Author: Annette Malave, SVP/Insights, RAB
Partnerships are important. Ask anyone who is trying to grow their business, and they will admit that along with their own hard work, the partnerships and relationships they build with both consumers and other businesses has helped their own growth and impact.
The same is true for media. Today’s media landscape is fragmented, and consumers are engaging with multiple forms of media throughout their daily journey. In fact, some are using various media simultaneously. Implementing a media strategy for any brand is as important as the brand’s messaging, and it is critical to look at the power and complementary effect that multiple forms of media have on the plan. In other words, partnerships with multiple media channels to drive KPI delivery will always generate a greater impact.
Advertisers struggle every day to capture the eyes, ears and minds of consumers as well as increase their brand’s share of voice. Share of voice (SOV) is defined as the measurement that a brand owns in comparison to their competitors. There is a related concept called excess or extra share of voice (ESOV). In its simplest terms, ESOV is when a brand’s share of voice is greater than its market share (percentage of ad dollars spent in the industry). ESOV is important because it increases brand awareness, can potentially increase brand loyalty and ultimately, increase sales.
Radio’s amplification effect when added to digital, social or television plans has been proven and Mark Ritson, brand consultant and former marketing professor, took it a step further. He wanted to explore what happens to ESOV when radio is added to a marketing plan and what impact radio has on campaigns that have already proven effective. Partnering with CRA and using Advertising Council Australia’s (ACA) Effie database, he set out to prove his hypothesis. Specifically:
- When you add radio to ESOV campaign, you get a catalytic effect across the entire campaign.
- Because it is radio, the amount of money you need to divert to radio to get this significant boost is relatively small.
Indexing all ACA to 100, campaigns that had a positive ESOV indexed to 125. A deeper analysis found that campaigns that did not have radio indexed at 116. The campaigns that used radio indexed at 132. Radio boosted the campaign effectiveness. It increased new customers, positive impact on retaining current customers, boosted brand awareness and brand association or imagery.
And to answer the question of cost? Radio is relatively inexpensive in comparison to other media. Based on the campaigns analyzed, brands with a positive ESOV with 11% of the ad budget allocated to radio will get the maximum impact – a doubled effectiveness score of 210. That’s right – 11% of a campaign’s total ad spend allocated to radio doubled the campaign’s effectiveness.
“Radio is a demonstrable power in improving effectiveness for a relatively small amount of investment,” stated Ritson. He believes that radio is the perfect partner and refers to radio at “the ultimate sidekick!”
You can view and download the presentation at CRA here.