What Is Effective Frequency?

Effective Frequency refers to the frequency with which advertisements are exposed to consumers in order to achieve the purpose of advertising.

Effective frequency

Right!

Effective Frequency refers to the frequency with which advertisements are exposed to consumers in order to achieve the purpose of advertising.

Chinese name

Effective frequency

Foreign name

Effective Frequency

Claim

Achieve the purpose of advertising

the study

The issue of frequency of exposure has been debated for a long time

Effective Frequency

What is effective frequency

Overview of effective frequencies

The effective frequency is the number of times the target audience must be exposed to the advertising message in order to achieve the desired media delivery effect, such as establishing brand awareness or increasing sales. The effective frequency is difficult to determine. The essence is how many times a message needs to be repeated to be transmitted and understood. The general principle is that in a media flight, one advertisement contact with the target consumer group has only slight effect or no effect at all, two contacts is an effective starting level, and three contacts can produce the best advertising effect. In fact, different categories, markets, competition, media environment, and creativity all have different definitions of the effective frequency of the media. For example, a fiercely competitive brand needs a higher effective frequency than a moderately competitive brand, and a new brand also requires a higher effective frequency than a brand that has been successfully established.

The importance of effective frequency

Deciding on the effective frequency is a very important part of the media plan:

(1) Too low effective frequency is not enough for another consumer to understand or remember our advertisement.

(2) Too high effective frequency may be waste, and the increase of advertising investment brings only limited growth benefits.

Study of effective frequency

In theory, the issue of effective frequency of exposure has been debated for a long time, so far no conclusion has been reached. The main reason is that there are too many variables affecting it. The traditional determination is that 3 times is the effective frequency limit. This stems from Dr. Herbert Krugman's "three dozen theory" in 1972. He believes that the general belief that "advertising needs to be continuously strengthened to prevent audiences from forgetting" is a one-sided view. Advertising is constantly exposed and is not as effective as the initial 2-3 times of advertising.

His core point is: Consumers know what product is the first time they see an ad, and they know the characteristics of a product the second time they see an ad. At the third contact, you can clearly understand whether the product meets your own needs. The number of times you see it in the future is the same. These three times are the "saturation points" that Dr. Krugman thinks have been reached. In fact, different categories, markets, competition, media environment and creativity all affect its definition.

For example, in a highly competitive category than in a less competitive category, the effective frequency required is of course higher. In a certain year's R brand toothbrush (his real brand name is omitted) in the media plan, it was determined that its effective exposure frequency was 5.3. Let's see how it came about. A well-known advertising agency that represents the R-brand toothbrush advertising business is considered from three aspects: marketing factors, creative factors, and media factors. This is also a common practice of international 4A companies.

Marketing factors are: category life cycle status-established or new? Market share-high or low? Loyalty-high or low? Purchase cycle-long or short? Use cycle-long or short? Competition Stress-no or intense? Category concern-high or low?

The creative factors are: complexity of message communication-simple or complex? Difference (creative impact)-unique or universal? Advertising campaign type-continuous or new development? Sales position-product-oriented or brand-oriented ? Advertising synergy (number of creative versions)-single or many? Ad recall rate-high or low? Creative unit size-significant or small?

The media factors are: media goodness-low or high interference? Media intrusion (or media attention)-high or hidden? Media scheduling-continuous or pulsating? Dispersion-centralized or decentralized? Reuse of media tools-repeated or single exposure?

The former answers tend to use low effective exposure frequencies, while the latter answers tend to use high effective exposure frequencies. The key to quantifying the results of these qualitative analyses is to set quantitative indicators. In this issue, different companies have different customary conventions, and they are also different in different categories. This mainly depends on the accumulation and judgment of experience. The R brand toothbrush's effective advertising exposure frequency is 5.3 times, which is based on the result of setting the rating level between 1-10. Each factor is evaluated and scored. Finally, the scores of a total of 19 indicators in three categories are calculated by arithmetic mean. For example, the R card is used as a toothbrush, and the frequency of use is definitely high, so 9 points (times) are used on this item; the advertising information of the R card is straightforward. His media tools are highly repetitive, so he scored 3 points (times) on this. In the establishment and evaluation of quantitative indicators, the following points should also be noted:

1. Marketing, creativity and media are the three major aspects of relative stability. However, the various factors under it should change depending on the category. In other words, the above factors that have a significant impact on the frequency of toothbrushes are not meaningful to other brands. Therefore, we must first identify the influencing factors in the application. In addition to the above, for example: brand image (marketing factor): a brand with a clear image needs a lower frequency, and a brand with a less prominent image needs higher frequency support.

Target market class (marketing factors): Different target classes (differences in psychological conditions and life styles) have different effects on frequency. For example, children's curiosity is strong, and the frequency of advertising can be relatively low.

Advertising role or advertising purpose (creative factor): If the purpose of advertising is to increase "Aided Awareness", the frequency required is higher than that of "Unaided Awareness" Less frequent than "persuasive" ads.

Media editing environment (media factor): If an advertisement is placed in a media editing environment related to a category, brand or creative, it has a higher interest and attention advantage, so the frequency can be lower. Otherwise, it should be higher.

In short, it is extremely difficult to determine an ideal frequency of advertisement exposure. No wonder a well-known multinational advertising company listed in the training materials a prominent "media plan is not science", "media is an art, but it should be handled with scientific principles."

2. In fact, the impact of each impact factor on the required frequency is not equal. When necessary, a weighted calculation method can be used to give different weights to each impact factor, so that the result is more accurate.

3. It must be noted that there is a discrepancy between the frequency of the media transmission plan and the actual frequency with which consumers are exposed. Mismatching the two will cause serious media transmission insufficiency.