Customer

AOL and IPG Ad Effectiveness Study

AOL, Inc. and the IPG Media Lab leveraged Affectiva’s groundbreaking facial expression analysis and biosensors in a study on the effectiveness and earned attention of IAB portrait ad units versus traditional display advertising. The initial results support the hypothesis that the newly approved

Video: AOL and IPG Media Lab use Affectiva technology in research on the evolution of digital branding.

IAB portrait represents an evolution of digital branding in terms of engagement, attention, emotional connection and influence. The six week long study focused on how display advertising impacts consumers in a digital world that is inundated with marketing messages. The new approach to display advertising, represented in the IAB portrait ad unit, delivered an entirely new stage of impact at every level of the purchase funnel vs. standard ad units.

Challenge

“Everyday users are exposed to exponentially more marketing messages than were our parents. The question is how to stand out and create an engaging, interactive brand experience that cuts through the noise and connects with consumers,” said Brian Monahan, EVP, Managing Partner, IPG Media Lab. “This is the most rigorous analysis per pixel ever brought to bear on an online ad. The research shows that current metrics don’t capture the effectiveness of new formats like IAB Portrait. New industry standards are necessary to better measure branding campaign success.”

Key Activities

The AOL/IPG study used Affdex facial expression analysis to record micro-expressions as a determinate of engagement, eye-tracking tools to measure the visual interaction with the advertising, and Affectiva Q Sensor biosensors to collect data on skin temperature and conductance, measuring the levels of user excitement when presented with creative messaging.

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The first of its kind to combine facial coding, bio-metric feedback, then use eye tracking to sync that data with the exact point on a screen where the eye was fixated, the study then validated these new forms of engagement tracking with traditional engagement metrics from a live media campaign and a brand survey through Dynamic Logic. The study focused on the display advertising effectiveness and brand messaging of three IPG clients from very different industries: Dodge, Verizon, and Zappos.

Bottom Line

The findings show IAB Portrait strongly outperforms other options in the marketplace (300x250 & 300x600) in both Quantitative and Qualitative metrics. It also shows that these new metrics (eye tracking & bio-metrics) will inform the creation of better user experiences, better creative, and much higher rates of connection and purchase intent with the audience. x As expected, compared to a standard 300x250 unit, IAB portrait is far superior. The ad unit attracts attention 2x faster and viewers looked at it 4x more often and 4x longer. x However, size is far from the whole story. When a 300x600 unit was also included in the testing, the Portrait ad still far exceeded performance:

• Portrait units attract attention 35 percent faster than competing units, 81 percent more attention, and 95 percent more time in length of fixation
• Live media metrics showed interaction rates rose between 4.5x – 7x
• Users that indicated they would recommend the brand or product to Friends/Family rose 46 percent
• Users that indicated they would visit the Brand site/Facebook Fan page increased 49 percent
• Purchase intent rose 263 percent
• Facial recognition analysis shows Portrait lowers negative emotions by almost 40 percent, with less frustration, and fewer frowns
• Proper context drives fixation – relevant content drove users to view Portrait unit 35 percent faster and 30 percent longer

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Future

Clients involved with the study were pleased with the outcome and are excited to be partnering on moving the industry ahead.

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“At Chrysler Group we consistently look at how we can engage our consumers in a unique and interesting manner which can be a challenge in the digital space where the customer is flooded with information,” said Susan Thomson, Head of Media, Chrysler Group LLC. “The information gathered from the AOL/IPG study enables our media team to better understand how we can interact with our consumers in ways that captures their attention quickly and provides them with the key information they want on our products.”