Plakanda interprets too far
It also remains unclear whether radio and billboards are effective team players as advertising mediums
It is still unclear whether radio and posters are effective team players as advertising mediaBy Markus KnöpfliThe combination of radio and posters is part of the strategy of Clear Channel (CC), the world's largest provider of out-of-home media. What is already bearing fruit in the USA is now to be brought to full bloom in Europe - among other things with various studies.
This spring, the Swiss outdoor advertiser Plakanda, which belongs to the American CC Group, placed advertisements in the German trade press praising the advantages of a mixed poster/radio spot campaign to the skies. Literally, it said: "The two advertising media radio and poster are successful team players ... Thus, the effect of the two media is not only additive, but multiplicative."
Plakanda bases this statement on a study that the company conducted together with the local radio stations One FM (Geneva) and Lausanne FM. Both radios had to communicate new frequencies last November. For 14 days, therefore, in addition to the broadcasting of corresponding radio jingles, a poster campaign was placed in both Geneva and Lausanne.
Before and after the campaigns, the Link Institute surveyed around 800 people between the ages of 15 and 74 twice per radio station by telephone. "We wanted to show qualitatively how the Media Multiplier Effect (MME) works," says Beat Roeschlin, general manager Switzerland at Plakanda. Adding, "The study yielded a 'smashing result'."
Indeed, the figures are impressive at first glance: The number of people who listen to Lausanne FM daily or several times a week grew by 10.5 percent. One FM even gained 19.6 percent regular listeners. The level of awareness of Lausanne FM among 15 to 29 year-olds rose unsupported from 39.9 to 50.5 percent, One FM came in at 59.6 percent. In addition, 20.5 percent of respondents remembered the billboard for Lausanne FM, and as many as 20.9 percent remembered the jingle content.
A study for a third-party product will follow in the fall
However, the study has a catch: its design does not allow any conclusions to be drawn regarding a possible interaction between posters and radio. It only proves one thing with certainty: posters have an effect.
The reason lies in the advertised product: the new frequencies. Even in the very best case, a radio station can use jingles to attract at most 100 percent of its existing listeners to its new frequency. Consequently, the two radio stations owe the increases in listenership and awareness solely to the poster medium. Whether the posters also helped the radios to retain their existing listeners can be assumed, but it is unclear.
Roeschlin, asked about this by WerbeWoche, pauses. Then he says: "That's right, we spoke too early of an MME. This can only be hypothetically derived here from the memory of the subject and jingle." After all, he is already planning another study in which the effects of radio and posters will be surveyed individually and then jointly. It is to be carried out this year in German-speaking Switzerland and, above all, with advertising for a third-party product.
This spring, the Swiss outdoor advertiser Plakanda, which belongs to the American CC Group, placed advertisements in the German trade press praising the advantages of a mixed poster/radio spot campaign to the skies. Literally, it said: "The two advertising media radio and poster are successful team players ... Thus, the effect of the two media is not only additive, but multiplicative."
Plakanda bases this statement on a study that the company conducted together with the local radio stations One FM (Geneva) and Lausanne FM. Both radios had to communicate new frequencies last November. For 14 days, therefore, in addition to the broadcasting of corresponding radio jingles, a poster campaign was placed in both Geneva and Lausanne.
Before and after the campaigns, the Link Institute surveyed around 800 people between the ages of 15 and 74 twice per radio station by telephone. "We wanted to show qualitatively how the Media Multiplier Effect (MME) works," says Beat Roeschlin, general manager Switzerland at Plakanda. Adding, "The study yielded a 'smashing result'."
Indeed, the figures are impressive at first glance: The number of people who listen to Lausanne FM daily or several times a week grew by 10.5 percent. One FM even gained 19.6 percent regular listeners. The level of awareness of Lausanne FM among 15 to 29 year-olds rose unsupported from 39.9 to 50.5 percent, One FM came in at 59.6 percent. In addition, 20.5 percent of respondents remembered the billboard for Lausanne FM, and as many as 20.9 percent remembered the jingle content.
A study for a third-party product will follow in the fall
However, the study has a catch: its design does not allow any conclusions to be drawn regarding a possible interaction between posters and radio. It only proves one thing with certainty: posters have an effect.
The reason lies in the advertised product: the new frequencies. Even in the very best case, a radio station can use jingles to attract at most 100 percent of its existing listeners to its new frequency. Consequently, the two radio stations owe the increases in listenership and awareness solely to the poster medium. Whether the posters also helped the radios to retain their existing listeners can be assumed, but it is unclear.
Roeschlin, asked about this by WerbeWoche, pauses. Then he says: "That's right, we spoke too early of an MME. This can only be hypothetically derived here from the memory of the subject and jingle." After all, he is already planning another study in which the effects of radio and posters will be surveyed individually and then jointly. It is to be carried out this year in German-speaking Switzerland and, above all, with advertising for a third-party product.
