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Measuring Online Advertising Response

Tuesday, 17th April 2012 at 11:24am

AdAge DigitalWe recently found a very interesting article in AdAge by Kathryn Koegel looking into measurement of online advertising and calls for definitions to be changed when an ad is viewed.

Making Measurement Make Sense, or 3Ms, is an initiative backed by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, 4A's, the Association of National Advertisers, the Media Ratings Council, MediaLink and Bain Consulting and calls for a whole new definition of an ad, based on whether anyone actually saw it.

According to a recent study by ComScore in the US of 18 campaigns from advertisers including Kellogg's, Allstate, Ford and eTrade, up to 31% of online ad impressions served were never viewed, even though they counted as impressions in the campaigns.

This is because whether an ad is viewed or not is based upon whether the ad technically loaded on to a page rather than whether someone had the opportununity to see it.  

IAB Senior VP of Research, Analytics and Measurement Sherrill Mane commented, "We want to put display-ad units on an equal footing with other media. The adoption of viewable impressions will ... give the media community comfort and security for brand advertisers to move forward."

Linda Abraham, CMO of ComScore commented, "Typically, top-of-page placements command highest prices, but research shows that in many cases these are overlooked in favour of in-content or below-the-fold placements - it all depends on the type of content and how people consume it. What's surprising is how little of these publishers know and use."

"As an example, recipe sites actually have higher viewability rates of ads below-the-fold than top of page placements and we're now able to 'unearth the gold below the fold'."

This may be US focussed but an interesting article on measurement of online advertising and how it is being addressed.

Read the full article here. And you can find out more about 'making Measurement Make Sense' and their five principles here.

Tagged Online, Digital, AdAge, Measurement, Advertising, Reach, Views, US, IAB

Are consumers getting excited about QR codes?

Monday, 2nd January 2012 at 2:05am

Quick-response (QR) codes are being used everywhere these days, even footballers have got into the habit with Bromley FC shaving the back of their heads in the design as a promotional stunt.

But are consumers getting excited about QR codes? They are a great idea in theory, improving interactivity and offering a quick route through to online content, however in the States only 5% of Americans who own mobile phones have actually used a QR code, and surprisingly these tended to be young, affluent and male.

However, in the UK a recent survey of 794 mobile users by Simpson Carpenter showed that only a third knew what a QR code was but 11% had used one. Of these 20% did not find them at all useful.

So what is the future of QR codes? There will be growing awareness of the technology and, according to the above research,  70% of those that had used them found them useful and would use them again. As a tool for marketers they offer a simple and quick way for consumers to engage with online content and with the increase in smart phone usage it will be interesting to see how they develop.

We expect that there will be simpler technology along sooner rather than later that will supersede QR codes and offer more marketing opportunities so watch this space.

For more information on QR trends in the States see the AdAge article here 
Tagged AdAge, Codes, Marketing, Mobile, QR, research, Usage

AdAge's Top 10 Viral Videos of 2011

Sunday, 1st January 2012 at 2:22am

This is a very funny viral video for Doritos - 'no animals were hurt in the production of this advert' - well, at least the dog wasn't.

This ranked number 3 in AdAge's Top 10 viral videos for 2011. Some great videos here - some that you may recognise in the UK and others that you may not.

Check out the complete Top 10 here.


Tagged AdAge, Ads, Advert, Advertising, Funny, Top 10, Video, Viral
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