Digital advertising (and Meta apps) are effective for building long-term brand ROI | WARC | The Feed

Digital advertising (and Meta apps) are effective for building long-term brand ROI

Facebook and Instagram outperformed TV in terms of Total ROI in four out of five studies, according to new research commissioned by Meta.

Why it matters

The great strength of digital advertising was supposed to be its targeting capabilities, which are seen to help drive short-term impact. But brands should look beyond that: this research, conducted by Nielsen, Nepa and GfK, suggests that marketers who understand how to build long-term brand equity on digital channels can capitalise on the digital-first landscape to gain a competitive advantage. That will involve targeting broad audiences, using multiple formats, ensuring the right frequency and running campaigns for longer. 

Takeaways 

• Across all studies in the analysis, long-term ROI made up almost 60% of Total ROI.
• Meta’s apps drove 52% higher Total ROI than the average channel. 
• Almost 80% of the total ad spend in Tech & Durables generated long-term returns.
• The short-term ROI in CPG outweighed the long-term ROI, at 42%. 
• Even in CPG, however, long-term effects were found to add a significant amount of additional ROI, which would not have been measured by looking only at short-term impact.
• Heineken, one of the brands participating in the study, saw its Ad Spend ROI on Facebook and Instagram increase by 71% when long-term effects were taken into account. 

Key quote

“The observed long-term effect of our investment in digital platforms changed our perception of the role digital can play in our communication mix, [by demonstrating that digital makes an] important contribution to the mental availability of our brands in the long-term” – Alberto Tucci, Head of Media and Digital for Italy and Spain at Heineken.

The research

Using advanced marketing mix modelling, five studies were conducted across different European countries and categories – including CPG, Tech & Durables and over 3,500 campaigns – to calculate the short-and long-term ROI of advertising across different media channels.

Sourced from Meta