Catch Group’s first foray into the world of TV advertising has cost the e-commerce company millions, as it looks to bolster its brand awareness ahead of the imminent arrival of Amazon.
It’s first TV campaign, which has been airing for two-weeks, is part of a long-term marketing play to first establish Catch’s new marketplace image in the local market before beginning to communicate price and range later down the line.
Catch Group’s head of marketing, Ryan Gracie, told that the campaign was initially designed alongside the company’s re-brand to drive awareness and begin building trust – something pureplay retailers have struggled with in recent years.
“Building a brand online is very hard and you have to really take yourself above the line if you want to be a trusted, credible brand,” Gracie said.
“We’re a pureplay, we don’t exist physically so it’s important for us to exist on these other channels.”
Gracie was unable to say what the return looks like so far, but said a decision was taken by management on TV knowing that assessing the benefits wouldn’t be clear cut.
“The hard costs of the media spend is a major inhibitor, because you can’t explicitly measure the impact of it,” he said.
“What do you get when you advertise on TV? You get a warm and fuzzy feeling, but you have to trust it’s going to work.”
The ads themselves depict Australians in various scenarios screaming “catch” – in line with the company’s “screaming good deals” philosophy.
Catch is investing in marketing on both sides of the market at the moment, having also stepped up its B2B marketing since its brand relaunch to encourage more suppliers to jump on its platform.
Catch Group co-founder Gabby Leibovich told sister site Internet Retailing in August that more than 200 brands have signed up to the marketplace, with 25,000 new SKUs recently added across several new categories.
Nati Harpaz, CEO of Catch Group, is the chairman of Octomedia, Inside Retail’s parent company.