Making Magazines Work

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Making Magazines Work
Magazine Planning Weights
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tx portfolio
The Debate

• Does magazine advertising work?
• - Why dont most econometric models pick up most
  magazine activity?
• How can magazines be planned in the most
  effective way possible?
• - How are other media planned?
• - How are magazines planned at the moment?
• - How should they be planned?
• - What is the optimum way of using magazines?
• - What part do weekly strike weights play?
• Whats the right frequency?
• - Where do magazines fit with other media when
  using a recency model?

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Summary of findings

• Media planning tools have evolved over the past
  few years
• - We are now able to plan weekly strike weights
  for magazines in the same way as other media
• Most Magazine campaigns are planned at a
  significantly lower weekly weight than any other
  media
• - This is a significant reason why magazines as
  a medium appear not to work
• - Billets and BMRB have set a minimum weekly GRP
  level of 25 GRPs for any campaign to be
  picked up using econometrics
• - This should be used as a benchmark when
  planning magazine campaigns
• Magazines work well with recency planning and can
  be used to
• - deliver ratings within a defined time period
• at set levels over a long period
• - In conjunction with other media to maximise
• efficiency of the campaign

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Contents
How do we plan media? Setting effective
weights How does this work in magazines? Weekly
strike weights Benefits to brand, campaign and
consumer
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How do we plan Media?

• Ever since media planning began, most media have
  been planned to deliver coverage against an
  audience in a defined period of time
• - TV weekly TVRs
• - Radio weekly OTS
• - Outdoor coverage in a 2 week posting cycle
• - National Press insertions on a defined day
  of the week
• - Cinema 6 week campaigns or following a
  specific film/s
• This precision in planning means that its been
  possible to quantify the effect of activity in
  any of these media
• - And more importantly, to set effective weekly
  frequency weights

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Setting Effective Weights
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• Many advertisers now use econometric modelling or
  brand/ad/sales tracking to help them set
  effective weights
• - This is often only applied to TV
• Effective weights for weekly TVRs are dependant
  on the objectives of the campaign
• - Recency models often set weekly TVRs of around
  70-80
• - While burst strategies might use much higher
  weights

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Setting Effective Weights
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• Billets media auditors conducted research into
  the minimum weekly rating level to allow media
  activity to be measured
• They concluded the MINIMUM weekly GRPs to allow
  econometric models or tracking studies to pick up
  media activity was 25 GRPs
• This means that any positive effect of activity
  which falls below this weekly weight is unlikely
  to be picked up

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How does this work in Magazines?

• Until recently it has not been possible to define
  magazine audience delivery in the same way
• Magazines have a long shelf-life for consumers
  and therefore it has always been assumed that
  they cannot be used to deliver ratings in a
  tightly defined time period
• - The doctors waiting room effect ad
  exposures can continue for months after the
  on-sale dates
• This has also meant that most advertisers dont
  or cant track their magazine activity due to
  unknown weekly GRP levels
• The NRS Readership Accumulation study solved
  this problem though

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NRS Readership Accumulation

• Released 2004
• Consisted of 6,000 weekly diaries
• All 214 NRS titles were included
• Accumulation curves plot the time lapse between
  an issues on-sale date and the date of the
  respondents first reading of that issue.
• RAS is not guaranteed exposure, nor is it
  advertising awareness.
• It records the first readership occasion across
  time. It is a 1ots curve. Its like a BARB TV
  rating
• It gives us weekly reading levels of a magazine
  thus, weekly reach, weekly ratings and weekly ots
  of the adverts in it.

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Different Magazine types behave differently
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Weekly weights in Magazines
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• Following the NRS Readership Accumulation Study
  the Periodical Publishers Association (PPA)
  looked at how weekly magazine strike weights
  compared with other media
• They discovered that the average level of GRPs
  per week was just 8 GRPs
• No wonder most campaigns arent picked up by
  econometric models or even simple effectiveness
  tracking

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An example of a real campaign

• Weekly weights in magazines far below those used
  for TV
• Only 5 weeks achieve minimum GRP level set by
  Billets/BMRB
• No significant ratings delivery till week 3 of
  campaign
• Uneven delivery of ratings by week

Minimum level set by Billets/BMRB
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How should Magazines be planned?
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• Now that planning weekly GRPs in magazines is
  possible, they should be planned in exactly the
  same way as any other media
• - What are the campaign objectives?
• - What target levels of GRPs per week have been
  set by econometrics or other insight?
• - How many of the target audience do you need
  to reach per week to make campaign cut
  through?
• - What are the time constraints on the campaign?
  (e.g. special offer duration)
• The PPA have made a recommendation of a minimum
  30-35 GRPs per week in magazines
• Of course its also possible to buy 100 GRPs per
  week, just as you would on TV

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How should Magazines be planned? ABC1 25-44
Women 4 week 30 rating campaign
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How should Magazines be planned? ABC1 25-44
Women 4 week 30 rating campaign
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26 insertions 54 cover _at_ 3.0 ots 164
ratings 87 of ratings delivered within 6
weeks. Weekly delivery 23 _at_ 1.3 ots Monthly
delivery 48 _at_ 2.6 ots
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How should Magazines be planned? ABC1 25-44
Women 12 week 30 rating campaign
74 insertions 79 cover _at_ 5.9 ots 466
ratings 89 of ratings delivered within 14
weeks. Weekly delivery 23 _at_ 1.3 ots 12 wk
delivery 77 _at_ 5.0 ots
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How should Magazines be planned? ABC1 25-44
Women 12 week 30 rating campaign
74 insertions 79 cover _at_ 5.9 ots 466
ratings 89 of ratings delivered within 14
weeks. Weekly delivery 23 _at_ 1.3 ots 12 wk
delivery 77 _at_ 5.0 ots
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Whats the optimum Way of Using Magazines?

• Magazines can now be used in the same way as any
  other medium
• - Bursts of activity within a tightly defined
  time frame
• - Drip activity over a long period of time
• - To generate sales with a limited period offer
• - To improve brand awareness and brand
  perception over the long term
• Given the relatively low capital investment for a
  magazine campaign, they can be used as a cost
  effective way of filling in the gaps between
  bursts of TV
• With their new accountability, magazines can be
  used exactly as you would any other media. They
  no longer have to be just a drip weight branding
  tool.

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What about Frequency?
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How are Products Purchased?
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Most things we buy, we buy REGULARLY Product
lifecycle determines need for a
REFILL Advertising decides which brand is
chosen or stimulates demand for new product
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Learned any Ads recently?
Effective frequency multiple exposures to
advertising message are required for it to have
an effect Short periods of intense
activity BUT for many products its the empty
box of product that triggers need for purchase,
not learning an ad SO presence in as many
purchase windows as possible will
remind consumers of your brand
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Effective Frequency Another View
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John Philip Jones strongly argues in favour of
continuity of media exposure, rather than
concentration into a few short intense bursts.
The largest immediate sales response generated
by advertising comes from the first exposure.
Extra weight generates very few additional sales.
For short-term sales, heavy advertising has
little more effect than light advertising weight.
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Effective frequency Another View
tx portfolio
The Carat Penrith Study reported that the most
important conclusion comes from an analysis of
frequency of exposure among product field users.
The results clearly show that effective frequency
can be achieved with very few exposures. Branded
recognition for Brand P was used to illustrate
this point.
The graph shows that the advertising reaches a
saturation effect after only two exposures.
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What this all means

• When using a recency strategy, maximising 1
  cover at relatively low levels over a long period
  of time its beneficial to use more than one
  medium
• - This helps minimise high frequencies and
  deliver incremental cover at lower cost
• Weekly GRPs can be delivered effectively in
  magazines
• Lower capital cost means its possible to cover
  more weeks
• Therefore covering more purchase cycles

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Magazine Frequency

• Magazines are fmcg products in their own right
• - Weeklies have same purchase (and consumption)
  cycle as other fmcgs
• - Often bought at supermarket with weekly shop
• - Explosion of weeklies highlights peoples
  desire for quick turn around information
• - The perfect environment for recency, reminder
  messages
• - Monthlies are used to browse, dip, stack and
  store
• - Act as shopping catalogues store ideas up
  for when ready to purchase
• - The perfect environment for brand building,
  awareness and keeping products front of mind

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So what is effective frequency?

• No formula answer to this question
• Multiple exposures important for new products and
  new campaigns
• But single, regular, message can work by
  reminding consumer close to purchase
• In either case, magazines are now able to deliver
  a measurable, timely campaign

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Return on Investment
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Making Media Pay

• Weve established that its the first exposure
• which is most cost-effective in generating sales
  
• So how can unwanted frequency be minimised in
  order to make a campaign more efficient?
• The answer may be to use more than one medium
• - By trimming budget in one media, ineffective
  cover is reduced
• - Using budget saved to put into a second media
  increases new 1 audience cover

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Our Hypothesis
Increased return by improving the balance between
media.
e.g. 50 of budget at 2.15 return 50 of budget
at 2.15 return average return of 2.15 An
improvement of 28 ROI
Sales response
Advertising weight
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Our Hypothesis
Diminishing sales return from excessive weight in
any single medium.
e.g. 70 of budget at 1.05 return 30 of budget
at 3.15 return average return of 1.68
Sales response
Advertising weight
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ROI Conclusions

• Even by keeping exactly the same budget, its
  possible to improve the performance of a campaign
  by adding another medium into the mix
• Once again, magazines are well suited to this
  task
• - Heavy magazine consumers are often light TV
  viewers, so duplicate cover is likely to be low
• - Relatively less capital investment required
  for magazines, so a strong campaign can be
  delivered with a smaller of total budget
• - Weekly and monthly formats both mirror buying
  cycles of many products advertised within them

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Summary of Magazine Planning Weights
tx portfolio

• Media planning tools have evolved over the past
  two years
• - We are now able to plan weekly strike weights
  for magazines in the same way as other media
• Most Magazine campaigns are planned at a
  significantly lower weekly weight than any other
  media
• - This is a significant reason why magazines as
  a medium appear not to work
• - Billets and BMRB have set a minimum weekly GRP
  level of 25 grps for any campaign to be picked
  up using econometrics
• - This should be used as a benchmark when
  planning magazine campaigns
• Magazines work well with recency planning and can
  be used to
• - deliver ratings within a defined time period
  at set levels over a long period
• - In conjunction with other media to maximise
  efficiency of the campaign