Spotlight on: Effectiveness & Econometrics
Two shocking statistics from the IPA are playing on our mind this week. First, that 33% of marketing spend is wasted from briefs with poor objectives. The second, that there has only ever been one charity winner of the IPA’s Grand Prix Effectiveness awards. That was Barnardo’s in 2002 for a brand launch integrated with the introduction of face-to-face fundraising for the first time. Twenty one years later, it’s about time we saw another charity effectiveness winner.
At GOOD, we have a mission to share knowledge and grow a culture of advertising effectiveness with our charity clients and the wider sector. In our latest ‘Spotlight’ event, Pete Esuola-Grant, Head of Planning at GOOD joined forces with Phillip Gaudoin, Director of MetaMetrics, our trusted partner in econometric modelling. Together they covered a range of key effectiveness theories, and here are a few of the key takeaways.
It is time for charity marketers to take effectiveness theory seriously.
Our work across sectors has shown us that, unfortunately, many charity marketing teams lag behind the commercial sector when it comes to implementing advertising effectiveness theory. This often leads to time and resource wastage, rebriefs and misplaced expectations. At worst, this can undermine the credibility of charity marketing teams when it comes to securing budget in the boardroom.
Most charities will have a “theory of change” for how they plan to change the world – but they should also implement a “theory of effectiveness” that shows how their advertising will produce these desired objectives.
Build enduring icons.
In a world where 95% of our thinking is done on autopilot (Daniel Kahneman), advertising works by building memory structures in people’s minds. Brand advertising primes these associations for audiences, that are later activated by direct response marketing. A study by Profitability calculated that 58% of the effects of a brand campaign happen in the long term, sometimes three months after the campaign has finished.
In other words, consistency is key.
As marketers , it is important to fight the urge to move on quickly to the next thing. Your audience needs to be told something several times over months or years for it to really land. It is time for charities to take a longer-term view and build what WARC and the Cannes Awards call “enduring icons” i.e. associations that last and work hard to build brand and drive response.
We regularly do focus groups with the public and participants still talk about Dog Trust’s “Not Just for Christmas” and NSPCC’s “Full Stop” campaigns decades after they have stopped running. This is the kind of effectiveness power we should all be aiming for in brand and fundraising work.
Econometrics is the gold standard of attribution.
The way that most charities are attributing income is overly simplistic. It is easy to attribute income to a direct mail response form or SMS code. But most income to charities is listed as ‘unknown source’. A study by Adam & EveDDB found that the income attributed to DRTV was undervalued by -79% vs the true income, and -90% for brand TV.
Without true attribution, how can we prove that our work is genuinely working and build a case for continuing it with trustees and other stakeholders.
Distinctive creative assets, appealing to the right brain.
Finally, we spoke about the effectiveness of creative. Most charities are obsessed with proving a differentiated USP over competitors when, in reality, much of the work delivered by charities in the same sector is similar.
Countless research from Byron, Sharp and the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute has proven that USP doesn’t grow brands. Instead, it is distinctive creative assets that grows brand, fast. A catchy phrase, such as Macmillan’s “Whatever it takes”. A recognisable price point or programme, such as a Guide Dog, a Life Boat or the Braille Letters from Santa we’ve been building for RNIB’s Christmas campaign over the last 4 years.
Anything that appeals to emotional, right-side of the brain has been shown to be effective. The IPA found ads with prominent music were shown to be 20-30% more effective and we know from testing on System1 that music and sound played a key role in the effectiveness of our Grief Kind TV ad for Sue Ryder.
Despite having plentiful research to back up the power of these creative executions – advertising has been shown over the last couple of decades to be becoming much more rational, logical and left brain – and at the same time much less effective (Orlando Wood, IPA, Lemon). The IPA has even described it as a crisis in advertising effectiveness. Sadly, these powerful creative assets are often diluted by rounds of internal creative review with stakeholders that don’t fully understand their impact, are too close to the organisation or take things too literally. We need to work together to fight for our work’s creative power on both brand and fundraising briefs.
Building culture of effectiveness in the charity sector.
Following lot of positive feedback from our effectiveness and econometrics event, we plan to carry on the momentum, champion effectiveness theory and share knowledge widely across our sector. If you’d like to discuss it further – do get in touch with us at hello@goodagency.co.uk
Posted by Lucy Martin
