By Giles Ivey

Online advertising needs to be more transparent, accountable, and also more engaging. Marketers who believe that engagement starts and ends with the click of a Facebook ‘like’ button are missing the point.

We need to think about how brands can move away from more traditional ‘look-click’ ads, and instead work towards building stunning creative that drives deeper audience engagement and participation. This type of creative can deliver measurable results with the metrics that marketers need to demonstrate ROI.

The term ‘engagement’ has come under fire lately. The great marketing buzzword is now seen as little more than smoke and mirrors term designed to get brands to part with their cash. Perhaps that’s a little melodramatic, but we are seeing a backlash from brands against some of the traditional forms of engagement marketing because much of this activity is inherently unaccountable.

Flooding Liverpool Street station with dancers at 11am is one tactic, but this type of stunt engagement is at best difficult quantify. It’s also somewhat haphazard in that it is almost impossible to know exactly who will be passing through the station at that time. That’s not to say it isn’t a clever marketing trick to raise awareness of a brand or product, but in these tough times brand owners need something more than ‘clever’; they need results. They need to be able to see people interacting with their brands and they need to know their campaigns are delivering. Unfortunately, much of the time, we don’t really know that this is happening. Yes we can surmise, or guess, but we don’t know for sure.

The fact is, to corrupt the famous line from Orwell’s Animal Farm, some forms of engagement are more equal than others. For one thing marketers seem obsessed with Facebook ‘likes’, but what is the real value of this if brands are driving people to Facebook but then doing little with them once they are there? It would be interesting to see exactly how many people come back to a branded Facebook page after clicking the ‘like’ button. Currently these stats are conspicuous in their absence.

Like for like's sake: The rush for empty engagement

For engagement to work, it needs to lead to a consumer action rather than simply being engagement for engagement’s sake. Clicking the ‘like’ button is not enough…spending time with a brand online, sharing something on social networks or making an online purchase directly from an ad are actions that can be measured and quantified.

Over the past decade, we have seen an increasing migration away from traditional media towards digital. This has led to brands looking for new ways to connect with their target audiences. Times were a lot easier for marketers when all they had to worry about was which paper to run their ads in and what time slot to show their TV ad. Today they have a raft of choices, yet the reality is consumers are most likely to interact with brand advertising online or on some sort of mobile device.

However, the current structure of online advertising leaves a lot to be desired. The go-to model for online advertising is CPM (cost per thousand), with brands paying every time someone navigates to the page their ad is on. Not surprisingly CPM doesn’t deliver staggering results – an industry standard of 0.3% or 3 clicks out of every 1000 page impression, and how many of those are people clicking on them by accident?

CPE (cost per engagement) on the other hand is a model that delivers transparent and measurable results, as well as a click through rate of 1% (almost 300% more than CPM). How does it work? By putting a time delay on expanding online ad units (normally a 3-2-1 countdown), advertisers are only charged once the online ‘experience’ has fully loaded – this removes charging for any erroneous rollovers. These online experiences can include anything from video, to games, to social network interactions. And they are also measurable. We can tell exactly how long people have stayed with the brand experience, what they have done and also, where they have interacted with a social network - way beyond anything you could possibly hope for via CPM.

The fundamental basis of CPE is about creating online experiences that encourage consumers to undertake an action on behalf of the brand – sharing, posting, tweeting, starting a conversation or watching a video. Through CPE consumers spend an average of around 23 seconds with brands. This is as powerful as any other form of engagement marketing channel and can be crucial when it comes to building relationships between brands and audiences.

No media channel is 100% measurable and there are faults with every measurement. But an engagement online when you are putting a message in a certain environment, where you know your target market will be and only paying when someone actually spends time with your brand, has got to be more appealing – and indeed more transparent – than trying to capture the attention of whoever happens to be walking through Liverpool Street at 11am on a Tuesday morning.

Giles Ivey is UK Managing Director of SAY Media.

By Bambos Neophytou.

Stay one step ahead with these predictions and tips for 2012. Are we heading for a world without Apple?

Detail goes into 'pretail'

Despite the ever evolving ways that agencies and clients use digital technology to enhance and encourage retail experiences, the realisation will come that digital is at its most effective prior to the point-of-puchase, and that’s where efforts and budgets will be spent.

Friendship groups are the new target audiences

The combining trends of social-commerce and powerfully accurate user-data will enable highly targeted exclusives for socially connected audiences or small groups of friends.

Big bold brand entertainment

Amid the doom and gloom or global economic meltdown, there is a huge appetite for big, bold, fresh live entertainment experiences. There will be a resurgence of brands putting on big events and experiences (as Nokia did at Millbank), and with activity building around Jubilee and Olympics. If the experience is impressive enough, products will act as souvenirs that people will want to take away from the live event.

Nokia Lumia projection event at London's Millbank tower

The beginning of the end for Apple

The shine starts to fade,  Andoid’s 70% market share starts to erode the iPhone’s perceived dominance, and their share of computer sales still does not exceed 5% of the market =  Apple’s leadership credentials without Steve Jobs start to look considerably more shaky.

Designed in China, made in Europe

As the East moves further west, Chinese brands will start to enter mainstream awareness, and the current designed/manufactured duality will begin an irrevocable reversal.

Splendid isolation

In its pursuit of an increasingly impossible tightrope act, the UK (distancing itself from Europe, yet being unavoidably drawn in to its economic vortex) will invite all the world in for the Olympics, but behave is an unusually insular and self-regarding way, initiated by the spectacle of the Queen’s Jubilee.

The revenge of heritage formats

Analogue trumps digital, as new media gurus espouse the value of print media and paper books (cf. Clay Shirky). The tangible, multisensory experience of using cassette tapes, vinyl, old printing presses provides a thrill which proves irresistible to those who did not grow up with them.

Initiatives like Record Store Day reflect the rise in popularity of traditional media formats.

Death of despicable brands

Only the fittest and most necessary brands will survive. The new logic of necessity will obliterate a host of familiar brands that have no (functional, emotional, experiential) reason to exist, whether old school badly integrated retailers, or fmcg dinosaurs that have no visibility.

An eruption of niche business models

Youtube is revenue sharing with users for popular uploads, other brands are involving ordinary folk in monetising their consumer generated ideas and content, there are no boundaries to the kinds of new business models that brands and consumers can co-create. Co-creating content with no revenue stream is so 2009.

Bambos Neophytou, Head of Strategy at Inferno, specializes in retail, environmental issues, cognitive science and author of Guilt Trip: From Fear to Guilt on the Green Bandwagon.     

by Bob Nash, 

‘Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half’. So said the American advertising pioneer John Wanamaker nearly a century ago – and today a modern version of this problem is causing today’s marketers bigger problems than ever.

The trouble is this: as we all develop ever-more complicated multi media campaigns, it becomes exceptionally difficult to assess exactly which elements have the biggest effect on the campaign as a whole.

By Paul Fifield

Long before the consumer and content, there was The King. 

The customer has long reigned as king in the world of retail and yet the way in which some brands attempt to communicate with them, doesn’t really reflect the high position in which they are supposedly held. But there is another king called ‘content’ that is getting an increasing amount of attention from brands as it may well hold the key to engaging with customers in a much more effective way.

By Mathias Duda

In a recent article on the BBC news website, online entrepreneur Charles Duncombe claimed that spelling mistakes are costing UK etailers millions of pounds a year in lost revenues. Credibility is everything when it comes to converting visitors to customers in your online shop, and bad spelling does little to convince the public that you are a trustworthy and professional organisation.

"When you sell or communicate on the internet, 99% of the time it is done by the written word," says Duncombe. And with around six seconds to make an impression with your ecommerce site, this means that any spelling errors can have a very damaging effect on this.

By Jules Berry

Research has shown that price often sets up consumer expectations about the quality of a product or brand. What does research tells us about such perceptions and what are the implications for brands and marketers?  

On the famous gameshow The Price Is Right, contestants had to guess the value of different products.

We all know what the classic factors are in determining the successful creation and development of a product or a brand. Aside from there being a real consumer need, the issues of price, name (and particularly how this interacts with existing brand / sub-brands) packaging and merchandising are crucial. Failure to address these at an early stage could leave a product still-born if it is market tested at too high a price or with a weak name, meaning that the market success of a product will largely depend on the mix of these elements.

Research often shows that a product at a higher price point is expected by consumers to be of a higher quality and is therefore perceived differently in other ways compared to the same product as a lower price point.  For example, the same premium Vodka concept was tested at two price points.  At the higher price point it thought it would be higher quality and more for special occasions.  The price also impacts on perceptions of the actual product delivery.  This is seen in analgesic tests where more expensive products are thought to relieve the pain more quickly than cheaper ones (in both cases the product was exactly the same).  In tests those who are told a particular wine is more expensive think it tastes better than those who are testing the same wine but who were told it was less expensive. More interesting still is evidence that not only is the more expensive wine rated more highly but it produces a more pleasurable experience in the consumer's brain when MRI scanned. This is not simply the consumers rationalising their experience; they have been conditioned at a subconscious level by the price.

Getting pricing strategy right where your proposed price point sits relative to competitors is crucial.  This is because consumers will consider the price in relation to other products, either directly because the prices are displayed together or indirectly by using the nearest available benchmark.  This relational way of viewing prices can be exploited by marketers.  For example, the launch price may be set at a premium to the competition in an attempt to establish high quality credentials even if the typical selling price would be lower.  You could then effectively “anchor” a price point in the consumers’ minds and then lower the price to make it appear good value in comparison.  Stella Artois, for example, invested much in positioning itself as a premium brand in the UK, particularly with its “reassuringly expensive” strap line.  In reality, beer is a heavily promoted sector and Stella Artois was discounted as strongly as other brands.  

To understand the potential implication of this, brands need to undertake research in a priced context.  It is possible, even probable, that at an early stage of development you may not know whether you want to premium price or, say, be more mainstream.  The key then is to research at a range different price points.  With cost efficient online research techniques this is usually quite practical.  The insights derived from testing a concept at 2 or 3 prices points are much more powerful than testing un-priced.  Whilst you might think that respondents will be ‘neutral’ when presented with an un-priced concept they will usually be trying to contextualise the positioning in some way.

In reality, there may be a number of different price settings for different retail environments e.g. a large discount retailer and a small local shop.  Consumers will tend to respond to the relative differences in price between products in the same retail environment rather than differences in absolute prices between retailers.  This process (known as ‘Arbitrary Coherence’) presents a challenge in trying to gain insight through research.  It argues the case for always testing price within a relevant context.  In the research this can be done by presenting a competitive set of products and prices before or at the same time as showing the test concept / product.  Different sample groups can see different competitive contexts.

Increasingly, the classic economic theory which relies on consumers responding rationally to product dimensions (e.g. price, packaging, branding) when making choices is being is being modified by the psychological insights provided by behavioural economics.  This relatively new but growing discipline is concerned with how people don’t always act in rational ways.  There are a variety of ‘short-cut’ ways, or heuristics, that consumers use when decision making.  Some of this understanding can be used in combination with consumer insight to optimise the launch strategy of new products.

No new product is an island entire of itself.  All aspects of the marketing mix are relational and it makes sense to test these aspects in the product development process.  It is the role of consumer insight to understand not only the intrinsic appeal of a new product but how consumers use context to make decisions about that product in the market.

Jules Berry is director of customer insight agency Engage Research.

Why is this on Cream? Pricing is an integral part of any branding strategy, particularly in the current financial climate where established economic theories are being re-examined. 

For anyone that enjoys an 80s gameshow TV reference, enjoy the pandemonium that is the opening four minutes of some vintage The Price is Right. More energy than the X Factor final...

by Robin Lauffer. 

Product-led communications and feature ‘demonstrations’ may not always be as sexy or have the fireworks of a Cadbury gorilla-esque piece of entertainment, but the simple equation of showing product features and the consequent benefits remains a powerful and effective selling tool (that owes something to the advertising of the 50s).

However, there’s a fine line between an entertaining and edifying product demonstration, and a dull infomercial. Here we look at examples of brands that have excelled in the art of making product-led communications relevant and engaging by keeping consumers informed, but also entertained. Since, to quote another doyen of the advertising industry, Bill Bernbach, "You can say the right thing about a product and nobody will listen. You've got to say it in such a way that people will feel it in their gut. Because if they don't feel it, nothing will happen."

Blendtec – Will it Blend?

‘Will it Blend?’ is a very successful viral marketing campaign that first launched in 2006 in the USA and is still running today.

In each of more than 190 videos, Tom Dickson, founder of Blendtec, demonstrates how his range of blenders is able to blend anything. Over the years he has blended a wide variety of things: from marbles, golf balls, keyboards, iPhones and iPads, to most recently blending a whole set of "Justin Bieber's stuff", which included his latest DVD, his CD, a Justin Bieber action figure, and other related merchandise.

Whatever Tom Dickson puts into his blender is always topical and relevant to the consumer; which is precisely why people keep coming back to and sharing these videos, which have now reached 164,094,410 views on YouTube.

Dyson

Dyson is renowned for an exclusive focus on product features and benefits, and has built a successful brand around this. 

The aesthetics of the Dyson products, and the genuinely unique and apparently advantageous design features make what would otherwise be rather plain, purely informative adverts interesting and engaging. While in some cases the language and explanations can be technical and complicated, the use of Sir James Himself, for example in the 'Ball' advert, gives it watchability, credibility and persuasiveness.

In 2010, Dyson created a video that demonstrated how their Air Multiplier Fans work. A couple of Dyson engineers experimented with these "bladeless fans" to make a balloon travel across their lab. The video made consumers aware of the mechanics of the product, but the spectacle and playfulness of the film, and the demonstration of a genuinely intriguing product feature made it such that it captivated the audience.

Air Multiplier fans and Balloons, A new way to turn corners, Dyson Handhelds 

Volkswagen – Test Drive

Earlier this year, Volkswagen Norway released an innovative iPhone app called "The VW Test Drive". The app used augmented reality to allow consumers to test VW´s latest car features in a print ad.

Depending on which of the three modes – Assist, Adaptive Lights, and Cruise Control – the user selected from the app, the phone would vibrate and react differently to mimic what the car would do if it were being driven in real life.

This is an engaging, innovative and fun campaign that not only informs consumers about VW’s latest features, but also allows them to experience them in an interesting and unexpected way.

Apple iPhone and iPad

The Apple iPhone is another brand that has succeeded in creating desire through product-led communications (albeit the desirability of the Apple brand itself is a contributing factor).

When the iPhone first launched, the focus in communications was on showcasing the capabilities of the device, and demonstrating the ‘gadgety’ features to people in order to drive interest, credibility and desirability. The ads created were memorable, simple and engaging.

However the iPhone was swiftly followed by a number of self-proclaimed ‘iPhone killers’ – and the Android and Smartphone market took off. Rather than enter into an app-off with other devices, Apple started to imbue a more emotional edge into their communications – demonstrating not only the desirable product features, but the emotional benefits behind them.

From purely functional benefits...

iPhone 3Gs There’s an app for that.

To emotional benefits... 

iPhone Facetime, iPad 2 

M&S

Since the launch of their ‘Your M&S’ positioning, Marks & Spencer has become synonymous with appetite-tickling food advertising; and their latest campaign is no exception, as the ads take us through the mouth-watering journey of how M&S prepares their ‘ready-meals’.

What makes the M&S ads stand out from the competition is the treatment the product receives, now widely referred to as ‘food porn’. The food is lit, shot, filmed and put on display to attract attention and deliver a simple ‘quality’ and 'appetising' message; the food is the ‘star’ of the ad in its own right.

Examples of food porn from 2006 , and 2001

Call of Duty Elite

Call of Duty is one of the biggest franchises in the gaming world, and in line with the majority of gaming promotions and adverts, in the past they have created simple trailers that purely showcase the gameplay, showing quality graphics, exciting plot lines and new or evolved playing features.

However, last month they released a different kind of promo trailer for a new online service – a new platform for playing the Call of Duty games – Call of Duty Elite. This trailer is notably different for its creative, engaging and humorous approach to showcasing the features and gameplay, the advertising of which is normally quite flat and didactic.

In the 6 minute long demo, they have created ‘The Legend of Karl’, showing the features from the point of view of a player, but demonstrating how the different features make for a much richer experience, getting across a humorous tone of voice and story that helps to hold the attention for the full length of the trailer.

Robin Lauffer is head of planning at The Bank.

Talent show season is upon us once again. As American Idol gears up for its tenth year of finals, preparations for the US and UK versions of X Factor will dominate tabloid headlines and the bizarre human zoo that is Britain’s Got Talent has already attracted large audiences eager to make snap judgements on the appearance of the hapless contestants.

But the money shot for shows like Idol, Factor, and Talent lies in that moment when our initial judgements are blown away. Susan Boyle’s success as a singer is completely down to that famous audition. Appearance suggested that she would be awful, her performance proved she wasn’t.

To say that first impressions count for a lot is hardly revelatory. Draftfcb has worked out that initial impressions are formed in those first 6.5 seconds. As an organisation they believe in this so fundamentally that they have incorporated this statistic into its  branding: “6.5 seconds that matter”.

For agencies, the company website should in theory provide the perfect opportunity to demonstrate their creative flair and talent, and boy do some of them go to town. A quick trawl through my contact book throws up some interesting examples. Saatchi.co.uk is largely blank, except for a carousel of its greatest hits, Agencynet opts for a collection of media buzz-phrases (they lose points for “digital dna”, and over at Initials you can enjoy lots of charming Flash animations. These agencies are like the X Factor contestant that comes bounding on stage waving and cheering, turning somersaults and making a grand theatrical entrance. For 6.5 seconds I’m very impressed – until I actually try to use the site.

Those first 6.5 seconds are followed by a full five minute trying to find out how the site actually works. The Saatchi website is so minimalist you feel like you shouldn’t be there, and as I click round Initials, I’m directed to all sorts of places off-piste, including the travel news section on the BBC, and the British Airways booking page.  This is all very sweet, but I can image quite infuriating to the brand marketer who attempted to find out more about Initials.

Naturally, agencies are often very pleased with their creations. Research from The Haystack Group revealed that 76% of agencies thought their website was a good representation of their agency. This would be marvellous, if it weren’t for the fact that the same research revealed that 93% of brand marketers cannot get the information they want from agency websites.

So the agency sites look the part, but most of them are failing to do the job in communicating information to potential clients. The Haystack Group’s Alan Thompson says this makes it difficult for marketers to compare agencies and the services they offer: “They don’t really find what they’re looking for from a website, so the user experience is quite disappointing. The agencies who actually conceived these things are very proud and feel like their sites are doing the job they want”.

There are some agencies who have attempted to be creative and useful in their approach to the company website. Self-styled conversation agency ‘we are social’ has placed social media front and centre of its homepage. Boone Oakley eschewed the entire of a homepage, and used an intricate network of clips on YouTube instead. This sounds worryingly complicated, but is in fact an incredibly easy and innovative homepage solution.

“The time for any agency to talk to a client in a new business sense is when they’ve got something that fulfils one of the client’s needs,” says Thompson. “That’s when it’s going to be the most potent conversation”. Canadian agency Zulu Alpha Kilo has employed this idea to an extreme, using a website that has no functionality on it at all, save a request for some information.

So where does all this diversity leave the poor brand marketer who just wants to browse through some agencies and compare the services they offer? Until recently, nowhere – but Alan Thompson reckons he has the answer with Haystackonline.com. According to Thompson, agencies find it really hard to focus on their customer’s needs when they’re talking about themselves, so Haystackonline creates a framework in which all participating agencies can demonstrate their services and abilities, effectively bringing some order to the marketplace.

It’s a very sleek set-up. Agencies are still given space to show off their creative chops, but by virtue of their work and not their website. Allowing the work to speak for itself creates a level playing field for agencies of all shapes and sizes. As with Cream, there’s no room for agency ego on Haystack, and whilst I would be expected to say this, the two products complement each other rather nicely.