Raymond Snoddy on media: IPA survey could provide missing link

it, do several things at the same time.

If all of that doesn't blow your mind, there is the fact that most
people's written communications these days flow through computers and
mobile phones, rather than the pen, although, you've guessed it, this is
less true of old people than the young.

It you want your mind expanded further, there are copious insights to
drill into. These include the finding that when a commercial message is
delivered, consumers' mood is important, so catching them relaxed,
comfortable and concentrating on a decent TV show is a good idea; making
the connection just before the hordes go out for their regular Saturday
retail therapy also helps.

It may be easy to mock this eagerly awaited survey, which is attracting
interest from Timbuktu to Vanuatu and all points in-between, but it
would be completely wrong.

The record-breaking crowds that turned up for its launch last Thursday
were not wasting their time. Despite being presented with what seemed,
at times, rather banal conclusions, we were in fact being handed a very
important piece of research that was indeed, in its own way,
ground-breaking.

Its importance lies in the creation of what is a holistic and,
presumably, robust baseline for how people behave in a digital
multimedia age.

The surprising thing about the IPA survey is that it has taken so long
for anyone to carry out what is patently necessary work. For years, the
marketing industry has nodded wisely, absorbed all the chatter about
convergence and the digital revolution and argued about where the
balance of old and new media would actually settle down, without a
proper understanding of what the consumer was actually doing.

Millions of pounds have been, and continue to be, spent on separate
industry research data for each medium, displaying a total absence of
multi-tasking.

At least the traditional media invest in producing more or less
respectable viewing, listening or readership figures.

However, the folks in interactive advertising do not seem to have got
there yet, since there is no common currency for the rapidly expanding
industry. They whinge about the cost, while in the same breath boasting
that the industry in the UK is now worth £1bn, ahead of commercial
radio and outdoor. They can't have it both ways. Decent research, which
would have considerable financial benefits, would cost only about 1% of
turnover. Perhaps the IPA survey will be the baseline for them too;
something that can be expanded and developed.

The exciting thing about the survey is what happens next - if it
does.

If, as promised, the findings really can be connected to existing
viewing and listening figures, it will prove to be more than the sum of
its parts.

One day, fanciful as it may seem now, a single communications research
project that produces a universally accepted common currency for the
entire industry and does not duplicate effort and waste millions could
be envisaged.

Of course, the survey will have been a complete waste of time, or at
least nothing more than an illuminating snapshot, unless it is taken
forward as a properly funded rolling project that can measure trends as
well as saying what 5010 people were doing on one Wednesday night in
2005.

30 SECONDS ON ... IPA TOUCHPOINTS SURVEY

- The IPA TouchPoints survey is a consumer-centric planning tool that
tracked how 5010 consumers spent their week and how they interacted with
traditional and new media.

- The survey was designed by TNS and conducted using PDAs (personal
digital assistants).

- The findings are intended to enable the marketing community to compare
the effectiveness of all communications channels, including the
internet, mobile phones, direct mail, broadcast and print.

- Participants in the survey also completed questionnaires about their
attitudes toward the media, with 51% saying that there is too much bad
language on TV.

- The survey showed that the young tend to multi-task. While sending
text messages, 32% of 15- to 24-year-olds were also watching TV, 18%
were listening to the radio and 10% were online.

- Young people rarely use a pen and paper, with 48% using SMS instead,
28% using email and 20% using online instant messaging.