The Market-Changer’s Playbook

The marketer’s guide that inspired our first VAB video ad campaign, The Market-Changer’s Playbook: Why TV Is Where Disruptors Go to Grow Big, examines the TV spend of 35 category disruptor brands.

These are brands that are digital-native, data-driven and outcomes-obsessed, such as Uber, Airbnb, Dyson, Wayfair and Zillow. Similar to our previous attribution reports, we analyze their TV spend in relation to the available brand metrics, such as website traffic, online interactions and revenue/sales or valuations for private companies to determine what, if any, correlations exist.

Some key findings of the guide include:

• The 35 brand disruptors collectively spent over $2.6 billion on TV in 2016, a 23% increase YOY.
• The “brand building” disruptors segment saw an 184% YOY increase on total digital actions—including increased search queries, social media actions and total online views—with an increased investment in TV.
• For “brand expanding” companies, revenues spiked after they launched a TV campaign or sharply increased TV spending. For instance, Dollar Shave Club and Care.com saw over a 100% increase in revenue upon launching a TV campaign or heavying-up on TV, respectively.
• In 2016, the five major “established” digital disruptors (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google, aka FAANG), spent almost $1.4 billion on TV, up from $550 million in 2011.

As you’ll see in this report, no other investment provides the proven sales successes like TV and it truly is the place where disruptors go to grow big.