Emily Kwok – Senior Director, Ad Experience Measurement, NBCU
NBCU’s Mike Levin and Emily Kwok tested brand safety in premium video content from a viewer perspective in their research using NBCU’s proprietary AI tech for automating brand safety and suitability decision making. The study’s three objectives asked whether increasingly violent episodes influence viewers’ experiences, if they then assign blame to marketers for knowingly advertising in explicit or violent content, and if there are specific instances where adjacency affects viewer sentiment towards an ad.
Measuring unconscious response to nine episodes across two seasons tagged with three levels of risk, facial coding and eye gaze technology, complemented by traditional surveys, captured the impact on a nationally representative sample of 1,800 respondents.
Finding that violent episodes maintained stable levels of attention, the study also determined that traces of negative emotion were scarcer in the more violent episodes.
Key Takeaways
From the mildest episodes to the most violent, viewer attention remained stable. Attention to high risk episodes measured in at 51.5%, with attention to low-risk episodes at 51.4%.
Viewers don’t attribute blame to advertisers. “There’s more reward than risk,” according to Emily. Viewers tend to enjoy brands that are sponsoring the content they love, controversial or not—8 in 10 agree that they don’t distrust brands that advertise in graphic TV shows.
Several rare cases where gratuitous violence immediately preceding an ad break did carry negative sentiment into the first seconds of the ad.
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+.
Heather Coghill – VP, Audience, Warner Bros. Discovery
Daniel Bulgrin – Director, Research Operations & Insights, MediaScience
Heather Coghill (WBD) and Daniel Bulgrin (MediaScience) shared methodologies and results from two in-lab studies that sought to understand how impactful category priming can be without brand mention and if viewers associate brands with adjacent unsuitable content.
Their presentation focused on two types of contextual effects within program context—“excitation transfer” and “brand priming”.
To see if these effects carried over to ad content through excitement or brand recognition in the content, the research team utilized distraction-free viewing stations that enabled neurometrics and facial coding followed by post-exposure surveys. Impact on brand perception was measured with lifts in brand attitude, attention and memory.
Results showed brand priming did change how viewers experienced the ad by lifting brand recognition, with stronger effects in heavier ad loads. The research also concluded that although brands are not harmed by adjacency to perceived unsuitable content, context effects still need to be considered.
Key Takeaways
Even moderate category primes can push through effects, despite modest impact, in both linear and CTV. Category priming in streaming with limited ads impacted middle and lower funnel metrics, with 31% of viewers noticing a connection between the ad and the program.
Although viewers agreed that low intensity “unsuitable” content was most acceptable for advertisers, there were no adverse effects as intensity levels increased—all levels were deemed suitable for advertisers, with no significant differences in brand recall or purchase intent.
More research is required to understand what is unsuitable for brands. The current guidelines are based on what is thought to be unsuitable—not social science.
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.
Kantar’s Deepak Varma presented research on racial representation in advertising which sought to understand consumer reactions to single race ads compared to multi-racial and diverse ads from diverse audiences (Black Americans, Hispanics, Asians and Whites). Using creative assessment tools coupled with facial coding, eye-tracking and intuitive associations, the study measured unconscious bias in addition to explicit and implicit reactions to advertising. Breaking down consumer responses to diverse ads from Uber, Instacart and Bounty, Deepak stressed the importance of emotional connections through powerful stories that cut across all races.
The advertising industry needs more support in its efforts to harness creativity. Pointing to a Cannes-Lions State of Creativity report statistic—just 20% of brand leaders feel confident they can convince CFOs to invest in high-quality creative work—Adam Sheridan of Ipsos believes his research can help agencies and brand managers overcome barriers to adopting and promoting quality creative. He offered insights from his upcoming book, MISFITS: How Creativity in Advertising Sparks Brand Growth.
Dr. Paul Marsden provides insights from the 2015 World Happiness Report. These insights can provide valuable guidelines for marketers seeking deeper engagement with their customers.
-Customer ratings of their happiness with product, service and brand experiences provide an opportunity for marketers to understand customer satisfaction. Happiness can be measured with the Cantril Ladder.
-Understanding the six drivers of human happiness revealed by this report (health, social support, household income/GDP, trust, generosity, and freedom) provide marketers with the key to positioning their products to satisfy these drivers.
-Knowledge of positive and negative human emotions can provide marketers with guidance when developing campaigns. Critically important to emotional happiness are freedom, generosity, and social support.
-Marketers can help customers achieve purpose and meaning in their lives, which are important factors for human happiness.
Aligning with customer happiness can provide opportunities for marketers.
See all 5 Cups articles.
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