Creative Quality is not Only the Leading Factor in Driving ROI but Also the Lead Factor in Getting Consumers to Talk about a Brand

Engagement Labs ranks TV advertising campaigns that drive brand conversations

TORONTO, Ontario – October 27, 2015 – Keller Fay Group, an Engagement Labs (TSXV:EL) company, has partnered with Analytic Partners to gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between consumer word of mouth (WOM) and the quality of brand advertising, to determine the impact it has on sales. The study brings together robust WOM tracking data using Keller Fay’s TalkTrack®, and extensive industry insights from Analytic Partners’ ROI Genome Project.

According to an analysis of more than 250 TV campaigns, the study found that when advertising causes conversations and online sharing, it is much more likely to also drive sales, compared to when it does not drive conversation. Additionally, the quality of the creative is more effective at driving consumers to talk about a brand than the amount of airtime or ad spend the TV campaign received. Considering that 13 percent of all sales ($6B) are driven by word of mouth, this is big business.

“At Analytics Partners, we use analytics to provide our clients with in-depth insights into what drives ROI across multiple industries, countries and through different marketing and emerging media channels. Leveraging Keller Fay’s WOM data, we were able to draw fascinating conclusions into the effectiveness of how advertising drives conversation,” said Maggie Merklin, Senior Vice President at Analytics Partners. “Furthermore, the research found that it is not necessarily the amount of advertising that a brand does, but rather it’s the quality of the creative, that tends to spark conversations.”

In a separate analysis, Keller Fay did a ranking of brands that had the most talked about TV commercials.

Rankings of the Top Ten most talked about brands based on its TV advertising


Source: TalkTrack ® 2015 rankings of US brands word of mouth conversation.

“Word of mouth is the invisible hand of marketing effectiveness. While it is hard to measure and see, —both online and offline— it is a crucial mechanism through which advertising works,” said Bray Fay, Chief Operating Officer at Keller Fay and Chief Research Officer at Engagement Labs. “What we found in this study was ads that had clear branding, a persuasive message, used human and/or celebrity endorsement, and took advantage of contextually relevant events (e.g. luxury brands ads during the Oscars), performed better than other types of ads. If a brand isn’t creating an ad that people want to talk about, they are losing a significant piece of potential consumer dollars.”

Based on Keller Fay’s WOM findings, Papa John’s was the most talked about brand based on its TV advertisements and one-third of its positive conversations included a discussion of its TV ads. Additionally, the brand leveraged celebrities, like Peyton Manning and their CEO in commercials, sparking conversations.

“During our research, it was interesting to see that restaurants dominated in the top ten rankings as the most talked about commercials, as seven of these ten brands are restaurants. For example, Papa John’s created the perfect recipe for conversation – its use of celebrity spokespeople, strategic media buys during sporting and other major events, as well as its use of clear brand messaging. On the other hand, the leading non-restaurant brand that drove conversations with TV ads was AXE. They are a great example of using humor and sexiness to spark discussion,” said Fay.

Keller Fay, an Engagement Labs Company, is a research firm that specializes in tracking word of mouth data related to brands. The company’s Talk Track™ product allows advertisers to know who is talking about a brand, what they are saying (good or bad) and the impact that conversation has on sales.

About Engagement Labs

Engagement Labs (TSXV:EL) offers intelligent ‘Total Social’ data, analytics and insights for marketers and organizations enabling them to track, measure and benchmark the conversations happening around their brand or industry both online and offline. These conversations are proven to drive critical business outcomes, including sales, while Engagement Labs’ tools provide data and actionable insight to help guide business decisions and power marketing effectiveness.

Engagement Labs’ eValue™ Analytics tool is the global benchmark for social media scoring. eValue’s proprietary data technology offers real-time analysis to measure a brand’s social media and digital marketing efforts, distilling it down to a single meaningful number between 0 and 100 - an eValue score. Composed of a series of metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), an eValue score measures social media Engagement, Impact and Responsiveness which is benchmarked against 100,000+ handpicked and verified brands. The Keller Fay Group, an Engagement Labs company, is the only firm to regularly measure offline conversation, which independent research finds is a significant driver of sales with twice the impact of online conversation.

Engagement Labs maintains offices in Toronto, London and New Brunswick, NJ.
www.engagementlabs.com / www.kellerfay.com

About Analytics Partners

Analytic Partners is a leading global marketing consultancy, founded in 2000 to deliver customized analytics that improve sales performance and marketing ROI.  Analytic Partners provides both the technology and consultants to help marketers achieve a deeper understanding of their business through insights from marketing mix modeling, cross-media attribution, digital and social media analysis, customer loyalty analysis, predictive modeling and marketing optimization. With multiple locations in the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific, Analytic Partners serves multinational businesses and local brands across the globe. Visit us at www.analyticpartners.com.

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Kate Tumino / Kenneth Cousins
KCSA Strategic Communications
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