how does advertising impact our minds?
Published: Fall 2016
The majority of mobile ad dollars are going towards boring (or worse, annoying) ads that alienate consumers and negatively impact brands. To find out what ads captivate consumers and which aggravate them, Kargo and Media Science conducted a study on ad impact by evaluating participants’ emotional and neurological responses to various mobile ad formats. The results will surprise you.
Background
How does advertising impact our minds? The mobile ecosystem is faced with challenges to preserve a positive user experience while allowing advertisers to promote their products and services through various ad formats. For example, it is presumed that interstitial ads garner the greatest level of advertising effectiveness, thus being viewed as highly valuable to advertisers. Meanwhile, publishers may view the smaller, less on-screen ad units to have a better user experience. Unfortunately, appropriate research to study the emotional response of being interrupted on mobile devices and its connection to advertising effectiveness has seldom been conducted.
The Goal & methodology
Verification of an ad being viewed is the first step in determining effectiveness. “Viewability” is often used as currency and sometimes translated to effectiveness, neglecting the fact that viewability provides the user with an opportunity to see - not verifying that the ad was seen. Ad formats can easily play a role in visual attention, which in turn, can influence subsequent effects such as message processing and emotional impact.
In order to measure the level of emotional impact that different ad formats have on a user, researchers must go beyond traditional research tools such as a post-experience survey or interview. Smartphones are highly task-oriented devices in which users return to their activities after the onset of mobile ads. Measuring the level of perceived annoyance through post-experience testing will not give researchers an accurate measure due to a variety of variables: elapsed time, the users’ return to original activity, preconceived views of mobile ads, and other factors. Thus, emotional response must be measured on a constant basis, and in the moment of ad onset.
Mobile users were recruited to view premium editorial content, which included five ad formats across five brands within different industry verticals. A 5x5 Graeco-Latin Square design was used to ensure that all five ad formats were equally represented by all brands, while also controlling for potential order and pairing effects. Eye tracking, biometrics (EDA), and post-exposure survey tools were used within MediaScience’s neuroscience lab—a controlled testing environment.
Key Learnings
How do different ad formats compare in terms of brand recall?
How well are each of the ad formats evaluated by viewers, especially in terms of perceived annoyance?
Does visual engagement with ads vary across the individual ad formats?
How are biometrics and emotional responses impacted by each ad format?
