Abstract:

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.