The presenter effect

When a media plan is constructed it is relatively easy to measure its efficacy in quantitative terms and there are some wonderful tools around to help the planner do just that.

However, it is significantly more difficult to measure its effectiveness in terms of quality.

All too often, a media schedule is evaluated only in terms of simple numbers (audience reached etc) with some LSM calculations thrown in just to make it sound good. Yet, clearly, this is so fundamentally incorrect it should need no explanation.

© Maksim Shebeko – 123RF.com

If I am selling, for example, Rolls Royce Motor Cars, there would be little point in advertising in Drum magazine. I'll reach a large number of readers, it's true, but very few will be financially capable of buying my product. On the other hand, the cost-efficiency of Forbes may, on the surface, be an inferior performer, but I'm more likely to reach more people who can afford a Rolls Royce.

All very elementary and straightforward. But it goes much, much further than this.

There is a phenomenon that exists that assumes there is a relationship between the medium and the message. This is sometimes called the "advertisement response factor", although I think "the presenter effect" is more descriptive.

Some time ago, an astute researcher called Alan Smith (along with others) concluded that the presenter effect can be seen to be evident in three basic ways:

1. Editorial interest

Gallup Poll Ltd., found, for example, that a full-page, black and white advertisement facing another advertisement had 23% higher recall than an advertisement facing an editorial page. (There are plenty of media owners and researchers who disagree with this, by the way).

2. Reading style

The way a publication is read is known to affect the reception of an advertising message. For example, a daily newspaper would be best suited to an urgent style with shorter copy, whereas the more relaxed family presentation of the Sunday press would be better suited to longer copy and less urgency. (I'm avoiding mentioning other media deliberately, otherwise it all becomes too confusing.)

3. Media image

This is the interesting one.

It would seem that the impression the publication makes on the reader affects the advertising message itself.

Let's say I have a product, which will be of use to senior marketing people (which I do, as a matter of fact) and I want my advertisement to be seen by such people within my target market - which, say, is defined as "decision makers".

Let's also say that I choose two up-market, high quality magazines, which are read by important people.

I now take a balanced sample of readers of both magazines and expose half of them to Magazine A and the other half to Magazine B - then I ask them questions about their perceptions of my product.

The presenter effect says; "It would seem that the impression the publication makes on the reader and, in turn, the impression the advertisement makes on the reader, will be quite different and can either clash with or reinforce the intended message."

There can be little doubt that, if I've selected my magazines carefully, these publications will add 'something special' to my product. But how do I define it? And more importantly, how do I capitalise on it?

If we look at the presenter effect a little closer, we could conclude - especially with a new product - that the medium may have a distinctively discernible effect on my intended message.

To make the point crystal clear: If I advertise my hotel in Architect & Builder, the impression of the quality of my hotel will be considerably different than if I'd advertised it in, say, The Council Worker's Gazette.

It is equally true to say the same thing will happen between Architect & Builder and Habitat, although the difference in perception will be less.

Remember that the advertisement in both publications is identical and that I'm referring to the same type of reader.

Thus, we can conclude that the medium will affect the message.

There is one last thing to add - and that is about environment.

If your TV commercial is about fluffy toys or the creative message is centred around sweetness, happiness and joy, you can hardly expect it to communicate well when it's being screened in the middle of a programme about an ice-pick murderer.

This applies across all media types and what we're talking about here is considering the viewer's frame of mind at the time of being exposed to your advertising message.

Makes you think, doesn't it?

az.oc.srewerb@sirhc

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