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IS BIGGER BETTER WHEN IT COMES TO ONLINE AD SIZE? JURY STILL OUT, ACCORDING TO DYNAMIC LOGIC
Position and Shape May Play a More Important Role than Size
New York, August 20, 2009 — Research released today by Dynamic Logic, the leaders in measuring digital advertising effectiveness, reveals ads that are integrated into the content of the page, such as half banners and rectangles, are the most effective in driving online ad awareness and purchase intent.
The research, based on 2,390 online display campaigns that took place over the past three years, is from Dynamic Logic's MarketNorms® database, the largest in the industry. It found that half banners (234 x 60) and rectangles (180 x 150) were more effective than ads that frame the page such as leaderboards and skyscrapers.
Ken Mallon, Dynamic Logic's SVP of Custom Solutions, commented: "We continue to believe that creative quality is the most important factor driving the success of online advertising. However, it will be interesting to see how the new, larger ad formats that publishers are beginning to debut will rank next to the more traditional online ad formats. Based on the current data, bigger doesn't always mean better, but these new ad formats are quite unique and we look forward to testing them."
The research also revealed that ad campaigns using Rich Media with Video created the strongest brand impact (across most branding goals, including aided brand awareness, online ad awareness, brand favorability, and purchase intent) compared to campaigns using Simple Flash and Rich Media without Video formats. (See chart below.) The worst performer was Simple Flash, the format used most often by agencies and advertisers.
"One of the biggest problems in online advertising today is that, unfortunately, strategy and consideration of branding goals is often an after-thought in decisions about creative format," Mallon said. "Instead, the three factors that drive decisions are: the fixed percent of media budget allocated to ad serving fees, which creatives can be developed in time to meet deadlines, and familiarity/comfort with flash ads."
Based on this and other recent research conducted by Dynamic Logic and DoubleClick ("The Brand Value of Rich Media and Video"), normative research on ad formats offers the following guidelines for advertisers and agencies based on these findings:
- Establish branding goals and base format preferences on these goals early in the campaign planning process
- Try delivering a Rich Media with Video ad as the first ad exposure to your addressable online audience.
- When on a tight budget, switch to less expensive formats and consider frequency capping to extend reach.
- Don't let arbitrary ad serving budgets prevent you from running the most effective ad formats. Factor media fees and rich media fees in together and optimize from there.
- For message association goals, consider adding the message to every frame of the ad for best results.
- Think twice before making Simple Flash ads the centerpiece of a campaign. For every branding goal we studied, a different rich media format was better than Simple Flash at getting results.
Dynamic Logic's MarketNorms® is a marketing effectiveness database. The results cited have not been adjusted for exposure frequency, demographics, ad size, Web sites, advertiser industry and other factors that may contribute to brand lift. These findings are aggregate in nature, reflect past results and are not a guarantee of future results for individual campaigns.
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