29th October 2019: Digital channels are effective at delivering brand impact and more cost efficient than most offline channels according to an Australian first report released today by Kantar at IAB Australia’s MeasureUp conference. The report, The Digital Brand Effect, found that the long term retained brand impacts for digital campaigns are at least on par with those of other media; with 20% of the original brand impact of digital campaigns retained for eight weeks after the original exposure.
Online video and social and online display were also found to have a higher share of brand impact compared to the share of spend, with the report finding that digital touchpoints pay their way back in building key brand building metrics including awareness, brand associations and motivation.
Gai Le Roy, CEO of IAB Australia commented “The narrative that digital advertising is a purely performance media with little long-term brand impact that has become particularly loud of the last couple of years is a complete fallacy. A wide range of respected independent research companies have been able to demonstrate that digital does have strong brand building ability over many years.
“The Digital Brand Effect using aggregated results from a large pool of campaigns provides a deeper level of information on how marketers can use a range of digital formats, alongside traditional media, to build long lasting successful brands,” said Le Roy.
The report also confirmed that digital advertising excels when it is part of a multimedia campaign, demonstrating strong synergies when differing digital media channels combine, as well as complementing offline media. Up to 45% of digital brand effects are a result of working with other digital or offline media to produce synergistic effects, while up to 22% of digital brand effects are a result of working with other offline media.
Mark Henning, Executive Director, Media and Digital at Kantar Australia, said: “Our conversations should not be about which advertising formats are the most successful individually because the reality is that advertising works best when it’s multi-channel and multi-discipline. As consumer consumption patterns shift and we move into new advertising formats, it will be even more important for marketers to consider the basic tenets of advertising best practice and to actively implement campaigns that are multimedia to ensure optimum brand outcomes.”
Other findings from The Digital Brand Effect report include:
While the most successful digital brand campaigns deliver a brand impact of 3.5 that of other campaigns, success is not driven by increased campaign spend. Rather success was found to be driven by designing creative with context in mind, integrating digital campaign with other media and managing frequencies.
Online display advertising was found to create meaningful brand differences and build brand associations, with its impact 42% higher than investment. Online video was found to drive brand motivation with a 30% higher impact than investment.
Social and video formats have truly come of age with brand ROI for online video improving 144% for brand salience over the last eight years, and social reporting brand ROI improving 90% for brand motivation. These increases reflect the adoption and reach of the formats, underpinned by improved ad units with better integration, new feature and user experience.
The Digital Brand Effect report analysed the brand impact delivered by digital and other media based on over 145 Australian Kantar Cross Media Brand Effectiveness studies, over 1,300 Global Kantar Cross Media studies, and 14,500 Global Kantar Digital Brand Lift studies.
IAB MeasureUp is the only measurement focused conference in Australia, designed to help shape digital and cross-media measurement in the Australian market for the next 12 months. It features both local and international speakers who discuss the ways of measuring both the opportunities available for advertisers and the impact of their investments. Key topics in MeasureUp 2019 include cross media marketing and measurement; preparing for an industry without cookies; optimising digital video campaigns; customer life time value (LTV), native advertising and brands through the eyes of youth.
/ Ends
About the Interactive Advertising Bureau
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Limited www.iabaustralia.com.au is the peak trade association for online advertising in Australia. As one of over 43 IAB offices globally and with a rapidly growing membership, the role of the IAB is to support sustainable and diverse investment in digital advertising across all platforms in Australia.
The IAB Industry Charter, which was announced in October 2018, details the organisation’s focus on helping marketers and agencies understand how digital advertising can deliver on their business objectives. Foundation elements of the IAB Industry Charter include a renewed focus on standards that promote trust, steps to reduce friction in the ad supply chain; and ultimately improve ad experiences for consumers, advertisers and publishers.
Beyond the IAB’s continued focus on content and ad measurement, the Charter outlines four additional areas of activity: digital ad effectiveness, data and data privacy; standards and guidelines; and improving the digital value chain.