Satellites of some billboard companies
Cellphone-sized GPS devices record the locations of billboard contacts for test subjects
GPS devices in cell phone format record poster site contacts of test personsBy Markus KnöpfliSatellite technology makes it possible: Affichage and Plakanda have agreed on how they want to measure the contact chances of posters. The new method, which will also enable intermedia comparison, can be used in a year at the earliest.
The poster medium used to drive media planners to sheer despair, at least when they wanted to know more about the contact chances of individual poster sites (PS). Up to now, there has been no measurement method worldwide that delivers reasonably plausible values, let alone those that are suitable for intermedia comparison. The fact that the two major Swiss outdoor advertisers each chose a different approach for evaluating the quality of their poster sites did not make things any easier. It is no wonder that the Swiss Advertisers Association (SWA) has also been pressing for a uniform solution for some time.
About a year ago, Plakanda and Affichage therefore commissioned Bernese Professor Martial Pasquier, head of the Input business and marketing consulting firm, to moderate a working group of the two poster companies (see box). This group is now proposing to use the satellite-based navigation system Geographical Positioning System (GPS) in the future to survey the contact opportunities of billboards.
An as yet undetermined number of people will carry a cell phone-sized GPS device on their person for several days. The navigation system records the locations and movements of the test subjects to an accuracy of five meters. By comparing the distance they have traveled with the stored PS position data, it is possible to determine which posters the test person in question might have seen.
Whether and for how long the posters - for the time being only panels of size B12 and B200 - are actually viewed is to be surveyed using a second methodology, but this has not yet been determined.
First positive reactions from media professionals
The main problems of this research approach: GPS devices with a storage capacity of up to seven days cost around 1500 francs. Although they are all-weather capable, they cannot receive the satellite signals in buildings and narrow street canyons. And for them to work in transportation, they have to come close to a window. That requires discipline from the testers.
Also, several crucial parameters are still open - besides the methodology to determine the contact quality, also the sample size. Since it is likely to be several (tens of) thousands, it is already clear that not all PS can be measured. Pasquier therefore wants to limit himself to measuring two to five of a total of about 15 Swiss conurbations each year, for about three months and in a rotation of three to four years.
Nevertheless, the new joint research approach is undoubtedly a step forward, especially since it would also be suitable for intermedia comparison, according to Pasquier. Media experts to whom the rough concept was presented last week reacted positively in principle.
The working group is now having technical feasibility studies carried out and intends to draw up a research concept from July onwards, which will also be discussed with market research institutes. A decision on the final concept is to be made at the end of September, after which a pilot study will be commissioned.
Satellite researchers
The poster medium used to drive media planners to sheer despair, at least when they wanted to know more about the contact chances of individual poster sites (PS). Up to now, there has been no measurement method worldwide that delivers reasonably plausible values, let alone those that are suitable for intermedia comparison. The fact that the two major Swiss outdoor advertisers each chose a different approach for evaluating the quality of their poster sites did not make things any easier. It is no wonder that the Swiss Advertisers Association (SWA) has also been pressing for a uniform solution for some time.
About a year ago, Plakanda and Affichage therefore commissioned Bernese Professor Martial Pasquier, head of the Input business and marketing consulting firm, to moderate a working group of the two poster companies (see box). This group is now proposing to use the satellite-based navigation system Geographical Positioning System (GPS) in the future to survey the contact opportunities of billboards.
An as yet undetermined number of people will carry a cell phone-sized GPS device on their person for several days. The navigation system records the locations and movements of the test subjects to an accuracy of five meters. By comparing the distance they have traveled with the stored PS position data, it is possible to determine which posters the test person in question might have seen.
Whether and for how long the posters - for the time being only panels of size B12 and B200 - are actually viewed is to be surveyed using a second methodology, but this has not yet been determined.
First positive reactions from media professionals
The main problems of this research approach: GPS devices with a storage capacity of up to seven days cost around 1500 francs. Although they are all-weather capable, they cannot receive the satellite signals in buildings and narrow street canyons. And for them to work in transportation, they have to come close to a window. That requires discipline from the testers.
Also, several crucial parameters are still open - besides the methodology to determine the contact quality, also the sample size. Since it is likely to be several (tens of) thousands, it is already clear that not all PS can be measured. Pasquier therefore wants to limit himself to measuring two to five of a total of about 15 Swiss conurbations each year, for about three months and in a rotation of three to four years.
Nevertheless, the new joint research approach is undoubtedly a step forward, especially since it would also be suitable for intermedia comparison, according to Pasquier. Media experts to whom the rough concept was presented last week reacted positively in principle.
The working group is now having technical feasibility studies carried out and intends to draw up a research concept from July onwards, which will also be discussed with market research institutes. A decision on the final concept is to be made at the end of September, after which a pilot study will be commissioned.
Satellite researchers
In addition to Martial Pasquier, APG Marketing Director Rolf Chiarini and Jürg Sager, Head of APG Poster Research, sit on the Poster Research Working Group on the Affichage side. Plakanda, on the other hand, is represented by CEO Beat Roeschlin and WerbeWoche employee and consultant Wolfgang J. Koschnick.
