Renown Out-of-Home media company JCDecaux New Zealand has released the results of its latest proprietary research project, which revealed that Out-of-Home creative incorporating distinctive brand codes – including logo, colour, shape, tone of voice and style of imagery – averaged a 13% uplift in category mental availability versus weakly coded advertisements.
What were the findings of the study?
Conducted in partnership with New Zealand based behavioural insights firm, NeuroSpot, the study involved 1,600 participants, who were shown real campaign creative across five categories: Automotive, Banking, FMCG, Energy and Alcoholic Beverages. Respondents either saw campaigns with strong brand codes, weak brand codes, or random creative.
The study examined how using distinctive brand codes in Out-of-Home creative influences mental availability. Mental availability is one of the most important metrics for brands and is often under measured compared with awareness or consideration. Mental availability predicts propensity for a brand to come to mind in a buying situation versus simply being known.
The study also found:
- ads with strong brand codes are liked 31% more than weakly coded ads
- liked ads drive uplifts in category mental availability by 18% because strongly coded ads are easier to cognitively process, which leads to perceived preference.
What were the executives’ thoughts on the study?
Commenting on the study, Victoria Parsons, JCDecaux NZ Senior Insights and Strategy Specialist, said: “This was our second JCDecaux Intelligence study looking at memorability.”
“The first looked at format, and this study extends to creative. At JCDecaux, we subscribe to the view that advertising ‘works’ through building memory structures that consumers call on in a buying situation. This study puts specific numbers around our knowledge that strongly coded Out-of-Home advertising can influence decision making and drive a sales effect.”
Cole Armstrong, NeuroSpot Managing Director, said: “This study shows something we all intuitively understand. There are points for showing up, but if you really want to impact your clients, it’s the way you surface your brand via Out-of-Home advertising that will make the difference. If you ensure your ads are strongly coded with distinctive brand codes, the potential for you to leave a lasting impression in the minds of consumers is hugely increased”.
Gary Rosewarne, JCDecaux New Zealand Sales Director says, “Our role as a leader in Out-of-Home is to help advertisers create the best campaigns. We know that creativity drives effective outcomes, but we can now validate that creative using strong brand codes delivers a sales effect. It is not about one or the other but ensuring these campaigns deliver both”.
This study is part of the JCDecaux Intelligence programme, that dedicates funds to annual local research projects to better understand how consumers connect with JCDecaux Out-of-Home touchpoints. It builds on the 2021 Neuroscience study looking at memorability of Large Format; and follows projects investigating attention, emotion and effective strategies.
The full webinar with research results can be viewed here.
