Bauer Media has launched a research programme “of epic proportions” as part of the integration strategy for the publisher’s newly expanded portfolio and in preparation for a “serious digital play”.
Bauer says it set out to know its readers better than they know themselves and to gain a deeper understanding of how their brands are positioned within the new communication eco-system. Most significantly, Bauer wanted to focus more on what was shaping consumers’ lives in the future.
Bauer Media partnered with Nielsen to develop a plan that would shift the paradigm in audience measurement and media insights. “Forget rational answers on why readers claim they engage with brands,” says Bauer NZ commercial director Paul Gardiner. “Bauer wanted to demonstrate its absolute empathy with New Zealanders by segmenting audiences according to the underlying emotional need-state that magazine brands meet. After all, emotion is the driver of human behaviour.”
Through a comprehensive series of focus groups, that emotional needs segmentation lens was applied to categories of magazine brands, covers, columnists and key content pillars, including advertising.
Phase two involved quantifying the need-state hypothesis through a survey involving 2200 New Zealanders and overlaying demographics and consumer behaviour.
The final piece of the jigsaw was fusing that bespoke Bauer database with Nielsen’s CMI study, the media planning tool for the industry, allowing for the application of segmentation insights across the breadth of CMI data.
To further future proof the findings, Bauer is in the process of tagging its own proprietary research panels, of over 9000 New Zealanders, with these segments which will allow advertisers to map customised questions against this body of work.
Running concurrently with segmentation was a New Zealand trend-watching report. Magazines have always been synonymous with trend-spotting, using story-telling to inform and reflect on what’s going on around us. Bauer’s editors worked with Nielsen to identify a diverse range of experts to understand the key trends that will shape the face of the nation and help understand how Bauer and brand custodians will be able to create influence in this new normal.
Bauer’s future framework draws from what to expect from NZ’s social make-up, as people and populations are the foundation upon which trends exist, through to what to expect in how we work, learn and live,” Gardiner said. “From Snowballs to Idiosyncrasy, Bauer presents a series of insights designed to ignite conversations and provide a springboard for new ideas. It’s Bauer eavesdropping on the nation and stitching knowledge together.”
- To hear more, you are invited to join Bauer and Nielsen on Wednesday 1 April 1, Auckland Museum Lecture Theatre, 10-11.30am. RSVP to rsimkins@bauermedia.co.nz.
- For further information, please contact Paul Gardiner or Tanya Walshe at 09 308 2700 (TWalshe@bauermedia.co.nz or PGardiner@bauermedia.co.nz).
About Bauer Media
Bauer Media is New Zealand’s leading magazine publisher. The company’s Bauer Media division publishes some of the country’s most popular magazines, including Woman’s Day, New Zealand Woman’s Weekly, The Australian Women’s Weekly, Next, Taste, Metro and North & South. Bauer Media’s Property Magazines division publishes a range of real estate advertising titles under the Property Press umbrella. Bauer Trader Media publishes six industry-leading magazines and ten industry–specific websites, including its flagship Autotrader.co.nz. Bauer Media operates a national distribution network through its division Netlink Distribution, which distributes publications to retailers across the country. Bauer Media Group (NZ) LP is a subsidiary of the Hamburg-based Bauer Media Group.
Share this Post
