“Media analysis shows which proof points could be placed in which target media and to which messages the reporting contributes. This allowed us to measure success and adjust specifically.”
OTTO is Germany’s largest online shop, with revenue of around €7 billion and a communications strategy built on messages tied directly to business objectives. Working with Onclusive, the team can now show how those messages resonate with key audiences, and what that does to how the company is perceived.
The challenge: proving the messages were actually working
OTTO built its 2023 communications strategy around a set of messages tied to specific corporate objectives. Their existing measurement gave the team fragments of information: coverage volume here, sentiment there, but nothing that answered whether a particular narrative had reached a particular audience.
That left the important questions open. Were the narratives reaching the people they were written for? Were they resonating once they got there? Were they doing anything for OTTO’s reputation as an innovator and a market leader? Without an answer, the team risked falling back into reactive communications it could not defend at board level, in a market where competitors were making similar claims.
By the numbers
Nearly 3x
Growth in innovation perception over two years
6x+
Increase in market leadership recognition within nine months
10+ years
Length of the OTTO and Onclusive partnership
Quarterly
How often the framework is reviewed and adjusted
The solution: a measurement framework built around the messages
Building on more than a decade of working together, OTTO and Onclusive developed a framework with three parts.
- An enhanced media panel. Every publication was classified by target audience, region and quality tier, so coverage could be read by who it reached rather than simply how much of it there was.
- Message-level content analysis. Each press release was tracked through to the coverage it produced, with individual messages traced and assessed against the audience they were meant for.
- Success criteria agreed up front. Every release is evaluated against three tests: did it reach the right audience, carry the right message, and land with the right prominence.
Quarterly intelligence cycles ensure the framework is working well. Each round feeds back into the next quarter’s planning, so the team can take an evidence based approach to strategy development.
The results: perception shifted, and the team can prove it
Message impact
- Innovation perception nearly tripled over two years
- Recognition of OTTO as a market leader rose more than sixfold within nine months
- Concrete proof points consistently outperformed general announcements, which changed how the team writes releases
Regional impact
- Focused presence achieved in the strategic urban centers that matter most to the core audience
- Coverage scaled from limited regional reach to national within a year
“Regional evaluation showed where we had little resonance. We derived concrete measures: intensifying press work in certain federal states.”
Why Onclusive
Most communications measurement counts what happened. Message tracking asks a harder question: did the specific things we set out to say reach the specific people we said them to, and did that change what those people think? Onclusive’s analysts build the panel, classify the coverage and interpret the pattern, which is what lets a comms team take a defensible view to the board about where the next quarter’s effort should go.
Ready to prove your messages are landing?
- Classify coverage by audience and region, not just by volume
- Track individual messages from release through to published coverage
- Judge every release against agreed criteria rather than after the fact
- Adjust quarterly, on evidence
FAQs
What is message tracking in PR measurement?
Message tracking follows the specific messages an organization sets out to communicate through to the coverage they generate, then assesses whether each one reached its intended audience with enough prominence to register. It answers whether a narrative worked, rather than simply how much coverage appeared.
How did OTTO measure the impact of its communications?
OTTO worked with Onclusive to classify every relevant publication by audience, region and quality, trace individual messages from press release to coverage, and evaluate each release against three agreed criteria. The framework is reviewed quarterly so the strategy can be adjusted while a campaign is still running.
How long does it take to see a shift in brand perception?
It varies by market and by how crowded the message is. In OTTO’s case, recognition as a market leader rose more than sixfold within nine months, while the shift in innovation perception built over roughly two years.
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