Measure This!

While reviewing our research before submitting it to GMR, we had to take a step back and think of what would become of du. When du came out, they were the fresh new kid on the block. They had a fancy (yet incomprehensible) campaign. I never really understood the whole ‘water’ theme. A friend who was closely associated with their advertising campaign continued to distance himself from the project as to not be held accountable for it.

Satisfaction levels are at an all-time low. We don’t see du targeting the audience who appear to be more inclined to even try them. What is the problem? I think their problem is that their marketing communication campaigns are not monitored and measured properly. Sure, they have a media monitoring program. They manually place their clippings in a du themed PowerPoint presentation (spending countless hours doing a job that should be automated — not our problem).. but they don’t appear to be advised on how to approach their PR, from a scientifically measured approach.

Perhaps after reading the full section in the April 2008 issue of GMR, they will demand more.

We have an Arabic saying that goes a little like “ziyadat el khair khairain”, roughly translated, more good is twice as good. However, with Emarat Al Yaum doing an Abu Dhabi edition (population: 260k) and the soon-to-be announced ‘The Nation’ in Abu Dhabi.. we are looking at an excess of papers that hardly have anything to distinguish them from one another. With over a dozen dailies in the UAE, is more good really twice as good?

If ‘The Nation’ (if that indeed is the name it will keep) will turn out to be the first English Pan Arab daily, it may have a chance of being a differentiator. However, with the current constraints in press freedom throughout the region, I don’t see that happening unless Abu Dhabi takes the same bold step Doha did with Al Jazeera.

The question is: Is Abu Dhabi willing to potentially alienate its friends and allies for the sake of press freedom?

We were asked by Gulf Marketing Review to provide some media insights on energy drinks in the UAE and KSA for their December 2007 issue. The exercise showed that no one in the sector seems to understand PR, with the exception of the phenomenal job that Red Bull is doing.

Despite there being very few articles on energy drinks during the period of coverage (October 2007), Red Bull still took home 90% of the share of voice.

But a properly conducted measurements report is never complete without the outtake. So, we asked the target audience and were not surprised to find that recognition of Red Bull is in line with their PR activities.

The KSA market is a much more homogeneous one than the UAE. This is rather important to note, as foreigners constitute the majority of the population of the UAE. As such, we are looking at two fundamentally different markets. For instance, age, income and gender played a key role in brand recognition in KSA, but did not have the same impact in the UAE market.

The above tables tell the full story.

While randomly visiting websites, I took some time to have a look at what our competitors are doing. This is especially after we have re-branded Mediastow and re-designed our website. The results are shocking!

There appears to be a gross misunderstanding of what ethics mean by some of our competitors. If I were continuing to send unsolicited emails to former clients, aka spam, then I would hardly be in a position to play holier than thou, would I? There are also incredible claims of being the first to establish this and that.

My favorites however, are from those who claim to offer ‘comprehensive’ media analysis. Right. We call those measurement reports, and they are merely a tally of outputs with some filters. Nothing more, nothing less. An analysis report is when someone actually analyzes editorial content. Someone actually reads it, understands it and considers the messages you are attempting to deliver to your target audience. Anyone who is selling the word ‘analysis’ with anything less than that is cheating you out of your money. You don’t sell a Toyota Corolla as a luxury car. That’s just wrong.

We have learned that when you don’t compromise on quality and are up-front with your clients, they tend to form a better long-term relationship. Lying about what you are offering to get a quick buck will only get you so far. Just ask our competitors.

Dubai, November 21, 2006 (AMEInfo) — Finding an accurate and reliable way to gauge media value is not easy, particularly in a region with limited circulation and misreporting of figures. Mohamed Elzubeir, MD, Mediastow, is trying to change industry mindsets and move towards some kind of standard.

You can watch the interview conducted by AMEInfo by clicking here.

Dubai’s second annual PR Congress began today and is expected to attract hundreds of PR practitioners from across the region.

The congress aims to bring together leading regional PR practitioners on a single platform, where they can discuss and debate regional PR trends and strategies.

According to the Middle East Public Relations Association (MEPRA) the total value of the Middle East PR industry has crossed the USD 25 million per annum mark, a figure dismissed by rival PR practitioners organization, Arabian Business Communicators Association, due to the failure of MEPRA to give a credible source.

This growth is apparently due to the expansion and development of the perception and usefulness of Public Relations as more than just an extra marketing tool. PR is now considered the most useful means of publicly communicating a company’s message, ensuring positive investor and governmental relations and is considered as a crucial crisis management tool.

However, the launch of the event comes with a strict warning to PR practitioners from its official sponsors and the region’s only media intelligence firm, Mediastow. Mohamed Elzubeir, Managing Director of Mediastow, commented: ‘The PR industry needs to take a serious look at the way in which it measures the efficacy of its work, or risk losing all credibility in the eyes of the businesses. Traditional methods of counting clippings and calculating advertising equivalence values are simply not accurate measurement techniques. If agencies don’t find a way to measure the real value of their work, they risk losing their clients and missing out on future business opportunities.’

The main issue of the PR industry is underlined as the measurement of the effectiveness of PR campaigns. The majority of PR agencies in the region still refer to the traditional measurements tools which fail to demonstrate bottom line effects. Some believe the congress to be a result of continual inter-industry disagreements over a lack of a standardized set of guidelines, objectives and agreed-upon PR effectiveness measurement techniques.

‘The PR industry needs an effective way to measure the efficacy of their work,’ continued Mr. Elzubeir. ‘At Mediastow we have developed a new system called RAVE (Real Advertising Value Equivalent), which gives you a realistic indication of the value of your clipping. The system takes into account variables such as the mention type (headline, 1st paragraph or marginal) and the use of visuals (color, black and white or none at all). These variables provide us with a prominence index that allows us to adjust other figures to come out with the real advertising value equivalent. This is not to mention other variables such as the rating of the publication itself, its (claimed or audited) circulation as well as the positioning of the clipping,’ continued Elzubeir. ‘RAVE provides tools that allow you the only way to truly assess your PR performance and effectiveness,’ he concluded.

Mediastow is sponsoring the PR Professional of the Year Award at the PR Congress 2006, which will be presented at the gala dinner.

The event will take place on September 17, 2006 at the JWT Marriott Hotel from 7:30PM onwards.

Editorial values are dollar amount values for a given article. There is no standard to how an editorial value is calculated, as it varies from 3-8 times the advertising value equivalent. The problem with this is that it is absolutely impossible to provide an accurate value for an editorial piece. For example, there are pages in papers that would never have an advertisement appear in. How can you place a value on that?

In fact, editorial values are considered as an unethical practice to boost the value of PR. Let’s face it, PR does have tremendous value, but this is simply misleading and only does the clients a disservice into assuming their PR campaign is worth X amount.

At Mediastow, we do provide AVE’s, but would under no circumstance provide an editorial value for a client. We also make sure we explain to the clients that the AVE is just that — an estimate. It simply gives you an ‘idea’ of the value of your campaign. Let’s face it, everyone likes to see dollar amounts that justify their spendings.

I would dare say that the PR industry in the UAE should completely abolish Editorial Values from their reports.

I have had the pleasure of meeting with several of the leading personalities in the PR industry here and have come to the conclusion that there is an increasing level of frustration at the lack of tools available. Not only are PR agencies struggling to evaluate the output analysis, but they have absolutely no clue what the outtake and outcomes are.

It is not secret that clients are increasingly pushing PR agencies to lower their prices as they pour the larger portion of their marketing budget into advertising. One of the main reasons this is happening is the complete lack of ability to measure PR.

Agencies will tell you that clients are not wililng to put in a budget for research and evaluation of outtakes and outcomes. They will also tell you that even the evaluation of output is something only multinationals and large corporate groups are willing to shell out the money for. It is both time consuming and expensive for them to do anyway.

Mediastow tried to solve this problem by providing the basis for output evaluation with the instant media measurements of the share of voice, coverage reach and coverage size. We are also excited about the new addition of the advertising value estimate, which is scheduled to be rolled by June.

Those tools help but do not solve the fundamental problem though. You can measure what you have produced, but the ability to measure the results and success of what you do as an industry is perhaps the most important justification for your very existence. Without this, I am afraid the PR industry is doomed. Or is it?