FACE IT: THE TIME TO BUILD 3D FACIAL IMAGING INTO YOUR CORE BRAND MARKETING STRATEGY IS NOW

Transcription

1

2 FACE IT: THE TIME TO BUILD 3D FACIAL IMAGING INTO YOUR CORE BRAND MARKETING STRATEGY IS NOW INTRODUCTION Digital technologies focusing on human computer interaction (HCI) have become a central feature of modern life. Our relationship with interactive technology is shifting our habits online and creating massive new sources of rich information. For example, various mixed-reality and sensor-rich physical environments have been developed to enable people to engage with both the physical and digital worlds in new ways. Some prominent examples of this are the Nintendo Wii and Microsoft Kinect. This Stratecast white paper analyzes the business and technological drivers for the use of one such technology: 3D Facial Imaging to accurately measure emotions in marketing initiatives; and, we believe, makes a persuasive case that the time for organizations to deploy this emerging (and intriguing) technology is now. Yet, before we dive into direct discussion of 3D facial imaging, we will discuss two technological pillars that form the foundation for why that is so. The first technological pillar supporting 3D facial imaging is Online Analytics. Despite the presence of a market leader whose industry presence consists mainly of the free version of its product, which it gives away to anyone with an account on its network, the paid portion of the online analytics market accounted for more than one billion dollars in 2011, and is expanding at a double-digit cumulative annual growth rate (CAGR). 1 The reason for this robust growth is that online analytics are delivering valuable and bankable insights into the behavior, likes/dislikes, interests and shopping patterns of both consumer and business users. Stratecast divides online analytics into two broad categories: 1. Site analytics that collect, analyze and present a wide array of insights about one s own web properties. Site analytics include key areas such as visitor characterization e.g., frequency and recency; search engine optimization and search engine marketing (SEO/SEM) metrics and factors; and A/B and multivariate testing of site content to improve online effectiveness, driving conversions including sales and visitor interaction. 2. Social analytics, which track, analyze and provide insights on the rest of web outside one s own web properties; of course encompassing social media but also including visitor, user, customer and prospect behavior on other sites. 1 More detailed market data is available in Stratecast report Online Analytics 2012: Competing with Free in the Digital Age, ACEM

3 Emerging enhancements to online analytics are providing insights into user behavior relative to behaviors associated with specific content and specific devices used to access online content: Video analytics, which deliver specific metrics on video usage and user responses, such as which segments of a video a user (or class of users) watches, and videoby-video response rate comparisons. Mobile analytics, which apply to all areas above, since users access sites, social networking and video on their mobile devices just as frequently, if not more so, as on their computers. The difference is that mobile analytics pay particular attention to if and how mobile usage, behaviors and responses are either similar to or different from fixed/desktop usage and behaviors. 2 The second pillar is Digital Analytics. While digital analytics is closely related to online analytics in fact, the lines between them are blurring digital analytics applies to areas such as e-marketing and e-commerce, as well as the analysis of data from machines and tools; grocery store scanner traffic; packages arriving and departing from shipping depots; and both physical and virtual resources that are modified, transferred, processed and otherwise accounted for. In other words: Online (web) data, meet Offline (physical world) data. It is now possible to combine sources of offline data, such as those above, with data from web pages, retail stores, postal mail, call centers, shopping programs and mobile marketing campaigns. In so doing, brands are beginning to create unique and detailed profiles, identifiers, and an entity prized by product managers and marketers the world over: the customer persona. INTERACTIVE VIEWER DATA HELP PAINT A 3D PICTURE OF THE TARGET MARKET Other data sources gaining prominence in this merging analytics world center on interactive viewer data. Television services that integrate interactive web services with unicast services represent one source. They enable point to point, one-to-one capabilities that provide another avenue for service providers to collect and define viewer profile and response data. Another source is the wide and growing range of online and offline interactive experiences, including interactive gaming and online video rentals. When converged with web data, these interactive sources paint a fleshed -out, 3D picture of a user; his or her concerns and drivers; and his or her relationships, emotions and psychographic connections to brands. While this prescriptive step is valuable in and of itself, what closes the loop is that the convergence of these points of analytical light offer clear indications of what brands can do to generate and secure a relationship, and purchasing activity, by the user. 2 This white paper is not the place for that discussion, except to note that our research indicates clear differences are emerging between how people access online content on a computer versus a mobile device.

4 PREDICTIVE BEHAVIORAL ANALYTICS: USING BI TO UNDERSTAND THE BUYER Brands spend more than $30 billion annually on market research, trying to determine what people love (and hate); and, most importantly, what they will buy, and why. By following Stratecast s nine-part business intelligence (BI) model one component of which is analytics brands are better able to more precisely understand consumer drivers, and convert predictive technologies into brand and product -specific strategies. Our research shows that consumers prefer targeted online advertising; and integrating online and offline data in the mix helps do a better job targeting links, advertisements and content to users. Targeted content drives higher conversion rates and gains user opt-in the Holy Grail for mobile advertising and all types of interactive marketing. EMOTION RECOGNITION USING FACIAL IMAGING TAKES ANALYTICS TO THE NEXT LEVEL Human-machine interaction (HMI) is a relatively new area in the enterprise, but it is grounded in a deep foundation of research and development. For example, organizations that develop software-based solutions to automate business processes for communications service providers solutions known as operations and business support systems (OSS/BSS) have been studying and implementing HMI in various forms since the 1990s. Today, however, the main driver behind HMI is the proliferation of smartphones and tablet computers, gaming platforms and devices, and other new interface technologies. Challenges abound, however, as teenagers and, increasingly, all users expect to interact with enterprise systems in the same way that they now interact with those mobile consumer devices. Going forward, developers must embed HMI capabilities into electronics; and perhaps even more significantly, organizations must build HMI capabilities into their business processes and applications. Emerging HMI capabilities include speech and gesture recognition, behavioral and gestural analytics, virtual (augmented) reality, and virtual assistants such as the data-driven, location- and context-aware Siri virtual assistant now bundled with the iphone. One area of HMI that Stratecast believes offers serious potential in terms of leveraging BI to propel marketing initiatives is the collection of data and development of analytics through emotion recognition using facial imaging. Traditional focus group and survey research are useful, but both lack the capability to truly measure emotional responses to messages and images. Brands and marketers have needed a scalable, accurate way to predict consumer emotional responses to communications and marketing content, messaging, campaigns and brand touch points. 3D facial imaging and emotion detection appear to hold the key to those types of insights. The face eyes and nose, brow and corners of the mouth collectively open a window into the soul. As shown in Figure 1, facial imaging and emotion recognition

5 solutions help access viewers true feelings by reading facial micro-expressions and drawing behavioral conclusions based on well-grounded scientific methods. Figure 1: Facial Imaging and Emotion Recognition Window Into the Soul? Source: nviso How It Works A good example of 3D facial imaging (3DFI) in action is a scenario where a consumer packaged goods (CPG) brand needs to determine the impact of a potential advertising campaign and the emotions it will evoke for the brand: 1. The brand and/or its marketing agency recruits a group of people who agree to participate in an online survey. 2. Sitting in front of a computer with its webcam turned on, they watch advertisements.

6 The emotion detection system captures their reactions and provides real-time emotion analysis. The Value of 3D Facial Imaging Solutions 3DFI offers important benefits, first in terms of conducting essential research, and then in terms of business process and results, as shown in Figure 2. Figure 2: Research and Business Benefits of 3D Facial Imaging Research Benefits Evaluates stimuli that is both dynamic (e.g., video) and static (e.g., print ads and logos, or video storyboards), so it is flexible for multiple marketing forms and channels. Overcomes consumer resistance to intrusive questioning, generated by decades of telemarketer fatigue and privacy concerns. Overcomes social desirability bias the tendency of respondents to answer questions in a way that, consciously or subconsciously, they believe is socially acceptable to (popular with) others which is a challenge strongly associated with focus groups. Provides consistent cross-cultural, cross-ethnicity data integrity for consumer responses. Does not require dedicated hardware or facility, so gives access to larger, more diversified populations online. Does not require highly trained experts to interpret generated data. Is accessible via online, offline and mobile platforms. Reduces repetitive, site analytics-style A/B and multivariate testing of advertising content and campaigns. Business Benefits Speeds internal and client decision-making, Improves client confidence in the results obtained. Its image-by-image analytics help a brand or agency s creative staff refine messages that are meaningful (and most importantly, conversion-worthy) to its target audience. Source: Stratecast

7 NOTABLE 3D FACIAL IMAGING PROVIDER: NVISO nviso offers a solution, via the IBM SmartCloud, that uses proprietary 3D facial imaging technology, compatible with ordinary webcams, to capture and analyze consumers visual attention and emotional response. nviso s software captures instantaneous, second -bysecond reactions; then, anonymously compiles, aggregates and analyzes response data for one or more of seven basic human emotions, creating sentiment data with a high degree of granularity and accuracy. As reflected in Figure 3, the nviso solution addresses needs and pain points of business units and functions, including market research, brand management, marketing/advertising/ creative agencies and new product development teams. In particular the brand team can evaluate the effectiveness of advertising messages based on predefined analytics thresholds to make a go/no-go decision on ads, campaigns and other content. It can compare sentiment analysis to competitors campaigns, and slice the data various ways such as by age, gender, or brand usage. Figure 3: nviso 3D Facial Imaging, an IBM SmartCloud Solution Source: nviso and IBM A global marketing agency using the nviso solution reduced production and creative material costs by approximately eight percent annually; improved the number of test user evaluations in a 30-second video up to 240 times (!) compared to standard tests; and increased its clients advertising revenue spend by 12 percent.

8 Stratecast The Last Word 3D facial imaging and emotion recognition may seem cutting-edge, and indeed it is an emerging technology with the potential to revolutionize the ability of brands and marketers to connect with consumers. Yet, Stratecast believes it is actually a logical next step that synergizes some of the best features of existing technologies; may provide the deepest level of behavioral insight; and eliminates privacy concerns associated with collecting and using consumer data. Online and digital analytics are already proving that interactive data sources can enable brands to do a better job reaching customers in the right locations and contexts to drive purchasing activity. Some emerging call center/help desk technologies are capturing multichannel customer communications, and homing in on a customer s in-call state of mind, primarily to reduce customer churn. 3D facial imaging (3DFI) is perhaps the ultimate interactive consumer data vehicle, capturing real-time reactions of users as they respond to various stimuli. As applied to brand management, 3DFI captures users facial responses to video or static advertisements, and performs sentiment analysis on their responses, to determine users true feelings about messages and brands. 3DFI sidesteps some glaring weaknesses and inefficiencies of long-standing staples of brand research and marketing such as surveys and focus groups. Since users opt in by agreeing to participate in 3DFI studies, the technology also addresses privacy concerns associated with some other marketing practices. nviso is an extremely capable 3DFI provider that markets and delivers its solutions via the IBM SmartCloud. While seemingly every software solution is now touted as real-time, nviso s 3DFI solution truly fits the phrase: it captures second-by-second facial micro-expressions, then crunches the data (and aggregates it, to protect user privacy), in order to deliver BI-based insights. Jeff Cotrupe Global Program Director ACEM and OSSCS Stratecast Frost & Sullivan jeff.cotrupe@frost.com Early results of what nviso is doing include increasing test user evaluations by an eye - popping 240:1 over traditional methods, and increasing brand advertising expenditures by 12%. Will 3DFI take over the brand management world, supplanting all other message-testing processes? No one has enough data yet to make that call. Yet, Stratecast believes every brand should give 3DFI a test-drive to see what sort of results it can achieve for them initially as a supplement to existing brand research and marketing techniques, but with an eye toward using 3DFI to replace those that have outlived their usefulness.

9 Silicon Valley 331 E. Evelyn Ave., Suite 100 Mountain View, CA Tel Fax San Antonio 7550 West Interstate 10, Suite 400 San Antonio, Texas Tel Fax London 4, Grosvenor Gardens, London SWIW ODH,UK Tel 44(0) Fax 44(0) GoFrost ABOUT STRATECAST Stratecast collaborates with our clients to reach smart business decisions in the rapidly evolving and hyper - competitive Information and Communications Technology markets. Leveraging a mix of action -oriented subscription research and customized consulting engagements, Stratecast delivers knowledge and perspective that is only attainable through years of real-world experience in an industry where customers are collaborators; today s partners are tomorrow s competitors; and agility and innovation are essential elements for success. Contact your Stratecast Account Executive to engage our experience to assist you in attaining your growth objectives. ABOUT FROST & SULLIVAN Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, partners with clients to accelerate their growth. The company's TEAM Research, Growth Consulting, and Growth Team Membership empower clients to create a growth -focused culture that generates, evaluates, and implements effective growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan employs over 50 years of experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses, and the investment community from more than 40 offices on six continents. For more information about Frost & Sullivan s Growth Partnership Services, visit Auckland Bangkok Beijing Bengaluru Bogotá Buenos Aires Cape Town Chennai Colombo Delhi / NCR Dhaka Dubai Frankfurt Hong Kong Istanbul Jakarta Kolkata Kuala Lumpur London Mexico City Milan Moscow Mumbai Manhattan Oxford Paris Rockville Centre San Antonio São Paulo Seoul Shanghai Silicon Valley Singapore Sophia Antipolis Sydney Taipei Tel Aviv Tokyo Toronto Warsaw Washington, DC