MRG Conference: Single Source Data For Non-FMCG Brands

Accountability and quantifiability are becoming the key words of our time as the pressure for media researchers to justify what they say about advertising increases, according to Ivor Millman, research consultant at Granada Media.

Speaking on the final day of this year’s MRG Conference in Budapest, Millman spoke of ITV’s tvSPAN project which uses the single source electronic measurement of television viewing and grocery purchasing to establish the effects of the former on the latter.

He explained that FMCG products account for a minority of TV adspend and suggested that a similar system should be used to track non-FMCG products, with their higher prices and longer purchase cycles.

Millman dismissed the tendency to rely on the “everybody knows that advertising works” adage and went on to explain that during 2001, the adults in the 3,000 tvSPAN households had been interviewed about selected non-FMCG product fields, such as cars, finance and telephony.

He told delegates that interviews were conducted to measure spontaneous brand awareness, television ad-recall and consumers’ propensity to include the advertised brand in their potential purchase repertoire.

Millman explained that a database containing many thousands of respondents was currently being analysed in the way that tvSPAN already is for FMCG products. He said that early indications were positive for being able to answer questions such as: Does television advertising for non-FMCG products have an immediate effect on consumer’s minds? Does that effect vary by channel and daypart? and, What lessons can be learnt about the shape of effective schedules?

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