Online is not the enemy of effectiveness and deserves its place in the media mix. This is one of the key findings of the new Advertising Research Community (ARC) project, that comprises a database of non-awarded campaigns, launched by economist and Magic Numbers’ Founder Dr Grace Kite, with the support of the IPA at EffWorks Global 2021.
The ARC project collects new effectiveness data and insights from non-awarded cases and comprises a 2021 database of 343 typical campaigns that use effectiveness modelling. which account for £5bn worth of ad spend.
From interrogating this rich dataset Kite asserts that, while marketing effectiveness may have declined in the past, this new peer-reviewed (by expert econometricians and researchers) evidence reveals a considerable uptick in return on investment over the last five years. She highlights that these cases, from the non-awarded front lines of UK businesses “where CMOs don’t always last in their jobs, where budgets are hard to justify and where things go wrong” generate on average £3.80 in revenue per £1 invested. This proof that advertising works, according to Kite, is underpinned by marketers’ better understanding of the ratio of investment in online marketing and a better grasp of the online channels themselves.
While asserting the rules that these typical campaigns adhere to and gain success from, Kite also points to the value that marketers can also gain from studying award-winning cases.
"By unlocking these learnings from typical campaigns we can see the full lay of the land for marketing effectiveness: what’s working, when and how. The evidence shows that we are in a far stronger position than perhaps the wider industry might have imagined. Our ARC work shows that advertising works, that we understand the online channels better than we ever have, and that non-awarded campaigns can learn from – and perhaps rival - those that have taken home the most coveted effectiveness trophies."
It’s important that this learning collaboration doesn’t stop here, and I urge everyone to ask their econometrics providers to participate in future rounds.
"For brands and agencies who do not enter the IPA Effectiveness Awards at the moment, partly because they do not think they have a robust enough case to make, this new pilot dataset of unawarded cases provided by Grace’s Advertising Research Community provides encouraging reading and we look forward to hearing reactions to it at EffWorks Global 2021. The early indications are that this work is a helpful addition to the IPA toolbox of effectiveness learning and we are already in talks about how the IPA can give credibility to this initiative and help to widen participation."
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