May2004   

Searching for the Transatlantic Divide: Differences in Online Ad Performance between North America and Europe

By Tony Romeo

How do geographic differences translate to effectiveness in Internet advertising? Have the creative forces in Europe found a way to leverage this new tool? Have North American advertisers taken advantage of higher consumer penetration to develop more effective online communication? According to Dynamic Logic's MarketNorms®, the transatlantic divide is small, but enlightening. Overall, online advertising has worked well in both Europe and North America with little differences.

The charts show that both regions' campaigns have been effective across all four of the major metrics, improving in performance over time with the exception of Message Association for European campaigns. While the average deltas (i.e., the change in exposed vs. control scores) have been slightly higher for North America than for Europe, European ad campaigns are quickly becoming on par with the performance of North American campaigns.

Some may have thought that the earlier adoption of web-based technologies in North America provided an edge in online advertising effectiveness; however, a trending analysis from 2001* to 2003 in MarketNorms shows that is not necessarily the case. European benchmarks are similar to North American norms, with only Message Association trailing slightly (North America delta for Message Association of 7.4 vs. European delta of 5.0.) This is not surprising since later adopters of innovations typically "catch-up" as they learn from and then build upon the experience of those who came before them.

The pattern of the scores suggests both learning and cross-region competition. The Internet, as a global medium, is particularly friendly to that process. Best practice is spreading quickly from one region to the next.

Lessons for a global perspective:

1. Scan beyond your borders for best practice. This is a new medium, moving quickly along the learning curve. No region can make an unassailable claim on superior expertise.
2. Consider using the Internet to brand globally. The culture and application of the Internet are evolving in many similar ways across the world. Creative may be much more translatable than in TV.

Guest Author / Analyst:
Dr. Tony Romeo is a strategic consultant to Dynamic Logic. He is a former senior executive at Unilever, where he chaired the Interactive Brand Center, and now leads his own consulting practice, Strategic Dynamics. He is also an adjunct Professor at Columbia University's Graduate School of Business.