• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer, November 10, 2010

iProspect, in conjunction with comScore, conducted a 2010 study to uncover the true effect of the digital media channels, and the effect of branding on customers' purchase paths. The research involved both real-time monitoring of Internet user behavior, and post-behavioral surveying of those users.

The key finding of this study is that online digital media assets have considerable branding influence, and that specific combinations can significantly impact a brand's success. The study shows that search marketing and online display can be viewed as viable branding channels worthy of their fair share of branding budgets, and requiring development of means by which to measure their impact on brand equity.

Key findings that demonstrate the relationship between the digital assets examined in this study and brand lift, according to the report:

Paid search result impressions have the greatest impact on brand lift, both in isolation and in combination with other digital assets.

•  In aggregate, paid search results generate 44% lift in likelihood to purchase
• Within the retail vertical, paid search impressions create a 54% lift in likelihood to purchase

The combination of paid + organic search impressions produce the strongest brand lift across most of the brand metrics measured.

•  In aggregate, paid search results + organic search results net a 73% lift in likelihood to purchase
• Within the hotel vertical, paid + organic search impressions create a 147% lift in likelihood to purchase

Online display advertising is also effective at producing brand lift, but makes its strongest contribution when used in combination with search engine results. This combination produced a surprisingly high brand lift across many of the verticals studied.

• In aggregate, organic search results + display ad impressions net a 16% increase in likelihood to purchase
• Within the banking/financial vertical, organic search results + display ad impressions create a 64% lift in likelihood to purchase

Aggregate Findings, Analysis & Recommendations

Digital Assets Value In Unaided Brand Recall (15-35%)
	% Lift in Unaided Brand Recall
Digital Asset	Control Group	Exposed Group
Organic Search Impressions	17	18
Paid Search Impressions	16	17
Online Display Ad Impressions	20	20
Organic + Paid Search Impressions	17	23
Organic Search + Online Display Ad Impressions	24	39
Paid Search + Online Display Ad Impressions	23	38
Organic Search + Paid Search + Online Display Ad Impressions	37	43
Source: iProspect, November 2010

Exposure to combinations of two digital assets is more impactful than exposure to those assets in isolation. The combinations of both organic search results + display ads, as well as paid search results + display ads, generate a 15% lift. The combination of organic search results + paid search results produces a 35% increase.Marketers hoping to achieve brand lift of this type are advised to utilize two or more of the following channels to net an impact, opines the report.

Brand Favorability Experienced A Lift Of 11-40% From Paid Search Alone When Combined With Other Digital Media Assets.
	% Lift in Brand Favorability
Exposure	Control	Exposed
Organic only	41	45
Paid only	36	46
Display only	34	36
Organic/paid	40	56
Organic/display	49	49
Paid/display	44	49
Organic/Paid/Display	48	46
Source: iProspect, November 2010

Exposure to impressions of each of the three digital asset types alone generates lift in brand favorability, with paid search results producing the greatest increase (28%), according to the report. This is the second brand metric where the combination of paid + organic search results generates the highest lift.

Exposure to combinations of two digital media assets considerably improves likelihood to purchase (16-73%), versus exposure to one asset type (5-44%).

Likelihood To Purchase (% Responding Very Likely)
	% Likely To Purchase
Exposure	Control	Exposed
Organic only	23	29
Paid only	18	26
Display only	19	20
Organic/Paid	22	38
Organic/Display	32	37
Paid/Display	28	34
Org/Paid/Display	32	36
Source: iProspect, November 2010

Arguably the most important metric associated with brand equity, the likelihood to purchase is most impacted by impressions of the same digital assets and combinations that created the greatest increases in brand favorability and likelihood to visit a brand's website.

In the consumer-driven retail category, where trust is built online, offline, and even through social media and viral efforts, the report suggests that marketers should take note of how these digital assets shift the purchase path. By utilizing organic + paid search to increase favorability of the brand, and display media to encourage consumers to visit their website, retail marketers should find the unique combination of assets to produce the greatest lift.

• In the retail vertical, impressions of online display ads produce the greatest lift in unaided brand awareness (40%) with a smaller lift being generated by other individual asset types. This finding is not surprising given the prevalence of online display in the retail vertical (compared to other verticals)
• The retail vertical demonstrates the same trend established within the aggregate findings: paid search impressions have the power to provide a significant lift in brand favorability (35%) on their own. However, the combination of organic + paid search result impressions that provides the highest degree of lift at the aggregate level did not produce a large enough sample size to draw a conclusion for this vertical
• When it comes to the likelihood to visit a retail brand's website, impressions of paid search results produce the greatest lift (75%). Online display ad impressions follow with 58%. It is interesting to note that online display contributes more than five times the brand lift within the retail vertical than it does within the aggregate findings (11%)
• Once again, paid search impressions (54%) and online display ad impressions (33%) are the assets that generate the greatest lifts in this important brand metric. It is interesting to note that online display ads produce almost seven times the brand lift within this vertical than they do across all the verticals considered within the study (5%)
• No real lifts in retail brand trust are generated by any digital asset types.

The report goes on to summarize each of the verticals studied, with conclusions and recommendations for marketers.

Additional information may be found here, including access to the PDF file with detailed charts and graphs, for more study.