advertising effectiveness

The advertising industry's annual celebration of its creativity ended last night with an Academy Awardsish soiree for best picture. 

In American Idol, Neuromarketing Style I noted that the Fox show I’d really like to see brain activity for was the ultra-intense drama 24. The combination of suspense, rapid-fire action, and occasional brutality would make for some interesting brain scans. But what of the ads that have to follow, say, a scene where a blowtorch-wielding Jack Bauer tries to extract information from an uncooperative villain?

Last week, neuromarketing firm Neurofocus released summary results of a study that compared the performance of the same ad when run on television and on two Internet websites, Facebook and a website controlled by the advertiser. The commercial tested was “Trip For Life,” part of VISA’s multimedia campaign built around the 2010 Winter Olympics. (Neurofocus conducted these tests for its own research purposes, not because they were commissioned by the advertiser.)

Like many of you, I enjoy reading The Ad Contrarian blog, ran by an agency CEO Bob Hoffman. In a sense, TAC is the ad industry's Perez Hilton: he draws in crowds by doodling on faces of today's idols; more often than not that's online advertising in general and social media in particular. Some of his posts are right on target, others are wildly off, but all are usually entertaining.

by: Roger Dooley

by: Ilya Vedrashko

by: Roger Dooley

by: Roger Dooley

Evidence continues to pile up demonstrating that our brains process information without our conscious awareness, and that our behavior can be affected by these stimuli.

by: Roger Dooley

Last year, Absolut abandoned its classic "bottle" ad campaign. That long-running series of ads featured the shape of an Absolut bottle cleverly concealed in an illustration, and was largely responsible for establishing Absolut vodka as one of the most popular and well-recognized brands in the spirits field. I was surprised by the change, but even wildly successful ad programs eventually have to break with the past.

by: Roger Dooley

One of the most annoying series of commercials is for HeadOn, an analgesic which one rubs on one's forehead to (supposedly) cure headaches. Does HeadOn work? I have no idea, but it seems doubtful.