Latest study from KN Dimestore reveals that giving consumers something of value in exchange for their attention creates significant impact on consumer perception and purchase behavior
Los Angeles, CA – A new study issued today by KN Dimestore and SocialVibe shows that incentivized advertising works to drive active attention to a brand message and significantly increases brand perception and purchase intent. According to the study, more than 90 percent of people pay active attention to the brand message when interacting with incentivized engagements, and brand perception rises an average of 38 percent after completing the engagement.
Pioneered by SocialVibe, the incentivized brand advertising model allows advertisers to offer consumers something they value – such as virtual currency for a social game, or making a donation to charity – in exchange for paying attention to an engagement ad. People have opportunities to interact with incentivized ads on Web properties such as Pandora and Facebook as well as social games such as Zynga’s FarmVille and CityVille. As value-exchange brand advertising asks only for a consumer’s attention, it differs from offer-based, cost-per-action (CPA) advertising that typically requires an ancillary sign-up or purchase by the consumer.
The KN Dimestore study was undertaken during June and July of 2011 and included more than 30,000 consumers, who were exposed to incentivized ads from top U.S. brands across the financial services, CPG, entertainment, e-commerce and technology categories.
Key findings from the study include:
1. Incentivized advertising drives active attention to a brand message.
KN Dimestore saw that 91 percent of people look for or pay attention to the brand message when interacting with incentivized engagements, meaning that consumers aren’t simply interacting with an ad just to reap the rewards of a value-exchange. Notably, 48 percent reported that while they may initially opt-in to a brand engagement for the incentive, they end up staying and paying attention to the brand message.
2. Incentivized advertising increases brand perception.
The study revealed an average increase in brand perception of 38 percent, ranging from 18 to 77 percent, across the eight different brands participating in the study. For instance, positive brand perception of a packaged good product rose 22 points, or 77 percent, after consumers completed an incentivized engagement from the brand. The overall study showed that regardless of vertical – financial services, CPG, entertainment or technology—consumers are likely to have a more positive perception of a brand as a result of interacting with a brand-delivered incentivized engagement.
3. People who engage with incentivized brand advertising are more likely to consider the brand during the purchase process.
Respondents to the study revealed that after completing the engagement, purchase consideration against competitive brands increased. For example, when participants were asked, “Which of the six brands are you most likely to consider buying the next time you’re at the store?”, a category-leading CPG product saw a 23 point lift, or a 56 percent increase over the control group.
Furthermore, when survey participants were asked about intent to purchase a brand, another CPG product in the study showed a lift of 32 points—or a 110 percent increase. A similar lift was seen in the entertainment category, in which the intent to view a specific television show increased 32 points.
4. Incentivized advertising drives website and in-store traffic.
Consumers exposed to an incentivized engagement were 161 percent more likely to visit the brand’s website and 36 percent more likely to shop for the brand at the store location after completing the engagement. For example, people exposed to a brand engagement from a leading snack brand were 42 percent more likely to look for the brand at the store after completing an engagement.
5. Incentivized advertising also works to drive purchases and conversions.
As part of the KN Dimestore study and for the premiere of a recent blockbuster film, a major movie studio ran a value-exchange campaign through SocialVibe that offered Zynga game players the opportunity to earn virtual currency in exchange for interacting with the movie’s engagement ad. KN Dimestore then surveyed consumers who had both interacted, as well as not interacted, with the ad, asking if they had gone to see the movie in theaters. The study revealed that 32 out of every 100 people exposed to the engagement had bought tickets and seen the movie, a 22 percent lift over those who had not completed the brand engagement.
“This study clearly shows that the value-exchange approach works to impact every stage of the purchase process,” said Benjamin Theriault, vice president of Sales at KN Dimestore. “The study results exceeded what we anticipated – these ads delivered very strong results in brand lift and the response rates were some of the best we’ve seen. The unique opt-in ad units provided an opportunity for us, and for the brands who participated in the study, to engage consumers in a one-on-one conversation to understand how they interact with incentivized ads.”
“There’s been a debate around value-exchange advertising that stems from an unfounded assumption that consumers looking for the incentive will merely ‘sit through’ an ad simply in exchange for the benefit,” said Jay Samit, CEO for SocialVibe. “The KN Dimestore study shows without a doubt that not only does incentivized advertising work, it works better than any other form of brand advertising out there. People go online with a purpose, and most forms of advertising, such as display and pre-roll, are disruptive and not additive to that experience. The way to capture a consumer’s real attention is to respect their time commitment through the value-exchange approach.”
To see examples of value-exchange engagements from leading brands, please visit:
http://advertising.socialvibe.com/gallery
For more information about the study methodology and to view the full results, please visit: http://media.socialvibe.com/m/pdfs/SocialVibe_Dimestore_Research_Final.pdf
About KN Dimestore
KN Dimestore, a subsidiary of Knowledge Networks – one of the top 25 custom market research companies in the U.S. – provides cost-effective and easy-to-implement online ad effectiveness measurement solutions to agencies, networks, and online publishers. Developed by online advertising insiders, the company’s survey technology allows clients to conduct multi-question custom surveys within the footprint of the ad campaign without requiring overlays or pop-up invitations. For more information, go to www.knowledgenetworks.com/dimestore.
About SocialVibe
SocialVibe is a digital advertising technology company that provides the most effective form of brand advertising for some of the world’s top brands. Unlike ad networks that simply deliver impressions through display advertising, SocialVibe provides opt-in engagements that consumers can share across their social graph. SocialVibe enables advertisers to engage at a time when consumers are most motivated to participate in brand experiences, such as while playing a social game, donating to charity or accessing premium content. SocialVibe enables engagements on the Web and on mobile, reaching a universe of more than 600 million socially-connected global consumers. Visit www.socialvibe.com or check out twitter.com/SocialVibeAds.
