Advertising best practice, evidence and insights

What we know about new ad testing methods

Article • WARC Best Practice, January 2019

This article summarises key insights from a series of papers on new ad testing methods which are driven by advances in technology and neuroscience and must focus on consumers' rational and emotional drivers.

What we know about neuromarketing

Article • WARC Best Practice, December 2018

This article explores the emerging use of neuroscience in market research, a discipline capable of exposing the underlying motivations behind consumer decision making.

How to use neuroscience to improve your advertising

Article • Heather Andrew, WARC Best Practice, December 2018

This paper addresses the implications of this changing research landscape and, in particular, how neuroscience principles can help marketers and advertisers to:.

Straight to the heart of your target audience: Personalized advertising systems - Based on wearable technology and heart-rate variability

Article • Davide C. Orazi and Greg Nyilasy, Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 59, No. 2, 2019, pp. 137-141

This article examines how wearable technology can help marketers match message content with the audience’s personal dispositions or emotional states.

How do consumers choose sellers in e-marketplaces? The role of display price and sellers' review volume

Research Paper • Saravana Jaikumar, Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 59, No. 2, 2019, pp. 232-241

In e-marketplaces, consumers often have to choose a seller from which to purchase a product. The author argues that seller choice depends on both evaluations of the display price of the product, related to anchoring, and sellers’ review volume, related to assimilation-contrast.

How Initial tackled washroom disgust

News • 17 May 2019

Smells (and bad smells especially) are an emotive subject for consumers – and nowhere is that more evident than in washrooms, an often neglected part of the user experience in retail outlets.

Why the first half-second of a mobile ad is a must-win moment

Article • Geoffrey Precourt, Event Reports, MMA Impact, March 2019

Research led by the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), the industry body, found that ads typically have less than a second to engage consumers on mobile.

Mining emotions via voice and smell with Johnson & Johnson and Initial

Article • Brian Carruthers, Event Reports, MRS Impact, March 2019

Two examples of how brands are using an innovative approach to understand consumer emotions.

Expert Blindness: the silent threat to success

Opinion • Dr Carl Marci, May 2019

Too much knowledge can be a dangerous thing, as it skews how you see the world. Nielsen’s Carl Marci explores a study that his organization undertook with Honda and RPA, which shed light on the topic.

A neuroscientific method for assessing effectiveness of digital vs. print ads: using biometric techniques to measure cross-media ad experience and recall

Research Paper • Andrea Ciceri, Vincenzo Russo, Giulia Songa, Giorgio Gabrielli, and Jesper Clement, Journal of Advertising Research, Digital First, April 2019

Marketers can choose among various media to convey advertising, ranging from printed advertising on paper to websites through the Internet and mobile through smartphones and tablets.

Applying neuroscience techniques to improve ad creative

Article • Emily Barley, WARC Exclusive, April 2019

Summarises a webinar hosted by Nielsen, which presents a series of six advertising case studies – all improved by neuroscience techniques.

How Facial Coding helps to Optimize Communication: Emotions as strong predictors of communication effectiveness for FMCG

Research Paper • Massimo Sarcina, Esperanza Vallejo, Catalina Bonnet and Joaquín Tapia, ESOMAR, Latin America, 2019

Alicorp, the consumer goods company, used the brain theories System 1 and 2, and facial coding tests to understand how to make their ads more effective in Peru.

In-Store Shopper Analytics: Understanding hair care preferences through visual attention

Research Paper • Mariana Monge and Bárbara Lecaros, ESOMAR, Latin America, 2019

ELVIVE, the haircare brand, analyzed shoppers' behavior during its purchase intention processes to refine its marketing strategy in Peru.

Formula One taps biometrics to inform viewing experience

News • 29 March 2019

The Formula One circus moves to Bahrain this weekend, where the TV viewing experience is being informed by an innovative research method that captures the real-time emotional arousal of fans watching the action on screen.

How Formula One is refining its viewing experience

Article • Brian Carruthers, Event Reports, IIeX Conference, February 2019

Since taking over Formula One, Liberty Media has invested in a research team that is exploring ways of exploiting what it believes is the untapped potential of the motorsport.

The Interactive Ad Effect: CTAs in Mobile Video Shoppable Ads

Research Paper • IAB, October, 2018

Exploring shoppable mobile video ads and how consumers in the US interacted with them, focusing on video-based interactive ads in a mobile web environment with the goal of understanding what initial calls to action work best.

How biometrics can track attention to TV ads

News • 01 March 2019

Biometric methods like eye tracking and skin conductance are a powerful resource for measuring the attention received by television advertising, according to a new study in the Journal of Advertising Research (JAR).

Progressive advertising can build successful brands – and change the world

Article • Graham Page, WARC Exclusive, January 2019

Explains how brands can effect positive change by preventing the reinforcement of negative biases and details some ways in which they can go about it.

Best measures of attention to creative tactics in TV advertising: When do attention-getting devices capture or reduce attention?

Research Paper • Steven Bellman, Magda Nenycz-Thiel, Rachel Kennedy, Nicole Hartnett, and Duane Varan, Journal of Advertising Research, Digital First, January 2019

Attracting attention is a common goal for advertisers, but there is limited knowledge about how best to measure attention.

Mo' better data - why 5G is a game changer

News • 17 January 2019

Unlike many tech developments, the imminent arrival of 5G promises to be a real game changer for marketers, according to Deloitte Digital’s CMO, not least because they will have more useful data to work with.

How models impact print ad effectiveness

News • 11 January 2019

The perceived behaviour of models in print advertising may help indicate the effectiveness of a brand’s messaging, according to a new study in the Journal of Advertising Research (JAR).

Neuroscience techniques can drive effectiveness

News • 11 January 2019

In the pursuit of greater efficiency and effectiveness across the marketing mix, marketers are exploring new means of assessment and measurement to ensure performance, with neuroscience emerging as a key approach in this context.

Deloitte Digital prepares for 5G, AI, and tapping emotional data

Article • Stephen Whiteside, Event Reports, CES 2019, January 2019

Deloitte Digital, the creative digital consultancy, believes that a wave of coming technological innovations could have a huge impact on marketing.

Face presence and gaze direction in print advertisements: How they influence consumer responses – an eye-tracking study

Article • Safaa Adil, Sophie La coste-Badie, and Olivier Droulers, Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 58, No. 4, 2018, pp. 443-455

For product manufacturers and advertisers, attracting consumer attention in a cluttered advertising environment is essential.

MetLife embraces its emotional side

Article • Reed Karaim, Event Reports, TMRE, October 2018

MetLife, the insurance provider, has shifted its marketing into more emotional territory in a bid to engage consumers in more resonant ways.