<%@ Language=VBScript %> <% CheckState() CheckSub() %> Me_Dia or You_Dia? New media trends across UK, Singapore and Thailand
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April 2008


Me_Dia or You_Dia? New media trends across UK, Singapore and Thailand

John Coll
Synovate Censydiam, United Kingdom

Radhecka Roy
Synovate, Singapore

Duncan Dodds
Synovate, Thailand

PREFACE

Everybody is talking about us ...” could well be the song for new media! With explosion of new media options – notably online media – there has been a general feeling of optimism and opportunism when one looks at the 'concept' of new media. But decisions have been plagued with anxiety, insecurity and helplessness. Even if one acknowledges the relevance of new media beyond just critical mass, one is confounded by the relative lack of control and the correspondingly increasing power the consumer is wielding when it comes to engaging with the new media.

Synovate decided that the only way to make meaning out of all this was to go ahead and actually conduct a study to understand consumer's motivations in engaging with all media – old/established to new/recent media. The motivational framework of Censydiam was used effectively to help plot the United Kingdom as representative of the Western market and Singapore first and then Thailand as representative of the emerging Asian markets. The experiment is ongoing and in the future we will have many more markets to plot on the media landscape and derive more insights.

This series did provide some very interesting insights and leads, especially for brand and media owners in making critical media engagement decisions. The upshot:

INTRODUCTION

The United Kingdom, Singapore and Thailand have diverse media histories. In the United Kingdom, William Caxton introduced the first printing press in 1476, with the first newspapers appearing in the early 16th century. Thailand in contrast didn't get its first printing press until 1836, with its first printed newspaper (in English), launching four years later.

Significantly though, with the advent of the World Wide Web, we have seen media evolve in parallel, all over the world. As the world has become more interconnected, so has the pace of change. No one can deny that today's media environment is exploding with multiple choices and most significantly, fragmentation of the market. One doesn't have to look back very far to when a higher-order, qualitative planning to media selection meant getting a good fit between the media brand and your intended target. Consumer media choice was relatively limited to a handful of TV channels, radio stations and newspapers: Back in 1999, the UK had 177 TV programmes with an audience of 15 million or more, a marketer's paradise. Only five years later there were only six TV programmes which could promise this.

Whilst consumers in Singapore and especially Thailand may not yet have quite the wide choice of 'established' media channels such as newspapers, TV and radio as in the United Kingdom, – Thailand is only just beginning trials of digital video recorders – there can be no doubt that in all three countries, the arrival of, and accessibility to the World Wide Web has placed media and the future of it, firmly in the hands of the consumer. It's difficult to avoid the whole new world surging and pulsing out there – blogs and vlogs, MMORPGs, wikipedias, social networking sites and of course the ubiquitous YouTube.

Indeed, it seems that Marshall McLuhan's infamous and somewhat prophetic phrase, 'The Medium is the Message', is ever more pertinent today as it was when it was first coined in 1964. McLuhan argued that as media channels evolve in time, it is the channels themselves which will shape the course of human civilisation.

All media work us over completely. They are so pervasive in their personal, political, economic, aesthetic, psychological, moral, ethical, and social consequences that they leave no part of us untouched, unaffected, unaltered.” (McLuhan, 1964)

Even back then, McLuhan predicted that human civilisation would come full circle and that as media evolved, it would splinter the world into smaller tribes.

Currently, most marketers are grappling with a whole new set of decisions: how important is recent media? How relevant is the recent media to marketers who are in the mainstream segment? Is there a risk in not being on these media? How do we analyze and evaluate these options? How can we decide which recent media to use, and for what message? Underlying all these questions is a sense of insecurity – over the seeming lack of control and regulation as well as understanding of how it actually works. Today's media planners face an unprecedented challenge, moving beyond just measurement to understanding how to engage consumers across multiple, diverse media channels.

THE CHALLENGE

The media phenomenon Synovate hoped to explore was complex and involved several layers:

Thus, the challenge for us was to look at a design that would provide a common frame of reference for all the comparisons on media consumption as well as provide insights in terms of marketing opportunities.

RESEARCH APPROACH

Synovate decided to embark on a self-funded exploration of recent media and compare it with established media – in terms of how consumers were engaging with the media as well as opportunities and implication for marketers in using recent media.

Having reviewed the issues and methodology options, Synovate decided to use its proprietary motivational research tool, Censydiam™. Censydiam uses a human motivational model – based on eight fundamental human motivations common to all humans and developed empirically to understand consumer behaviour. The map is reproduced in Figure 1.


Figure 1: The Censydiam motivational framework

WHY A MOTIVATIONAL APPROACH?

When we at Synovate took stock of the current state of understanding on media behaviour we found that the measurement of what people were doing was very much up-to-date and sophisticated. Indeed, with the launch of services like Doubleclick, this was likely to get more accurate and instantaneous whereby we could look at real-time analysis of what people were doing online!

However, what was less apparent was the underlying motivation for choosing a particular media option or vehicle – especially when there is an explosion of options. Therefore, what drives one to go to YouTube or contribute to a blog or just chat on MSN?

We believed – as indeed do most media experts – that to succeed in a competitive media environment for the consumer's attention and engagement, it was not enough to know who did what when (i.e. behaviour) but also why. To engage with the consumer, a brand would need to know the motivation.

So Synovate decided to use a slightly different approach to understanding media decisions among consumers.

RESEARCH DESIGN

A phased qualitative research study was conducted – first in the United Kingdom and then (after taking on learnings from this study on board) in Singapore and Thailand.

A combination of paired peer in depth interviews (among the younger TG) and extended Censydiam focus groups (among older TG) was conducted.

A typical paired interview lasted between 2.5–3 hours and explored detailed consumption patterns and perceptions with respect to media. The focus group on the other hand comprised four respondents and lasted between 4–4.5 hours.

In all the interviews and discussions, we made use of the following stimuli:

The critical data nodes covered across the sessions were on answering the larger questions of:

All data was then analyzed using the patented Censydiam analysis model, Illogic with active help, guidance and consultancy from the specialized Censydiam Institute.

THE KEY FINDINGS

In arranging the findings of the experiment, we have looked at three critical insights:

We will review each of three markets to get a quick snapshot.

THE FUNDAMENTAL MEANING OF MEDIA

One of the most useful benefits of using the Censydiam approach to understanding motivations is that it throws up the fundamental meaning for the category we study. The fundamental meaning helps us understand the basic motivator for a category, the reason for its existence. This meaning will also imply that to be a credible player in the category, every offering must comply with this fundamental meaning; if not, then the new offering must effectively re-define the fundamental meaning. So for cars, in many markets the fundamental meaning is as a self-expression tool. As we go across different cultures, the insights come from how the fundamental meaning of the category itself changes. A classic example would be mobile phones – which will have very different fundamental meaning in emerging markets like India on one hand vs. evolved markets like Japan or the United Kingdom on the other hand?

So what is the fundamental meaning of 'consuming' and engaging with media?

It will come as no surprise that our research revealed distinctive roles for media across all three markets, with the contrast between the United Kingdom and Asia being the most significant. If one compares the history of media in each of the three markets, it's not difficult to see why.

The United Kingdom is the home of some of the most well-established media brands in the world, so to a certain extent, the media brand that consumers choose to engage with projects a message about them to others just as does wearing a particular brand of clothing. Indeed, the United Kingdom even has its own vernacular to describe a kind of person and their attitudes by the newspaper they read... “He's such a Guardian reader”, (to denote politically liberal, non-mainstream views) vs. “My parents are such Daily Mail readers” (to denote conservative, established and insular views). As such, in the United Kingdom it is not only the medium itself which plays a role in satisfying a need state, but also the contextual halo of cultural meaning for engaging in that activity (including the brand). For example, a person may choose to listen to 'The Archers' on Radio 4 each week or read the Sunday newspapers because subconsciously it reinforces their sense of identity, who they are and where they're from, it transports them to a time when their own parents would do the same thing. Conversely, a business person may consciously choose to read a magazine such as The Economist, because it demonstrates to others a serious set of credentials... 'look at me, I know what I'm talking about'. So in the United Kingdom, media and attached cultural and brand meaning is used to help create, support and develop one's identity.

In contrast to the United Kingdom, the established media in Singapore and Thailand is much more recent, with media brands which are arguably less well established than in the United Kingdom, and certainly less imbued with emotional meaning or values. Part of this can be explained by the political context. In Singapore, the media is tightly controlled and there is no real room for dissent. Whilst in Thailand, although the established media has a lot more freedom than in Singapore, the whims of the various governments which have been in power (elected and non-elected), have subjected Thai media to a tumultuous ride. Perhaps even more fundamentally, both Singapore and Thailand are still developing countries and although the relative pace of change vastly exceeds that of what we'd find in the United Kingdom, consumers haven't had the depth and breadth of media choices that one finds in the United Kingdom until very recently. Truly independent TV has not been available for very long and certainly in Thailand non-terrestrial TV (not controlled by the government), remains unaffordable for many. In this way, established media in Singapore and Thailand has less of a halo of attached cultural meaning, they pretty much are what they are. Subsequently, the role of the media in these markets is much more firmly determined by the nature of the medium itself, the pure nature of the 'experience'.

FUNDAMENTAL MEANING OF MEDIA IN THE UNITED KINGDOM: MEANS TO DEFINE ONE'S IDENTITY

In the United Kingdom all media is seen as a means to express and proclaim one's identity to the larger world. Thus, the media assumes the fundamental meaning as an expression of one's identity. What does this mean from the consumers' point of view? Let's imagine a typical 'Brit' scenario where Joe and Beth meet at a party. Joe (in response to what do you like doing in your free time) says: “Oh you know I am still the old school type – it is XYZ in the morning with my cuppa and nothing can keep me away from a good football match game on the telly – with my mates!” In effect, what Joe has done is to give shorthand of his identity to Beth! Imagine if instead he had asked Beth – “Hey what's your identity in Second Life”? A very different pen sketch will fill itself out immediately in Beth's (and our) minds.

This also implies that the average consumer in the United Kingdom is actively trying out different media brands for fit – with the identity they want to project. It is possible that some media options will be a part of their inherent identity sketch. It is also possible that some media options will be adopted to express new aspects of their identity – given the specific need. So, there is a process of evaluation and active acceptance or rejection of media. As a result one would expect to find unique user profiles based on media clusters.

The Motivational Footprint for Established/Old Media in the United Kingdom: More Collectivist and More Veered Towards Fulfilling Control/Security Motivations

Interestingly, most established media brands/vehicles in the United Kingdom tend to be more collectivist in nature – helping consumers pick out identities to confirm to the cultural fabric. Thus, radio, especially ritualistic listenership of specific programs like the Breakfast Radio, is slotted firmly in the security motivational zone. News, Teletext, newspapers are all clustered in the control motivation zone.

When it comes to the more individualistic or expressive motivations (viz. exploration, power or sheer enjoyment) the old media vehicles are less relevant.

The Motivational Footprint for Recent/New Media in UK: Pushing the Boundaries to more Individualistic and Expressive Motivations

With new options like blogs, MMORPGs (multi media online role playing games) and even specialist online communities, the scope to explore unchartered areas in the virtual world comes alive. Now, one can try alternate identities for fit or just browse what others are doing for inspiration or even idle curiosity. Similarly, the social networking sites are throwing up a whole new ritualism in networking, friendship and engagement. Involvement is also defined by whether one is actively creating and contributing to content (motivations of recognition and power) or one is merely downloading and browsing (motivations of bonding when it is to catch up on friends or enjoyment when one browses randomly). Even for the motivation of control where traditional media is strong, we find the advent of sites like Wikipedia changing the information sourcing behaviour. Consumer contribution is making a significant difference to how the new media are consumed.

Thus, new media options are helping stretch the identity footprint for UK consumers. Thus, one can reinforce one's identity using more media options.

So the upshot of the comparison of the two footprints (see Figure 2) suggest the following:


Figure 2: The total media footprint – UK

So that was the United Kingdom. What about Asia – are Singapore and Thailand similar? What are the differences and what do these differences mean for us? Let's start with Thailand first.

FUNDAMENTAL MEANING OF MEDIA IN THAILAND: A TOOL KIT TO PROJECT A CERTAIN IMAGE FOR GIVEN SITUATIONS

The broad theme for media in Thailand at first glance appears to be along similar lines to the United Kingdom. Established media vehicles are aligned along more collectivist and control oriented motivations and recent/new media is helping stretch the motivations to more expressive and individualistic needs. But there is a fine difference – here, media offers a toolkit for identity – but is not an expression of the identity itself. What does this mean from the consumers' point of view? It is perhaps indicative of a little more manipulative relationship with media – to indicate that just like brands help us project a certain image – so do media options. It may not necessarily be a complete identity badge, but it definitely adds shades to one's personality. Thus, one can discern that consumers here would be less likely to actively reject media options. Instead, the selection would be based on personality and image cues.

While the overall meaning of media is similar, it is the underlying motivation that is undergoing a slight change. From the almost philosophical and personal relationship with media that we saw in the United Kingdom, we are coming on to a more 'purposive' and perhaps a less emotionally invested relationship with media in Thailand.

Let us move on to review the old/established vs. new/recent media footprints and see if they are similar to what we saw for the United Kingdom.

The Motivational Footprint for Established/Old Media in Thailand: More Collectivist Motivations

Old/established media treads the familiar path of being much more collective in orientation and with the similar media options populating the expressive and control ends. The only difference is that consumption is driven by the context and the need much more than a rejection or acceptance of specific media by identity (as in the United Kingdom).

In terms of content, we find newspapers, traffic news on radio, the morning broadcasts on radio and TV all firmly ensconced in the control need – clearly fulfilling a functional need for information. On the other hand, the casual consumption of gossip magazines, following the 'cool' bytes from DJ talk all seem to cater to the need for enjoyment.

The Motivational Footprint for Recent/New Media in Thailand: Opening out the Options to Individualistic Self Expression

We see a similar trend when it comes to new/recent media footprint too. The pattern is very similar to the United Kingdom, the key difference being that media helps extend options for consumers to project the 'right' image (rather than a specific identity). For instance, Madam Buffalo (a site targeted for gay consumers) helps explore new areas and also project a cool and anti-establishment image.

Thus, as in the United Kingdom, the media footprints overall are complementary (see Figure 3). The only difference is that unlike in the United Kingdom, consumers are not actively adopting or rejecting any media options. Instead, all media options (old or new) are a part of the larger tool kit to help communicate an image or identity to people. This means that we are likely to find the same consumer frequenting online blogs as well as taking on alternate identity for MMORG – depending on the need.


Figure 3: The total media footprint in Bangkok

FUNDAMENTAL MEANING OF MEDIA IN SINGAPORE: A MEANS TO AN END – PROVIDING A VICARIOUS EXPERIENCE OF WHATEVER ONE SEEKS

We finally come to Singapore to understand the media scenario – and the picture that emerges is quite different. At the very outset, the fundamental meaning of media itself changes. And this is now completely resonant and understandable – when we compare how different the media evolution has been in Singapore. It is a small market with limited avenues for entertainment or recreation and media becomes almost a conduit to take one out of the geo-physical constraints. Thus media is the means to having different and new experiences – and it is not really about one's individual identity. What does this mean in consumers speak? It means that in Singapore, when Joe says he has an identity on Second Life, Beth will learn specifically about the experience he was seeking from Second Life rather than form an opinion about Joe as a certain kind of person!

Media is a means to take the consumer to the experiences they seek – and each motivational zone almost becomes a common catchment area for people seeking a common experience.

What about the foot print for old vs. new media?

The Motivational Footprint for Established/Old Media in Singapore: An All-Encompassing Medium for Most Motivations

When we review the footprint for old/established media in Singapore it is a sharply different picture. Perhaps due to the historical and social background, media is a means to fulfil many more needs. Thus established media has a wide spread footprint pretty much covering most of the motivational map. It reflects the all-embracing behaviour that consumers have with respect to media – nothing is rejected and everything is consumed, depending on what is mood.

At the expressive end, we have celebrity magazines fulfilling enjoyment needs. Reality TV and even comedy series generate shared viewing and better bonding with one's social group. Often the fun is discussing the context with friends/relatives than just viewing and following.

Barring the need state of power/status, established media covers most other need states – even vicarious fulfilment for adventure, fantasy and thrills from cinema! Not surprising if we learn that Singapore indeed is one of the highest movie-going nations in the world!

The Motivational Footprint for Recent/New Media in Singapore: More 'Polarized' Around Expressive Motivations or Control Motivations

Interestingly, new media evokes a more 'polarized' and focused consumption, implying that there are still some experiences that are best addressed by the traditional media. It is interesting to note that new/recent media is not seen as most suitable for experiences in the acceptance or protection zone – implying an inherent element of disruption from routine. It is also not very resonant for the exploration need – role play, alternate identities are not very resonant culturally in Singapore. Thus, unlike the United Kingdom or Thailand, the comparative footprint shows that between new and old media, one can cover the market very comprehensively (see Figure 4). All consumers are consuming all types of media – the common factor being the experience they are seeking through the media. When we review this with the fact that household penetration for broadband is as high as 69% and growing all the time we realize how pervasive the adoption for new media is.


Figure 4: The total media footprint in Singapore

The implications of this are interesting:

REVIEWING OLD/ESTABLISHED MEDIA ACROSS THE THREE MARKETS

So having seen the three markets individually, what can we infer for old/established media?

A quick look at Figure 5 shows that the media options are plotted in a very similar pattern. It is really the underlying motivation that differs. This means that as an advertiser or as a media owner, one does not have to look at reviewing content based on markets – this can still offer synergies across markets. It is only the profile of the average consumer using the media options that will vary by market.


Figure 5: Old/established media – all three markets

REVIEWING RECENT/NEW MEDIA ACROSS THE THREE MARKETS

Now if we move on to consider 'recent' media, we see a marked difference with established media. Recent media offers a whole host of individual opportunities which allow consumers to develop and extend their own identity, show their superiority over others and even explore their own identity in relation to others. In essence we see a lateral shift towards the individual side of the social axis. In particular, we see two need states fulfilled by media for the first time: Consumers are able to prove their prowess and skill by controlling the media themselves. There are a lot of armchair media moguls out there, uploading podcasts to their heart's content. Similarly, online gaming allows people to compete with one another, and even becoming something, or someone else. Generally speaking, recent media readily fulfils consumers' needs to assert their individuality, prove that they're better than others and explore themselves, way beyond that which is possible with established media (see Figure 6).


Figure 6: Old/established media – all three markets

In summary then, whilst there is no doubt a degree of overlap between established versus recent media in terms of need state fulfilment, there can be no doubt that recent media offers consumers a cornucopia of options never offered before by established media. Consumers have been given control to develop their own identity in entirely new directions and indeed have a major hand in determining where media goes next. Needless to say, this has significant ramifications for how brand owners communicate with consumers across different media.

IMPLICATIONS

One of the most significant take-outs from our research must be the lateral shift in need state fulfilment where by recent media is empowering the individual to an unprecedented level. With an increasingly massive amount of 'watchable' or 'listenable' media originating from bedrooms and living rooms all over the world, what does this mean for brand owners? Surely fragmented media presents a massive challenge to the marketer? well it needn't be so. In fact, fragmentation presents marketer with an unprecedented opportunity to present their brand in a way which is contextually relevant to the medium, and therefore much more powerful.

But it is of course not as easy as that. The armchair media moguls control the content in many senses, it is their space that you want to occupy with your branding. At a fundamental level it means that whereas once before with established media, the brand owner was the brand driver and the consumer was essentially strapped in as the passenger, absorbing an unfiltered stream of brand messages via TV, radio or print, the paradigm has been reversed in that the consumer is now codriver. They can tune-in, tune-out, and even criticise the messages they're receiving. Some brand owners have already attempted to leverage consumer interest in recent media, with especially created campaigns, to varying degrees of success:

One attempt which didn't quite have the intended impact was when Burger King tried to launch its own channel on Youtube fronted by P Diddy. This was perceived by many Youtube users as a brazen attempt to take control of the medium when in fact, no one owns or controls Youtube. Clearly when operating in this arena, brand owners need to respect consumers as having equal footing. A fantastic example of how this worked brilliantly was when Pizza Hut launched a competition to become Vice President and Ambassador for Pizza Hut for a day, for a prize of 25,000 USD and use of the company limousine. In order to win the competition, consumers were asked to upload a movie onto Youtube explaining why they should become VP for the day. It was then up to consumers to vote for their favourite clip. The campaign website alone attracted 500,000 hits, there were 140 films entered which each got 100,000 hits. The winning clip was then posted on Pizza Hut's own website and of course the media outlay for this was minimal.

It sounds great but of course we're not for a moment suggesting that media planners need to up sticks and shift all their efforts online. We're suggesting that today's media strategy needs to acknowledge the fundamentally different roles of established vs. Recent media and be tailored accordingly. In the words of the P&G CEO and Chairman, A.G. Lafley,

Consumers are beginning in a very real sense to own our brands and participate in their creation... We need to learn to begin to let go.

We have identified a heuristic which broadly outlines the rules of the game when contemplating recent vs. traditional media (see Figure 7),


Figure 7

THE IMPACT ON WHAT WE DO

From the research perspective too, our research suggests that we need to become better at what we do. Whilst most of us currently focus on the brand and message alone, we need a much more integrated approach which acknowledges not only the brand and the message, but the relationship between brand, message, medium and consumer. This is where a motivational model such as Censydiam is a potentially extremely powerful tool in the sense that understanding the fundamental consumer motivations and their relationships with media, we can arrive at a much more thorough understanding of how to optimally deliver a brand to the consumer (see Figure 8).


Figure 8: Most research focuses on the brand and the message alone – we propose a more integrative approach

We can now summarize on the key learnings to take away from this experiment.

1. Are Markets Different when it Comes to Media Consumption?

The answer is yes – there is a difference from what we see in the United Kingdom vs. the Asian markets. In the United Kingdom, there are more of mutually exclusive user groups with media chosen to reflect identity needs. In Asia (notably Singapore) the user groups are more universal with media being chosen to reflect mood/experience or even image needs.

2. What does this Mean for Brand and Media Owners – especially in Asia?

3. What are the Guidelines for Selecting Media Options?

The study has clearly shown that media decisions are not going to be about old or new media ... but about who is in charge:

REFERENCES

Adler, Alfred. Understanding human Nature (1927).
Callebaut, Jan, Madeleine Janssens, Diane Op de BeeckDirk Lorre and Hendrik Hendrickx. Motivational Marketing Research Revisited (1999).
Gardner, Seth. Permission Based Marketing.
Gaus, Helmut. Future Watch.
Gladwell, Malcolm. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Dufference (2000).
McLuhan, Marshall. Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man (1964).
Rokeach, Milton Rokeach. The Nature of Human Values (1973).
www.secondlife.com
www.diggit.com
www.technorati.com


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