The right context increases advertising recall by more than 40 percent

Digital advertising that leaves consumers with an emotional memory, i.e. is intended to evoke a certain feeling or an overarching brand perception, performs best when it is placed in the context of suitable content. In the right context, ads lead to 43 percent higher overarching ad recall, which is referred to as "global memory." This is the finding of IAS' new biometric study, "The Context Effect." The study, conducted in partnership with Neuro-Insight, goes far beyond traditional survey data on consumer preferences and examines consumers' brain activity in response to contextually-tailored advertising.

"This study, based on the latest neuroscience and neurometric findings, clearly demonstrates how big an impact a website's context can have on advertising recall and audience engagement," said Tony Marlow, CMO of IAS.

In "The Context Effect," consumers rated the ads shown in three types of contextual matching. The resulting insights will help brands ensure the maximum success of their digital ads.

Thematically appropriate content

Thematically appropriate ads lead to better recall: Thematically appropriate ads - that is, when they match the surrounding content vertically, such as a car ad near car content - provide 23 percent higher activation in the part of the brain responsible for remembering practical details, which includes key messages, calls to action and brand elements. These ads also increase overarching ad recall by 27 percent - the memorability of general themes, overarching stories, or audio and visual elements.

Informative fit

Informative advertising works best when it matches the core message of the surrounding article: The results of the IAS study show that matching the promotional information with the message of an item elicits very strong detail recall, also called "detail memory," and leads to a 36 percent increase in detail recall. This can be particularly relevant for campaigns that focus on a clear "call to action" with which brands want to activate consumers to interact.

Advertising as part of the online experience

Consumers perceive advertising as part of their online experience: The vast majority of consumers (63 percent) considered advertising as part of their online reading and not as annoying or distracting. Only 36 percent scroll past an ad without reading it.

Contextual strategy important

These results show that by activating contextual strategies, digital marketers can achieve higher brand recognition and evoke positive emotional responses from consumers*.

Within the framework of the "Context Effect" study by IAS 60 consumers from the USA were observed during a 30-minute mobile experience. Neuro-Insight's Steady State Topography (SST) was used to track and record brain activity in real time. The subjects were also asked to associate ads with the context in which they appeared.