The Situation
This financial services advertiser launched a new multimedia campaign that included TV, print, radio and online advertising. The total annual media budget was $35 million; within the competitive set, the brand had a relatively low share of voice, being significantly outspent by at least five other brands. Budget allocations by media were based on the traditional media analyses – syndicated data on media usage, supplemented by standard reach and frequency calculations. The advertiser asked Communicus to study initial in-market campaign performance, and to provide recommendations as to the media allocation plan that would achieve the best possible results, given the strengths and weaknesses of the new campaign.
The Communicus Approach
Communicus implemented a
commVANTAGE study to determine the performance of each medium in-market. In the
PREcomm phase, conducted prior to campaign launch, a sample of target audience individuals rated the brand and selected competitive brands on a series of attributes and on future purchase receptivity. Five months after campaign launch, an
AIRwave – consisting of reinterviews with a sub-set of the original
PREcomm sample – was implemented. This phase measured engagement and branding for every execution in the campaign, across media, using the Communicus proprietary measurement system; brand questioning (identical to the
PREcomm questioning) was also administered.
On the basis of this information, the performance of each medium was quantified on branded engagement achieved (e.g., what percent of the target had seen and correctly brand-linked executions in the medium) and on persuasive impact among those with branded awareness.
Key Learning
The analysis concluded the following:
- The TV, comprised of a single commercial, was effective, but receiving more funding than a cost/benefit analysis warranted.
- The print campaign was extremely effective and efficient, and none of the individual ads within the print series had yet achieved their full potential.
- Radio was efficient in generating frequency of exposure, and had significant impact on the brand when heard in combination with other media, but was not expanding campaign awareness beyond what was being achieved through the use of TV and print.
Actions Taken
Through implementation of the
roiVANTAGE planning tool, the advertiser was able to examine the likely outcomes of several different scenarios, including:
- adding more TV executions (taking into account the production costs involved)
- allocating more money to print
- allocating more/less money to radio
Based on the predicted outcomes, a decision was made to limit the use of TV (although at least one new TV execution would still be required later in the year), to expand the print portion of the campaign significantly, and to further target the radio buy to those most likely to also be exposed to executions in other media.
The Outcome
By the end of the year, the advertiser was realizing significantly greater campaign awareness in relation to overall spending, with stronger persuasive impact among those who had engaged with the campaign. As a result of the media re-allocation, the client estimated that the brand received between 150% and 200% more in-market impact on purchase receptivity than had been gained prior to re-allocation. In addition, the campaign achieved stronger advertising awareness than all but one of the competitors that were outspending the brand.
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