Leader TouchPoints demands careful consideration

by Philip Smith, Media Week 28-Mar-06

So, the eagle has, indeed, landed. After the efforts of the IPA, its many partners and around three years of effort. Oh, and with the help of the small matter of some £1m in funding, TouchPoints has finally arrived.

If you ever thought twice about the size of the anticipation - and in
some cases - apprehension that surrounded its launch, the presence of
the big media names, from Barb to Isba and the IAB, would have reassured

you.

But, any debate about the size of the task that the IPA has completed by
bringing together some incredible detail about the media consumption,
mindset and, believe it or not, moods of some 5,010 Britons, misses a
point.

What the IPA has really done is challenge media owners and agencies to
show what they can really do, now it has re-energised the debate about
how to engage consumers.

At first glance, alongside a few surprises, TouchPoints can tell us
plenty of things we think we already know (70% of 15 to 24-year-olds say
they "could not live" without a mobile phone), as well as plenty of
things that are not worth knowing (people in the North West are the most
optimistic about life). It's facetious to suggest that someone in media
might actually try and target a harassed mother-of-three while she's got
one eye on the telly, half an ear on the radio, and most of her mind on
what little Johnny might be doing upstairs, but now, at least, you have
a better idea of when she might be more receptive to your message.

So, now the IPA has helped media get the attention of client bodies like
Isba and the World Federation of Advertisers, the question is, what will
media owners and agencies do to make the most of it? At a time when
media is under greater pressure than ever to prove its accountability to
advertisers and their procurement departments, TouchPoints points the
way to a more robust way of planning.

We already know media needs to be smarter and more sophisticated. Our
ideas need to be bigger to keep up with the changing tastes and
behaviour of the consumer in the digital age, as the consumer refuses
more and more to be passive as he or she is dictated to by an
advertiser. TouchPoints may be the tool to help you do that, but it
needs to be applied properly and not at the expense of inspiration or
intuition.

Philip Smith is the editor of MediaWeek, philip.smith@haynet.com.