Lintas Media Group simplifies touch points with Connexions

The main objective behind the research conducted by market research company GFK is to allow planning teams and brand managers to assess the suitability of media on various qualitative parameters specific to their brand/category requirements

It is a fact accepted by one and all that a good media plan can go a long way in strengthening a brand's identity in the minds of consumers. Realising how the media environment and the media consumers have evolved significantly in the last few years, Lintas Media Group (LMG) has come up with Connexions, a media research database.

The main objective behind the research conducted by market research company GFK is to allow planning teams and brand managers to assess the suitability of media on various qualitative parameters specific to their brand/category requirements.

The fieldwork for Connexions involved contacting 9300 respondents across 17 cities in India, representing all zones and key population strata for urban India. The consumer profiles include men and women in the age group of 12-44 years. Unlike the way research happens in countries abroad, which involves telephonic interviews, there was a face to face interaction with the respondents.

The research investigates the consumption behaviour and perceptions of the consumers across 78 touch points, which come under the broad media categories such as TV, radio, cinema, outdoor and digital. On an average, only 57 per cent of the respondents interact with 10-13 touch points.

The next important issue addressed by the research is how media is preferred to access a touch point. For this, seven genres of high interest were chosen, including sports, finance, current affairs and celebrities, among others. It was observed that an affluent male consumes current affairs news first on TV, followed by newspaper, radio, word of mouth and lastly, on the Internet or in a magazine. The same man prefers to surf the Internet on priority basis for information related to travel and leisure.

On the contrary, a housewife - who loves to stay in touch with friends and family - will prefer mobile for consumption.

The research also points out how the same media can appeal to different TGs (target groups) in different ways. For example, a magazine that works as a means to escape to a new world for a housewife can actually improve the quality of life for a youngster or can be read by an old man to stay connected to other people.

While there is a quantitative measure for each media, sometimes media becomes annoying in the form of a pop up ad or cinema ads - two cases where a consumer hates to be distracted.

All the information was collected representing more than 100 advertised categories. This is an annual research and is linked to various other tools that are currently in use for all the clients of the Lintas Media Group.