Interactive advertising based on real data that personalizes the message can typically keep the interest of consumers longer because they become part of the experience. Same goes for the way CMOs
deliver ideas to their company's board of director or C-suite executives.
A study conducted by Harvard University Department of Psychology that analyzes three presentation
styles—PowerPoint, interactive Prezi tools, and oral presentations—to analyze the influence of formats suggests CMOs need to begin thinking as much about the medium they use as they
do their audience.
Participants presented live to an audience over Skype. The audience judged the efficacy of each presentation. In the second phase, recorded versions of these
presentations were presented to a larger online audience, allowing them to measure the impact of presentation format on decision-making and learning.
Across both experiments, participants
ranked PowerPoint presentations comparable to oral presentations, but evaluated Prezi presentations more favorably.
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The results suggest that participants who viewed different types of
presentations came to different conclusions about the business scenario, but no evidence that they remembered or comprehended the scenario differently. One conclusion:the observed effects of
presentation format are not merely the result of novelty, bias, experimenter-, or software-specific characteristics, but instead reveal a communication preference for using the panning-and-zooming
animations.
Other conclusions: Interactivity breeds interest, prompts behavioral changes, and leads the viewer to make decisions. The medium determines success. The study suggests zooming user
interfaces, ones in which people can interact with the content, creates interest, but researchers at Harvard University Department of Psychology caution that the presentation medium is but one of many
factors that determine success.