• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, July 8, 2011

Having discussed empowered women in a previous Research Brief earlier in the week, here's some gender comparisons in the decision making process.

According to a recent study by Kantar Video and Synaptic Digital, men and women respond differently to types of information needed to help form purchase decisions. When buying a car, the study finds, men want their information from an independent third party, while women want both paid and earned media to help form a decision.

The study's brand lift numbers show that women seem to have the ability, or the inclination, to piece together messages from a variety of media formats that informs their decision. Conversely, men are most influenced by editorial coverage and were only marginally influenced by other formats. When exposed to all three formats (brand, earned and paid) men saw no lift whatsoever.

The study of 1,800 men and women found that in general, the combination of brand, earned and paid media led to 61% greater brand awareness. But separated out by gender, men's brand awareness was increased only 32% by the combination versus 45% of women.

Other details from the study say:

• By itself, earned media lifted men's brand awareness 32%. Given that is the same level as produced by all three, brand, earned and paid media, earned media alone doesn't do much in concert with other formats. Nevertheless, earned media did better than other forms, such as paid media, which only led to an 18% lift for men, and brand media, which provided a 21% raise in awareness.
• The difference in the combined effects of brand, paid and earned media on women are notable. Earned media alone provided a 27% brand lift for females, while paid produced a 30% increase in awareness. But when the two are combined, the lift is 46%.

The report acknowledges that "... It's hard to say whether looking at less than 2,000 people's reactions to paid and earned media has something larger to say about the way men and women can be reached through PR and advertising... it can be said (however) that, depending on the consumer target, advertising is no longer enough, especially when you're trying to reach both sexes."

To access additional material about this study, please visit paidContent.org here.