The paper describes a project that has been launched in Switzerland (MUST) and is proposed to be extended internationally. A common currency for intermedia planning across national borders has yet to be established. Since reach figures need a high degree of consensus from the industry (especially from media) for comparison, a new attempt is made by instead using frequency information to form groups of heavy users within each medium. That information is already available in most syndicated media research and could be extracted at low cost. To avoid a conflict with existing currencies (reach figures and ratings), an index value is proposed in a graphical form (Mediagram).
This paper describes how more market profit can be derived out of media data when: A) users are offered easy and practice-oriented access to the data, and when; B) new data are created which can provide answers to old questions. The problem is that a relatively high number of data sources exist concerning consumer behaviour on the one hand; and for media planning (in the sense of campaign planning optimisation for individual media) on the other. However, there is a considerable lack of objective data to validate the media mix decision. The Swiss pilot study MUST (Media User Study) attempts to introduce a new dimension in media comparison, by observing the consumer in his everyday life and as a user of various media. Compiled methodically on a firm basis, the study shows how to carry out a quantitative and qualitative comparison of various groups of media - but without renouncing existing planning instruments. To enable the use of these data interactively in dialogue, new software has been developed which permits graphic visualisation on laptop.