Helping ITV's advertisers reach more viewers more often

Without an audience, there'd be no advertisers, and no ITV.

But understanding television viewers isn't always that easy.

Demographics have always played an important part in planning, trading and reporting media performance against target audiences. But, many advertisers will know that demographics only tell part of the story.

Mick Jagger and Michael Howard were both born in the early 1940s and are both categorised as a ABC1 men. Michael thinks the grass is something you mow every Sunday, while Mick may see grass in a more exotic light...

Okay, this may be an extreme example but it shows that your age and other demographic details don't always tell the whole story.

Last year ITV set out to go beyond traditional viewing figures and create a new tool to understand its audiences in a rapidly changing media environment. They commissioned a usage and attitude study, that aims to understand how and why consumers make entertainment choices, how they relate to television in general, and ITV in particular. They also wanted to understand the key factors that affect weight of viewing, channel choice and programme selection. By ultimately linking this to BARB, they are able to understand not just what their audiences say about their viewing habits, but actually what they do and how they behave.

'Helping advertisers reach more viewers, more often.' is a 28 page booklet we produced with Mindshare and Breed to explain ITVs methodolgy, the benefits of this new approach and the role of segmentation within ITV specifically. It explores six audience groups, who they are, what their passions and interests are, their entertainment and media choices, the TV programmes they watch and their typical profile.

A box of delights for Land Securities

Mike has recently written a major piece of print for property developers Land Securities. His words appear alongside a range of beautiful images designed to promote New Street Square, in the City, to potential retail tenants.

It's an especially interesting development, turning what was a typically revolting 1960s office block into a collection of new buildings that reinstates the long-lost street plan. Instead of a monolithic lump of concrete, New Street Square is becoming a little hive of lanes and open space, surrounded by shops, cafes and restaurants.

All those establishments need tenants, of course, and that's where this piece comes in. Much more than a mere brochure, this box portfolio contains a selection of stunning, aspirational images (which can be tailored to the audience) to tempt high-quality retailers into the Square. The minimal, straight-talking copy, which introduces the concept and accompanies each image, puts the powerful business case for setting up shop in New Street Square.

Two new brochures

Mike and Piers have recently worked together on two new pieces of print design, both with a charitable focus.


The first, a new brochure for the International Fundraising Consultancy (IFC), tells a very direct story. The IFC helps charities of all shapes and sizes to increase their fundraising income, by providing a range of services from strategy to training and interim management. They also have a direct marketing arm, IFC Direct, which draws its creative talents from the pool at David & Associates.

The new brochure, which doubles as a direct mail piece, opens from a square to a large-format cross shape. The message is simple: the IFC offers 'a big plus' for fundraisers.

The other brochure, which has also just been printed, is for Asthma UK.. This is a case for support, aimed at major donors who may give thousands, or tens of thousands, of pounds. And the money will help secure the future of the new Asthma UK-MRC Centre in Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma. This is a unique new centre that should accelerate tremendously our understanding of asthma - a growing disease that kills one person in the UK every six hours.

As well as producing the brochure - which, for Mike, involved interviewing some dauntingly eminent scientists and taking something of a crash course in microbiology - the team created the appeal identity: Partners Against Asthma. This, too, makes graphic capital of the plus sign, but we promise it's sheer coincidence.

You can download a PDF of the Asthma UK brochure by clicking here. (2MB)