News You Can Use

Content Budgets Rise as Measurement Advances-Nearly Half of Marketers Are Spending 20% More on the Discipline

• Posted: October 19, 2015

Kate Maddox summarizes the results of a new report on content marketing by Forrester Research in this Advertising Age article.  According to the report’s author, Ryan Skinner, senior analyst at Forrester Research, marketers have increased their content marketing budgets and have been able to achieve bottom-line measurement of their content marketing programs.

Twenty-five percent of marketers increased their content marketing budgets by 30% or more in 2015 compared to 2014, and 47% of marketers boosted their content marketing budgets by 20% or more.

Skinner attributes the budget increases to:

-The shift from traditional to online media, especially by millennials.

-The use of self-directed research by customers during the purchasing journey.

-The need for valuable, relevant content due to ad blocking.

In addition to increasing these budgets, there is an increased ability to measure the impact of content marketing.

Seventy-five percent of marketers reported positive bottom-line results from their content marketing, including increased customer loyalty, and reduced marketing and media expenses.  In addition, 57% of marketers reported increased revenue and sales.

This article also presents the details of content marketing strategies by SAP and Lenovo. Metrics used by these companies to measure content marketing results include overall impressions and views, time spent engaging with the content, the number of leads generated and sales.

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Despite Obstacles, Programmatic Video Advertising Maturation Advances

• Posted: October 19, 2015

The adoption of programmatic video advertising is expected to grow rapidly over the next 24 months, according to this article, which summarizes some of the conclusions from the eMarketer report, “Programmatic Video Advertising: Poised for Rapid Growth Despite ‘Premium’ Holdouts.”

 

  

 

Programmatic ad dollars will account for only 39% of total US video ad spending this year.  However, growth is expected as a result of better ad quality and an increase in premium inventory.  Current concerns with audience identification, targeting and measurement also need to be resolved.

This article presents eMarketer’s forecast of a triple-digit jump in US programmatic video ad spending in 2015 and a further 84.5% increase in 2016.  By 2017 the portion of programmatic digital video ad dollars will move closer to the broader average for programmatic activity (72%), accounting for 65%, or $7.43 billion.

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Can Multiple New-Product Messages Attract Different Consumer Segments?  Gaming Advertisements’ Interaction with Targets Affects Brand Attitudes and Purchase Intentions

• Posted: October 19, 2015

This article, from the September 2015 issue of the Journal of Advertising Research, analyzes the challenge of launching marketing messages when advertisers want to address two different customer segments for one product offering, where one of the segments is a primary target, and the other is a secondary target.  Frank Alpert, University of Queensland, and M. Kim Saxton, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University, provide insights on whether video-game marketers should leverage different messages for different target segments for the same product.  Their research addressed these questions in the context of print advertisements.

Among their conclusions:

-Two consumer segments can be targeted with the same product as long as advertisements are created to target each segment.

-Advertisements should be released for the primary target first. Then, a complementary advertisement can be launched to attract the secondary segment while reinforcing why the primary target should be interested.

-There is negative backlash when one segment sees its dedicated advertisement, followed by an advertisement for the other segment.

-Yet, perceptions of the product are enhanced if the segment sees the two advertisements as interacting to provide more information.

-Further, this enhancement happened not only from internal processes but also because the advertisements interacted.

The authors provide additional information on their research hypotheses, methodology, results and conclusions, as well as the implications for marketers.

 

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Magazine Industry Guarantees Ad Effectiveness

• Posted: October 19, 2015

The magazine industry has announced an industry-wide initiative to guarantee a return on investment for advertisers investing in magazine ad pages, according to an article on Media Post written by Erik Sass.  If the guaranteed results are not achieved, qualifying advertisers will receive additional free advertising placements.  This program, the “Print Magazine Sales Guarantee” was recently announced by the MPA-The Association of Magazine Media.

Stephen Lacy, CEO of publisher Meredith Corp. and chairman of the MPA, stated, “The Print Magazine Sales Guarantee is a clear and powerful statement that magazine media provides unique value to advertisers. We are confident in our product, its future, and the unique role that print magazines play in our multi-platform ecosystem to drive ROI and lift advertisers’ brand sales.”

This industry-wide initiative extends and formalizes previous programs linking ad placements to sales results by individual publishers, including Meredith, Time Inc., Hearst Magazines, and Conde Nast.

This article also mentions studies cited by the MPA in support of the guarantee, included a meta-analysis by Millward Brown and a neuroscience analysis by Nomos Research.

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An Hour-By-Hour Breakdown of When People Post on Instagram

• Posted: October 13, 2015

Christopher Heine, writing for Adweek presents major findings from a study of Instagram users by Mavrck.  This study analyzed 1.3 million Instagram posts and reveals details of the posts.

This study revealed:

-Marketers might achieve greater engagement with consumers between 6 a.m. and noon.  While posting volume is relatively low during these hours, users are still regularly reviewing their feeds on their smartphones.  There is less competition for their attention during these hours.

-Midnight is the most popular time to post.

-Millennial women between 25 and 40 years old are the best “micro-influencers.”

-The most popular hashtags: #TBT (throwback Thursday) and #WCW (woman crush Wednesday).

-Age matters on Instagram.  Every extra year in age among influencers (people with thousands of followers) correlated to a 0.15% decrease in followers.

For each 1% increase in the number of users they follow, influencers gained a 0.79% increase in followers.

 

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For more on this topic, check out the Advertising Tab in Morning Coffee.

 

 

What Motivates Consumers to Re-Tweet Brand Content? The Impact of Information, Emotion, and Traceability on Pass-Along Behavior

• Posted: October 13, 2015

This article from the September 2015 issue of the Journal of Advertising Research analyzes the cues that influence pass-along behavior (re-Tweeting) of brand messages on Twitter.  Theo Araujo, Peter Neijens, and Rens Vliegenthart, all from the University of Amsterdam, analyzed 19,343 global brand messages over a three-year period, and found that rich information content about the brand and its products were predictors of higher levels of re-Tweeting. Especially effective were product details and links to a brand’s website, social network sites, and photos or videos.

In addition, the authors found that although emotional cues did not influence re-Tweeting on their own, they reinforced the effects of informational cues and traceability cues (hashtags) when combined in the same message.

This article also provides a literature review on the subject, methodology for the study, a presentation of the results, a discussion of the results and findings, managerial implications, limitations and recommendations for future research.

 

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Venmo, BuzzFeed, Tinder, and Snapchat Among The Top 20 Apps with Highest Concentration of Millennials

• Posted: October 13, 2015

Adam Lella, writing for comScore’s Insights blog, summarizes a recent report by comScore, The 2015 U.S. Mobile App Report.  Some of the report’s insights focus on the digital habits of Millennials. Consumers 18-34 exhibit behaviors that differ from the digital behaviors of the general population.

Millennials spend 86 hours per month on mobile apps, which is 23 more hours than older consumers, and this report presents the apps with the highest concentration of Millennials, including:

-Yik Yak

-Venmo

-InstaSize

-BuzzFeed

-Tinder

-Snapchat

 

Most of the ranked apps have a social element to them.

According to Lella, “Perhaps the most important takeway from this analysis might be that Millennials tend to live more digitally-connected lives than older generations do.”

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Millennials: They’re Just Like Us?

• Posted: October 13, 2015

Anne VanderMey, writing for Fortune, examines the spending habits of Millennials (25-to-34-year olds) compared to the spending habits of Boomers, when they were the same age.  She based her research on the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey.

Among the points that VanderMey presents:

-In 1985, the spending of young adults represented approximately 101% of their average earnings. Today, the total average expenditures of young adults represent 91% of their earnings.

-In 1985, Boomers spent 6% less than the average American on apparel.  Last year, Millennials spent 7% more than the average on apparel.

-Young adults in 1985 spent 58% more than the average American on rent.  Last year, Millennials spent 69% more than the average American on rent.

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How to Sell Your Ideas to Millennials

• Posted: October 13, 2015

Ian Altman, a contributor to the Forbes website, spoke with researchers on the subject of Millennials.  Altman points out that each generation’s experiences and perspectives influence their purchasing and behavior, both as customers and as employees.

According to Jason Dorsey, Lead Millennials Researcher at the Center for Generational Kinetics, “…Millennials are not tech savvy but tech-dependent.  This is a huge distinction everyone from managers to marketers needs to know.”

Rayanne Thorn, VP for Marketing, Dovetail Software, and editor for intrepidHR, provides advice on Millennial employees. “They like to adapt and adopt, they have grown up with technology.  Engage with them appropriately and organizations will reap the rewards. . .”

Brad Szollose, author of Liquid Leadership, comments on Millennials and brand loyalty. “Whereas boomers were loyal to brands based on advertising, Millennials are attracted to brands who think and act like they do.  If you are hip enough, Millennials are willing to pay more to be associated with you than with others.”

Altman outlines the additional expectations of Millennials as well as the benefits that this generation offers brands and employers.

 

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How Advertising Works: Building Brands in the Brain

• Posted: October 5, 2015

Gayle Fuguitt, CEO and President of The Advertising Research Foundation, provided an overview of this presentation by Dr. Horst Stipp, EVP, Research & Innovation: Global & Ad Effectiveness at The Advertising Research Foundation.

Dr. Stipp’s presentation, “Improving Ad Creative and Ad Effectiveness Through Neuromarketing Research” included an overview of the evolution of Neuromarketing.

Conclusions from Neuro 1 and 2 research:

-”Strength of neuromarketing methods lies in their ability to uncover emotional reactions better than other methods.”

-Neuro + “traditional” methods can improve the predictive power of an ad test significantly.

Biometric/Neuro methods should be considered for a variety of research needs and business objectives including:

-Ad creative

-Websites

-Packaging

-In-store placement

-Price points

-Product design

-Brand tracking

In addition, eye tracking reveals that viewers pay attention to ads while they fast-forward through commercials.  Eye-tracking and EEG tests enabled the Ad Council to make a campaign message more effective.  In another example, an SST study demonstrated the need to connect entertainment and the branding message in a campaign for Evian.

Dr. Stipp concluded his presentation with these points:

-Neuro research reveals that emotional relevance drives attention, involvement, memory, wanting/liking, and purchase intent.

-Biometrics and neuro research can provide the insights that will result in the delivery of quality creative in a faster, more scalable fashion.

Additional support for the effectiveness of neuro research for advertising campaigns was provided by the following presentations:

“From the Front Lines: Buyers” presented by Daniel Slotwiner, Director, Advertising Research, Facebook; Manvir Kalsi, Senior Manager, Innovation Process & Research, Samsung; Patty Goldman, VP, Research Director, The Advertising Council.

These presenters discussed the emotional engagement and memory activation of custodial and noncustodial fathers in response to the “Father Involvement Campaign.”

“Speed to Scale: Sellers” presented by Dr. Carl Marci, Chief Neuroscientist, Nielsen Consumer Neuroscience, Nielsen; Pranav Yadav, CEO, Neuro-Insight US Inc.

Discussion highlighted the need for the integration of multiple tools to enable ad optimization including: EEG, core biometrics, facial coding, eye tracking and self-reporting.

“The Future: The Investor Perspective” presented by Dave Kohl, CEO, Morgan Digital Ventures, who concluded that “visual insights that make you more money from real people paying attention.”