Future of Media Research: TouchPoints gets the “thumbs up”
TouchPoints, the IPA’s multi-media study, gets the “thumbs up” from panellists at the MediaTel Group Future of Media Research seminar on Friday.
On the whole, the panel agreed that the consumer-centric survey, which launched nearly four years ago in a bid to provide an industry-standard cross-metric system, is starting to be well used and offers some unique insight.
Lynne Robinson, research director of the IPA, was quick to support the current system and pointed to the next update, which is due to launch in July complete with new Postar, UKOM and Word of Mouth data, as a sign that TouchPoints is continually growing.
“We’ve seen lots of progress with TouchPoints, and it is being used by the industry,” agreed Justin Gibbons, managing partner of Work Research. “As an insight tool, it has a new and unique offering. Although in terms of reach and frequency, it’s taking longer to get used to,” he added.
Despite praising the system for its merits, other panellists also picked up on Gibbons’ point. “You really have to explain it to people,” Stuart MacDonald, head of insight at News International, said. “TouchPoints holds lots of data, so you have to work out – what does it tell you? It’s got lots of extra bits, and let’s you look at times of day, and if you ask it a specific question it works well.”
“But you have to dig deep for it to be really effective,” he added. “However, it’s getting there. Thumps up – I think it’s great.”
Fellow panellist Laura Chaibi, director of research for Yahoo! Europe, said her experience of TouchPoints is much the same – it takes a long time to get your head around it and it’s hard work, particularly when trying to teach new users, but it is “great if you have a [specific] question to ask the data”.
In response, Robinson added: “It’s a huge, sophisticated database… and is as good as its users.”
For consultant Richard Bedwell, it is like re-living the TGI situation, which took ten years to become profitable. Robinson revealed that the IPA is hoping to make a profit with TouchPoints 3, despite the recession. “The agencies asked us to do this so we’re here to stay, even though times are tough,” she said.