What Makes an Advertisement Worth Our Time?

Entertainment and information are the primary two reasons why consumers click on certain online advertisements. As we use online media with a voracious appetite we will be bombarded with advertisements from every corner of our screen. Most we block out and skip over as we browse. Every once in a while something will catch the corner of our eye. Slowly but surely we switch our conscious focus from the topic of the day to the advertisement. We forced our brains to detach from its current thinking, switch modes and pay attention to something else. Only advertisements that are seen as worthwhile will have the ability to do that!

According to research on reference groups media sources that are both entertaining and informative are seen as having consumer value (Mahmud, Shareef, and Nripendra, 2017). Associative, Aspirational, and Market Generated reference groups were analyzed online to see what which were of highest value.

Associative reference group: A non-referral reference group that act as market mavens and opinion leadership.

Aspirational reference group: A reference group we would like to follow.

Market-generated group: A viral marketing campaign put in place by professionals.

The study was exploratory by nature and used the theoretical framework advertising value model. What the study does tell us is that people trust sources that are more organically driven and are not necessarily "pitches". When we engage them through with something entertaining we can also then provide them new information.

That is really cool! You engage consumers attention and then move into providing them important information that reaches a conclusion. Advertising success comes through well thought out marketing campaigns that are specifically focused on your target market. If you don't know what your target market likes and wants then you don't really have a pin point gauge of your marketing campaigns.

This is what we learn from such research:

1. Create entertaining ads that at least first focus on gathering consumer attention. This may be putting eye grabbing content in the beginning and then more information infused throughout the ad and toward the end.

2. There must be relevant information provided to the consumer that makes their continued interest worth their time.

3. In the online world the type of person who is spreading and sharing the content determines its perceived value. Thus, creating advertisement that is "cool" and interesting makes a difference in who spreads it and why they do so.

4. Consider infusing your informational content with your entertaining story (i.e. content and story line convergence).

Mahmud, A., Shareef, B. and Nripendra, P. (2017). Social media marketing: comparative effect of advertisement sources. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2017.11.001

The information was provided by Abel Business Consulting, LLC