Revving Up Auto Sales: Media Effectiveness and Efficiency Across the Automotive Purchase Funnel

By Commissioned by Magazine Publishers of America (MPA) and conducted by Dynamic Logic

Magazines

"Magazines alone, or working in synergy with other media, consistently yielded the most positive results."

Date: May 2007
 

Type of Promotional Material/Activity Tested: The effectiveness of television, magazine, and online media -- alone and in combination -- used in an integrated advertising campaign for the launch of the Jeep Compass.
 

Sample Population: Nearly 4,500 respondents recruited via random pop-up online survey invitation placed on web sites where Jeep Compass advertising was featured.

 

Method: Conducted between July-December 2006, an online survey used to analyze and correlate online and offline advertising “opportunity to see” (OTS) and respondents’ attitudinal reactions.  The analysis of OTS to brand awareness and attitude was based on comparisons of respondent groups having exposure opportunity to different combinations of media set against a baseline control group with no exposure to the online or offline campaign advertising. 

  Opportunity to see exposure data by medium:
 

• Online advertising OTS determined by Dynamic Logic’s proprietary AdScout (cookie-tracking survey system) that tracked respondents visits to website featuring Jeep Compass ad, as well as exposure frequency and recency.

 

• Television advertising OTS determined by self-reported television consumption compared with syndicated audience measurement data.

 

• Magazine advertising OTS determined by respondents’ exposure to specific issues of titles in which advertising from the campaign appeared.

 

• Each respondent cell was unique, e.g., “TV Only" consumers were exposed only to the TV advertising; "Magazines and Online" respondents were exposed only to magazine and online advertising; "Magazines, TV and Online" respondents were exposed to advertising in all three media.

Metrics: Overall effectiveness of ad campaign.

• The influence television, magazines, and online ads have on each stage of the purchase funnel (alone or in combination). Purchase funnel stages:  
  • Aided Brand Awareness - e.g., familiarity with Jeep Compass name
  • Aided Ad Awareness - e.g., recall of seeing Jeep Compass advertised
  • Message Association - e.g., effective conveyance of message
  • Brand Imagery - e.g., effectiveness of medium’s creative at communicating the Jeep’s attributes
  • Brand Favorability - e.g., overall opinion of the Jeep Compass
  • Purchase Consideration - e.g., likelihood to buy/lease Jeep Compass.

• Cost efficiency of each medium and combinations of media.

• How the exposure frequency of magazines alone and magazines with other media affected results.

Top Line Results:
 

Findings Across the Purchase Funnel

 

Aided Brand Awareness	• When used in isolation, online was associated with largest gains in brand awareness (45%), followed by magazines (36%).   • Pairings that included magazines generated the best results for two media combos.   • The integration of all three media produced the strongest results increasing brand awareness 76%.
Aided Ad Awareness	• Used alone magazines produced the greatest ad awareness lift (81%). TV and online resulted in 63% increases each. • The addition of magazines to the media mix produced significantly higher awareness than TV or online alone or in combination with one another. Magazines and online were the most efficient of all two and three media combination.
Message Association	• Magazines in combination with either TV or online boosted message association the most –- even more than when all three media were used together.
Brand Imagery	• As a single medium, magazines generated the most significant shift in communicating attributes. TV also aided brand imagery but to a lesser extent while online did not prove influential.   • Magazines paired with online produced the highest overall results generally exceeding or equaling the combination of all three media.
Brand Favorability	• Magazines only and TV only both produced a 41% lift in overall opinion.   • Brand favorability received the biggest boost when magazines were used in tandem -- magazines combined with TV resulted in a 73% lift and combined with online showed a 68% increase. The use of all three mediums did not better a two media mix.
Purchase Consideration	• Magazines – alone or in combo -- drove purchase consideration more than any other medium/mix.     • Alone, magazines produced a 22% increase in purchase consideration.  The most effective/cost efficient combination was magazines plus online (65% lift).

 

 
Take Aways:  

• Magazines alone or working in synergy with other media -- usually online—consistently yielded the most positive results.
   
• Magazines alone or magazines plus online proved the most cost efficient of the various media and combinations. TV alone or combination proved less efficient for this campaign.
   
• Overall, the higher the exposure frequency to magazines the greater the impact on ad recall. The greatest bump came from exposure to 5 magazines/month.

Complexity rating: 1 out of 3 (Complex statistical analysis scale: 1= none, 2= moderate, 3 = difficult)  

Source: Revving Up Auto Sales: Media Effectiveness and Efficiency Across the Automotive Purchase Funnel