Nielsen Wire » advertising impact

The Impact Of Value-Themed Ads

Nielsen Wire — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:52:36 +0000

For more than a year, the U.S. consumer hit by the recession has changed the way he or she shops: a focus on value for money has led to some dramatic shifts in behavior that some say will last far beyond the current economic environment. With 80 percent of Americans saying they were stressed due to the economy, savvy retailers and consumer goods manufacturers have shifted their marketing to appeal to consumers watching their money more closely. But have those ads been successful? Nielsen IAG examined 67 such ads from 11 national advertisers and found that the same creative attributes that make for good advertising also make for good value messaging.

In short, value-message and recession-themed ads did not break through TV ad clutter at higher than ordinary rates. In fact, ad recall of the 67 ads evaluated was at rates lower than historical averages for the 11 advertisers. Packaged goods manufacturers saw no decline, while retailers registered minor declines. Financial service, insurance, auto and telecom advertisers posted significant declines.

Read more about value-themed ads, including case studies of those that were the most effective, in the new edition of Consumer Insight.

McCain’s Olympics TV Ads More Effective Than Obama’s

admin — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 22:36:41 +0000

Senators McCain and Obama spent about the same on Olympics TV advertising — between $5 and $6 million, Adweek reported Monday.

But McCain got much more bang for his advertising bucks, according to an analysis by Nielsen IAG.

Nielsen’s survey of 1,600 likely general election voters who watched the Beijing Games found that McCain’s Olympic ads more effectively communicated a basic message, were recalled by more viewers, and triggered a larger intent-to-vote increase among viewers than ads run by Obama’s campaign.

On average, the two McCain ads that were surveyed — “Celebrity” and “Washington’s Broken” – were recalled by 52% of those polled. In comparison, just 40% recalled Obama’s two ads, “Hands That Built This Nation” and “It Begins With a Plan.”

That huge lead in general recall translated into a 10% net boost in intent to vote for McCain, while Obama received only a 7% lift from his Olympics TV ads.

There was some good news for Obama — his Olympics ads were apparently “more likable” than McCain’s. Forty-five percent of Nielsen respondents said they liked Obama’s Olympics ads, while just 33% said they liked McCain’s.