Understanding the 20:80 rule for touchpoint impact

Zofia Iwaszkiewicz, from Kantar, explains how 20% of touchpoints deliver 80% of brand impact. (This is an excerpt from a longer Opinion piece. Click "View more" to read the full article.)

During 2020, Kantar has published seven category-specific media effectiveness investigations covering food and drink, tech and telco, alcohol, finance, personal care and beauty, automotive and retail. Through this process we’ve discovered that each of these category doors has its own media effectiveness keys, but there are also a few master keys that unlock impact and effectiveness across all categories:

• The 20:80 rule based on findings from the Kantar Connect database says that 20% of touchpoints typically create 80% of total brand impact.
  
  Less is generally more; however, the most impactful touchpoints differ significantly according to the category. For instance, TV is among the top three most influential touchpoints for most categories but is less important for retail brands. Print advertising is among the most impactful touchpoints for food and drink, finance, and personal care and beauty, but isn’t as important for other categories.
• Another key learning point is that around 75% of total brand impact comes from non-paid touchpoints (including product experience and word of mouth) across all categories.
  
  Interestingly, tech and telco, retail and automotive tend to get slightly more contribution from paid media, while FMCG categories (personal care, alcohol and food and drink) seem to benefit more from non-paid media.