THE POWER OF THE CREATIVE RECONCILING THE SPOKEN AND UNSPOKEN David Brandt, EVP Ad Effectiveness May 13, 2015
TODAY S PRESENTER: David Brandt EVP, Ad Effectiveness Strategy at Nielsen @Nielsen
WHAT ARE WE TALKING ABOUT TODAY? BIG PICTURE: Using the right approach in the right way to measure the power of the creative. 1 2 3 Our view on how advertising works And approaches for measuring this Reconciling the spoken and unspoken 3
HOW DOES ADVERTISING WORK? OUR POINT OF VIEW
EVOLUTION OF MARKETING THEORY Classical Economic Approach What we know about the brand CONSCIOUS FACTS (taste, refreshment, price) The classic path to purchase 5
ENTER: A FOCUS ON EMOTION SYSTEM 1 thinking fast intuition automatic emotional SYSTEM 2 thinking slow rational deliberate logical 6
A NEW MODEL OF HOW PEOPLE MAKE DECISIONS Emotions play a critical role in decision making What we know about the brand What we feel about the brand CONSCIOUS FACTS (taste, refreshment, price) Emotions bias what we believe NON-CONSCIOUS EMOTIONAL VALUES Often, emotions (instinct) lead directly to purchase 3. This model is based on the Somatic Marker Theory proposed by Antonio Damasio in his book Looking for Spinoza: Joy, Sorrow and the Feeling Brain ( Harcourt, Orlando 2003). For more detail see Bechara, Antoine and Damasio, Antonio The Somatic Marker Theory: A neural theory of economic decision Games and Economic Behavior, Volume 52, 2005. 7
reason reason & emotion work together 8
BUT HOW DO WE MEASURE THIS NEW MODEL? Neuroscience based approaches? Survey-based? Brain activity or other physical measures to assess response. Surveys use reported responses to understand the impact of advertising. What is the best use of these approaches in measuring ad effectiveness? 9
MEASUREMENT ACROSS THE MODEL What we know about the brand What we feel about the brand CONSCIOUS FACTS (taste, refreshment, price) Emotions bias what we believe NON-CONSCIOUS EMOTIONAL VALUES Explicit & retrievable Limited to facts, explicit beliefs, context The right surveys and neuroscience can measure these Implicit & associative Emotional values & memory Only neuroscience can measure this 10
MEASUREMENT APPROACHES
REQUIREMENTS FOR EFFECTIVE RESONANCE MEASUREMENT Neuroscience based approaches Proven (medical grade) Granular (second by second) Complete (beyond single measurement) Consistent, replicable, scalable Survey-based Validated (measure what they claim they measure) Real-world viewing conditions Representative sample Consistent, replicable, scalable 12
ht 2014 The Nielsen Company. Confidential and proprietary. OPTIMIZE CREATIVE COPY WITH NEURO, MONITOR IN-MARKET WITH SURVEY MEASURES PRE-MARKET IN-MARKET CAMPAIGN LAUNCHES NIELSEN NEURO: Optimize creative copy through measures of Emotion, Memory and Attention at explicit and implicit levels TV BRAND EFFECT: Monitor ad breakthrough and branding for in-flight optimization CREATIVE EVALUATION Measure consumer perception of value of information and emotional content 13
1. OPTIMIZE PRE-LAUNCH WITH NEUROSCIENCE EEG Measures both explicit (conscious) and implicit (non-conscious) response. EYE-TRACKING Pinpoints where consumer is looking 14
EEG PROVIDES BROAD SET OF MEASURES Available on a second by second basis for deep diagnostics EMOTIONAL ENGAGEMENT The intensity of being drawn to an experience emotionally: Approach/withdraw Intensity MEMORY ACTIVATON The formation of connections with new and past experiences: Encoding & Retrieval ATTENTION Measures sustained focus and shifts in focus over time - Cognitive effort 15
ht 2015 The Nielsen Company. Confidential and proprietary. USE NEUROSCIENCE TO QUALIFY AND OPTIMIZE Ad Performance Brand Resonance & Distinctiveness Is this a strong ad? Action Intent How do I improve it? Second-by-Second Diagnosis Did it get the message across? Message resonance Was the brand uniquely associated? Brand resonance 16
2. TV BRAND EFFECT ENABLES REAL-WORLD, REAL- TIME OPTIMIZATION OF TV ADVERTISING (SURVEY) HOW TVBE WORKS WATCH LOG ON SURVEY ANALYZE User logs onto RewardTV.com and chooses shows viewed previous day User is surveyed about shows viewed and ads that appeared in those shows Viewers watch TV in real-world environment (not forced exposure) NEXT DAY HOURS 24 Syndicated data is available for ad performance analysis 17
TVBE PROVIDES SYNDICATED MEASURE OF KEY PERFORMANCE METRICS 1 IF CORRECT 2 IF CORRECT 3 4 5 WHAT HAPPENED IN THE AD? WHO WAS BEING ADVERTISED? WHY SHOULD I BUY IT? DID I LIKE THE AD? WILL I BUY IT? TVBE METRICS AD MEMORABILITY BRAND MEMORABILITY MESSAGE MEMORABILITY LIKEABILITY LINKAGE PURCHASE INTEREST [BREAKTHROUGH] [NET IMPACT] [TOP 2 BOX] [TOP 2 BOX] 18
ht 2014 The Nielsen Company. Confidential and proprietary. 3. CREATIVE EVALUATION MEASURE CONSUMER REACTION TO ADS (SURVEY) EMOTIVE POWER OPEN-ENDED RESPONSES Additional verbatim responses provide detailed qualitative insights CREATIVE EVALUATION MEASURES CONSUMER REACTION TO CREATIVE INFORMATION POWER SYNDICATED Service syndication enables full market comparisons with breaking competitor ads 19
Emotive Copyright 2014 The Nielsen Company. Confidential and proprietary. CREATIVE EVALUATION LOOKS AT THE EMOTIONAL SIDE AND THE INFORMATION SIDE OF ADVERTISING EMOTIVE POWER Indicates the consumer perception of an ad s ability to connect with them emotionally INFORMATION POWER Provides insight on whether consumers feel the message in the ad is valuable to them EMPATHY The ad s ability to make people empathize and feel closer to the brand CREATIVITY The ad s ability to make the brand seem imaginative and in-touch 200 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 - Creative E Creative G Creative A Creative B Creative D Creative H Creative C Creative F - 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 Information 20
RECONCILING THE SPOKEN AND THE UNSPOKEN What We Know About These Measures: Validations and Connections
FIRST DO THESE MEASURES MATTER? TVBE and Neuro measures have been shown to be predictive of ad levels sales effects. Neuro and Ad Level Sales Data TVBE and Ad Level Sales Data R =.87 R =.62 22
EMOTIVE POWER EMOTIVE POWER DRIVES BRAND FAVORABILITY Ads with high Emotive Power generate strong shifts in brand favorability. 200 0 200 High Score Mid Score Low Score INFORMATION POWER 0 Source: Heath, R., Brandt, D., Nairn, A. "Brand Relationships", Journal of Advertising Research 46(4) pgs. 410-419 23
CROSS-VALIDATION What can neuroscience tell us about our survey measures? 1. 2. 3. What is the relationship between memory-based measures of ad exposure and EEG measures of brain activity? Do survey measures of emotion correlate with EEG measures of emotional response? Do survey measures of communication and information have a basis in EEG measures?
THE APPROACH Common set of ads including FMCG, telecom, casual dining, travel, technology and retail. Ads with three different Nielsen services* Nielsen Neuro (EEG + eye tracking) TV Brand Effect (in-market measurement of memorability) Creative Evaluation (in-marketing measurement of emotion & information) Multiple regression to understand relationship: Predictors: neuroscience measures Criterion: survey measures 25
SURVEY MEASURES TV Brand Effect (measured day after exposure in-market) Ad Memorability do people remember the ad itself? Brand Linkage can they correctly identify the sponsor? Brand Memorability can they do both of the above? Creative Evaluation (forced ad exposure) Emotive Power composite measure indicating consumer perception of emotional content Information Power - composite measure indicating if the ad has conveyed meaningful information 26
NEUROSCIENCE MEASURES Emotional Engagement measures approach/withdrawal response to stimulus Memory Activation measures whether long term memory systems are active (memory encoding or retrieval) Attention indicates sustained focus and shifts in focus Overall Effectiveness combination of the above with emotion carrying greatest weight, followed by memory and attention. 27
NEUROSCIENCE MEASURES Peaks: % of time above line Salience: Score when above line total score Peaks: % of time the measure is above threshold level Salience: Ratio of the score when the measure is above threshold to the total score 28
Actual Ad Memorability Actual Brand Linkage Copyright 2014 The Nielsen Company. Confidential and proprietary. FINDINGS: TVBE MEASURES OF MEMORY ARE CORRELATED WITH NEURO MEASURES 50 AD MEMORABILITY BRAND LINKAGE R =.61 R² = 0.5758 80 40 60 30 40 20 20 30 40 50 Predicted With Neuro measures 20 20 40 60 80 Predicted With Neuro measures 29
WHAT DID WE FIND? Fit is good there is a connection and insight on what drives people to retain ad impressions. But not perfect there are aspects of performance picked up uniquely by each measure. TVBE measures more than creative - also influence of environment Neuro taps into responses not measurable by measuring ad memories
THE MOST INTERESTING LEARNING... THE DRIVERS Measure Ad Memorability Predictors Memory in 1 st 10 seconds Attention peaks Brand Linkage Attention peaks Overall effectiveness salience 31
WHAT DO THE DRIVERS TELL US? MEMORABILITY RESULTS Early Memory Activation and Attention peaks drive Ad Memorability not surprising LINKAGE RESULTS More to a strong ad than structural branding Ad quality helps drive branding PEAKS & SALIENCE RESULTS Survey responses are connected to the strong parts of neurologic response 32
AN EXAMPLE OF THIS RELATIONSHIP: VERIZON MARCHING BAND
AD MEMORABILITY EXAMPLE: VERIZON MARCHING BAND Memory in 1 st 10 seconds Verizon Ad Average 7.8 6.7 TVBE Ad Memorability 54% 43% 34
BRAND LINKAGE EXAMPLE: VERIZON MARCHING BAND % of time above peak Verizon Ad Average 50% 45% TVBE Brand Linkage 77% 58% 35
Actual Emotive Power Actual Information Power Copyright 2014 The Nielsen Company. Confidential and proprietary. FINDINGS: EMOTIVE POWER & INFORMATION POWER ARE RELATED TO SUCCESS IN NEURO TESTING EMOTIVE POWER INFORMATION POWER 50 40 R =.65 R =.74 60 30 20 10 40 20 0-30 -20-10 -10 0 10 20 30-20 -30 0-60 -40-20 0 20 40 60-20 -40 Predicted with Neuro measures -60 Predicted with Neuro measures 36
THE MOST INTERESTING LEARNING... THE DRIVERS Measure Emotive Power Predictors Emotion peaks Attention saliency 4 Information Power Emotion Overall effectiveness salience 4 Negative relationship 37
WHAT DO THE DRIVERS TELL US? EMOTION RESULTS: Measuring is tapping into emotional values Emotional Engagement drives Emotive Power not surprising But Attention has an inverse relationship Too much effortful attention can hamper emotion and memory Consistent with Heath on Low Attention Processing. 5 INFORMATION RESULTS Information influenced by emotion and overall ad quality Messages can drive emotional response and until they do consumers don t see them as meaningful. 5 Low Attention Processing first described by Robert Heath in the monograph The Hidden Power of Advertising, Admap Publications, 2001 38
AD EXAMPLE #2: HOME DEPOT BRAND NEW DAY
Attention EMOTIVE POWER EXAMPLE: HOME DEPOT BRAND NEW DAY 10.0 0.0 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 Seconds Home Depot Ad Average Emotion Peaks Attention Saliency CE Emotive Power 47% 43% 1.4 1.5 139 100 40
WHAT DID WE FIND? 1. Emotion MATTERS 2. The right survey can give you insight into whether an ad is creating an emotional connection 3. But for a complete understanding, NEUROSCIENCE IS KEY as there are meaningful responses that surveys cannot tap into 4. Key metrics need to be validated to assure that they are measuring what we think they are. Particularly true for hard to measure concepts like emotion. Neuroscience can tell you if your measure is truly measuring this.
FINAL THOUGHTS Use the right approach for the job. Neuro deep analysis (including non-conscious emotional response) when testing before launch to optimize your copy. Surveys are efficient tools for collecting in-market data. Measure whether consumers remember your creative (and competitors) with TVBE. Measure consumer response to your creative (and your competitors) when on-air with Creative Evaluation.
AUDIENCE Q&A Want to learn more? Please contact Darren Ellis at darren.ellis@nielsen.com or 415-262-2829 Join us for our upcoming webinar: Advertising Process Control Making the Creative Process More Effective June 2 nd @ 2:00 pm ET A registration link will be sent via email 43