Not long ago I worked on advertising for a Swedish automaker. This particular automaker had about $50 million to spend on advertising. Of course they had planned to put the bulk of that in local TV spots.
I recommended that put the entirety in online. Here's why:
Sad to say, if all you have is $50 million to spend on a car account, you don't really have enough to be on TV. Instead of fighting against a crowd, choose something you can do that no one else can.
If your spend will be buried, create a look, or a voice, or find a device that will let you dominate something.
Of late I am working on two launches. The client wants a lot yet has no money. So the agencies produce forty-seven different units and probably present three times that many. The client will buy a few dozen and put just enough money behind each of those units to assure that no one in the market sees anything.
That might be ok. Since it seems that the reason most agencies do work nowadays is so they can post their :32-second spot on Adweek or YouTube.