The Hindu : Print medium is here to stay

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 08, 2004

Business

Business

Print medium is here to stay

By K. T. Jagannathan

CHENNAI, FEB. 7. The emergence of new media like television and the Internet has spelt trouble for the print medium. Assorted players in the game — media planners, brand managers and creative personnel — often times in the recent past, have fallen head over heels to the new media, ignoring, in the bargain, the tried and tested method of communication — the print. A research study by Indian Newspaper Society in partnership with IMRB International, however, has an entirely different story to tell.

The unique impact multiplier initiative undertaken by them in a `live environment' to assess the effectiveness of advertising has thrown up interesting findings that could go a long way in helping the cause of cost-effective media planning to reach greater target audience.

The INS-IMRB exercise, done in a live environment with six participating brands (Sundrop Nutrilite, Whisper Maxi, Limca, Himalaya Fairness Cream, Aquaguard and Active Wheel), reveals how a judicious mix of print and television media can bring about spectacular gains for media planners in terms of increasing the effectiveness of advertising. A proper blend of print and TV, according to the impact multiplier model, can improve brand salience, increase memorability of communication, enhance brand value, expand consumer disposition towards brands, enable efficient way of reaching potential target and bring on board "hard to get'' targets as well.

The exercise also exposes the limitation of the television medium vis-à-vis reaching target consumers and, hence, underscores the need to add the print medium in the overall media planning.

This is perhaps the first time that the impact multiplier theory is studied in a live market scenario with active co-operation of owners of participating brands (six, in all) who have even agreed to `fine-tune their media mix' to facilitate the study.

The study had a sample size of 14,300 across the two rounds — pre and post-campaign rounds. It covered literate householders in the age group of 15-44 years.

The INS-IMRB exercise finds the impact multiplier effect evident in Sundrop, Active Wheel, Whisper and Aquaguard taking into consideration all the parameters. In the case of Limca, it was not evident. This was explained by the lack of synergy between the creative on the print and the television. Ipso facto, the study called for perfect sync between the creatives across media so as to harness the real power of the impact multiplier effect. The essence of the finding is that the print media forms an integral part of the brand building exercise. Surely, media planners cannot afford to ignore the print media.

The conclusions of the INS-IMRB impact multiplier initiative were presented at a monthly meeting of the Advertising Club of Madras here on Friday by Hemant Mehta, Vice-President and Country Manager, IMRB International.

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