Surina Sayal
OOH

Tag Media Network reveals consumer research findings

The in-store television network's research will aid clients in the use of the network

Tag Media Network, the in-store television network, has revealed the findings of a research study conducted in the 550 stores in which it has a presence.

Tag Media Network, launched in October 2006, is based along similar lines as Wal-Mart's PRN Network, which is the fourth largest TV network in the US today. Tag Media is present in retail stores such as Spencer's (RPG Group), More (Aditya Birla Group), Foodworld (Dairy Farm International) and Indiabulls Mart (Indiabulls Group). The network spans 550 stores in 32 cities across the country and reaches out to an average of 20 million people per month.

Tag Media has established a programme, the Tag Media Advertising Research Program, for proprietary, quantitative research designed to help clients evaluate the effects of their advertising/ programming efforts. The programme allows clients to evaluate the effects of their commercials on a range of key communications dimensions, such as brand image and purchase intent.

Tag Media Network reveals consumer research findings
The media company had conducted a number of independent research studies across categories such as hair care, milk food drinks, soaps and liquor, but has now launched these as a compilation. The study was conducted by the Bengaluru-based research firm, Opinion and Market Research Company (OMRC).

Tuhin Mishra, executive vice-president, Tag Media Network, says, “The objective of the research, as any client would want, is to see how many people are looking at the screens, what is the brand recall (aided as well as unaided), the profile of shoppers, to look at purchase intent before and after seeing the Tag screens and also to track product offtake.”

The study threw up some key findings about shoppers in modern retail stores. Some of these findings were that the average recall of specific advertisements on Tag Media screens is 70 per cent; 80 per cent of the audience is aged 18-44 years; 40 per cent shop alone, 30 per cent with families, and another 30 per cent with friends.

Tag Media Network reveals consumer research findings
Also, 85 per cent are regular shoppers in the stores (more than one visit per month); 71 per cent classify themselves as very contemporary/ modern, whereas 49 per cent call themselves traditional. Store selection is heavily based on quality (for 91 per cent of consumers) and variety (90 per cent), with price and location being the other key considerations (85 per cent).

Other findings were that the audience is most receptive to advertising at home and in stores and least receptive to advertising at work, in the car and in lifts.

The findings about attitudes toward Tag Media screens revealed that 90 per cent of the consumers in retail stores with Tag Media screens prefer to shop in stores with in-store television, 6 per cent are neutral, and 4 per cent are unlikely to shop in a store with programming.

On the effectiveness of the advertising, purchase intent among viewers is twice that of a matched sample of non-viewers, thus showing the impact of advertising on the Tag Media Network.

Mishra shares that for a Dabur brand, offtake was tracked for a month before using Tag Media as well as for a month after advertising on the network. The findings were that the brand saw a 64 per cent rise in sales following advertising on the network. A Hindustan Unilever Ltd brand saw a similar rise in offtake after using the network.

“Our biggest differentiator,” he says, “is that we're an audiovisual medium present specifically in stores. In-store audio plays a very critical part in announcing store offers that customers would want and also aids offtake for the retailer.”

Mishra adds, “The basic premise of the Tag Media Network is programming which is relevant to the audience. Ads play a peripheral role around programming.”

About Tag's exclusively in-store presence, he says, “If you see across networks, grocery stores always have the highest footfalls, with people walking in with purchase intent and not for window shopping.”

People in commercial complexes and offices would spend about two-three minutes passing these screens, whereas in a store, they could spend 30-45 minutes.

He adds, “Also, as we know, 70 per cent buying decisions happen at the store. There are many influencing factors at the retail level and the audiovisual medium is big among these.”

Besides on-air options, Tag Media also offers on-ground opportunities for brands in stores, where they can set up kiosks and stalls to extend the brand experience to the customer. While its ads were playing on television, Tata Indigo set up a real car in stores, inviting people for test drives. Similar efforts were conducted successfully for various other brands such as ICICI Prudential, HUL's Pure It and Philips across the country.

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