At the Advertising Research Foundation’s (ARF) 2011 annual re:think convention, a key issues forum presentation was held entitled The Power of Relevancy The Biometric Impact of Online Advertising. The presentation includes topics such as measuring the biological impact, and the contextual and personal relevancy of ads. The presenters include Tony Marlow-Strategic Insights at YAHOO! & Brian Levine-President of Innerscope Research.
The Power of Relevancy The Biometric Impact of Online Advertising
1. The Power of Relevancy
The Biometric Impact of Online
Advertising
Tony Marlow Brian Levine
Strategic Insights President
YAHOO! Innerscope Research
2. Agenda
Background and Method
Personal Relevancy of Ads
Contextual Relevancy
PR + Context
iPad Environment
3. Agenda
Background and Method
Personal Relevancy of Ads
Contextual Relevancy
PR + Context
iPad Environment
4. Background
Research Goals and Questions
• Evaluate importance of display ad relevancy
– Do personally relevant ads elicit specific biometric
responses that are different to ads that are not relevant?
• Evaluate biological impact of contextual
relevancy.
– Does context significantly change individuals’ perceptions
of the associated advertising and how?
• Context + Personal Relevancy
– Are both important and how can they be leveraged?
5. Background
CONSCIOUS
ASSOCIATIVE
95% *
OF OUR DECISION-
MAKING OCCURS ON A
NON-CONSCIOUS LEVEL
NON-CONSCIOUS
*How Customers Think by Gerald Zaltman (21 February 2003)
*Habit by Neale Martin (6 July 2008)
9. Methodology
Step 1: Step 2: Step 3: Step 4:
Free surf Selection page Natural Browsing Survey to Access
yahoo.com Personal Relevance
Freely choose the order of reading the articles
Repeat until all target articles have been viewed
10. Measuring Personal Relevance | Self Report
• Self-report is used to measure conscious judgment.
Respondents were asked to rate the personal relevance of the
ad, these scores are plotted on the x-axis of the Relevance Map
to inform “which direction the wind is blowing.”
“which direction the wind is blowing”
11. Measuring Emotional Relevance | Biometrics
Biometrics are considered the gold standard to measure emotional
resonance. These scores are plotted on the y-axis of the Resonance Map
to inform “how strong the wind is blowing.”
Four channels of biometric data (Skin
“how strong is the wind”
Conductance, Heart Rate, Respiration and
Movement) are combined to create the
measurement of Emotional Resonance.
Eye-Tracking data is used to determine
when respondents are actually looking at
an ad.
Emotional Resonance while the
respondent is looking at the ad is then
measured at a deviation from their
baseline emotional levels.
12. Agenda
Background and Method
Personal Relevancy of Ads
Contextual Relevancy
PR + Context
iPad Environment
13. Personal Relevancy of Online Display
What is the impact of
targeting consumers
with personally
relevant ads?
14. Personally Relevant Ads (PR Ads)
High vs. Low Ad Relevancy: Elicited similar
levels of ‘time to fixation’ and ‘ad notice’
When the display ads are relevant:
• People spend +25% time fixating on them and
• There is a 27% increase in pupil dilation (info
processing)
16. Personal Relevancy, The TV Benchmark
80
Initial strong emotion
60
Emotional Response
Tune out
40
20
0 :02 :05 :08 :11 :13 :15
Time
17. Personal Relevancy, The TV Benchmark
High Emotional Resonance
Intrusive 0.7
0.8 Engaged
0.35
0.4
Low Personal 0
High Personal
Relevance -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 Relevance
Low PR TVC -0.35
-0.4
Apathetic -0.8
-0.7 Comfortable
Low Emotional Resonance
18. Low Ad Relevancy, TV vs. Display
High Emotional Resonance
Intrusive 0.7
0.8 Engaged
Low PR Display 0.4
0.35
Low Personal 0
High Personal
Relevance -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 Relevance
Low PR TVC -0.4
-0.35
Apathetic -0.8
-0.7 Comfortable
Low Emotional Resonance
19. Online Ad Relevancy, Low vs. High
High Emotional Resonance
Intrusive 0.8
Engaged
0.4 High PR Display
Low PR Display
Low Personal High Personal
Relevance 0
Relevance
-3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3
-0.4
Apathetic -0.8
Comfortable
Low Emotional Resonance
20. Online Ad Relevancy
• Fixation is required to determine
relevancy.
– This is why ‘notice’ levels are the same
for relevant/non-relevant ads.
• Relevant ads elicit longer fixation
– Longer fixation enhances opportunity
for intake and emotional response.
– Increased pupil dilation indicates
stronger cognitive processing.
21. Agenda
Background and Method
Personal Relevancy of Ads
Contextual Relevancy
PR + Context
iPad Environment
23. Contextually Relevant Ads
Time to Fixate: Contextual relevancy increases time to first
fixation by 15% compared to out of context
Information Processing: Context synergy shows a 7%
increase in pupil dilation (cognitive processing).
Ads as Content: When contextually
relevant, ads more easily blend to become
content rather than just ads.
24. Contextual Relevancy, Gaze-plot
10 10
bann
9 8
bann
7
er_a
d
7
er_ad
4 3
8 6
3 1 2 1
sid
side
2 e_
6
ad
4 9
_ad
5 5
Contextually Relevant Ad Non-Contextually Relevant Ad
25. Contextual Synergy and Emotional Response
High Emotional Resonance
0.7
0.8
Intrusive Engaged
Contextual Display
0.4
0.35
Non-contextual Display
Low Personal High Personal
0
Relevance -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 Relevance
-0.4
-0.35
Apathetic Comfortable
-0.8
-0.7
Low Emotional Resonance
26. Contextual Relevancy
• Contextual synergy blends ads
and content.
– This is why ‘notice’ time is much faster
for contextual placements.
– It is also why pupil dilation is negligibly
larger for the ad.
– Contextual placements elicit twice the
emotional response.
• Context alone doesn’t elicit more
ad fixation time.
– They don’t look at it longer, they just
like it more.
27. Agenda
Background and Method
Personal Relevancy of Ads
Contextual Relevancy
PR + Context
iPad Environment
28. Personal Relevance + Contextual Relevance
Do we get a multiplier
effect from hitting the
right people in the
right context?
29. Context + Personal Relevancy of Ads
Fixate: PR + Context synergy increases time to first fixation
by 11% AND increases total fixation time by 14%.
Information Processing: PR + Context synergy shows a 40%
increase pupil dilation.
PR + Context: Increases in biometric measures indicate this
is the optimal scenario for increasing cognitive processing
plus it pushes emotional response and recall.
30. Context + Personal Relevancy of Ads
High Emotional Resonance
0.8
Intrusive Engaged
High PR + Context
0.4
Low PR + Non-context
Low Personal High Personal
Relevance 0 Relevance
-3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3
-0.4
Apathetic Comfortable
-0.8
Low Emotional Resonance
31. Summary of Personal Relevance and Context
High
• Positive emotional response
• Long fixation time • Draws attention very fast
• Solid cognitive engagement • Long fixation time
Personal Relevance of Ad
• Positive strong emotional response
But… • Positive strong cognitive processing
• Slower to draw attention
• Noticed • Draws attention fast
• Strong emotional response
But…
• Negative emotional response But…
• Short fixation time • Shorter fixation time
• Slow to draw attention • Potential to for some negative
Low
• Low cognition emotional response.*
Not Related Related
Context
32. Agenda
Background and Method
Personal Relevancy of Ads
Contextual Relevancy
PR + Context
iPad Environment
33. iPad Experience
• Methodology
• A subset of “iPad Owners” using iPads naturally
• Examples
Context No Context Relevant Not Relevant
• Directional Insights
• Greater Fixation on Personally Relevant Ads
• Faster Time to First Fixation on Contextually Relevant Ads
• Additional Insights for another time
34. Agenda
Background and Method
Personal Relevancy of Ads
Contextual Relevancy
PR + Context
iPad Environment
Summary
35. Summary
• Evaluate importance of display ad relevancy
– People fixate longer on personally relevant ads enhancing
the opportunity for strong emotional processing and
stronger information processing
• Evaluate biological impact of contextual relevancy
– People notice advertising quicker when it is paired with
contextually relevant content and contextual placements
elicit twice the emotional response
• Context + Personal Relevancy
– Leveraging both context relevancy and personal relevancy
produces even stronger emotional processing and
information processing than either condition alone
36. Implications for Advertisers
• The findings point out that different targeting tactics
can be matched to the objectives of a
campaign, here are some examples:
• A new product/line launch
– When the objective is centered around awareness generation
contextual placements will be a strong tactical option.
– Context yields fast fixation and elicits the psychological principal
of primacy (i.e. this increases the chances of the ad moving from
ST to LT memory).
37. Implications for Advertisers
• A product change or improvement
– When the objective is centered around communicating a
specific and tangible key message
– Personal relevancy (behavioral targeting) elicits stronger levels
of pupil dilation – a key indicator of heightened cognition.
• Public service announcements (e.g. anti drink
driving)
– When the objective is centered around eliciting an emotional
response (good or bad)
– Context + Personal Relevance is most likely to elicit stronger
emotional responses than other targeting.