Smart Marketing in Tough Economic Times
It is not a secret that the US is going through difficult economic times, and right now is a key time to review your company’s marketing strategies to ensure that you are achieving the highest return on investment possible. InsightExpress, a digital marketing research firm, has released the results of research examining how the economic climate is affecting online advertising campaigns. The data also points to steps that advertisers and agencies can take to ensure that their branded communications continue to impact a more cautious and frugal consumer.
From January 2007 through August 2008, InsightExpress analyzed a rolling 3-month average of its online advertising campaign norms for key brand metrics (unaided awareness, aided awareness, message association, brand favorability, and purchase intent). The company then compared the data from their InsightNorms normative database against the Consumer Confidence Index, while simultaneously looking deeper for examples of campaigns that continued to outperform benchmarks despite the challenging economic environment.
At the beginning of 2007, brand metrics for the campaigns were outperforming InsightExpress’ historical online advertising norms. The brand metrics remained relatively stable until last November, when it first became difficult for many campaigns to surpass the historical averages, especially for aided awareness, unaided awareness, message association and brand favorability.
A comparison of InsightExpress’ normative data with the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) revealed a strong correlation between the economic climate and advertising effectiveness. Aided awareness was most highly correlated (87 percent) with the CCI, indicating that it moves with the index 87 percent of the time. Other metrics followed the CCI as well, including unaided awareness (84 percent) and message association (84 percent). While a variety of forces have an impact on online advertising effectiveness, it’s clear that the economy plays a significant role.
Yet, despite the challenging environment, many companies were able to develop successful online campaigns during this time period, which outperformed InsightExpress’ normative averages. These campaigns represented a wide array of industries, including automotive, apparel, financial services, CPG, electronics, travel and education. They also shared several common characteristics which may have helped them to succeed despite challenging market conditions:
1. Use of extended format flash video.
2. Strong branding elements in the final frames/components of the ad.
3. Interactive elements such as scroll-overs, engagement exercises (e.g., design a baseball cap), or a request to share information and win.
“Our data show that when consumer confidence is down and consumers become more attuned to their personal finances, they are less aware of online advertising,” said Drew Lipner, VP, Group Director of the Digital Media Measurement team at InsightExpress. “This means it is more important than ever to develop strong creative that will resonate with one’s target. As we’ve seen with the brands we measure and the success we’ve tracked recently, when applied correctly, pre-testing and media targeting can bolster the brand’s position, allowing them to weather the softening economy and gain and defend market share.”
