Multi-channel Ads Work in Favor of Print

fippinsightTalking about current trends and future predictions is “all well and good,” but according to industry analyst Guy Consterdine, it’s not enough to talk theoreticals and stats. Rather we need to ask “What are the consumers telling us? What do they want?”

In this interview on Fipp, Consterdine gives us some insights into how consumers really think and behave with print in today’s multi-platform environment.

“It’s still the same as ever that consumers will choose magazines that match their own interests and personalities. And it develops a very close relationship, trust, and this rubs off onto not only the Editorial but also the advertising. And the advertising in magazines has been shown many times to be a very relevant and important part of the total content,” he says.

It’s this fact – that printed magazine advertising really is considered part of the magazine experience – that continues to set print ads apart from digital ones. Consumers enjoy print ads, while digital advertisements are largely seen as interruptive and a nuisance. (All we have to do is look to Apple’s announcement that they’ll support digital ad blocking in the iOS9 to bring this point home.)

As we’ve said before, it’s not an either/or scenario for advertisers. Consumers are engaging across several platforms – including print and digital – and this actually works in favor of print ads, Consterdine explains.

“Print and digital complement each other. They have different functions, but what is transferred across is the brand values. Research shows that the trust and relationships built up by the printed magazine carries across onto the website. There is even neuroscience research which shows that when people see advertising in both print and on websites, the impact is stronger if they see it in the same brand on both platforms.,” he explains.

This is why we remain so positive about print advertising, in spite of market forces of the last few years that have skewed some ad budgets more heavily toward digital.

At the end of the day, it’s about the consumer, not the technology.