• September 16, 2010

Call-to-action ads, the backbone of direct response and performance-based online advertising, "do little to affect brand performance," according to new research released this morning by WPP's Dynamic Logic unit. The study, which is part of DL's "Beyond The Click" series of white papers, indicates "there is little difference in brand performance between ads including a call-to-action and those that do not."

"The exception to the rule," the research firm says, "is in instances where the 'action' is the primary campaign objective, in which case, certain types of prompts may appeal to consumers in different parts of the purchasing funnel."

The report breaks call-to-action ads into distinct subcategories, including "time-based," "create their own," and "send something" formats.