The Origin Panel - Women's Space from IPC Media - Winner of Research & Insight Award 2008

"Filling a real gap in the sector, this project took segmenting and qualitatively exploring what defines women online to the next level. IPC Media recognised the value of such research for digital advertisers, and ‘Women’s Space’ has since been used extensively by them to inform advertising strategies."

Objective of research

When IPC Media started planning this project, research into women online was predominantly full of dry statistics and showed limited understanding of how women really used the internet. IPC wanted to provide a different view. ‘Women’s Space’ set out to:

• Explore what defines women online and offline - their thoughts, feelings and attitudes
• Understand where women were on their internet journey
• Really get under the skin of women’s internet behaviour

Its key business objectives were:

• To help generate digital advertising revenues
• To open a dialogue with key digital advertisers
• To raise the profile of IPC Media as an online publisher
• To be recognised as the authority on women and the internet

Methodology

In July 2007 IPC Media joined forces with leading market research agency SPA to build a bespoke online community - The Origin Panel: a nationally representative panel of 7,500 women which allows advertisers to question UK women on topical issues and keep their finger on the pulse of women today.

Establishing a community using a branded website was at the hub of the research - providing women with a voice and connecting them to their peers.

The panel is multi-purpose: It has been built to incorporate a variety of research methods, both quantitative and qualitative.

'Women’s Space' was IPC’s inaugural project - contacting women with a questionnaire to generate unique insights and new learnings on women’s digital space. The response was both unprecedented and unrivalled, with a staggering 51% response rate. Results generated included:

• An in-depth understanding of UK women’s internet behaviour
• A segmentation analysis of women’s attitudes to the internet to help guide advertisers’ digital communications
• An understanding of where women are on their internet journey - dispelling the myth that women were not using the internet and proving that they needed to be treated as a serious audience

Enterprise and creativity

IPC’s research identified the value of this audience group for digital advertisers - and this is why ‘Women’s Space’ has been used extensively by them.

'Women’s Space' was innovative in approach: using an attitudinal segmentation, IPC created six segments to focus digital advertisers’ attention on the best way to target and talk to women online.

The project helped to bring women to life for advertisers, moving them away from focusing on just pure numbers, by capitalising on IPC’s existing knowledge of women, as women’s offline behaviour is a key influence over what they do online.

'Women’s Space' challenged existing preconceptions and provided a comprehensive picture of women online in the UK today. The research delved below the surface to really understand where women were on their internet journey, analysing confidence, proficiency and the key emotional and functional drivers of behaviour.

Accessibility to, and ease of implementation of the results was fundamental, and a key element of the research design. Creativity and design of all external material reflected this.

Success against objectives

'Women’s Space' has played a key part in generating digital revenues. It has influenced advertising strategy and transformed the value that we are contributing to our advertisers’ business. Forming a true partnership, IPC is now informing advertising decisions rather than merely reacting:

• Generated over £100,000 of digital advertising revenues
• Presented to the Top 20 digital media agencies
• Ultimately, ‘Women’s Space’ has established IPC’s authority on women and the internet

Judges’ Comments

"They had clear objectives that were sustainable and achievable. They’ve created a ground-breaking research community that they can use as a vehicle to open new doors and drive revenues."

Further details on IPC Advertising.
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