A world-first study proves Large Format advertising influences purchase decisions and improves effectiveness of mobile advertising.
Out-of-Home media company JCDecaux New Zealand has released the results of a world-first study conducted in partnership with global neuro-analytics company, Neuro-Insight, proving JCDecaux Large Format is an effective media platform to influence future purchase decisions, and priming audiences with Large Format drives long-term, deeper connections with mobile creative.
The methodology for this study involved 137 people taking part in a 30-minute virtual car journey, during which they were exposed to 12 JCDecaux static and digital sites displaying three campaigns and nine executions from partner brands – Countdown, Trade Me and Trade Tested. To compare a primed and unprimed group, the 137 respondents were split for the second part of the study in which respondents were shown mobile creative from the same brands. One group saw this mobile creative after being ‘primed’ by Large Format the other group saw the mobile creative prior to the virtual car journey.
Victoria Parsons, Senior Insights and Strategy Specialist, JCDecaux New Zealand says: “Emotional aspects of advertising are known to be more memorable. The JCDecaux commissioned study proved that priming audiences using Large Format makes mobile advertising more memorable and thus more effective in influencing future purchase outcomes.”
The objectives of the study were to understand how Large Format influences future purchase intent, and how priming people with Large Format impacts their subconscious response to mobile advertising. The study also looked at priming, which has never been investigated before and looks at how the inclusion of Large Format within the channel mix, actually improves the effectiveness of mobile advertising.
The key metric measured was long-term memory encoding (ME), which occurs when the brain encodes information interesting enough to store to the subconscious, meaning it can be recalled in buying situations. When ME peaks surpass 0.70, there is an 86 per cent correlation to sales, proven by econometric studies.
The highest peak ME score for JCDecaux Large Format sites was 1.25 – a very strong neural response. Large Format ME peaks tended to be right brain (global ME) responses, showing emotional intensity and deep connection with the stimulus (creative on Large Format sites). Digital sites delivered an 8 per cent higher ME score versus static. Local Neuroscience studies report TV has an average peak ME score of 0.68, while radio’s average peak ME is 0.60. A Large Format average ME of 0.69 shows Large Format delivers neural impact in the same range as a 15-sec TVC.
Brian Hill, Managing Director at Neuro-Insight, says: “Brands and advertisers that use Large Format can drive a deeper connection with consumers due to the emotionally intense experience people have with commanding large out of home, indicated by the high ME peaks seen in this study. Neuroscience proves a very high correlation with future purchase behaviours when high peaks, such as these are seen. Priming audiences with Large Format advertising increases the effectiveness of mobile creative – particularly in the way it changes the subconscious response to mobile advertising, from a detailed left brain response, to a global right brand response. This was the powerful insight from this study.”
The findings showed the effectiveness of mobile advertising grew using memory encoding as the metric, when primed by Large Format (+8 percent). When unprimed, the subconscious brain response to mobile advertising has a detailed (left brain) bias; when primed by Large Format, this bias becomes global (right brain). That is, the brain, when primed, responds to the meaning, connotation or feelings conveyed in the mobile ads, rather than the detail, content or price. The brain responds differently to the same piece of creative, with the only difference being one group had seen Large Format advertising prior to the mobile experience.
The ME score of the mobile ads among participants primed by Large Format grew by eight percent overall, versus the participants who had not been exposed to Large Format, highlighting that exposure to Large Format makes mobile advertising more engaging. The increase in ME score was even more significant for weak mobile creative, which increased by up to 81 percent when audiences were primed by Large Format.
