{"id":17207,"date":"2019-06-14T18:03:27","date_gmt":"2019-06-14T18:03:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.valpak.com\/?p=17207"},"modified":"2020-04-27T17:45:29","modified_gmt":"2020-04-27T17:45:29","slug":"advertising-effectiveness-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.valpak.com\/advertise\/blog\/advertising-effectiveness-study","title":{"rendered":"Study Shows Effects of Physical Ads vs. Digital"},"content":{"rendered":"

U.S. ad spend grew 7% in 2018<\/a>, finishing the year with an all-time high of $200 billion in revenue. The good news is, ad sales are up. The bad news is, you may not be spending your budget efficiently.<\/p>\n

Digital ad revenue accounts for 51.5% of those sales. While $106 billion is nothing to sneeze at, it\u2019s not the overwhelming figure most people in today\u2019s digitally driven world think it would be. Or, what they think it should be.<\/p>\n

It turns out it may not be as effective as you think, either.<\/p>\n

Companies are constantly tailoring and restructuring their marketing efforts to appeal to their target audiences. But what happens when the target audience doesn\u2019t react the way you assumed they would?<\/p>\n

Advertising Effectiveness and Age\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Postal Service (OIG) completed a neuromarketing study with Temple University titled “Advertising Effectiveness and Age<\/a>” to see just how effective digital and physical advertising strategies were across different age groups.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s neuromarketing?<\/h3>\n

It\u2019s a field of marketing that uses functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study how the brain reacts to marketing stimuli. In other words, it gives a scientific answer to the question, “Do you like this?”<\/p>\n

The theory is that digital ads<\/a> engage with younger adults \u2013 millennials, if you will \u2013 while traditional mediums, such as direct mail<\/a>, resonate most with baby boomers.<\/p>\n

The OIG study found that\u2019s not exactly the case.<\/p>\n

How the Study Was Conducted<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Sixty participants took part in the study, conducted over a total of two weeks during the spring and summer of 2018, ranging in age from 18-68. Twenty-five were millennials, 12 were Gen Xers and 23 were baby boomers. The researchers categorized them into two groups: the younger group \u2013 ages 41 and under \u2013 and the older group \u2013 47 and older. As far as gender, 33 were women and 27 men.<\/p>\n

The study was conducted using four procedures:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Self-reporting measures<\/li>\n
  2. Behavioral responses<\/li>\n
  3. Eye tracking<\/li>\n
  4. fMRI technology<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \u00a0The Findings<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    While there is an emphasis placed on digital ads today, the researchers found physical ads actually outperformed digital ads across all age groups in leaving a lasting impression.<\/p>\n

    During the first week, physical ads were more effective for brand recall and discrimination. In week 2, physical ads were more effective for ad recognition, vividness of brand recognition and the ability to recall specific ad details in the post-fMRI memory test.<\/p>\n

    In the neuroimaging analysis, physical ads were effective among all age groups. The fMRI findings showed there was greater activation in the area of the brain associated with memory formation and retrieval.<\/p>\n

    However, both the younger and older groups processed digital ads faster. But, the difference in processing time between physical and digital ads was greater among the younger group. Some of the effectiveness of physical ads can be attributed to the self-regulated exposure time. The OIG noted that when given limited exposure, it\u2019s possible the younger group would see greater benefits with digital but in this particular study, the younger participants voluntarily chose to spend more time looking at physical ads.<\/p>\n

    Functional, Emotional or Metaphorical Ads: What Wins Out?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

    The biggest discrepancy in the study came with assessing the 3 different ad categories: functional, emotional and metaphorical.<\/p>\n