Spatial Access Solutions rolls out media effectiveness tool for marketers

Media audit company Spatial Access Solutions has launched Media Performance Monitor (MPM), a subscription-based monthly tracking service. MPM is a tool that aims at empowering Indian marketers and advertisers by helping them access an independent assessment of the performance of their media plan. MPM does an objective review (deliveries and impact) for the television and print media on key parameters across priority markets.

MPM is based on a process that analyses universally available industry data through the use of proprietary software developed by Spatial Access Solutions to extract meaningful and actionable insights.

This is a key shift from the conventional media audit method, as the focus is on measuring value and not just cost. Therefore, MPM does not look at media cost data and does not provide cost comparisons or benchmarks. MPM will try and make sure that advertisers move away from the currently prevalent cost obsession and focus primarily on enabling them to maximise effectiveness and efficiency of their media strategies and investments. The underlying belief is that cost obsession is detrimental to the advertiser, the media agency and the media owner as it takes away focus and attention from the value dimensions.

Meenakshi Madhvani, managing partner, Spatial Access Media Solutions, explains, “MPM seeks to provide corporates with an independent, objective and scientific tool to understand and evaluate the actual performance of their marketing and media plans. It will enable them to undertake course correction measures to maximise the impact of their marketing strategies.”

“The secret of a good media plan is not how cheaply one buys a medium, but how much value it delivers in terms of effectiveness and efficiency,” she adds.

MPM evaluates media performance based on an audit across key dimensions desired for any marketing initiative – Market Track, Competition Track and Spot Quality Track.

Market Track assesses the media plan’s performance on key parameters such as reach profiles, frequency distribution, GRP contribution to frequency and reach, and the weekly GRPs delivered by the campaign across the channels that constitute the plan.

The second dimension, Competition Track, is a report that measures the quantum of a brand’s media investment that was lost due to competitive pressure. This provides the advertiser the option of reducing competitive overlap or even making the most of it by devising counter marketing strategies.

Spot Quality Track, the third dimension, enables the advertiser to assess which media vehicles are being used optimally by the media plan and which can be improved upon. This helps advertisers better the quality of their media buys.

While using MPM, advertisers need not share confidential data; what they do need to share is the target audience definition in order to analyse deliveries in the identified target. According to officials at Spatial Access Solutions, this is also reassuring to media agencies who believe that the rates they acquire for their clients are a function of their own buying clout and negotiation skills.

The service is meant to be used as a tool to guide the advertiser and motivate the media agency to enhance media performance.

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