Tag: research

#RebateGate. The state of non-transparency. Part 1: the K2 Intelligence report.

In 2016 the marketing industry community was shaken by a major event with potentially massive and all-encompassing repercussions. Aptly named “RebateGate”, the cataclysm was caused by an eye-opening report on media transparency in the advertising industry. The independent research behind it was commissioned by the Association of National Advertisers (“ANA”) and conducted by K2 Intelligence LLC (“K2”), leading the fact-finding part of the study. Addressing the study’s results, Ebiquity/FirmDecisions (“Ebiquity”) partnered with K2 to develop specific applicable advice and recommendations to help advertisers adjust to this newfound information and address the potential blind spots. Throughout the process, K2 put out requests for interviews, reaching out to 281 sources, finally conducting 143 interviews with 150 separate sources, which amounted to a cross-section representation of how the United States’ media buying ecosystem operates. Throughout the study, all of the interviewed participants’ identities were kept secret from both the ANA and Ebiquity, including all the individuals and corporate entities named in the sources’ accounts. Additionally K2 held full authority over the methodologies the study team applied, also having editorial control over how the report was eventually presented. What K2 realized was that within that sample they studied, there were pervasive non-transparent business practices. Out of the 117 sources… Read more »

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Universal Pictures Finds the Best Ad Format for Films

Advertising is what drives commerce, prompting even the widely established companies to think about how better to communicate their new products to the audience. Good advertising is not necessarily expensive — even the simplest media can often have a strong impact. One of such is the poster. Universal Studios, also known as Universal Pictures, is a film-producing subsidiary of the NBC Universal media group and one of the largest and oldest US film studios. In 2013 and 2015, Universal Pictures promoted numerous feature films through a variety of channels. In order to establish the impact media has on film audiences, the media agency Mindshare compiled a comprehensive econometric modeling. The goal was to evaluate the influence of different media formats (poster, TV, online, print, infoscreen + public video, radio, ambient) on the number of viewers of the advertised Universal feature films, establish the efficiency of these ad formats and determine the return on investment (ROI). Advertising posters and billboards were placed on public streets, main passenger stations, motorways, the subway and its vicinity. The analysis was based on the following modeling approach: 1. Elaborate models for each specific film: verification of the dependency between Google's search index of various UPI films and media use. 2. Visitor count:… Read more »

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Effective Targeting for Fashion and Beauty Brands

Thanks to Out-of-Home advertising, fashion and beauty brands are able to plan their campaigns using increasingly smart methods for reaching target audiences. Below are the select few of such methods. 1. Use data In 2016, Timberland launched a data-based digital OOH campaign that was targeted across the entire United Kingdom. The digital campaign, which employed screens installed in public transportation and high-traffic retail outlets, displayed how dynamically renewable creatives deliver relevant targeted content. The campaign not only helped define the most suitable locations for advertisements, but also estimated the distance in steps and meters, the supposed travel time and even the number of burnt calories. Timberland used the data cleverly to communicate the OOH message to the consumers at the locations where the former can and will be reached. 2. Use dynamic targeting New technology and digitization of data in OOH bring forth plenty of opportunity for innovative campaigns. Last year the skin care manufacturer Elizabeth Arden held a campaign at Oxford Circus, a London tube station. A digital panel that was installed there, displayed real-time local air pollution data. This information, supported by the displayed evidence, motivated the pedestrians to use Elizabeth Arden products to “cheat the city”. 3. Keep… Read more »

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Ford’s Research Reveals Effective Synergy in Their Media Mix

Nowadays, traditional advertising is being more and more often combined with online promotion, which is growing increasingly popular due to the mass use of the Internet. How are these two types of advertising related, and do they impact each other? Ford Motor Company is one of the world's largest automobile manufacturers. In Germany Ford enjoys substantial popularity: in 2015, 225 thousand new Ford cars were registered, placing the brand at place 6 in the top 10 best-selling cars in the country. In 2013-2014 Ford advertised its most successful Fiesta and Focus models using various ad media. Since a significant share of new car registrations was attributed to site traffic, this caused an interest in researching the impact of Out-of-Home advertising and other media channels on the number of hits at the two models' web sites. A media agency conducted an efficiency assessment of various media types, namely OOH, TV, radio, film and daily press. Regression analysis of the Jan 2012 – Oct 2015 visiting statistics at Ford.de was used to gather the necessary data. The researchers have concluded that in 2014, OOH advertising caused 52,553 visits at the Ford Focus web site. Meanwhile, the same resulted in 14,538 hits at the… Read more »

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