IPA TouchPoints has shown us that we should start with the consumer not the medium; so where to next?

Stuart McDonald, head of insight and trade marketing at News International, aims to convert the few remaining fence sitters: “If you’re reading this unsure as to whether you should subscribe to IPA TouchPoints, permit me to provide you with some guidance”…

Let’s not beat about the bush – IPA TouchPoints is a game changer, simple as that. It’s had a huge effect on our industry, and with the launch of the third wave today, it’s only going to become more important.

Why am I so convinced about this? Because I’ve seen what it’s achieved at News International.

The key to its success is that it is a consumer centric study, yet still links into the currencies via the Channel Planner for those cross-platform comparisons. If you’re reading this unsure as to whether you should subscribe to IPA TouchPoints, permit me to provide you with some guidance.

We were one of the launch partners of TouchPoints back in 2006, subscribed to the second wave and have signed up for the third. When we were first approached, we saw it as a valuable tool to add to our armoury, which at that point included such classics as VIPer and mediaDNA.

Over the years, our other consortium projects have fallen by the wayside and Touchpoints has grown from strength to strength.

Once the first set of data had been launched, we were left with the unenvious task of trying to extract relevant information to share around the business. Although able to look at ‘a day in the life of’ our readers for the very first time, we struggled with the enormity of the task, and I know that this was the case with many subscribers.

The breakthrough for us came via a challenge from our MD at the time (Mike Anderson) who strolled into one of our presentations and asked us to come back a week later and tell him six things that he didn’t know about his brands (The Sun and the News of the World). After the cold sweat had passed, we found a breakthrough with the survey. We discovered that the key to getting the optimum use out of the survey is to use it to answer a question, provide evidence to support a hunch or to dispel a myth.

A great example, and one that led to an increase in advertising revenue, was to show the value of using the News of the World for retailers. 42% of reading occasions happen before the shops open, and that 41% of News of World readers (more than three million of them) go shopping on a Sunday – all good stuff!

From that initial challenge, we had six different stories to share, which we couldn’t have answered using any other source of information at our disposal. This was also a light bulb moment for the commercial teams as they could see the benefits of having key insights to take out to clients, which could make a real commercial difference (plus being a USP to NI).

Initially, the Hub Survey gave us the most traction when selling the project in, and therefore provided the majority of output. As we increasingly have to argue the case for print, the Channel Planner has become more important. The ability to look at schedules, by audience, media consumption and across platforms enables us to compete in new marketplaces with confidence.

Long may TouchPoints continue, long may it get the support that it deserves. But, this brings me on to a final thought – how much longer can our media measurement surveys exist in silos? Technology is advancing at a faster rate than at any other point – but the way that we currently measure has stayed the same. Is this holding us back? Should we not be concentrating on people measurement? I think that the time is right to have these discussions, and I for one would love to be involved.

If we were starting with a blank piece of paper today, and were asked to come up with something to measure media channels – would we come up with the silo approach that we currently have?

I think that written on that piece of paper may be something very similar to IPA TouchPoints.