Resonance -- A Key Factor for Ad Effectiveness

Engagement and attention are sometimes used interchangeably but they represent two distinct concepts What is the difference between attention and engagement In 2002 the Advertising Research Foundation defined attention as the degree to which those exposed to advertising focus on it Engagement expands on this by incorporating our brain39s processing and reaction to the ad or to put it another way Attention x Resonance Engagement This definition also indicates that attention is a preexposure ad metric while ad engagement is a postexposure KPI including our sentiments and how we start to react or internalize an ad Let39s look at each of these in turnAttention is the selective focus of the brain potentially processing something In advertising it depends on the intention of the audience and the creativity of the message Research commissioned by TikTok found creative elements that feel native to the platform generate longer watch time featuring real people 9 remixing a TikTok trend 14 and crafting a creative story 161 On TikTok users experience a soundon full screen and highly entertaining stream of communitygenerated content and the ability to skip content that39s not interesting to them allows for strong active attention manifested as frequent and consistent interaction with content2Resonance is the direct connection between content and consumers39 interests background and culture Many digital platforms harness user preferences that have been expressed through interactions with the content and branded advertising For instance on TikTok 52 of users said the ForYou page is an quoteffortless place to entertain myselfquot3 In a recently independent study about socialmedia influencers university researchers concluded a key driving force of TikTok39s strong interaction eg likes reactions comments and shares between its audience and the influencers was TikTok39s drive for quotauthenticity and creative expressionquot When advertisers are able to tap into these communities and connect with their audiences attention is earned not forced and their message has the opportunity to resonate As a result consumers are inspired to take actionEngagement measures the quality of attention and involvement after an ad39s exposure to the consumer With various definitions of attention in the marketplace comes varying measurement approaches These solutions track different KPIs and can heavily affect a platform39s measured quotattention qualityquot Consequently quotattentionquot is not always a reliable predictor of audience engagement or business outcomes A recent Eyesquare study shows that visual attention ie view duration is not the same as meaningful attention Ad formats with longer average view times don39t always lead to better business outcomes eg Ad Recall Brand Recognition For marketers an effective ad view should serve as a starting point for further exploration in the consumers39 purchase journey According to a Postpurchase Survey study done by Fairing TikTok influences consumer paths to purchase by making up 15 of product discoveries across media channels emails and word of mouth As users experience a myriad of content across channels advertising needs to not only grab the audience39s active attention through creativity but also build connections with their consumers to breakthrough and drive outcomesDiminishing Return between Ad Attention and Its OutcomesThe ad industry generally agrees attention metrics can and are being used for evaluating creatives and ad effectiveness according to the research conducted by the ARF However more studies are needed to understand how attention can be used to predict media impact especially in conjunction with other more established media KPIs such as the lifts in a brand39s attitudes and salesAs mentioned early while longer view times generally lead to higher brand KPIs the relationship between view duration and outcomes are not linear especially when brands factor in creative quality audience difference and ad format nuances For instance two Australian academics recently showed this to be the case for online banners As part of their review they showed if an ad could keep respondents39 attention on a banner ad for 1 second ad recall could be as high as 40 but if their attention extended to 4 seconds then 7 out of 10 people recalled seeing an ad boosting Ad Recall by 175x to 70Specifically for TikTok research conducted by its Marketing Science unit suggests 50 of the impact from a TikTok ad is realized in the first 2 seconds and the first 6 seconds captures 90 cumulative impact on Ad Recall and around 80 for Awareness4 Moreover the longer videos continue to play the audience size tends to decrease Marketers should be aware of the unintended consequences and tradeoffs between viewing duration and reach as well as cost per reach So more is not always moreAdditionally in a fragmented media landscape attention should not be studied in silo A brand39s marketing mix highly influences attention on platforms In a research study with NeuroInsight it was observed that advertising primed to perform on TikTok especially when ads on TikTok embrace the platform39s native style seamlessly blend with the content following the adsUM39s neuroscience studies also validate this showing that while short TV and online ads can be powerful for maximum effect brands should consider building for the platforms TV tends to be a more leanback environment where people often enjoy watching the screen in a more relaxed manner By contrast the viewer experience on Online mobile phones laptops etc is more leanin Online39s leanin experience means digital video ads can engage the viewer more quickly and communicate more speedily than TVWe39re not alone and we39re not the first to identify the power of Resonance as an important factor in ad effectiveness amp8211 major advertising doyen Randall Beard highlighted the importance of Resonance in his blog back in 2015 which he described as Reach x Resonance Reaction Given the accelerating fragmentation of the media marketplace which is becoming increasingly divergent in many ways we believe the industry needs to urgently work towards a common yet flexible standard of advertising exposure and effectivenessThis articke was written by Graeme Hutton SVP Group Partner Research UM ampamp Marketing Science Team TikTok1 TikTok Marketing Science US SMB Creative Effectiveness 2022 conducted by Lumen2 TikTok Marketing Science Global Information Density Study 2021 conducted by NeuroInsight3 TikTok Marketing Science Global Entertaining Ads 2022 conducted by Marketcast4 TikTok Marketing Science US Value Of A View 2021 conducted by MediaScienceClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillageorgMyersBizNet

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Resonance -- A Key Factor for Ad Effectiveness

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