Presenter Effect

The Telegraph asked Other lines of enquiry to help turn its brand equity into ad revenue growth.

We recommend a study founded upon a well-known phenomenon in media: the way a reader interprets an ad can be influenced by the specific title in which it appears.

Past research suggested that an advertised brand's salience is greater to a consumer when perceived within the context of a well-defined media brand like The Telegraph. This is because strong media brands create a frame of relevance for the reader - a feeling of 'my sort of brand'.

The 'presenter' or 'halo' effect creates a powerful ability for media brands to confer upon an advertised brand their own innate attributes. We therefore set out to investigate if the brand attributes of The Telegraph could 'rub-off' on the advertisers it carries.

Plan

Other lines of enquiry recruited an online sample of over 1,200 respondents, split between Telegraph readers and non-Telegraph readers.

Groups of respondents were exposed to different test and control stimuli; being shown a press ad in a neutral background, a press ad in situ within The Telegraph, or a search engine listing of the advertised brand.

Results

Compared to the neutral ad, respondents were 49% more likely to describe The Telegraph ad as engaging, 14% more likely to judge it more credible, and 20% more likely to describe the ad as good humoured.

Respondents said the Google listings were 63% less good-humoured than the neutral ad, 26% less engaging and 19% less credible.

Our research concluded that The Telegraph adds "stature and credibility" to a campaign, that is unachievable via search engine advertising.

Case notes

The results of the study were published in Media Week, under the title "New research boosts credibility of Telegraph brand".