It’s the brand, stupid! By Marc Soumillion
How deep is your love? Brand loving marketers know that their brand is only strong and unique when it has that extra special some‑ thing that transforms clients into members, adherents, fans and even militants. A force of attraction and in‑ volvement that makes people want to identify with the brand, be loyal to the brand (loyalty), be ready to sing its praises and even to defend the brand (advocacy). In today’s world, where people place their trust espe‑ cially in ‘people like themselves’1 and find themselves in ‘communities of interest’2, real or virtual, but especially informal networks where they share information, experi‑ ences and advice, this ‘extra special something’ is worth its weight in gold for your business.
A long tradition of measurement and knowledge During decades, people have tried to know more about this ‘extra special something’ and gauge its worth. In the 1980s, Giep Franzen spoke about instrumental and expressive characteristics, the first being particu‑ larities representing the tangible aspects of the proposal, and the latter being the intangible aspects. The expres‑ sive characteristics are the active triggers of attraction, involvement, satisfaction and loyalty. One might, just like Miele or Apple, well have launched the best quality products on the market, the most creative, innovative and productive; but without the expressive character‑ istics its business will never be so successful. This is the element that makes all the difference.
In studies on involvement in the 1990s, as well mea‑ suring the interest and the risk perception of a purchase, the sign value and the pleasure value were measured. The sign value corresponds to what the brand says about the user as perceived by others. The pleasure value repre‑ sents the feelings, experience and satisfaction that using the brand brings to the user him/herself. At the beginning of the 21st century, Kevin Roberts, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi, launched his Lovemarks. He maintained that “brands are running out of juice” and considered that love was an absolute necessity to save the brands. “What builds loyalty that goes beyond reason? What makes a truly great love stand out?” he asked. His response was: mystery, sensuality and intimacy, firmly anchored in involvement, empathy and passion. Thinking along the same lines but rather less poetical‑ ly, the Reputation Institute stated that in addition to vision and leadership, high quality, innovative products and services, a good work environment, performing well financially and demonstrating corporate responsibility, those brands with the most solid reputation also exercise an emotional attraction.3 Today, Sanoma has added a defining element to this long tradition of vision and research into the bond lin‑ king people and brands. After two extensive, in-depth and detailed measuring processes, the barometer of love for media brands has become a reality. At its very heart, we find the notion of engagement. Because advertising is about engagement. Yes, but how and why? This is exactly what is highlighted by the Sanoma Engagement Survey.
A special type of brands Media brands constitute a particular type of brand be‑ cause they are distinguished by a double function and a double functionality. First of all, media brands exist as themselves. They ‘brand’ an offer of media products, carefully categorised in the past into types of media. Het Laatste Nieuws was a newspaper, Radio 2 a radio station, VTM a television channel and Flair was a magazine. Today, the main media brands have become umbrella brands, i.e. the glue between different channels and
Edelman Trust Barometer John K. Grace, Branding in the new world 3 C. Fombrun & C. van Riel, Managing your company’s most valuable asset: its reputation, 2004 1 2
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activities that come together regarding positioning, and which are complementary in terms of utilisation, thus providing a diversified and enriched brand experience. The brand De Standaard can be read as a newspaper in paper format, on a tablet, as a paper magazine, an e-zine, via the website, etc. The weekly magazine Story takes you into the wonderful world of well known Flemish personalities, while on the radio station Storyfm you can listen to a delightful selection of music and Flemish clas‑ sics. For an audience that never tires of great romance, the spin off StoryWood plunges the reader into the glamour and glitter of Hollywood. It has been ages since Libelle was merely a magazine, it is now a meeting point for women who have interests and passions in common, and who seek to know more, experience more and en‑ deavour to take action. All this reaches them via different routes and makes them a community of interest. The strong media brands thus have their own fan clubs. Secondly, the media brands are proposing to other brands, suppliers of products and services, access to their communities of interest or fan clubs, via different modes of expression. The development of real media brands has fundamentally changed and enriched the thinking about media planning and the detection of touchpoints with the public being targeted. In the past, media planning
started from a target, generally defined using sociodemographic criteria. Experts analysed which types of media were best placed to reach the target - generically - and they then selected the titles or channels within these types of media. With the rapid development of online and social media, the number of media channels and thus the possibilities of choice have exploded. In the light of the proliferation of touchpoints on the one hand, and the fact that the public does not allow itself to be categorised so easily according to purely socio-demographic criteria on the other hand, both the definition of target groups and detecting the right access paths leading to them have become increasingly more complex. In this context, the development of strong media brands is in fact something of a blessing. In all markets, brands have always had the function of structuring the complexity of the offer, reducing the numerous possibilities of choice and facilitating the decision-making process. It is no different for the media brands. The major opportunity exists at the level of the access given to an existing fan base: these communities of interest which, rather than be subjected to sociodemographic criteria, are better defined by starting from their centres of interest, attitudes and behaviour. They exist and they are offered to the advertisers so to speak ‘on a plate’. It would be completely absurd not to take
The Triple ‘R’ of good choice media REACH
How many people can be reached with an advertising message?
RELEVANCE
What is the match between the context and the advertising?
RESONANCE
To what extent does the advertising resonate with people and are they actively inspired by it?
“W ith th e ra pid de ve lo pm ent of on lin e an d so cia l m ed ia, th e nu m be r of m ed ia ch an ne ls an d th us th e po ssi bil itie s of ch oic e have ex ploded .”
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advantage of this access point.
Media engagement makes media brands strong The first merit of the Sanoma Engagement Survey is that it demonstrates in figures what makes the media brands strong: media engagement. This is the criterion determining the intensity and the quality of the relationship that a media brand main‑ tains with its consumers. The Survey reveals clearly that this relationship is defined by four factors: attention to the brand, attachment to the brand and the rational and emotional experience regarding the brand. When one compares the measurement of these factors in a media brand’s fan club with the score of the total population, it can be seen that in the fan club, the rela‑ tionship with the brand is 21% stronger on average. These insights, backed up by the figures, opens a path towards a much broader media planning and selection process. In the past - and sometimes still today - in me‑ dia selection, people only took into account the quanti‑ tative parameters, i.e. what percentage of the target was being reached? How many opportunities to see or hear the message? What is the effective reach of a message? And, in a combined manner: what is the advertising pressure? Thanks to the data of the Engagement Survey, in addi‑ tion to the quantitative aspects of a media contact, one can also appreciate the qualitative aspects of a given media contact. As for the strong media brands, the rela‑
tionship towards and the contact with the media brand are much more intense thanks to an increased attention, a stronger involvement and a more rational and more emotional experience. These four elements complement one another and strengthen each another. The first edition of the Engagement Survey had already established the fact that the strongest media brands were those that had a clear identity and a precise positioning, and therefore a big differentiation capacity, just as for other product categories. Brands that succeed in combining this differentiation with the development of a large fan club are without a doubt the leaders in their field. However, the brands that reach this point are rare. In fact, the more supporters a brand has, the more it tends to keep to the middle of the road regarding how it defines its position on the market. When a brand tries to please too many people, it loses in depth what it gains in breadth. The high profile brands are those that focus their energies on their specific target groups’ fields of interest. These target groups are characterised less by superficial socio-demographic particularities, but rather by the centres of interest, needs, habits and preferences that they have in common. As a result, the Engagement Survey has already dis‑ missed several clichés that persist in the media world. On the one hand, it demonstrates the importance of the qualitative and content aspects regarding the under‑ standing and definition of target groups. On the other hand, it supports the fact that media engagement is not determined by the type of media to which a channel belongs, but that it is stimulated by the specific expressive properties of an individual media brand, what‑
m at io n , “T h is in f o r by the b ac ke d u p e n s a p at h f ig u re s , o p much t o w a rd s a la n n in g b ro ade r p d m e d ia p ro c e s s a n s e l e ct io n .”
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ever the type of media in question. Media consumers fall in love with a brand and not with the media. This is all the more true when the brand combines different chan‑ nels belonging to different types of media within one platform, based on a clear and well defined positioning.
ment in the media consumption, but rather as a sound complement to the consumer’s rational and emotional experience. Therefore, the advertising is not a distraction and it does not harm the consumer’s relationship with the media brand.
Advertising engagement transforms media brands into solid supports for other brands
As for the media content, the respondents considered the advertising to be relevant, because it often fea‑ tured brands, products and services that were of interest to the consumer. Just as for the content of the media brand, such advertising can be an inspiration, generate ideas, and provide hints and advice. In other words, the content of the media brand is perceived as a suitable context for the advertising, which in turn is experi‑ enced as forming an integral part of the content of the media brand. Thanks to the advertising engagement, the effectiveness of a media brand as a suitable advertising support can be higher than 47% on average!
And then there is the second function of the media brand: to serve as a support for the communication of other brands. The real headache for any communica‑ tions executive is the zapping during the commercials or fast-forwarding when watching a pre-recorded pro‑ gramme, or skipping the advertisements when watching clips on YouTube, etc. And what do they think about how irritated the consumer can become when the film he/ she is watching is interrupted for the nth time, when he/ she has the feeling that they are being subjected to the advertising. Doesn’t this have a negative effect on the brand of the product that is being advertised? Advertising engagement is the norm that expresses to what extent the consumer of a media brand considers that this is favourable to the advertising. The results concerning this issue are obtained by verifying the responses of those questioned as to whether the advertising in each media brand tested (1) concerns products, brands or services that interest them; (2) teaches them something new; (3) gives them ideas, hints or practical advice; (4) encourages them to seek additional information; (5) incites them to buy things; (6) is rarely disturbing; (7) is well matched to the content of the media brand; (8) is original and creative; (9) is generally believable; and (10) gives rise to discussions in the family, with friends or acquaintances. The conclusions of this questioning are as follows: the content of the media brands with the highest scores for advertising engagement is conceived in such a way that it constitutes a natural habitat for advertising brands of products and services. In other words, the media brand creates a context that is propitious for advertising. The advertising is not perceived as a disturbing ele‑
AVERAGE UPLIFT
Engagement2 = maximale advertising effectiveness In March 2006, the Advertising Research Foundation defined engagement as follows: “Turning on a prospect to a brand idea enhanced by the surrounding context”. According to this organisation, the engagement quantifies the extent to which a consumer lives a significant brand experience when he/she is exposed to commercial advertising, sponsoring, a TV contact or another similar experience. It concluded that in the communications industry, there is consensus regarding the fact that advertising works best by placing it in an ‘engaging environment’. “But how do you prove it?” was the question. Well, based on several measurements, the Sanoma Engagement Survey provides the empirical proof that the strong media brands - media engagement - that constitute a natural habitat for advertising - advertising engagement - have a leverage effect on the advertising brands, their products and services and therefore clearly boost the effectiveness of the advertising. Further‑ more, in these circumstances, the level of irritation AVERAGE UPLIFT
AVERAGE UPLIFT
ENGAGEMENT STUDY
AVERAGE UPLIFT
ENGAGEMENT STUDY
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regarding the advertising remains low, because the advertising forms an integral part of the media brand experience. It is now perfectly possible to carry out qualitative media planning as opposed to the classic quantitative approach. In the latter case, based on targets defined in a purely socio-demographic way, a selection is first made of the types of media. Then within these types, the media channels are selected. The criteria used are the reach , the opportunities to see or hear the message and the advertising pressure (GRP). The result of this is often ‘carpet bombing’, intrusiveness, advertising causing irritation, an aversion to advertising - zapping, fast-forwarding - and thus less effectiveness. In order to reach objectives despite this, the rhythm therefore logically has to be accelerated, which generates an ever-increasing volume of advertising. This leads to the consequences that one can imagine. This in a nutshell is the quantitative approach. In the qualitative approach, the quest is to find for a given advertising brand a series of strong media
brands, handpicked and with a precise identity, that enjoy a sufficiently broad and involved fan base. These media brands offer a suitable context in which the aims of the advertising brand are showcased. It can also be incorporated well and form an integral part of the brand experience for the community of interest concerned. Consequently, the advertising brand acquires as much reach - audience - as relevance - the content and the context strengthen each other - and resonance - activation of the fan club - and does not generate any irritation. This is not the spiral of ever-increasing advertising, but rather an improved and more effective communication. The qualitative approach also has economic advantages: the return on investment of media investment is opti‑ mized. Henceforth, the targeting signifies that with fewer but better chosen media brands, and based on a precise identity, the good mindset of the community of interest, an inspiring context and a suitable contact moment, the advertising contacts are optimized so that with fewer but better quality contacts, the result is more effective; which goes to prove yet again that ‘less is more’.
The 5 Cs of effective advertising Communities of interest
Interests and fields of interest connect people significantly more than their social class or their age.
Content
The content must be relevant, inspirational, attractive and inspire trust.
Context
A good environment in terms of place and timing offers a natural context.
Contact
The choice of suitable touchpoints means that there is no disruption of the consumer’s experience.
Creative
Creative and unusual methods of communication such as content advertising and storytelling remove the risk of intrusiveness and importunity.
Methodology of the Sanoma Engagement Study SEO 2 - spring 2013
SEO 1 - spring 2012 Method
CAWI via access panel TNS
CAWI via access panel TNS
Size
Universum 15+ N = 3000
Universum 15+ N = 8000
Subject
4 types of media +/- 100 media brands +/- 13500 brand observations
5 types of media +/- 300 media brands (240 websites) +/- 35000 brand observations
Structure of the questionnaire
• Consumption media brand last 7 days (filter) • Description of the relation with the media brand • Description of the relation with advertising in the media brand • Socio-demographic data • Impact test on 519 advertisements for 404 brands
• Consumption media brand last 7 days (filter) • Description of the relation with the media brand • Description of the relation with advertising in the media brand • Socio-demographic data
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Top performing media brands A series of mappings, crossing media engagement and advertising engagement, give a clear image of the top performing media brands:
Audiovisual and print media North
Audiovisual and print media South
ti ty h a cl ea r iden it w s d n a br “M ed ia ec if ic ia li se in th e sp ec sp h ic h w s or th ei r co n su m er of st re te in f ie ld s of in su rrou n d in g d ee cc su to m a n age it y it h a co m m un w es lv se em th f a n s w h o a re of inte re st of ed .� h eav ily in vol v
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Themed websites and infotainment North
Themed websites and infotainment South
National social media
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Added value of media brands thinking in practice
• The social media portals and websites serve mainly as technology platforms.
The scores obtained by media brands can be analysed at the individual level and also grouped by categories. The complementarity of the two approaches allows the following conclusions to be drawn:
• The magazine supplements in newspapers do not seem to really attract the consumer. They register mediocre scores at the level of media engagement as well as for advertising engagement. Just as for Metro, the consumer is pleased to receive a newspaper that costs nothing without being over-enthusiastic about it.
• The category of women’s inspiration brands is practically the only one where it makes sense to make a statement regarding the category. This is because a majority of the brands in question obtain a high score, both in terms of media engagement as well as advertising engagement, and for both off-line and online. Context, relevance and inspiration characterise this category. • The infotainment sites offer a good complementarity with their off-line channels and magazines. In the women’s inspiration brands for instance, the sites add attention, the only parameter of media engagement where the magazine versions achieve lower scores. • The news brands, both off-line and online, obtain solid scores concerning attention and rational experience. • At the category level, radio and television register the lowest scores for media engagement and advertising engagement. However, an analysis at brand level shows that there are high scores for media engagement for één and Canvas, which on the other hand register mediocre scores in terms of advertising engagement. Channels that focus on a particular field of interest, such as Njam and Discovery Channel, show high scores for both parameters. Vitaya TV adds attention to the media brand, which in its magazine format obtains a particularly high score for media engagement and especially for advertising engagement. As for the radio, it registers its best scores for attachment and emotional experience. Radio 2 and Vivacité are the leaders in the category in terms of media engagement, while the commercial stations obtain good scores for advertising engagement. • Most of the newspapers obtain good scores for media engagement, but perform less well for advertising engagement. Thus, it seems that De Standaard is a very strong brand but it is not really a natural habitat for advertising. As for advertising engagement, the stars are Het Laatste Nieuws, Vers l’Avenir and La Dernière Heure. Moreover, Het Laatste Nieuws is a good example of a media brand that serves a large group of consumers while at the same time combining a clear brand identity with advertising engagement.
It’s the brand, stupid! - Marc Soumillion
• The websites obtain high scores when they offer inspiration and manage to align the consumer’s experience with their expectations.
General conclusions Media brands with a clear identity or which specialise in the specific fields of interest of their consumers manage to succeed in surrounding themselves with a community of interest of fans who are heavily involved. These media brands offer the advertising brands a sui‑ table context and a natural habitat for their advertising campaigns which align with the specific fields of interest, do not disturb the media experience, and enrich the media content. Advertisers who base their media choices on media engagement and advertising engagement and who allocate their advertising campaigns in relation to this, are practising clever targeting, they can expect a greater effectiveness in their advertising and a higher return on their investment.
AMMA In 2013, the Sanoma Engagement Survey won the gold award in the Best Media Research category at the AMMA. The purpose of the AMMA is to promote the advertising and media professions by awarding prizes for the best results in media skills in the country for research, media planning and strategy, innovation in selling space and media creativity.
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