Simmons Enhanced National Magazine Audience Measurement.

Simmons Market Research Bureau announced a major improvement in the methodology used to measure and profile magazine audiences in the company’s National Consumer Study and Hispanic Surveys. Effective with the Spring 2002 studies commencing in March, full-color, half-cover logos of measured magazines appear in the survey questionnaires mailed to participating respondents. The methodology improvement was the result of Simmons’ internal research that indicated usage of color logo representations improved reporting accuracy. Simmons has used the full-color magazine cover logos in its National Kids studies since 1999.

According to Chris Wilson, Simmons President and Chief Operating Officer, “The proliferation of magazine titles in recent years has made reliable measurement of readership increasingly challenging. In the past, Simmons’ use of black and white magazine logos has provided an adequate, cost-efficient method for capturing readership data. Nevertheless, we felt improvement was possible, and we measured the impact of replacing black-and-white questionnaires with an eye-catching, full-color layout. Effective with the Spring 2002 Simmons studies now in the field, the new full-color images of magazine covers will rivet the respondent’s attention and improve ability to differentiate between potentially confusing titles like Ski and Skiing”.

Simmons Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bill Engel added, “In addition to Simmons internal research, we also noted the success of Kantar’s MARS study in improving their measurement of pharmaceutical magazines using full color magazine images. We’re convinced that our investment in this methodology improvement, together with recent improvements in the radio and television media sections of our questionnaires, will pay huge research dividends for all Simmons clients”.