80% of ads have no real effect. That's what our software wants to change
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Jiri Boudal
- 23. March 2022
Advertising needs help
Decades ago, marketing experts around the world believed that people are most likely to buy because of a rational argument. Companies simply need to prove that a particular product works. Since then, it’s changed a lot, and modern ad creators have relied primarily on creativity and emotions. But it doesn’t work very well either.
Around 80% of TV commercials have no effect at all. The causes are already well-known thanks to marketing scientists, yet it is still not possible to apply the knowledge of behavioral sciences and significantly improve the preparation of strategies and campaigns.
We've decided to do something about it
At Behavio Labs, we’ve helped hundreds of companies, refining the best way to campaign from brief to final cut. Now we are creating a software tool from this method (even marketers need their Productboard!) And we want to start offering it on the largest market in the USA as soon as possible.
“In the field of marketing, we monitor hundreds of startups and we see that the digitization of campaigns is very slow. We are always wondering, who will be the player who will build the automated tool for marketers? We bet on Behavio. We think he has more potential than being “just” a market leader in the Czech Republic. We believe that he can build something that will make a hole in the world,”
Investment fund Presto Ventures was enthusiastic about the project and provided us with tens of millions of crowns.
But back to the issue. If it’s not rational arguments or simply strong emotions, what is it that makes advertising work?
What will the future be like?
The emotions that current campaigns rely on a lot are only about one-third of the recipe for success. Emotions work primarily as an amplifier in advertising. The stronger the emotion, the more closely the brain follows the campaign and memorizes it deeper. But without the other two elements, the essentials will not be saved, so even a super emotional and creative campaign can have zero impact on the brand and sales.
In addition to emotions, advertising must also work properly with branding. That is the absolute basis: the campaign aims to strengthen the brand in our memory. Nevertheless, branding is insufficient in most campaigns. The logo at the end is absolutely not enough. The brand must be displayed early, for as long as possible, and ideally in the emotional peak of the ad, where it had the potential to be linked the strongest.
But it is not enough for people to just know your brand. You need to teach them to remember it at the right moment. That’s why a campaign must build a memory link between a brand and a relevant shopping situation (or need, that people have). This means that an ad must show the need (or situation) clearly.
We know how to analyze all three parameters second by second
In campaigns, we always measure, second by second, how the ad manages to convey to the audience the three key elements: emotions, brand, and need. We also observe how these three elements intersect. The best thing in terms of efficiency is when they peak at the same time and keep up together for as long as possible. In Cheers To All (the most effective of the Kantar Link campaigns in 2020), you see what it looks like when all three curves work.
How do we measure emotions, brand, and need?
No research panel on the market met our needs. So we internally produced our own online research panel Trendaro, where we currently have over 25,000 respondents who (not only) evaluate ads for us. Several thousand people will actually watch each video. We analyze all the opinions that the viewers liked and did not like in real-time and then process them for the clients in a pdf report.
But we wanted to do even better. In our new software tool, users will have all aspects of advertising under control. They easily enter the data report on a specific video and have a closer look at whatever interests them. We show all data for all campaigns a user has ever tested in one place. They will see developments, be able to compare or order additional measurements of something that interests them. And not only that – they will also receive advice on exactly what needs to be changed to increase the effectiveness of the campaign.
We are working hard on all this now and show the first version to the world in Q1 2022.
