Focus on UKTV Style
- Sponsorship of property programmes on UKTV Style
- Seen by 7.1m Individuals
- At post stage, advertising awareness was double amongst viewers
vs. non-viewers - Visiting and purchasing consideration for Focus were both significantly
higher amongst viewers than non-viewers - Viewers felt the sponsorship was a good fit
Background
Focus is one of the UK’s largest DIY and gardening retailers, with a range of own-brand and branded products for homes and gardens.
Historically, Focus has invested in weekly advertisements in national press, monthly door-todoor flyers and terrestrial spot TV advertising across the key DIY seasons, primarily tactical promotional advertising. Focus hadn’t used TV for branding purposes for a number of years.
Focus had several objectives. It was aiming to:
- Raise brand awareness
- Encourage footfall and create a more positive
brand perception - Communicate the broad range of products it sells
It also wanted to increase the depth of customer loyalty, and provide Focus with ‘first choice’ status.
Insight
Home and lifestyle channel UKTV Style offered a highly targeted environment for Focus:
- All UKTV Style viewers are at least jointly responsible for their DIY decisions
- 4 in 10 are solely responsible for them
- On average, they spend £170 on DIY products a year, 7% more than the average adult
Solution
Between March and December 2007, Focus undertook the sponsorship of property shows on UKTV Style. The programmes included House Doctor, DIY SOS, To Buy Or Not To Buy, Extreme Makeover – Home Edition, The Million Pound Property Project, The Wow Factor, and Homes Under The Hammer.
Research objectives & methodology
ids commissioned Q Media, an independent research agency, to evaluate the effectiveness of the sponsorship including:
- Brand and advertising awareness
- Brand perceptions
An online study was agreed. A test and control methodology was adopted whereby UKTV Style viewers’ behaviour was compared to those of non-viewers.
The two groups were demographically matched and all respondents were homeowners and at least jointly responsible for home improvement decisions.
Three waves of research were conducted, pre, mid and post sponsorship.
Test respondents were recruited via the UKTV Style newsletter, while the control group was drawn from an online panel.
Brand and advertising awareness
At the post stage, total brand awareness was high among both the test and control groups, 93% and 90% respectively, however spontaneous brand awareness was 7% greater among test respondents.
With regard to advertising awareness, among the test group, brand and advertising awareness increased by 21% from pre to post stages (14% to 17%). At the post stage viewers were significantly more likely to be aware of Focus advertising.
Brand perceptions
Viewers were left with a more favourable impression of the Focus brand than non-viewers. As the test and control groups were matched in terms of all being homeowners and at least jointly responsible for home improvement decisions, it suggests that the sponsorship campaign enhanced the brand’s values in the eyes of its target audience.
