Nerd Alert: How media channel combinations impact performance

Summary

The Marketing Architects Podcast: Episode Summary

Episode Title: Nerd Alert: How Media Channel Combinations Impact Performance
Release Date: February 20, 2025
Hosts: Alina Jasper & Rob Demars

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Introduction

In this episode of The Marketing Architects, hosts Alina Jasper and Rob Demars delve into the intricate world of media channel combinations and their influence on brand performance. Titled “Nerd Alert: How Media Channel Combinations Impact Performance,” the episode presents a comprehensive analysis of a significant research study, translating complex academic insights into actionable marketing strategies.

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Overview of the Study

Alina introduces the focal study: "Effects of Advertising Media Channel Combinations on Brand Performance" by Jason Bell, Felipe Thomas, and Andrew Stephen from the University of Oxford. This extensive research examined over 1,000 ad campaigns spanning 557 brands across 51 countries to determine how different media channel combinations affect key brand metrics.

Alina Jasper [02:25]:
"The researchers argue that most companies optimize reach rather than effectiveness when planning their channel mix. So they're focusing on how many eyeballs we'll see our ads rather than whether those ads actually delivered brand awareness, association or purchase intent."

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Main Findings

1. No One-Size-Fits-All Media Mix

A central revelation from the study is the absence of a universally optimal media mix. Instead, the effectiveness of a media combination is contingent upon specific brand objectives, categories, and target audiences.

Alina Jasper [04:22]:
"There is no single best media mix. Congratulations marketers. Again, there is no answer for you here."

The study categorized campaigns into seven archetypes based on their media mix patterns:

1. TV Dominated: Heavy reliance on television, often paired with outdoor digital.
2. TV Hybrid: Combination of TV and online algorithmic digital (YouTube and Facebook).
3. Balanced Multi-Channel: Mix of TV, online, video, and point-of-sale ads.
4. Legacy and Digital Display: Focus on traditional media like print, outdoor, radio, and online display.
5. Legacy and Facebook: Traditional media mix augmented with Facebook ads.
6. Broad Multi-Channel: Extensive mix including TV, online, video, social media, and outdoor.

Each archetype was assessed against four key brand metrics: unaided awareness, aided awareness, brand association, and motivation to purchase.

2. Current Marketing Practices: Overemphasizing Reach

The study highlights a prevalent trend where marketers prioritize reach—the number of individuals exposed to an ad—over effectiveness, which measures the ad's impact on brand awareness, perception, and purchase intent.

Rob Demars [05:29]:
"I'm going to assume not."
(In response to whether marketers are currently picking the most effective combinations.)

Alina Jasper [05:35]:
"The data shows that 80% of campaigns are very efficient at maximizing reach, but only 8% are optimized for brand lift, which means most brands are leaving serious value on the table."

This indicates a significant opportunity for brands to enhance their marketing efficacy by shifting focus from sheer visibility to meaningful engagement and brand impact.

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Media Mix Archetypes and Their Performance

Alina elaborates on how different media mixes performed across various brand metrics:

• Unaided Awareness:
  A mix of TV, outdoor, and online video (e.g., YouTube) was most effective.

• Brand Association:
  YouTube-heavy strategies with digital components outperformed others.

• Motivation to Purchase:
  Point-of-sale advertising paired with digital channels yielded the highest effectiveness.

Additionally, some archetypes demonstrated versatility:

• Balanced Multi-Channel:
  Delivered strong results across multiple brand metrics.

• Legacy and Facebook:
  Exhibited top performance particularly for Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) brands.

• Broad Multi-Channel:
  Highly versatile but showed mixed results depending on campaign goals.

Alina Jasper [06:50]:
"Fun fact TV was present in most successful archetypes, but it worked best when paired with digital formats like YouTube or Facebook, not new to us."

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Key Takeaways

Based on the study’s insights, the hosts outline actionable strategies for marketers:

1. Think Beyond Reach:
   Focus on optimizing for brand lift—awareness, perception, and intent—instead of just impressions.

2. Use Media as a Complement:
   Pair traditional media like TV with digital formats (YouTube, Facebook) to enhance effectiveness.

3. Consider Risk and Variance:
   Choose media mixes based on desired risk levels. Some combinations offer higher upside potential but come with greater variability in outcomes.

4. Align Media Mix with Objectives:
   Select archetypes based on specific campaign goals—awareness, association, or motivation to purchase.

Alina Jasper [07:38]:
"Marketers are like chefs who keep making the same giant buffet instead of crafting the perfect tasting menu, leaving tons of flavor and potential impact on the table."

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Hosts’ Discussion and Insights

Throughout the episode, Alina and Rob engage in a lively discussion, reflecting on the study's implications and sharing their professional perspectives:

• Validation of Agency Practices:
  Alina notes that the study corroborates their agency's focus on performance-driven television strategies rather than merely maximizing reach.

  Alina Jasper [09:16]:
  "We've always been focused on more performance television. So, like, is your TV actually driving a business result?"

• Complexity of the Study:
  Rob marvels at the scale of the research, highlighting the challenge of analyzing over a thousand campaigns across numerous brands and countries.

  Rob Demars [08:15]:
  "God, what an interesting study. I mean, how they can do a thousand different campaigns is amazing. Like, how do you even do that?"

• Balanced Approach Metaphor:
  Rob likens effective media mix strategies to balanced diets, referencing the Mediterranean diet as the optimal, non-extreme approach.

  Rob Demars [07:41]:
  "That's so funny how that happens. ChatGPT and I, we think alike, you know, same wavelength."

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Conclusion

The episode concludes with a reaffirmation of the study's significance and encouragement for marketers to adopt more nuanced, research-driven media mix strategies. Alina emphasizes the importance of grounding marketing campaigns in performance metrics rather than traditional reach metrics alone, urging listeners to build "great marketing" that truly drives business results.

Alina Jasper [09:44]:
"That's it for this episode of the Marketing Architects. We'd like to thank Taylor De Los Reyes for producing the show. You can connect with us on LinkedIn and if you like the podcast, please leave us a review. Now go forth and build great marketing."

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Notable Quotes

• Rob Demars [05:29]:
  "I'm going to assume not."
  (In response to whether marketers are currently picking the most effective combinations.)

• Alina Jasper [05:35]:
  "The data shows that 80% of campaigns are very efficient at maximizing reach, but only 8% are optimized for brand lift, which means most brands are leaving serious value on the table."

• Alina Jasper [07:38]:
  "Marketers are like chefs who keep making the same giant buffet instead of crafting the perfect tasting menu, leaving tons of flavor and potential impact on the table."

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Final Thoughts

“Nerd Alert: How Media Channel Combinations Impact Performance” offers invaluable insights into optimizing media strategies based on robust research. By understanding that there is no universal media mix and recognizing the importance of aligning channel combinations with specific brand goals, marketers can enhance their campaigns' effectiveness and drive meaningful business outcomes.

For more in-depth discussions and weekly insights on the latest marketing trends grounded in research, subscribe to The Marketing Architects podcast.

Transcript

[Rob Demars]

Nerd Alert. Learning is important, right?

[Alina Jasper]

Yes, exactly. What a bunch of nerds.

[Rob Demars]

Nerd alert.

[Alina Jasper]

Right. Marketing Architects. Hello and welcome to the Marketing Architects, a research first podcast dedicated to answering your toughest marketing questions. I'm Alina Jasper. I run the marketing team here at Marketing Architects, and I'm joined by my co host, Rob demars, the chief product architect of misfits and machines.

[Rob Demars]

Hello.

[Alina Jasper]

Hello. We are back with your weekly Nerd Alert. Every week, I'll take a deep dive into academic marketing research and translate its complex ideas into simple, understandable language for Rob, and of course, for all of you. Are you ready to nerd out, Rob?

[Rob Demars]

This nerd train has no breaks, so buckle up.

[Alina Jasper]

All right, let's do it. As always, we'll link the research we cover in the episode notes. This week, I read a study that is very popular recently, and it's titled the Effects of Advertising Media Channel Combinations on Brand Performance. This is by Jason Bell, Felipe Thomas, and Andrew Stephen from the University of Oxford. But before we get too far into that, Rob, I wanted to ask you this. Do you think that there is a single best media mix or maybe combination of marketing channels that performs the best overall?

[Rob Demars]

Wow. Well, you know, I have been paleo at one point in my life, and then I tried to be a vegan, and then I tried to be a pescatarian, a salad. I even did like a White Castle binge for a while, you know.

[Alina Jasper]

Oh, yeah, the classic White Castle diet.

[Rob Demars]

Yeah. Yeah. You know, and they're all pretty dang interesting for their own reason. And sometimes I feel that way about media planning too. There's just not like a one size fits all. How does your audience interact with media? Right. What does some of the synergies look like between the different channels? Or where are you at on your funnel strategy? Are you more top of the funnel middle? What are your goals? So, I don't know. It's hard to say that one particular strategy fits everybody.

[Alina Jasper]

You're right. Actually, that's like, I really didn't think that you were going to answer that. Right. But you did it.

[Rob Demars]

I set a high bar, don't I?

[Alina Jasper]

Yeah, no, that's. You're right. I mean, the answer, it's kind of a trick question because it, like, really depends. So you nailed it.

[Rob Demars]

There you go. I did one good thing today.

[Alina Jasper]

Yeah. Let's talk. Let's talk more about it. So this really depends on your objective, your brand, your category, and they did this massive study to look at this. So they analyzed more than a thousand ad campaigns across 557 brands and 51 countries. Looking to find out how do different media channel combinations impact brand performance? And that answer matters a lot because marketing spend continues to rise. But it's really difficult, maybe even impossible, to get instant feedback on whether your total marketing budget allocation is working. Instead, we have to rely on heuristics. Our past experiences are often what our competitors are doing. And the researchers argue that most companies optimize reach rather than effectiveness when planning their channel mix. So they're focusing on how many eyeballs we'll see our ads rather than whether those ads actually delivered brand awareness, association or purchase intent. And this study shows that approach can be flawed when you are looking at your ad spend. So here's what they did. They categorized all these campaigns they looked at into seven archetypes and these were based on the media mix patterns. And those sevens were first TV dominated. So these were marketing mixes that had a heavy reliance on television, often paired with outdoor digital and TV hybrid. That's exactly what it sounds like. A mix of TV and online algorithmic digital, which focused on YouTube and Facebook, leveraging a lot of algorithmic targeting, balanced multi channel. So that's a mix of tv, online, video and some point of sale ads. Legacy and digital display, which would be a heavy investment in traditional media like print, outdoor, radio and online display. Legacy and Facebook. So that same legacy mix plus Facebook ads and then broad multi channel. So that's a big mix of tv, online, video, social media and outdoor. So they categorized those campaigns into those seven archetypes and then they measured how the different media mixes influenced four key brand metrics. They were looking at first unaided awareness. So can your consumers recall your brand without a prompt aided awareness? Can they recognize it when prompted association? Do they link your brand with your key messages or attributes and motivation? Are they actually considering buying your brand? So the first big takeaway from this study is da da da. There is no single best media mix. Congratulations marketers. Again, there is no answer for you here. There is no best mix that dominates across all metrics. So your approach is going to depend on your goal. So they gave some examples here. If you're really focused on unaided awareness, they found that a mix of TV, outdoor and online video worked best for brand association. YouTube heavy strategies with digital components worked better. And if your goal was motivating the customer to take action, point of sale advertising paired with digital was the most effective. And here's another question they asked. If there's not this one size fits all answer, are marketers Currently picking the most effective combinations. What do you think that answer was, Rob? Are marketers getting it right on their own?

[Rob Demars]

I'm going to assume not.

[Alina Jasper]

You'd be correct. You're two for two.

[Rob Demars]

Well, I mean, that was.

[Alina Jasper]

That was a layup. Yeah. Yeah. The answer is no, we're not great at it right now. The researchers found that generally we over prioritize reach at the expense of brand lift. And according to the study, brand lift measures effectiveness. It tells you how well an ad campaign actually drove awareness, perception and intent, not just how many eyeballs saw your ad. The data shows that 80% of campaigns are very efficient at maximizing reach, but only 8% are optimized for brand lift, which means most brands are leaving serious value on the table. So if we went back to our archetypes for a second, the big takeaway is most brands don't use the optimal mix. They default to mixes that are maybe popular in their category but not totally aligned to their goals. But there are some interesting takeaways from the archetypes that I think our audience might the balanced multichannel archetype or a mix of tv, online, video and point of sales ads delivered strong results across multiple brand metrics. The legacy and Facebook archetype, a mix of tv, outdoor and Facebook ads delivered some of the best performance for CPG brands. And the broad multichannel mix of tv, online, video, social and outdoor was highly versatile but had mixed results depending on the campaign goal. Fun fact TV was present in most successful archetypes, but it worked best when paired with digital formats like YouTube or Facebook, not new to us. And then the best performing mixes varied by goal. So like awareness versus motivation versus association, meaning you need to choose your archetype based on your specific objective. So a couple takeaways. Think beyond reach. The study shows that optimizing for brand lift, not just impressions, can improve effectiveness. Use media as a compliment. The most successful campaigns. Pair traditional media like TV with digital formats and consider how much risk you want to have. Because some media mixes have higher upside potential but also higher variance and outcomes. So if you want consistent results, a more balanced marketing mix is the way to go. And now for a robgpt, marketers are like chefs who keep making the same giant buffet instead of crafting the perfect tasting menu, leaving tons of flavor and potential impact on the table.

[Rob Demars]

Oh, it went after a food metaphor too.

[Alina Jasper]

That's so funny how that happens.

[Rob Demars]

That's weird. Chatgpt and I, we think alike, you know, same wavelength. So. So then would you say that when you Google it. They'll say the Mediterranean diet is the healthiest diet. And it's kind of the common sense diet too. Right. It's not the extreme low carb or whatnot. So I was trying to tease out, was there the equivalent of the Mediterranean diet in their different archetypes? Is that sort of the balanced approach or. Because it sounded like the balance approach was a little bit also less conclusive.

[Alina Jasper]

Yes. It sounds like if you had to. If you had to pick one, I think the broad multi channel, the seventh is the way to go. It's that a big mix of tv, online, video, social, out of home, like a mix of things. But they said that's probably the easiest thing to do. There's also other things to take into account. TV was typically present in some of the most successful archetypes. And what's your goal? What's your objective? It just, it really isn't a. A one size fits all for this one.

[Rob Demars]

Right. God, what an interesting study. I mean, how they can do a thousand different campaigns is amazing. Like, how do you even do that?

[Alina Jasper]

Or did I no idea.

[Rob Demars]

Hear that wrong?

[Alina Jasper]

They analyzed like more than 50 countries were involved. You have more than a thousand campaigns, 557 brands. I mean, they're looking at a huge.

[Rob Demars]

That's important.

[Alina Jasper]

I think you have to for something like this. But sure, for sure. I liked this study because I felt like it validated what we've been doing, like, as an agency with tv. Like, a lot of traditional buying methods are just all about like TRPs and reach.

[Rob Demars]

Right.

[Alina Jasper]

And we've always been focused on more performance television. So, like, is your TV actually driving a business result? And that's kind of what he's saying. Like, if you're only going out there. Maximizing reach, I think we would argue is like, is still. We've seen it very important for driving business results. But you want to make sure all your marketing campaigns are grounded in performance, which makes a lot of sense. And maybe you don't take like a one size fits all recommendation either for what you're doing. There we go. Pretty fun.

[Rob Demars]

Very good.

[Alina Jasper]

That's it for this episode of the Marketing Architects. We'd like to thank Taylor De Los Reyes for producing the show. You can connect with us on LinkedIn and if you like the podcast, please leave us a review. Now go forth and build great marketing.

[Rob Demars]

Have you heard about the stuffing can make for a turkey using White Castle hamburgers? I haven't tried it myself, but it's supposed to be really good.

[Alina Jasper]

Like a Pinterest recipe for stuffing.

[Rob Demars]

Yeah, I guess. I guess. Yeah. Yeah.

[Alina Jasper]

No, I haven't seen that. Sure, it's delicious. And horrible. For you marketing architects.