Get less granular
February 9, 2012 at 11:38am by Arthur Fleischmann
(Photo by Profeta / istockphoto.com)
It will sound like heresy, but I think it’s time we stop focusing on media by individual channel. In Media: From Chaos to Clarity, ex-media pro turned Northwestern University professor, Judy Franks, makes a compelling case that convergence of media platforms combine with a ‘symbiotic’ effect of one media on the other has made looking at the impact of an individual medium irrelevant.
Today, virtually every media is broadcast on a screen. Print, out-of-home, even digital radio in the form of TuneIn Radio, Sirius and the like, now join their web and social media counterparts in delivering a screen-based experience. And these media will intertwine rather than compete. “The emerging media will align themselves with the existing media to create mutually beneficial, working relationships,” says Ms. Franks. In theory, YouTube should be a threat to TV but in reality the two reinforce each other. Think about how M&Ms extended the buy for their ‘Sexy and I Know it” execution by nearly a million hits in 12 hours after it aired on the Super Bowl.
Combine this convergence and symbiosis with consumers’ penchant for multi-tasking (upwards of 30% of TV viewing is done in combination with computer and smart phone use) and it’s impossible to tell where one platform ends and the next begins.
Ad tracking relies on consumers’ accurate recall of what message they saw and in which medium. With today’s abundance of behavioural data – both online and in store, perhaps the better way to track a brand’s communications is to look at the net impact – overall awareness, engagement, action, evangelism and net promoter scores. This real data does not rely on self-reporting, something that is fraught with errors. It is immune to media confusion. And in the end, isn’t the net result all we care about?
In the coming weeks, we’ll explore new ways to plan integrated communications, why reach/frequency is no longer relevant and how to better measure the impact of a campaign.
Arthur Fleischmann