Advertising impact: TV commercials create emotional connection with brands
Consumers use a wide variety of media. It is therefore crucial for companies to understand how advertising works across different media and how to coordinate them most effectively.
A new study from the U.S., conducted by the TV station Fox in cooperation with market researchers from Innerscope and the University of Michigan, provides indications of this. Using a neuroscientific approach, it shows that TV advertising achieves a particularly high level of attention in an intermedia comparison, is strongly emotionally activated, and is superior in creating and strengthening emotional connections to brands. Optimal cross-media coordination can increase the impact of TV advertising even further.
The study examined the effect of TV and online advertising using an experimental setting. 251 consumers between the ages of 18 and 49 who regularly watch TV and use the web were divided into different groups. One online-only group was shown only online advertising in the form of rich media display banners while using various websites, while a TV-only group was shown only TV commercials - embedded in a TV series from the Fox program. A third group was first shown TV spots and then rich media display banners of the same brands on general interest websites (brand only Synergy ). A fourth group was also presented with TV and online advertising from the same brands, but here the TV program and websites were coordinated in terms of content - i.e. the online advertising was integrated into websites with content related to the TV series shown (Brand & Program Synergy ). Subsequently, the test persons in all groups were shown a series of brand and product images relating to the brands advertised. The special twist of the study is that the unconscious media and advertising effects were recorded using eye-tracking and biometric methods. Both during television viewing and surfing and during final viewing of the brand images, the subjects' heart and breathing rates, skin resistance and physical movements were measured to determine their emotional activation. Eye tracking provided indications of attention. The result: TV advertising achieved significantly higher attention than online advertising (index TV only 1675 vs. online only 100). If TV and online are combined, attention to advertising increases further (Brand only Synergy: 1755) - but the increase is not statistically significant compared to TV only. Attention is highest when TV and online contexts fit (Brand & Program Synergy: 1888).
The biometrics show that TV advertising also activates consumers significantly more emotionally than online advertising (index 223 vs. 100). The general combination of TV and online advertising increases the emotion level achieved by the advertising by another 13 index points (Brand only Synergy: 236). The highest emotional activation is achieved when the environment of TV and online advertising also meshes in terms of content (Brand & Program Synergy: 253). The combination of TV and online thus offers synergies, but the decisive attention and emotion lever comes from TV advertising. Finally, biometric measurements during the presentation of brand images following media use make it clear that TV advertising is also particularly good at creating emotional connections to brands that go beyond the moment. This "brand resonance" is higher by a factor of 2.5 for TV advertising compared to online advertising.
Clemens Koob
