The first afternoon of day one was given over to the advertisers – and how (or if) they use research to market their brands.
Delegates were treated to three very different case studies – McDonalds’ all- embracing marketing plans; Tango’s interactive and wacky promotions; and Buena Vista’s heavyweight hype of Disney’s latest blockbusters.
Whilst McDonalds, more than the others, uses industry research, the company is working more with its agency, Leo Burnett, to create additional customised studies. Sponsorship evaluation and children’s diaries led to sponsorship of Channel 4’s Gamesmaster. This achieved 38% spontaneous awareness of the sponsorship among the target audience of 10-15 year-olds.
John Hawkes, VP and Chief Marketing Officer, accepted that the range of media used was bound to grow as McDonalds moved towards its target of doubling the number of UK restaurants by 2002, but insisted that it was ultimately the restaurants which were the experience – “our brand and restaurants are interactive.” At the other end of the scale sat Tango – and even more so Buena Vista – where new media hype and gut feel were employed ahead of stndard research. David Atter, Brand Group Manager of tango felt that there was possibly too much clever data. He cautioned care. It is always more important to “measure the business, the sales results.”
Tango was investing £250,000, Atter said in interactive advertising on the Internet.
Robert Mitchell of Buena Vista had little time (literally) for research – his promotion was all about hype, a large scale PR campaign, as he illustrated with regard to the launch of The Lion King, which achieved 95% pre-launch awareness.
Cross-promotion involving companies ranging from McDonalds to Marks & Spencer and media give-aways and competitions also played a large part in this unusual marketing mix. Responding to a question from Doug Reed (Mediacom), Mitchell agreed that he was “curious” if things did not work, but no piece of research could help him much. Failures were usually down to a low volume of publicity or a poor film.
John Hawkes confirmed that Mcdonalds would welcome more industry research, but also agreed with the questioner (Sue Grey, Motive) that they were likely to get even more involved in customised projects. He mooted a joint project merging two forms of available data – BARB figures and McDonalds’ own sales information from the restaurants.
