November 10, 2009 Case Study: How Fox And Microsoft Used Mobile Research To Measure Movie Advertising Impact

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1 November 10, 2009 Case Study: How Fox And Microsoft Used Mobile Research To Measure Movie Advertising Impact by Reineke Reitsma for Consumer Market Research Professionals Making Leaders Successful Every Day

2 November 10, 2009 Case Study: How Fox And Microsoft Used Mobile Research To Measure Movie Advertising Impact Mobile Research Helped Gain Insight In The Buildup Of Movie Promotion by Reineke Reitsma with Courtney Tincher Executive Summary Fox and Microsoft Advertising collaborated on a project at the end of 2008 to better understand the impact of and the interaction between the different media channels used to promote movies. They used MESH Planning s mobile research methodology, called TROI, to capture marketing touchpoints in real time. This approach helped Fox better understand the buildup effects of different channels in the promotion of the movies Australia and The Day the Earth Stood Still. The study uncovered that the engagement with posters wears out quite fast, while Internet offers a variety of opportunities for engagement. But the study also showed that the effectiveness of the campaign elements is influenced by the type of movie. Over time, by doing more studies, Fox will have more insight into the campaign effectiveness of specific genres, audiences, and countries, resulting in an improved media ROI. table of Contents 2 Situation: Traditional Advertising Tracking Doesn t Measure Media Buildup 2 Best Practice: Mobile Surveying Is Used To Capture Experiences In Real Time 9 Best Practice Results: Understanding The Channel Effectiveness 11 Next Step: More Insight Needed Into Specific Genre, Audience, Or Country NOTES & RESOURCES Forrester interviewed Fiona Blades, CEO of MESH Planning, and received input from Mark Gent, vice president media and research at Fox, and Simon Falconer, research and insight lead EMEA at Microsoft. Related Research Documents The Opportunities And Challenges Of Mobile Research June 20, 2009 Past, Present, And Future Of Market Research January 7, , Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited. Information is based on best available resources. Opinions reflect judgment at the time and are subject to change. Forrester, Technographics, Forrester Wave, RoleView, TechRadar, and Total Economic Impact are trademarks of Forrester Research, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies. To purchase reprints of this document, please [email protected]. For additional information, go to

3 2 Case Study: How Fox And Microsoft Used Mobile Research To Measure Movie Advertising Impact Situation: traditional advertising tracking doesn t measure media buildup At the end of 2008, Fox was about to launch two movies in the UK and France and wanted to gain better insight into the effects of each of the different promotion activities and how they tied together, avoiding the misattribution traditionally experienced with post-evaluation studies. The focus of Microsoft Advertising was more specifically on gaining knowledge of the ROI of digital advertising and the integration between offline and online channels. The overall objectives of the study can be summarized as follows: Impact. Understand the relative impact of the different touchpoints for the chosen films in both the UK and France. Media mix. Explain the role of online in the media mix in relation to the other touchpoints and evaluate how it is working. Response. Look in detail at how the advertising of the movies Australia and The Day the Earth Stood Still was received in the run-up to their release dates. Best Practice: mobile surveying is used to capture Experiences in real time Fox, Microsoft Advertising, and MESH Planning collaborated on this project. 1 They used MESH Planning s TROI (Touchpoints Return on Investment) methodology that captures advertising touchpoints in real time to understand the impact of each of the channels on the awareness and decision-making process (see Figure 1). 2 TROI methodology tracks behavior and engagement. The firms asked respondents to send a text message whenever they saw something related to a certain set of movies during the week they participated in the survey. They had to answer the following questions: Which film was it? Where did you see, hear or experience it? How did it make you feel? How much attention did you pay? (see Figure 2-1). In the UK, 628 males and females between 16 and 45 years old who had been to the cinema at least twice in the past 12 months participated. During the fieldwork period, respondents shared more than 4,000 experiences, with comments added to two-thirds of them, and they uploaded a total of 266 pictures (see Figure 2-2). Timing is everything with movie tracking. For all advertisement research studies, it s necessary to track awareness and engagement in the moment, but with movies, this is even more the case. Movies are hot only for a limited amount of time, and the big push is just before the launch and in the first week after (see Figure 3). In addition, as soon as a film has been released, consumers perceptions of the marketing campaign are often confused with their experience of the movie itself or of its reviews and word of mouth (WOM). November 10, , Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

4 Case Study: How Fox And Microsoft Used Mobile Research To Measure Movie Advertising Impact 3 Mobile surveying shows engagement across channels. As respondents track the movie advertising in real time, the number of mentions of each channel is directly correlated to the share of advertising budget that specific channel is accounting for at that moment in time. TV leads in number of touchpoints, with three-quarters of respondents sharing experiences about it, followed by posters, Internet, interviews/reviews, and conversations (see Figure 4-1). But the impact of a channel isn t necessarily related to the number of touchpoints or advertising spend: Trailers in the cinema receive the highest positivity score, followed by TV ads and radio commercials (see Figure 4-2). Posters rate lowest, with only 44% of respondents rating the posters a 4 or a 5 on a scale of 1 to 5 on the question How did it make you feel? Figure 1 The Two Movies Had Quite Different Target Audiences Film Australia The Day The Earth Stood Still Lead actor Genre Synopsis Nicole Kidman Romantic epic In northern Australia at the beginning of World War II, an English aristocrat fights to defend her heritage and finds love. Keanu Reeves Science fiction A remake of the 1951 classic sci-fi film about an alien visitor and his giant robot counterpart who visit Earth. Launch date UK December 26, 2008 December 12, 2008 Source: MESH Planning, Mobile Survey December 2008 Source: Forrester Research, Inc. 2009, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited November 10, 2009

5 4 Case Study: How Fox And Microsoft Used Mobile Research To Measure Movie Advertising Impact Figure 2 Texts, Comments, And Photos Give Insight Into Awareness And Perception 2-1 Respondents send their experience by text Q1: Which film was it? Q2: Where did you see, hear, or experience it? Q3: How did it make you feel? Q4: How much attention did you pay? A) The Day the Earth Stood Still B) Australia C) Twilight D) Transporter 3 E) Bedtime Stories A) TV B) Radio ad C) Billboard/poster D) Sponsorship E) Newspaper ad F) Magazine ad G) Cinema H) Conversation I) Interview/review J) Internet on mobile K) Internet on PC L) Video games M) Other 1) Very negative 2) Fairly negative 3) Neutral 4) Fairly positive 5) Very positive 1) Low attention 2) Medium attention 3) High attention Source: MESH Planning, Mobile Survey December 2008 Source: Forrester Research, Inc. November 10, , Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

6 Case Study: How Fox And Microsoft Used Mobile Research To Measure Movie Advertising Impact 5 Figure 2 Texts, Comments, And Photos Give Insight Into Awareness And Perception (Cont.) 2-2 Respondents shared more than 4,000 experiences 4,102 experiences 2,619 comments related to each experience 266 photos sent in Nine benchmark studies with 62,500 experiences in total Fieldwork period: December 10, 2008 to January 7, 2009 Source: MESH Planning, Mobile Survey December 2008 Source: Forrester Research, Inc. 2009, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited November 10, 2009

7 6 Case Study: How Fox And Microsoft Used Mobile Research To Measure Movie Advertising Impact Figure 3 Respondents Shared More Than 4,000 Experiences Amount of texts each movie got as a share of all texts sent on that specific date each day totals 100% 60% 50% TDTESS leads for longest period through middle of fieldwork Australia The Day the Earth Stood Still (TDTESS) 40% 30% 20% 10% Australia takes lead following TDTESS by end of fieldwork 0% Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Source: MESH Planning, Mobile Survey December 2008 Base: 628 UK consumers Source: Forrester Research, Inc. November 10, , Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

8 Case Study: How Fox And Microsoft Used Mobile Research To Measure Movie Advertising Impact 7 Figure 4 TV Leads With Reach But Shares Engagement With Radio And Cinema Ads 4-1 TV dominates in terms of reach per week Touchpoint reach* TV 77% Billboard/poster 50% Internet via PC Interview/review Conversation Radio ad Newspaper ad Magazine ad Cinema 32% 30% 24% 19% 18% 14% 12% Sponsorship Internet on mobile 4% 2% Other 12% Base: 628 UK consumers Source: MESH Planning, Mobile Survey December 2008 *Touchpoint reach: The percentage of people who texted for the brand during the week of fieldwork Source: Forrester Research, Inc. 2009, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited November 10, 2009

9 8 Case Study: How Fox And Microsoft Used Mobile Research To Measure Movie Advertising Impact Figure 4 TV Leads With Reach But Shares Engagement With Radio And Cinema Ads 4-2 Cinema, radio, and TV have the highest positivity scores Channel planning by touchpoint 40% TV 35% 30% 25% Touchpoint reach 20% Poster 15% 10% Interview/review Internet via PC Average 5% 0% Conversation Newspaper ad Radio ad Cinema Magazine ad Sponsorship Internet on mobile 40% 50% 60% 70% Positivity* Base: 628 UK consumers, 4,102 text messages Source: MESH Planning, Mobile Survey December 2008 *Responses of 4 or 5 on a scale of 1 to 5 to the question How did it make you feel? Source: Forrester Research, Inc. November 10, , Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

10 Case Study: How Fox And Microsoft Used Mobile Research To Measure Movie Advertising Impact 9 best practice results: Understanding the Channel Effectiveness The study didn t only give insight into the share and impact of the different channels; it also helped Fox and Microsoft Advertising understand the effectiveness of each of the channels and the underlying reasons for people to rate the channels as they did. Posters need to tell a story. Posters score second in the number of experiences, but a closer look at the numbers reveals that their impact wears out quite fast. The size and placement of the poster affect consumers engagement. There was one poster execution used for each film, whether it was for large billboards or at subway stations and bus stops. Comments on the experiences revealed that in some instances, like while driving, people didn t have time to read, so they needed something visually striking. However, while waiting at stations and bus stops, people were getting bored of seeing the same poster and were looking for more detailed information to occupy their time. Newspapers can add an interesting touch. For the movie The Day the Earth Stood Still, Fox added a special element to newspaper advertising: In parts of the UK, it did a whole wrap on the free newspaper Metro (both the front and back were a promotion for the movie). This newspaper wrap worked really well because of the theme of the movie: It had five times the amount of experiences as Australia and double the positivity score (see Figure 5). Internet advertising turns into a sneak preview for movie lovers. On the Internet, the boundary between advertising and content is quite diffuse. But this is exactly where the power of online advertising lies: When consumers see a banner or pop-up from a movie they like, they have the ability to move on to look at trailers, reviews, play times, theatres, etc. They experience online touchpoints throughout the day, particularly in the afternoon and early evening on a variety of Web sites, whereas newspapers tend to get attention during commuter hours and TV in the evening. 2009, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited November 10, 2009

11 10 Case Study: How Fox And Microsoft Used Mobile Research To Measure Movie Advertising Impact Figure 5 Newspaper Can Add An Interesting Touch 70% 60% The Day the Earth Stood Still Full back page colour ad on the Metro gave me information on premiers and first showings caught my attention (newspaper ad, high attention, fairly positive) Australia Not very attractive although great cast (newspaper, neutral, medium attention) The Day the Earth Stood Still I found the newspaper ad very interesting. It had a picture of Keanu Reeves with a background of skyscrapers and fighter planes. The title of the movie and picture gave me a positive feeling to go and watch the film (newspaper, high attention, very positive) Twilight 50% 40% Australia Didn t do a lot for me in the paper but the TV advert makes it look a lot better (newspaper, medium attention, neutral) Average The Day the Earth Stood Still Touchpoint reach 30% Bedtime Stories 20% 10% Australia Transporter 3 0% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% Positivity* Base: 628 UK consumers, 176 text messages Source: MESH Planning, Mobile Survey December 2008 *Responses of 4 or 5 on a scale of 1 to 5 to the question How did it make you feel? Source: Forrester Research, Inc. November 10, , Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

12 Case Study: How Fox And Microsoft Used Mobile Research To Measure Movie Advertising Impact 11 next step: more insight needed into specific genre, audience, or country Movie production companies are in an industry that does a lot of testing before a movie is actually launched: from the film plot to the posters used, everything has been tested thoroughly. This realtime advertising tracking study gave Fox and Microsoft Advertising metrics on the value of each of the separate campaign elements, how promotions are valued over time, and how that builds a movie s image. But the study also gave some great qualitative insights on the roles that different media can play. Some lessons learned: Understand the campaign buildup by genre or audience. The real-time TROI methodology gave Fox insight into not only the buildup of communications in the two-week period before movie launch but also into the emotional connections that people are or aren t making. But the movie itself heavily influences the interactions and impact. Fox will conduct more mobile TROI studies to understand the patterns for different genres, audiences, and countries. Over time, these insights will be built into their communication plans and campaign rollout to improve the media ROI. Include more online elements in the mix. The Internet enables the cinema experience to come to life through trailers. Seeing a trailer online was a more positive experience than seeing one on TV or at the cinema, although this may be because most people only see trailers when they actively search for them. The Internet was the most cost-effective media channel in this study, and for movies that appeal to a younger audience, the Internet plays a large role in movie promotions. Online ads like banners and skyscrapers should more efficiently lead to a follow-up, like viewing a trailer on YouTube or interacting with social networking sites like Facebook for creating WOM. Continue to invest heavily in TV. TV dominates in terms of reach per week, meaning that it is the No. 1 channel for pushing awareness. The positivity score was also one of the highest: TV ads give people an experience close to the cinema trailer experience. TV advertising reached eight out of 10 women during the fieldwork, making this channel particularly interesting if the films are targeted at women or families Be more creative in poster execution and distribution. Movie posters are often subject to high creative restrictions governing the layout, font sizes, and placement of title, not to mention the minefield of talent approvals. Nevertheless, to reduce wearout of posters, movie production companies should still look to produce a number of different executions within these restrictions. For instance, companies could tailor to short visibility time and high impact on roadside billboards or advertising on public transport and provide more copy and richer imagery in areas with longer dwell time (e.g., bus stops or subway stations). For these longimpact areas, the next step will be the placement of digital posters to increase engagement that include interactive elements such as the possibility to download trailers. 2009, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited November 10, 2009

13 12 Case Study: How Fox And Microsoft Used Mobile Research To Measure Movie Advertising Impact Endnotes 1 For this document, we received input from Fiona Blades, CEO of MESH Planning; Mark Gent, vice president media and research at Fox; and Simon Falconer, research and insight lead EMEA at Microsoft. 2 MESH Planning is conducting real-time multiple touchpoint research. TROI is a new way for advertisers to measure all consumer interactions with their brands in real time. Participants use their mobile phone to send simple codes reporting every interaction they have with a brand in real time and assigning it with a positive/negative emotional rating and purchase intent rating. See November 10, , Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

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