Client partnerships in print titles offer mutual benefits
Study shows press ads have more impact when run with similar campaigns.
Press advertising can gain impact and engagement by being seen in company with complementary ads, according to research by the Newspaper Marketing Agency.
The NMA says that collaboration between clients and media owners in placing ads can produce stronger business results.
Received wisdom suggests that newspaper ads benefit from solus exposure. But BRMB Healthcare research on newspaper ads that were placed in context alongside NHS advice when anxieties about the swine flu pandemic were at their height shows strong scores on branding and response metrics.
Ads from Kleenex, Carex, Oust, Domestos and Dettol all made a direct reference to swine flu and all but the Dettol campaign tapped into the “Catch It, Bin It, Kill It” slogan used by the NHS.
Only Dettol’s solus full-page ad scored higher than its ad that shared space with other brands.
The average of six core branding/ response metrics for Kleenex was 70 alongside the NHS ad, and 78 with the NHS and Carex ad, while Carex scored 65 with the NHS activity and 72 when alongside NHS and Kleenex.
The biggest impact was on the “call to action” metric, which was 49% higher for all the healthcare brands when they were placed on the same spread as the NHS ad.
NMA chief executive officer Maureen Duffy says: “We may be starting to discover how client partnerships can work together for mutual benefit in newspapers.”
