What are the advantages & disadvantages of the major media formats? How does outdoor complement them?
PROS
Television
- Intrusive impact - high awareness getter
- Ability to demonstrate product and/or display "slice of life" situations
- Ratings accountability - audience measurements
Radio
- Highly selective by station format
- An effectively priced medium
- Allows advertisers to employ time-of-day or day-of-week scheduling to exploit time factors
- Production creativity has no limits
Newspaper
- High single day reach opportunity to exploit immediately, especially on key shopping days
- Reader often shops ads for specific information he or she is ready to buy today
Magazines
- Offer high degree of selective targeting based on demographic, product affinity, or lifestyle
- High quality of visuals
- Consumers turn to Magazines as source for information & ideas
CONS
Television
- Ratings fragmentation, rising costs, ad clutter
- Heavy "down scale" audience skew
- Time is sold in multi-packages - networks often require major up-front commitments (both limit the advertiser's flexibility)
Radio
- No visual, no product demonstration ability
- Difficult to buy with so many stations to consider
- Advertisers must buy deep (multiple stations & formats) to accumulate audience reach of over 50%
Newspaper
- Decreasing market penetration - many Newspapers achieve less than 50% penetration
- Readership rates are on the decline & will likely continue due to increasing number of alternate news sources
- Old news is old news. Newspapers have a short shelf life.
Magazines
- Reader controls his ad exposure, can ignore campaign, especially for new products
- Consumers are spending less time reading Magazines
COMBO
Television
- Outdoor minimizes wasted coverage & improves an advertiser's campaign by providing the ability to target geographically
- Television is expensive. Outdoor improves the efficiency of a Television campaign by driving down CPM costs
Radio
- With Radio being "theater of the mind," outdoor can provide graphic visual association
- By combining the significant reach & frequency aspects of both media, the combination can deliver high efficiencies
- Outdoor reinforces Radio messages & creates top of mind awareness
Newspaper
- Outdoor increases the reach & ensures greater coverage among light readers & younger consumers
- Outdoor establishes a continuing presence in the market, directing the consumer to the Newspaper ad or coupon
- Outdoor lowers CPM cost of expensive Newspapers
Magazines
- Magazines offer excellent selective reach, yet limited frequency. Outdoor can significantly increase frequency against precise target audiences
- Outdoor can add local flavor where the product or service is sold when used with national Magazine placement