Taking inspiration from late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s series where celebrities read mean tweets others posted about them, DDB Worldwide Communications Group recently compiled a video of their employees reading mean tweets about recent creative projects they managed. Examples included a Netflix campaign; “Remember that funny Netflix ad where something funny happened? Me neither…” and a Crime Stopper ad, “Here’s an anonymous tip: this campaign sucks.” While the tweets ranged from being humorous, inappropriate, and just plain mean – does it really matter if you have the support of the “Twitter-verse?” Will you still be okay if your advertising campaign didn’t make the most entertaining or most humorous list?
Humor or high entertainment value is one strategy to engage consumers (and prompt social media engagement), but it isn’t advertisers’ only option – or even one that will guarantee success.
Communicus finds that ads consumers like have a better chance of engaging their attention than do ads they don’t like. However, the ad doesn’t need to be the best to be noticed – ads that are reasonably likeable are just as apt to engage as are the most likeable ads. In other words, this is one performance measure for which average is definitely good enough.
The dynamics are a little more complex when it comes to the relationship between liking an ad or a campaign and the advertising’s ability to change perceptions and behaviors. Typically, there is a relationship between ad liking and impact on brand perceptions. As liking increases, so can the campaign’s ability to change how consumers think about a brand. However, if ads do not have a compelling message and benefit proposition, then no amount of ad liking will help change perceptions.
On the behavioral side, some of the most well liked campaigns and executions are actually less successful in changing behaviors than those that have more average liking. These campaigns often go straight for the laugh or other positive emotion, and in the process don’t focus on communicating a message about the brand that will motivate behavioral change. What they may gain in engagement, they end up losing in persuasion.
As with most ‘rules’ in advertising, there are always exceptions. Content that is created with the intent to go viral is more dependent on generating viewer liking to achieve the desired objective than are ads intended to run in traditional paid media venues. Conversely, campaigns with a highly rational message don’t always display the same relationships between liking and engagement, branding and persuasion.
So, what is an advertiser to do? When developing creative, it is more important to produce ads in which the brand message is conveyed in a compelling and differentiating fashion rather than being the most popular ad. Liking is important if ads are struggling to even break through and make an impression, but campaigns do not need to always rely on humor and entertainment value to achieve their objectives. In fact, as long as your target doesn’t dislike your ad or campaign, that is often enough to maximize any benefits associated with liking dynamics.
