October 2011 Newspaper Creative Benchmark Report Virgin Australia

It’s a component of the Newspaper Effectiveness Metric which is run by the newspaper industry marketing body, The Newspaper Works. A monthly study designed; To measure and identify the effectiveness of newspaper creative To help improve understanding of how to use newspapers effectively To improve the understanding of the roles newspaper advertising can play To improve the standard of newspaper creative To provide a consistent metric that is accepted as the industry standard

Pre/post effectiveness studies, measuring in-market effects and how newspaper work with Television Comparison of creative against category averages Comprehensive analysis of how newspapers can best be used to influence purchase behaviour The Newspaper Works’ effectiveness partner:

Recognised industry measures + Newspaper measures Proprietary newspaper measures The Newspaper Works’ effectiveness partner: Ad Recognition Brand Linkage Message Comprehension Brand Equity Impact Role Map Action Map Newspaper Creative Diagnostics

Ad Appearance: – Metro Newspapers, September 20 th 2011, EGN This ad was one of three shown to respondents Sample: Australians 16+ Sample size: 118 Test market: Melbourne Fieldwork: 14 th -21 st October 2010 Conducted online by Ipsos MediaCT Benchmarks used: Newspaper Norm (see appendix for details) This ad appeared during the disruptive industrial dispute between Qantas and Unions, but before breakdown in negotiations that led to the grounding of the entire Qantas fleet.

Branded Newspaper Benchmarks

Newspaper Norm Creative Diagnostics scores skew to a generally very positive perspective from respondents. The ad achieved very high scores for ‘Looks Good’, and better than average scores for ‘Has a great image’, ‘Catches my eye’ and ‘Highlights an important feature’.

Interest from respondents is at above Newspaper Norms. Ad recognition and brand linkage are lower than Norms however this may be due to the weight of the campaign or the timing of the research. Note: Ad Recognition and Brand Linkage can be affected by weight of campaign and timing of research Significantly different to Retail Average at 90% c.l. Caution: very low sample sizes for brand linkage n=6 Branding removed Newspaper Norm

The ad scores significantly high results against three key brand equity measures which all contribute positively to brand values. Significantly different to Retail Average at 90% c.l Newspaper Norm

44% of respondents fed back highly specific elements of the communication with a further 35% clear that the ad presented benefits to flying this this airline.

What did the respondents say about the full page ad? It is bright and cheery and includes different airline staff. It is good to know that their people are good and the service is good, but I still think that safety and reliability of any airline is the best selling point Should make it clearer its for Virgin. It gave me a reminder to look at Virgin for our holiday use Bright and friendly Good points for the brand but I book on price / safety First impressions was the cleverness of using names. Amanda, Derek and Tom. Makes the airline stand out as something personal not just another money grabbing experience. Tells you about the brand, doesn't make you book a flight - Prices do that Artificial model like characters pretending to be employees

The Word Cloud demonstrates that many people picked up on ‘magic’ and ‘people’ as key concepts

The ad has achieved significantly high RoleMap results against both Affinity and Reappraisal, and has met Norms at driving a Call to Action. This result makes this ad the #1 ad for Affinity results and #2 for Reappraisal results, of Airline ads we’ve tested since 2008 (n=11) Significantly different to Retail Average at 90% c.l. Newspaper Norm

Indications from ActionMap show that the successful results in driving Affinity and Reappraisal are linking to considerations for trial % scores Significantly different to Retail Average at 90% c.l. Newspaper Norm

Creatively, the ad is viewed in a very positive light, and it achieves high scores for Interest Significantly high scores are achieved for delivering to Understanding/familiarity Relevance / appropriateness Differentiation The ad also achieved significantly high scores for driving Affinity Reappraisal These good feelings carried through to ActionMap where we saw Virgin achieving significantly high scores for intentions to ‘Try/buy’ as well as strong scores for ‘Remember for Later’ and motivating Web Search The ‘Magic’ ad from Virgin Australia is a good example of how an ad designed to gain Affinity, can also deliver a strong Call to Action

Comparison with other ads

We last tested Virgin when Qantas was being seen as having an unreliable schedule…. June 2009 October 2011

The more things change, the more they stay the same Newspaper Norm Both ads are strong performers within our database of Airlines ads (n=11) with each playing very distinctive roles. While they both drive brand Reappraisal, the ‘Magic’ ad also receives strong Affinity scores while the ‘Cancelled’ ad also spoke strongly to the Public Agenda

September 2011 October 2011 We recently tested some Qantas ads, to see how they were faring in midst of a hostile industrial environment

Virgin pips Qantas at the post in winning hearts and minds Newspaper Norm The ‘Spirit’ ad from Qantas generates a similar Role Map to Virgin Australia, however Virgin achieves stronger results on Call to Action. The ‘Stronger’ ad from Qantas plays an entirely different role (as we’d expect), delivering strongly on Information and the Public Agenda.

May 2010 October 2011 Comparing Virgin Australia with our ‘best’ Airline ads

A strong retail offer delivers strong RoleMap results Newspaper Norm The Air Asia ad does a great job of driving Call to Action through Reappraisal and Information delivering on a great offer. Air New Zealand used a quirky style and flexible options to deliver strong results across 5 out of 6 Roles.

Top Performers on Rolemap

6.2x Higher than norm 5x Higher than norm 2.4x Higher than norm 2.9x Higher than norm 8.0x Higher than norm 3.8x Higher than norm All newspaper norm. October 2011 (Updated monthly)

Established in 2006 by the major Australian newspaper publishers: – News Limited – Fairfax Media (including Rural Press) – APN News and Media – West Australian Newspapers Represents paid national, metropolitan, regional and community titles. Primary aims: – To promote newspapers as a powerful medium for advertisers – To ensure that newspapers are perceived as being contemporary and relevant in a transforming media landscape

Creation of All Newspaper norms Testing of randomly selected newspaper display ads 5,100 ad observations in total 40 test ads, 100+ observations per ad Population representative sample of the five mainland state capitals Conducted online by Ipsos Media CT, July-August 2008 Sample size 1,737

Newspapers are a powerful medium to utilise across a broad range of strategic roles. Six strategic advertising roles have been validated both qualitatively and quantitatively, resulting in the creation of Role Map, one of two proprietary newspaper metrics. Role Map demonstrates how consumers connect with newspaper advertising across the six roles, comparing the performance of creative against a footprint of all ads tested. Retail average Statements are tailored to be appropriate to the advertising category.

Newspapers are recognised as an effective medium for delivering a Call to Action. Action Map, the third proprietary newspaper metric, expands on this strategic role to provide an understanding of the types of action a newspaper ad inspires. Measured via forced exposure, people are asked about the actions they would consider taking (or have taken) as a result of seeing the ad. New measure introduced in March 2010, norm not yet available.

Another proprietary newspaper metric provides a set of creative diagnostics unique to the attributes of newspaper advertising. They’ve been developed to help identify areas for improvement where results across other brand and advertising measures may require further analysis and interrogation. Retail average Statements are tailored to be appropriate to the advertising category.