Tag: advertising

Build on social media ad impact with behavior-savvy strategies 

Posted on by sandra

By Minja Stojanov, Internal Business Development Director at EyeSee

As of 2022, the average daily social media usage of internet users worldwide amounted to 151 minutes per day, and Western Europe had a 79 percent social media penetration rate, topping the ranking of global social media usage by region since January 2023, Statista reports say. Not to mention that 81% of people between the ages of 30 and 49 actively use at least one social media site. 

Numbers cannot be more clear; social media are officially an integral part of all our lives. They are places where we connect, inform, share advice and experiences, and sometimes even make direct purchases that are available via the emerging possibilities of social shopping. What is particularly interesting is that, recently, Instagram has been offering analytics, even to private profiles.   

All of this indicates that there is a strong need for true social media influence to be understood.

Social Media Analytics VS mix of behavioral and traditional testing methods 

However, are social media analytics sufficient to understand how content affects us and how it works? If we imagine brand managers who are budgeting for content production and strategy for the coming year and want to use analytics to determine the success of previous years’ social media ads, what insights would they have? Are the numbers showing the reach of some ads sufficient to determine whether the audience engaged with the ad or the brand in any way?   

For reliable and valid insights, it is crucial to use a mix of behavioral and traditional methods focusing on consumer behavior in the timeline and its impact on sales uplift.   

  • Eye tracking allows granularity into which ad elements are seen and which are often missed. Analyzing the social media heat map is highly beneficial for the placement of key ad information.  
  • Facial coding identifies whether consumers are engaging with your brand by analyzing their emotions through facial expressions. 
  • Surveys help uncover what the ad impact on brand metrics is. When we combine Facial Coding, Eye Tracking and Survey results we get what the true ad impact on consumers was and more importantly WHY.  
  • Virtual shopping provides a direct link between the performance of an ad and in-store purchase behavior with the help of realistic simulated store environments that tap into authentic consumer behavior. 
     

Main KPIs and benefits of replicated media Feeds 

Did you know that people’s average focus per post on Facebook’s timeline is 4.1 seconds, 2.7 on Instagram feed, 3s on TikTok, and that for Facebook and Instagram, there is a 19% decrease in visibility when an ad is lower in the feed?  

For uncovering the sophisticated differences in behavior that would go undetected with traditional social media analytics, research tools such as replicated social media feeds and the right thought framework are crucial.  

That is why here are the metrics and KPIs you need to know about your ad performance: 

a) Ad breakthrough: 

  1. Visibility –  how many users have actually seen your content? 
  1. Attention – how long do they watch it for? 
  1. Video retention – what are the usual points where you start to lose them? 

 b) Ad emotional engagement and brand impact:  

  1. Emotional reach – is the ad resonating with them? 
  1. Survey KPIs – does it fit with the brand, and do users like it? 

 c) Ad sales impact: 

  1. Sales uplift – does the ad impact sales? 

Building brand success on best practices and creative guidelines 

If we go back to our imaginary brand manager from the beginning of this article, one might rightfully ask: How can I benefit from the knowledge of the campaign that is already done? 

Imagine how much time you would save by not having to go back and forth with briefing the creative agencies and influencers but having all the insights along with content recommendations and a set of rules in one best practice playbook.

In conclusion

If you are interested in learning more, I advise you to reach out and ask us for our global study, a meta-analysis of almost 60 ads from 20 brands called “TikTok Global Study: Creative that Works.”. Or you can find a brief overview here and take it from there.   

This study gave us, our clients, and TikTok, not only valuable insights and creative guidelines but it proved that social media campaigns are efficient across industries from FMCG, OTC, Personal and home care, and all the way through Durables and in some cases even Financial and other services.  

But, no matter the industry, one thing is certain: you want your brand to be where your consumers are, and you want it to be part of their lives. In that process, social media is a crucial component of your brand’s social life among its consumers, and it needs to be done right. A best practice and creative guideline playbook is a tool one needs for that.

 Eager for more? Read how to: Capture their attention first, and the ‘heart’ next: attention & emotions in social media advertising

    Universal Robina x EyeSee: the secret to a successful TikTok campaign  

    Posted on by sandra

    By  Xinyu Tok, Senior Insights Manager.

    In the previous article, we already stressed the strong impact that TikTok has on consumer purchase decisions as well as the reach that sponsored content can have if done properly.    

    The figures speak for themselves:   

    • 71% of TikTok users stop and watch the first three seconds of the video 
    • 56% of each sponsored piece of content is seen on average 
    • 73% of TikTok users like the ads that they see  

     As we explained, we tested 60 ads from 20 brands across markets and industries such as FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods), Beauty, Insurance, Fashion, Technology, Automotive, Retail, etc. TikTok simulations, standalone ads, and surveys were tested among 7280 respondents. All of the respondents were TikTok regulars who had purchased items from some of the categories in the previous six months. You can request the study walk-through at [email protected]

    Universal Robina is a great study example since their FMCG portfolio is impressive, and they turned out to be one of the winners in the game of TikTok. Let us take a closer look at the testing process and the outcomes.

    What works better: native versus heavily branded approach

    When it comes to ad style, brands typically choose between two options. They either create a single video and distribute it across all platforms, even though each platform has its own set of rules, or they assume that the native approach will win. Of course, creating a single video for multiple platforms is more cost-effective, but the native approach yields better results on a specific platform. However, both of those theories have their ups and downs, and the key is to test them, preferably in a simulated digital environment. By using natural and unforced exposure of the stimuli in an environment as close to reality as possible, we get an objective and accurate insight into the actual ad visibility.  

    In the TikTok simulation, respondents saw three videos: an advertisement for Great Taste, Cloud Nine, and Jack’n’Jill. We also consider the focus (time spent on the screen), retention (percentage of people who watched the video), and stopping power (percentage of people who stopped to watch the video) of tested ads.  

    Great Taste and Cloud Nine ads performed better than Jack’n’Jill in terms of focus, with 8.6s vs 7s; however, because Jack’N’Jill used a more native organic approach, it performed better in terms of retention and stopping power. (77% vs 57% and 86% vs 74%).

    But does this necessarily imply that Jack’N’Jill performed better in terms of brand visibility? Not necessarily. With the organic approach, there is always the risk that the video will be insufficiently informative and that the key message will be missed.

    What prompts TikTokers to recall brands more?  

    It is important to note that not only are all three tested stimuli different in style, but they also place the product in a different place in the timeline. Great Taste and Cloud Nine commercials have great dynamics and upbeat music, and the Jack’N’Jill approach is more raw and native; however, both approaches scored good brand recall, with only 2% of the difference in favor of Jack’N’Jill (74% vs. 72%).   The key finding, however, is that watching the entire video increases brand recall by 35% compared to viewing only half of it. 

    Key findings  

    Universal Robina ads performed extremely well, so one of the key takeaways is that they should maintain TikTok content style while also maintaining their core brand attributes. They succeed in keeping users’ attention by using upbeat music and video dynamics, and they get their message across.

    Oversimplification of the video should therefore be avoided. Because user attention is difficult to maintain, quick changes of scenery rather than just one setting are preferable. And, as previously stated, a native approach is not without risks, so whether it is appropriate for your brand depends on the strategy and campaign goals.

    However, to see the full results of the Universal Robina study and to learn more about post-pandemic shoppers, watch the video below. There you will find the full presentation that debuted at the Asia Research Breakfast, which we were fortunate to attend as guest speakers. Also, don’t forget to acquire the whole study walk-through at [email protected]

    Interested in reading more about global TikTok study? Click here.

      Tap into hidden potential with new TikTok creative insights

      Posted on by sandra

      TikTok is an undeniably influential social media platform with significant untapped potential for sponsored content. Following the pandemic, our habit of using TikTok remained strong. The app enjoys one of the highest user retention rates globally. An incredible 81% of users say TikTok videos influenced their recent purchases. That is why it is becoming increasingly important for brands to understand how to create effective ads that resonate with their consumers.  

      According to our most recent two-wave global study, we discovered that 71% of TikTok users stop and watch the first three seconds of the video and that 56% of each sponsored content is seen on average. All of this is supported by the fact that the ads are liked by 73% of TikTok users.

      These figures show that sponsored content has every reason to thrive in TikTok’s digital environment. However, brands are still not using their full potential. This study not only invites you to use TikTok to empower your brand, but it also gets deep into what you must keep in mind while doing so. If you are interested in getting an expert walkthrough of the study, write us at [email protected]  

      Methodology

      As previously stated, we tested 60 ads from 20 brands across markets and industries such as FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods), Beauty, Insurance, Fashion, Technology, Automotive, Retail, etc. TikTok simulations, standalone ads, and surveys were tested among 7280 respondents. 


      This research is built on the following key pillars:    

      • Ad stopping power (tested the ads in a simulated TikTok environment that provided us with browsing insights)    
      • Ad retention (tasted by exposing respondents to a simulated TikTok environment)    
      • Ad emotional reach (tasted by exposing respondents to standalone ads and utilizing face coding methodology)    
      • Ad likability (tasted by exposing respondents to standalone ads and utilizing face coding methodology)    
      • Brand recalling (to learn % of respondents who remember seeing the advertised brand when prompted, we used the survey method) 

      The challenge of TikTok advertising

      Why don’t brands use TikTok more? This is the imposing question that arises when we look at the numbers that show the untapped potential. On one hand, we have the answer that for brand managers, it is hard to follow the ROI once they invest in TikTok ads. They are unsure how to follow the path and make a clear connection, or better to say, they are unsure how to follow the path to purchase from the TikTok ad to the shopping cart. 

       On the other hand, even when clarity in that field is gained, the questions of how to approach strategy and what works best remain. There are questions about what will work better – the native approach or strongly branded videos that will also work on other platforms; what is the reach of animation as the dominant style; and is co-branding the way to more followers and engagement or the way to poor brand recollection? 

      This study answers all those questions and beyond. For example, animated video ads, those containing any kind of computer-generated imagery, will improve brand opinion by 23% and increase brand interest by 19%, while elevating the positive emotions about the brand by 20%.  

      However, brands must be careful; there is a chance that they will be seen as less informative than conventional videos if the message and narrative in them are not constructed carefully.  

      The golden rule for unlocking the untapped potential 

      What is great about this report is that it contains a lot of simple facts that must be considered in future ad planning. For example:   

      • If the ad lasts up to 10 seconds, it has a 71% higher chance of being fully viewed.  
      • A video that lasts up to 10 seconds has a 38% higher chance of being liked.  
      • If the brand lasts up to 10 seconds, it has a 15% better chance of being remembered.  

      This is an example of an insight finding that makes a strong recommendation that is universal around the world. However, in this report, there are far more complex recommendations that necessitate a thorough examination of both specific brand values and the TikTok environment. 

      All of this is only the beginning. If you want to learn more, send an email to [email protected] and we will provide you with a video expert walkthrough of the study. Not only will you get the big picture and the future framework for making strategic TikTok ad planning decisions, but you will also be able to formulate specific questions for your specific pain points, which we will gladly assist you with.  

      Request access to

      TikTok creative study findings!

      Eager for more? Read the blog about replicated feeds for authentic behavior here.

        Let’s not sugarcoat it: Here’s how to make placement and promotions work in a restricted market  

        Posted on by Dina

        Amongst the many disruptors the markets across the world have felt over the last few years, the UK government introduced new measures on food High in Fat, Salt, and Sugar (HFSS food) – putting in place restrictions and rules on the placement and promotion in both in-store and online ‘impulse’ locations. 

        What will this change for FMCG brands going forward? And more importantly, how can you not only prepare for but operate within this shift? To help brands brace and adapt to the various adjustments in their business, we tackled how brands can:  

        Purchase trigger points can be in unexpected places

        In an effort to fight unhealthy dietary habits, HFSS food has been restricted from aisle ends, store entrances, and checkouts in brick and mortar across the UK. While these locations may be prominent – they are not the end-all-be-all for product placement. Since 80% of shopper purchase decisions are made subconsciously, understanding their decision-making process is an intricate science. Placing items in highly visible areas to trigger that impulse urge was the obvious go-to – but what can your brand do now when these trusty locations are no longer an option? 

         For one, have more faith (but also reliable insights) in shoppers’ intuition and logic – employ a flexible and agile research approach that allows you to test in virtual yet realistic shopping environments. Then, by leveraging them, you can map out the entire consumer decision-making process and the locations shoppers naturally gravitate toward to find your category/product with Behavioral Decision Trees.  

        They pinpoint the reasons behind particular product selections, behavior switches, trade-offs, and sources of loyalty, all while evaluating the overall shopping experiences – and ultimately help you understand how to assist their journey in the changed store landscape. The same Decision Tree tech can be used for testing in digital environments by recreating e-commerce shopping platforms and assessing the online consumer journey – as the placement restrictions will also apply to online equivalents of in-store spots and anything from entry and payment pages, landing pages for other categories, shopping baskets, and pop-ups will be off-limits for HFSS food products. Ultimately, by using Decision trees that leverage virtual shopping, you boost the chances of not missing out on the crucial triggers and touchpoints by 40%. 

        It’s time to go beyond product-based advertising 

        Come January, further restrictions will be in force – bans for HFSS food advertising on TV and restrictions on paid-for online advertising before a 9pm watershed. The advertising landscape is already highly competitive, especially in the social media domain, as we know that consumers scroll through their feeds at the rapid speed of 1-3 posts per second. So, a change like this means that marketers now have to consider a different approach to creating campaigns – perhaps indicating that re-adjusting the focus on the brand itself instead of the product and translating it into engaging ads is one such strategy.  

        Past data taught us that one of the most effective ways to boost purchase intent is to show both brand and product in an ad – so, making the transition to reduce or put a halt on product-centric marketing seems tricky if not executed correctly. A safe way to make sure consumers still resonate with your social media ads and TV commercials and opt for your products (even without showing them) is to test them in a controlled environment that feels as close to the real thing as possible.  

        With a proprietary testing solution and research methods, we have replicated feeds of all major social media platforms to test any ad type and format in the space it would naturally be seen in – and tap into the actual performance and sales potential.  

        Methods like Facial Coding are 2x better at predicting the viral potential of videos than any combination of survey questions – enabling a full-scope understanding of what works and what doesn’t, what can be tweaked and what about your brand grasps viewers’ attention – which in turn, will help you gain a competitive edge and fuel further differentiation between your brand and others.   

        For some categories, HFSS bans are a game-changer 

        While HFSS bans impose challenges on many categories and brands, we have seen that they simultaneously open up new possibilities for others. For example, when it comes to the store environments, the once HFSS-designated in-store spots and displays have now been filling up with other products like alcoholic beverages, cleaning products, and soft drinks.  

        Then there are brands like PepsiCo’s Quaker Oats, Pringles, and Mondelēz International, who saw this as an opportunity to embrace innovation and create a new and HFSS-compliant range of products that would still satisfy the same consumer need as its HFSS predecessors. 

        Inflation has already caused major shifts in how consumers choose to spend their money –  and even without the new restrictions, many brands have embraced new product development and opted to rethink their portfolios. However, as a rule, innovation can be risky (more than +80% of new products fail), but volumetrics and market share projection can empower your NPD process by estimating the success of any new product launch. In fact, there are a few levels of studies that utilize the virtual shopping solution (that shares a 0.8 correlation with real shopping behavior) and behavioral methods to ensure the risk of an unsuccessful launch is significantly minimized by: 

        • Screening product concepts to identify the most promising ones  
        • Gaining the learnings to optimize the concepts for further development
        • Validating the optimal concepts and evaluating their future sales potential  

        Summary

        As with any change that comes, there are those who embrace it and adapt – and those who fall short. The HFSS restrictions in the UK are no different – they present a sea of opportunities and possibilities to rethink and develop innovation and rekindle the relationship with your consumers for those who are interested in winning.  

        Relying on a behavioral research approach to guide you during these transforming times will equip you with the predictive learnings needed to make these sound decisions – and reduce the risks that come with the inevitable shifts in the market.  

          One approach: Ten studies that pushed the boundaries of consumer research

          Posted on by EyeSee Research

          EyeSee is turning 10 this year! To celebrate this decade of insights, innovation, and studies that pushed us forward – we have collected and hand-picked our most memorable studies and learnings over the years. From projects with clients like Twitter and Smurfit Kappa to self-funded studies tackling topics we knew were worth exploring – strap in for an insightful journey ahead as we look back at the 10 behavioral projects that helped us grow, expand our knowledge and tech and ultimately transform the approach to traditional consumer research:

          1. Getting sustainable products just right

          86% of consumers want to go more eco-friendly – so what’s stopping them? In this study, we set out to understand how brands could support their consumers by developing powerful communication and product claims and identifying categories that lack ‘greener’ alternatives – with quite a complex behavioral framework. The comprehensive undertaking included an in-depth look into who the green buyers are, which claims are most appropriate for use on product packs, and what makes an impactful kind of social media posts work best to inspire eco behavior and more!

          2. The price of consumer confidence under inflationary pressures

          With the transforming global and economic climate came shaken consumer confidence – and the high price points on the store shelves are palpable to both shoppers and marketers. The previous experiences with recession periods showcased that shoppers react differently across categories and markets making it clear that it is vital to feeling the consumer pulse in the changing setting. So to help brands operate in it, we turned towards understanding the current shopper behavior and assessing the best strategies to cope with ongoing inflation for both CPG and retailers – like, when do consumers opt to stay loyal to the brand and when do they switch to the alternatives?

          3. A tree is best known by its consumer decisions

          Do you know how shoppers decide which product ends up in their cart? We wanted to know too! So to do that, a behavioral component was added to well-known research tools: decision trees. This led to a complex meta-analysis on over 35000 respondents from dozens of projects across FMCG industries – which also included a comparison of survey results and virtual shopping data to determine just how unreliable surveys can be in mapping out consumer decision-making. Learn just how different behavioral decision trees are different to standard studies, what it takes to extract the biggest ROI from decision tree research and who benefits the most from these studies – and why trusting what consumers say is much more dangerous than you might think!

          4. Hitting the mark on socially conscious advertising

          Great social media content has the power to trigger a reaction in under 2.8 seconds and significantly impact brand perception. Yet when it comes to socially conscious advertising – getting the right tone and message can be a hit or, more often than not, a miss. So, our best researchers turned to behavioral insights to uncover just how crisis messaging should be done and how it affects brand equity. Check out the results of one of the most extensive mobile behavioral studies that was conducted on 1800 respondents in a simulated Instagram environment and learn how to nail your brand’s communication while tackling highly important social topics.

          5. Driving sales with in-store display optimization practices

          Just how powerful are point-of-sales displays in the store? Well, they can boost sales by as much as 20% when done right. We joined forces with Smurfit Kappa to pinpoint what drives in-store visibility, attention, likability and share of shoppers – by testing more than 400 POS materials on +60,000 shoppers across 15 countries worldwide. As it turns out, the best-performing display is 4 times more visible and could increase purchases 7 times more efficiently than the worst-performing ones. So, if you are developing in-store material that needs catch the attention in a crowded supermarket – these best practices are for you!

          6. The secret behavioral sauce of successful innovation

          Every brand knows the staggering statistic that over 90% of new products and innovations fail when launched – but the pressure to continue the development never ceases. To empower brands in their innovation endeavors, our team of researchers sought to showcase what a Market share estimation study looks like. What the study on introducing and measuring the success of a new product aimed to do was verify how the behavioral NPD solution fares against real-life sales data. If you have new products in your pipeline, this study is a must-read as it covers:

          • How to leverage the latest behavioral tech to ensure a successful new product launch
          • The new product opportunities to tap into in both brick and mortar and across digital platforms
          • All the crucial steps brands should take when going into innovation development

          7. From in-context testing to winning social media ads

          As news around Meta, TikTok and now Twitter continues to take the headlines by storm, the already tumultuous space of social media, where users scroll at a speed of 1-3 posts per second, has raised new concerns for advertisers and marketers. But, some social media best practices are evergreen. And so we have compiled a data-driven guide for making sure your ads are worth the investment and more importantly, captivating for the viewers. Since there are so many different things to have in mind when starting to test your social media ads, we have also included the most impactful things you should focus on from the start and which ones you can include if your budget allows it!

          8. The precious 6-second ads w/ Twitter

          Social media feeds are one of the hardest clutters for brands to break through – especially with the ever-growing percentage of mobile users. With this challenge in mind, we teamed up with Twitter to determine the optimal ad-viewing length by replicating Twitter feeds and studying user behavior in a controlled environment with reliable behavioral methods. The learnings were game-changing and led to Twitter introducing the 6-second biddable video ads on their platform! The study uncovered that these short-form and branded videos, with the sound turned off, have a much stronger ad recall on mobile than traditional TV commercials we are used to seeing – revolutionizing the way advertisers approach social media ads.

          9. Wrap it up with some holiday insights

          How will inflation impact this holiday season? Regardless of the current sentiment, many are expecting growth in sales numbers. And from festive advertising to online and store touchpoints, there are plenty of opportunities to get shoppers into the holiday purchasing spirit! We compiled our best behavioral learnings (did you know that using logos in festive ads boasts a 133% higher brand recall?) from multiple advertising, shopper and digital studies with a goal to help prepare your strategies for 2023 – cause we know that omnichannel optimization and a seamless cross-channel experience is something that is vital for success with shoppers all year round!

          10. Twitter’s look into the powerful role of gender in sports ads

          How does gender portrayal in (sports) ads impact the performance of the creative? To uncover what it means for brands to tap into uncharted territories with their advertising, we once again joined forces Twitter and explored the impact of gender representation in sports ads – and found some unexpected results, such as:

          • Women are taking the lead – both traditional and non-traditional gender roles in ads outperform their male counterparts
          • Ads with male athletes just don’t do the trick anymore! They’re less credible and empowering – men are looking for more relatable role models
          • Cultural relevance is crucial to a consumer’s purchase decision and correlates with performance on brand effect metrics


            Behavioral insights: Backbone of successful co-branding initiatives

            Posted on by EyeSee Research

            Written by Jason Bradbury, Sr. Director of Client Service at EyeSee

            I am a simple individual and perhaps a creature of habit – choosing peanut M&Ms as my go-to sweet snack, relying on Cinnabon k-cups for my daily coffee fix and letting Apple technology keep me well-organized and connected.

            While data (and life) confirm I am not a lone example of a consumer having favorite brands, recent research shows that these loyalties are first to go as we adjust to the mounting pressures of the global recession. Apart from tinkering with variables of pricing and volume, there are other strategies your brand might explore to preempt eroding loyalty.

            In fact, there’s a good chance one of your new favorite products may just be the result of two separate brands working together – the fruit of a co-branding or licensed partnership initiative. If your goals for 2023 include:

            • Reconnecting with or Expanding your consumer base;
            • Evolving your brand identity or reputation;
            • Innovating the product;
            • And/or all the above…

            …then co-branding may be the right strategy for you! However, this approach does carry certain risks and mitigating them should be a top priority. Here’s how behavioral research can help.  

            Know your shifting consumer and (re-frame) their needs

            75% of brands could disappear tomorrow … and most consumers wouldn’t care. On top of this, shoppers are already actively engaging in brand-switching behavior due to rising inflation. By exploring collaborations within or across categories, you are opening a whole world of possibilities to either deepen the connection with existing consumers or to expand your base.  

            Well-known consumer products entering into a partnership with Disney is one such example.   Disney-licensed characters are displayed on Huggies diapers, Band-Aid adhesive bandages and even Gucci collections! Disney characters are iconic, instantly recognizable, and intergenerational.  Through these collaborations, these brands have managed to overcome their challenges in creating appeal and eliciting an emotional response, which has an enduring effect on retaining brand loyalty but also helps draw consideration among new potential customers.

            The journey of successful co-branding begins with understanding the intersection of consumers and their behaviors. Pre-testing your advertising materials (online videos, TVC, social media posts, etc.) and packs can give you crucial insight into how consumers will see, react, evaluate, and if they would ultimately be inspired to purchase your co-branded product. A mixed-method approach, where behavioral methods of eye tracking, facial coding and virtual shopping are combined with surveys, can measure such preferences with as much as an 80% correlation with actual shopping behavior.

            Introduce agile reality-checks to your co-branding initiative

            On average, less than 20% of product and pack innovations prove to be a success. Adopting an iterative approach and testing at each step of development increases the chances of yielding a positive result.

            More specifically, there are 3 main points where behavioral research can play a big part in shaping your co-branding initiative:

            • Screening: start testing early in the process (even concepts and drafts!) and narrow down your options. Leverage more granular sub-category criteria, including usage frequency, understanding brand awareness and openness to purchasing the product, and even filtering on geolocation. With every added testing criterion, the potential risk of a new launch gets smaller.
            • Test in context: use virtual simulations of stores and retail environments to tap into authentic consumer behavior with high accuracy. The same goes for e-commerce – any website or webpage, such as Amazon, Target, Kroger can be replicated. Having the ability and agility to put respondents in a context that feels familiar and authentic is key in estimating the success of the co-branding strategy.
            • Volumetric and Market share projection: test claims, pricing, and other aspects of launch to estimate in-market success, switching behavior and opportunities for driving share within the first year.

            Make co-branding resonate: Optimize at every touchpoint

            Experts concur that having a seamless and experience-driven path to purchase is more important now than ever. Shoppers’ expectations are changing – and brands must be aware of the hyper-sensitivity of their customers. Thus, co-branding can be an effective tool to not only enhance brand or product communication, but could also serve as a potential visual cue for highlighting variety or sub-line differences.

            Additionally, there are many widely overlooked opportunities within omnichannel – optimizing touch points such as e-commerce pack shots being one of them. Hero images can significantly boost sales by attracting more attention. They garner 5% higher visibility than Standard Package Designs on desktop (with even greater potential on mobile because of the smaller screen size) and can increase sales by about 15%. Considering these key touchpoints when implementing a co-branding strategy can significantly boost your chances of success.

            Summary

            Co-branding is all about expanding opportunities to connect viscerally with the consumer. By introducing new propositions and potentially enhancing communication by leveraging the established equities of each brand, you are generating broader interest and/or emotional response, which has a positive effect on consumer retention.

            Adopting behavioral methods and testing within contextual shopping environments allows more authentic and predictive insight into how your co-branded product will perform. This type of feedback minimizes the risk of unfruitful investment and represents a definite advantage – even more so under the pressures of recession, where consumers are increasingly fickle and marketing budgets precious.

              Capture their attention first, and the ‘heart’ next: attention & emotions in social media advertising

              Posted on by EyeSee Research

              Written by Vanja Radic, Facial Coding Team Lead at EyeSee.

              Many of our clients have asked what a successful social media campaign entails. In this article, we will address the most important creative aspects to have in mind when directing and optimizing social media ads. Those aspects revolve around two main pillars: attention management and emotional engagement.

              TVC vs. social media

              Although attention metrics can always provide additional insights, they are not essential when it comes to TVC testing; as for this advertising format, some amount of attention comes as a given – the TV is on, and we just move on to other activities until the TVC clutter dissipates. A lower level of attention is even considered a unique TVC advantage, allowing a more subliminal persuasion to take place (Heath, Robert). Countless academic discussions address the pros and cons of TVCs vs. social media advertising, however, when it comes to a younger and more specific target audience, social media marketing is without a doubt winning the game. Nevertheless, social media as an environment poses additional challenges when it comes to creating a successful video ad. Ferociously fast-moving timelines have brought on the need for marketers to become excellent managers of attention. Consequently, attention metrics come into play as the strongest indicator of success: being three times more predictive than viewability, attention metrics inform marketers about how much of the video content will actually be seen.

              Let’s introduce an analogy: the difference between seeing a movie cover and seeing the whole movie or a part of it aptly illustrates the difference between viewability and attention. Unfortunately, most social media analytics limit themselves to viewability, in that way stunting the learnings from past campaigns.

              Yet, it’s important to note that testing an ad only on attention metrics doesn’t give a full picture of its performance and therefore limits the feedback on where the spaces for improvement lies. Attention metrics represent only one side of the coin since they say nothing about a very important driver of attention and consumer behavior overall – emotions.

              Attention vs. emotions

              It’s difficult to talk about attention without appreciating emotions since they can critically modulate attentional processes and, at the same time, increase the likelihood that an emotional experience becomes part of our memory store; in turn, creating an emotional connection to the brand.

              “A marketing strategy focused on appealing to consumers’ raw and most personal emotions can change a faceless, perhaps seemingly soulless, business into a brand that audiences can relate to and care about.” (Ingwer, Mark)

              We are constantly bombarded by a plethora of information and experiences, only a small subset of which will be encoded into lasting memories. That small subset that is likely to be selected from the barrage of information is the emotional content. Apart from transforming experience into a memory, emotions powerfully, predictably, and pervasively influence our decision-making, which is why brands should make sure their advertising efforts elicit positive emotions.

              The best way to access the emotional quality of an ad is by applying the Facial Coding method. As both appealing to emotions and managing attention are equally important, EyeSee’s methodology relies on both facial coding and attention measurement when assessing an ad’s performance on social media.

              How we do it

              Nothing better than an example to illustrate the complementarity and uniqueness of these two methods. Here are the results from a YT ad testing study, summarized in Retention rate per second (Attention) and Emotional engagement per second (Facial Coding) graphics. 

              A look at attention measurements for this ad shows that the retention rate drops below the benchmark from the moment the skip button appears. This drop severely influences other attention metrics, like competition rate and overall focus, as the viewers who click the skip button are irreversibly gone (the line can only go down). Still, we can see that there is a shift in the 7th second, where the line starts to straighten, from that moment on, floating above the benchmark. 

              Graph 1 – Retention rate per second (Attention)

              Now let’s consult the emotional metrics provided by Facial Coding:

              Graph 2 – Emotional engagement per second (Facial Coding)

              From the standpoint of facial coding, the ad is a high performer, reaching a 20% positive tipping point in the 11th second. Obviously, humorous scenes developing from the 7th second have done their part in positively engaging viewers’ emotions and need no further script-based modifications. If we go back to the Retention rate graphic (Graph 1), we cannot help but notice how emotions interfere with the attentional processes – i.e. attention drop-off decreases from the same moment that stimulus starts to engage the viewers. However, if we were limited to attention measurement metrics only, we might be tempted to wrongly assess this social media ad as an average-to-low performer; nevertheless, Facial Coding demonstrates its strength and potential in engaging positive emotions, hence sharpening the feedback given. Therefore, by combining both attention measurement and facial coding, we can say for certain that the biggest space for improvement lies in the first part of the stimulus; this is probably due to a lack of suspense or dynamic shift around the 5th second, that second being the stumbling stone for effective attention management in the YT environment.

              Insights into social media ad performance can be even more enriched by supporting these two methods with other behavioral methods such as Eye Tracking, Virtual Shopping and Reaction Time Measurement. Given that Facial Coding yields data on how the respondents feel when exposed to an ad, Eye Tracking is utilized to pinpoint what exactly they are looking at when watching the video, uncovering the main areas of interest. And while an ad can be both entertaining and attention-grabbing for consumers, generally excelling from the creative side – the question of what it brings to the brand remains open. That is where Virtual Shopping comes into play, enabling us to measure the actual impact on sales, whereas Reaction Time Measurement ensures we understand the impact on the brand itself.

              Conclusion

              Relying solely on attention metrics in social media testing is not enough if we really want to learn from past experience and squeeze the most out of the input available. By applying the right combination of EyeSee’s behavioral methods, we can understand both the emotional and attention aspects of video content, which allows us to pinpoint exactly where space for improvement lies. 

              If understood and excavated properly, emotions can be powerful commercial tools and many brands have come to the conclusion that appealing not only to consumers’ reason and logic but also to their heartstrings can give them a competitive advantage. Besides establishing attention as an adequately managed KPI, Facial Coding method helps marketers ensure that their advertising efforts are successfully connecting with their audiences emotionally.

              Heath, Robert. (2012). Seducing the subconscious: The psychology of emotional influence in advertising. Wiley-Blackwell.

              Ingwer, Mark. (2012). Empathetic marketing: How to satisfy the 6 core emotional needs of your customers. Palgrave Macmillan.

              Advertising Week: Attention is the New Metric

                #FollowInsight: Finishing Women’s Month right!

                Posted on by EyeSee Research

                Introducing #FollowInsight – insightful sessions where we will cover all the latest insights brands should know about!

                With many brands still using the traditional gender representation in advertising, the questions of societal change remain –  how are non-traditional gender roles perceived in advertising campaigns? Can they open new doors to social change while still improving brand equity?

                In the light of Women’s History Month, we are looking back into how advertising portrayals of gender roles influence brand perception, viewer’s focus, and implicitly affect consumer purchase behavior – with three impactful insights from our work with Twitter. EyeSee’s Digital Insights Director, Morana Kristek, is tackling the sought-after insights that can help brands drive awareness and avoid advertising errors in the future.

                Here’s a session with three essential insights – but make sure to check out the full study for all the insights:

                Interested in social media in-feed testing? Reach out to us for more details at [email protected]

                  The battle for attention: How to retain consumers’ focus in global crisis

                  Posted on by EyeSee Research

                  Written by Vanja Radic, Facial Coding Team Lead at EyeSee.

                  It’s become a given that attention is the scarcest resource that brands are fighting for. While the cost of attention has been rising rapidly and consistently in the past decades, at the same time, the quality of paid attention has been decreasing at an even greater pace. The ever-so-dynamic digital arena – where conversations around global events and polarizing topics happen constantly and quickly – presents a big challenge for brands to truly grasp and hold viewers’ focus. So, how can brands navigate these rocky waters amid major happenings such as the pandemic or war in Ukraine?

                  The truth is that relying only on the number of views is simply not an option anymore. Instead of counting mere views, marketers are now compelled to turn to more attention-oriented metrics to accurately measure their past campaigns’ performance, as well as predict the success of future ones – regardless of the content surrounding them. This is where behavioral methodology comes into play by helping brands uncover how viewers interact with the content in a natural environment.

                  The price of attention is high

                  According to Facebook, only 2.5 seconds are spent viewing each post from a desktop device and even less on mobile. Moreover, EyeSee’s studies have indicated that only 7% percent of people who view a 30-second video post on a timeline actually see the whole video, while about 27% of viewers stay on the post for less than one second. Relying solely on the data that social media platforms offer can be insufficient since real viewer engagement lies in how long they actually watch the video. In summary, a high budget for an ad creative and its promotion is at risk if the creative fails to grab and retain attention, as quantity doesn’t make up for quality. It comes down to this: you can buy a time frame in a clutter of TVCs, and you can boost your social media ads, but what you cannot do is buy people’s attention – you have to earn it.

                  That is why it is essential to understand how viewers interact with content in an environment that’s closest to a natural  one. Here, the behavioral methodology makes all the difference. EyeSee’s attention measurement solution provides an easy way to measure a content’s ability to not only attract, but also retain by offering digestible outputs in the form of simple KPIs that point to spaces for improvement. For example, attention KPIs will provide answers to some of the most commonly asked client questions, such as:

                  • Is the content attention-grabbing enough from the very beginning?
                  • Is it capable of breaking through the clutter?
                  • Are there some bigger drops in attention that indicate room for improvement?
                  • Which percentage of viewers will actually watch the whole video?
                  • What is attention-grabbing for a particular target group?
                  • What are the patterns behind successful attention management?

                  A clear-cut way to gain these learnings is by testing the content in the right environment. Tools such as simulated social media feeds allow complete control over the testing environment and the possibility to experiment, as well as provide precise insight into how viewers interact with the content – and more importantly, how it can be optimized.

                  It takes seconds to make it or break it

                  Timing is everything. There are cases in which a lot can be improved with simple editing. The very same material can deliver a much higher ROI if the most attention-grabbing scenes are placed where they should be as, as we like to call them, stumbling stone seconds. Stumbling stone seconds differ from one environment to another. Whereas you’ve got 5 seconds to earn your viewer’s attention on YouTube, other mediums like Facebook, IG, TikTok, and are less forgiving, demanding from creative to arrest attention from the very first second – fortifying the need to test and optimize for every timeline environment.

                  So, what makes a show-stopping video? Here are some top and bottom performers’ common characteristics regarding creative’s two main qualities: 1) its ability to break through the clutter and capture attention (stopping power) and 2) its ability to retain the attention (retention rate):

                  One of the most common pitfalls advertisers make is not leveraging the very first seconds of the video. Consumers spend less than 2.5 seconds on a piece of content before they continue to scroll or change the channel, so ensuring they are hooked from the get-go is a must. Applying a dose of mystery is definitely one of the ways to accomplish that since it triggers our compulsion for completion. Novelty, contradiction, and immersive experience are also great means of arresting attention. On the other hand, predictability, one-dimensional and overused scripts, especially when combined with overly prominent branding, tend to lose their viewers’ attention at the very beginning.

                  However, when it comes to retaining attention, different rules apply: a creative should be easy to follow, entertaining and dynamic with emotional ups and downs. Confusing and monotonous creatives, as well as those that fail to deliver reward for tension built, tend to lose their viewers along the way.

                  The steps to success are build-measure-learn

                  The need for effective attention management is higher than ever, and the demand is only bound to get higher. Cutting through the clutter has always been one of the greatest challenges in advertising – and with sensitive news such as the war in Ukraine, elections, or the pandemic in the very same environment as your campaigns – it has become an even greater challenge to stand out in the sea of content. Although posts and conversations around these sensitive topics are not something you as a brand can control, EyeSee’s showed that advertising is still safe in the news feed regardless of its adjacency with controversial content.

                  And while there are some standard practices when it comes to arresting users’ attention, the only sure way to properly manage your target audience is by pre-testing your creative content. Even the best tricks, when decoded and widely used, can get worn out. The best way to overcome this challenge and find out what works best for your target group is to utilize the right mix of methods that will help you uncover predictive insights into the content’s performance. Regularly measuring the performance of your its attention metrics in an adequate environment, will provide you with insights into creative’s aspects that require improvement and, more importantly, it will allow you to have a great learning strategy in the quest for understanding what resonates best with your target audience in terms of attention management.

                  Interested in optimizing online videos to keep the precious attention of the viewers? Reach out to us at [email protected] 

                    Editors’ pick: Kickstarting 2022 with a behavioral bang

                    Posted on by EyeSee Research

                    In the light of a new year, we looked back at the most sought-after case studies, blogs and webinars that marked our 2021 – and that serve a great purpose for laying down the behavioral groundwork for the tasks and opportunities this year will bring!

                    Make sure you get EyeSee’s Insights Casebook packed with (all of these and more!) cross-industry top experts’ perspectives and handy tips on innovation, must-have research tools, latest trends, and challenges to help kickstart your 2022.

                    Going green and growing sustainable

                    Riding the wave of change: Building competitive and sustainable products

                    One of the big topics brands will need to tackle in the years to come is the issue surrounding sustainability – more precisely, how to effectively help the cause and create in-demand products that people want to purchase. However, we’ve repeatedly seen that ‘green’ product strategies either simply miss the mark – or are labeled as greenwashing. This is the first part of the 4-part case study on everything brands must know about developing sustainable products that win big on the shelf!

                    Walk your talk: Choosing sustainable product claims wisely

                    Claiming a product is sustainable won’t push consumers to make that green purchase – but which product claims hold power to change shopper behavior? In the second installment of the comprehensive study, we dug deep into which messaging makes all the difference when found on the busy supermarket shelves.

                    Social media impact: How much does social media content affect actual shopping?

                    Advocating for greener alternatives doesn’t stop at the shelves – and one of the most efficient ways brands can reach a vast crowd is through social media feeds. The third part covers how brands can leverage social media in a way that both brings awareness to the cause and resonates with the green shopper.

                    EyeSee x Colgate Palmolive: Busting myths about sustainable products

                    Check out the webinar session where Colgate-Palmolive’s Foresight and Sustainability Insights expert, Cherie Leonard and EyeSee’s Laura Hoste and Jonathan Asher tackle all the study findings while debunking the 5 most common misconceptions about building competitive sustainable products.

                    Making a (social) impact

                    Should brands be talking about COVID and BLM? #InstagramStudy

                    With many events and issues that caused social turmoil and sparked conversation last year – the big question still remains – what’s the right way to do it? EyeSee set out to explore the behavioral data and see how brands should tackle crisis messaging – and consequently, how it will affect brand equity. Take a deep dive into the results of one of the most extensive mobile behavioral studies conducted on 1800 respondents in an Instagram environment.

                    Twitter x EyeSee: Does adjacent content affect brand reputation?

                    Read the key insights from a project with Twitter that explored how adjacency to controversial or divisive social media content impacts brand performance. Twitter’s research analysts Kelsey Capobianco and Isabel Suede discussed the study setup and full findings, while EyeSee’s CTO Vuk Pašković shared why brands need to be quick when embracing new tech that’s changing the future of remote market research. 

                    How Brands Can Make a Positive Impact on Social Media and Consumers

                    It is no secret that brands are spending trillions on advertising with the goal of affecting behavior and attitudes, but the question remains – can they use it to connect with consumers in a meaningful way and obtain a positive return? At this point, it’s not a matter of if but how to do it right with the social media landscape transforming before our eyes – check out the full webinar session!

                    Innovating fearlessly

                    Improving NPD success: Best practices from Coca-Cola and General Mills

                    New products are an essential part of business for every company and yet remain one of the most challenging things to develop successfully. Innovation experts Tanja Petrovic (Innovation Strategy Director, The Coca-Cola Company) and Tony Marcello (Consumer Insights Manager – Morning Foods, General Mills) zeroed in on approaching NPD testing, where to start, and how stakeholders to involve – here’s all you need to know about the newest behavioral NPD testing!

                    All that buzz: The ins and outs of using AI in consumer research

                    Is AI-driven research really worth the buzz? EyeSee’s Founder Olivier Tilleuil shared his perspective on the AI solutions that are gaining traction in the industry – as well as the vital knowledge on understanding the scope and the limitations of AI. Check out the helpful breakdown! 

                    In-context is the place to be (and conduct consumer research)

                    The last two years showcased that when in doubt – go remote. As people across the world moved into their home offices, the ‘remote revolution’ came to be – but the truth is that a similar movement has been happening in the market research industry for years. The remote yet in-context behavioral studies have been changing the way consumer insights are gathered – and with the help of our team, virtually simulated shopping environments and highly realistic social media feeds became as accessible as ever for conducting highly predictive studies.

                    Check out the social media timeline testing demo – and the virtual shopping demo with fully interactive shelves!

                    Here’s a bonus insight to start the new year right!

                    One of the new advertising tools that has been recently launched on Amazon product detail pages is the enhanced Branded Content that elevates the customer experience with an interactive design and innovative features. In a recent behavioral study, the EyeSee team set out to understand if and how the improved pieces of content impact consumer behavior.

                    The findings show that customers are staying longer on these pages with the interactive elements holding their attention for longer – shoppers focus more on the features that will help them understand the product better before they make a purchase decision! More customers reach the end of the page with this EBC++ content than on regular PDPs. And most importantly, EBC++ drives sales up to 44% – adding to the basket is more likely to happen when interactive content is present on the PDP!

                    If you are interested in how adding behavioral methods to your toolkit can give a competitive advantage in 2022 – reach out to us!

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