Infusion of print spends imperative, reveals Impact Multiplier study

The much-awaited Impact Multiplier study initiated by the Indian Newspaper Society (INS) was released in Mumbai yesterday amidst a packed audience comprising agency heads, executives from print and television houses and advertisers.

Bharat Kapadia, editor and publisher, Chitralekha, who is chief mentor of Project Press of which Impact Multiplier is a constituent, Shripad Kulkarni, CEO, Carat India, Hemant Mehta of IMRB, which was commissioned to carry out the study, along with Sachidanand Madan, vice-president, Agrotech Foods, BV Pradeep, head of CMI (Consumer & Market Insight) and regional leader, CMI HPC Asia, HLL, and Andre Nair, CEO, South Asia, WPP Marketing Communications, were the main speakers during the evening's proceedings.

The IMRB study attempted to measure the advertising effectiveness of six brands - including Active Wheel, Sundrop Nutrilite, Whisper Maxi, Himalaya Fairness Cream, Aquaguard and Limca - using the Impact Multiplier theory, which assumes that when two media (in this case print and television) are taken into account, the combined impact is more than the sum total of the individual impacts of the two.

Using various parameters such as salience, recall, imagery, brand values, disposition, contact efficiency and micro targeting, multiplier scores were arrived at for the different brands under study.

The study threw up an interesting finding - the memorability of creative is most important in increasing the multiplier effect in print and TV. Moreover, when the message communicated in print is in sync with the message on TV or vice versa, the multiplier effect increases. In short, adequate infusion of print spends can harness impact multiplier, as Mehta of IMRB highlighted during his presentation. "Print plays a significant role in the communication mix," he said, to which Kulkarni of Carat, added, "If you want the message to be established then print has a big role to play."

In the light of these findings, BV Pradeep of HLL agreed that the "multiplier effect works well when used judiciously", but added, "more clarity is required for better delivery."

Andre Nair of WPP plotted the way ahead saying, "It is not so much about the message being in sync in both media; it is more about an integrated proposition, which can be used in print and TV."

Impact Multiplier is a live market study conducted in the cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Indore and Bhopal with the markets paired depending on the brand and its requirements. The target audience comprises "literate householders in the age group of 15-44 years, SEC ABC, having a C&S connection".

The research design included the use of TV in the control market and the use of print plus TV in the test market. Two rounds of dipstick measurements, that is, pre- and post-campaign, were conducted, and a robust 14,300-odd-sample base was arrived at over two rounds.

An independent validation was conducted using a "three-way fusion" of TAM, NRS and Pulse, which is IMRB's purchase panel data, to arrive at a single database giving information on TV viewing, readership and purchase behaviour. © 2003 agencyfaqs!