Online Advertising Builds Brands
A recent study by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) has shown the effectiveness of online advertising, “on all key measures, online advertising boosted brand recall, favorable sentiment, propensity to purchase and a willingness to recommend the product”. Source: The Sydney Morning Herald
“To measure the impact of an online advertising campaign for Kellogg’s Sultana Bran Nielsen tracked the responses by two groups – one that had been exposed to the brand’s entire marketing campaign including the online ads, and the other that did not see the online ads.”
It also appears the IAB will build upon the study by comparing display advertising with performance advertising to determine which method works best online. It may be that a mixture of both are more effective than one or the other.
The industry continues to grow because online advertising works. It can be measured. It can promote a two-way conversation that you do not see in traditional media. And it can be cost-effective. Whats not to love?
2 Comments
Nathan Ziarek
December 2, 2008I don’t disagree with the results, but I would love to understand the methodology better.
What were the online ads displayed? Do typical online advertisers already have a leg up in the key measures? Was the online group subject to both traditional and online ads while the other group was only subject to traditional ads?
I think you are absolutely correct in saying that online ads have benefits traditional advertising can not touch — two-way, targeted, real-time measurement — that makes it a revolution (if it can still be that after all this time) in the ad space.
That said, it isn’t a miracle drug. You can’t just put up an online ad and watch your favorables soar. Is it the interactive, targeted advertising? Or, is it that typically online-advertised items resonate well with typical online browsers?
djenders
December 3, 2008Nathan, very good points. A Kellogg product was the focus of the study, and of course it’s unaided brand recognition is probably very high. To measure the two groups, both were exposed to identical traditional media and one group was also exposed to the online media. Those exposed to the online media quoted the higher brand recall in the article.
I think the overall results will continue to depend on messaging, the brand itself, and the creative. Without looking at the whole package it’s hard to say what stood out with these ads. But it sounds like it was a mixture of display and search advertising. If that is the case, it seems to promote the idea that using online can be just as effective as a digital board.
But I also agree, a mixed media campaign will likely be the best in most cases. While online gives us metric, reports, targeting and is incredibly affordable – it still doesn’t reach everyone. Although, Yahoo and The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel claim they can reach well over 80% of our DMA when advertising with both networks. So I guess, at times, is it worth spending additional monies to reach that last 15%? Depends on the goals and the audience…