Contributor: Angela Jeffrey, Vice President Brand Management, ABX Advertising Benchmark Index
Is Creative Wearout a Thing … in radio? RAB recently asked ABX Advertising Benchmark Index to investigate this question and come up with a definitive answer.
ABX has evaluated 465,000 ads for creative effectiveness across all media types. With a pool of 2,452 radio ads currently in-market, ABX discovered that 12 ads had data from their first appearance in the marketplace. The ads averaged $5.2 million in average cumulative spend and an average time in market of 345 days. These ads represented the top 2% of all ads based on cumulative spending.
The Methodology
To ascertain wearout, the 12 ads were re-evaluated and compared to their original ABX score. The metrics included the ABX Index™ and 14 KPIs that are proven to correlate to outcomes, that increase ROAS (return on ad spend) and that align with sales impact. The metrics included:
- Overall ABX Index™ – a composite score
- Clear Brand
- Message Delivery (clear benefit and easy-to-understand)
- Reputation
- Call-to-Action
- Likeability
The Findings
Based on this analysis, wearout is extremely rare. In fact, this study found there is no sign of wearout until media spend exceeds $8 million and days in-market exceeds 600.
- Only two of 12 ads from the top 2% of cumulative ad spending and days in market showed a decline in some creative effectiveness metrics. Two major components of creative effectiveness, branding and messaging, showed no sign of wearout.
- The KPIs that did see a decline, reputation and likeability, were further examined. There is reason to believe that changes in the marketplace were the cause of these differences.
- Bottom line: Good ads remained good, and poor ads remained poor, no matter how long an ad runs. Several of the 12 ads had high cumulative ad spend and longevity but had low creative effectiveness scores. These ads remained in the marketplace with more than $10M spent on them. Not good.
Forget wearout and focus on creative effectiveness. We have clear proof that creative effectiveness is a significant driver of sales performance, ranging from 50-75% of an ad’s success.
Best Practices from ABX
Tapping into practices that will enhance and improve campaign efficacy should be major considerations for all marketers – from Main Street to Madison Avenue. John Fix, a 27-year P&G veteran, shares his perspective on best practices.
- Audability – This sounds so simple, but you must make an ad easy to hear and understand. Ads with no background music are, on average, 12% more impactful than those with background effects.
“Despite it being a simple measure, as an advertiser who has assessed the landscape of creative testing, and specifically audio creative testing, what I found interesting about ABX is the idea of audibility in a score, which is pretty unique to ABX. The simplicity of that score, ‘Can you hear it?’ is very powerful,” notes Fix.
- Ad Length – Length should only be as long as it takes to deliver your message.
“If the price structure, ROI (return on investment), for a :30 is potentially twice as expensive as a :15, the incremental value is 3% and your ROI is going to show it that way. Yes, a :30 can be more effective than a :15, but once you divide it by the amount invested, the shorter ones perform better.”
- Brand is Hero – Don’t get so lost in the story that you forget the brand. Be careful of using celebrities.
“There’s nothing wrong with using a celebrity, but as you talk about best practices, if your ad is referred to as “the ad with John Legend,” and nobody said it is the “Pfizer ad with John Legend,” that’s not good for the brand.”
High-Quality Creative Benefits All Industry Players
Of 40,000 recently tested ads in all media types, ABX has found that AM/FM Creative Effectiveness is 92% that of TV. The increased use of pre-testing and ongoing evaluation of in-market radio ads, are needed to achieve even higher performance. According to Fix, “it’s in everyone’s best interest for the creative to be of high quality. The radio industry benefits if what’s being aired on their product is of high quality. I’ve experienced where the broadcaster or supplier will offer pre-testing as a value-add because it’s important to them, it helps protect the broadcaster’s investment and the brand’s investment as well.”
While creative wearout may be considered a thing, it isn’t for radio. Incorporating creative best practices can improve campaign effectiveness and drive positive results against KPIs.
Delve deeper into the analysis by viewing the study results at RAB.com here. Interested in free evaluation of your in-markets ads? Just email info@adbenchmark.com and mention code RAB91124.