More than online or offline – the future is INLINE

Describing communications that draw no distinction between the media used, be it online, offline or experiential, INLINE is a methodology developed by Weber Shandwick to maximise the effectiveness of PR spend and ensure a 360° conversation with audiences. We launched it in Europe last week.

This new thinking is based on a major analysis of communications trends and behaviours. The research was commissioned in August 2009 from almost 5,000 European consumers and focused on which communications channels carry the most influence on consumer purchasing decisions. The data returned turns traditional PR thinking and planning on its head.

When it comes to influencing purchase decisions, online advocacy carries the most influence of all communications channels.

• Young European consumers are more influenced by the traditional media than their older counterparts.
• Over half of European consumers under the age of 35 expressed a desire to interact with brands via social networks.
• Newspapers and magazines are more influential to French and UK&IRL consumers than those in other European markets.
• Advertising is cited as having the least influence on Europeans’ purchase decisions.
• Many European consumers do not wholly accept what they read online until they have checked the facts in mainstream, traditional media.
• INLINE Profiles are consistent across all European markets.