The age, sex or class of a consumer has a profound effect on their
responsiveness to advertising, according to research unveiled at the
Media Research Conference in Barcelona this week.
People aged eight to 15 are more than three times as responsive to
advertising as the over-35s, the research company, Millward Brown, said.
Its report also revealed that ABC1 consumers are on average 30 per cent
more likely to be aware of and responsive to advertising than C2DE
consumers.
The study is based on analysis of Millward Brown’s tracking study
database, which records awareness of ad campaigns and how advertising
pushes through into sales. The results have been analysed to understand
how different target audiences respond to advertising.
Men tend to be more receptive to ads than women, with a 20 per cent
higher level of responsiveness. Awareness and receptiveness are also
different depending on whether the people who see the advertising are
consumers of the product.
Those who already buy the product in an ad are almost 60 per cent more
likely to have a positive response to the ad than non-users -
highlighting the importance of ads in reaffirming buying decisions.
Millward Brown has also introduced a new way to calculate the effect of
an ad campaign. Its system, called First Opportunity to see Response
Created by the Execution, is a measure of the ad’s efficiency at
generating awareness when first seen by consumers. By matching ‘Force’
scores with the likely responsiveness of the target audience, media
planners and buyers can be more effective in their media schedules, it
says.
Paul Dyson, Millward Brown’s group statistician, said: ‘We can go one
step further in planning media laydown by knowing responsiveness amongst
sub-sets of our target audience.’
Anthony Jones, the head of CIA MediaLab, said that the findings have
helped CIA rework media plans for a number of brands. ‘The research is
important in determining how efficiently advertising awareness can be
built,’ he added.
