XMOS - Cross Media Optimisation Studies

I came across an interesting topic tonight - XMOS (Cross Media Optimisation Studies). This effectively seeks to identify the optimal mix of media across different channels in terms of objectives and budget. XMOS studies measure both offline and online activities in order to determine the influence and optimum combinations of both. There is an established methodology for carrying out these studies.

XMOS studies seek to answer the question of where online marketing fits in the marketing mix. There are a number of examples of XMOS studies on the IAB's (Interactive Advertising Board) website. I decided to look at McDonalds. Using the case of the McDonald's Grilled Chicken Flatbread Sandwich, this study found that adding online advertising to the marketing mix allowed them to increase awareness within a hard-to-reach target audience.

McDonalds objective for the campaign was to increase brand awareness and purchase intent among the 18-24 age group and they wanted to do this in the most cost-effective way. The company wanted to communicate emotively with this group, something which Web 3.0 is opening up. The company added interactive advertising to it's marketing mix.

The study found that online advertising can make a significant contribution in multi-channel campaigns by complementing messages that are delivered in other channels. It also helped McDonalds to reach customers that are not heavy television watchers. In fact this is a growing trend as different media compete for customers' time. People are spending more time on the Internet and the growth of the smartphone is increasing this trend.

A key aspect of XMOS is integrating online measurement in the overall campaign measurement to see how effective it can be. One thing about marketing on the Internet is that it is inherently measurable. However it is critical that online and offline are integrated and that they support each other.

The IAB's web site also discusses the Ford study. Online the respondents were surveyed using the experimental design method which is described as a classic research construct. The Web Centre for Social Research Methods http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/desexper.php describes experimental design as possibly the most rigorous of research methods. Implemented well they say, experimental design can have the strongest internal validity. Basically this means that the results will stand up to much greater scrutiny.

With experimental design you are aiming to identify that when the variable is there the outcome occurs and at the same time when it is not there, the variable doesn't occur. In terms of measuring digital marketing in it's simplest form, experimental design would make use of two groups. This was what the Ford study did. A sample of the survey respondents were shown an ad for the American Red Cross instead of the Ford ads.

As someone who is about to embark on a digital marketing research project, I found this quite interesting. This is quite possibly an approach that could be used within the area of digital marketing itself. As the number of digital channels increases, digital marketers are going to have to allocate their marketing budgets to various digital channels, that engage different audiences. A possible research project might be to analyse the effect of different digital channels within the online marketing mix.

Unfortunately the Ford case study didn't offer any analysis or elaboration of the experimental design aspect of the survey. According to the Web Centre for Research Methods, these types of research can be the hardest to get right. Maybe Marketing Evolution got it wrong...