As a major publisher of consumer magazines, IPC Media’s readers are of vital importance to the business and at the heart of everything it does.
Consumer insight was becoming increasingly important for the publisher’s clients and IPC realised that greater investment in research would prove productive for both its own and its clients’ business.
With the print market experiencing flat sales, and growing digital capabilities, IPC needed something that gave it valuable insight into its audiences and revolutionised the way it worked with clients.
IPC decided to launch its biggest research project, creating The Origin Panel, a bank of 7,500 women that could be accessed on a weekly basis. Women form IPC’s core audience, so its objective was to develop a comprehensive understanding of women’s behaviour, attitudes and media consumption habits.
However, IPC’s big idea was not the panel itself, but how it chose to establish and use it. The company joined forces with market research agency SPA to build a bespoke online community.
The women were asked to contribute weekly and results were fed back so that respondents could see what others felt about relevant topics.
The Origin Panel comprises four core research tools – You Decide, a quick turnaround opinion poll; Discussion Corner, a topical forum that gathers invaluable qualitative feedback against specific questions; Gallery, an image forum for uploading photos on posted themes; and Bespoke Research, major monthly studies into areas such as internet use, finance, the role of mothers and women and motoring.
The panel has contributed bespoke research to more than 40 pitches and the research has been used in many others. It has been accessed 32 times by agencies looking for client insight.
The panel has boosted IPC’s year-on-year advertising share and contributed more than £1.5m of advertising revenue from 80 clients.
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