Influentials Presentation

Research Sources

We have invested significant resources in getting to truly know the London consumer. Their motivations, lifestyles, attitudes and behaviours. The Influentials presentation shares this insight from a combination of industry, syndicated and proprietary research that utilises a range of research techniques.

Industry sources such as TGI, Touchpoints and NRS have helped us to quantify and test this audience and this allows open access to all agencies and advertisers to plan and research this audience..

Looking At The Research Process In Detail

How was the research conducted?
This was a multi-faceted research process; a mixture of in-depth qualitative techniques, proprietary and syndicated quantitative research - all supported by robust industry-standard data. It was and is an iterative process; the ACORN, TGI & NRS parts were used throughout the research to continuously test & validate findings.

Agency interviews - May 2006

In May 2006 a large number of interviews were conducted amongst many of the Evening Standard’s key agencies. They gave us their perceptions of the brands and the audience they deliver -i.e. what they thought of our readers. This helped us scope out the objectives of the research and the route to take.

Conducted by Outlook Research
15 in-depth interviews with senior agency personnel
5 internal interviews with ES sales teams
To identify experts’ views of London’s media landscape
To explore perceptions of ES and thisislondon.com audiences from media agencies perspective

Initial desk research

NRS, TGI, Touchpoints & CACI were used to look at the London media and Evening Standard audience. Urban Prosperity make up 5 in 10 of Evening Standard readers.

Who are CACI?
CACI are the UK’s largest consumer & market analysis company. Their services are based on both an in-depth understanding of consumer behaviour as well as expertise on how geographical locations influence the way consumers buy products and services.

What is ACORN?
ACORN stands for ‘A Classification Of Residential Neighbourhoods’. Developed by CACI over 25 years ago, ACORN was the first geo-demographic classification in the UK. It works on the premise that people who live in the same postcode are roughly similar, in terms of status, lifestage and interests, and uses complex analysis of demographic and census variables to classify them as types. It takes into account approximately 80 different variables.
It is a step on from outdated social economic classifications (e.g. ABC1) where people were classified purely on the occupation of the main income earner in the household.

Who are Urban Prosperity?
Well educated and mostly prosperous people. They include both older and wealthy people living in the most exclusive parts of London and highly educated younger professionals moving up the corporate ladder. These people have a cosmopolitan outlook and enjoy the urban lifestyle. They like to eat out in restaurants, go to the theatre and cinema and make the most of the culture and nightlife in the big city.

How was the Consumer spend developed?
Total consumer spend (excluding Mortgages) by ACORN category was supplied by CACI and is based on 2006 spend. This was used to cross-refer against other desk and proprietary research. This enabled us to put a monetary value against the audiences defined in TGI, Touchpoints and other research.

What is Touchpoints?

The holy grail of media research and a first for the advertising industry. A one-stop shop that tracks multi-media consumption for TV / Press / Radio / Outdoor / Cinema / Online / DM / SMS and Sponsorship. Funded by IPA Agencies and Media Owners. Conducted in 2005 with 5,010 respondents.

Two Part Survey
Using PDA’s - respondents are tracked over a week by half hour segment asking:

Where they were
Who they were with
What they were doing
The mood they were in
And were they consuming any media and
if so
which media

Self Completion Questionnaire - 48 pages covering:

Attitudes to media
Lifestyle
Activities
Shopping Habits

Why did we use Touchpoints?

Allows for cross-media planning & includes CACI Acorn Groups
8 qualitative groups

A large number of focus groups were conducted with Evening Standard readers in London, helping us to paint a better picture of readers and their behaviours. This provided a real insight into the attitudes, values and lifestyles of this audience.

Depth discussions - using a mix of sex
age
working status
social grade
80 respondents in 1.5 hour sessions
Groups were split by Urban Prosperity and other ACORN groups.Research conducted by Miles Werrett - internal consultant and MRS member
Insights used to inform Ethnography & Quantitative

Urban Travel 2020

A comprehensive qualitative & quantitative study into Londoner's travel habits, with a focus on commuting, that got to grips with people’s mindsets and emotions during the morning and evening commutes.
Urban Travel was a multistage project carried out by Intersperience Research Ltd (part of CSMTC - Centre for Study of Media, Technology and the Consumer) funded by media, transport and mobile phone companies (including 02, Transport for London, JC Deceaux and Associated Newspapers). The project involved academic desk research, ethnography, case studies, focus groups and a quantitative survey across 5 cities. We used results focused on London travel, in particular commuters and the use of media on journeys.

Conducted by Intersperience Research Ltd - part of CSMTC - Centre for Study of Media
Technology and the Consumer
Academic desk research
5
000 quantitative surveys across 5 cities including 1000 in London
Ethnographic observation in London and Birmingham Bristol Manchester and Leeds
50 case study interviews
4 Focus groups - participants of mixed age
gender
journey types & travel modes

The models of mindset and behaviour used were based on questions developed in Academic Research:

Belk - 1975 - An early advocate for the need to take account of situation when researching consumer behaviour
Mehrabian & Russell - 1974- Posit emotions as ever present basal reactions which mediate behaviour.Developed and validated a framework to measure these emotions
Donovan & Rossiter -1982 - Highlighted the importance of including approach-avoidance measures as a way to determine the effect emotion is having on behaviour. A crucial aspect missing from Mehrabian & Russell’s work.

Ethnographic study

Conducted by Gutsy - using a skilled & qualified researcher
Seven respondents recruited via on-street vox-pops
Two days immersion for each - Home Work Travelling and Social lives - plus video diaries for each
Respondents all reflected attitudes from qualitative and quantitative analysis
Respondents read Evening Standard
Respondents from Urban Prosperity ACORN

What is ethnography?
Ethnography is a blend of observational and in-depth interviewing - all filmed. The idea is that the researcher immerses themselves with the subjects and observes. The researchers effectively ‘live’ with the respondent for a short period of time, a couple of days per respondent for this research; developing a deep understanding and we use film to illustrate this. The respondents also make video diaries of their lives - it all adds up to over 20 days worth of real life footage. This technique isn’t about numbers -it’s about depth - however with seven individuals it is much larger than any usual study of this type.

Ethnography is about insights generated through the observation and interviewing of the respondents. It is not intended to be representative in terms of numbers of people.

Who are Gutsy?

Gutsy are a small company comprised of creative marketers, planners & researchers who have joined forces with professional film-makers. They help companies understand their customers and better communicate insights with much greater impact, clarity & relevance. They use primary research studies (e.g. ethnography) to understand an audience and top quality film & editing techniques to bring them to life. Clients of Gutsy include Unilever, AMEX, Boots, Orange & Diageo.

How were the respondents recruited?
Respondents were recruited through on-street interviewing. A series of vox-pops (filmed on-street interviews) were conducted across a variety of locations in London. Depth interviewing helped gauge people’s attitudes, lifestyles and media use. Some of these you will see in the video clips.

A number of those interviewed on-street were then selected by Gutsy to take part in the ethnographic stage. They were asked a series of attitudinal questions to test their suitability and to ensure that they were interested in giving us their views rather than just wanting an incentive. These were all readers of the Evening Standard and in the Urban Prosperity ACORN groups.

A range of people were recruited by age, sex and geography to ensure all areas of the target audience were represented.

London Lives - TNS

A large London ISBA representative quantitative study by TNS called London Lives that set the lifestles and attitudes of Londoners in context to their media habits

Conducted by TNS - the largest Media research company in the World
Syndicated with Media owners Transport providers and Advertisers
Sample of 1
500 1
000 in London 500 out-of-London commuters
Representative of London ISBA population
25 minute in-home interview

Research covered:

London’s media day - what they’re consuming
The relationships between different media platforms and brands
An understanding of how this varies for commuters and by travel time and type of commute
Which groups demographically and tribes are ‘owned’ by different media and brands
London’s ‘life’ and opportunities for advertisers
What people want from London

Quantitative Media & Activity Diary

A daily media and activity diary enabling us to pinpoint where people are at particular times of day, what they are doing, who they are with and which media they are using.

Conducted by Other Lines of Enquiry - Media Research specialists
120 respondents - all Urban Prosperity
Split by Evening Standard readers and non-readers
All respondents work in Zone 1&2
PDA diary completed five times a day for seven days
Media consumption - mood and mindset - receptivity to advertising - location

Quality Index

A study of 30 well-known consumer brands, their perceived quality and functionality. The questioning was developed from Hall & Partners Brand Commitment Model and tests Brand Consideration, Brand Saliency, Brand Persuasion, Brand Advocacy and Brand Involvement.

Conducted by Hall & Partners - Brand equity research specialists
800 respondents - all Urban Prosperity
Split by Evening Standard - London free titles and National Newspaper readers and non-readers
15 minute online interview
30 brands across 5 categories
Readership quota by NRS and representative control of non-readers
All respondents live in London ISBA and work in London

We have worked with Hall & Partners on a metric which is called the Quality Index. This measures consumer attitudes to brands, based on a series of criteria. Their perceptions of value in the form quality and function which impact on their decision making process and ultimately their brand consideration. By using these measures, we able to ascertain where various brands sit within the Quality Index.

The two main scales used for the Quality Index were:

‘A brand worth paying more for’
‘A brand that does it’s job well’

These are used by Hall & Partners as an indication of Quality and Functionality of a brand and the salience of that brand to a consumer.

Quality is the key driver for this audience but a brand has to deliver on functionality as functionality is also seen as a quality trait and they embrace brands that are in line with this ethos and it has to satisfy both criteria.

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