IPA Databank Online is making one of the hidden assets of the IPA Effectiveness Awards accessible to all for the first time. Launched today (10th March 2010), IDOL will enable new and revealing analyses of the 900+ case histories in the IPA Databank.
Such investigations have already led to the ground-breaking findings published in
Marketing in the Era of Accountability by Les Binet and Peter Field, and in
Brand Immortality by Hamish Pringle and Peter Field. The learning from these analyses have enabled leading agencies and brands to gain significant competitive advantage, and now the potential is there for many more practitioners to do likewise.
IDOL gives instant access to quantitative data and is free for members to use, and non-members for a limited trial period (until 11th June 2010).
Key features of IDOL are:
• Data search on 16 different criteria including marketing objectives, communication channels, creative strategy, and measurement strategy.
• Multi-level analysis.
• Instant charting for input to PowerPoint presentations.
• Identification of individual case studies as exemplars of quantitative analysis.
• A click-to-buy link to download individual case studies in full.
IDOL is the result of a 15-month IPA Value of Advertising Group research and development project with online marketing dashboard software consultancy, Autometrics, IPA consultants Peter Field, Mark Rasdall and Roger Ingham, and Janet Hull.
Says Neil Simpson, Chairman IPA Value of Advertising Group and Chief Executive, Publicis, “The IPA Databank is one of the best sources of advertising effectiveness there is and this new online facility will enable all to uncover winning strategies in every brand, category, and communications channel. So it is fitting to launch IDOL in what is the 30th Anniversary of the Effectiveness Awards - allowing the learnings of past papers to be more easily accessible to all, in their demonstration that advertising is still working.”
Says Peter Field: “The IPA Databank is a unique resource. The way the data has been structured provides a framework for thinking about brand programme development, execution and measurement, in a professional and rigorous way. The data itself provides evidence and learning to support the development of new strategies today."
Says Janet Hull, “IDOL opens up the market for IPA effectiveness to the entire marketing and academic community in a new and accessible way. This entry-level website allows everyone to interrogate the IPA data set we have been developing, behind the scenes, for the last 30 years.”
Papers submitted to every IPA Effectiveness Awards competition since 1980 have been compiled and indexed to form the IPA case study Databank. Since 1998, as part of the entry criteria, an extensive questionnaire has been submitted, enabling a sophisticated relational database to be built. The data examines the characteristics, circumstances and objectives of the brands, the nature and scale of the campaigns that they ran, and the results that were achieved.
Says Marie Oldham, Chief Strategy Officer, MPG: "The thinking and learning captured in the IPA Awards provide an important tool for broadening our collective understanding of how communications work. IDOLshould be an important part of the learning and development programmes we put in place for those entering the industry as well as offering stimulation for those of us who have been around a bit longer."
Please note that IDOL has been superceded by the new Effectiveness Awards Search Engine (EASE)