Can you feel it? Measuring Emotions in Advertising

Transcription

1 Can you feel it? Measuring Emotions in Advertising By Samira Mohamed and Keith Glasspoole July 2011

2 Emotions have been a hot topic in the advertising world for some time now with many commentators seeking to draw distinctions between emotional and rational campaigns, usually to the detriment of the latter. This article will not seek to focus on such distinctions. Instead, it will reflect the approach that Ipsos ASI prefers to take to ad evaluation - not seeking to judge a campaign by how we think it is supposed to work, but rather by consumer response. Put simply, the first thing you need to assess is whether advertising works, before moving on to how.

3 This article will also not seek to convince any readers of the importance of emotions their fundamental importance to virtually every decision we make is well documented. Suffice it to say that emotional associations and response are the reason many are prepared to pay more for the toilet tissue with a puppy than the toilet tissue without one. Rather, we will focus on the measurement of emotional response, and why this is an essential element of understanding the creative DNA of advertising how and why it works (or doesn t work). Some pre-testing approaches rely on survey respondents being able to tell us whether or not they think advertising works. Ipsos ASI has never relied on this kind of cognitive processing, believing instead that it is essential to derive campaign impact through observation of differences between test and control. Better measurement gathers importance in our complex media environment as emotional response links to an ad s potential to go viral. Using Next*Connect, our award winning, holistic pretesting tool, ASI put the theory to the test and measured two ads that competed for the same audience women who want to lose weight and maintain a healthy shape and did so at the same time of year, the emotionally charged New Year period. Naturally, advertisers seek to capitalise on this sentiment following Christmas excess, the New Year is the annual psychological sweet spot for new beginnings. A time when advertising offering personal development solutions run thick and fast, nurturing dreams of a better you. We chose to compare two examples of this genre. The ad for Kellogg s Special K showed women in different types of jeans and introduced their new online diet plan to the tune of Duffy s Mercy. WeightWatchers used a more overt real life testimonial tack, in which a brand user describes how she s always struggled with her figure but finally lost weight and kept it off using the WeightWatchers diet. She speaks of all the benefits of the diet and how flexible it is, including being allowed to still eat chocolate. The SPecial K ad THE WEIGHTWATCHERS AD

4 So which of the ads worked better? Next*Connect generates an overall success indicator known as the Copy Effect Index (CEI). Substantiated by inmarket validation, the CEI gives a strong prediction of inmarket success, combining an ad s ability to cut through and be linked to the brand (Reach), with its capacity to increase desire for that brand (Response). Put simply, ads with a high CEI tend to sell more product. The CEI showed a clear distinction between the ads, driven by Special K s increased potential to create brand desire. However, analysis of what might be called rational measures could not distinguish between them. For better or worse, neither ad was more or less rational. Special K Copy Effect Index Reach Index Response Index Emoti*Scape TM Map Weight- Watchers Unengaged / Bored Emotional response measures can help tease out differences between the ads. For example, we used our Emoti*Scape TM approach where consumers select up to two graphically represented emotions that capture how they felt towards the ad. Derived from extensive research and development, this map is divided into four quadrants, with the horizontal axis running from negative to positive emotions, and the vertical axis running from passive to active. Validation work has demonstrated that, in general, positive active (bottom right) is most associated with highest brand impact. We can further cluster the emotions within quadrants, for example to identify an unengaged/bored cluster on the top left, and a turned on/eager cluster on the bottom right. Analysis of our two test ads showed that, relative to our database, the Special K ad generated more eagerness whilst WeightWatchers generated more disengagement. Another approach allowing us to take an overall assessment of an ad s capacity to generate emotional engagement are the CEP TM Test measures. Based on a formula developed in partnership with Dr. Robert Heath, (author of the influential work The Hidden Power of Advertising), this approach allows us to visualize the Emotive Power and Cognitive Power of an ad or campaign. Broadly, these can be summarized as what an ad makes you feel, against what it makes you think. In this case, the CEP TM Test measures illustrate the Special K ad s superior Emotive Power relative to the WeightWatchers execution. This is likely to translate to greater potential to seep into the sub-conscious and create that all important brand warmth which in turn supports purchase intent. To put results in context, we have plotted the two test ads against a famous recent ad and its less successful follow up. Turned on / Eager THE CEP TM SPECIAL K VS WEIGHTWATCHERS Emotive Power TM Emotional Persuasion -100 Neither CADBURY GORILLA CADBURY TRUCKS Emotional & Rational Persuasion Rational Persuasion -100 Cognitive Power TM 100

5 Whilst Emoti*Scape TM and the CEP TM Test measures give a useful indication of an ad s overall power, other approaches allow us to identify specific elements of an ad which generate positive or negative response. For example, the Emoti*trace TM measures real time positive and negative emotional response to watching an ad. In this instance it is evident that both ads had a similar pattern, reflecting their similar reach potential. However, Special K started to build interest sooner and had a slightly stronger ending. Creating engagement early in the ad, possibly thanks to the iconic Duffy track, was likely to have been crucial, heightening the ad s opportunity to generate brand impact. So, the Copy Effect Index predicted relatively strong inmarket performance for Special K, and our measurement of emotional engagement helped to tease out the reasons for this. Ultimately, Special K won the round by wooing women with a subtle offer of transforming jeans from harsh critics into great assets. WeightWatchers had the same level of reach potential but was weaker on creating a desire to buy into the brand. EMOTI*TRACE TM : SPECIAL K VS WEIGHTWATCHERS Neutral Very positive WeightWatchers Kellogg's Special K Time in seconds

6 How did all this translate to consumer action for Special K? We do not have in-market tracking data to assess this, but Social Listening allows us to monitor the volume and sentiment of related conversations online. This analysis showed that Special K had a marked increase its social media buzz during the campaign period. Positive mentions of the brand went up significantly following the launch and continued as people talked about their plans to use Special K in their diets - and more importantly the Special K diet plan itself. History of special k mentions I complain 24/7 about looking **** in a bikini in summer, when all I do is eat. Starting when we get off school I m on the Special K diet Twitter, 11/05/2011 Whatever raft of marketing opportunities a season may provide, getting the right reading of an ad s potential to emotionally engage implicitly or overtly- is key to Mentions A high volume of this buzz was via Twitter with people tweeting about their new Special K diet and its progress. The majority of this was positive with many showing a real affinity to the brand. The conversations peaked on the 11th of January when many were either starting out or on the verge of deciding what diet to try. This goes to show that it sometimes takes more than a week into the New Year to get cracking with your resolutions! 3% 9% 15% 32% 76% 65% Positive Neutral Negative Key recurring phrases in online conversations shed light on concerns with the product such as a high sugar content or cardboard taste. However, the feedback was largely positive and showcased the great taste and the range of products available. Summer brings a fresh crop of Special K diet considerers, tweeting with renewed enthusiasm. There is a shift in the sentiment of online conversations about Special K going from mainly positive to neutral over time. This exposes an opportunity for Special K to convert the tone of this growing conversation to a more positive one with the right emotive message, as they did in January. I m going back on my Special K diet Twitter, 19/05/2011 JAN - FEB 2011 May - June 2011 getting maximum return on investment. Ads that capture the imagination of resolution-makers can make use of emotional engagement. A time-honoured recipe that is effective not just in January but all year round. Our approaches have evolved to combine traditional and innovative techniques of advertising measurement in order to measure that engagement, and crucially, to identify possibilities for optimisation. For some advertisers, there is a tendency to treat pre-testing as a hurdle clearing or tick box exercise rather than a sharp tool to get the best out of a campaign. Given the growing complexity of the communication task, this seems like a missed opportunity.

7 About Ipsos MORI Ipsos MORI is one of the largest and best known research companies in the UK and a key part of the Ipsos Group, a leading global research company. With a direct presence in 60 countries, our clients benefit from specialist knowledge drawn from our five global practices: public affairs research, advertising testing and tracking, media evaluation, marketing research and consultancy, customer satisfaction and loyalty. For more information, please contact: Samira Mohamed Keith Glasspoole T +44 (0) T +44 (0) E samira.mohamed@ipsos.com E keith.glasspoole@ipsos.com W W