Media Evaluation: June 2006

Everyone knows what an Astronaut does

As a media analyst at Mediatrack, there is just one aspect of the job that is incorrigibly annoying. When renewing old acquaintances, or making new ones, the conversation reaches the same, predictable sticking point every time; “So, what do you do?”

The response “media analyst” is met with stony-faced confusion every time. From here, there are two turnings proceedings can take. With a degree of schadenfreude you can leave a prolonged silence as furrowed brows of puzzlement turn to glowing cheeks of embarrassment, or, you can try and explain the position. “Well, I analyse media output to evaluate the way a client/company is being represented.”

From here, it is not unlikely that a concurring grunt of feigned comprehension will be the end of most dialogues.

The mission to find a satisfactory, easy and quick summation of the job is akin to journeying across Middle earth to destroy a magic ring. My flatmate of a year still has no idea what I do. For this blog, I will attempt to define my job. I have set myself a fifteen word limit that will leave me with a brief statement that is not only a thorough and informative guideline, but also easily whipped out in all sorts of company.

The internet’s largest free encyclopedia is no help, defining “Media Analysis” as “part of the discipline of Public Relations Measurement.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_content_analysis

Whilst initially seeming completely useless, this definition does incorporate the idea of evaluating (or measuring) the effectiveness of public relations. The money spent on public relations is astronomical. The US Government Accountability Office recently revealed that the George Bush administration has spent over $1.6 Billion on advertising and P.R. since 2003. (http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Bush_Admin._spent_over_1.6_Billion_0213.html)

That is a lot of cash. Obviously that is an erroneous example, but it demonstrates the lengths institutions are prepared to go to project the image they want. With out our merry band, who is to say this is worth it or even justifiable? Do we provide tangibility to the intangible? Or moreover, are we the last bastion of sensibility to quell the behemoth that is the PR industry? This is a good concept, inciting visions of chivalry, heroism and dragon slaying. This idea needs to be incorporated into any definition:

“I’m a media analyst; I stop PR consultants from total megalomania through charm, wit and lots of reading” (14 words).

Not very Bond. Try again:

“Media analysis is the study of media with a view to understanding an institution’s image” (15 words). I can hear prospective girlfriends, met on a night out, snoring already!

The O.E.D. defines analysis as “a detailed examination of something to interpret or explain it” and Media as “the main means of mass communication”. This is a useful starting point. “I examine the main means of mass communication in detail to interpret and explain it” (15 words).

In no way does that help clarify anything.

At the risk of giving up, the most recent example of one of these fruitless conversations was on holiday, talking to a young American woman. She told me she was a hairdresser (fair enough, she cuts hair), but after a futile five minutes trying to explain what I did for a living, it was clear I was achieving nothing in the way of clarification. The only way out was to lie: “actually, that’s wrong. I’m an astronaut and play football for Manchester United in my spare time”. Immediately, her grimace of ignorance was replaced with a broad smile. She may have known I was lying, but at least she understood what I meant.

Perhaps this is the point; I’ve been in my job now for eight months and still have so much to learn about every aspect of the business. Perhaps a simple 15 word explanation will never suffice. The easily definable, the one dimensional is commonplace and uninteresting, the mystery and intrigue created by vacuity of understanding isn’t a negative. It doesn’t make for boring conversation, it makes for fascinating learning. The unknown is always more attractive, the grass is always greener. Maybe.

BBC Leads the way with online measurement tool

Following on from the previous post "RIP: Traditional Media" which talked about the challenges of evaluating online media, we can already see new tools and services springing up across the internet that give us some valuable insight into current trends.

The most recent of these new tools is the "BBC News Most Popular Now" feature which reveals which stories people are reading and e-mailing to their friends, which video clips they are watching, and how this changes minute-by-minute through the day. This had some interesting multimedia capabilities such as the world map which allows you to see which stories are generating the most interest in different regions of the world. By clicking on a continent for example you can automatically reorder the top 10 and this is captured in real time.

Whilst online tools like this are truly innovative they still don’t offer any real commercial value. Being able to review real time data may be of interest to journalists and editors on a given day but to media evaluators and companies looking to evaluate PR campaigns they lack the fundamental ability to review data retrospectively.
It’s truly a step forward in terms of what we can achieve with internet technology and it does give a more tangible form of measurement. But companies will still need to look to the major players in media evaluation to come up with a commercial solution that can deliver real results and truly measure the effectiveness of PR campaigns.
Just make sure you watch this space!

RIP: Traditional Media?

Following on from the AMEC forum last week about “how evaluation fits into the new media climate” the issue of whether traditional media has had its day or not seems to be a thorny one. Whereas some see it as presenting an overwhelming challenge to accepted media evaluation methodology others see it has offering a wealth of opportunity in a rapidly expanding market, the Internet.

There’s no doubt in anyone’s minds that the PR model is now severely disrupted and mainstream media is on its way out. In its place we have the new phenomenon of social media, blogging, RSS (Really Simple Syndication) and web 2.0 community based sites. Features such as tagging and social book-marking are a huge growth area and heralded as the way forward in producing a more semantic and reliable web. This is powered by the basic human need for immediacy, control and cost. People want information now and they want it for free. The social proof supplied by consumer generated media helps feed this movement.

However the challenges in measuring the blogosphere and other forms of consumer generated media are the main hurdle that media evaluation companies face. Issues such as how to measure equivalent advertising in pixels and how to balance the fact that some bloggers are disproportionately influential will remain key issues.

However media evaluators will inevitably overcome these challenges and with the powerful new technologies that are available will usher in a new breed in metrics offering even more power to companies needing to measure public perception. If you would like to find out more about media evaluation and what it can do for your company visit www.mediatrack.com

World Cup evaluation fever?

As we tick down to the start of the biggest sporting event in the world, it strikes us that there should be plenty of opportunities to prove our skills in evaluating the PR surrounding many of the events that have already happened, and those to come.

Therefore we would be delighted to work on.....Sven vs Sir Alex - who wins the PR battle......The battle between the bookies - which of the bookmaking giants gets the lions share of positive coverage.......ITV vs BBC - Which is reported as providing the better punditry.....and of course...... who will get the blame when/if England make their exit, which would definitely be a fantastic opportunity for us to showcase our invaluable insights to help in Crisis Management .

The World Cup is already touching our clients. We were delighted that the scan of Wayne Rooney's foot took place at a BUPA hospital, with plenty of positive comments in the national and broadcast media, and we look forward to reporting the results before we reach the Quarter-finals.