Connected consumers
Guy Consterdine, FIPP’s Research Consultant, discusses publisher/advertiser partnerships (Immediate Media/Silver Spoon), connected consumers (IPC), and a multiplier effect (Bauer Media’s Heat magazine).
I am seeing more and more examples of publishers working closely with advertisers in partnerships, in order to devise tailor-made marketing campaigns supported by bespoke research, rather than just carrying standard advertisements.
Silver Spoon’s ‘Bake with the best’ campaign
One well-documented published example comes from Immediate Media in the UK, with its “Bake with the best” campaign for Silver Spoon. It ran in 2013 across seven of Immediate’s magazine brands, on print and digital platforms, showing via 60 specially created recipes the use of four of Silver Spoon’s baking products: Silver Spoon sugar, Billington specialist sugars, Nielsen Massey vanilla extract, and Allinsons flour.
The bespoke research included pre-, mid- and post-campaign effectiveness studies using a regular Immediate Media online panel; a monthly tracker survey; several specialist panels; and focus groups.
The result was significant increases for the brands in awareness, positive brand perception, and purchase intent. The return on investment (ROI) was estimated as £2.7 per £1 invested, which earned a warm testimonial from the client. [LINK TO PAPER]
Connected consumers
I believe one of the reasons the campaign worked so well is that it used a combination of the publisher’s printed magazines, tablet editions and websites – recognising that these days we are catering for “the connected consumer” who moves seamlessly between print, many forms of digital platform, and other media. (For more on connected consumers, visit the IPC Connected Consumers website).
Connected consumers mean that a multiplier effect occurs when a communication is delivered on multiple platforms.
A contribution from neuroscience
A radically different way of looking at connected consumers and their multiplier effect comes from a thought-provoking study commissioned by Bauer Media UK, using neuroscience to study the emotional responses to Bauer’s magazine brand Heat. [LINK TO DOCUMENT]
Research agency Neuro-insight recruited 180 consumers and measured brain responses using their proprietary technique, “steady state topography” (SST). SST can measure a number of emotions as a result of electrical activity in the brain, namely engagement, long term memory encoding, desirability, emotional intensity, and visual attention.
Consumers were exposed to the Heat brand across its four core platforms: printed magazine, online, radio, and TV. Consumers were exposed to editorial content and also advertising for a number of products, each appearing on multiple Heat platforms. There was also a control group, which involved exposing consumers to the same platforms but with a different brand advertised on each platform.
The Heat brand elicited a strong and positive emotional state, and this rubbed off onto the advertising displayed in the context of the brand. Responses to advertising messages shown across platforms linked consistently by the Heat brand were stronger than advertising messages without that link. For example, Heat magazine primed responses to linked advertising on radio and online.
As well as being a testament to the power of the Heat brand, it’s a fine example of a multiplier effect among connected consumers.
Connected consumers in Hamburg
“Connected consumers” is one of the principal topics at the forthcoming FIPP Research Forum in Hamburg, Germany, on 16 & 17 June 2014, with a number of papers addressing this theme from various angles. For details of these and the other papers visit www.fippresearchforum.com, which provides full information about the conference and awards and how to register.
POP2
“Connected consumers” will also be a new chapter in the forthcoming second edition of Proof of Performance: Making the case for magazine media (POP), which I am writing for FIPP for publication in the autumn of 2014.
A great deal of new research has been published in the two years since POP appeared, making the case for magazine media even more persuasive – including much evidence about publishers’ digital platforms. I already have many new pieces of research to consider for inclusion in the second edition of POP but there must be many more out in the marketplace around the world of which I’m unaware, but which would be valuable to include.
There is still time to send me information about recent research on magazine media in any country: please email me your research.
