Fascinating findings

Editor’s note: Melissa Marcello is founder of Pursuant Inc., a Washington, D.C. research firm. Julie Litzenberger leads the public relations division at Sage Communications, a Vienna, Va. marketing communications agency.

A significant amount of financial resources are poured into marketing research every year by organizations. Unfortunately, some of the best research studies don’t garner nearly as much attention as the results merit. On the flip side, some research studies that don’t uncover anything earth-shattering receive a tremendous amount of media and industry attention.

Research studies that are the most successful in moving the needle are the cases where the research firm uses a scientific and credible methodology, poses the right questions, and provides the publicity team with the content needed to produce a big bang. A detailed and aggressive public relations campaign to evangelize the results is essential.

When market researchers and public relations experts work together, they can produce a successful media campaign. The market researcher’s ability to quantify trends and assess the big picture in conjunction with the public relations team provides the most appealing news hook for media release. From there, the news must be packaged and distributed to the right journalist, at the right publication and at the right time in order to trigger the media explosion.

What can happen when solid market research meets clever public relations? A results-driven media frenzy that produces over a billion audience impressions.

Pursuant Inc., a research firm, and Sage Communications, a marketing communications firm, both based in the Washington, D.C. area, each used their particular expertise to produce a tremendously successful media campaign on Fox’s American Idol. The purpose of the campaign was to do a case study for clients on how effective joint market research and public relations efforts can be if all the ingredients to success are present. The result was over a billion audience impressions, a number that even amazed the authors of the experiment.

News hook

To create our case study, we followed the first rule of public relations: identify the news hook. If it’s not new, controversial, bold or attention-grabbing, journalists will not be interested. Nor will they be interested if the story doesn’t provide an opportunity to showcase a new thought or angle that they can claim as their own. And if it’s not packaged and given to them in the right format, the media will quickly discard it. However, one thing that journalists will almost always cover is relevant and quantifiable trends.

That said, we identified a topic that would hook the media instantly. American Idol had reached an all-time peak in spring 2006, garnering as many as 37 million viewers for a single episode. Despite the sizeable audience - composed of people from different demographics, from tweens to senior citizens - no third party had conducted a research study to gain more insight into who the viewers actually are and their motivations for voting for American Idol contestants.

After determining that an American Idol study could fill a hole in research-based coverage of the show in the popular press, we then applied the first rule of survey research: asking the right questions using a randomly sampled scientific survey representative of the entire population.

By asking different types of questions, we ensured there would be numerous angles we could pitch using the data - no matter what results our survey returned. For example, assuming that the number of viewers the show drew was accurate, we assessed not only how many adults actually watched the show but also how many voted during that particular season. It turned out that one in 10 adults in the general U.S. population voted during the 2006 American Idol season. In addition, we pitted the judges against each other by asking respondents which judge’s opinion they trust the most. The gossip columnists of Us and other outlets hyped the fact that Simon Cowell’s opinion was valued more than twice that of Randy Jackson and nine times more than that of Paula Abdul. We incorporated the political Beltway angle by asking people if they thought their votes for American Idol count as much or more than their votes in the U.S. presidential election. It turned out 35 percent do believe a vote for American Idol holds more weight.

A solid research study provided the public relations team with a marketing tool capable of drawing a lot of media attention. By assessing the news value, announcing the content first to reporters under embargo, and identifying and targeting the right reporters, the story took on a life of its own. Good Morning America, CNN, MTV News and MSNBC, in addition to a number of the top daily newspapers around the country, covered it. The real kicker was when Simon Cowell - live on American Idol - boasted that his opinion was worth more than the other judges’ opinions. His bragging was prompted and clearly scripted by the host, Ryan Seacrest.

Concrete tool

Research studies provide a concrete, scientific tool for gauging public opinion and presenting the public perspective on a topic. Media professionals, who are constantly searching for “news” to feed the public’s appetite for information (and their own demands for content), appreciate having something new to report. They know that people are naturally curious about how their own views are similar to, or different from  , others across the country.

Reporters like to use results of public opinion polls as they help them avoid making unfounded generalizations about the public, its preferences or attitudes. This coverage is quite different from  the “man on the street” interview, because the results are scientifically obtained and can be generalized to the entire population from which the sample is drawn. They’re not just the opinions of a few people they happened to talk to that day.

In the American Idol study, the results were general enough to meet the demand for media material that would be popular with the public, but also included information that would be salient to more specialized audiences, such as viewers of political talk shows and “inside the Beltway” types.

Garner coverage

The widespread popularity of American Idol and its ability to garner media coverage on a regular basis were key factors in choosing the topic. Prior to Pursuant Inc.’s survey, there was not a single, nationally representative survey of U.S. adults that provided insight into who is voting for contestants on the show or their motivations for voting. There was speculation, mind you, but nothing scientific.

However, the same principles of market research and public relations can be applied to any industry. The key is to look for the “hook” of something that has not been covered in the past, is top-of-mind for people in the industry and will deliver the type of data that will automatically gain attention if provided to the right outlets. For example, if you are a technology company focused on the federal market, you may consider developing a survey surrounding presidential mandates and their impact on buying trends from  federal agencies. Will it hit the New York Times? Not likely. But it will hit most of the federal and technology publications that are relevant to your customers. And reaching your customers will open doors and impact the bottom line, which is what market research, public relations or any other communication vehicle is all about.

The topic and question selection should be targeted to the types of media outlets desired for coverage and the core competencies of the organization that is sponsoring the survey. For example, a survey on American Idol would not make sense for the American Medical Association, but a survey asking mothers about the frequency with which they take their children to the doctor and their perceptions of the quality of care they receive would make sense. The topic and/or questions should be fresh and offer a deeper understanding of a social, political or economic phenomenon. A good keyword search online and in Lexis-Nexis should be conducted to ensure that the survey is going to uncover something new, and thus newsworthy.

In the case of the American Idol study, a range of topics provided news outlets with different angles. The Associated Press story, which made up the bulk of the coverage for at least 10 of the stories published, focused on two key statistical findings. One statistic, reporting that one in 10 people voted in American Idol during the 2006 season, was believed to be staggering by many. It demonstrated that rather than sitting home as passive viewers, many adults were highly engaged in the show and voting. It contradicted what many had speculated: only tweens and teens vote in the show. Another statistic, which was reported by several general media outlets and gossip columns, reported that 58 percent of American Idol viewers value Simon Cowell’s opinion more than the other judges’ opinions. In addition, a question that asked the public to compare their American Idol vote with their vote in the presidential election offered a political angle for the talking heads.

Accurate and credible

Fielding accurate and credible quantitative research requires a nationally representative sample of the population that is randomly selected. Convenience samples, which could describe many of the online panels currently available, are not considered acceptable by most major media outlets presenting statistics in their coverage. We have been quite surprised in recent years by the many questions we have received from  reporters about survey methodology. A number of reporters have asked for detailed methodological write-ups prior to providing coverage on our surveys.

In the case of the American Idol study, Pursuant fielded six questions on Opinion Research Corporation’s CARAVAN national omnibus survey to find out more about who, among adults 18 or older living in the U.S., watched and voted in the 2006 season of American Idol. The survey was conducted by telephone from April 21-24, 2006, among a randomly selected national sample of 1,045 adults comprised of 515 men and 530 women. With a total sample size of more than 1,000, one can say with 95 percent certainty that the results are accurate to within +/-3.0 percent, which exceeds acceptable standards for a media release survey. While the margin of error for the entire sample was +/-3 percent, it is important to note that it was larger for subgroups.

Care should be taken to design survey questions that are both valid and reliable. That is, the questions are measuring what one is intending to measure and the questions mean the same thing to all of the people taking the survey. Leading or “softball” questions should be avoided. Savvy reporters will challenge findings that are questionable, overly self-serving, or simply do not meet their journalistic standards.

Work closely

The public relations and research teams need to work closely together throughout the entire process to ensure a media success. During question development, it is imperative that the questions have the potential to generate a newsworthy response, no matter what that data determines. For example, in the American Idol study, we knew that the question on which judge’s opinion was valued most would create a media stir, no matter who was deemed the winner, because of the inherent relationship between the judges and nature of the show. The question would automatically trigger gossip and controversy - which are irresistible to reporters. Other newsworthy data, including anything that is new, challenging, surprising or is a popular topic, often results in a slam dunk. The questions need to present several different angles to ensure that there is plenty of meat to give reporters and multiple people with various beats at the same publication.

Secondly, the public relations team needs to develop a very accurate and comprehensive media list. Our American Idol target list contained more than 350 reporters, producers, editors, bloggers and other influencers. Each of these reporters were hand-picked based on their beat. We knew these reporters were the exact people who would be interested in covering the story. Next, we developed a strong press release and several media angles to make our target reporters’ lives as easy as possible. We also gave it to reporters under embargo (i.e., in advance under the promise that they won’t break the story before we ask them to) to give them plenty of time to write the article before it went live. By packaging the news in the right manner, it increases the window for coverage tremendously.

After putting out the press release on a credible news wire, such as Business Wire or PR Newswire, it’s imperative to hit the phones and pitch the story live. Reporters receive an incredible amount of e-mail, so personally calling them is often the only way to break through the clutter. Once on the phone with a reporter, you have about 20 seconds to pitch your case - so be ready with talking points in hand! And never forget the “what’s in it for me” factor with reporters - cut to the chase on why it’s an interesting story for their readers.

Tremendous potential

A research study is only as good as the awareness level it garners and its ability to alter current or false perceptions. A public relations campaign is only as good as the content it delivers - without the right subject matter and credibility, the media interest dies quickly. However, when the market research and public relations disciplines meet, there is tremendous potential to trigger the next media explosion.