Magazines Work With TV – PPA Research

At the Magazines 94 Conference last week, research into the quantitative contribution of magazines in a variety of campaigns, especially TV, was released. Called Hearts and Minds Advertising, it uses case studies to show that a campaign on TV can be greatly improved by the use of magazine advertising.

The study also shows that more money is being spent on sales promotion activities, primarily at the expense of media advertising. However, using IRI research, it was shown that sales promotion expenditure has no impact on consumer loyalty to a brand; it generates short-term volume sales at the expense of profits. So brands should instead increase their media advertising expenditure; when doing this they should use the two main media, print and television, in significant levels of combination, rather than spending all ontelevision.

One case study was described where one large company had an annual budget of US$40m on television, with nothing in print. The advertiser eventually agreed to a test of mixed magazine and television campaign. It was found that the magazine advertising added 14% to sales overall, but sales to the key market increased ninefold.

Further evidence is shown by a German case: a 52 week test of a personal care product was conducted employing two alternative media strategies – 100% TV, and 68% TV:32% Magazines. By the end of the test the mixed strategy was showing a 16% sales advantage. This increase was almost entirely due to an increase in customer loyalty, as indicated by the weight bought by buyer.

Hearts and Minds Advertising – PPA 071 379 6268.