Blueprint for consumer-centric holistic measurement

France

Although the French multi-media survey, Media In life, has been in place for many years, the industry has yet to have access to any consumer-centric holistic research. But a comprehensive, hub style initiative, Le Projet Cross Média, has been tested, and is due to be introduced on a permanent base in summer 2008.

Status, Management, Financing

The hub initiative, initially known as Media in Life, is conducted jointly by the Advertisers, the Media and the Media Agencies, through Médiamétrie,( the commercial Media Research venture they co-own) in partner-ship with AudiPresse (Print audience survey) and Affimétrie (Outdoor audience survey).

• The study's purpose is to be a hub to which the various sources of information about the other media will be gradually connected, to form a single integrated database. The first hub survey has been already carried out. Its results are currently used to test the fusion procedures.
• The first Integrated Database will be made available to the Industry in October 2008. It will be provide results from the hub itself, along with the TV people meter, the radio panel, the internet panel and the print (magazines and newspapers) surveys.
• The plan is to have 2 sets of results a year (from 2009) and to gradually integrate other media (outdoor is likely to be the first) and information about consumption of products and services (the French SIMM, and TGI).
• The project is co- financed by Mediamétrie, AudiPresse and Affimétrie , which will own the results and sell them to the various partners in the Industry.
• The hub fieldwork is done by Mediamétrie.

Methodology

The universe is the adult population. The hub information is collected through a single interview (i.e. not through a panel) there will be 2 waves of interviews per year (taking 28 days). Each wave will interview a sample of 5000 adults

Information Collected

The research is not time-budget based, the collection of information focus on the habits of consumption of the main vehicles for each media:

TV, radio, dailies, magazines, cinema, internet. Media vehicles are defined as TV channels, TV programs, radio stations, magazines and daily titles, internet sites and portals...

The context information (where, with whom, the mood or attitude) is not collected, but questions are asked about the person's areas of interest, sports, holidays, music, videos, computer/video games. Demographic, geographic, equipment criteria (including the Internet and mobile phone equipment and providers.

Release - Publishing

Médiamétrie is currently moving into the phase of fusion of the hub data collected, the data from the TAM, Internet and radio panels, and the print readership survey.

• The first integrated database will be made available in October 2008
• The data will be delivered as a Computer file, to allow each user to access and process it with the help of the various software available; both commercial and proprietary.

United Kingdom

The UK has in place the most accomplished example of the ‘hub’ style holistic measurement initiative so far. The research has been initiated by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA), the trade association for communication agencies in the UK and is known as IPA TouchPoints.

Management, Financing

Started three years ago, it is at its 2nd execution, the results of which were released on July 3rd, 2008. Its purpose is to be a hub to which the various sources of information about the other Media, TGI, and also Proprietary research, can be connected through statistical Fusion, to form a single integrated database.

• The results of the 1st survey, and those of the resulting fusions, were made available in 2006.
• ‘IPA Touchpoints 2’ and its fusion with BARB and TGI, were published on July 3rd, the fusion with the other sources is due in September 2008.
• The aim for the future (2009/2010) is to make the hub survey permanent. The interviewing being made (almost) 52 weeks a year, with results published twice a year
• The research was initiated by the IPA, which underwrites the cost. However, agencies, media owners and research companies subscribe to the survey.
• The field work is undertaken by TNS and the fusions are carried out by RSMB.

Methodology

The universe is adults aged 15+ living in Great Britain. Each of the 5,000 hub survey respondents completes (i) a self completion questionnaire and (ii) a seven day, PDA (personal digital assistant) based diary which is completed every half hour. The IPA TouchPoints2 fieldwork took place between September 2007 and February 2008.

The Information Collected

The self completion questionnaire covers qualitative and quantitative aspects of television, press, radio, out of home, cinema, online, SMS and direct usage plus lifestyle statements and shopping habits.

The diary collects data on where, with whom, main activity media usage and mood by half hour.

The following (UK) industry datasets are integrated onto the TouchPoints Hub – BARB, NRS, RAJAR, FAME, POSTAR, JICREG and TGI – probability based currencies are simulated for online, SMS and direct. The 2008 dataset also plans to simulate a basic currency for search.

Usage of the Research

IPA TouchPoints has been received as a breakthrough in consumer-centric holistic research, but the UK market is still in a learning curve regarding its usage and full potential. The execution of the 2nd survey and, even more, the plan to make it permanent from 2009 is positive, and should contribute to make it more of a key tool for strategic media and marketing planning.

Visit the IPA TouchPoints website for more information.

Germany

Germany has had experience of holistic measurement in the recent past (2006-2007) through MindSet. This project was initiated by a media agency (Mindshare) and some media owners. Although the scale to date is fairly limited, the decision on moving to a second execution, and expansion, is being debated. MindSet has the potential to be a hub for fusion with other sources. Although it hasn't been used to this purpose so far, this project provides valuable project experience for the world’s fifth biggest ad market.

Status, Management, Financing

Mindset's purpose is, for the moment, to describe the activities, including multi-media behaviour of people, along with some information about their situation (where, with whom) the attitude (how the person feels) and the exposure to Advertising.

• MindSet was financed by Mindshare, IP Deutschland and other Print publishers.
• The fieldwork was done by Research International.
• The ACMA (Joint Industry Media Analysis entity) has in project to test the fusion of MindSet, with the other existing Media Research (TAM, Radio, Print).
• The AGMA (Joint Industry Media Analysis entity) is evaluating if MindSet could be fused with other existing Media Research (TAM, Radio, Print)
• Currently there are no advanced projects for a 2nd execution of the Research.

Methodology

• The Universe was the Adult Population (16-64)
• The information was collected in 2 phases: (1) a detailed, interview at the end of which (2) the interviewee was invited to report his-her activities (see below) for 3 days, with the help of a pre-programmed PDA (personal digital assistant).
• The sample size was 1923, interviewed in September-December 2006.

Information Collected

• The research is time-budget based, tracking all activities of the person in a given day, including the media consumption activities (all media), simultaneous or exclusive. New media, such as mobile TV were also tracked for the first time.
• The time-interval researched was the hour. Every hour the PDA sent a signal to invite the interviewee to fill in the questionnaire.
• The collected information includes "context": where (at home, at work, in the car….), with whom (alone, with family, with friends …), and also: attention, mood or attitude, and exposure to Advertising.
• Demographic, geographic, equipment, criteria.

Release - Publishing

So far, the results have been mostly used by the sponsors of the Survey.

Italy

Italy has experienced a holistic measurement initiative that is relatively small, in size, but interesting from a methodological point of view. It is known as Eurisko Media Monitor (EMM), by GfK Eurisko, part of the GfK Group.

The 1st execution of the study was carried out in 2006, and researched TV, radio, print, the internet and direct marketing. In 2007 exposure to supermarkets and outdoor was added based on respondents’ declarations. The 2nd edition is now also complete and results were published in March 2008.

Particular interest in this project resides in the meter used by the interviewees to report their activities. It is basically a ‘Personal People Meter’ (not to be confused with Arbitron’s PPM) passively identifying TV and radio by sound digital recognition, and recording voice declarations of the interviewee about his/ her use of the other media (print, internet, direct mail…). The Meter used in the 2nd had also bar-code scan capabilities, used for press readership in addition to the voice declarations.

EMM uses a single source approach. It could also become a ‘hub’ by its concept and methodology, although no fusion has been done (yet) with other sources of information.

Management, Financing

EMM is a commercial initiative from Eurisko. So far, various media agencies and advertisers have subscribed.

• The 1st survey was been carried out in 2006, its results have been delivered to the Subscribers. The results of the 2nd survey were delivered in March 2008
• The ideal, according to representatives of the Industry, would be to have 2-3 sets of results a year.
• The project is financed by Eurisko, which owns the results and sell them on.
• The supervision is provided by a ‘scientific committee’, including with representatives from the subscribers and professional organizations. The UPA (the Italian association of advertisers) and Assocomunicazione (the Italian association of media agencies) are involved in the supervision of the project.
• The fieldwork is done by Eurisko.

Methodology

• The universe is the adult population, the information is collected in 2 phases: (1) a detailed, interview at the end of which (2) the interviewee is invited to report his-her activities for 28 days, with the help of a personal meter
• The current Personal Meter has sound recognition, voice recording, and bar-code scanning and GPRS capabilities.
• The first and the second editions were based on a sample of 2300 adults (14+)

The Information Collected

• The research provides minute-by-minute information, either automatically and passively (TV, Radio) or by scan/voice declaration (press, cinema, internet, point of sale, outdoor).
• Some context information (where, with whom, the mood or attitude) is declared by the interviewee and recorded by the meter.
• Demographic, geographic, equipment criteria and information about the consumption of goods and services is collected during the initial interview

Poland

AGB-Nielsen Media Research in Poland is in the process of offering to Polish advertisers, media agencies and media companies, an adaptation of the hub style ‘IPA TouchPoints’ (from the UK).

It is a very interesting project by itself, and as a demonstration of the "scalability" of the TouchPoints concept, its ability to adapt to smaller size (in terms of media investment) markets. For this reason, its progress will be extremely useful to track.

Status, Management, Financing

Most characteristics of the Polish TouchPoints are the same as, or similar to, those of the UK edition.

• Its purpose is to be a "hub" to which the various sources of information about the other Media, TGI, and also Proprietary research, can be connected through statistical fusion, to form a single integrated database.
• The project is currently at a "pilot" stage, will be tested in the field, with small samples in Warsaw, the countryside and also some "difficult" sub-groups of population. The initiators plan to make the first results available in 2009.
• The project is being developed by AGB-Nielsen Media Research, Millward Brown SMG, with the cooperation of SAR, the Agencies Association.
• A Consortium (the initiators and the main Sponsors) will provide the initial financing, own the data and sell it to Clients.
• There is a Technical Committee, a 10-member body composed by the two research institutes, SAR, Media Companies/Sales Houses.
• The fieldwork is done by Millward Brown SMG.

Methodology

• The Universe is the Adult Population, the information is collected in two phases: (1) a detailed, interview at the end of which (2) the interviewee is invited to report his-her activities (see below) for 7 days, with the help of a pre-programmed Mobile Phone (with PDA capabilities). The data will be sent daily by the phone to the server.
• The sample size of Polish TouchPoints 2 will be 4000, divided into two waves, in Spring and Autumn.

The Information Collected

The research will be time-budget based; all activities of the person in a given day, including the media consumption activities (all media), simultaneous or exclusive.

• The time-interval researched is the ½ hour.
• Context information is collected. E.g.: where (at home, at work, in the car ...), with whom (alone, with family, with friends …), and also: attention, mood or attitude.
• Demographic, geographic, equipment criteria.
• Similar to the UK model, the Hub data will be completed with the various other sources available in the Polish market: From TV people meters, radio, print, and of course TGI and (potentially) proprietary advertisers' research.

Australia

The Australian Market is moving towards CCHM initiatives, essentially through the use (and development) of Research resources that already exist and have been in use for a long time.

Currently there are two services that can be considered as, at least partially, fulfilling Blueprint requirements. Both are private, commercial initiatives from Research Companies. One is known as Panorama, and is conducted by Nielsen Media Research (a hub + fusion concept), the other is Morgan Research, a single source multi-media panel based survey.

Panorama

Panorama is conducted by -Nielsen Media Research and basically consists of the fusion of the results from three sources.

1. A hub: Survey (currently done online) providing information about print readership, cinema attendance, use of the internet and time spent outside. The survey provides also information on the consumption of broad product/services categories, as well as attitudes and lifestyle questions. The Universe is adults (14+) and the sample size approximately 22,000 per year. The interviewing is spread over 40 weeks.
2. The traditional TAM results, from the OzTAM (conducted by AGB-Nielsen Media Research) people meter panel,
3. The Nielsen Media Research Radio Diary Sample.

The Results of the fusion are provided by Nielsen Media Research to its clients 10 times a year. The hub data is a rolling annual average, the TV fusion data is the last four-week ‘survey’ from OzTAM (the continuous people meter ratings are rolled into 10 x 4-week surveys), and the radio data is the latest radio survey (8 p.a.). The ‘currency’ readership data (provider by competitor Morgan) is not fused - NMR use their own data collection.

The methodology used puts Panorama into the hub + fusion category (as with IPA TouchPoints in the UK), although the hub itself provides less information than the UK’s: It does not use a time-budget approach, and doesn't provide information about context and mood/attitudes at that specific point in time.

In spite of this, the project is extremely interesting, as it has acquired a long experience of data fusion and has the potential to evolve into a real consumer-centric holistic measurement system if the remit of the hub is increased (perhaps to the level of TouchPoints) and other owners of information in the marketplace accept to participate in the fusion.

Morgan

Morgan Research is a single source research initiative, based upon face-to-face interviewing (masthead and front cover show-cards used for readership) coupled with a traditional "pen and pencil" diary. It is run as a traditional commercial venture, with limited input from the various industry bodies.

The Research provides the official Print Readership data for Australia. Within the same service information is collected about print readership, the use of radio and TV, the consumption of product/services categories, attitudes and lifestyle. Attention to TV and attitude measures are also provided.

The sample size is 55,000 per year, interviewees are invited to fill in a diary during one week. The weekly sample is collected over 48 weeks of the year from just over 1,000 panelists each week.

Results are delivered to Morgan Research clients four 4 times a year, as rolling annual averages.

The United States

We currently mention only one initiative for the United States: Project Apollo, now unfortunately terminated. Please help us if you are aware of any existing or planned industry supported initiatives that comply with the Blueprint principles in the United States.

Project Apollo

Although discontinued, it is interesting to mention Apollo as we feel the learnings from this initiative can help to inform other projects. Notably due to three unique aspects:

1. It is the largest single source project even conceived and actually run, even if for a limited time.
2. It was initiated and run by a consortium, where advertisers, agencies and media owners were represented. The role of advertisers was crucial, especially at the start of the initiative.
3. The rich database generated has already been used by researchers to assess the actual added value that such a tool can generate for Commercial Communication planning.

Management, Financing

There were three main enablers for Apollo to launch:

1. The needs of Advertisers to have access to a suitable source of information and tools to build better strategies and plans, and execute accurate ROI analyses, in an increasingly complex media environment.
2. Development of data collection techniques and devices: Home scanners, personal people meters, the internet.
3. The processing and data storage capabilities available today.

Apollo was initiated and run by a Consortium of users: Advertisers (Johnson & Johnson, Kraft, Pepsi, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, SCJohnson, Unilever, Wal-Mart), media companies (mainly national TV broadcasters, cable TV networks, radio networks) and agencies. TV and radio companies provided the encoding of the programs, advertisers encoded their commercial messages.

Nielsen and Arbitron joined forces and expertise to conceive the architecture of the whole project, execute the fieldwork, process the data and make the results available to the Subscribers.

The project was launched in 2004, was run nearly full-scale from 2006 and was discontinued in February 2008.

The financing was provided by members of the Consortium, which also contributed to the running ‘costs’, by providing programs and ads properly encoded.

Methodology,

The Universe was the Total US Population: Adults and Children 6+. A portion of the information was collected at an individual, another from a household level.

The Sample was an extension of the Nielsen's Homescan Panel: 5,000 households, and 11,000 persons aged 6+. The recruitment was via the Homescan panel procedure.

The panelists were reporting over several months, enabling accurate period on period comparison of the same sample within a period of time sufficient to cover (most) campaign periods.

Information Collected

• TV and radio audience, minute by minute (thanks to encoding) and exposure to point of sale audio through Arbitron's portable people meters
• Readership of newspapers and magazines, retail visits, for each person via periodical interviews (4 per year)
• Consumption of packaged goods, daily, at household level, using the Nielsen's in-home bar-code scanners
• Purchase and use of other products and services, other events (e.g. major purchases, weddings, births…) at personal and household level, through periodical interviews
• The measurement of internet audiences was planned for 2008.
• Demographic information, along with other personal and household data and equipment where collected when the household was recruited, and updated periodically.

In short, the information collected on an individual included the full picture of all media behaviors, exposure to programs and ad messages, consumption of packaged goods including (thanks to the bar-codes) exposure to promotional activities or offers, as well as the precise timing of each event.

The information was released to subscribers as a computer database. Updates were very frequent: Weekly or even (in theory) daily.

Usage of the Research

As most elements of the marketing mix were described in detail, in real-time, the information was used in all phases of marketing planning and execution:

• Before: Marketing and media strategy, targeting, media planning, media buying.
• During: Monitoring execution. When and where our elements started and what the competitors did.
• After: Media post-buy analysis, immediate and longer-term effect on use, purchase, repeat purchase, sources of business, even actual brand profit-and-loss analyses, at household level.

Additional Information

Many articles have been written, and papers delivered, about Apollo. We mention here some of them, which are both recent and easily available from ESOMAR publications:

June 2007, ESOMAR WM3, Session 'Apollo, TouchPoints and other holistic approaches':

• Leslie Wood and Donald Gloeckler: 'Project Apollo: Consumer-Centric Insights'
• Bart Flaherty: 'Project Apollo and Ad Impact'

June 2008, ESOMAR WM3, Session ‘Project Apollo: end of an era or a springboard for future single source innovations?’:

• Leslie Wood, James Spaeth: ‘Scoring media for ROI potential’
• Joan FitzGerald: ‘Measuring responsiveness from a 360° angle, Are you reaching consumers who respond to advertising for your brands?"
• Rachel Kennedy, Carl Driesener, Gerald Goodhart, Colin McDonald, Leslie Wood: ‘How does advertising affect loyalty? Using Project Apollo data to investigate the relationship in a new way’
• Erica Riebe, Carl Driesener, Virginia Beal: ‘The effect of recency of ad exposure on purchasing across categories and media’.

Japan

Overview coming soon.

Brazil

There are two private initiatives currently underway in Brazil. The first is a fusion approach from Ibope in that it integrates their TV People Meter research as well as their single-source TGI data. The next stage of the project is to integrate context and attitudinal information for the end of 2008 which will see it fulfill more of the Blueprint criteria. The second initiative from IPSOS Marplan (EGM) follows more of a single-source approach.

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