A quick reference for information on a wide range of industry subjects from fundamental to leading edge.
Advertising has always been part of the cultural zeitgeist. But today, brands must always be aware of social issues. This is due to the breakneck speed at which social media and online platforms move. The cost of ignorance can be swift and severe. Negative brand adjacency doesn’t just damage a brand’s reputation. It can have a direct impact on its bottom line as well. Read More.
Proclaiming that one commercial length is “more effective” than another oversimplifies this relationship. Research shows that telling an engaging and motivating brand story, as well as aligning the message with the campaign situation and desired objectives, have far more influence on ad effectiveness than creative length. Compelling, effective advertising comes in all sizes, from five seconds to a few minutes. Also, creative and placement factors affect ads differently by length. Ultimately, ad length matters but the relationship is clearly nonlinear. Read more.
Marketers have become increasingly aware of how important it is to understand the characteristics and dynamics of the Hispanic market – the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population. But what are the Hispanic segment’s media behavior and ad receptivity? Read more.
The accelerating pace of digital disruption is transforming the TV industry, giving consumers more choices and ways to view programming than ever before. What’s the impact on the industry? What new tools does OTT offer marketers? Read more.
Today, platforms such as PC’s and smartphones make it possible to reach consumers with print, audio, and video messages in new ways. So, how do we define the ad forms usually referred to as “native,” and what are the best practices? This Knowledge at Hand on native advertising explores answers to these questions and offers a recommendation for marketers going forward.
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Some say Artificial Intelligence is a broad field that includes everything from simple if-then rules for playing Checkers to complex ensembles of deep neural networks for piloting autonomous vehicles. In marketing, AI is a term that is applied to several very different techniques and functions. However, the bigger questions are: how do you best implement AI and what are the commercial solutions? Read More.
Does advertising context affect consumers’ perceptions and response to the advertising? If so, how does context affect ad performance? Ignoring context, whether it’s a message adjacent to an ad, the media platform/brand, the device, or when the ad is delivered, can be risky. In fact, context is likely to impact ad performance – positively or negatively – as six decades of research show. Read More.
TV advertising wearout has bedeviled marketers for decades. At what point does a TV ad lose its potency? Or the reverse – how much media weight is needed before a TV ad starts to wear in and impact the business? Does it vary by category? No matter the outcome, it’s key to remember is that while individual commercials may fade, a strong advertising strategy rarely loses its luster. Read More.
The decision to scale back or eliminate the advertising budget is never easy for marketers and to “go dark” can have various causes, from a broad economic recession to narrower industry or company-specific revenue or growth challenges. Whatever the cause, “going dark” has both short- and long-term implications. Read More.
The number of consumers starting surveys on their smartphones has grown more than 8x the rate of the industry’s growth. Yet drop-offs rates are 20% higher than on PC. The ARF has developed guidelines to overcome this challenge and optimize mobile survey responses. Read More.