The path of sound credence is through the thick forest of skepticism

Background of the case

Global Development Network (GDN) is an international organization which was founded in 1999 and
was primarily involved in supporting research in economics and social sciences in developing countries.
Currently it has developed into a network that connects researchers and development research institutes
globally. GDN has initiated a research to policy project for Sub-sahran Africa and South Asia. The project
was launched in 2011 at a workshop in London. The project aimed at informing the policy makers about
the effectiveness of the policies in the two regions.
Tuhin Sen, the lead strategist at GDN, disaggregated the outreach strategy and modified the mode of
delivery as per target audience (TA). The outreach programs had primary objective to create an effective
outreach format, Identify the relevant TA, evaluate the medium of communication and measure the
impact of communication. The research was disseminated to the TA via augmented abstracts, augmented
search and hierarchical content. GDN has divided its Target Audience in four levels, the primary TA( the
policy makers at the federal level),secondary TA( international developmental organizations and
influencers in the development field), tertiary TA(academicians, national and international media an civil
society organizations) and influencer TA ( sub-PhD level students). In order to reach to these TA within
varied geographies, GDN had devised a hybrid channel strategy. This included the traditional media such
as publications, policy briefs, workshops and seminars along with newer communication channels like
cyber media, electronic media, documentaries and mobile telephone. In 2012, at an interim workshop in
Paris, GDN facilitated the discussions among different countries to share its progress made on research
papers.
GDN realized the importance of easy and wide outreach using digital media which made them to invest
heavily on their website. Thus the channel of communication was dominated by modern media. The
modern media primarily comprised of Google PPC ads, ads on facebook, and the PR Web Activities.
Senior policy makers had an easy access of mobile computing platforms hence the Project Management
Team (PMT) of GDN emphasized on applications for iPhone, iPad, Android Applications and Kindle
Fire. Also the PMT made use of YouTube and Flickr to further augment its outreach.
The advertising actives of GDN were conducted in three phases. The aim of this advertising campaign
was to maximize traffic to the website of GDN and to drive participation. Since the TA were spread across
the geographies, GDN also publicized in North American Outlets,UK, Europe, and Middle East .

Presently Mr.Tuhin and Mr.George are into evaluating the experience of the last project and to learn and
improve their communication program for the next project. Tuhin Sen, was wondering if the outreach
strategy was appropriate and how it would have been better.

Challenges
GDN here is tasked with the distribution and extent its outreach for policy papers to different target
audience across vast geographies which are different in many aspects. This creates a unique problem of
devising a strategy of targeting such diverse audience different areas around the globe. This also becomes
a greater challenge due to the nature of product in question, i.e. Credence good. Credence goods are those
whos utility or impact cannot be directly measured by the consumer and their goodwill is often measured
by the price point or an expert recommendation. Thus, the primary challenge here is to establish the
credibility of their offering, i.e. research papers published by GDN, among the audience. Also the mix of
target audience is very niche and unique in their own-self, creating further challenge in designing the
communication mix. The challenge in communication comes in the form of selection of tool, nature of
message and vehicles.

Analysis and Recommendation

1. In the case (Exhibit 1) it is to be noted CTR of Reuters was low (0.12) in Phase I and hence
impression on this channel was dropped in the subsequent phases. CTR was low for Foreign Policy:
Final (0.06) and foreign policy (0.03) in phase I. Due to the low CTR, it should not have been used as
a channel for Phase III( 0.03). They should have used the budget prudently to increase the outreach
though Media Ads. They could have used CNN (CTR: 0.24) in lieu to Foreign policy. Detailed
Calculations of the increase in no. of clicks is as follows :
Sl.n
o

Communication
Medium

Budget
Allocated
(USD)

CPI
( USD)1

No.of
impressions

CTR

No. of Clicks

Foreign Policy

10,000

800,000

0.03

24,000

CNN

10,000

0.012
5
0.023

4,19,294

0.24

1,00,615

2. From Exhibit 3, we understand that he CTR of iPAD is sufficiently high (0.45) as compared to
display banners (300 X 250) (CTR: 0.15). GDN can reallocate the budget by decreasing the no. of
Impressions for Display Banners and Increasing the same for iPAD Banners.
3. To further increase the outreach among tertiary and influencer target audiences GDN should go for
both print and digital magazines. These channels should focus on agricultural institutes and
departments.

1 CPI is estimated by using exhibit 2 and exhibit 3.

4. Assuming that there exists a database of Target Audience, GDN can leverage it for
direct marketing. The country teams of GDN should involve in specific activities of sending emails
and following up with the target audience.
5. The research output is a Credence Good. Its impact is difficult or impossible for the

consumer to ascertain. Hence people go for Price-Quality relationship i.e.

they judge the quality based on the price. But in this case, price is not a relevant factor.
Therefore, GDN should get the research output validated by external reputed reviewers. Their
testimonials should then be flashed on websites & printed on magazines/newspapers to help
customers gauge the quality.