Traditional target-group models have had their day. Socio-demographics and fixed social patterns are no longer able to represent the individual personal attitudes of consumers in a customer-specific way, resulting in high wastage, fuzzy brand positioning and misguided creative processes. Mediaplus has therefore developed the holistic Value Planning approach with its Insights research unit. The ecosystem for holistic brand management with its appropriate target-group appeal on individually combinable values and attitudes, and can be controlled via market media studies and programmatic platforms.

Munich, 28 January 2021 – Heads of household aged 25 to 49, smart shoppers or adaptive-pragmatic milieu – target-group descriptions in media planning are many and varied, but when it comes to planning individual campaigns they are often highly standardized and lack differentiation. The Mediaplus Group has therefore developed Value Planning. This planning tool is based on value groups that can be combined flexibly and applied across several types of media and in current market media studies. To create its database, Mediaplus surveyed the individual values, motives and attitudes of 27,000 people on GfK’s ConsumerScan Panel. The Mediaplus Insights research team analysed more than 2 million data points and then calculated 21 differentiating value groups using a variety of statistical methods. These were merged with the market media data provided by AGF Video Research and Best for Planning (B4P). Fusion with AGOF’s Digital Facts is also in the pipeline. It is also possible to transform the value profiles into the data profiles on programmatic platforms.

Creating a target group construction kit out of individual values

The result is a construction kit made up of individual values, through which companies can flexibly tailor the media target groups in market media studies to match the campaign objectives and brand values. “For a long time now, the traditional sociographic and psychographic target-group descriptions alone have not been sufficient for brand management, since people with the same socio-demographic profile can have completely different attitudes, values and purchasing preferences”, explains Andrea Malgara, Managing Partner of Mediaplus. “With Value Media Planning we can achieve measurable gains in efficiency in the media. We identify quantitatively and qualitatively valuable consumers, so that we can then also adjust their cross-media marketing across all systems relevant to planning. By comparing brands and personal values, we create consumer loyalty.”

Turning first-time buyers into brand fans

Regular surveys by GfK in the FMCG market confirm that three-quarters of all consumers buy a product only once. Encouraging these first-time buyers to make repeated purchases and turning them into loyal, regular customers is becoming increasingly important. But loyalty is achieved through a values-fit between the brand and its target group. Values-based planning helps to reduce wastage, thus lowering acquisition costs and increasing sales. Using the example of a TV campaign for a confectionery manufacturer, Mediaplus and GfK have calculated how value-optimized planning can attract and activate more regular buyers than conventional planning. Accordingly, campaign ROI increases by more than 30 percent..

Value Planning not only enables the values-based planning of target groups (Value Media Planning), the tool also focuses holistically on brand management (Value Fit Planning) and the creative process (Value Communications Planning), using the same system of target-group definition. “The result is a values-based operating system that unites all disciplines – media, brand and the creative process – in one approach and using a uniform language. This enables the use of completely individualized communications intelligence right down to the smart digital ecosystems of programmatic platforms. We can simulate the creative process in ways that match the values mindset of the target groups and their entourage. Value Planning thus reflects the House of Communication’s philosophy of developing holistic approaches to brand management across all disciplines”, says Jochen Lenhard, Managing Partner of Mediaplus.

Measuring the values-fit between brand and target group

The central question of Value Fit Planning is how well do brand values and the values of the target group fit together? Mediaplus is examining how the external image that the target group has of the brand and the brand’s self-image may differ. A comparison with competing brands and how they are regarded by consumers helps companies to differentiate themselves and to develop new groups of buyers. Value Communications Planning builds on these findings and takes them into account during the creative process.

Value Planning is a completely new way of planning. However, Mediaplus has already tested how this works in practice for some of its customers, including in the markets for spirits, white goods, non-alcoholic drinks, fashion, NGOs and finance. Using Value Media and Fit Planning, Mediaplus compared the values that informed consumers’ purchases with those of the company’s and competitors’ products and developed a communications strategy that wins over new target groups by contrast with their own “everyday brand” as well as other competitors.