#erwin ephron

The media planning profession has been kneeling at the altar of Recency theory throughout the new millennia thanks to the ground-breaking work of John Philip Jones and Erwin Ephron in the ‘80s & 90’s. But does a model built in the era of push media remain relevant in the new world order of consumer control? Not according to a study published recently in Computers in Human Behavior from the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.

What the researchers found (full disclosure, I am a co-author on the article) was that regardless of the platform (television, internet or mobile) or platform sequencing, the multiplatform exposures resulted in more positive attitudes about the brand, resulted in higher message and advertiser crediblity and higher intent to purchase.

While Recency theory has long held that the exposure closest to the point of purchase generates the greatest impact, according to this study, consumers who viewed the ad in the same environment repeatedly had significantly lower reactions to the ad. Attitudes toward the brand were lower; the credibility of the message was damaged; and purchase intent fell off.

When Herb Krugman first introduced the idea of effective frequency in the 1960’s he studied consumers who were viewing television in a passive environment. He was right that a single exposure to an ad message would not likely deliver immediate impact. In fact, Jones and Ephron never disputed that finding. They simply said that a consumer who was in the mindset to purchase a category would respond after the exposure closest to the point of purchase.

What has changed significantly since then is that consumers are rarely consuming content in a passive environment. They are increasingly consuming content in multiple media, on demand and, simultaneously. The idea of reaching a consumer more than once in order to deliver optimal impact is still relevant and this research demonstrates that reach is most effective when delivered in different environments.

We continue to measure reach within each medium and combine them to measure campaign impact. It’s time we develop new reach models that will account for this multi-media effect and deliver true cross-channel frequency metrics.

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Methodological notes: The study looked at exposure to ads in linear television (42” TV), online video (19” monitor) and Direct Mobile Broadcast (3.5” screen). Study participants were shown two ads in a news program environment. Some saw the same ad in the same environment, others saw the ad in a paired environment with the pairs reversed (ie. some saw the ad on television first, then online; others saw the ad online first, then on television). The ads were tested for both high and low involvement products (a pain killer and a computer, respectively).