The consolidation of digital marketing, the appearance of neuromarketing and the evolution of marketing itself have been challenged to improve their strategies, optimise budgets and maximise the effectiveness of advertising campaigns and stimuli. These new tools and methodologies came to the market researcher's mind to help them to decode in greater depth the behaviour of consumers, by providing brands with better and greater information to reduce risk in decision-making. Being able to measure the biometric impact (unconscious response) of a marketing stimulus on consumers was one of the main advances in this sector.
This research has been a key contributor to our Global Media Transformation. Helpings us shift from a Mass Reach Big brand story telling approach to adding a complimentary model of reaching consumers with signals in those digital moments that matter.3 takeaways:- Understand how to use behavioural science to nudge consumers in the digital moments that matter.- Do your brands need to be able to stand out in the crowd? Do you need to measure marketing effectiveness in the moment?-Get inspired to build a research plan that allows you to take behavioural insights straight into action.
Is it possible to test whether branded content met its campaign objectives? See how the BBC combined the latest in emotion tracking tech with devilish psych methods to product a new research tool that is taking the advertising world by storm. In 2017 we set out to create the SOE (Science of Engagement) Toolkit; a new campaign effectiveness tool for content marketing. A tool that focused on measuring emotion, and correlating the emotional effects with change in subconscious brand association.
Is it possible to test whether branded content met its campaign objectives? See how the BBC combined the latest in emotion tracking tech with devilish psych methods to product a new research tool that is taking the advertising world by storm.
Coca-Cola, as one of the global sponsors of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, engaged in discussions with BrainJuicer to develop and implement a tool for the continuous tracking of their integrated communication plans, which would be able to measure the effectiveness and contribution of each campaign, of each medium within the campaigns, and their impact on brand equity and consumption. This presentation demonstrates how an emotional approach to measuring campaign effectiveness was able to produce actionable results which allowed Coca-Cola to optimise their strategies, understand the importance of different media for campaigns as well as quickly react to extreme market conditions, focusing on relevant brand indicators that translated what was happening in the market in a powerful way.
Last month, the United States elected the first African American ever to the office of President. He was not elected because of his race, but because he ran a campaign that was so disciplined, broad and deep that it touched the culture, emotions and context of people's lives in a way that had not been seen since FDR. Brand Obama was perhaps that best executed campaign that we have seen in the last half century. Period. Its architecture, messaging, imagery and sheer reach, using both traditional and new media, was breathtaking. Its ability to energise people and to call them to action was the dream of any Madison Avenue executive. Across the articles in this issue, you will find clarion calls for innovation and imagination in the way that we approach understanding consumers and citizens in these unsettled times.
The effect of radio spots/radio campaigns on advertising recall, brand awareness and inclination to buy has been adequately demonstrated in numerous studies based on the most diverse of research tools and analysis models. The toughest test of a radio campaigns success, however, is measuring the additional sales it generates for the advertised brand. It has been possible for some years now to study the sales impact of TV campaigns based on analyses of single source panels. The launch of AC Nielsen Single Source PLUS Radio in spring 2000 allows the efficacy of German radio campaigns to be evaluated. This analysis tool is capable of providing a detailed evaluation of the effectiveness of a radio campaign, based on the parameters of spot effectiveness, insertion effectiveness and campaign effectiveness. The results of analyses performed to date on radio campaigns indicate that the influence factors in radio campaigns are broadly comparable with those at work in TV campaigns. Findings from single-source research also confirm that insertion strategies based on recency planning are particularly effective.
Utilizing the basis of the very complex automobile market in Germany, the effects created by radio advertising in a media-mix will be demonstrated. The essential effects of an advertising campaign can only be proven in psychologically defined target groups. The study also shows that small amounts of broadcast spending can achieve a considerable impact in very difficult markets. The study, based on a survey of January and February 1997 also shows that the usual indications of advertising effects of demographically defined target groups incompletely describe these effects.
Traditionally, attitude research has been done by surveys rather than experiments. In part, this is a function of management regarding experiments as risky; they want certainty. This is unfortunate because experiments permit direct observation of cause and effect relationships, while surveys only permit correlations. Our definition of brand equity is the incremental price that a customer will pay for a brand versus a comparable product without the brand name on it. The mechanics of measurement involve randomly dividing customers into different cells and then exposing them to the test brand in the context of one or more competitors. The price of the test brand is manipulated from cell to cell in such a way that the consumer has no knowledge what the test brand is nor that price is a variable. While the basic design is elegantly simple, well thought through decisions are required regarding customers, competition, price levels, frequency of measurement, sample size, and units of measurement. In selecting customers it is critical to select those who are responsible for generating the greatest profits for the brand. In selecting competitors, one has to consider not just those within the category, but, often, those outside the category. In selecting price levels, the further apart the price points, the easier it is to discriminate. However, too large an increase may shift the brand into a different category. In determining the frequency of measurement, it is necessary to consider the dynamics of the category and how long it takes for management to respond to a problem, i.e., the deterioration of brand equity. Similarly, sample size should be partially determined by how quickly a response can be developed if a problem is identified. While typically the units of measurement will be dollars, for some categories time and distance may be appropriate surrogates. The output of brand equity research based on experimental design can help in making pricing decisions, assessing the effectiveness of a promotional campaign and of an advertising campaign, and in determining if a brand is strong enough to support line extensions.
Press evaluation research has been dominated by readership surveys, which aim to identify audience size, composition and reading habits. This type of research provides information for media buyers, but provides little, if any, insight into overall campaign effectiveness. As press advertising begins to play a more important role in the marketing mix of many brands, there will be a greater need for "holistic" quantitative evaluation of campaigns, in terms of how the execution and medium work together in achieving the desired strategic objectives for the brand. This paper explores the possible nature of such an holistic research approach and highlights factors of importance to be taken into account when designing quantitative press campaign evaluation studies. These factors are based on the knowledge gained within Research International from developing and qual-testing press ads, and conducting pre and post press evaluation studies, as well as from findings from the first stage of an exploratory development project undertaken late last year. The paper is divided into three parts. Firstly, the paper illustrates the context within which press advertising may work. This in turn demonstrates the need for research techniques designed specifically for press campaigns. The second part of the paper summarises the main findings from the initial qualitative stage of development research, involving observation and depth interviews with readers defined as "active" in particular product areas. This research provided further understanding of how people read and perceive magazines/newspapers, and the impact that this has on their reactions to, and use of, press advertising. The final part of the paper puts forward an hypothesis on the relevance of the existing quantitative approaches used in press advertising evaluation and audience research, and details a new approach which will improve the relevance and reliability of evaluation data. The two conclusions of the paper are that, i) in many ways, press advertising represents a far more complex area for research than TV advertising, and consequently, one which justifies a more tailor-made approach than is currently the norm, and ii) both TV and press research methods currently undervalue (or under-address) the issues of media context and audience disposition.
All too often there is a gulf between research theory and practice, and market place reality, in what constitutes effectiveness in marketing communications. However, importantly, in bringing the two closer together there are a number of basic principles about the way promotional communications work, and the way research can help to make communications perform better, which are universal. In practice, only about 1% of the average campaign spend actually works, largely because decisions on how to communicate are all too often made subjectively, or inadequately researched. The situation is not helped by the fact that there is still a wide-spread belief that advertising is about changing awareness and imagery' and sales promotion' is about changing behaviour (ie shifting product). But all communications have to change attitude' before they can expect to change behaviour, and it is only through appropriate research than one can obtain a reliable understanding of how successfully - or otherwise - a proposed or actual promotional campaign succeeds in pre-disposing' people to respond. It is in this area, and understanding how more of the target market might have beens' could have been persuaded to become converts', that research can be of immeasurable help. Much of the help here can derive from more enlightened' pre and post testing - with research demonstrating a better diagnostic understanding of, and attention to, target markets' susceptibilities (ie why people think and behave the way they do, and how they could be persuaded to think and behave differently). This is readily achievable, but to be of maximum help research needs to polish up both its image and its practice.
The EPI method, developed by the author, is a new research technique with different applications in the marketing field, such as the determination of the image of a company, a product, a brand or a person; the definition of a communication axis; as well as the evaluation of attitude changes resulting from product testing or of an advertising campaign. The example developed to determine the image of the banks and savings banks in Spain from the young student's perspective, clearly demonstrates the versatility and possibilities of the EPI method.