The Expansion of Measurement from Creative to Children at The ARF Conference

We talk a lot about data in media measurement these days but often in the context of improving the current measurement of usage. The recent ARF Measurement Conference, held last week, has begun to expand the range of measureable actions and audiences through the use of not only data, but also through advancements like neuroscience.

Taking on the Issues

There are many challenges in the market. “Ad blocking and fraud are big issues,” explained Fuguitt. And there are also questions such as the sequencing of ad messages cross platform. What is the optimal order? What is the optimal customization of ad formats across platforms? “Context is vital as timing a message to the consumer at the right time in the right place is everything,” she stated. How do we take big data and translate into emotional advertising? “We are offering audience measurement survival kits, because creating creative is more important than counting. We are measuring consumers’ feet. How do we make their hearts beat faster? Brands are built in the brain. We have fine-tuned quantification to neuroscience. We need to build emotional connections with consumer with unbiased research that finds and identifies consumer needs. We can’t take years to answer these questions,” she concluded.

CIMM’s Initiative to Measure Kids and Teens Cross Platform

CIMM, The Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement, has embarked on an initiative to solve the challenge of measuring kids and teens cross platform. Hampered by legislative, data, compliance and sample challenges, “it is even more challenging to measure for kids and teens than adults and the young are the future,” explained Marc Normand, VP Research, Disney Media Sales & Marketing. Why would CIMM embark on a kids and teens measurement initiative? Normand explained, “Imagine that when you start a family and you are at the hospital when the baby is born, you actually see room full of 18 year olds. That's what was happening in TV measurement. We are missing all of the growth.” Jane Clarke, CEO and Managing Director CIMM put it all in context and said, “We want to measure everything's that is happening in the household and attribute it properly. We want to capture usage on all devices in the house and measure as passively as possible.”

The first steps in the study involve 500 households. Starting small was important. “The data analysis challenge is something that you cannot imagine,” she continued, “Streams coming in via the router is a firehose of data. Making sense of it and attaching and linking from the source and time code is unbelievably complex challenge. It makes sense to start small.” As far as next steps are concerned, Rolfe Swinton, Chief RealityMiner at Reality Mine, stated, “The first phase is done. Next we will scale up and remove the check in process. We want to be clear about who is exactly watching but make it passive.”

Measuring Creative Using Neuroscience

The ARF has embarked on an initiative to measure the efficacy of creative using neuroscience. Dr. Manuel Garcia-Garcia presented the latest “neuroscience methods that can identify those creative elements that help to make advertising more effective.” What he found was that a unified creative approach that is cross platform and customized to each platform are “neural pathways to great creative. You can amplify consumer engagement if you customize your creative for the platform and don't simply repurpose it,” he explained.

His work also found that two platforms are better than one and that optimal sequencing – whether a TV message should be first or not – depends on the focus of the campaign. “We generally recommend starting with TV because if you start first with digital and then go to TV, there is less impact. But starting first with mobile is better if you are customizing your campaign for mobile. Mobile before TV equals higher memory. If TV is preceded by different platform the neuroscience suggests that there is higher brand consideration.”

Elements within the creative can impact viewer response. Garcia-Garcia explained, “A TV ad that explains benefits of the product or service results in higher purchase intent. And adding digital to TV raised brand consideration up three times. Your creative strategy is key to optimizing impact. In short, the platform does not determine strategy. The strategy should determine platform.”

Conclusion

As with past ARF Measurement Conferences, one walks away with new insights. This year it seemed that measurement has expanded its boundaries with new datasets and research techniques. Gayle Fuguitt, President and CEO of the ARF summed it up, “We need to be fearlessly facing forward. Media is being redefined and consumers want media on their own terms. We need to serve it up to them as they want it.” The time is now to take bold steps.




This article first appeared in www.Mediapost.com
 

The Shift in the Data Discussion … Or Not? Questions From The ARF Measurement Conference

The annual ARF measurement conference is a time where researchers from across the media spectrum can gather, present and exchange their groundbreaking insights. As with previous years, one could walk away with a fuller understanding of the ongoing challenges our industry faces and acquire some actionable insights to help overcome them. And yet, this year was a little different in that the measuring of the creative, the sequencing of ad messages across platforms and applying neuroscience standards were also hot topics in addition to data. 

As with predicting the path of any changing environment, I came away with more questions. Here are some:

Demos Targets Are So Yesterday. Or Are They?

Instead of relying on demographic targets, why not use People Based Targeting segmentations? Dave Morgan, Founder/CEO Simulmedia, posed a provocative question and call to action, “Why are we sticking to inherently wrong protocols? We have to press the industry to do better.” Morgan then asked, “Have we started to make change?” Some, like David Poltrack, Chief Research Officer, CBS Corporation and President of CBS VISION, believes there is progress but it is slow.  “I think we are,” he said, “Look at the past year. There has been more progress in past 12 months than in past 12 years. But,” he cautioned, “We are not at the implementation stage yet. Advertisers are more comfortable about it than the agencies. It requires more manpower and systems need to change. This upfront people are doing the analysis and the learning and informing their buying. But the marketplace is still transacting on traditional data. The market is still demographically driven."

Could Reach Become the Measurement Standard?

If we start to move from age and gender proxy metrics, is there a way to either standardize segments or offer another standardize-able measurement? I believe that it will be very difficult to agree on standard segments which may even defeat the purpose of segmented targeting to one’s niche and unique consumer target. So agreeing on another, more standardize-able metric might be the solution. One suggestion was Reach, possibly Average Daily Reach which takes into account recency. According to Bill Harvey, CEO of Bill Harvey Consulting, recency is critical for the ad message to be more effective. “Advertising has most pronounced effect in first 48 hours,” he explained, “and average daily reach is the most critical test of recency.” Quoting the late Erwin Ephron, Harvey then advised, “plan and buy for continuous short term reach,” and concludes, “We as an industry should be looking at daily reach.”

Can You Measure and Push Creative Across Platforms Using Brain Activity Data?
Dr. Manuel Garcia-Garcia, SVP Research and Innovation: Global and Ad Effectiveness at the ARF, offered insights concerning the measurement of creative and how it should best be fed through the advertising funnel.  His neuroscience based insights include:

Ø  Customize creative for the specific platform. “You can amplify consumer engagement if you customize your creative for the specific platform and don't just repurpose creative,” he explained.

Ø  Two platforms are better than one. It increases percent purchase intent by 36%.

Ø  In terms of sequencing the messaging, generally start with TV. “We measure engagement through skin conductor response,” Garcia-Garcia said, “And if you start with digital, then go to TV, there will be less TV impact. But if you feed you ad in mobile before TV, that equals higher memory according to the neuroscience.”

Ø  TV messaging that is preceded by a different platform tends to get higher brand consideration.

Ø  A TV ad that explained product or service benefits resulted in higher purchase intent.

Ø  In adding digital to a TV raised brand consideration up three times.

Ø  Creative strategy is key to optimizing impact. “Do mobile first if the execution is customized to mobile,” Garcia-Garcia recommended, “But if your campaign is not there yet, start with TV when creative is being repurposed or is not unified.”

Ø  Finally, the “Platform does not determine strategy,” he warned, “Strategy should determine the platform.”

Which Way Forward?

Gayle Fuguitt, CEO and President of the ARF, energized the attendees with a call to action. “The time is now!” she exclaimed. “What are needed are fearless leaders to step up and not be afraid to ask the hard questions.” Much of what was presented at this year’s ARF Measurement Conference gives us lots of hard questions to ask. Let’s now resolve to work together to solve for the answers.

This article first appeared in www.MediaBizBloggers.com

The ARF’s Gayle Fuguitt Announces the 2016 Audience Measurement Conference

One of my most favorite conferences is coming up on June 12-14 and that is the Advertising Research Foundation’s Audience Measurement event.  It is full of usable insights, fascinating research and compelling speakers from a range of companies in the industry.

In preparation for the event, I sat down with Gayle Fuguitt, ARF CEO & President, and asked her the following questions:

Charlene Weisler: What makes this year’s conference different from previous years?

Gayle Fuguitt: We find ourselves in very interesting times and there is so much focus on measurement. It feels to me that, as an industry we are just not focused enough on the consumer. So with the advent of ad blocking and ad fraud, multi-touch attribution, and big data or smart data, there are remarkable solutions available. But we really have to get right back to the consumer and think about what makes their hearts beat faster. How can we as an industry appeal to the head and their heart of the consumer and not just to their feet and purchase behavior.

Charlene: So how can we get to the head and heart of a consumer?

Gayle: Absolutely. It is primarily neuroscience. CBS’ David Poltrack has amazing new research that ties neuroscience to ROI. And the ARF has our own original research study which combines neuroscience with new platforms beyond television. Back in March, we demonstrated that cross platform advertising works and that an ROI kicker effect was created by combining television and digital. Now we are dealing with layers as we ask ‘how much and in what order?’ Do I run TV first? Do I do digital first? And how do I measure the creative online? How do I know that I appeal to the consumer with my banner ad or my video?  As TV is being redefined, video is becoming so important; we are finding incredible new insights into how to optimize the impact of consumer’s emotional connection to the brand and product through neuroscience. This will help direct decisions as to whether I should spend my first dollar on television or on mobile. If I spend on mobile is it mobile video? And how do I know if my mobile video is any good? We are going to unlock the answers to these questions at the conference.

Charlene: I have to ask, what is your definition of TV?

Gayle: Right now it is moving pictures and stories on a screen. It is very interesting to me to see the emotional engagement to story lines, characters and branded entertainment, and how this is impacting the amount of TV consumers are watching. You can see that in binge viewing beyond the platform and device. It is this emotional engagement that’s key, and the loyalty to reinvented television has actually increased almost at the same rate as the number of choices the consumer has. TV is being reinvented and, in fact, one of the key presentations on Monday at the conference is going to be by Google about the evolution and measuring of television – television as video across screens. So the fact that we will have Google presenting information like that is a wonderful metaphor to answering this question.

Charlene: Give me some teasers on what to expect at the conference.

Gayle: Here are the main reasons why this year’s conference is a must-attend:

Ø  Sequencing.  At Audience Measurement, we will unveil the critical next phase of the How Advertising Works research that was shared at Re!Think: a roadmap for the optimal sequencing of messages across TV, mobile and digital.

Ø  Neuroscience.  We will definitively demonstrate the connection between ROI and neuroscientific methods.

Ø  360 view of the consumer.  We will comprehensively show you the leading-edge approaches to measuring audiences in today’s redefined media landscape.

Ø  Erwin Ephron Demystification Award.  Join us to pay tribute to the 2016 winner, Irwin Gotlieb, Chairman, GroupM Global.

You cannot afford not to be at this conference. It offers the latest, best, objective, unbiased view on cross platform measurement, attribution, neuroscience and how to build brands in the brain so that they appeal to the consumer. Are demos dead? We still tend to fall back on age and gender. But we are here to talk about audiences who are people, with inspired content. You will learn something that you can use when you are back at your desk with insights from major industry leaders, with plenty of time for networking.

This article first appeared in www.MediaBizBloggers.com

Getting Ready for the Upfronts with the PeopleFront

This year’s PeopleFront focused on three main pillars of the media marketplace – people, outcomes and ROI – and offered discussion viewpoints from “the street”, the research, the data and the buyers and sellers.

Dave Morgan, CEO and founder of Simulmedia and the host of the PeopleFront, presented the big picture when he said, “There is a consensus that the next year or two will bring significant change.  TV is continuing to make money and is expected to make money for some time. There are steps that TV companies can do to extend the duration and profitability.” 

Here are the different views on possible solutions:

View from the Street

Change, consumer behavior evolution and the limitations of the measurement in a world of ever increasing pools of data cause a confluence of challenges. “The nature of what is TV is fluid,” noted Brian Weiser, Senior Analyst, Pivotal, “Younger demos change behavior more rapidly. Some behavior is not currently measured that would make consumption data more healthy.” He explained that there was a recent CRE insights study that showed that TV is ambient in a world of multi-tasking. “There is still an important role for TV,” he assured, “but it is changing” depending on the degree of programming engagement.

On the ad side of the equation, Anthony DiClemente, Managing Director, Nomera, said, “The U.S. ad growth is robust and we have upped our forecast. TV is showing unexpected resilience.” That is this season. The projection may change in two or three years as Anthony admitted, “Automation of TV ad selling is causing concern.”

Affiliate fees are an area of current concern, however. There are persistent concerns regarding cord cutting and shaving and the further consolidation in the distribution space. “We are shifting to larger and more scaled companies,’ said Anthony, “What is media doing with their cash? Are they investing organically? Are they automating? Or are they buying stock back? We applaud companies organically and investing in the right way such as in infrastructure, programming etc.”

What the Research Says
The ARF recently completed an ambitious series of studies to measure how advertising works. "We collected 40 industry leaders together, committed $1million investment on three studies over 5000 campaigns, twelve years of data, $375B in advertising spend in 41 countries across over 100 categories  in the areas of Cross platform ROI, improve creative and mobile mastery," explained ARF CEO Gayle Fuguitt. The insights were that advertisers need to invest across platforms, combine traditional and digital media, optimize digital by capping frequency and unify their creative while keeping in mind the unique characteristics of each platform to optimize performance.

“Targeting purchasers by direct match at scale increases ROI,” explained Bill Harvey, Co-Founder and Strategic Advisor, TiVo Research. “TiVo Research proved it with multiple advertisers. Now Simulmedia is proving it by running 72 campaigns for advertisers in 2015 using the same methods and showing ROI improvements in the same range as TiVo i.e. up to +250%. Simulmedia is also reducing waste frequency and is targeting day of week for recency. An example of a campaign where the same brand’s other TV had half the impressions in the excessive frequency range, the Simulmedia campaign had fewer than 5% in that bucket,” he concluded.

Daniel Slotwiner, Director Advertising Research at Facebook, recently conducted a study with Neuro-Insight on the coordination of TV advertising with digital to get the best impact. “We measured memorability, brand linkage, likability linkage and found the most efficient way to drive awareness.”

Connecting the Dots with Data

There is more data available than ever before and research companies are actively engaged in creating tools to maximize the value of this data. But there are challenges. In the case of Nielsen, Steve Hasker, President and COO explained that, “We have been working with STB data for 7 years, matching it up with credit card data and working on an independent currency measurement using the panel with large databases.” But it has not been easy. “We are chipping away to get access to STB data,” he added, “Most of today's STB data owners can't supply STB data over night.”

Omar Tawakoi, SVP, GM Oracle Data Cloud, said, “We are running a data cloud. Having a census approach is very important. In digital everything is census based and things are starting to get really interesting in TV. We are connecting offline sales to digital activities and want to prove that TV ads drive sales offline.”

“My clients only care if we moved the needle,” said Wes Nichols, Co-Founder, Marketshare, SVP Chief Strategy Officer. “They really don't care about measurement or the brilliance of a campaign etc. There is a huge credibility gap between marketing and the C-suite. We are cobbling together data based measurement and need to get a fuller assessment of our investment.”

Buyers and Sellers of the Eve of the Upfront

What about content providers and buyers? From the sellers side, Arlene Manos, President national Ad Sales, AMC, said, “Data has begun to figure into our discussion. But as a single company, we can’t effect change alone. We are using data to change internally and to figure out how to get viewers acquainted with our diverse programming.”

On the buyers side, Yin Woon Rani, VP, U.S. Marketing at Campbell’s, noted that, “Traditional advertisers take a TV centric viewpoint.  But digital is changing the nature of expectations. It is not that easy to compare between mediums so the real task for marketers is deciding where dollars can go across the media pool.”

But, there has been “an evolution over several years. We are getting more find tuned beyond demographics,” according to M’lou Walker, CEO, Matrixx. Because Matrixx in is the consumer healthcare industry, M’lou said that “Knowing when our consumers are sick is more important for us. We need to find who she is at that moment of illness. So we take segmentation data and find consumers at different points and roll it all up.  TV plus digital gets us much further. We can get to consumer in her moment.”

As Dave concluded, the industry is now “More evolutionary than revolutionary but the evolutionary pace is picking up. We are swimming in data. How to can we best operationalize it?” That will remain the burning question as we are about to enter the next upfront.

This article first appeared in www.MediaBizBlogger.com