iTV Report: A new leap of faith.

With the spread of PVR technology and the empowerment of viewers, it is important for agencies to put clients in a position to take advantage.

What can digital media offer me, particularly interactive TV? A client once asked me. This client had asked this question to many of his other agencies and digital specialists and had received the same stock answers in reply. 'Effective lead-generation ... '... cost-effective impulse response mechanism', '... great way to continue the brand experience

I must admit I have, in the past, found myself talking this language.

But I now know that back then we had all missed the point ... Well, most of us.

Digital media, particularly iTV, is all about value innovation and creativity - taking the leap from the low-margin dogfight that is impulse-response campaigns and ineffective mini-DALs to a market space that recognises what is on the horizon. A market space where the distinction between TV, PC and PVR becomes less clear, where measurement allows real accountability, and linear viewing of TV changes so much that the term 'primetime viewing' becomes less relevant.

This is the market space where we need to take iTV and we need to take our clients with us. If we don't, then we are still talking about the same issues of five years ago when iTV first arrived. Issues such as the lack of creativity, how content is the key driver, why the iTV element is not properly considered at conception, how the medium's slowness and lack of functionality are holding us back and are the reasons we must provide clients value through innovation and creativity.

To gain entry into this market we need to change our whole thinking of what iTV is. Once we change how we think about the medium, we create the market that we always wanted for us and our clients. A market that is ripe for growth and a medium that gives our clients a real alternative, or works with the traditional TV ad, but for a fraction of the production cost.