Make visitors spend more time with you

10 December 2009 | By Louise Jack

Interactive branded content - whether a website, campaign microsite, mobile application or social network community - is everywhere.

Companies spend vast sums of money creating digital experiences to try to influence consumer behaviour, whether in terms of brand awareness, consideration or purchase intent.

A key measure of success for this kind of activity is often engagement (how much time someone spends with the content). This is based on the assumption that the longer a consumer dwells on the content, the bigger the impact.

But now research from agency MediaCom demonstrates that for each 30 seconds a consumer interacts with branded content online, there are incremental brand shifts across almost all key metrics.

Stefan Bardega, joint head of MediaCom Beyond Advertising, says that brands need to become more active in measuring the impact that content can have on consumers. He explains: “As digital media practitioners, we’ve always told clients that the more time someone spends on your website or interacting with your advertising, the more impact that has in shifting brand metrics.

“After all, the main reason why branded content is created in the online space is not just so people see it. It’s so people engage with it and spend some time with it.”

Bardega says that a survey of this nature has been long overdue and he is surprised that no media owners have yet undertaken similar studies to measure how content engagement can help improve brand metrics. “Media owners want to charge more for a piece of branded content - that quite often they will help create - based on the level of interaction they expect to get,” he says. “Why should I pay more if you cannot demonstrate to me there’s an inherent value in that engagement?”

MediaCom’s research was carried out by developing a panel of 1,500 respondents. Each respondent was sent a link to one of five websites. Three of the sites contained branded content that the respondent could interact with for 30, 60 or 90 seconds. The fourth website carried content with no interactivity and the fifth site was a “control” sample with no advertising for the brand at all. Each respondent was surveyed after the exercise and the findings compared with the control group.

The results showed that 30 seconds of interaction improved spontaneous brand awareness by 28% (as compared with no interaction). A further 16% awareness was achieved with the 60-second interaction time and a further 10% was added for the 90-second interaction time.

Positive effects on spontaneous advertising awareness were also seen. Spontaneous advertising awareness was significantly higher in the interactive content groups - 30% of those exposed to the interactive content (for any length of time) recalled advertising for the brand spontaneously, compared with 18% of the noninteractive group

Media owners want to charge more for a piece of branded content - that quite often they will help create - based on the level of interaction they expect to get. Why should I pay more if you cannot demonstrate to me there’s an inherent value in that engagement? Stefan Bardega, MediaCom Beyond Advertising

The research also found that interaction with content increased purchase intent, often the hardest measure for brands to shift. Interacting with the content for 30 seconds increased purchase intent by 6%, compared with noninteraction. Sixty seconds added a further 8%, while 90 seconds added 5% to that total.

Though the study indicates that interaction with content does shift brand metrics, it does not demonstrate that one particular kind of content works better than another. It depends far more on the circumstances or demographics of the individual involved.

Bardega explains: “Different types of content appeal to different types of audiences. For example, if you’re targeting office workers during the working day, there is no point in having something that is difficult to learn or requires half an hour. What works really well in that context is a very simple, easy-to-understand game that takes 30 seconds to learn, a couple of minutes to play and is also quite addictive.”

In contrast, Bardega says young audiences are often willing to spend time on interactions that are complex and sometimes technically difficult,
such as filming themselves on a mobile phone and uploading the results onto the internet. He concludes: “We can’t make a blanket form of content that suits all, but there are findings across different audiences and also in relation to the context the content will be seen in.”

Although the research indicates that interactive content does inspire positive shifts across brand metrics that compare favourably against straightforward online display advertising, it does not mean that interactive content is always the best choice for a brand.

Bardega explains: “If a brand can get the consumer to engage with its content, then that is going to be far more effective than a display ad. But you have to overlay the incremental cost on top of that and also take account the fact that a static ad’s purpose might just be about awareness, rather than shifting consideration or intention to buy metrics.”

As a general rule, click-through and engagement rates are very low. Bardega states that it would be unusual for more than 1% of a target audience to engage with branded content. As such, it will not reach as many people as display advertising but should provide a much deeper level of engagement.

He predicts that, as a result, online display advertising and branded content will play different roles. For companies that have a complex message to get across or for those businesses that have might have an attitude or perception issue, then branded content is an effective way to communicate with an audience in a way that display advertising cannot.

Ultimately there has never been a greater need for marketers to demonstrate a return on investment for every discipline and initiative they
use. This research shows that when interactive online content is placed in the right context, the brand metric shifts can indeed be measured and help marketers balance their books.

thefrontline

WE ASK MARKETERS ON THE FRONTLINE WHETHER OUR ‘TRENDS’ RESEARCH MATCHES THEIR EXPERIENCE ON THE GROUND

Sally Bezant

Head of kids consumer marketing, Turner Broadcasting

In such a fragmented consumer landscape, it’s becoming increasingly challenging for marketers to achieve cutthrough with their brand messaging. Spot, page and banner advertising still have a pivotal role to play in the media plan, but with consumer engagement now a key
means of achieving that cut-through, we’re seeing an increased focus on interactive branded content.

As well as providing a deeper level of engagement, interactive content is a great way to drive shifts in perception, trial and conversion. While the production and delivery of content with impact usually requires heavy investment, particularly at the outset, the rewards are proving to be a justification for the financial commitment. Turner Broadcasting kids’ brands have been involved in creating interactive branded content as part of integrated marketing campaigns, initially on affiliate sites and more recently by hosting content on our own campaign microsites.

In 2009, a “virtual puppy” application for the Boomerang channel, and webcam face recognition and augmented reality games for the Cartoon Network channel have had a direct positive impact on our ratings and share. On paper, the number of eyeballs reached via this kind of activity can be far less than the more traditional marketing platforms but the strength of the response can result in a much higher return on investment.

Ross Cairns

Co-founder of Erasmus and global creative director for energy drink brand Relentless

Irrespective of whether we’re talking about straightforward advertising or content, the element that matters most is relevance.

However, this is so often overlooked.Throwing millions of “consumers” at the wall in the hope that a few stick with you doesn’t feel particularly efficient.

It should be no surprise that those opportunities to participate more fully with an idea and for consumers to experience some benefit from content should have a positive effect on how we regard subsequent communication from any brand that is treating us with respect.

Helping people work out if a brand and what it stands for is relevant to them or not takes time; that’s the critical benefit of content. Focusing on content is about flipping the agenda. No longer is it about repeatedly invading the consciousness of unwilling victims to sell, sell, sell - pushing messages driven primarily by what the brand wants.

Instead, it’s about confidence and respect; the confidence that there is in fact an idea at the heart of your brand that is worth sharing; and secondly, the basic respect for those people you’d wish to engage with.

When relevance is earned, consumer radars are tuned to receive, your brand is noticed more readily and your stories have a chance of connecting, enduring and in the end converting to sales. But to marketers who want instant results, content is much harder to deploy, harder to measure, harder to do well and there’s all that convenient, tempting media to just buy with all those eyeballs that will see or whizz by it.

Making content work for your brand requires a different attitude and no small amount of patience and sensitivity, but it’s also the future, so best get used to it.