On April 13, 2023, the ARF hosted a best practices and tips session about how to win an ARF David Ogilvy Award. The ARF held this event to invite and encourage a wider pool of applicants and improve the quality of the entries. Two veteran Grand Jurors, Ann Green, SVP, Client Partner at Kantar and Abby Hollister, Principal at Formative Insights, demystified what constitutes an excellent written explanation and its winning ingredients. Rachel Rodgers, SVP of Creative Excellence at Ipsos introduced and closed the session.
Deepak Varma – Head of Neuroscience Insights, North Asia, South East Asia & Pacific, Kantar
Anna Wilgan – VP Product Marketing, Kantar
According to the latest U.S. Census, between 8 percent and 12 percent of the U.S. population identify as within the LGBTQ+ community, yet this demographic is represented in just 1 percent of advertising. Kantar asked: Is the advertising industry creating ads that will reach this audience, and how can it do better? Insights into these questions came by conducting research using both explicit and implicit measures. Deepak Varma (Kantar) explained the use of explicit and implicit tools that measure reactions to advertising. Explicit measures track enjoyment (of the ad and the brand, asking questions on inclusion and diversity), while implicit measures track involvement or engagement with the ad (i.e., use of facial coding to measure smiles).
The questions ask whether an ad represents a modern and progressive view of society, and whether the ad have a positive effect on those who are underrepresented in advertising. Using Kantar’s global database, “we found that any positive reactions to these two statements means that the ad is progressive both in terms of race and gender.” Then, using facial coding, in the firm’s database of 55,000 ads, Deepak and team found that ads that are more expressive actually lead to a higher potential of sales success and that for ads “that make you smile, people like those ads more.” Two other reaction-time techniques are intuitive associations: “Instead of asking a question, we flash words for 2.5 seconds so that all a participant has to do is agree that the word corresponds to the act…. We wanted to understand at a spontaneous level, is the ad inclusive/diverse, does it provoke any kind of negative reaction.” Bottom line: “What people say and what they feel, especially in as it pertains to LGBTQ+, is different.” Reactions to a Zola ad showing a lesbian couple getting married, and to an Indeed.com ad about a nonbinary person (played by a real-life nonbinary actor) interviewing for a job, supported the following findings.
Key Takeaways
Straight/cisgender respondents’ positive and negative reactions to the ads were within the norms; implicit measures showed greater acceptance than their verbal responses.
Not surprisingly, the majority of survey participants who identify as LGBTQ+ (73%), Gen Z (53%) and millennials (46%) say there needs to be more representation for LGBTQ+. But importantly, more than one-third of Gen Z and millennials said they would stop buying brands that don’t support the LGBTQ+ community.
Authenticity trumps representation in ads: Just showing underrepresented groups has no impact on an ad’s ability to build brand equity or increase short-term sales. But showing underrepresented groups in a positive way, meaning in progressive, non-stereotyped ways that tell a meaningful, accurate story about, for example, day-to-day life experiences (like getting married and interviewing for a job), can dramatically accelerate both immediate sales lift and long-term brand equity. If you cast a celebrity, make sure they’re true/authentic to their role. This supports previous research (Garretson, 2018) that exposure to positive media portrayals increase acceptance of LBGTQ+ people.
In terms of theme, make sure you understand what you’re talking about. Use humor carefully. Empathy, authenticity and having the community as part of the creative process is key. Connect your creative with concrete examples of how your business is supporting LGBTQ+.
How can the use of colors and design elements improve the effectiveness of ads? New research provides a different blueprint for graphic designers, depending on whether the ad is functional or experiential.
Editors at the Journal of Advertising Research have launched two new calls for papers on timely themes — one on immersive technologies and the other on prosocial advertising messages. Interested in contributing your robust work in these areas? Read on to learn about goals for each call and the journal’s resources and support toward submitting a successful paper.
The event addressed how diversity in advertising is evolving. Consumers want to buy from companies that commit to diversity but mere representational presence in ads is not enough. Brands that produce creative that is authentic in context, and elicits emotion from consumers, will garner loyalty and ROI. Leaders from Microsoft and Kantar shared how we can collectively understand nuances better to debunk stereotypes and empower all groups of people.
The boldest and brightest minds joined us November 14 - 17 for Attribution & Analytics Accelerator 2022—the only event focused exclusively on attribution, marketing mix models, in-market testing and the science of marketing performance measurement. Experts led discussions to answer some of the industry’s most pressing questions and shared new innovations that can bring growth to your organization.
Talking M&Ms, Mr. Peanut, the Michelin Man and the Pillsbury Doughboy are among the most popular anthropomorphic product characters, many of which we remember since childhood. A new study asks: How can a brand that uses this popular communication strategy avoid the negative impact of consumer ethnocentrism—the belief that buying foreign products is wrong—when entering foreign markets?
As charity fundraising becomes more competitive, the imagery used in crowdfunding campaigns requesting help for victims can make the difference between higher or lower donations. Evidence from new research shows that campaigns with images that show victims as helpless attract fewer donations than those showing victims helping themselves.
Artificial intelligence is already changing advertising, but how will it reshape it moving forward? Researchers unpack the potential effects of three different forms of AI—analytic, interpretive and creative—on seven categories of advertising industry stakeholders. Can those who embrace the evolving creative AI mechanisms get ahead of competitors?
