Ipsos, Katz Marketing Develop In-Market Evaluation Of Live Radio Campaigns

Looking For 'Empirical Evidence'

IPSOS OTX MEDIACT has undertaken an ongoing evaluation of radio campaigns in partnership with KATZ MARKETING SOLUTIONS.  The first release of the results, according to IPSOS OTX MEDIACT Pres. BRUCE FRIEND, "have demonstrated to us the power of radio."

The approach compared results from people who had listened to at least one of the stations included in a campaign with a control group of people in the same markets who had not listened to those stations. Numerous brand metrics were included as well as questions that focused on the ads themselves. Among its findings:

* Radio can impact brands all along the purchase funnel.

* Radio can be used to improve a brand at stages all the way from creating awareness to enhancing the likelihood that the consumer will recommend the brand to a friend. It is a versatile tool that can be used to meet a variety of objectives
 
* Radio works across a variety of categories.

* Campaigns for movies, financial services, retail, consumer durables and fast food have enjoyed stronger results among radio listeners than non-listeners -- and improvement was seen on multiple-brand measures for all the campaigns.

* Radio ads need to work at an emotional level as well as a rational one.     

While many people see radio primarily as a way of communicating a wealth of information about a brand  these results show the importance of connecting at an emotional level with consumers.   The strength of emotional response to each ad used in the campaigns was measured using Ipsos’ proprietary Emotive Power measure.  Stronger campaigns used ads with greater emotional power. This finding throws a challenge to creatives developing radio spots to generate ideas and content for ads that go beyond information and connect with the consumer.

The project was commissioned by KATZ MARKETING SOLUTIONS. "We’re determined to provide advertisers with empirical proof of performance illustrating how radio positively impacts the five key branding metrics," KATZ MARKETING Pres. BOB MCCURDY said. "These studies have confirmed what we’ve always have known to be true, that radio works and that its ability to positively impact marketing campaigns is far greater than its cost."

« see more Net News