Yahoo! Canada's research into the facets of better online advertising - and how marketers can use ad size, richness and environment to increase the impact of their ad campaigns.

1. Nick Drew
Research Manager
Yahoo! Canada
advertising.yahoo.ca/insights

2. Advertising Still Has a Role to Play
FIRST AWARENESS
Advertising 43%
DISCOVERY Store Promotion
36%
CONFIDENCE Mention on TV 38%
PRODUCT IS RIGHT FOR Mention in Print 35%
ME
MORE INFORMATION
Consumer Needs ABOUT THE BRAND/ PRODUCT
Product Information Advertising 38%
Expert Views Sales Assistant 41%
Consumer Experiences
Brand Website 45%
Buying Information
RECOMMENDATIONS Subject-specific forums
37%
TRUSTWORTHY
RECOMMENDATIONS INFORMATION
COMPARE
PRODUCTS
Despite the increasing focus on social tools and word of mouth, advertising is still a crucial
channel for consumers and brands. Yahoo!’s ‘Consumers Know Best’ study showed that
advertising remains the primary means for consumers to discover new products and brands.

3. ...And It’s Everywhere

4. ...And It’s Everywhere
The challenge for brands is to ensure that their messaging stands out, in a world in which
consumers are deluged with advertising from every medium and outlet.

5. The Fundamentals of (Offline) Advertising
Size matters.
The richness of an ad is important.
Environment plays a crucial role.
Offline, brands include three key considerations in their campaign planning to ensure that
their messaging is eye-catching, memorable and effective.

6. In Advertising, Size Matters

7. The Impact of Size Online
LRec
(300x250)
V Banner WSky
Half page
Sm (300x600) Full
Button L Rec page ad
(336x280)
50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400
Ad area
(000s pixels)
Online, we can use Dynamic Logic’s normative ad effectiveness database to
compare the average impact of ads of different sizes. Here we’ve charted them by
total ad area in pixels.
Source: Dynamic Logic normative data, N America, last 3 years, Q2 ‘11

8. The Impact of Size Online
6%
Increase in brand
awareness from ad
5% exposure
Full
4% page ad
3%
LRec
2% Half page
(300x250)
WSky (300x600)
1%
L Rec
(336x280) Correlation= 0.92
0%
50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400
-1% V Banner Ad area
(000s pixels)
Sm
-2% Button
There’s a very strong correlation between ad size and average lift in brand
awareness – the bigger an online ad is, the bigger impact it has, on average.
Source: Dynamic Logic normative data, N America, last 3 years, Q2 ‘11

9. Size Matters
And we can appreciate, qualitatively, that there is a difference between a small
box...

10. Size Matters
...and a full-page ad.

11. Richness Offline
In recent years we’ve seen increasingly creative ad executions offline, as brands
strive to make formerly flat canvases more interactive engaging.

12. Richness Online
And online there are many options to do likewise, through use of flash, rich media
units and expandable and interactive ads.

13. Richness Online
Increase in brand awareness from exposure to ads
2x impact of
static ads
1.31% 1.52% 1.64% 1.83% 2.59%
Static image Simple flash Rich media Expandable In-stream video
Returning to Dynamic Logic’s normative database, on average those ads that
utilise these technologies have a significantly greater impact than static units.
Source: Dynamic Logic normative data, N America, last 3 years, Q2 ‘11

14. The Impact of Richer Ads
To understand this impact in more detail, we focused on two campaigns and inserted
three different ads from each into an otherwise identical test webpage. Participants
were asked to read the page and then asked a series of related questions.

15. The Impact of Richer Ads
Unaided recall of advertised brand
1.5x impact of
static ads
30% 33% 43%
300x250 static 300x250 flash Rich media expandable
In our test environment, we found that the expandable versions of the ads were
significantly more memorable than their static or flash counterparts. (For each
campaign, the creative imagery and messaging was the same in each ad execution).

16. The Fundamentals
Size matters.
The richness of an ad is important.
Environment plays a crucial role.

17. Environment – What It Means
VS
VS
Offline, environment is hugely important; where an ad is placed has a massive impact
on whether it’s seen and noticed, and the expectations consumers have of the brand.

18. But Does It Matter Online?
Lift in brand metrics from exposure to ads
Online Ad
Awareness 30% better
Aided Brand
Awareness 33% better
Brand Favorability
160% better
Ad Network
Portal
Purchase Intent
266% better
Online, Dynamic Logic’s normative data show that ads on portals do perform
significantly better on a range of metrics than those appearing on ad networks.
Source: Dynamic Logic normative data, N America, last 3 years, Q2 ‘11

19. The Impact of Environment
Again we explored this in more detail by placing two ads (300x250 flash) into four
different test webpages, showing each page to a sample of consumers, and asking
them about the page and any advertising they recalled.

20. The Promise of Premium
58%
The text and images were easy to read
71%
36%
I liked the mix of text and images
54%
28%
I enjoyed it
45%
28%
My attention was captured and held by it
41%
Non-premium
19% Premium
I wanted to visit this webpage again
28%
Two of the test pages were from premium news websites; two were from less popular
‘long-tail’ news sites. The premium sites had significantly better user scores on layout,
enjoyment and immersion.

21. The Promise of Premium
58%
Easier to read
The text and images were easy to read
71%
36%
I liked the layouttext and images
Better mix of
54%
28%
More enjoyable I enjoyed it
45%
28%
More immersive
My attention was captured and held by it
41%
Non-premium
19% Premium
I wanted torepeat visits
More visit this webpage again
28%

22. The Promise of Premium
58%
Easier to read
The text and images were easy to read
Better layout 71%
More enjoyable
More immersive
36%
I liked the mix of visits images
More repeat text and
54%
17%
28%
More engaged users
I enjoyed it
45%
26%
28%
My attention was captured and held by it
41%
Non-premium
19% Premium
I wanted to visit this webpage again
28%
And this results in a significantly larger number of visitors to the premium sites being
highly engaged with the content there.

23. The Impact on Advertisers
Non-Premium Sites Premium Sites Non-Premium Sites Premium Sites
17% better than 10x impact of
non-premium non-premium
35% 41% +0.4 +3.9
Better Brand Recall Bigger Increase in Brand Choice
The effect also stretches to the impact of ads on the pages. The same ad, when
placed in a premium online environment, performs significantly better than when seen
on a less-premium webpage.

24. The Fundamentals of (Online) Advertising
Size matters.
The richness of an ad is important.
Environment plays a crucial role.

25. What It All Means for Brands

26. What Do We Know?
• Bigger ads perform better
• Richer ads generate more engagement, greater impact
• Environment is key

27. These Ads Have One Thing in Common
Tippex
2011 Webby Winner
Air New Zealand
2011 Webby Winner
Burger King
2010 Cannes Lions Winner
Ultimately, the campaigns that stand out – to consumers, to marketers, (to awards
committees!) – are those that think outside the box, literally and figuratively, and use
size, technology and environment to build the best brand experience.

28. Nick Drew
Research Manager
Yahoo! Canada
advertising.yahoo.ca/insights