A More Purposeful Use of Norms
In advertising evaluation, as in much of market research, norms are a critical tool that provides valuable context. ‘Your ad scored 27%’ on a particular measure isn’t very helpful, let alone actionable, without a frame of reference – and that’s where norms come in! However, there are a few important caveats around norms that today’s time-pressured business decision makers often fail to take into consideration. First, the usual...
Advertising Effectiveness in Tumultuous Times
The year of 2020 has been a time of tumultuous change, resulting in many dramatic shifts in consumer outlook, attitudes and behaviors. As time has passed, and with no assurance that anything resembling a status quo is on the near-term horizon, keeping a close watch on how brand advertising is working in-market has become more important than ever. In fact, amidst all the change, it’s no longer clear that what resonated and drove brand...
COVID-Era Ads & Brand Love
As brands have responded to the COVID pandemic with ads that have been crafted for the times, some clear trends have emerged. In fact, in the initial period, so many ads have looked and sounded alike, it has been hard to tell them apart. As acknowledged by an ad agency Creative Director: “Everyone’s working from the same brief.” Not surprisingly, while these ads tended to resonate, and even be appreciated by consumers in-market, the...
Is anybody paying attention?
In the US and beyond, advertisers are starting to pay attention to ‘attention – the fact that simply buying ad exposures, or impressions, isn’t enough. If the targeted prospect doesn’t pay attention to the ad, it might as well never have appeared in their field of vision. Within the past year, the ARF has co-sponsored research and published numerous papers on the topic, while in the UK, a consortium of researchers has created The...
Opportunities and Risks in Audio Advertising
If you are an advertiser who wants to reach today’s Millennials, audio platforms – to include old fashioned ‘terrestrial’ radio and newer streaming options and podcasts are a great place to be. As Millennials, along with other age cohorts, increasingly engage with music or other content while they’re on the move, audio has assumed a stronger role in many cross-platform media plans. Of course, the audio environment is hugely...
Super Bowl Advertising through a System 1 Lens
Super Bowl Advertising through a System 1 Lens What if the real winners of the Super Bowl advertising competition weren’t the ones that aired the most original, the funniest, most emotional, most talked about ads? What if the winners weren’t necessarily the ones with the biggest name celebrities or celebrity directors or the biggest production budgets? What if the winners were the ads that actually built the brand in ways that...