A multi-platform connection

More and more brands are running promotional campaigns across multiple media platforms. Mobile, online and interactive have all become channels that marketers can no longer afford to ignore, and advertisers are learning the benefits of using a

By running promotions with brands that have a presence on several media platforms, advertisers can reinforce key messages and get more response than by advertising across a range of brands

More and more brands are running promotional campaigns across multiple media platforms. Mobile, online and interactive have all become channels that marketers can no longer afford to ignore, and advertisers are learning the benefits of using a multi-platform approach to get their message across.

Nestlé’s successful KitKash promotion has run across several platforms and such was its success that the promotion has re-run and been extended to other Nestlé brands.

Looking further at cross-platform promotions EMAP Advertising surveyed 2,000 consumers of advertising campaigns for Snickers, Impulse and Nik Naks, all of which used multi-platform brands as promotional vehicles, and also questioned more than 1,500 FHM consumers, to assess the relationships that consumers have with multi-platform brands. The results are contained in the EMAP Advertising Engagement report.

The research demonstrates how different elements of a multi-platform campaign work together to increase its effectiveness. Multi-platform media brand consumers have a deeper connection with the brand and spend more time creating opportunities for advertisers to communicate with a more receptive and engaged consumer.

Multi-platform Kerrang! consumers, for example, were found to be closer to the Kerrang! brand and identity, with 72% of consumers who interact with three or more platforms agreeing Kerrang! is a cool brand, compared to 52% of those who consume it on only one platform.

Similarly, multi-platform FHM consumers were found to be closer to the FHM identity, with two thirds of those who just read the magazine thinking it is "funny" – a core brand value for FHM. That is compared to 74% of those who read the magazine and also use the website. More than three-quarters (77%) of magazine-only readers think the brand is sexy, compared with 87% of those who are magazine and online users.

Advertising on multi-platform brands is shown in the research to be more effective than simple audience delivery figures would suggest. The different elements of a multi-platform brand can work together to produce greater cut-through. With the Snickers/Kerrang! promotion study, 68% of those who consumed Kerrang! on one platform agreed with the statement "Snickers supports new music talent" (the key advertising message), but among those who consume the brand on three or more platforms the figure rose to 84%.

In addition, advertising messages across two platforms of a single medium brand are more effective in influencing consumers’ purchasing intentions than those across two platforms of two different brands. Using case studies from Nik Naks and Impulse, comparisons were drawn between those exposed to the campaigns in two places on one-medium brand and the response among those exposed to the campaigns in two places on two-media brands.

Consumers exposed to the campaigns on one medium brand were more than 50% more likely to be aware of the advertising messages than consumers who were exposed to the campaigns on two different media brands. In addition, people who had equal exposure to the campaign on one media brand were 20% more likely than those exposed on two media brands to consider buying the advertised products.

The research shows that among 15- to 24-year-olds radio consumption is evenly split among consumers who are regularly exposed to one, two, three or more platforms of the Kerrang! brand. Magazine and online consumption are heavily biased towards consumers who interact with Kerrang! on more than three platforms.

More than 50% of Kerrang! magazine consumers and 80% of Kerrang! online consumers experience three or more elements of the Kerrang! brand. Only 10% of the Kerrang! television audience experience the brand on three or more platforms, suggesting the TV station satisfies people who want the brand on a superficial level.

Integrated marketing campaigns using relevant creative content across different media platforms will continue to be marketers’ most powerful tool to engage their target audience.

Advertising on multi-platform media brands has value over and above audience delivery, it achieves a deeper connection with audiences and is more effective in influencing purchasing intentions, reveals EMAP Advertising’s latest research study,

The research shows that multi-platform media brands are powerful vehicles for integrated communication, with the different platforms reinforcing each other’s message, and acting as a powerful media multiplier.

The research demonstrates how multi-platform consumers of a media brand develop a stronger relationship with that brand and have a greater buy-in of their media brand values. It also shows that multi-platform consumers of a media brand are more receptive to any advertising messages the media brand carries and have a higher purchase intention of the advertised product.

Different platforms of a media brand work together to play different roles to engage different consumers.

So what does this research mean for clients? It doesn’t mean that all cross-media campaigns necessarily need to operate on multi-platform media brands. There is still an important place for creative cross media campaigns that tap into a target market across a wide variety of media brands.

What the research does suggest, however, is that multi-platform media brands can play a useful shortcut to reaching particular communities in a wide variety of ways and by utilising the different platforms, advertisers can potentially achieve a more powerful engagement with consumers. In cases where advertisers are able to communicate in this way with communities, the campaign can build momentum across the different platforms, amplifying the advertiser’s message.