SAN FRANCISCO: The use of haptic technology to bring consumers' sense of touch into play in mobile video ads can produce a 50% uplift in brand favorability, according to new research.
IPG Media Lab asked 1,137 representative Android users to take a mobile survey which directed them to a media experience of their choosing, with passive data collected while they viewed video content and a subsequent survey measuring traditional branding metrics and supplying qualitative feedback.
This found that adding touch to ads increased engagement and users' sense of connection with a brand.
In particular, haptic technology elicited a strong emotional response, increasing levels of happiness and excitement.
Where a standard video ad achieved happiness and excitement levels of 37% and 30% respectively, haptic video advertisements saw upticks in both categories at 44% and 38%.
Moreover, this outcome created a halo effect on the brand, generating a +6% increase in perceptions that the brand itself is exciting because haptics were added.
Touch also gave a significant boost to feelings of connection with the advertised brand, as this metric rose from 13% to 21%.
Overall, the addition of haptics to video ads led to a 50% lift in brand favorability. And this, IPG Media Lab reported, was equivalent to a 68% cost saving when compared to how much a brand might spend on increasing brand favorability using ads without haptic technology.
While the use of touch had no impact on the likelihood of previous brand customers to buy, it clearly drove purchase intent among potential new customers, although the report cautioned that early tech adopters were especially responsive to ads enabled with touch technology.
IPG MediaLab also outlined some best practice for brands considering the use of haptics, including notifying consumers up front that an ad is enabled with touch technology.
And, it added: "Don"t overdo it. Less is often more when it comes to this new technology."
IPG Media Lab asked 1,137 representative Android users to take a mobile survey which directed them to a media experience of their choosing, with passive data collected while they viewed video content and a subsequent survey measuring traditional branding metrics and supplying qualitative feedback.
This found that adding touch to ads increased engagement and users' sense of connection with a brand.
In particular, haptic technology elicited a strong emotional response, increasing levels of happiness and excitement.
Where a standard video ad achieved happiness and excitement levels of 37% and 30% respectively, haptic video advertisements saw upticks in both categories at 44% and 38%.
Moreover, this outcome created a halo effect on the brand, generating a +6% increase in perceptions that the brand itself is exciting because haptics were added.
Touch also gave a significant boost to feelings of connection with the advertised brand, as this metric rose from 13% to 21%.
Overall, the addition of haptics to video ads led to a 50% lift in brand favorability. And this, IPG Media Lab reported, was equivalent to a 68% cost saving when compared to how much a brand might spend on increasing brand favorability using ads without haptic technology.
While the use of touch had no impact on the likelihood of previous brand customers to buy, it clearly drove purchase intent among potential new customers, although the report cautioned that early tech adopters were especially responsive to ads enabled with touch technology.
IPG MediaLab also outlined some best practice for brands considering the use of haptics, including notifying consumers up front that an ad is enabled with touch technology.
And, it added: "Don"t overdo it. Less is often more when it comes to this new technology."
Data sourced from IPG Media Lab; additional content by Warc staff
