Mark S. Pendolino
Interactive Media as a Marketing Tool
Resurgence of Online Advertising
Interactive Media's Effectiveness in Advertising
Future of Interactive Media and Marketing
Interactive or "Rich" Media Takes on New Life
The rise of rich media is being seen everywhere on the Internet. Even on TV (as pointed out in section two: Interactive Media as a Marketing Tool, with TiVo as the example). In some places, it looks as if advertisers are using it for the "gee whiz" factor; lipstick on a pig. But in others, the use of rich media is effective, innovative and intriguing.
Consumer Study
Back in 2002, Dynamic Logic, a leading independent research company that specializes
in measuring marketing effectiveness, conducted a report that garnered much notice. The report, based on more than 300,000 consumer interviews, found that rich media provides a message association lift among 44% of the subjects, compared with 21% for a more traditional and static GIF or JPG banner ad (Liebeskind 2002).
The study was based on research of ads that appeared on major sites like ESPN.com, NYTimes.com and MSN.com, for advertisers such as Citibank, Miller Brewing Co., Kimberly-Clark and Proctor & Gamble. The study pitted people who had been exposed to ads of both rich media and non-rich media. These people were later asked to match brand messages with advertised products, and those who had been exposed to the rich media ads were able to match the correct product 44% of the time (Liebeskind 2002).
Adam Gerber, vice president director of media strategy for The Digital Edge, a New Media Federation group, said following the study that there are now "volumes of research indicating that rich media offers a substantial increase in brand communication ability on the Web. It should help justify a continued reinvention of online advertising," (Liebeskind 2002).
Advertiser Study
A similar study, also conducted in 2002, culled data from Dynamic Logic's proprietary research database titled MarketNorm - which houses more than 330,000 surveys from about 320 client campaigns - found that ads created in Flash and HTML outperformed GIF and JPEG ads, increasing message association lift to 37 percent. The static formats saw only a 22 percent average lift (Saunders 2002).
In alluding to the impact rich media can have in an integrated marketing campaign, Dynamic Logic president Nick Nyhan stated, "Every media buyer will have their own ideas how to use this research, but hopefully it will help people make decisions with more confidence about what they're buying. . .I might start a campaign with rich media, to sort of kick it off with a bang, but since I also see that GIFs and JPEGs have an impact, I might sustain it with those. While not as effective, they're also not as expensive."
Industry Study Supports Rich Media's Effectiveness
Doubleclick.com, another in the long line of advertising industry analyst and consultant firms, conducts it's own studies every quarter. This study, the "Ad Serving Trend Report," takes a look at the use of various media in advertising and it's impacts and consumer acceptance.
In its latest study, Doubleclick found that online advertising, "known for its volatility," has begun to show some predictable characteristics. Some of these patterns involve rich media.
Consider the following results of rich media:
- It comprises 43% of all ads served online (stabilizing after a small decline in Q1 04, yet up 12% from 2003 and 26% from 2002)
- It hold click-through rates that are five times higher than non-rich media (non-rich media defined as GIF/JPGs, banner ads, etc.)
- Its presence is expected to grow 25% over the next three years
