• by Masha Geller , June 4, 2003

Yesterday the IAB unveiled yet another set of research results that show that larger online ads perform better in communicating brand attributes. The study compared a 30-second McDonald's TV spot to a set of online formats, including a 30-second Superstitial, banners, skyscrapers, boxes and rectangles, and found that the largest lift in consumer awareness was created by the Superstitial.

I have two questions. First, how many more researchers are going to study this subject and later present the results as groundbreaking? Granted, the online ad industry tends not to believe things until an organization like the IAB says it really is so, but I hope this is the last of it. Every researcher on the planet has already done an analysis of this ad size issue and online marketers should know by now that bigger is better, providing it matches their campaign goals.

Second, when is McDonald's going to move from hype generation to actually using the research they've been doing since October 2002?

The IAB Cross Media Optimization Study examined online media's place in the overall marketing mix for McDonald's Grilled Chicken Flatbread Sandwich, and found the potential for an increase in branding metrics when online advertising's share of the overall campaign budget is increased via reallocation of dollars. What researchers found is that while McDonald's TV and Radio advertising works well (branding lift over pre-campaign levels is 187%), if online plays a larger role in the mix, and the percentage of online advertising is increased to 13% of the same budget, the projected lift would be 232%. Additionally, offline media misses or under-delivers to a segment of consumers who are more prone to be reached online.

Six months after the above data came in, in April, McDonald's SVP of U.S. marketing, Bill Lamar Jr., said the company would be doing less TV and more digital media. That has not yet happened, which leads me to believe the announcement was largely a hype-generating PR stunt.

Enough research. Time to put the money where Lamar's mouth is.