Belinda Beeftink’s opening address as chairperson of the MRG talked of researchers “growing up” – a couple of hours later the traditional researcher had been gunned down with scarcely a whimper in response. The assassination, subtle in some cases, merciless in others, had been led by client, research company and independent media strategist.The last was… Continue reading Reflections On The 1998 MRG Conference, Nice
The Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) announced this week that it is to launch its first ever National Audience Survey. Based on data collected by Fletcher Research, the survey is intended to provide online advertisers with regular and objective facts about user demographics and behaviour. It will report twice yearly on internet usage in the UK.Much… Continue reading First National Survey Of Internet Use
When Martin Sorrell opened the Spring 1997 MRG Conference in Dublin he spoke of his aim that WPP should be able to challenge the likes of McKinseys in offering strategic advice to advertisers.Agencies are well-qualified to do so, he said, but either not highly enough regarded or simply not geared up to provide such lucrative… Continue reading MRG Conference Kicks Off In France
The consultant Neil Shepherd-Smith was the next to take the stand at this Week’s MRG conference to talk us through the methodology used to create the POSTAR data (see Newsline).Neil first covered the subject of poster panel classification and why it is so necessary to do this. Outdoor is the most difficult medium to research… Continue reading The Future Is Nigh: Poster Classification In The 21st Century
“Advertising avoidance is the biggest issue facing us as media researchers”, said Ivor Hussein, research director of Western International Media, at this years MRG Conference in Nice. “It is an issue that has been ignored for far too long”, he told the conference. It must be accepted that advertising is providing a diminishing return on… Continue reading Who are these “Ad Avoiders”?
The theme of this morning’s session was “The Emperor’s New Mind – There’s more to media than numbers”, with Andy Tilley kicking off the keynote speech, enigmatically titled “Desperately Seeking Susan”.Andy Tilley, managing partner of Unity, noted how media and media research has evolved since he started in the business 18 years ago. Evolution of… Continue reading ‘The Need For A Different Kind Of Research’ – MRG
Fitting in with the conference theme of Media Research Comes Of Age, Paul Dyson of Millward Brown International changed the title of his paper to Internet Research – Old Before Its Time from Should I put some of my budget into new media? – Researching the Internet.Internet research is the real baby amongst media research… Continue reading Internet Research At The MRG
Jeff Eales of Granada Media reported briefly to the Nice MRG Conference on the work of the ITV Technology Group – formed to look at brand attribution and electronic trading.Most progress had been made with the former, the result of which, Jeff hoped, would be a standard industry list of naming conventions for advertisers, brands… Continue reading Brand Attribution Project Makes Steady Progress
Having taken something of a hammering yesterday from client, research company and media consultant, the more traditional media practitioner fought back a little today at the Nice MRG conference – but with the accepted caveat that the researcher’s role must change to encompass communication in its broadest sense.Charlie Makin, managing partner at BLM, believed that… Continue reading The Media Practitioner Fights Back
So says James Walker, founding partner of media consultancy Edge, winning few friends amongst delegates at the Nice MRG Conference. “The traditional media researcher is as useful as a blacksmith on the M25”.There is the opportunity for media agencies to offer quantitative business-focused advice, but – despite the recent birth of Carat Insight, Universal Truths,… Continue reading “The Traditional Media Researcher Is Dead”
