Open Partners' Will Wordie was awarded a distinction for this Advanced Certificate in Communications Planning essay explaining that while selecting the right type of data is paramount, it is the application of that data that ultimately ensures successful communications planning and evaluation.
In today's data-rich environment, the ability to select and utilise the right type of data is essential for measuring the effectiveness of marketing campaigns. This paper explores how data can be strategically applied in setting objectives, developing strategies, and optimising ongoing efforts to ensure successful communication outcomes. By examining a series of case studies, this paper will highlight the critical role of data in driving effective communications planning and evaluation, demonstrating its impact on achieving desired business results making it the most important factor in communication planning, but includes certain limitations which we will explore.
Setting specific and measurable objectives is the foundation of any successful communications plan. Data plays a central role in this process as it helps marketers identify the key metrics that will drive critical outcomes for all stakeholders involved. By considering both intermediate metrics, such as brand awareness and brand perception, and hard metrics, like market share and profitability, marketers can establish a comprehensive set of objectives that balance short-term and long-term priorities (Binet and Field, 2013).
By leveraging a diverse range of data sources and metrics, and continuously applying the insights gained to refine their strategies, marketers can create campaigns that resonate with their target audiences, drive desired business results, and maintain a competitive edge in an increasingly data-driven industry.
The Tango case study illustrates the importance of using data to set ambitious yet achievable ordinal and scalar objectives in a competitive context. Faced with the challenge of reversing the brand's decline and proving its value to retailers, Tango set a bold objective of becoming the fastest-growing brand in the fruit carbonates category in less than a year. To achieve this, the brand focused on hard metrics such as value share, penetration, and brand image. The objectives came with longer-term goals, as if the objectives were met, further media budget would be awarded. Tango's marketing team recognised that if they did not take action to reverse the brand's decline, it could disappear from shelves entirely within a couple of years. Selecting the right data in this scenario was crucial, and therefore the most important to determining the success of the campaign and keeping the brand alive.
On the other hand, the AA provides an example of too much "attention to intermediate attitudinal measures, and too little to business and behavioural outcomes" (Binet and Field, 2007, p9). The AA initially focused on short-term metrics via direct response tactics, leading to a decline in brand health and long-term business performance. Binet and Field (2013) recommend using a balanced scorecard approach, which incorporates a range of business, behavioural, and intermediate metrics to provide a comprehensive view of marketing effectiveness. By leveraging data across these various metrics, marketers can make informed decisions that drive sustainable growth, avoid the consequences of shortsightedness, and ultimately maximise the value of their communication investments.
Once objectives have been set, data continues to play a necessary role in developing an effective communications strategy. By leveraging data insights, marketers can make informed decisions about audience targeting, creative messaging, and channel selection.
Tango demonstrates how data can be used to uncover key consumer insights that drive strategic decision-making. By analysing YouGov’s syndicated data, Tango identified that young people aged 16-24 were the biggest consumers of carbonated beverages and found that embarrassment was a significant issue for this group. This insight aligns with Binet and Field's observation in The Long and Short of It (2013, p9), that "emotional campaigns, and in particular those that are highly creative and generate powerful fame/buzz effects, produce considerably more powerful long-term business effects than rational persuasion campaigns". Tango leveraged this insight, feeding it into the creative strategy to develop a humorous, relatable campaign that resonated strongly with the target audience, leading to impressive results in terms of penetration growth (+39%), brand value increase (+38%), and category leadership.
Tango's success highlights the importance of combining both quantitative and qualitative data in campaign planning and evaluation. While syndicated data provided the initial insight into the target audience's key concern, qualitative research allowed Tango to delve deeper into the nuances of embarrassment and develop a creative platform that truly resonated. By focusing on one data source, or too few, Tango may not have seen such a similar success story, and their final lifeline could have been a missed opportunity.
Data plays an essential role in the ongoing optimisation of communications strategies. By continuously monitoring and analysing campaign performance, marketers can identify areas for improvement and make necessary adjustments to maximise effectiveness. This process of course correction is demonstrated in many cases, but in particular, the AA made significant changes to their media approach based on the insights gained from campaign measurement in their first year of the campaign.
In the first year of their new strategy, the AA focused on a 60:40 brand-to-activation approach. However, after analysing the data and recognising a need for change, they adjusted their strategy through portfolio management in the second year. They abandoned digital microtargeting in favour of broader reach and frequency via TV. “Channels with broad reach form natural candidates for brand building, whereas those permitting tighter targeting are more appropriate for short-term activation” (Binet & Field, 2013, p37). The AA's course correction mid-campaign led to impressive results, with the brand achieving an uplift in brand salience, increased web traffic, and improved membership retention to 83%. This success highlights the value of ongoing optimisation based on data-driven insights, as it allows marketers to adapt their strategies in response to changing market conditions and consumer behaviours.
In conclusion, it is evident that selecting the right type of data for campaign measurement is the most important factor in evaluating communications. The case studies examined in this paper highlight the critical importance of data in setting objectives, informing strategy, and guiding ongoing optimisation. However, data must be complemented by a holistic approach that includes qualitative insights, strategic thinking, and creative execution. By leveraging a diverse range of data sources and metrics, and continuously applying the insights gained to refine their strategies, marketers can create campaigns that resonate with their target audiences, drive desired business results, and maintain a competitive edge in an increasingly data-driven industry. Therefore, while selecting the right type of data is paramount, it is the application of data with other strategic elements that ultimately ensure successful communications planning and evaluation.
Will Wordie is Strategy and Planning Partner at Open Partners. This essay was awarded a Distinction as part of the Advanced Certificate in Communications Planning.
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