Integrated communication: the research needs
This leads inevitably to demands for new types of audience research. Planning an integrated communication strategy across all channels requires comparisons of exposure and involvement for each channel – but the necessary integrated research does not yet exist.
The traditional major media are measured separately, using different definitions of exposure, and thus they are not comparable. For example, BARB minute-by-minute television ratings are not the same thing as RAJAR radio ratings, and neither of them equate to circulation figures from ABC or average-issue readership figures from the National Readership Survey.
The new medium of the internet has quickly yielded audience figures, but page impressions, unique visitors, click-throughs and the other statistics mean quite different things from other media’s exposure data. This is perfectly understandable and natural, for each of these currencies has been specially designed to reflect the way each individual medium works. From the perspective of channel planning, however, it is not good enough. Something needs to be done to create data that are comparable across these media.
Other problems are that many channels are not measured at all, and for all media insufficient account is taken of qualitative factors affecting the nature of the exposures.
Consequently the view is gaining ground that conventional measures of opportunity to see or hear are more restrictive than previously considered, and that it is insufficient to plan media on the basis of gross rating points, costs per thousand, and reach and frequency (though these remain important). What should gain in relevance are measures of engagement and involvement with the medium and the messages they carry.
The solution is some form of holistic research which covers all the most significant channels and at the same time draws upon the established single-medium currencies. Some of the larger advertising/media agencies, and at least one major research company, have developed their own proprietary systems, exclusive to their own clients. Of particular interest is the IPA’s TouchPoints project.
IPA TouchPoints
TouchPoints [87] has been set up by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA), together with a number of founding partners representing single-medium currencies and certain media owners. It is a ‘hub’ survey leading towards a massive multi-channel integrated database. After piloting in 2004, the main fieldwork began in March 2005, and the eventual database is due for completion by the end of 2005.
The fieldwork, conducted by TNS, consists of an initial contact questionnaire collecting basic exposure data on a wide range of traditional and new media, and a diary panel of 5,000 respondents who record all their channel exposure, in half-hour segments, for seven days. The recording is done on a PDA hand-held computer which respondents keep with them throughout the week.
The purpose of this is not only to provide new data and fresh insights, but also to act as a hub into which other currencies can be integrated. These will include the National Readership Survey, BARB television data, JICREG regional newspaper readership, RAJAR radio audiences, CAA cinema figures, POSTAR outdoor estimates, and a host of proprietary surveys. The output will represent a single-source media contact survey, covering a large number of communication channels. The complex business of integrating these sources (conducted by RSMB) will take more than six months.
BMRB’s ‘Compose’: 26 channels
A further indication of the range of channels coming into play can be seen in BMRB’s multi-channel survey called Compose [88]. Launched at the beginning of 2005, it is based on re-interviewing TGI respondents, and it collected information on attitudes and traits for individual product categories and no less than 26 communication channels.
The channels, shown in the table, include the usual mainstream advertising media which have been measured by long-established traditional currencies, but the list of other channels makes interesting reading.
Compose: 26 channels measured
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Measured by traditional currencies |
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Cinema advertising |
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Customer magazines |
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Magazine advertising |
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National newspaper advertising |
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Posters & outdoor advertising |
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Radio advertising |
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Regional newspaper advertising |
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Television advertising |
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|
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Other channels |
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Brand & company websites |
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Emails |
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Examining products in-store |
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Exhibitions & trade shows |
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Free samples |
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Information from call-centres/helplines |
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Inserts in newspapers/magazines |
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In-store materials and displays |
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Interactive TV advertising |
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Internet advertising (e.g. banners) |
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TV programme sponsorship |
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Mailings & letters |
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Recommendations |
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Reviews in the media |
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Special offers, coupons |
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Sponsorship (events, teams) |
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Text messages |
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TV direct sales |
Compose allows subscribers to examine each channel in terms of its traits. The six traits most strongly associated with magazine advertising (‘very good’ or ‘quite good’ at) were:
- Giving you information or ideas about new brands
- Getting messages across if only seen once or twice
- Prompting you to take action (e.g. store visit, seek information)
- Helping you understand everything a brand offers you
- Often the first way you hear about new things
- Conveying whether a product/brand is good value
The best use of this kind of information comes from comparing different channels in order to show the relative strengths and weaknesses of each, and thus how a certain combination of channels creates the most effective communication among a defined target audience.
Implications for magazine publishers
This is the type of research landscape in which magazine publishers will progressively find themselves. It will be increasingly necessary to demonstrate how various channels can work together, complementing each other, and where magazines fit in. Magazines’ unique contribution in the media mix must be spelt out ever more clearly. The effectiveness of magazine advertising when used with other media, and the return on investment, need to be brought home.
There is also heightened demand for combining data on physical ad exposure with measures of engagement with the ads. Magazines perform very well in terms of engagement, as already shown, but it needs fresh emphasis from publishers.
A simple illustration of what a single publication can do to show magazines’ role among other media is provided by IPC Media’s Now magazine. In the “Leisure Interests Study” conducted in 2001 by Linda Jones & Partners [89], readers of Now were asked about usual sources of health advice and beauty ideas, covering a wide range of channels of communication. The channels included relatives/friends, and professionals such as advisers at beauty counters in stores, and doctors.
Usual sources of health advice and beauty ideas
Sources cited by 30% or more of sample
Health advice:
| Magazines | 82% |
| TV | 40% |
| Relatives/friends | 39% |
| Doctor | 34% |
Beauty ideas:
| Magazines | 86% |
| TV | 34% |
| Beauty counter | 31% |
| Relatives/friends | 30% |
For information on health, and also on beauty, only four channels of communication were cited by 30% or more of the sample. Magazines were the prime source for both types of information, mentioned by 82% and 86%, more than twice the percentages choosing the second-ranked source, in each case TV. It is noteworthy that relatives and friends were a much less used source of advice and ideas than magazines, among these readers. Similarly the relevant professionals were used much less too - doctors (for health advice) and beauty counters (for beauty ideas).