Making Magazines Work

Magazine Planning Weights

tx portfolioThe Debate• Does magazine advertising work?

- Why don’t most econometric models pick up most magazine activity?

• How can magazines be planned in the most effective way possible?- How are other media planned?- How are magazines planned at the moment?- How should they be planned?- What is the optimum way of using magazines?- What part do weekly strike weights play?

• What’s the right frequency?- Where do magazines fit with other media when using a

recency model?

tx portfolioSummary of findings• Media planning tools have evolved over the past few years

- We are now able to plan weekly strike weights for magazines in the same way as other media

• Most Magazine campaigns are planned at a significantly lower weekly weight than any other media

- This is a significant reason why magazines as a medium appear not to work

- Billets and BMRB have set a minimum weekly GRP level of 25 GRPs for any campaign to be picked up using econometrics

- This should be used as a benchmark when planning magazine c campaigns

• Magazines work well with recency planning and can be used to - deliver ratings within a defined time period - at set levels over a long period- In conjunction with other media to maximise efficiency of the campaign

tx portfolioContents

• How do we plan media?

• Setting effective weights

• How does this work in magazines?

• Weekly strike weights

• Benefits to brand, campaign and consumer

tx portfolioHow do we plan Media?• Ever since media planning began, most media have been planned to

deliver coverage against an audience in a defined period of time:- TV – weekly TVRs- Radio – weekly OTS- Outdoor – coverage in a 2 week posting cycle- National Press – insertions on a defined day of the week- Cinema – 6 week campaigns or following a specific film/s

• This precision in planning means that it’s been possible to quantify the effect of activity in any of these media

- And more importantly, to set effective weekly frequency weights

tx portfolioSetting Effective Weights

• Many advertisers now use econometric modelling or brand/ad/sales tracking to help them set effective weights

- This is often only applied to TV

• Effective weights for weekly TVRs are dependant on the objectives of the campaign:

- Recency models often set weekly TVRs of around 70-80- While burst strategies might use much higher weights

tx portfolioSetting Effective Weights

• Billets media auditors conducted research into the minimum weekly rating level to allow media activity to be measured

• They concluded the MINIMUM weekly GRPs to allow econometric models or tracking studies to pick up media activity was 25 GRPs

• This means that any positive effect of activity which falls below this weekly weight is unlikely to be picked up

tx portfolioHow does this work in

Magazines?• Until recently it has not been possible to define magazine audience

delivery in the same way

• Magazines have a long shelf-life for consumers and therefore it has always been assumed that they cannot be used to deliver ratings in a tightly defined time period

- The “doctors waiting room” effect: ad exposures can continue for months after the on-sale dates

• This has also meant that most advertisers don’t or can’t track their magazine activity due to unknown weekly GRP levels

• The NRS Readership Accumulation study solved this problem though

tx portfolioNRS Readership Accumulation

• Released 2004 • Consisted of 6,000 weekly diaries • All 214 NRS titles were included • Accumulation curves plot the time lapse between an issue’s on-sale date

and the date of the respondent’s first reading of that issue.• RAS is not guaranteed exposure, nor is it advertising awareness. • It records the first readership occasion across time. It is a 1+ots curve.

It’s like a BARB TV rating • It gives us weekly reading levels of a magazine thus, weekly reach,

weekly ratings and weekly ots of the adverts in it.

tx portfolioDifferent Magazine types

behave differently

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4 Days 7 Days 4 Weeks 8 Weeks 3 Months 6 Months

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General Weeklies Women's WeekliesWomen's Customer Monthlies Women's Lifestyle Monthlies

Men's Monthlies

tx portfolioWeekly weights in Magazines

• Following the NRS Readership Accumulation Study the Periodical Publishers Association (PPA) looked at how weekly magazine strike weights compared with other media

• They discovered that the average level of GRPs per week was just 8 GRPs

• No wonder most campaigns aren’t picked up by econometric models or even simple effectiveness tracking

tx portfolioAn example of a real campaign

• Weekly weights in magazines far below those used for TV:• Only 5 weeks achieve minimum GRP level set by Billets/BMRB• No significant ratings delivery till week 3 of campaign • Uneven delivery of ratings by week

Weekly GRPs

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Weekly GRPsMinimum level set by Billets/BMRB

tx portfolioHow should Magazines be

planned?• Now that planning weekly GRPs in magazines is possible, they should

be planned in exactly the same way as any other media:- What are the campaign objectives?- What target levels of GRPs per week have been set by econometrics or other insight?- How many of the target audience do you need to reach

per week to make campaign cut through?- What are the time constraints on the campaign? (e.g.

special offer duration)

• The PPA have made a recommendation of a minimum 30-35 GRPs per week in magazines

• Of course it’s also possible to buy 100 GRPs per week, just as you would on TV

How should Magazines be planned? ABC1 25-44 Women: 4 week 30 rating campaign

wk1 wk2 wk3 wk4 wk5 wk6 Total Insertions

Heat 2Hello 2Now 2OK! 2Take a Break 2Bella 2Woman's Own 3Radio Times 2Closer 2Woman 2

Cosmopolitan 1Glamour 1GH 1Elle 1Reader's Digest 1

tx portfolioHow should Magazines be planned?

ABC1 25-44 Women: 4 week 30 rating campaign

26 insertions54% cover@ 3.0 ots164 ratings

87% of ratingsdelivered within6 weeks.

Weekly delivery23% @ 1.3 ots

Monthly delivery48% @ 2.6 ots

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Ratings Coverage

How should Magazines be planned? ABC1 25-44 Women: 12 week 30 rating campaign

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Ratings Coverage

74 insertions79% cover@ 5.9 ots466 ratings

89% of ratingsdelivered within14 weeks.

Weekly delivery23% @ 1.3 ots

12 wk delivery77% @ 5.0 ots

What’s the optimum Way of Using Magazines?

• Magazines can now be used in the same way as any other medium:- Bursts of activity within a tightly defined time frame- Drip activity over a long period of time- To generate sales with a limited period offer- To improve brand awareness and brand perception over the

long term

• Given the relatively low capital investment for a magazine campaign, they can be used as a cost effective way of “filling in the gaps” between bursts of TV

• With their new accountability, magazines can be used exactly as you would any other media. They no longer have to be just a drip weight branding tool.