How Effective Are CDs & DVDs When Used For Marketing, Communications and Premiums?  New Independent Study Tells All…

A comprehensive study just completed for the International Recording Media Association (IRMA), analyzed the use of CDs and DVDs for Marketing, Providing Instruction/Information, Communications and Premiums.  

The 44-page study, completed by Cambridge Associates, Inc., reveals what type of applications and Companies are using CDs & DVDs as a premium, marketing or communication tool.  The study also reveals the major benefits these Company’s experienced, when using these two mediums. 

 The entire study was authored on an Interactive CD, to bring sight, sound and motion to the final report.  Along with the study, samples of actual case studies were included. You can get your own copy of the CD here: www.irmareport.com

Below is an overview of the main highlights of the study…

How are CDs and DVDs Being Used?

Marketing (“Sell Product/Service to Potential Buyers”)
Promotions encompass the use of discs to advertise, motivate and promote potential buyers to order the product(s) or service(s) or seek additional information (i.e., visit a dealer, call an 800 number or visit a web site, etc.).  Potential buyers receive a CD or DVD, which describes a product, service, location (for a vacation, real estate, and college campus), etc.  Discs are sent to consumers who either respond to an ad (on television, cable, internet, in a magazine, etc.) or are sent unsolicited to “targeted” prospective buyers whose demographics or interests make them likely prospects for particular products, services, locations, etc. (for example, owners of certain types of products are sent discs on similar products, e.g. owners of SUVs are sent a DVD on a new SUV model).

Premiums (“Reward/Motivate a Buyer”)
The use of discs to “reward” buyers for purchasing a product or service, or to “motivate” them to purchase e.g., video game disc included in boxes of cereal to motivate purchasers to buy the $3.00 cereal which has a video game or DVD movie worth 3 to 5 times the cost of the cereal.

Instructional/Informational (“Train, Educate or Inform a Customer”)}
Buyers of a product or service receive a disc explaining the item or service purchased i.e. disc explaining how to use computer application software.

Communication (“Inform Members of Associations. Organizations, Shareholders, Employees, etc.”)

Corporations, organizations, associations etc; use of CDs or DVDs to advise, employees, members, investors, etc. of their performance, challenges, goals, etc. which directly impact them i.e. pending legislation, environmental concern, etc.

What Type of Companies are using These Mediums?

• Internet Service Providers
• Cereal Manufacturers
• Automotive Manufacturers
• Health/Fitness Promoters
• Publishers
• Organizations/Associations
• Events/Concert Promoters
• Colleges/Universities
• Retailers
• Travel/Destination Agencies
• Music/Cinema/Entertainment Promoters
• Game Publishers
• Household Product Suppliers
   

Why Are Companies Using CDs & DVDs?

The following is a listing of the major reasons given by people who were using CDs or DVDs for marketing, the delivery of information, instruction, communications and premiums.  The interviewers asked end-users what were the advantages/benefits to their organization from using multimedia discs for these applications.  The major advantages/benefits given were:

• Greater response rates, which were 50% to as much as 600% greater than traditional direct mail (e.g. if traditional print direct mail generated 1-2% response rates, disc direct mail generated 3-12%).
• Greater conversion rates.  The overall success in convincing a potential buyer to order the product/service after they had requested and received a disc promoting the product/service was on average 19% (i.e. nearly 1 out of 5 recipients of the CD or DVD placed an order).
• Greater production and mailing efficiencies particularly in disc replication, which may cost as little as $.40/disc, (less costly than many catalog printings).  The reduced weight of the discs compared to most print mailings resulted in meaningful savings on postage.
• More cost efficient than traditional mass media (television, newspapers, magazines, radio, etc.).  Additionally, disc marketing is more targeted than mass reach media.
• Provide far greater information (full motion, sound, and internet links) than print catalogs, brochures or booklets. Complex, or new and innovative products that require demonstration to convey all of their benefits are particularly well served by a multi-media presentation that printed materials cannot provide.
• Greater ability to collect and measure data with more accuracy and accountability, plus automatic database generation when executed in conjunction with on-line websites.
• Greater “perceived value” on the part of recipients (as high as $15). Consumers are likely to play a disc, which are often looked upon as “special”, vs. a brochure, or a catalog, which are often seen as junk mail and discarded.  When used as a premium to generate sales of a product, many recipients look at the disc as worth the same as a video game or DVD video @ $15 or more.
• Unique capability to drive traffic to a marketer’s website, potentially increasing the sender’s web commerce.  This also helps websites that are ad-supported rely on increased “hits” to support on-line advertising revenue.
• Discs are the only physical medium, which can provide an immediate link to the website of the organization… a major benefit.
• DVDs and to a lesser extent CD-ROMs provided the full impact of a TV commercial, (i.e., full motion, sound, graphics etc.), with lower costs than those associated with broadcast and cable television advertising.
• Discs produce a 40-60% increase in viewer’s memory after watching, verses print advertising i.e., the retention of the product or service shown in the message on the disc.
  Discs break through the traditional mailbox or office in basket “clutter” of printed direct mail pieces.  Unlike printed materials, discs do not appear to be “junk mail”, and gain the recipients’ attention.  Even the relative “deluge” of discs from Internet Service Providers has not relegated them to junk mail status.
• Majority of consumer recipients feel “singled-out” or “special” since, with the exception of ISP discs, they rarely receive a disc, which increases the incentive to play the disc.
• Discs have a relatively high “pass-along” rate, in which the initial recipient shares the disc with others (friends and family) unlike most catalogs/brochures, the majority of which are put in the recycling bin.
• Discs are far more likely to be “saved”, i.e. not tossed in the garbage, in comparison to catalogs and other print material, thus helping to promote a “delayed” response.
• Disc, by their requirement of having to be played on a CD-ROM drive or DVD player, most often place the viewer(s) in a position and time conductive to getting the “attention” and generating a response.  Other “distraction,” i.e., TV, radio, retrieval of phone messages, etc. are usually secondary, i.e., do not interfere with the viewing of the disc.
   

The IRMA report retails for $995, but as a special offer to the reader’s of the reader’s of Advertising Age, Linking Solutions, the Company that produced the CD for IRMA, is offering it for a limited time at no charge.