In driving sales, magazines rank No. 1

In driving sales, magazines rank No. 1
Medium enhances TV and internet campaigns

By Heidi Dawley
http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman2/publish/Research_25/In_driving_sales_magazines_rank_No_1.asp


Finally, a positive few words about beleaguered magazines, after years in which the medium has been losing readers and advertisers to the internet and elsewhere.

When it comes to advertising effectiveness, a new study finds, magazine advertising remains especially effective in enhancing consumers' impressions of the product and their intent to purchase that product.

The study found that adding magazines to a TV and internet advertising campaign significantly boosts the success of the campaign, and in some key areas the contribution of magazines outweighed that of TV.

The study, by Dynamic Logic, a New York research company, analyzed 32 cross-media campaigns from 10 different types of companies, including consumer goods, automotive, electronics, apparel and financial services. Most were U.S. campaigns but some were global as well.

The researchers first isolated the impact of TV advertising. They then looked at what impact adding the internet had. Last they looked at what magazines contributed to the mix.

To do this, the study compared results from people who had seen only the TV ads with those who had seen TV and internet, and then those who had seen ads in all three media.

Dynamic Logic undertook this study to better understand how different media work when used together, says Bill Havlena, vice president, research analytics for Dynamic Logic.

With advertisers and marketers increasingly using multiple media together in campaigns, understanding how the media work together when planning becomes more and more critical, says Havlena.

In this study, the researchers found that the three different media worked best when used together. Both online advertising and magazines added significantly to the impact of the advertising when used along with TV.

Further, each media contributed in a different way.

"The different media are working most strongly at different points in the purchase process," says Havlena. "The results confirm the strengths of all the media working together in a way that we hadn't seen before."

Looking at the data shows that TV worked strongly in generating brand and advertising awareness. In those categories the other two media built strongly on the initial impact of TV.

For instance, in terms of brand awareness, TV added 7.6 percentage points to the original percentage of people who were aware of the brand. The internet added another 3.7 points to the level of awareness. Finally magazines added another 5.7 percentage points (see chart, below).

In terms of advertising awareness, TV provided a bump of 9.8 percentage points. The internet, which performed strongest in the same categories as TV, added another 4.4 points.

Surprisingly, magazines also performed strongly in building advertising awareness, adding 8.3 points.

"We would not necessarily have expected that. It is clear that TV did a strong job in building awareness, but TV is thought of as an awareness-building medium, magazines, less so," says Havlena.

But it was in the final two categories of the purchase funnel that magazines really excelled when used in combination with TV and internet.

When it came to brand favorability and purchase intent, magazines added far more than TV and internet combined. For instance, in the key area of purchase intent, TV added 4.6 percentage points; the internet added 1.0 points; and magazines added 7.0 percentage points.