Print should have listened to Specsavers

Another week and another piece of research that discovers the value of print.This time the work has been done by specialist retail agency Kantar. It found that print ads for Specsavers, Rowse Honey and breakfast cereal business Quaker were especially powerful. The ads appeared in publications rather than as posters or as direct mail, though a campaign could certainly have been created that built on the impact that the ads that Kantar researched delivered. It asked 750 consumers to judge the ads, to comment on them and to explain how this made them feel as consumers.

In each case the print ad scores over any other medium because of the engagement it drives. The Specsavers ad used copy that resembled an eye test chart, used its familiar logo and corporate colours. Readers instantly picked up on the brand and the message, even though they needed to do a little work to understand the message. Their reward was the satisfaction of working it out and the self congratulation that this entails. This sort of interaction is not possible with a video or television ad where the message has to be trowelled on and there is no ‘hit’ from the reader, unlike print where there is some small dopamine hit for a reward.

Each of the ads examined also delivered a short term sales increase for the the brands involved. More importantly it also increased perceptions of the brand for a long term impact. Because the reader interacts with the print ad, the ad is much stronger in the reader’s memory than anything that digital media can deliver, or has yet been able to deliver. We all know this, instinctively if not with the supporting data. And yet we allow agencies and brands to continue to believe that their salvation lies with social media and so on. The evidence in favour of print continues to pile up. Printers need to seek out these gems and remind their customers what major brands like Specsavers know. Print works.