 Online video ads, a more accountable, relevant version of TV
commercials, are going to save the marketing industry, right? Not so
fast, warns Dynamic Logic. It seems intuitive, but there's a huge difference in effectiveness
depending on the ad, the web-research firm reports. The top-performing
ads can lead to a 37.8% lift in ad awareness while the
bottom-performing ads barely registered any increase. And creating that
online-ad awareness is the first step to moving the needle
on other
kinds of metrics, including message association, brand favorability and
purchase intent
Tested 108 ads
The survey -- which measured consumer reaction to 108 different video
ads in several different categories, including entertainment, consumer
package goods and automotive -- polled 125,733 respondents.
So what worked? The top-performing ads had several things in common.
The brand was central to the creative. While a funny, brand-irrelevant
spot might fly in the Super Bowl, it certainly doesn't bear well for
making an impact online. A good test of this, according to the report,
is that it should be difficult for a viewer to describe the ad without
mentioning the brand.
The best ads also used the interactive nature of the web, offering up
links to additional information. A food marketer might, for example,
link to nutritional information, coupons or a social-media-inspired
recipe-sharing site.
Smooth transition to offline
And finally, the top online video ads seemed to fit within the offline
campaigns and made use of a static companion ad while the video was
playing.
The least effective ads, which weren't necessarily engaging or
relevant, also shared some traits. Often it wasn't clear what exactly
was being advertised and marketers may not have considered that many
people don't turn on the sound on their computers -- meaning that a
punch line or catchy jingle wouldn't register with all viewers.
(Source: Advertising age)
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