Research indicates high awareness of ambient media

Both awareness and activation campaigns are measured with the tracker. Awareness campaigns include an advert inside the Billads bill folder, with no other elements added to it. The activation campaign includes other elements such as samples, table talkers, window decals, scratch cards and other mediums, which are geared to enhance the visibility of the ad campaign.

"Of the 2000 consumers who have been interviewed for various Billads campaigns, the research tracker indicates that 61% noticed the advert inside the bill folder, 68% recalled the brand being advertised and 43% purchased the product or took action," says Craig Segal, MD of Nine Mile Media. Follow-up interviews were conducted telephonically with 800 of them again two weeks later.

"Intercepting consumers"

Segal explains that the research is conducted via onsite interviews. "Researchers are deployed at specified restaurants, coffee shops and other light-meal environments - where the campaign is taking place on a nationwide basis - to intercept consumers once they have finished their meal and vacated the restaurant."

Consumers are interviewed using technology such as iPads, uploading the results to Interact RDT's survey tool, which can then be viewed by various parties. "This methodology is not only extremely effective in providing consumers' perception at the point of interaction with the campaign, it also allows for course correction, as media agencies and their clients are able to get feedback instantly instead of waiting weeks before results are captured and analysed," says Gary Greenfield, Interact RDT's MD.

Accumulation of results

"It was very difficult to determine how well a campaign did, compared to other similar campaigns, due to the lack of data and measurement in alternative forms of marketing such as Billads," he adds.

Due to the cost and location of various alternative media campaigns, it is not always possible to obtain statistically valid data. It is simply not practical to survey thousands of people in restaurants for one campaign. The tracker allows for the accumulation of results from many campaigns, over time, which gives a much more accurate indication of the effectiveness of the medium as a whole. It also enables one to compare each campaign with a smaller sample, against the average of all other similar campaigns.