TouchPoints reveals the power of habit in a shifting media landscape

A lot has changed since 2015. The UK was still part of the EU, DiCaprio had yet to win an Oscar, Donald Trump was the host of The US Apprentice and Corona was just a beer.

Within the advertising world itself, there seems to be a new hype every 6 months which is expected to revolutionise the industry – I think we all expected to be flying hovercrafts in the Metaverse by now (or even just using it).

However, TouchPoints has once again reinforced that despite technological disruption we are fundamentally creatures of habit and long-established consumer behaviours have remained (what feels like) the only constant in our world. We still wake up in the morning, check the news, listen to the radio or a podcast on our commute, and wind down with our favourite guilty pleasure TV show in the evenings.

Reading this without digging deeper would suggest that media strategists could continue copy and pasting the same media plans over and over and expect the same results.

However, TouchPoints clearly shows this is not the case. While at a topline level what consumers do has remained consistent, there have been cosmic shifts in how they are doing it as fragmentation continues to splinter our media consumption.

Fragmentation can often be seen as a scary word. In my opinion, it opens a world of opportunity for our industry when planners are able to understand the roles of each platform and feel empowered to use them to their best advantage.

Take Out of Home (OOH) for example. (Sorry, I am biased.) OOH remains steadfast in its ability in isolation to reach over 90% of the GB population each week and deliver quality, widespread reach.

Additionally, with the fragmentation and diversification of media, OOH is uniquely positioned to prime and complement those channels which are seeing exponential growth, as we see for the first time that curated commercial media time taken by smartphones (35%) has exceeded that of the TV Set (34%) for GB Adults.

Those media channels that have been traditionally opposed are now positioned to work in harmony. Just look at commuting habits. All you have to do is look up for a split second from watching your favourite Married at First Sight episode on your train journey and appreciate the plethora of wonderful OOH inventory and adverts.

However, it’s easy to be overcome by data alone and often within our marketing bubbles it can be forgotten we are speaking to real human beings who crave emotional engagement, and key to building these connections is effective creative.

As media continues to evolve and fragment, and AI takes on a bigger role in creative development, we’re seeing both exciting opportunities and new considerations around quality, trust and brand safety. While AI is still in its early stages, it’s creating space for traditional channels like OOH to have a moment. Built on consumer trust, it delivers those tangible, real-world connections, making it increasingly valuable in today’s media mix.

So, TouchPoints has once again spotlighted the incredibly exciting landscape we work in, and how it will be those media planners that make the most of opportunities and embrace change that will produce the most effective and long-lasting strategies.

Lucy Baumgartner is Effectiveness Director at Talon.

The opinions expressed here are those of the authors and were submitted in accordance with the IPA terms and conditions regarding the uploading and contribution of content to the IPA newsletters, IPA website, or other IPA media, and should not be interpreted as representing the opinion of the IPA.