November 2009 CARF Update The November 2009 CARF Update features a wealth of informative reading on topics of special interest to marketers, researchers and advertisers. This month is largely focused on the internet, with a look at how magazines can benefit from Internet extensions; the growing senior consumer market; marketing in social networks; social media's emerging communications model; long-term implications of shoppers' behaviour in recession; marketing tips for riding out tough times; and how brand loyalty flees in a bad economy. Click here for details of this month's update, and to read individual articles online (full articles require a member password).		CARF Workshops Demystifying the Numbers Never get lost in a conversation or negotiation involving research again! Tuesdays: Oct. 27. Nov. 3, 10, 17,24 and Dec. 1, at CARF. A six-part workshop series for media planners and buyers, media sales people or anyone needing to understand media research. Hosted by media experts in six fields, the workshop covers out-of-home, magazines, radio, online, television and newspapers. Click here for details and to register online >>

A Forum for the Industry

CARF conferences, seminars and workshops provide leading edge updates on advertising measurement, research and applications. With subjects ranging from consumer demographics, attitudes and behaviour to media survey techniques and findings and advertising strategies, CARF conferences and seminars feature blue ribbon speakers from Canada and around the world, dealing with emerging media and advertising research issues that are timely, relevant and of immediate interest to the industry. Find out more >>.

CARF Seminar Presentations

The Power of Advertising
Advertising Week – January 28, 2009

History and research have proven that brands that cut their advertising and marketing budgets during economic downturns will likely lose market share to competitors that opt for business-as-usual strategies. It will also be much more costly for them to regain share when the economy improves. This seminar examined the power of continuing to support marketing initiatives during a recession.

Marketing in a Recession: To spend or not to spend
Keynote speaker: Nigel Hollis – Executive Vice-President and
Chief Global Analyst, Millward Brown

There’s plenty of evidence, going back to the Great Depression, that increased spending on marketing during a recession can result in long-term gains for a brand. But is it still true in today’s environment of new media and media fragmentation? The effect is even more striking now, according to Nigel Hollis, EVP and Chief Global Analyst at Millward Brown, citing new evidence from the Profit Impact of Marketing Strategies (PIMS) 2008 database.

The PIMS analysis compared the profits and share of market achieved by companies that increased, maintained, and reduced marketing spend during a recession. Companies that cut marketing spend enjoyed a better Return on Capital (ROCA) in the short-term, but inferior results after the recession ended. On the other hand, those companies that increased their spending achieved significantly higher ROCA and gained an additional market share during the recovery.

Speaking at CARF’s January 2009 seminar, The Power of Advertising (a featured event during the ICA’s inaugural Advertising Week), Nigel Hollis noted that price sensitivity, brand equity, attitudinal underpinnings and market share all have an impact on the results achieved by individual brands.

There isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. A number of factors should be taken into account by advertisers: the nature and size of the category; the relative strength of the brand; the motivation of customers; and the competitive response. He suggested advertisers support their strong brands, hold prices relative to the competition, take advantage of lower media costs, and use advertising aimed at supporting the price by demonstrating value. He also said that to emerge from the recession as victors, healthy brands need spirit and the will to win.

How Advertising Built Diageo Brands
Dhan Kashyap – Director of Business Strategy, Diageo Canada

“ Regrettable decisions are made through ignorance.”

So goes the proverb quoted by Dhan Kashyap, Director of Business Strategy, Diageo Canada, at the beginning of his presentation at the CARF seminar. Diageo Canada, marketers of premium alcohol beverages such as Smirnoff, Bailey’s and Guinness, demonstrates the will to win and the knowledge to do it.

At Diageo, research is a form of insurance and an essential tool for building and supporting brands. Dahn Kashyap shared several examples, including how Diageo used research to identify the brand’s key benefit and develop advertising that stretched consumer perceptions about where and when to consume Bailey’s. Diageo successfully increased Bailey's share of market by repositioning it from a special occasions drink to a beverage that can be enjoyed among friends in more casual, but still special, situations.

The key, according to Kashyap, is to create brand communications from a deep understanding of the brand’s benefits and the consumer’s relationship with the brand. In a recession, it is all the more important to make the right decisions. He suggested advertisers apply brand communications carefully, go back to the basics and do it right, but also to experiment and course correct as needed.

In response to the current economic conditions, Diageo is setting the bar high, looking for breakthrough advertising that creates above-the-norm awareness. They will continue to focus their efforts in experiential marketing, the digital realm and TV.

More presentation highlights online:

• Advertising in a Recession >>
• Effectiveness of High-Tech In-Store Media >>
• Market Research Surveys: Online Versus Traditional >>