Newspapers outperform mail

Newspapers carrying Asda's Christmas Gift Guide out-performs door-drop leaflet distribution.

Campaign objectives

In the run-up to Christmas Asda wanted to shake off their tag of being just a food store and establish themselves as a place for a variety of Christmas shopping.  They produced their Christmas Gift Guide to catalogue what's on offer, aiming to change consumer attitudes and shopping habits to attract more customers and increase trial of shopping at Asda.

Campaign delivery - both newspaper inserts and door-to-door drops

Asda teamed-up with the Mirror Group to include their Gift Guide in the Daily Mirror and Daily Record newspaper. They also delivered the Gift Guide door-to-door - which makes for an excellent comparison.

Campaign impact - consumers responded to newspapers

Newspapers proved their advantages as a delivery mechanism over door drops.

The insert was published and distributed in October and respondents from both door-to-door recipients and regular Mirror and Record readers were interviewed and then re-interviewed four weeks after the publication.  

The research was undertaken in association with Carat Media Services.  At the outset over 1,000 door-to-door interviews were conducted with over 600 Mirror and Record readers interviewed in the street.  Four weeks later 170 door-to-door and 123 Mirror Group readers were re-interviewed by phone.

  • Newspapers had a significant advantage over door-to-door advertising, in terms of communication effectiveness. 
  • Newspapers arrive in a consumers' household directly, through their choice and thereby with less clutter. 
  • The aspect of consumer choice in their newspaper meant the messages were more likely to be absorbed.


Campaign results - newspapers inserts better achieved objectives

  • Prompted awareness of the Gift Guide was 40% with those who received it through the door and nearly 80% with those who received it from a Mirror Group newspaper
  • The insert in the Mirror and Record also raised awareness with key shopping age groups, as compared to the direct advertising:

Raise awareness

Age range  Newspaper  Mail drops
 18-44  78%  35%
 45-64  78%  40%
 65+  83%  50%

The research four weeks on also demonstrated the greater effectiveness of the newspaper insert:

  • 50% of newspaper readers surveyed had kept the Gift Guide compared to 37% from door drops
  • 72% of Gift Guides inserted in newspapers had been read compared to 68% from door drops
  • As a result of seeing the Gift Guide 42% of Mirror Group reader respondents were "more likely to visit Asda" against 21% of door drop respondents
  • 74% of Mirror Group respondents said Asda had a "larger than expected range" compared to 57% of door drop respondents


Download the complete presentation below.

Want more information? 

  • Newspaper vs Mailbox: Australian research into the relevance and effectiveness of newspaper inserts when compared to mailbox drops.
  • Newspapers vs Direct Mail: Research from New Zealand's Newspaper Advertising Bureau compared the performance of newspaper inserts against unaddressed mail.

 

Research: 1236 door-to-door interviews were conducted week commencing 15 October 2001 amongst recipients who received the Gift Guide via free local papers. 635 regular readers of the Mirror and Record were interviewed (in the street) in the Granada, HTV and STV regions where the Gift Guide had been inserted on 15 October in England and 18 October in Scotland. Four weeks later (week commencing 12 November) respondents were re-contacted by phone.

Source: NMA UK - Mirror Group carry Asda's Christmas Gift Guide and slam the door on leaflet distribution

Case study: ASDA newspaper insert performance (378k, PowerPoint (.ppt) format)