Brands that create great commercials pay careful attention to get every detail optimized, strategically choosing the most effective pieces so they come together like a jigsaw puzzle.
According to a consumer survey and analysis conducted by Effectv Insights, there are two key puzzle pieces that will connect brands to their customers: emotion and information.
Information about your company and brand are simple details that are relatively easy to include, and critical for brand recall. It explains the what to a consumer.
Emotion is a far more elusive, subjective component that’s harder to quantify. However, it’s the important connective tissue that helps to make the information take root. The key to engagement is rarely about information. Emotion provides the why consumers should make your brand part of their lives.
According to the data, emotion does lead to an increased likelihood of engagement and positive feelings. Viewers were +27% more apt to like the brand when emotion was the strongest ad element.1 Information about the brand (name and logo) led to the highest recall. Viewers were +18% more likely to recall the company name following the ad when company information was the strongest ad element.1
It’s all about strategy influencing the creative execution—and the most recognizable brands know that creative drives response for consumers. For the greatest impact, keep in mind the following two keys:
1. Tailor Creative to the Target
Ad preferences vary across audiences – younger audiences are impacted by messaging that includes lower prices, location information, and community impact, while older audiences are moved by memorable commercials, unique product info, and a brand name/logo.
Beyond age, different audiences had varying preferences in the study – customize your ad to the audience you are trying most to impact. Moreover, according to the survey data, consumers who identified as being in-market for products/services included in the ad they were shown responded positively to the commercial. 2 So, messaging to those viewers who were predisposed to a product category can focus on elements that set your brand apart from the competition. They’re fish already looking for a hook — be creative about why they should choose yours.
2. Consistent Brand Messaging is Crucial
A familiar refrain about effective advertising is that if a viewer can’t remember the name of the company, it wasn’t a good ad. It doesn’t matter how “creative” it is. If a consumer can’t identify your brand, it will not be an effective ad. Brand identity should be considered table stakes.
In fact, survey respondents who couldn’t remember the brand name of the commercial they viewed typically felt that more engaging components including interesting scenery, music, or people that look like them would have improved the ad.
However, each commercial tested had a strong ad element included, for example, humor, animation, testimonials, or music. The key takeaway isn’t the lack of emotion — it’s the relevant one.
Proving that while elements of an ad can help with consumer connection, if the emotions don’t resonate with your target, it can have an impact on delivering strong branding as well.1
According to the consumer survey, purchase intent doubled for companies that showed consistent branding across platforms. When survey respondents were asked why they are more likely to consider purchasing from companies with consistent branding, common themes included quality, reliability, trust, branding, reputation, and service. 1 Don’t put the burden of recall on your audience. Frequency without consistency will undermine the impact of your advertising strategy.
In the end, consumers want to buy from companies they can connect with, intellectually and emotionally. Consistent branding and tailoring your creative will generate the most action from your ads.
Sources:
1: Effectv, Lucid Study, April 2022, n=2500.
2: Creative analysis using three distinct commercial messages (Survey conducted by Lucid; Q4 2021; N=1,500)