The ARF just released the results of their ‘How Advertising Works Today’ study, touted as the most extensive industry study in more than 25 years. We were gratified to see that their findings line up very closely with ours – and mirror how we have for years been advising clients to optimize their advertising campaigns and spending allocations.
Headlines from the study, and from Communicus, include the observation that campaigns that include a diversified media mix are far more effective than those that use just one or two media venues. The worst case scenario is to use just TV, with campaigns that utilize additional media performing far better than TV-only campaigns. We also have found that campaigns that only include one video execution are seriously handicapped as compared to those that use a larger number of TV spots – which parallels the ARF finding that overexposure to too few executions reduces campaign ROI.
But while investing too much in TV can be problematic, this old-school, traditional medium is a must-have as the foundation for an effective campaign. Not only does TV continue to provide more broad-based awareness (even among Millennials) than any other medium, but helps to amplify the impact of other campaign media.
In their attempts to keep up with changing consumer behavior patterns, we – and the ARF – find that a lot of advertisers overspend on digital. What’s worse, this overspending is exacerbated by the fact that many are running too few creative executions – far beyond the point of saturation and even straying into the territory of negative impact.
Campaigns achieve the best results when they include a lot of different executions, but maintaining consistency across media types is key. We’ve seen time after time how carrying strong Brand Linked Equities throughout boosts awareness, branding and impact. The ARF found the same, both through their in-market and neuro-based approaches to measuring advertising performance.
And, finally creative quality matters a lot more than media spending. Advertisers who create campaigns that are engaging and persuasive, and who employ creative best practices to ensure that consumers know what brand is being advertised no matter where they might see the brand’s messaging can achieve far better results with a relatively modest budget than their competitors who overspend on creative that isn’t up to par.
The good news is that there aren’t a lot of surprises in the ARF findings. Advertisers who pay attention to this best practices advice can surely optimize their results without the trial and error that plagued many of the poor-performing brands that served as the ‘what not to do’ cases in this large, multi-brand research initiative.
