Link Between Attention and Drivers of Brand Outcomes Revealed in New Research

Today, Havas Media Network shares new research on the relationship between predicted attention and brand metrics in a pioneering study that integrates impression-level viewability and frequency data with consistent, scaled brand lift response data. The study, titled, What do 9,000 brand lift studies teach us about attention and memory? is the first to interrogate the specific amounts of attention needed to drive desired brand outcomes, providing a foundation to implement attention metrics into media planning and buying tools.

The research evaluated four key metrics – awareness, consideration, preference, and action intent – over 9,000 campaigns. Six key learnings emerged from the 1.8 million respondents and 5.6 million impressions that this study encompassed:

• Attention and outcomes are closely correlated
• Attention has greatest impact on preference and purchase
• Results are driven by aggregate attention
• Ad frequency drives attentive reach
• Multiple occurrences of optimal attention achieve greater results than single instances of sustained attention
• Multiple short attentive experiences drive brand awareness, while sustained attention drives action

“We’ve seen significant progress in the prominence of attention since this relatively nascent discipline was first introduced five years ago,” shared Jon Waite, global managing director of Mx, Havas Media Network London. “However, while there has been an abundance of scholarship in this area, adoption into media planning and buying has lagged. Our new study with Lumen Research and Brand Metrics bridges this gap, providing actionable insights into the specific attention required to achieve brand metrics, allowing us to implement attention into planning and activation tools like never before.”

While previous research has established a strong link between attention and metrics such as click-through and conversion rate, more nuanced campaign goals such as brand awareness or intent to purchase cannot be determined by these performance metrics alone. Most brand lift studies are not suitable for integration with attention data due to their lack of impression-level viewability and consistency.

“Brand Metrics was delighted to provide our brand lift research to this pioneering study of attention and brand metrics,” shared Anders Lithner, CEO, Brand Metrics. “By integrating brand questionnaires directly into publishers, we are able to mirror the different stages of the brand funnel and provide the survey consistency and impression-level viewability data necessary to understand the relationship between predicted attention and brand metrics at scale.”

This initial study is focused on combining Brand Metrics’ studies with Lumen Research’s predictive attention model to visualise the key relationship between attention and outcomes, but this rich data set has further applicability in more advanced multivariate modelling.

“Establishing this link between attention and brand metrics is only the beginning in making attention a core component of planning and buying,” shared Mike Follett, CEO, Lumen Research. “By analysing the best performing campaigns, we will be able to provide category-level analysis that will determine the tailored approach to attention best suited to individual brands and their objectives, providing the depth of insight to integrate attention into core media planning tools.”

View the complete whitepaper on the website here.