• by Joe Mandese , September 24, 2004

Magazines, when added to a mix of television and the Internet, "outperform" those other media in generating purchase intent among consumers exposed to ads, according to an analysis of eight cross-media studies utilizing the three media that was released Thursday by Dynamic Logic. The research, which was conducted online, is part of an ongoing database Dynamic Logic said it is building to track the long-term effects of advertising across the three media. The findings were similar to some revealed Thursday by InsightExpress, another ad effectiveness researcher, during a debate of cross-media research methods hosted by the Advertising Research Foundation (see related story in today's MediaDailyNews.

The Dynamic Logic research found that the inclusion of magazines in a mix of TV and Internet more than doubles purchase intent among consumers.

That finding, in particular, seems to support the ongoing work of academic researcher John Philip Jones whose research has promoted the short-term sales effectiveness of magazine advertising.

According to Dynamic Logic, all three media produced similar increases in "aided brand awareness," but TV and magazine ads yielded greater increases than online ads in generating overall ad awareness.

Dynamic Logic suggested "the impact of magazine advertising may be due, in part, to the size of magazine ads and the higher involvement typical of the print environment."

And in a potential indictment of online media, Dynamic Logic, which ironically is known as an online researcher, noted that the "Internet may be less memorable creatively," though it still is able to generate awareness for brands.

Incremental Effect Of Each Medium On Brand Metrics

Magazines   Internet    Television 
Aided Brand Awareness          +5.1       +6.1          +5.5 
Ad Awareness                  +11.1       +6.0         +11.0 
Message Association
+2.8       +4.2          +4.4 
Brand Favorability             +3.3       +3.1          +1.7 
Purchase Intent                +7.2       +1.3          +2.6 

Source: Dynamic Logic "roll up" of eight cross media studies. Date reflect the average percentage point increase over an unexposed (control) baseline.