MSW’s RDE Analytic Framework rests on a study that found that three equity dimensions (Relevance, Differentiation, Emotion) are responsible for driving a significant portion of brand growth. The RDE composite strongly relates to – and helps explain – CCPreference which itself is a validated predictor of market share.

Comparing RDE Assessment taken before the pandemic to comparable assessment from May 2021 reveals one brand in the Subscription Video Streaming Services category that has emerged as a winner – HBO Max.

• HBO Max was launched in May 2020 well after the COVID pandemic was underway. It essentially replaced the previous HBO streaming service, HBO Now, but with a huge amount of new content from a variety of WarnerMedia brands.
• Despite RDE levels being generally depressed as a result of the pandemic, HBO Max RDE levels easily surpass HBO Now pre-pandemic levels.
  • HBO Max easily outstrips HBO Now on all three RDE dimensions.
  • HBO Max is particularly strong in terms of relevance meaning that SVOD consumers feel that the HBO Max service is for someone like them.

• HBO Max also far exceeds HBO Now in terms of CCPreference – the percent of consumers preferring HBO Max over competitors in the subscription streaming services category. This suggests that HBO Max should be performing well in the marketplace. How has it done?
• HBO Max’s strength is its large and varied TV and movie catalog. In addition, Warner Brothers has been releasing its 2021 movies on HBO Max simultaneous with the theatrical release which has proven very popular.
  • At the end of the first quarter of 2021, HBO and HBO Max totaled 44.2 million domestic subscribers – far exceeding the 33.1 million subscribers a year ago (before HBO Max).
  • A report from Reelgood indicated HBO’s share of streaming activity rose from 2.0% in Q1 of 2020 (pre-HBO Max) to 12% in Q4 2020, placing HBO Max ahead of Disney+ and behind only Netflix, Prime Video and Hulu.
• This success – mirrored by extremely strong CCPreference growth – has come despite a soft launch which slowly added support for many popular streaming devices, the COVID pandemic and accompanying economic downturn, and ever-increasing competition in the streaming video space.

The RDE composite is strongly related to brand preference in this category, with a correlation of 0.96

Smart cookie-blocking technology led by Apple’s Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) and Firefox’s Enhanced Tracking Protection (ETP) now block third-party cookies by default, and even Google’s Chrome will soon get controls that let consumers block cookies. Browser-level blocking, third-party ad-blocking apps, and new regulations like GDPR and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) are quickly relegating the old cookie to the internet dustbin.

Most digital marketing plans are built upon the use of personalized targeting enabled by cookies.  To enable these, companies will have to disclose every specific, possible use of their information by marketers.  Marketers are either going to obtain this opt-in on a narrowly defined use basis, or, form very specific consumer panels, or not pursue obtaining it at all to spare the risk involved.  One lawsuit in California for misuse could bankrupt a company.

While there are various digital techniques that do not require cookies that will be used, the consensus from those on the front lines is:

• ​Privacy first in all creative development, delivery and measurement
• ​Relevance without being personal (and creepy)
• ​Engaging targets (there are messages that you won’t have to micro-target to be relevant)
• ​Ad environments will become more important
• ​Effective reach will be a critical measure
• ​Good measurement, probabilistic models (rather than individual cookies) complemented by strong planning. (‘Everything old is new again’ stated by more than one panelist).
• ​Testing creative is a must
• ​Set a high bar for creative ads
• ​Content is where the focus will be

MSW provides an alternative to a post-cookie world…

• ​Test content before going to market
• ​Effective creative enables you to be relevant without targeting each individual
• ​Targeting research will be more critical than ever to successful creative
• ​MSW has unique measurement and analytic tools to develop your segments, targets and positioning
  • No advertising campaign can be created without a strong foundation in these three areas
  • Our probabilistic models are predictive and validated
  • Our accompanying models are build to include effective reach
  • Our models recognize various ad environments and platforms

​Contact us today and let’s talk about the implications for your brand in a Post-Cookie world.

News Release                                       FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MSW-ARS’s Copy Test Solution, TouchPoint® Completes MASB Independent Metric Audit

Lake Success, NY, February 15, 2018 – MSW-ARS announced today that their advertising research solution, TouchPoint has completed the Marketing Metric Audit Protocol (MMAP), the formal process for validating the relationship between a marketing measurement and financial performance as established by the Marketing Accountability Standards Board (MASB).

Using TouchPoint MSW-ARS is able to measure, forecast and optimize advertising messages – for individual ads as well as full multi-execution campaigns across a variety of media types. The MMAP audit assessed the Touchpoint CCPersuasionâ metric against ten ideal characteristics, including relevance, predictability and objectivity.

According to MASB, “The MSW-ARS copy testing system, TouchPoint, provides quantitative prediction of the likelihood and magnitude of ad impact on future sales volume and market share.”

Allan Kuse, MASB Director and Advisor to the MMAP Center, noted, “CCPersuasion is the first metric to complete a re-audit after substantial methodological changes. Not only did the re-audit verify the results of their 2009 assessment, it documented additional capabilities such as capturing how price premiums impact advertising-driven brand choices.”

Tony Pace, MASB President and CEO, added, “We commend MSW•ARS Research for their on-going commitment to independent assessment and review. This newest assessment of CCPersuasion proves that marketing metrics can evolve with the changing needs of the industry without being compromised. The MMAP audit gives marketers confidence that the metrics they use continue to be both relevant and predictive over time.”

MSW-ARS’s patented measure of brand preference – CCPreference – also completed the MMAP audit in 2016.

Art Klein, Managing Partner of MSW•ARS said, “By submitting both our TouchPoint and CCPreference measures to MASB for audit, we are able to demonstrate independent validation and importantly, recognition of our measure as an exemplar.  MASB had already chosen to use CCPreference in their own extensive research culminating in their Brand Investment & Valuation Model. CCPreference has exhibited the strongest relationship to sales performance of all metrics reviewed by MASB in that research, explaining nearly 90% of variation in brands’ market shares.  This review built upon that work to verify the predicting of financial outcomes for advertising before launch.”

Doug Crang, Senior Director of Research at MSW-ARS added, “The MASB MMAP audit provided the opportunity to benchmark our TouchPoint copy testing system against the marketing industry’s most comprehensive and rigorous set of standards for marketing metrics, and we couldn’t be more pleased with the results.  The TouchPoint system’s criterion CCPersuasion measure is built on the foundation of the patented and previously audited CCPreference metric. In fact, CCPreference is a common metric running throughout the range of MSW-ARS solutions from early stage creative development through copy testing and creative and brand health tracking, providing marketers with a unique ability to better connect research from one stage of the advertising process to the next.”

About MSW-ARS, Inc.

MSW-ARS offers a product suite that evaluates, quantifies and optimizes the impact of advertising messages and campaigns comprised of any combination of touch points, including television, print, radio, outdoor and digital.  MSW-ARS helps marketers build brands by providing world class research solutions in the following areas: brand strategy, all stages of creative development from early concept to fully finished ads, campaign evaluation across all marketing and media channels, advertising and brand equity tracking, media planning and strategy, return-on-investment, and forecasting.  The company provides solutions and consulting to marketers across traditional and digital marketing including: media mix optimization, media budget allocation, media and message connection, channel selection, digital media and emerging platforms.

MSW-ARS has a roster of marquee clients representing virtually every product category, including: Consumer Packaged Goods, Retail, Financial Services, Telecommunications, Technology, Automotive, and Pharmaceutical industries.

About MASB, the Marketing Accountability Standards Board

MASB is an organization of top-tier marketers, measurement providers, industry associations and business academics devoted to establishing and advancing accountable marketing practices that drive business growth with tools like the MMAP Metric Catalog and the Continuous Improvement in Return Assessment. For more information, visit themasb.org or email info@themasb.org.