10th of January 2018

Published by Radio Ink See original article

In 2017, Reach Was The Buzzword

(By Bob McCurdy) Over the Christmas holiday I went back and reviewed notes from the previous 12 months. What immediately stood out was the widespread recognition of the critical role “reach” plays in marketing success. Here are some of highlights from last year’s notes…

January 2017

The article, Reach vs. Frequency in the ROI stakes, suggested that heavy frequency reduces ROI, as the 4th, 5th, 10th exposure costs the same as the first but the ROI from those additional exposures is considerably less. Commercials do have a lingering effect, so any repeat exposure within a short time frame is less efficient than reaching an entirely new potential customer.

February 2017

The article, Reach Is the New Black: Advertising’s Mass Reawakening, stressed that it takes big reach to generate big sales, concluding that narrow targeting has its uses, but radio and TV offer greater impact.

A WARC article titled ROI in 2017: Effectiveness in the Digital Age, discussed how to strike the right balance between close targeting and mass reach.

Another WARC article, titled Marketing in the Digital Age: Binet and Field On How Media Choices Impact Effectiveness, explained that penetration and reach is a far more important driver of effectiveness than loyalty, and that mass reach channels still deliver much bigger business results than newer digital channels.

March 2017

Rance Crain, former Editor-in Chief of Ad Age, wrote in Ad Age, that casual or indifferent buyers are ignored. The point is marketers, to grow in a non-growth environment, need to become more aggressive in building their brands by reaching out to once-in-a-while churchgoers rather than preaching to the choir over and over again.

May 2017

In the article How to Grow Brands by Targeting the Masses, Gordon Euchler, Head of Planning at BBDO, noted that, “Targeting people with a high propensity to purchase has a tendency of emptying the pool of people in the market without refilling it.”

June 2017

At an Advertising Research Foundation conference, Nielsen Catalina unveiled a study which concluded that reach was an important sales driver, accounting for 22% of sales growth; the only factor listed above it was ad creative, with 47%. Targeting (9%), Recency (5%) and Context (2%) brought up the rear.

Nielsen published the State of the Media — Audio today 2017, highlighting that radio reaches more Americans each week than any other platform.

July 2017

Mark Fratrik, Senior VP and Chief Economist BIA/Kelsey: “When retailers, car dealers and local restaurants want to reach a large audience announcing a particular promotion or sale, they often turn to radio as part of their advertising mix.” 

At WARC’s How to Be a Smart Marketer session in Cannes, Ehrenberg-Bass Institute’s Professor Rachel Kennedy argued that targeting should prioritize the buyers a brand hasn’t reached before. Brands grow when they bring new people into their brand who have not bought from them in the past. If you’re using targeting to get to people you haven’t got to in the past, fantastic. If you’re using targeting in any way that’s limiting who you’re talking to, you are limiting your potential for growth.”

Read the full article on Radio Ink.

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