Back to life, back to reality

As I sit down to add my perspective to Making Sense, a mood of optimism and appreciation pervades - it’s mid-August, the sun is shining, and the air is alive with possibility. As Simon put it in his concluding remarks, life is indeed beautiful.

But as we know, context is everything. By the time you read this, the heady days of “silly season” will be behind us, and the mood will have shifted. September, with its distinctly Back to School vibes, brings a more sober, analytical mindset. Perfect timing then for the arrival of this year’s report!

People are still people

As we return to reality, Making Sense helps us step back and put the year’s excitable media headlines and competing narratives into a broader context by highlighting people's evolving, and enduring media habits.

One headline is clear: Despite huge technological disruption in media, people are still people. Timeless psychological needs and the more prosaic routines of daily life remain the biggest drivers of media behaviour. Video is still predominantly consumed in the evening, and adding to the analysis found here accounts for 28% of all commercial time when we bring all major media types together. Conversely, audio and OOH remain the lead channels for reaching people in the flow of their active day; shopping, eating, traveling, at work, or at play. Together these channels account for 35% of the total media opportunity.

While perhaps unsurprising, this analysis is a vital reminder as we collectively focus our minds on this year’s goals and the challenges that lie ahead.

2023 saw a big focus on “Total AV” planning – and rightly so, as BVOD has accelerated over this period and YouTube increased its presence on people's main TV set. But as advertisers find it increasingly difficult to cut through in highly competitive marketplaces (it’s not just media that’s witnessed an explosion of new entrants), Making Sense provides a stark reminder of the huge, and sometimes under-exploited, opportunity to build and activate brands outside of video too.

Same same, but different

So, it’s confirmed: reach never dies, it’s simply shared out across digital and “traditional” delivery platforms. On one hand, this is reassuring, on the other, it sets us a clear challenge. The increasingly important role of context in planning cannot be ignored. Not all impacts – or indeed impressions – are equal!

When considering the impact of context on a campaign, the mindful planner will find it useful to consider both the mechanical attributes of the media placement as well as more personal, human influences. Recent advances in attention metrics help us evaluate the former - screen type, format size, duration etc, but it’s in those personal factors that the real gems lie.

This is where Making Sense, and the underlying IPA TouchPoints data, is such an invaluable resource for planning: Day, mood, location, type of journey, whether an audience is alone or with others, the list goes on.

Ironically, too much focus on the context of placement alone risks every brand chasing an incredibly small pool of “high” attention inventory. It’s only when we also consider the human perspective that we are alive to the opportunity of winning people's attention with smart media planning that creates a unique competitive advantage for brands.

Cause for great optimism indeed.

Mark Hatwell is Director of Group Strategy at Global Media and Entertainment

The opinions expressed here are those of the authors and were submitted in accordance with the IPA terms and conditions regarding the uploading and contribution of content to the IPA newsletters, IPA website, or other IPA media, and should not be interpreted as representing the opinion of the IPA.