New research from The Guardian shows that where you place an ad is as important as the ad itself.
The Guardian’s new global research project with Ipsos MORI reflects on how important purpose advertising is.
The research asks three key questions:
- What does being a purpose brand mean?
- Does it make people buy stuff?
- Does media placement have an impact in purpose advertising?
The study across the UK, US and Australia found that brand purpose works much like any other kind of brand attribute – it can be a powerful differentiator, but it doesn’t come at the expense of more pragmatic considerations such as price, availability and convenience.
The findings show that success in purpose advertising lies in authenticity. Brand purpose is about ‘giving back’ in a way that is authentic to the brand.
Therefore the placement of the media has as much of an impact on whether the brand is seen as purposeful or not as the message itself.
The research tested 180 combinations of purpose and non-purpose ads, advertisers and media platforms and found that when a brand was seen as more purposeful and authentic, 58% of the uplift was driven by the media it was seen in, with 14% being affected by the creative and 28% by the brand itself.
Writing for Campaign this week, Claire Blunt, chief advertising officer and CEO, international of Guardian Media Group, wrote: “Simply put, people notice where brands advertise and the media they choose to support.
“The news industry has proven that we can drive strong and impactful results for advertisers and we can also show that brands who advertise with us are seen as more purposeful. Brand purpose matters, but remember, it’s as much about being purposeful about where your campaign runs as the message you are trying to convey.”
Download the research.
