Not since the advent of the television ad in 1941 has the potential for new ad formats been so great. The emergence of digital platforms is enabling marketers to experiment with a number of new ad formats, each of which could revolutionize marketing as we know it. Throughout 2014 we have been highlighting the most effective techniques being broadly adopted.

Part VI: Digital Billboard

The billboard (also known as a hoarding outside of the United States) is one of the most iconic advertising forms.  Designed in the early eighteen hundreds to notify the public of upcoming circus performances, its use as an awareness builder for events is still going strong.  Few advertising forms today communicate “NOW” as impressively as a well-executed billboard.

When placed along commuter routes, the built-in frequency from billboards can gently nudge a brand up the awareness continuum, helping a relatively unknown brand vault to the top of a consumer’s evoked set.  And when placed near a retail area, the recency to the shopping event can cue the consumer for a desired purchase decision.

However the short, static nature of billboards has often led to them being pigeonholed into tactical uses within the media plan.  This is similar to the early days of online display advertising when the channel saw little use for strategic messaging such as brand differentiation, new product/feature information, superiority claims and advocacy content.  It wasn’t until the “richer” motion-based display experiences were introduced that the incidence of strategic uses broke double digits and started to approach those of other media such as television.

We see the same trend playing out for digital billboards.  Like static display ads, digital billboards were first promoted for their low cost, speed of deployment, and media planning flexibility.  By eliminating physical printing, start-up costs are minimized and initial designs and subsequent changes to creative can be made more quickly.  And since the cost structure is managed on an impression basis (as opposed to an installation basis) exposure rates can be manipulated across multiple digital billboards to better optimize frequency and reach ratios.  But from a creative standpoint, this type of digital billboard still presents a static viewer experience and therefore the same content density as its traditional counterpart.

Example Digital Billboard with Rotating Static Exposures

 

But brands are now starting to experiment with the dynamic and interactive capabilities of digital billboards.  This new generation holds much promise for elevating the medium into the realm of strategic campaigns.  The following case studies showcase some of the best examples of brands using digital billboards in strategic ways.

 

New Product Feature: Coca-Cola ‘Share-a-Coke’ Australia Launch

 

Brand Differentiation: Forever 21 Times Square

 

Superiority Claim: British Airways

 

Of course digital billboards will still be used for the time-honored tradition of event notification.  Only now they will be shows in themselves!

 

Event Notification: Cirque du Soleil McNamara Airport

 

 

Please contact your MSW●ARS representative to learn more about techniques for evaluating the performance of out-of-home advertising.

Not since the advent of the television ad in 1941 has the potential for new ad formats been so great. The emergence of digital platforms is enabling marketers to experiment with a number of new ad formats, each of which could revolutionize marketing as we know it. Throughout 2014 we will be highlighting the most effective of the techniques being broadly adopted.

Part V: Long-Form Video

In the early days of television, the 60-second ad unit was the standard.  But in the late 1960’s the trend to shorter ad lengths took hold and the proportion of 60-second ads dropped from 100% in 1965 to 21% in 1975 to less than 2% in 1980.  Driven by rising media costs, the majority of television ads in the United States have been 30-seconds with well over one-third being 15-seconds or less.  In many other countries the ratio of ads under 30-seconds is even greater, with 20-second and 10-second ads being popular.

However, longer video ads are staging a dramatic comeback.  Look no farther than America’s premiere advertising platform, the Super Bowl.  In 2009, 23% of Super Bowl ads were 60-seconds or longer.  Fast-forward to 2014 and this percent nearly doubled to 43%.  And in annual best ad lists from USA Today, the Wall Street Journal and AdWeek, videos of 60-seconds, 3-minutes and even longer dominated at the expense of the 30-second spot.  These lists reveal the true driver of the renaissance in long-form video – online viral video.

MSW●ARS research has shown that advertising effectiveness – both CCPersuasion and Related Recall – decrease for shorter ad lengths.  However, this is often more than balanced out by the lower cost of the media buy, making shorter lengths a smart play.  But with online long-form video, the cost variable can drop out of the equation.  An ad can be as long as you want, if you can get consumers to watch it.  The prize for doing so is potentially enormous – and growing.  In fact, comScore recently reported that online video now reaches 85 million daily viewers in the US alone.

While long-form videos are at their heart commercial advertisements in the same way as TV ads, they also fundamentally differ in their delivery mechanism.  While television ads to a large extent play to a captive audience, long-form videos must not only hold viewer attention to avoid being clicked away from, they must also convince viewers to share the video with others.  To do this, these videos must be highly engaging to their audience.

Telling a Story

But this is not necessarily a bad thing.  Being restricted to a 30-second or even 15-second canvas requires compromise.  Larry Dunst once wrote “it’s hard enough to tell a ‘story’ in 60-seconds.  It’s very hard in 30.  In 15 seconds, forget it!”  Long-form’s capacity for effective story-telling has led to the evolution of short films with high production values and top Hollywood talent.  An example is the Johnnie Walker video “The Gentleman’s Wager” featuring Jude Law.  This video entertains and engages while infusing the product throughout and presenting an aspirational lifestyle meant to resonate with target consumers.

Johnnie Walker, “A Gentleman’s Wager”

 

 

Building an Emotional Connection

Long-form is also ideal for incorporating emotion, as it allows for a gradual build-up of tension and can lead viewers to become involved with the characters in a way not possible in standard ad lengths.  An analysis of acclaimed ads from the 2012 Super Bowl revealed that viewers who did not experience an intense emotional connection disengaged from the ad, as seen by a drop-off in interest relative to those with an intense emotional connection.

 M&M’s, “Just My Shell”

 

 

Such a lack of emotional engagement can be fatal to the prospects of a viral ad.  But ensuring viewers don’t click away is not the only advantage of emotional engagement.  Ron Lawner once observed that “successful campaigns have two things in common.  They have the rational message right.  But when they succeed, they also have the emotional message right.”  MSW●ARS research backs Lawner’s observation with one study showing that 60% of “liked” ads out-performed their basic selling proposition in terms of sales-effectiveness, while only 7% of “not liked” ads did so.

 

Emotion is the currency of the greeting card industry.  Yet in their video “World’s Toughest Job”, cardstore.com was able to powerfully evoke an emotional response in a way that was not only fresh and original but also relevant to the brand’s business.

 

Cardstore.com, “World’s Toughest Job”

 

 

On the other hand, feminine protection advertising is more often defined by a focus on functionality.  But in “Like a Girl”, Always sought to associate itself with building girls’ self-esteem at a vulnerable point in their lives in a way that no doubt left a lasting impression on many viewers.

 

Always, “Like A Girl”

 

 

 

Going Viral

By its nature, long-form video must compel viewers to want to share it with others since it depends on viral spread rather than paid placement in order to get in front of consumers.  MSW●ARS has studied viewer engagement using a battery of questions based on Flow Theory.  This approach to measuring engagement rests on five key dimensions:

• Focus & attention
• Loss of self-consciousness
• Altered sense of time
• Intrinsic rewards
• Immersion

The derived engagement score not only explains between 80% and 90% of the variance in buzz metrics (intent to forward and intent to watch again) but also was indicative of actual views on-line as can be seen in the contrast between the highest and lowest scoring videos tested by MSW●ARS.

 

While the number of potential approaches is as unlimited as the human imagination, a novel idea underlies the most successful viral ads.  The idea is so original that viewers want to be associated with it by passing it on to others.  Evian hit on such an approach with its Baby & Me spot, which has registered over 92 million views on YouTube to date.

 

Evian, “Baby & Me”

 

 

 Influencing the Viewer

While it is apparent that long-form videos are not simply longer versions of hard sell approach televisions ads, ultimately they must be able to help the brand sell to justify their continued relevance in a brand’s media strategy.  They must do their part to aid in differentiating the brand in consumers’ hearts and minds.  An effective long-form video can do this through building on the emotional connection between consumer and brand, associating the brand with qualities important to its image, revealing the brand’s values and how they promote them, or even showing the brand in action by solving problems in a way that inspires viewers to share.

 

In the video “Christmas Miracle”, WestJet sets themselves apart from competitors not by touting lower fares, on-time arrivals or network of direct flights.  Rather, the airline goes to amazing lengths to show their care for their travelers in an industry often perceived as heartless (who hasn’t had a frustrating air travel experience?)

 

WestJet, “Christmas Miracle”

 

Through its video “The Scarecrow”, Chipotle not only created a visually striking world for its main character to inhabit, it also infused the story with values the brand wished to be associated with, such as respect for animals, whole foods, initiative and hard work, and doing things the right way.

 

Chipotle, “The Scarecrow”

 

 

To understand whether a long-form video is effectively motivating viewers, MSW●ARS’s Touchpoint Plus platform can be used to assess sales effectiveness.  In fact, one long-form video in excess of 4 minutes in length achieved a 99^th percentile CCPersuasion result indexed versus benchmark.  And given the importance of an emotional connection and effective engagement throughout the length of the video, evaluative techniques based on neuro-scientific research are particular valuable.  For example, facial coding or EEG techniques can give a read on emotional engagement that is temporally discriminating to allow assessment of engagement in the critical early seconds of the video and to identify any segments where there is potential for viewer disengagement.

Please contact your MSW●ARS representative to learn more about techniques for evaluating long-form video formats.

Not since the advent of the television ad in 1941 has the potential for new ad formats been so great. The emergence of digital platforms is enabling marketers to experiment with a number of new ad formats, each of which could revolutionize marketing as we know it. Throughout 2014 we are highlighting the most effective of the techniques being broadly adopted.

Part IV: Culturally Targeted and Inclusive Advertising

In many ways culture is the lifeblood of advertising. By drawing upon cultural cues advertisers can more easily convey emotional and informational content to consumers. And with the rapidly evolving demographics within the United States, making advertising campaigns inclusive has become a high priority. But there is also a potential danger in using culturally charged content. If a cultural reference within mass media does not resonate at least somewhat broadly, the advertising will fall flat or, in extreme cases, may even alienate members of the general audience and lead to social media backlash.

So how can an advertiser reap the reward of either culturally targeted or inclusive advertising without the risk? The secret is a little talked about psychological principle called cultural congruence. Simply put, people are generally most comfortable in receiving and most receptive to messages within the context of their own culture. This has major ramifications for the choices in executional techniques, selling propositions, and casting within the advertising.

To help advertisers navigate around obstacles to these types of campaigns, MSW-ARS Research has released a white paper on the topic, Cultural Congruence and Advertising Effectiveness. Below are two example best practices from the paper.

1. Do not assume that advertising will perform similarly across cultural groups.

For many years it was suggested that advertising effectiveness did not vary much among cultural groups. This was based on lack of statistical significance in the mean values between subgroups exposed to the same advertising. But averages can be deceiving. The table below shows the average response by African American and Caucasian consumers to over two thousand of the same pieces of advertising. While the mean scores are not substantially different, the variation in scores between the groups is significant at the 99% confidence level. In other words, there are differences in which ads performed well and performed poorly among these groups.

2. When attempting to transfer ads between cultural groups, adaptations should be made to ensure the selling proposition resonates with the new group.

Cultural congruence can play a powerful role in the motivating power of a selling proposition. If the insight underlying the selling proposition relies on a cultural association, it will not easily transfer to another group. Or even if the insight is relevant to multiple groups, it may be more difficult to deploy for some groups versus others. This can have a substantial impact on sales effectiveness.

For example, a meta-analysis of thirty-eight US Hispanic targeted ads representing twenty product categories shows how advertising effectiveness varies based on the customization of the selling proposition. Ads were segmented by whether they were specifically created for the Hispanic market (thus drawing upon market specific insights), general market advertising adapted to the Hispanic market (changing elements to make insights more relevant to the Hispanic market), or general market advertising simply dubbed into Spanish. It was found that ads created specifically for the Hispanic market were forty percent more persuasive than those simply adapted for this market and three times as effective as ads dubbed into Spanish.

This same principle holds true for inclusive ads but instead of adapting the selling proposition to each group, a universal need or desire is drawn upon to create a selling proposition that transcends groups. As an example this ad from Chevrolet draws upon the universal desire for safety for one’s family.

 

 

Additional learnings, best practices , and case studies are included in the full white paper.

To receive a complimentary copy of our full Cultural Congruence White Paper, please contact your MSW●ARS representative.