FRAGMENTED MEDIA FIELD CHALLENGES MARKETERS

How do companies target advertising in a fragmented media world? Can advertising impacts in different media be measured? The fragmented media field poses a serious challenge for marketers.

One of the major changes in advertising and marketing is that previously companies’ communication was one-way, but nowadays customers and consumers respond to communication – often via social media. Social media can be good in many respects, but it cannot replace traditional media.

It works well in creating customer loyalty and in positively reinforcing a message, but poorly when a new product is being launched. In this respect, traditional media such as print media, TV and outdoor advertising are still superior.

Impacts of advertising can be measured

The impact of advertising, i.e. the results of media investments, must be measured in the long term. This requires at least three years of data on sales and on all activities on a weekly level. The company can then see how large a percentage of total sales depends on advertising.

Marketers will have to act more analytically and from a business starting point in order to be able to handle today’s wide media field.

In some areas the traditional role of the media will decrease. For example, the tourism industry has shifted from a strong print advertising focus to online advertising. The same applies to recruiting and the real estate sector. On the other hand, the importance of traditional media will remain unchanged in those industries, which do not sell online.

Print advertising will continue to promote sales effectively, but it is declining. The trend is for advertising budgets to be distributed between a greater number of options.

This article is based on an interview with Catharina Stackelberg, Managing Director of the Marketing Clinic.

Paper is still very much in demand, but in different ways and there’s a generation gap to tackle when it comes to print…
As recently as 10 years ago 90% of creative work was print, now that’s less than 70% and the rest is screen. Designers used to specify paper as part of their brief but today the decision lies between silk or uncoated and often ads and brochures are created for the screen then transferred to print.

It’s not all bad news for paper, though, as UK printers are generally still busy, but with shorter print runs, and technology means they can order exactly the right amount of paper which saves waste.

Young people do everything on screen and the industry needs to get messages about paper over to them. A screen ad is there and gone. Paper offers interaction, you can keep it.

This article is based on an interview with Tony Owen, founder of design agency Oven Creative in the UK.

Text: Nina Colliander-Nyman
Photos: Jari Leino