Share of Voice

               One of the most popular and traditional measures of a brand’s popularity amongst its peers is market share, but another unit of measurement that is gaining ground in this ‘age of media’ is share of voice (SOV). Share of voice refers to a brand’s “advertising weight expressed as a percentage of defined total market or market segment in a given time period”[1]. Share of voice is becoming easier to quantify due to the availability of data to the marketplace. Companies like Dow Jones market research tools, such as Dow Jones Insight, that utilize techniques such as text mining to help “gauge the effectiveness of (advertising) campaigns, optimize media budgets, identify strengths and weaknesses of corporate presence in the media landscape and demonstrate the impact of media efforts”[2].

                Share of voice is an indication of how much should be expensed on a brand to improve its market share. In essence, it is a measure of how much the brand is seen or heard. In his text, Marketing Communications: A Brand Narrative Approach, author Micael Dahlen provides an illustrative example of share of voice by revealing “if total advertising expenditure in the soft drink category amounts to $100 million, and the company spends $15 million then its SOV is 15/100 = 15%.”[3] Per Dahlen, equilibrium is attained when share of voice equals share of market (or SOV = SOM).

                The process towards the purchase of consumer goods, arguably, begins online. If this is true, then share of voice has never been more important. In an observation for brand ratings firm Millward Brown, market analyst Nigel Hollis writes that “brands with a larger share of media awareness are more likely to grow their share, and that growth is amplified if the brand also has a higher digital share of media awareness”. He continues that recent studies indicate that brands “that are able to increase their digital share of awareness, while simultaneously increasing their total media awareness, will almost double the likelihood of increasing their share of awareness compared to increasing total media awareness alone”[4].

source: http://www.millwardbrown.com/

                At hand with raising digital awareness and share of voice is the ever-present is issue of cost and perhaps never more so than in this difficult economic climate. Nielsen UK’s Nikki Clarke says that the time has never been more ripe to grab market share through share of voice. She challenges firms that this is not the time to cut back on advertising, rather “short-term reductions to media investments will likely damage a brand in the long-term”[5]. Among Clarke’s guiding principles, one of the most important for a difficult economic environment is that “Excess SOV delivers growth,”[6] where excess share of voice or ESOV = SOV-SOM. So in a complex landscape, Clarke argues that it may not be enough to attain equilibrium but exceed it in such a manner that SOV > SOM. Clark also notes that larger brands will have a greater likelihood of success due to the fact that their “distribution, range, and pricing” all help to maintain and increase share.

                An example of a firm trying to gain share of voice in a difficult environment is the global real estate firm, RE/MAX. The company recently launched a nationwide advertising campaign designed to communicate the competency of RE/MAX agents to assist when a life changing event (e.g., marriage, baby, or job) necessitates a move. Labeled ‘For All the Things That Move You’, the campaign “includes a full schedule of TV, radio, internet, print, and outdoor ads that are scheduled to run through 2012”[7]. In addition, there will also be an extensive utilization of social media outlets. The firm boasts that it is “one of the few companies in the industry to maintain a national advertising presence despite the changing market place” and such national campaigns “have produced a share-of-voice greater than all competitors combined”[8]

'For All The Things That Move You' 2012 campaign by RE/MAX source: remax.com



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[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Share_of_voice

[2] http://www.dowjones.com/info/share-of-voice.asp

[3] Dahlen, Micael, Fredrik Lange, and Terry Smith, Marketing Communications: A Brand Narrative Approach (John Wiley & Sons Ltd: West Sussex, UK, 2010), 478.

[4] Hollis Nigel, "So what is your brand's digital share of voice?" MillwardBrown, February 2, 2012 (accessed February 21, 2012) http://www.millwardbrown.com/global/blog/Post/2012-02-02/So-what-is-your-brand-s-digital-share-of-voice.aspx

[5] Clarke, Nikki, "Budgeting for the Upturn - Does Share of Voice Matter?" Nielsenwire, August 6, 2009 (accessed February 21, 2012) http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/consumer/budgeting-for-the-upturn-does-share-of-voice-matter/

[6] Ibid.

[7] "Real Estate Ads Use Personal Motivations" PRNewswire, January 24, 2012 (accessed February 21, 2012), http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/real-estate-ads-use-personal-motivations-137998403.html

[8] Ibid.