This paper discusses the way readers ensure that the things they read in magazines and newspapers are well adapted to their individual needs - and how close the relationship often is between the reader and the publication.
The advertising industry is rapidly changing. Advertisers are looking for immediate results; often at a very short notice. Advertising agencies try to expand their service functions from merely creative to overall marketing services. The recession period didn't only slow down the growth of advertising expenditures, but lead to a further shift from above the line towards below the line activities; direct marketing being the big winner. It also lead to an increased pressure on prices and margins via media broking and media buying instruments. The real or perceived value for money no longer was determined by value but merely by price/discounts. In the publishing industry the not to be stopped growth of TV time available decreased the market share of print dramatically. One of our studies shows per product category a direct decline of the marketshare for magazines, where the share of TV swings upwards.
This paper is a contribution to the ESOMAR Seminar on competitor analysis in the pharmaceutical market. It has the intention to point at practical analysis of competitor promotion. This in itself is not new, of course, but the paper describes another way of looking at such data, in order to make these very useful in the field of media planning. Media planning becomes more and more important for pharmaceutical marketers, especially in those markets where budgets become tighter and tighter.
Most of the research done up to now with regard to the choice of media has been either at the level of the audience or at the level of communication. Audience surveys of major media categories are necessary, but they are not sufficient. Large-scale surveys which seek to compare the general effectiveness of several media categories sometimes lead to disappointing conclusions. In order to make progress, we must study the working of the actual process of communication; we must know the why and how of effectiveness. Consequently the media planner will henceforward need the help of the psychologist, the sociologist and the semiologist.
Introductory paragraph to the "Media research" section of the book "Market researchers look at advertising".
What I plan to do is to speak rather narrowly to the subject which was - you recall - the cost of effectiveness of different media and in doing so, to touch upon each of the papers though not in any case at any great length, as that's really more for the open discussion I think. I shall be talking about experiences derived or known about in the United Kingdom and the United States only, partly because there is a wider media choice there in those two countries than in many other countries, and partly because that is where my experience lies.
Let us take a look at the amount of money which is actually spent. Upon my request, the Dutch publisher Admedia made a frequency distribution of the budgets within each product field. Admedia has a data bank in which all major budgets are registered. They have about 6 'accounts'. I took together all spending on theme advertising which I have defined as T.V. , radio and magazines. I excluded the newspapers which are not important for theme advertising, and besides Admedia is not very accurate in this field.
Much research has been done in the Medical Field on Readership and the overall communications field. However, such information has not in the past given sufficient information as to the types of doctors to whom manufacturers are directing their products. The target audience has been treated as just one bland amorphous mess. This paper demonstrates how doctors can be segmented in to the various types so that manufacturers can direct their promotion accordingly as well as seeing which journal, or blend of journals, can be employed to give the best exposure for their products.
If in future one will try to measure the chance of perception of an advertisement, the page confrontation probability is an indispensable link in the chain. Besides, in media selection, it gives the possibility to use page confrontation chance as a medium weight in order to discriminate between media. The task we set ourselves was: To find a technique which makes it possible to estimate the confrontation probability of the single page of many media in one sample. First efforts were concentrated on magazines and on television. The decision was made to start a first wave with 17 titles and TV. This survey consisted of three parts: 1. The registration of the pages with which confrontation of the reader was recorded; 2. The registration of the characteristics of all the pages of the issues and the titles belonging to the survey; 3. The development of a calculation system in order to obtain comparable figures for magazines and for TV which could be used as a medium weight.
The paper sets out to examine the function of advertising for a retail organisation; the need to select the correct target audience at whom to direct it; the criteria for media selection; the creative approach and the subsequent measurement of results. It attempts to discuss some of the information sources available and information therein provided and how it can be used to satisfy these needs and criteria. It examines some examples of pre and post advertising research.
Most of the research done up to now with regard to the choice of media has been either at the level of the audience or at the level of communication. Audience surveys of major media categories are necessary, but they are not sufficient. Large-scale surveys which seek to compare the general effectiveness of several media categories sometimes lead to disappointing conclusions. In order to make progress, we must study the working of the actual process of communication? We must know the "why" and the "how" of effectiveness. Consequently the media planner will henceforward need the help of the psychologist, the sociologist and the semiologist.