effectiveness

What is Creative Effectiveness and Why is it Important?

• Posted: June 13, 2023

Carolyn Murphy of WARC began her session on stimulating and measuring creativity by diving into the relationship between creativity and effectiveness. While the link between creativity and effectiveness is backed by a strong body of research, the focus on the importance of creativity has waned recently, with the rise of digital commerce, performance marketing and retail media networks. Carolyn suggested that marketers and advertisers regain the focus on the value and benefits of creativity in newly emerging channels, which was backed by more recent research. Carolyn noted that creative is not a replacement for an ad budget, but a way to “supercharge” the effectiveness of that campaign. Success is likely when “when creative is married with your overall strategic planning, in a media plan that’s comprehensive.” To provide a framework for success, WARC, James Hurman and Peter Field created the Creative Effectiveness Ladder. This six-tiered model scales around how to measure your creative to see what effective outcome it will have.

A Brand’s Perspective: Building a Measurement Strategy Around Attention Metrics

• Posted: June 13, 2023

Marc Guldimann of Adelaide interviewed Laurel Van Tassel on Anheuser-Busch InBev’s use of attention metrics. Laurel said she sympathized with those who spoke during panel discussion about viewability. When she was with GoupM she said they were buying on viewability and the CPMs were very expensive. When she arrived at ABI they split their strategy into finding new users and retention. Their focus on attention began with the need for retention. “We knew if we wanted to start attention testing, we wanted to leave our creative and data strategies the same and only have media be the variable that we’re optimizing against.”

YP Share Group – Managing Remotely (Up, Down and Sideways)

• Posted: June 9, 2023

The focus of the ARF’s Managing Remotely Share Group was how to effectively communicate up to a team leader, down to a direct report or laterally with other team members. Cole Strain, Head of Measurement Solutions at Pinterest shared his strategies and experience with remotely managing people and projects. Following the presentation, attendees joined small moderated breakout sessions where they discussed personal and professional challenges while working remotely, including creative ways to connect, a new work/life balance, and how to continue these practices if or when there is a return to the office.

The Relevance and Power of Context in Today’s Media Environment

• Posted: June 9, 2023

The ARF Cognition Council presented an event focused on advertising within news content and context effects in programmatic buying. The first panel presented research on the effectiveness of advertising within news content on television and online, drawing from available qualitative, quantitative, and neuroscience evidence. The second panel delved into the potential opportunity for the context in which an ad is placed to be used in programmatic buying as the third-party cookie becomes less important.

Where Has All the Advertising Gone?

• Posted: June 8, 2023

This Insights Studio hosted one of the industry’s brightest minds, Orlando Wood, Chief Innovation Officer at System1 Group and author of the best-selling book Lemon (IPA, 2019). Wood presented a unique combination of neuroscience, cultural history and advertising research to describe a change in advertising style that has occurred over the last 15 years and link this to falling advertising effectiveness. The event also featured a moderated discussion with Janet Hull OBE, Director of Marketing Strategy at IPA and Scott McDonald, Ph.D., CEO and President of the ARF.

What is the Value of Time in Advertising? (Part II: Implications of Value Research for Industry)

• Posted: June 8, 2023

The ARF’s Town Hall, Part 2, on the value of time in advertising highlighted the thinking of buy-side leaders, Denise Campbell, Chief Marketing Officer, AbbVie, Joanne Leong, VP, Director, Global Media Partnerships, Dentsu Aegis Network, and Christina (Chrissie) Hanson, Global Chief Strategy Officer, OMD Worldwide on the ideas presented at last week’s Town Hall. Additionally, Scott McDonald, Ph.D., President & CEO, ARF, shared findings from an ARF Attention Survey, as well as providing his feedback on the issues and challenges relating to attention metrics. The ensuing discussion focused on the use of attention as a major currency metric and the business implications of the latest time-duration research. Cesar Brea, Partner, Bain & Company, served as the moderator and introduced the Town Hall by discussing the reasons why the industry is very interested in an attention-based currency as a basis for investment.

• Research & Data Quality
• Article

ATTENTION 2023

On June 7, 2023, attention economy experts came together in NYC to share case studies and participate in engaging discussions on the attention measurement landscape. Plus, attendees heard a recap of the issues debated at AUDIENCExSCIENCE and an update on Phase I of the ARF Attention Validation Initiative, an empirically based evaluation of the rapidly developing market for attention measurement and prediction.

What Does AI Mean for Advertising Research?

• Posted: June 6, 2023

We’ve all heard about the growing use of artificial intelligence in advertising research and doom and gloom predictions that it will knock out jobs, but is this really the case? Agency leaders joined us for an ARF Town Hall to discuss the upsides and possible downsides of generative AI, as well as how they’re utilizing it in their businesses to boost efficiency. Attendees heard predictions on how AI will change the business model of advertising and what it could mean for media agencies.

Audio Rituals: Seismic Shifts in the Media Landscape

• Posted: June 2, 2023

In this session, Idil Cakim (Audacy) and Devora Rogers (Alter Agents) presented some findings from research they conducted together in uncovering the “rituals of humans” pertaining to their audio consumption. In this study, audio content could include audiobooks, podcasts, sounds (nature), music, etc. These rituals often included tasks being performed while listening (e.g., cooking, exercising, commuting, walking, etc.), but also the ritual experience could be the audio itself, opening up many opportunities for advertisers to reach audiences. Beginning her discussion, Idil acknowledged the massive changes that have taken place in audio over the past few years. Their methodology embraced a variety of approaches which included a quantitative nationally represented survey, ethnographies through mobile diaries and a qualitative approach using a 45-minute in-depth interview. Both Idil and Devora presented findings from their study which provided deep insights into the ritualized and often personal nature of audio content. This provides many unique opportunities to connect with consumers through targeting the ritual (e.g., school drop off, prepping for sports, cooking, etc.).

Getting LGBTQ+ Representation Right in Advertising

• Posted: May 31, 2023

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).