Starting with a discussion of two analyses from a recently published multibrand study, this paper argues that such work could help us learn much more about the effects of different marketing and planning decisions. The paper outlines a proposal which develops this idea. It proposes a major programme of further analyses of the existing databases in the hands of the major syndicated research services such as purchase panels, shop audits and ad awareness studies. Key aspects and benefits of the proposal are identified. A high level of cooperative effort would be required, involving advertisers, advertising agencies and the research companies. Media owners would also want to be closely involved, but in a different manner because they are not directly involved in the purchase and interpretation of the data to be used. We are on the threshold of being able to build a much improved starter kit of market planning knowledge, with the potential for delivering a greatly improved marketing ROI. The question is no longer how to improve marketing efficiency, but when?
This paper outlines and discusses the research implications of a new Print ad sales effectiveness brochure published in May 1999 and sponsored by publisher associations and publishers from many different countries. It is argued that collectively the material in the brochure makes the case for print advertising in a far more powerful manner than any Previous publication. The twenty-two research projects summarised show Print the winner in every case usually in combination with television and preference to television-only advertising. a print sales tool and for advertisers and agencies seeking to determine their best broad media strategies the material will be of great value. However it is argued that it actually underestimates the strength of the case for the print medium and makes only a limited contribution to our ability to make more informed planning decisions. The research tools are now in place to make it possible to move ahead on both these fronts.
This paper discusses six factors which have been identified as being mainly responsible for determining the short-term response to advertising pressure. Two of these factors - ad efficiency and media planning - are singled out for special attention because they are directly under the control of the agency and brand manager. These two factors are considered in some detail, with special reference to print. The author proposes that when evaluating print campaigns much greater attention should be paid to various dimensions of them than is customary today.
This report is based on a study of month-by-month brand share movements for twenty leading packaged goods brands - consisting of ten top magazine-only and ten top mixed magazine and television advertisers - over a two year period, and used an analysis approach which focuses on a comparison of actual against expected brand shares, averaged across brands and grouped for sets of months according to the level of magazine advertising support for each brand individually.
This paper proposes there are three decision areas which make up any advertising campaign: communication, targeting and budget size issues. This thinking is linked to the current hot topic of integrated marketing communications, with special reference to the integration of print and television advertising. Some recent relevant research results are discussed, and the main implications of this work with respect to the design of print research studies are considered.
In the last two years the amount of published diagnostic information on effective frequency has increased considerably. Most of this work, which challenges much current established thinking, has been concerned solely with television, but in itself this concentration of effort on a competitive medium is significant for publishers. A number of key studies of this type, with their conclusions, are described briefly. The recent work by Millward Brown for IPC Magazines Ltd is also concerned with frequency, but it focuses attention on the extent to which the impact of magazine campaigns can be increased by ensuring that individual creative treatments do not become over- exposed. This work is described and the conclusions drawn so far described. This Millward Brown work is breakthrough and very positive research for publishers, but it is argued that it needs to be seen as only the start of a programme of sales related experimental studies designed to explore the mechanics of print advertising campaigns. It is suggested that print has much to gain from such greater knowledge.
The idea that a combination of print and television makes an advertising budget work harder than does television on its own has been well supported by a number of research studies in recent years. These research studies were drawn together under the auspices of FIPP in 1991 and published in a brochure titled The Media Multiplier: Increasing Sales Worldwide. This brochure has now been translated into 11 languages and has been widely circulated throughout the world. The benefit from mixed print and television advertising arises in two ways - from a) better targeting, that is spreading the advertising effort more evenly, especially against those people most likely to respond positively, and from b) an increase in the power of the communication achieved by the media mix. This paper briefly outlines these two factors, presents the limited information currently available on their relative importance and considers what further information is required to throw more light on this balance. It concludes with the suggestion that the findings of this further work could have very considerable implications for both the media selling strategies of publishers and the development of advertising and media research.
The forces affecting brand marketing have resulted in many changes in recent years and will continue to do so at an accelerated rate over the next 5-10 years. One clear and damaging manifestation of these changes, not just from a publisher's viewpoint, has been a growth of sales promotion spending. This paper discusses the nature of these changes, with reference mainly to evidence from the UK. It considers how they are affecting media owners, and pays special attention to the opportunities which will arise for print advertising if the publishers adopt appropriate strategies.
The essence of the Media Multiplier concept is that the combination of print and television advertising does a better job for the advertiser than the use of television on its own. This paper is divided into 4 parts. In the first part I discuss the Multiplier concept and explain why no fewer than 20 publishers and publisher organisations from 14 countries around the world have come together to promote it. Plus one far-sighted advertising agency. In the second part I concentrate on one aspect of the research evidence which supports the Multiplier proposition, in order to emphasise the need to understand very clearly the strengths, and weaknesses, of the supporting material. The third and fourth parts look to the future. In the third part I spend a little time describing two significant changes which are taking place in the media market, as far as research is concerned, while I conclude by attempting to bring all this together by outlining a research strategy which publishers who agree the need to expand the size of the print medium might like to consider. It is a strategy which will last them until end of the century.
This paper explains why a group of UK magazine publishers choose to conduct research into the way in which magazine advertisements and television commercials interact with each other, in terms of the communication achieved. The research is described and some of the main findings reviewed. The paper concludes with some comments about the design of future similar studies should it be decided that more work along the same lines should be undertaken.
There are two broad approaches which a company may adopt in trying to evaluate the benefits gained from its advertising expenditure. These are either by analysis of sales or by some form of consumer research. In this paper the results obtained from one particular tracking study are analysed. Clear differences emerge between the achievements of brands with different media policies which should be sufficient to challenge the cost efficiency of one of the alternative strategies.