Study: Consumers Responsive To A Light Touch Online
- by Gavin O'Malley @mp_gavin, October 6, 2009
Against a backdrop of blinking ads and aggressive product pitches, online consumers are increasingly responsive to subtlety and soft sells.
That's according to recent data from MTV Networks and InsightExpress, which found that audiences liked -- and were more apt to remember -- short-lived pre-roll and overlay ad combinations.
What's more, to surmount negative audience attitudes toward online video ads, marketers will need to develop a mix of ad formats that suits the increasingly varied content consumed, according to eMarketer.
Specifically, a less intrusive mix of pre-roll and other ad delivery formats, such as overlays, is recommended to reduce audience resistance. Video ads attached to traditional content -- for example, TV programs -- are more likely to evoke positive audience attitudes than other types of online video.
"It will mean making the length of video ads suitable to the length of content, so that they are not too pushy, and devoting resources to develop high-quality video creative that is well-targeted to the intended online audience," said David Hallerman, eMarketer senior analyst.
Marketers still generally shun user-generated video, according to eMarketer, but the proliferation of short professional content gives them more opportunities for video advertising.
Of particular note, choosing an appropriate amount of advertising for the content and its audience will be key, eMarketer makes clear.
TV and online video are not one and the same -- the Internet audience does not necessarily respond to the same ads in the same way they would after viewing them on TV.
Therefore, developing ad creative just for Internet video will give marketers a competitive edge.
Wow! This might seem like just one more study, but it is pointing to a revolutionary change in ad campaigns:
TV ads aren't going away, they'll just "fragment" from one or more :30's to dozens of versions specifically designed for a myriad of emerging media channels.
Some of you have read me going on about the future of marketing and have dropped me into the "TV advertising is dead" camp. I beg to differ. My point has always been that it is merely repetition/frequency that is dead, video advertising (as opposed to the single channel-specific "broadcast TV") is going to enjoy a long and prosperous life. This study backs this notion up with statistics on effectiveness/impact.
My point is that what the future of advertising/marketing holds for the 'seers', the advertising visionaries who get it, is that we'll have to be generating not a single 30 second ad, but an unlimited variation of the ads in any one campaign, ranging from 1 second edits to 10 minute advertorials/stories/films, and each of these in 20 versions for different micro-targets on multiple , plus all the other static 2-D, (3-D?), and audio versions to run in other media within each brand's mix. Sure, LOTS more work for the Creatives who used to supervise the production of a single, or set, of storyboards (but they were spending too much time down in the pub anyway! ;-)
This is a big change in our industry's modus operandi -- but if enough people understand and embrace it (Apple and Lee Clow are just about the only ones leading the way), there will be a lot less bleeding in the agency business and a smoother transition to the new marketing model.
http://tinyurl.com/p57jma