MAM
Radio outscores TV in providing ROI for US advertisers: Study
MUMBAI: The Radio Ad Effectiveness Lab (Rael) in the US has put out the results of a study which show that radio campaigns show 49 per cent better return on investment (ROI) for advertisers than TV campaigns.
This “real world” study was conducted by Millward Brown and Information Resources (IRI), and it examined four pairs of radio and television campaigns in a range of product categories over a six month period ending in early 2005. The study was conducted in four small markets. The product categories included Grocery Food, Grocery Non-Food, and two very distinct Over-The-Counter Drug products.
Radio moves products. Across four different advertisers, incremental radio advertising consistently and significantly increased product sales and delivered meaningful profit for each dollar of advertising. Radio demonstrated in this study that it can function as a primary medium for advertising.
Radio ads increase sales even when national television is present. Radio was just as potent in the presence of 50–100 TRPs of national TV as it was by itself. In fact, the test results actually suggested slightly more impact for radio when combined with television than when used alone. Radio’s effects can be measured—when radio is used at sufficient weight. Radio is prepared to be held accountable for its advertising effectiveness.
But effectiveness measurement requires that advertising be present at sufficient weight for statistics to accurately capture that result. Most importantly radio’s ability to deliver strong ROI for advertisers has been proven in a real-world test at last.
Rael states that it can only guess how much better that value might be if the creative quality of radio advertising received as much attention and investment as ads in other media. All the television campaigns in this test had received favorable advance testing; none of the radio ads were pretested. The $1 million study, funded by radio companies with input from advertisers and ad agencies.
In half of the test households, TV commercials for the test products were removed and replaced by public service announcements. Half of the households had no radio commercials for the products being tested.
To measure the effectiveness of the campaigns, Millward Brown examined scanned grocery purchase data and conducted pre- and post-survey telephone surveys.
The study found that radio advertising lifted sales of the four products by an average of 4.1 per cent, while TV commercials increased sales by 7.5 per cent Radio’s 4.1 per cent retail lift occurred with or without a corresponding TV campaign. Used in conjunction with television, radio produced a 4.1 per cent lift above and beyond TV’s 7.5 per cent spike.
According to Rael research consultant Jim Peacock, the average radio spot costs 80 per cent less than the typical TV commercial. Once the costs of the campaigns were factored in, Rael concluded that return on radio advertising dollars is 49 per cent better than with TV.
Brands
Acko CMO Ashish Mishra to exit in July
The digital insurer’s marketing chief, who helped build the brand over nearly five years, is heading for the exit.
Ashish Mishra is stepping down as chief marketing officer of Acko, with his departure confirmed for July. He remains in the role for now, and an official announcement from the company is expected shortly.
Mishra joined the digital insurance start-up in August 2020, making him one of the longer-serving marketing chiefs in India’s fintech and insurtech space. Over nearly five years, he played a central role in building Acko’s brand presence in the country’s fiercely competitive digital insurance market. More recently, he was closely associated with Acko Life’s Unmixed brand philosophy, a proposition built around pure protection products stripped of the investment components that have long complicated traditional insurance offerings in India.
Before Acko, Mishra spent over a decade at HSBC in a series of marketing leadership roles spanning the Middle East, including regional marketing manager for credit cards and advance propositions, brand and media manager, and marketing manager for retail banking. Earlier in his career, he worked on the agency side, serving as senior brand service manager at Lowe Lintas and as executive for brand communications at DDB Mudra Group.
His exit leaves Acko with a sizeable gap to fill at a time when the brand is pushing deeper into life insurance and doubling down on its direct-to-consumer positioning. Whoever takes the seat next will inherit a brand that Mishra spent five years building from the ground up. That is not nothing.
