ABSTRACT

(prepared for 5th IIMA Conference on Marketing in Emerging Economies)

Title

Gaining ‘Earned Media Advantage’ – is there

a trick?

Area of Interest: Marketing Communications

Key words Marketing Communications Planning; Paid, Owned & Earned Media; Social Media; Interactive

Media

Author

Dr. Milan Agnihotri, Group Director – Brand Planning & Innovations

McCann Worldgroup, Malaysia

Email: milan.agnihotri@mccann.com

Phone: +60123882417

Purpose

The terms "earned, owned and paid (bought) media" have become very popular in the marketing

and advertising space today. Since the immense communication success and visibility of Obama

election campaign in 2008-09 and Old Spice brand revival global campaign in 20101, many

marketers and agencies have started referring these terms in planning their brand

communications. This phenomenon is very prominent in the context of digital communications.

In fact, when considered together, ‘paid, owned and earned media’ can be applied as a simple

way for advertisers to categorize and prioritize all traditional and digital media options available

with them.2

To be on the same page, let us first agree on the concepts of paid, owned and earned media.

1. Paid media is the age old idea of paying to place marketing messages around

professionally created content and a compelling message to sell the concept or the brand.

Paid media simply put is advertising. It guarantees immediacy and scale and acts as

critical catalyst to create brand engagement with the audiences.

2. Owned media is a channel that brand managers control. Brands have always had owned

assets such as stores and packaging. The importance of owned has increased through the

possibilities to create digital owned media content, from websites to apps to social

network profiles. There could be fully-owned media like brand website and partially-

owned media like Facebook fan page or Twitter account within digital spaces.

3. Earned media is an old PR term that essentially meant getting the brand into free media

rather than having to pay for it through advertising. However, in the current digitized

world, the term has evolved into the transparent and permanent word-of-mouth that is

being created through social media and other user/ consumer generated content. Brands

are now constantly learning how to listen and respond to both the good (positive organic)

1 Neilsen sales data 2010; WARC.com 2 Corcoran Sean, Forrester Blog; http://blogs.forrester.com/interactive_marketing/2009/12/defining-earned-owned-and-paid-media.html

and bad (spurned) as well as consider when to try and stimulate earned media through

word-of-mouth marketing especially in the digital space.

Currently, there are debates on effectiveness of earned media and its Advertising Value

Equivalency3(AVE), and professional bodies feel the need for a protocol, if not the exact

measurement matrix, for calculating real value of earned media4. Befriending a brand’s social

media page, a positive comment about the brand on any blog, writing a blog for supporting brand

and engaging in any kind of activities on brand’s social media pages is considered as activities

on earned media. However, despite debates on AVE and effectiveness, one fundamental

principle is clear that in any campaign, generated earned media gives an indication about

consumer’s involvement level with the brand’s communication messages or the brand idea itself.

Interestingly consumers trust earned media above all other advertising5. Marketers across

markets have started realizing that earned media can give their brand an advantage in terms of

out smarting competitors without having to outspend them6.

Brand owners, managers and advertising professionals are now consciously crafting

communication strategies and campaign ideas that can get as much earned media as possible.

However, in the dynamic digital media environment hardly anyone has the right answer or

processes to pin point what can lead to earning of ‘earned media’. The challenge remains to find

the right stimuli that have a deeper involvement of consumers with the brand messages and

brand idea.

As practitioners we are still learning through trial and error to find the right tricks to earn more

than the rightful share of earned media for brands. Given the fact that digital space has fully got

integrated with traditional medium like print, television, radio and outdoors, the term ‘earned

media’ is generally led by digital communication strategies.

3 AdAge.com: http://adage.com/article/guest-columnists/public-relations-seeking-tools-measure-true/230610 4 http://www.instituteforpr.org/topics/barcelona-declaration-of-measurement-principles-2/ 5 Beaubien, Greg. Public Relations Tactics, May2012, Vol. 19 Issue 5, p17-17, 1/4p 6 Doug Clark, Social + Traditional = More Impact, The Gravity Summit, September 2011; PR Newswire white paper titled – ‘Earned Media Evolved’.

For the purposes of this research and publication, I will be using ‘earned media’ in the context of

digital medium i.e. web based communication including social media content, consumer

generated contents and consumer shared content in favor of any brand.

Hypothesis

Consumers have different needs that products and brands need to satisfy for gaining their

preference7;

1. Basic function and safety – fulfilling basic functional needs without any physical harm.

These needs can be classified as functional needs of consumers.

2. Affiliation & belonging, achievement and variety seeking – fulfilling higher order needs

within the context of social networks and society. These needs can be classified as social

needs of consumers.

3. Beauty and self-expression – fulfilling personal desires in a relative context when

compared with members in their social network or the thoughts expressed by others in the

social network. These needs can be classified as emotional needs of consumers.

My hypothesis is based on these available classifications of consumer’s needs. Since functional

needs are dependent on actual product performance brand can only give trust of performance and

safety. For centuries brands have gone beyond giving performance guarantee and have been

playing a larger role in fulfilling consumer’s social and emotional needs. This approach has also

enabled most brands to differentiate in a parity market and even charge a premium in a highly

competitive market place. My assumption is that addressing consumer’s emotional and social

needs can be the real trigger for earning the quintessential ‘earned media’ too.

Hypothesis 1

7 Yalch, Richard; Brunel, Frederic. Advances in Consumer Research, 1996, Vol. 23 Issue 1, p405-410 - Need Hierarchies in Consumer Judgments of Product Designs: Is It Time to Reconsider Maslow's Theory?

To get earned media advantage, brands needs to add emotional or social value for consumers in

context of their social networks

Hypothesis 2

Engagement campaigns centered on brand benefits alone may attract consumer attention, but

will not deliver ‘earned media’ advantage.

Research Methodology

I have used case study learning as my research methodology. Four cases were chosen from a

number of campaigns that were planned and executed by our team. Final case selection was done

using an expert panel of five advertising professionals having more than fifteen years of

experience each. The criterion used for choosing the cases was:

Campaigns that were conceptualized and executed for our clients in 2010/2011 to ensure

right digital environment context.

Access to campaign effectiveness data for every element of the communications mix to make

sure that we compare similar outputs.

Youth (ranging from tweens to young adults i.e. 12-25years) as the key target group for the

campaign as they are the most active segment on digital space; and assumed to have less

residual effect from any of the past campaigns of selected brands.

A significant social media component in communication mix to demonstrate and measure

consumer led or consumer generated activities as surrogate for ‘earned media’.

Cases from a mix of different categories to eliminate any high or low involvement purchase

bias (panel selected four categories that involved considered purchase for family, considered

purchase for self, lifestyle purchase for self/ peer, and impulse purchase for self/ peer)

Data Analysis

I have used following parameters in case data analysis:

a) Actual media spent on the campaigns to be considered as surrogate for investments in

paid and owned media

b) An estimated value (AVE of media space) of the consumer generated social media

exposures and positive conversations to be considered as surrogate for earned media.

c) The campaign idea and execution to classified into

i. Is consumer activity or interaction hook/ reward tied to product attribute related

platform for consumers to interact with each other?

ii. Is consumer activity or interaction hook/ reward tied to emotional benefits like

self-expression or beauty that empowers consumers to project themselves as

unique within their social networks?

iii. Is consumer activity or interaction hook/ reward tied to social benefits like

affiliation and belonging, achievement and variety seeking, that empowers

consumers to elevate their credentials in social networks?

Data from following four cases have been analyzed to test two defined hypotheses.

1. Coffee Mate (considered purchase for family): a coffee whitener (milk fat based powder to

be mixed with black coffee) brand from Nestle Malaysia. Campaign objective was to get

young Malays (21-25 years) accept and adopt the brand. Barrier was their existing habit of

whitening coffee with natural milk or with other cheaper coffee whitener brands. Insight was

that young Malays get married at an early age and are quite romantic with each other in the

early days of relationship. Strategy was to target young Malay couples and appeal to their

romantic side. Given high internet usage amongst target, ‘webisodes’ (web based soaps/

serials) were conceptualized as campaign anchor. Coffee Mate was presented in the storyline

as catalyst in igniting romance between couples. Paid media i.e. TV, print, radio and

outdoors were leveraged to drive traffic to owned media i.e. website/ microsite hosting the

webisodes. At this site the audience got introduced to brand’s social media pages. Couples

could use brand’s social media assets to customize romantic songs, photographs and

messages for their better half. Campaign resulted in brand witnessing three fold increase in

Facebook fans (21,000 to 68,000); 540,000 forwards of webisode trailers by fans that

resulted in 449,000 views of webisodes; 5,000+ customized song creation through an

application and more than 4,600 customized photograph creation through another

application8. Coffee Mate invested close to a RM 1.5 Million (USD500,000) in creating and

8 Facebook statistics, Google Analytics and company internal records.

placing webisodes, TVC, print radio and outdoor advertising. With all consumer activities

during campaign period, it earned an estimated same amount from consumer generated

contents.9 Apart from achieving the entire set matrix (sales, brand awareness and equity),

campaign won several industry accolades for its all-round effectiveness.

2. ACUVUE Break Free Campaign (considered purchase for self): The contact lens brand from

J&J needed to attract young spectacles wearers to try their contact lens. The barrier was the

fear of phoko-phobia (fear of having to insert an object into the eyes). We knew the truth that

youth always looks for freedom beyond set social norms. They love sharing their experiences

within their social networks. The campaign idea was to showcase spectacles as hindrance in

future prospects and lens as the gateway for extra ordinary achievement. Purpose of the

campaign was to generate trials and give a spectacle free experience to youth and encourage

them to share their experience with others. A Facebook page was created as a platform to

engage young audience. It was promoted through Facebook adverts, blogs, radio

sponsorships, video testimonials and TVCs. Investment in paid and owned media was

approximately RM 1.00 million (USD 330,000) that generated more than expected trials.

However, the Facebook page activity in context of experience sharing by youth with youth

did not match the expectations. The Facebook fan base did increase from 9,389 to 16,713,

but youth did not display much interest in sharing their experiences. As a result, campaign

could not capitalize the potential of earned media.10

3. BookXcess (lifestyle purchase for self/ peer): an independent book retailer needed to attract

young patrons to its store. With digital media growth book reading amongst young is on

decline. Established book retail chains offered loyalty awards to protect their patrons. Insight

revealed that young people who love reading also aspire to be a writer. They probably

maintain a social media page, blog or a web-site for themselves. As campaign idea, we

decided to invite young aspiring authors to contribute a 100 word short story on a website

http://www.receiptstories.my/ and convert them into a published author. Selected stories

9 Mindshare (the media agency from WPP group) estimates on the basis of generated impressions/ positive brand mentions in the web conversations. 10 UM (media company of IPG group) internal sources

from the website were published on the back of purchase receipts in BookXcess. The

campaign was first announced in-store and on the store’s Facebook page. This had a ripple

effect. Aspiring authors shared the concept within their social networks. More people joined

the conversation and ‘Receipt Stories’ became a phenomenon in Malaysia. More than

100,000 receipt stories have got published in last 16 months; the numbers of authors are

growing at the rate of approximately 100 authors per week. Campaign resulted in 300%

increase in foot falls and majority of new patrons have come through friend’s

recommendations. Sales have doubled and the numbers of repeat purchasers have increased

four folds.11 Though the paid and owned media was limited to less than RM 100,000

(USD30,000) the campaign has earned an estimated RM 1.0 million (USD330,000) in

consumer generated contents and positive conversations.12 The campaign has won several

industry awards nationally and internationally.

4. Cadbury’s Choclaire (impulse purchase for self/ peer): a candy brand from Kraft Foods with

an attribute of chocolate at the center surrounded by a caramel casing. Brand needed to

expand its consumer base from kids (7-9 years) to tweens and early teens (10-15 years). The

objective was to initiate a relationship between brand and new audience. Barrier was that

candies were seen as kid’s product. We knew that teens and tweens liked taste of chocolates

and associated Cadbury’s to chocolates. We decided to leverage brand name association and

exaggerate product attributes. The campaign ideas was chocolate explosion in the mouth. An

on-line obstacle game was created (named POP IT OR DROP IT) where young could

immerse themselves into a new type chocolate experience. The game had good reviews in

pre-tests. Game was promoted through Facebook adverts, radio and on-ground activities with

an expenditure of RM 800,000 (USD250,000). The campaign lead to increase in market

share (3.8% to 4.0%) and sales volume share (5.5% to 5.7%)13, however, the earned media

share of campaign could not match expectations. 15,000 new fans for the Facebook and

11 Facebook statistics, Google Analytics and company internal records. 12 UM (the media agency from IPG group) estimates on the basis of generated impressions/ positive brand mentions in the web conversations. 13 Internal sales data and Neilsen Retail Audit Q3, 2011

2,000 likes/ comments for the game. There were 6,230 unique visitors for the game and only

2,870 played it14. Total earned media value was estimated to RM90,000 (USD 30,000)15.

Key Findings

Having analyzed all four campaign cases on the above mentioned parameters, I have derived

following as the key findings for this study:

1. Coffee Mate: This campaign offered a platform for consumers to showcase their affection for

life partners. It encouraged self-expression through customized songs and photographs.

Social media platform empowered consumers to establish their uniqueness and thoughts

without any interference from branded messages. This resulted in heightened consumer

activities leading to a higher AVE.

2. ACUVUE Break Free Campaign: Addressing a consumer’s social needs, the campaign

offered a platform for consumers to express themselves. However, this was to be expressed

with an agenda of sharing brand experience. Consumers found this restrictive and were not

willing to promote brand within their social networks. This negatively affected the earned

media potential of the brand campaign.

3. BookXcess: This campaign built a platform for consumers to freely express their views and

thoughts without any brand filters. It fulfilled a higher order need of consumers and gave

them an opportunity to establish their uniqueness within their social networks. Of all the

cases, BookXcess could maximize on its earned media potential.

4. Cadbury’s Choclaire: This campaign offered gaming to facilitate involvement and

interaction within the social networks. However, consumers saw gaming as fun activity and

not as social interaction platform. The game highlighted product’s benefits and did not fulfill

14 Facebook statistics, internal company records and Google analytics. 15 McCann Erickson analytics based on the generated impressions/ positive brand mentions in the web conversations.

any higher order needs. This restricted the interactivity within social networks lowering the

earned media potential.

Major Results (Conclusion)

1. To maximize earned media potential; brands have to offer a legitimate platform for

consumers to freely interact within their social networks and achieve a higher order social

or emotional need.

2. Branded features and overt brand functional messages restrict social network interactivity

and hence lower the earned media potential.

With these results, I would propose that both hypotheses have proven to be correct.

Implications

To maximize potential for earned media, brands have to empower consumers to fulfill an

emotional or a social need. Establishment of brand’s features and attributes should be handled

through paid and owned media.

Limitations

This study may have three main limitations:

1. Four cases may not be sufficient to represent entire universe and hence more cases needs to

be studies to conclude on the hypotheses.

2. The study is restricted to Malaysia. Consumers in different geographies and cultures may

behave differently in interacting within their social networks

3. All four case campaigns are targeting youth. By including and analyzing cases that target

different age groups may show different results.

Bibliography

Academic Journals

1. Beaubien, Greg. Public Relations Tactics, May2012, Vol. 19 Issue 5, p17-17, 1/4p

2. Doug Clark, Social + Traditional = More Impact, The Gravity Summit, September 2011;

PR Newswire white paper titled – ‘Earned Media Evolved’.

3. Yalch, Richard; Brunel, Frederic. Advances in Consumer Research, 1996, Vol. 23 Issue

1, p405-410 - Need Hierarchies in Consumer Judgments of Product Designs: Is It Time to

Reconsider Maslow's Theory?

Websites

4. http://adage.com/article/guest-columnists/public-relations-seeking-tools-measure-

true/230610

5. http://blogs.forrester.com/interactive_marketing/2009/12/defining-earned-owned-and-

paid-media.html

6. http://www.instituteforpr.org/topics/barcelona-declaration-of-measurement-principles-2/

On-line analytics

7. Facebook Statistics

8. Google Analytics

Company resources:

9. Mindshare (media agency from WPP group) estimates for earned media on Coffee Mate

10. UM (t media agency from IPG group) estimates for earned media on ACUVUE and

BookXcess.

11. McCann Erickson analytics estimates for earned media on Cadbury’s Cholaire

12. Internal sales data from Nestle (Coffee Mate), Kraft (Cadbury’s Choclaire), BookXcess

and J&J (ACUVUE)

Syndicated data sources:

13. WARC.com

14. Neilsen sales audit 2010 and Neilsen retail Audit Q3, 2011