• Past Event Highlights
• Article

Brand Hacks for Growth During a Time of Crisis (Event Summary)

• YOUNG PROS

In this fascinating presentation, Dr. Emmanuel Probst, SVP of Brand Health Tracking at Ipsos and author of Brand Hacks — How to Build Brands by Fulfilling the Human Quest for Meaning, covered the major thrusts of his book and research and how it relates to the current pandemic. He made sure to impress upon viewers the importance of brands building upon meaning. Since we live in such dark times and consumers are consuming more media, it’s important to convey positive emotions in ads, stand out, be authentic and connect, even daily, to your brand’s purpose. Although if the brand doesn’t have a purpose, that’s okay too.

• Creative & Branded Content
• Article

Choosing Music for Ads: Does a Premium Source Matter?

• M. Anglada-Tort, Technische Univ. Berlin; S. Keller, Pandora; J. Steffens, Düsseldorf Univ. of Applied Sciences; D. Müllensiefen, Goldsmiths Univ. of London
• JOURNAL OF ADVERTISING RESEARCH

Does music in advertising need to come from an expensive source, like a popular performance artist, to make an impact? A European academic-practitioner research team, including a Pandora executive, studied the evaluation process for choosing music in ads, by comparing how professionals and consumers judged the sourcing of music. The differential can potentially prove costly for brands.

• Research & Data Quality
• Article

Unified Measurement Showcase (Event Summary)

• Alice K. Sylvester
• LEADERSHIP LAB

The ARF’s Cross-Platform Measurement Council Attribution Working Group, chaired by Helen Katz of Publicis, issued invitations to many marketing mix and attribution modelers to share blinded case studies involving unified measurement. The goal was to see unified measurement in action, to see the scope of the analyses and the business results associated with the tool.

The Cross-Platform group reviewed submissions and selected six companies to present their case studies.

• Creative & Branded Content
• Article

What Do we Know About AI Driven Creative?

• THE ARF

There have been significant developments in artificial intelligence, such as recent advancements in natural language processing, that make it look appealing for advertising purposes. Indeed, many professionals are considering AI-driven creative tools. Yet, a recent ARF Knowledge Center investigation reveals that this technology simply is not there yet. For now, AI’s best use seems to be optimizing creative for email blasts, digital campaigns and social media advertising.

• Research & Data Quality
• Article

The Organizational Benchmark Survey Database

• THE ARF

Our first, annual benchmark survey looked into the dramatic changes that occurred in advertising and marketing research organizations from 2018-2019. We have delivered a series of reports: the advertiser, agency, research, media & entertainment and consultancy report. Now, the ARF has released the interactive access via a searchable database. Members can interrogate the data and findings themselves and query segmentations such as job title, category, structure, size and investment trends.

• Targets & Segments
• Article

Cheap Giveaways Are a Turnoff, Except When Personalized

• Samuel Stäbler, Tilburg University, Netherlands
• JOURNAL OF ADVERTISING RESEARCH

Companies use promotional giveaways – branded pens, mugs, USB sticks and more — as a way to create awareness and strengthen their brands. Yet, there’s very little empirical research on their effectiveness. A new set of studies shows that consumers react negatively, depending on the quality of the giveaway, but that personalizing the item with the person’s name can help as a targeting strategy.