Last year at internship #2, I was assigned to read a book, interview the head honchos at the agency, write a paper about the book and how it could be applied to the agency, and then give a presentation to the agency decision-makers on improvements they could make. I loved the assignment and the book wasn’t half bad either.
What Sticks by Briggs and Stuart:
Some big companies, marketing gurus, independent researchers, and more of the like did this great big study on what makes effective advertising. What Sticks was a report on the results. A lot of the book is about researching, testing, metrics, etc. Needless to say, it’s a bit dry. If you don’t mind a lot of stats and a few media planner-ish graphs on diminishing returns, then it’ll be right up your alley.
The one thing I do remember about this book is what it had to say about effective reveal banner ads.
Reveal ads are like the one below. They slowly reveal pieces and parts of an ad until you have the full picture.
Still frames of a Kraft LiveActive Cheese reveal ad:
Now, what’s wrong with this ad? I won’t even mention the content. I’m just talking form here - the ad takes too long.
No one pays attention to banner ads. No one will sit and wait for a banner ad to “reveal” itself. No one is waiting for the punchline.
The effectiveness of the ad could be greatly improved by simply putting the LiveActive brand name in every frame of the ad. Briggs and Stuart’s study tested reveal ads with logos in every frame vs. ads with logos only in the last frame. When Olay added their logo to every frame of an ad, sales increased by 14%. When Volvo tested the two different ads, the one with a logo in every frame had 86% more value across several “branding metrics,” meaning things like brand awareness, perception, and image.
I decided to write about this when I saw a poorly executed reveal ad done by the AdCouncil. I couldn’t find that one again, so I went on a hunt for another bad reveal ad. It didn’t take as long as it should have. I found quite a few in less than a few minutes. The worst part of it all is that Kraft participated in the Briggs and Stuart study. Did someone at Kraft miss a memo?
In Summary: Make sure the brand name is present in every frame of the reveal ad. Connect the imagery to the message to the brand as soon as possible. Read a book every once in awhile. You might learn something.
Subscribe and never miss a note!