Hasta La Creative!

Video intelligence company BrandAds today shared results of its Oscars Ad Effectiveness Study where the company surveyed 38,369 participants to determine the effectiveness of airing ads during the TV broadcast of the 86th Academy Awards.

The study reveals that American Express was the most effective of all the brands that advertised during the show based on a 61.74 percent increase in consumers’ likelihood to purchase one of their products. Sprint and Lunesta followed closely behind with 50.67 percent and 48.35 percent increases, respectively. And, shocker, Cadillac is in the top 5.

Of the study, BrandAds CEO Avi Brown said, “With an average of 40.3 million viewers tuning in last year, demand for advertising inventory during the Oscars was at an all-time high this year, causing ad prices to reach record prices. The cost for a thirty-second spot is rumored to have run brands a lofty $1.8 to $1.9 million dollars, and our intention was to scientifically answer the age old question, ‘Is it worth it?’. The BrandAds Oscars Ad Effectiveness Study shows that the investment was absolutely worth the money – for some brands more than others.”

The five most effective Oscars advertisers for 2014 based on increase in likelihood to purchase are:

1. American Express (61.74 percent)

2. Sprint (50.67 percent)

3. Lunesta (48.35 percent)

4. Cadillac (47.22 percent)

5. Chevrolet (44.21 percent)

Additional findings from the survey include:

– While extremely successful on social media, Samsung only ranked 18th in effectiveness out of the 20 brands that advertised during the Oscars. Due to consumers’ high likelihood to purchase a Samsung product prior to the Oscars, the increase in likelihood to purchase was only +12.35%.

– Female consumers’ increase in likelihood to purchase the advertised products or services was 55.24% greater than that of male consumers.

– The increase in likelihood to purchase advertised products or services was 31.76% greater among consumers under the age of 18 than the average increase among consumers over the age of 18.

– The increase in likelihood to purchase advertised products or services was 26.59% greater among consumers whose household income is $0-50k than that of consumers whose household income is greater than $50k.

The full results from the study can be found here.

This in-depth guide from Marketo and Kapost, entitled A Modern Marketer’s Guide to Successful Buyer Relationships, is one of the best guides we’ve seen for marketers looking to use content to connect with customers and build lasting relationships.

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The way customers react with your brand has drastically changed in recent years. With the creation of many social media giants, such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, audiences have many places to discuss and socialize about products before buying something. These customer interactions could be crucial elements to your business but you may be missing the bigger picture of how they can help.

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You want to create the next viral video. Sure, who doesn’t? But knowing that videos “go viral” organically, not mechanically, you should be focusing your efforts on creating a solid, baseline presence for your brand on YouTube.

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A study finds that MTV’s “16 and Pregnant,” a reality show depicting very young parents, may have contributed to a drop in teenage pregnancy.

The Dow is not the only metric reaching new highs in 2013. The annual content marketing survey from the Custom Content Council, in partnership with ContentWise, reveals new highs for branded content in both spending and value. The “Spending Study: A Look at How Corporate America Invests in Branded Content for 2013” compares 14 years of studies, showing a strong growth and affinity for content marketing across the board.

The 2013 survey found an overall increase in marketing budgets of 13.7% from last year to over $5,000,000, with branded content spending claiming 37% of that total, or $1,860,788 per company. Although the percentage of overall market share dropped slightly from 39% in 2012, 80% of marketers in 2013 anticipate a moderate or aggressive shift in spending toward content marketing as the industry continues to thrive.

Comparing branded content to traditional advertising, respondents showed a definite preference to content over magazine advertising, TV commercials, direct mail and public relations. In addition, spending on print publications has returned to levels not seen since before the 2008 recession, while electronic budgets saw a 13.8% rise.

“Content marketing has reached a perfect storm. All channels – including print, digital and social are growing,” said Lori Rosen, Executive Director at Custom Content Council. “Every major brand has embraced content media leading to higher quality, higher impact and higher ROI.”

Spending Survey Highlights:

How Money is Spent: Personnel remains the largest component of content marketing spending at 52% of total budget, a figure that’s been remarkably consistent the past several years. Production (which since 2012 includes electronic programming as well), accounted for 32% of content marketing budgets, while distribution comprised 18%.

Reasons for Using Branded Content: Customer education was once again cited as the biggest factor in the decision to employ content marketing, with 49% of respondents naming this their primary reason and 29% naming it secondary. Customer retention and brand loyalty follow in popularity.

Repurposing of Content: Repurposing is once again a very common practice, with social media channels being the most utilized secondary channels, underscoring the multi-channel nature of content marketing. Corporate websites also receive a healthy share of the branded content by marketers.

For those of us in digital marketing and advertising, we stay on top of social media trends to keep our brand current, but what are the fundamental truths that guide our social media approach? This white paper from Prestige Marketing explores the truths that stay constant through passing and lasting trends. Besides practical insight on how social media serves business development and online marketing, read on for:

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More from the Adrants Whitepaper Series. How do you measure digital advertising success? And how do you track and measure each digital channel to evaluate and optimize your digital advertising investments?

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Using social media to build brand awareness is a primary goal of most social media marketers. Hundreds of millions of people are talking, learning and engaging through social media channels. If you don’t have a presence in social media, your company is missing what’s become a fundamental communication channel in the marketing mix.

It’s arguable that there isn’t a single company or organization that doesn’t have brand awareness as one of its core organizational goals. Social media has quickly become one the best ways to reach large audiences who are hungry for information and conversation. For professional communicators, having social media as a tool in the arsenal for building brand awareness is no longer a nice to have. It’s a must have.

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