The initiative, which is sponsored by Royal Mail, aims to find a consistent methodology across the industry. This will allow clients to judge the effectiveness of customer titles against other marketing activity.
The performance of rival magazines in each market sector will also be measurable, enabling brands to monitor their performance against their competitors for the first time.
The only standard form of measurement currently available is the periodic ABC circulation figures. But unlike the data for paid-for consumer magazines, these are meaningless, as most customer publications are distributed for free.
The APA, the trade body for customer magazines, has appointed Millward Brown to conduct the research project. This will initially cover 56 titles in the automotive, financial, telecoms, leisure, property and utilities sectors.
Brian Jacob, executive vice-president of Millward Brown's global media evaluation unit, said the research would isolate the effect of customer magazines from other parts of the marketing mix. 'By carefully structuring the samples we are confident of measuring the impact on brand health and customer relationships,' he said.
Publicis Blueprint managing director Jason Frost, who is also chairman of the APA's research committee, claimed the initiative would lead to a way of measuring quality of reading, which should translate into higher magazine advertising revenue.
There are about 800 customer titles in the UK. The market will be worth more than £300m by the end of the year, according to the APA.
_1.jpg)
.jpg)
