Arms race in poster research
Poster Campaign Crisis Among Swiss Outdoor Advertisers. The culprit is an attractive research method from Germany.
Poster currency crisis among Swiss out-of-home advertisers. Swiss out-of-home advertisers APG and Clear Channel Plakanda (CCP) have been working on the Swiss Poster Research (SPR) project for five years. The aim of this well-advanced project is to develop a common currency for the contact opportunities of poster sites (see box). Last week, CCP suddenly announced its withdrawal. In the meantime, SPR project manager Professor Martial Pasquier has even been tasked with liquidating the simple partnership SPR. This company owns the rights to SPR, the data collected from Winterthur and Zurich and 350 GPS devices.Beat Roeschlin, CEO of CCP, makes it clear: "We are saying goodbye to SPR's observation area approach because it sometimes identifies contacts that do not actually occur." There is hardly any going back. "There would have to be fundamental changes at SPR. But after the mediation talks of the last two months, I no longer believe that will happen." Nevertheless, he is still interested in a common poster currency for Switzerland. "In our opinion, the best approach would be to examine the path pursued by the official German research organization AGMA (see box) for Switzerland as well," he wrote in a press release on June 28.
But the CCP CEO has already made up his mind. "AGMA offered us and APG talks on standardized poster research last week. CCP will certainly accept this offer," says Roeschlin. He hopes that APG will follow suit. "We want to avoid an arms race in poster research. But if necessary, CCP will also go it alone."
With the AGMA approach, definitive figures for the whole of Switzerland could be available within two years - at the same time as the AGMA survey in Germany. Roesch-lin already knows why this could be implemented so quickly: The data on the mobility of the Swiss population required for the survey is available from the Federal Statistical Office.
Faster and cheaperThe reach data for the poster sites in Zurich and Winterthur is available, and the survey for the city of Geneva will be carried out this fall - SPR liquidation or not. Roesch-lin: "We stand by this signed contract with the IHA-GfK institute." CCP expects to receive a certain number of SPR mobility meters at a later date, giving it a free hand to survey further agglomerations itself. As the AGMA concept requires far fewer cases, test persons and test weeks, the outstanding cities could be surveyed more quickly and cheaply. At APG, CEO Christian Kauter describes the withdrawal of CCP as "running amok against itself". CCP and APG had jointly defined the research method, agreed on a hard currency and had all steps assessed by the independent user group. "The fact that CCP is now suddenly jumping ship is absurd and incomprehensible." APG will determine its next steps this week. "But we will certainly not switch to a new methodology 50 meters before the finish line," says Kauter with a view to the AGMA offer.
Professor Martial Pasquier, the spiritual father of the SPR, is not surprised by the CCP's move after the mediation talks, but regrets it. At the same time, he notes: "The SPR data is accurate." It was also clear from the outset that specific solutions would have to be sought for a small number of poster sites. He believes that the AGMA approach is possible for Germany, but not for Switzerland, as the mobility data available here is too heterogeneous across the cantons. "This is precisely why the CCP and APG decided in 2003 to survey the mobility of the population using GPS," says Pasquier. This is time-consuming and expensive, but also very precise.
The User Group and the Association of Swiss Advertisers (SWA), on the other hand, were surprised. The User Group considers it an affront that "we were never informed about the apparent implementation problems and differences between the two providers". SWA Director Jürg Siegrist has also "not been able to detect any signs of a rift". However, because the SWA has mediated between APG and CCP before, the SWA Director again invited all parties involved to separate talks. "Harder data for the poster is urgent. That's why I now want to know exactly where the problems lie," he says.
How the SPR worksThe SPR measures poster usage with the help of the satellite-based navigation system Global Positioning System (GPS). To do this, the test subjects carry a cell phone-sized receiver called an SPR mobility meter on them for a week. This stores the signals from at least four satellites every second, allowing the distances covered to be transferred to a digital map with meter accuracy. The map also contains the positions of the poster sites and their observation area, which is usually defined with a visibility angle of 150 degrees and a maximum distance of 80 meters. When a test person passes through an observation area, the angle to the poster site and the speed of passage can be determined. The contact is then weighted accordingly. Around 1800 test weeks were required to obtain representative data on mobility and reach in the city of Zurich. The plan is to survey around 10 to 15 large Swiss Agglos over a period of several years. (mk)
This is how AGMA poster research works "In Germany, we cannot limit ourselves to the largest conurbations. We have to survey the poster reach nationwide," says Lothar Hannen, Board Member for Posters at AGMA. The SPR approach, which uses GPS to record the reach of the sites and the mobility of the population, is not suitable due to the large number of cases required. AGMA therefore relies on a three-stage procedure: Data from the Federal Ministry of Transport provides information on overall mobility, GPS is used to validate this data and the range survey is carried out. And thirdly, the individual locations are classified, for which a recognized value already exists, the G-value of the GfK Institute. "The concept has gone through all the necessary committees," says Hannen. The
AGMA wants to collect comprehensive GPS data as early as next year and is expected to publish it in 2007. Lothar Hannen leaves it open whether Switzerland will also be surveyed at the same time. (mk)
Split: Christian Kauter (l.) and Beat
Roeschlin (r.), and Martial Pasquier (center).
Markus Knöpfli
But the CCP CEO has already made up his mind. "AGMA offered us and APG talks on standardized poster research last week. CCP will certainly accept this offer," says Roeschlin. He hopes that APG will follow suit. "We want to avoid an arms race in poster research. But if necessary, CCP will also go it alone."
With the AGMA approach, definitive figures for the whole of Switzerland could be available within two years - at the same time as the AGMA survey in Germany. Roesch-lin already knows why this could be implemented so quickly: The data on the mobility of the Swiss population required for the survey is available from the Federal Statistical Office.
Faster and cheaperThe reach data for the poster sites in Zurich and Winterthur is available, and the survey for the city of Geneva will be carried out this fall - SPR liquidation or not. Roesch-lin: "We stand by this signed contract with the IHA-GfK institute." CCP expects to receive a certain number of SPR mobility meters at a later date, giving it a free hand to survey further agglomerations itself. As the AGMA concept requires far fewer cases, test persons and test weeks, the outstanding cities could be surveyed more quickly and cheaply. At APG, CEO Christian Kauter describes the withdrawal of CCP as "running amok against itself". CCP and APG had jointly defined the research method, agreed on a hard currency and had all steps assessed by the independent user group. "The fact that CCP is now suddenly jumping ship is absurd and incomprehensible." APG will determine its next steps this week. "But we will certainly not switch to a new methodology 50 meters before the finish line," says Kauter with a view to the AGMA offer.
Professor Martial Pasquier, the spiritual father of the SPR, is not surprised by the CCP's move after the mediation talks, but regrets it. At the same time, he notes: "The SPR data is accurate." It was also clear from the outset that specific solutions would have to be sought for a small number of poster sites. He believes that the AGMA approach is possible for Germany, but not for Switzerland, as the mobility data available here is too heterogeneous across the cantons. "This is precisely why the CCP and APG decided in 2003 to survey the mobility of the population using GPS," says Pasquier. This is time-consuming and expensive, but also very precise.
The User Group and the Association of Swiss Advertisers (SWA), on the other hand, were surprised. The User Group considers it an affront that "we were never informed about the apparent implementation problems and differences between the two providers". SWA Director Jürg Siegrist has also "not been able to detect any signs of a rift". However, because the SWA has mediated between APG and CCP before, the SWA Director again invited all parties involved to separate talks. "Harder data for the poster is urgent. That's why I now want to know exactly where the problems lie," he says.
How the SPR worksThe SPR measures poster usage with the help of the satellite-based navigation system Global Positioning System (GPS). To do this, the test subjects carry a cell phone-sized receiver called an SPR mobility meter on them for a week. This stores the signals from at least four satellites every second, allowing the distances covered to be transferred to a digital map with meter accuracy. The map also contains the positions of the poster sites and their observation area, which is usually defined with a visibility angle of 150 degrees and a maximum distance of 80 meters. When a test person passes through an observation area, the angle to the poster site and the speed of passage can be determined. The contact is then weighted accordingly. Around 1800 test weeks were required to obtain representative data on mobility and reach in the city of Zurich. The plan is to survey around 10 to 15 large Swiss Agglos over a period of several years. (mk)
This is how AGMA poster research works "In Germany, we cannot limit ourselves to the largest conurbations. We have to survey the poster reach nationwide," says Lothar Hannen, Board Member for Posters at AGMA. The SPR approach, which uses GPS to record the reach of the sites and the mobility of the population, is not suitable due to the large number of cases required. AGMA therefore relies on a three-stage procedure: Data from the Federal Ministry of Transport provides information on overall mobility, GPS is used to validate this data and the range survey is carried out. And thirdly, the individual locations are classified, for which a recognized value already exists, the G-value of the GfK Institute. "The concept has gone through all the necessary committees," says Hannen. The
AGMA wants to collect comprehensive GPS data as early as next year and is expected to publish it in 2007. Lothar Hannen leaves it open whether Switzerland will also be surveyed at the same time. (mk)
Split: Christian Kauter (l.) and Beat
Roeschlin (r.), and Martial Pasquier (center).
Markus Knöpfli
