ACP Magazines reveals the science of love
January 31
Magazines boast the highest levels of consumer
engagement of any media, according to new research released by ACP Magazines*.
ACP partnered with leading neuroscience research company
Neuro-Insight to determine exactly what goes on in the brains of its readers
while they read their favourite magazines – the intensity of their emotional
reactions in terms of like/dislike, their engagement and attention levels, and
whether or not what they read becomes encoded in long-term memory.
In a world first approach to measuring the magazine reading
experience, rather than simply ask readers how engaged they felt with their
magazines, ACP used neuroscience to quantify, in a more scientific way, how deeply immersed and engaged consumers actually
became.
The neuroscience
research was conducted with 200 women aged 18 to 64 across 11 leading ACP
titles.
Eight key areas of
brain functionality were measured on a second-by-second basis to determine
which areas of the brain had heightened neurological activity, and to what
degree.
The average scores across the 11 titles on
key measures – such as engagement, like/dislike, emotional intensity, attention
and memory – were higher than those for any other media or advertising measured
by Neuro-Insight on a worldwide basis, including television, internet, radio
and out-of-home.
40 individual advertisements that appeared
in the various mastheads were also tested.
In addition, specific testing of brand
salience levels of 64 different brands revealed significant increases from pre-
to post- reading. Brand salience is the degree to which a brand is thought
about or noticed when a customer is in a buying situation, and whether or not
the advertisement enters the consumer’s long-term memory.
A parallel study
using traditional quantitative methodology was carried out to both verify the
neuroscience results and allow further probing of specific questions.
The neuroscience results
provide the first scientifically-measured levels of engagement with magazine
content and advertisements, allowing overall effectiveness of the advertising
communication to be analysed in a more quantitative way than has previously
been possible.
Completed in November 2010, the research
underpins ACP’s I Love Magazines campaign that promotes the strength, vibrancy
and relevance of Australian magazines.
ACP has long held a reputation
for some of the most insightful consumer and media research in the country and
invested a six figure sum towards this research.
Neuro-Insight’s approach and
credibility are well established.
ACP’s sister
company, the Nine Network, has extensively employed Neuro-Insight research to
demonstrate that highly engaging television drives a greater return on
advertising investment. For example, Nine has successfully used neuroscience to
reinforce the value of cricket, in-program branding and general programming.
ACP Magazines Managing Director Phil Scott said: “ACP is pioneering
new territory but also confirming what we already know: consumers love
magazines. They involve, inspire, engage, evoke emotions, resonate, motivate
and inform. Quite simply, magazines work – for consumers and for advertisers.”
Neuro-Insight Director Peter
Pynta said: “This is now the most comprehensive
neuroscience database of magazine engagement
and advertising impact data in the world in terms of sample size and breadth
of metrics. The results of this ground-breaking
approach to understanding how readers engage with magazines is that we learn
what works with readers and the science of why.”
*Note to editors: a backgrounder on the ACP
Magazines/Neuro-Insight research – detailing its objectives, methodology and
key findings – accompanies this release.
-ends-
Contact:
Deborah Thomas, General Manager Media, Public
Affairs and Brand Development
M:
0411 850074
E: dthomas@acpmagazines.com.au
Margaret
Fearn, Fearnace Media
M:
0402 259 064
About ACP Magazines
ACP Magazines is Australia’s
leading magazine publisher. The company is the magazine arm of leading
Australian media and entertainment company, Nine Entertainment Co. ACP
Magazines publishes over 85 titles in Australia which sell more than 100 individual
copies each year. They include some of the longest-running and most successful
mastheads such as The Australian Women’s Weekly, Woman’s Day, Dolly, NW, TV Week, Cleo,
Cosmopolitan, Madison, Australian House & Garden, Zoo
Weekly and Wheels. ACP Magazines has expanded into nine other
countries, including New Zealand and in Asia. It now has a stable of more than
70 international magazines. Integral to the company’s success are vibrant,
information-packed reader websites. More information at http://acp.com.au/
About Neuro-Insight
Neuro-Insight Pty Ltd is a leading company
specialising in the application of neuroscience in the field of marketing
communications. With the world’s largest neuro marketing database of media and
advertising norms, Neuro-Insight has pioneered the link between brain activity
and consumer behaviour. Neuro-Insight works with a range of the world’s leading
marketers and media organisations throughout Europe, UK, USA and Asia/Pacific to
better understand consumer engagement and optimise marketing effectiveness.
Neuro-Insight uses a scientifically validated technology to measure
pre-conscious brain activity, reporting on a range of neuro metrics including
engagement, emotional intensity, attention, like/dislike and memory. More
information at http://www.neuro-insight.com/