eMarketer recently published an interesting article – “Can Marketers Optimize Brand Campaigns in Real-time?” Overall, the article notes that only six percent of ad agencies are able to recognize a consumers’ interest or response to a campaign in real-time. In a world where technology and instant gratification is at our disposal, it’s surprising that the capability of real-time optimization is limited to only a small group of marketers willing to take the leap of faith into new media marketing channels.
While tactics like print and television ads are still at the forefront of media planning, buyers are starting to understand that brands are getting “stuck with the same creative for the entire campaign lifecycle.” Due to the nature of traditional media and the delay in traditional research, this holds true even if the campaign proves to have poor ad recall and low ratings.
The immediate benefit to an online presence and digital advertising is that marketers have the option to swap out creative execution, run multiple versions of a campaign and target specific audiences. Long-term benefits allow advertisers to collaborate around measuring and optimizing brand lift and ultimately maximizing return on advertising spend.
“Brand marketers now want to move beyond post-campaign measurement and instead take advantage of real-time metrics on brand campaign performance,” said Jeff Smith, CMO of digital brand ad measurement provider Vizu. To put it simply, brands want access to an easy, fast data set to allow them to optimize campaigns while in market, not after the campaign is finished.
According to Vizu, several prominent brands are taking advantage of this new media venture.
A recent success story (courtesy of Vizu Ad Catalyst) in the Entertainment industry prompted advertisers to take a closer look:
Who:
Flixster is the largest movie community on the web and provides movie fans of all ages a place to interact with other movie die-hards. More than 20 million users and 2 billion movie ratings proved Flixster to be a prime channel to promote a new wide release movie.
Problem:
Company lacked the research and metrics needed to show advertisers the true potential of the site.
Opportunity/Solution:
When Disney/Touchstone Pictures began promoting its new comedy, “The Proposal”, Flixster saw the perfect opportunity to prove how effective their site could be by raising the intent of moviegoers to attend the movie and drive attendance to the opening weekend.
Results:
Flixster used the proprietary Vizu Ad Catalyst solution to prove they should be included in any entertainment advertiser’s media plan. In addition, Vizu helped Flixster show that advertising for “The Proposal” generated:
• A 68.6% lift in consumers’ intent to see “The Proposal”
• 30% lift in attendance as measured during the week following the opening
In addition, Vizu technology helped Flixster identify and optimize around:
• The most effective creative movie trailer – increased intent to see by 60%
• An optimal frequency of exposure of 5-9 impressions
Overall, businesses seem to be focusing on total brand development rather than traditional marketing. Frequent adjustments to new media marketing campaigns allows for increased success for their initiatives to meet the constant, ever-changing demands of a target audience. New technology will allow for some of the first real-time campaign measurement and an optimization solution by quickly and effectively improving performance of advertising campaigns, increasing effective media spend and maximizing the value of the advertising investment.
~Tracy
