MRG 2002: The Media Landscape – East & West

Adel Gyori, research director at TGI Hungary, kicked off by giving the MRG Conference an insight into the Hungarian media scene prior to the raising of the iron curtain fifteen years ago.

There were just two public TV channels, neither of which broadcast on Mondays, three public radio stations broadcasting just three pop programmes per week, and a heavily controlled, political press. Hungarians had very little experience of brands and the little exposure to advertising they had was typified by the popular “Shoes from the shoe shop” campaign.

In contrast, today there are three national channels, two of which are commercial, over three hundred cable and satellite channels, one hundred and fifty radio stations and press titles from all the major publishers.

Gyori then went on to talk about how contrasting media experience impacts on defining the target audience for global media properties using consumers of MTV, Readers Digest and Cosmopolitan throughout Eastern and Western Europe. Although there were strong similarities in responses to statements among the nations considered, she noted some major differences, illustrated by the fact that the Readers Digest is seen as an intellectual and trendy title in Hungary.

So can we target Eastern and Western consumers in the same way? Geoff Wicken, Global Product Development Director at BMRB International argued that to a certain extent we can. He identified six European clusters differentiated by individuals’ behaviour and attitudes towards media: Media Literates; Butterflies; Disengaged; Indoor Types; Entertainment Seekers; Passive Absorbers. Each cluster responds differently to advertising, it was argued, and their attitudes are crucial when considering how best to engage them.

Wicken used a Nike case study to illustrate the complexities in appealing to different clusters – to find out who is open to the message and in which medium. Butterflies and Entertainment Seekers may appear to share many characteristics but their attitudes towards advertising differs so they need to be approached in different ways.

Increasingly there is a common media experience for contemporary Europeans and common ground in their media vehicles. Wicken concluded that it is crucial to identify consumers’ attitudes towards media when considering how to reach and engage different sections of society.

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