The ARF Social Council held an event on September 12 diving into the long-term effects of social media advertising on consumers, based on the results of an experiment undertaken by the ARF Social Council. Attendees gained new insights on how they can leverage the study’s results to shape their future social media advertising strategies.
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Immersive advertising leverages technologies like virtual reality, augmented reality and the metaverse to create engaging and multisensory experiences for users. This study explores how these technologies can enhance customer engagement and drive purchase intentions by providing vivid mental imagery and interactive experiences. By integrating physical and virtual realms, businesses can create seamless customer journeys and maximize value creation.
The study highlights the effectiveness of immersive advertising in the visitor economy, using examples from the Coachella festival and Emirates Airline. These case studies demonstrate how immersive technologies can attract and engage audiences, ultimately converting virtual interactions into real-world purchases.
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Virtual influencers are computer-generated personas that engage with audiences on social media and in the metaverse. This study explores whether virtual influencers are more effective in advertising when they include real-world elements, such as interacting with real humans or endorsing real-world products. The research is grounded in the Computers Are Social Actors (CASA) framework and investigates how social cues and product types influence consumer perceptions of authenticity and attitudes toward both the influencer and the brand.
The findings suggest that virtual influencers are perceived as more authentic and favorable when they are shown alongside real humans and endorse real-world products. This perceived authenticity positively impacts consumer attitudes toward the virtual influencer and the brand, providing valuable insights for advertisers looking to leverage virtual influencers in their marketing strategies.
More analysis and the full study is available to ARF members.
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The study explores how music influences the emotional and semantic interpretation of visual scenes in media. It employs a large-scale empirical approach to assess both implicit and explicit participant responses to various audio-visual combinations, revealing music's nuanced effect on semantic attribute ratings.
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Attendees joined us on September 18 for a Town Hall on what ‘premium content’ is and whether it is the right construct for trying to assign values to media. We delved into the following questions and more: Who gets to define premium? Publishers want to claim the mantle of being “premium” and “quality” to justify their higher CPMs, but is the elitism justified? Can marketers justify it on economic grounds? Does it demean and devalue some of the population?
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Immersive technologies, including augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and mixed realities (MR), are expected to become increasingly important in advertising. These technologies create extended realities (XR) that enhance consumer engagement and provide new opportunities for marketers. While the fully immersive “metaverse” is still in development, platforms like Fortnite, Roblox and Zepeto already provide touchpoints where consumers connect physical and virtual realities.
Despite the potential of immersive technologies to transform advertising, there are challenges in effectively deploying them within communication strategies. Limited knowledge on how to use specific technologies or combinations of technologies to achieve different promotional objectives, siloed research on AR and VR applications, and the infancy of these research areas are some of the key challenges. This special issue of the Journal of Advertising Research addresses these challenges and provides insights into the future of immersive technologies in advertising.
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Are social media platforms compensating musical artists enough for their IP? Although music companies claim social platforms cannibalize sales, the platforms say they give artists much needed exposure. Who is correct? The study examines the impact of TikTok on music consumption and revenue. It highlights what TikTok pays studios and discusses the concerns from Universal Music Group (UMG) regarding inadequate compensation for its artists.
Additionally, it mentions that videos on TikTok function as promotional materials or trailers for full-length productions. The study uses a difference-in-difference model to analyze the data. It concludes that music labels can sharpen their licensing agreements based on the findings.
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Have we reached the John Henry moment in ad creative where the machine can outperform a human in creating visuals for ads? Not quite. Generative AI does have a place in creative, however. This Marketing Science Institute (MSI) working paper found that GenAI when trained on ads which were rated the most effective by consumers can create ad visuals and text that outperform the originals in KPIs related to the purchase funnel and brand associations. Yet, the human element has not been cut out just yet. In fact, it might be pivotal to the process. The human AI combo saved time and effort and created pleasing visuals while maintaining a brand’s distinctive positioning.
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