DIGITAL MARKETING
SECTION ONE
SECTION TWO
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SECTION THREE
Four Best Practices to Improve
CPG Creative Online
As consumer packaged goods (CPG) marketers continue to include
online vehicles as a storytelling tool, it is vital for them to gather
information on how to most effectively communicate their message
to get their products noticed and drive brand preference.
Online couponing is red-hot right now and may immediately drive new purchases. However, if you are a CPG trying to get consumers to change brands, is online couponing the best way to showcase your product? Which are the most effective creative tactics?
Yahoo!’s recent study “CPG Creative Best Practices Online” examined nearly 500 CPG campaigns and 40 different creative tactics to see how those tactics correlate with driving stronger ad breakthrough (how consumers process the ad and associate it with the brand) and persuasion (if the advertising changes consumer’s desire to purchase the product).
The study yielded the following Best Practices to improve CPG creative online:
Maximize Storytelling
The creative tactics that are most effective in moving the needle are those that allow advertisers to maximize their storytelling ability. For CPG advertisers in particular, the story generally centers on the product.
In a phrase, simple equals better. Advertisements that use these simple and focused tactics have the best chance of telling a story that sticks with consumers and increases product persuasion:
- Focusing on one product, as opposed to many, improves persuasion by 67%
- Showing the product consistently throughout the advertisement improves persuasion over 250%
- Ensuring the size of the product image is not so large that it obscures the message and story that’s being delivered can drive a 21% life in persuasion.
Follow Product Lifecycle
When it comes to product messaging, brands should evolve their messaging following the different stages of the product lifecycle, such as:
- New product stories should focus on the new product features and why they matter; ads showcasing new products generate a 52% lift in persuasion
- Established product messaging should focus on differentiating that product from competitors, using such tactics as product comparisons and “claim to fame” statements; explicit comparisons show a 33% lift in persuasion.
Combine Online-Offline
Continuing the creative narrative built offline and leveraging these assets online proved to be another successful tactic. For example, when celebrity spokespeople were used in online advertising (in addition to offline), persuasion improve by 63%. However, similar to offline advertising, celebrities can overshadow the product being advertised - as a 10% decline in breakthrough was also observed. Other universal assets to be leveraged include simple cues (like colors and logos) that made it easier for consumers to associate the ad with the campaigns and messages that preceded it, extending the life of the story, and improving persuasion by 45%.
Generate Emotional Connection
Time and time again marketers have seen that generating an emotional connection is essential to helping an ad’s story resonate with the audience. Being able to generate an emotional connection successfully has the greatest impact on persuasion of all the tactics examined (an 81% lift).
Ultimately, these findings can provide valuable insights to help CPG advertisers more successfully communicate their story with their audience online - though they are meant to serve as guidelines, not as a prescriptive list. Creating disruptive online campaigns is going to require some element of risk. While the research encourages brands to take chances, it also highlights the need to test those risks prior to launch for advertisers to get the most bang (and learning) for their advertising buck.
These Best Practices were provided by Sebastian Fernandez, Director, B2B Insights at Yahoo! He has over 10 years of experience in brand and advertising research and is a five-year veteran of Yahoo! He delivers innovative research solutions to help advertisers understand the role and impact of marketing in the digital space.