Smart speaker ads can drive stronger engagement

Smart speaker advertising generates powerful responses in the human brain that can help build deeper connections between brands and consumers, new research suggests.

Why it matters

With smart speaker ownership on the rise, conversational technology is opening new ways for advertisers to effectively tell stories and create branding moments by making audio advertising ‘actionable’. 

Neuro research – the first of its kind, commissioned by Octave Audio, Say It Now and Xaxis from Neuro-Insight – highlights the potential of interactive smart speaker ads to stimulate increased electrical activity in the brain and strengthen brand awareness. 

Key findings

• Branded smart speaker ads trigger a 25% increase in overall brain activity when compared to branding in standard audio ads. 
• Engaging in a conversation with an ad via a voice assistant makes branding moments 11% more memorable.
• Voicing a brand’s name back to a smart speaker generates a 30% uplift in overall levels of brain response compared to a standard audio ad.
• Interactive ads evoke 2.3x more left-brain memory peaks in comparison to standard radio ads. 
• When consumers converse with smart speaker audio ads there is also significant uplift in other areas, compared to standard benchmarks, including general attention (+26%), intensity of emotional responses (+17%) and memory-based responses (+11%).

Key quote

“To maximise audio’s power for capturing fragmented consumer attention, advertisers need to consider how to add value to the consumer journey. Understanding the context of user interactions, what they’re doing at the time, and where they are in the funnel can have a great impact on campaign performance” – Tilly Sheppard, Product Manager, Xaxis.

Sourced from Neuro-Insights