking in relation to TV; and a ‘Tellyporting’ study with Decipher, which involved equipping families with the latest TV technologies in order to study their impact on TV viewing behaviour.
, announced the formation of the TV Planning Awards. The awards were first granted in 2008. In addition, monthly awards, called the Thinkboxes, were inaugurated in May, 2008. Working in conjunction with Haymarket Brand Media
, the awards are judged by a "Thinkbox Creative Academy" consisting of approximately 100 representatives of the marketing and advertising industries, and are focused on awarding creativity in regard to television advertising.
Thinkbox is involved sponsoring a number of different industry awards, including the IPA Effectiveness Awards, ISBA, The British Television Advertising Awards, The Roses, and The Scottish Advertising Awards.
In September 2010 Thinkbox launched its second TV advertising campaign, featuring a couple visiting a dogs’ home to choose a dog to adopt. They encounter a dog called Harvey, played by Sykes
, who has made a TV ad. Harvey turns on a TV behind him which plays out an ad showcasing his amazing skills such as playing chess, doing the school run, cooking, ironing, and cleaning windows. Harvey’s ad ends with the line ‘Every home needs a Harvey’. The soundtrack to the ad is Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s 1974 classic 'You ain’t seen nothing yet'. The ad ends with the lines ‘Discover the power of TV advertising at www.thinkbox.tv’ and ‘Television: where brands get their breaks’. The ad featuring Harvey the dog was voted Ad of the Year by ITV viewers in December 2010.
The organisation's first website was launched in May, 2005, and was intended to be used to provide industry data, research findings, and case studies. The site was relaunched a year later, and, after an investment of £250,000, it had been modified to include new features such as television advertisements and industry directories. In 2008 they engaged in another revamp, redesigning the site so that the focus could be extended, incorporating content regarding some of the newer technologies such as IPTV
, and providing greater access to their research and materials. Since the most recent revamp Thinkbox have continued to develop their website, adding features such as an online calculator that advertisers could use to predict the cost of interactive TV ads.
Thinkbox's content team produce films on TV and TV advertising, many of which can be watched on its website.
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
, ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
, Sky Media
British Sky Broadcasting
British Sky Broadcasting Group plc is a satellite broadcasting, broadband and telephony services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, with operations in the United Kingdom and the Ireland....
, and Turner
Turner Broadcasting System
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. is the Time Warner subsidiary managing the collection of cable networks and properties started and acquired by Robert Edward "Ted" Turner starting in the mid-1970s. The company has its headquarters in the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia. TBS, Inc...
Media Innovations. UKTV
UKTV
UKTV is a digital cable and satellite television network, formed through a joint venture between BBC Worldwide, a commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation, and Scripps Networks Interactive, spun off from The E.W Scripps Company in 2008...
joined Thinkbox in January 2011. Its aim is to work with the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
marketing community to help customers get the best out of television in all its forms. Thinkbox was launched in February 2005 with a consortium consisting of eight companies, and was initially run as a virtual organisation
Virtual enterprise
A virtual enterprise is a temporary alliance of businesses or persons that come together to share skills or core competencies and resources in order to better respond to business opportunities, and whose cooperation is supported by computer networks....
. In 2006 the group changed direction, hiring Tess Alps as the CEO and undergoing significant internal changes, including the loss of one of the original eight companies involved in creating the organisation. Five left the organisation at the end of 2010.
Thinkbox's activities include supporting research into aspects of marketing using television, supporting various television marketing awards (including their monthly Thinkboxes), training programs and providing information to marketers about television advertising.
In 2010 Thinkbox won the Best B2B Marketing Award at the Marketing Society Awards for Excellence.
History
Thinkbox was founded in February, 2005, by a consortium of eight media companies: Channel 4Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
, Five, GMTV
GMTV
GMTV was the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 to 3 September 2010. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of ITV plc. in November 2009. Shortly after, ITV plc announced the programme would end...
, Sky Media
British Sky Broadcasting
British Sky Broadcasting Group plc is a satellite broadcasting, broadband and telephony services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, with operations in the United Kingdom and the Ireland....
, IDS, ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
, Turner
Turner Broadcasting System
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. is the Time Warner subsidiary managing the collection of cable networks and properties started and acquired by Robert Edward "Ted" Turner starting in the mid-1970s. The company has its headquarters in the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia. TBS, Inc...
Media Innovations, Viacom Brand Solutions
Viacom
Viacom Inc. , short for "Video & Audio Communications", is an American media conglomerate with interests primarily in, but not limited to, cinema and cable television...
and Dolphin TV. With an initial £1.5m budget, gained by charging a flat fee to each of the eight member organisations and an additional variable rate tied to their share of the TV advertising market, the new body was developed to improve sales of television advertising. Nevertheless, the member organisations were expected to continue to compete for advertising, and they retained their existing sales departments.
Structurally, Thinkbox began as a virtual organisation
Virtual enterprise
A virtual enterprise is a temporary alliance of businesses or persons that come together to share skills or core competencies and resources in order to better respond to business opportunities, and whose cooperation is supported by computer networks....
, lacking both a dedicated executive body
Senior management
Senior management, executive management, or management team is generally a team of individuals at the highest level of organizational management who have the day-to-day responsibilities of managing a company or corporation, they hold specific executive powers conferred onto them with and by...
and physical headquarters. Instead of a dedicated executive, the staff working on the project were overseen by a committee consisting of representatives of each of the eight member organisations, and Thinkbox was initially chaired by ITV's Justin Sampson. However, this structure – particularly the lack of an executive body – was met with a degree of criticism from both inside and outside the organisation.
Things changed in 2006. Following Samson's departure from ITV, the role of chair was passed to Channel 4's Andy Barnes
Andy Barnes
Andrew 'Andy' Barnes was a footballer who played for Sutton United, Crystal Palace and Carlisle United.-References:...
, Thinkbox's budget was increased to £3m, and Tess Alps was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
in April of that year. In particular, the appointment of Alps was seen as a positive move by industry commentators: her experience with PHD suggested that she would already be aware of the various personalities and agendas in play, which was highly relevant given the "varying agendas" of the member organisations and the potential for dissent.
Some of this potential for dissent was realised later that year, when, in August 2006, IDS left the consortium. In a statement after its departure, IDS accused Thinkbox of giving in to ITV demands, moving away from a one-member, one-vote model to one which provided greater weight to ITV. (Under the new structure, ITV had gained additional voting power and a veto
Veto
A veto, Latin for "I forbid", is the power of an officer of the state to unilaterally stop an official action, especially enactment of a piece of legislation...
). Shortly after the departure of IDS, the remaining seven organisations increased the funding being provided to Thinkbox – although the exact figure was not available at the time, it was said to be "substantially bigger" that the £3m which the organisation had been operating with prior to the increase.
In spite of rumours in the first half of 2007 that ITV were considering removing their support from Thinkbox, the remaining seven companies have continued to be a part of the organisation. Since the beginning of 2007 Thinkbox established permanent staff and hired Red Brick Road and MediaCom to handle advertising, media buying and strategic consultancy, and they released their first television advertisement. They also inaugurated the annual TV Planning Awards and the monthly Thinkboxes, and ran the second of their Thinkbox Experience conferences.
Research
Thinkbox develops research focused on issues surrounding television advertising. Research studies include: a joint study with the Internet Advertising Bureau (UK) looking at how TV and online advertising work together; an in-depth analysis of how TV sponsorship works; an engagementEngagement (marketing)
Engagement measures the extent to which a consumer has a meaningful brand experience when exposed to commercial advertising, sponsorship, television contact, or other experience....
study examining how consumers engage with TV ads; two "payback" studies with PricewaterhouseCoopers
PricewaterhouseCoopers
PricewaterhouseCoopers is a global professional services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest professional services firm measured by revenues and one of the "Big Four" accountancy firms....
examining the impact of TV advertising on long- and short-term sales and brand equity; a study into "Generation Whatever", looking at the lives of young people and their media consumption; an analysis of attitudes towards online TV and how it works with established broadcast TV.; a study with Mediacom examining the impact of television on immediate web response and other short-term response channels; a joint study with the IPA which analysed the correlation between campaigns' performance across a wide range of the worlds' most respected creative awards determined by The Gunn Report, and their performance in hard business terms recorded in the IPA Effectiveness Awards Databank between 2000 and 2008; a ‘TV Together’ study that explored the shared viewing experience and the phenomenon of social networking in relation to TV; and a ‘Tellyporting’ study with Decipher, which involved equipping families with the latest TV technologies in order to study their impact on TV viewing behaviour.
Awards
In 2007 Thinkbox, in combination with Campaign and MediaWeekMediaWeek
MediaWeek is a trade magazine serving the Australian newspaper, television, radio, magazine and advertising industries. MediaWeek is published as a weekday email digest and weekly hard copy magazine...
, announced the formation of the TV Planning Awards. The awards were first granted in 2008. In addition, monthly awards, called the Thinkboxes, were inaugurated in May, 2008. Working in conjunction with Haymarket Brand Media
Haymarket Group
Haymarket Media Group is a privately owned media company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It has offices in Australia, Belgium, China, Germany, India, Japan, Singapore and the United States....
, the awards are judged by a "Thinkbox Creative Academy" consisting of approximately 100 representatives of the marketing and advertising industries, and are focused on awarding creativity in regard to television advertising.
Thinkbox is involved sponsoring a number of different industry awards, including the IPA Effectiveness Awards, ISBA, The British Television Advertising Awards, The Roses, and The Scottish Advertising Awards.
Advertising and publishing
Initially campaign development was handled in-house, but in 2007 Thinkbox decided to engage an outside agency. The result was the hiring of Red Brick Road, who were engaged to handle Thinkbox's advertising, online and direct marketing requirements. In 2008 Thinkbox went further, hiring MediaCom to handle their media buying and planning, as well as to provide strategic advice. Under this new approach, Thinkbox's first television advertising campaign - which went on to be awarded by D&AD, the BTAAs, and the APA - was launched in May, 2009, with a roadblock advertisement presented across multiple channels.In September 2010 Thinkbox launched its second TV advertising campaign, featuring a couple visiting a dogs’ home to choose a dog to adopt. They encounter a dog called Harvey, played by Sykes
Sykes (dog)
Sykes is a dog actor from Clifton, Oxfordshire. He is best known in the UK for his appearance as Harvey in Thinkbox's television commercial, but has also appeared in several Hollywood blockbusters...
, who has made a TV ad. Harvey turns on a TV behind him which plays out an ad showcasing his amazing skills such as playing chess, doing the school run, cooking, ironing, and cleaning windows. Harvey’s ad ends with the line ‘Every home needs a Harvey’. The soundtrack to the ad is Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s 1974 classic 'You ain’t seen nothing yet'. The ad ends with the lines ‘Discover the power of TV advertising at www.thinkbox.tv’ and ‘Television: where brands get their breaks’. The ad featuring Harvey the dog was voted Ad of the Year by ITV viewers in December 2010.
The organisation's first website was launched in May, 2005, and was intended to be used to provide industry data, research findings, and case studies. The site was relaunched a year later, and, after an investment of £250,000, it had been modified to include new features such as television advertisements and industry directories. In 2008 they engaged in another revamp, redesigning the site so that the focus could be extended, incorporating content regarding some of the newer technologies such as IPTV
IPTV
Internet Protocol television is a system through which television services are delivered using the Internet protocol suite over a packet-switched network such as the Internet, instead of being delivered through traditional terrestrial, satellite signal, and cable television formats.IPTV services...
, and providing greater access to their research and materials. Since the most recent revamp Thinkbox have continued to develop their website, adding features such as an online calculator that advertisers could use to predict the cost of interactive TV ads.
Thinkbox's content team produce films on TV and TV advertising, many of which can be watched on its website.