Click on the video below to see what UK advertisers and agencies have to say about Radio GAUGE

In a world where return on investment has become a fundamental requirement by advertisers and marketers alike, answering radio’s accountability call is now more critical than ever before.

Intent on delivering, the RAB South Africa is spearheading a ground-breaking new radio advertising effectiveness research project, called Radio Gauge.

This quick and easy guide answers all your questions about the study.

WHAT IS RADIO GAUGE?

Radio Gauge is an effectiveness research project which was initiated by the RAB UK. It is funded by the commercial radio industry and is designed to help radio advertisers understand the effects achieved as a result of their radio advertising campaigns, within the context of the broader market.

Radio Gauge is the first ever radio advertising effectiveness research study in South Africa.

WHAT DOES RADIO GAUGE MEASURE?

Ad Awareness, Brand Consideration & Brand Health
Radio Gauge provides a measure of how the radio advertising campaign has driven advertising awareness and brand consideration. It also includes two brand health measures bespoke to each participating advertiser.

Relative Performance
Radio Gauge reveals how each campaign performs in relation to the broader market by comparing individual campaign performance to a pool of relevant campaigns from other advertisers.

Creative Analysis
Radio Gauge quantifies the relative strength of a radio campaign’s creative execution, and seeks to demonstrate how results can be improved for future campaigns by highlighting best practice in creativity.

HOW DOES RADIO GAUGE MEASURE CREATIVITY?

To measure the role that creativity plays in delivering awareness and consideration measures, respondents score each commercial against 11 statements (e.g. Stands out ; I would listen to it; It’s clear who it’s for etc) based on the RAB ‘5i’ creative evaluation process.

The 5i’s are:

• Involvement
• Identity
• Impression
• Information
• Integration

This consistent approach will allow us to compare the creative strengths of individual commercials in relation to the average score derived across the total pool of commercials.

WHAT IS THE PLANNED METHODOLOGY AND SAMPLE SIZE?

The research will largely be conducted telephonically and in the form of face-to-face interviews, where necessary.

A total of 800 Adults Age 16+ will be interviewed in each wave of research and will comprise of a test sample (2/3rd listeners) and control sample (1/3rd non-listeners to the stations on which the campaign was flighted). The study covers the 7  Major Metropolitan cities in South Africa, namely Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town, Durban, Bloemfontein, Port Elizabeth & East London.

Listener and non-listener samples will be matched in terms of the respective demographics.

THE INTERVIEW

• 1 x ad campaign will be measured per ‘wave’ of research
• For each campaign, the same questionnaire is used
• Each interview includes the playing of the generic commercial being measured
• The duration of each interview will be no longer than 10 minutes

QUESTIONNAIRE STRUCTURE

• Section 1 - Demographics  (age, gender, region, LSM etc)
• Section 2 - Listening Habits (frequency of listening to radio, P1/P2 station choice)
• Section 3 - Ad Effectiveness

1. Unprompted brand awareness (first brand mention and other brands mentioned)
2. Prompted brand awareness
3. Advertising awareness and attribution to media (radio, TV, magazines etc)
4. Brand attitudes and perceptions
5. Product category salience
6. History of brand experience
7. Brand consideration (answered via a scaled question)
8. Prompted ad recall (play generic spot) and frequency ad was heard
9. 5i’s statements
10. Advertising credibility (respondents score each commercial against 11
statements such as ‘Stands out’ / ‘I would listen to it’ / ‘It’s clear who it’s for’ etc.)
• End survey

WHAT ARE THE QUALIFYING CRITERIA?

• Campaigns must have run nationally (utilising either regional or national stations but must have national coverage)
• There is a minimum campaign spend level of R1-million for measured activity
• All applications must be fully approved by client, prior to application being sent to the RAB
• Complete campaign details are to be supplied to the RAB upon application

CAMPAIGN INFORMATION REQUIRED

The following information must be supplied to the RAB for each advertising campaign being measured:

• Product category description (e.g. Financial)
• Client name (e.g. First National Bank)
• Brand name (e.g. Home Loans)
• Competitor list (top 5 / key competitors e.g. ABSA, Nedbank, Standard Bank)
• Brand attitude and perception statements (2 statements to be provided by client to test) e.g. the brand provides great value for money
• Generic audio clip of the commercial (mp3 format)

WHO IS CONDUCTING THE RESEARCH?

UK-based research specialists Other Lines of Enquiry and Dollywagon Media Sciences have designed the project and have been running the Radio Gauge research project for the RAB UK since 2007. As specialists in measuring the effects of radio advertising, they have garnered a wealth of experience on the radio industry and its workings.

The local South African research partner is Ask Afrika, who will work closely with the UK research team.

HOW DO ADVERTISERS GET THEIR CAMPAIGNS MEASURED ON RADIO GAUGE?

The research will be conducted at regular intervals, as determined by the RAB. The advertiser campaigns measured in each wave of research are offered free of charge to qualifying advertisers, at the RAB’s discretion.

Qualifying advertisers are allocated to the wave of research that is closest to their campaign end date (maximum 1 week after campaign ended).

To apply for Radio Gauge, contact Norman Gibson at the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) on (011) 325 4935 or email radiogauge@rab.co.za

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

RadioGAUGE vs Case Studies
Case Studies rely on the client to provide the results achieved by the advertising campaign. With Radio Gauge, the RAB owns the data, which has proven to be most valuable to advertisers measured on Radio Gauge in the UK. Even if an advertiser has their own tracking data, Radio Gauge adds an additional layer of value.

Is client confidentiality guaranteed?
Brand-specific measures will remain confidential from other advertisers, although the data will be used at an unbranded level for comparative purposes.

In terms of best practice demonstration, the RAB reserves the right to highlight advertising that performs strongly against the individual creative diagnostics. However, these creative diagnostic measures are not linked in any way to the effective scores of the individual brands.

Will it be possible to look at results amongst a specific audience?
The study is intended to provide an indicator of effectiveness amongst a broad sample of radio listeners only.

How will the research strip out the efforts of other media activity?
Other Lines of Enquiry and Dollywagon Media Sciences’ history of radio research experience suggests that comparing effects between matched samples of listeners and non-listeners is the most effective way of isolating the radio effect.

For more information about RadioGAUGE South Africa, contact Norman Gibson on (011) 325 4935 or email norman@rab.co.za

NEW RAB UK RESEARCH!

RADIO: THE ONLINE MULTIPLIER
How allocating 10% of a media budget into radio boosts brand browsing online by 52%

Click on the image below for more information