Lessons Learned

Maximizing Returns with Digital Media

About This Booklet
While advertising has evolved tremendously with the advent
of new digital technologies, its goal today is much the same
as it has always been—to elicit feelings, emotions, perceptions
and actions that ultimately build brand loyalty and increase
sales. Finding ways to do this in the most efficient manner
is vital, and being able to quantify a return on marketing
investment is a must.
As digital advertising continues to grow in both importance and
sophistication, so does the need for guiding principles about
how to get the most out of this medium. Through comScore’s
extensive research in the digital advertising space, we’ve
identified Five Key Lessons Learned, which help to shed light
on the current state of the industry and guide marketers down
a path toward more effective planning, stronger evaluation and
overall improved results.
FIVE Key Lessons Learned
1 and
Clicks are at best an incomplete metric
at worst a misleading one.
2 Cookie deletion has the potential to create
havoc in media planning, execution and
campaign evaluation.
3 Digital campaigns have the ability to build
brands and lift e-commerce and retail
sales, and as in traditional TV advertising,
creative plays a critical role.
4 The ability of content to engage consumers
can amplify the effect of an ad placed
within the content.
5 When selecting from a variety of
media-placement strategies, it is important
to consider the relative costs and benefits
of each.
A click means nothing. A click earns
no revenue and creates no brand equity. Your online
advertising has some goal, and it’s surely not
to generate clicks. Regardless of whether they clicked
an ad or not, the key is to determine how that
ad unit influenced consumers to think, feel or do
something they wouldn’t have done otherwise.

John Lowell
SVP / Director, Research & Analytics
Starcom USA
1.

Clicks are at best

an incomplete metric and at
worst a misleading one
THERE ARE SEVERAL REASONS WHY
‘THE CLICK’ IS NOT AN APPROPRIATE MEASURE
OF ONLINE ADVERTISING EFFECTIVENESS
Perhaps most notably is the fact that
so few people actually click on any ads.
This phenomenon of low click-through rates
is not observed in isolation. It’s something
we see around the globe and in nearly every
vertical industry.
Click-Through Rates* by Vertical Industry

84%
0.06% 0.07% 0.08% 0.09% 0.10% 0.15%
Financial Telecom Travel CPG/Retail/ Tech/Media/ Auto
Services Wellness Entertainment

of all U.S. Internet users

do not click on any ads
in a given month Click-Through Rates** by Region

84% 0.05%
Finland
0.07%
Australia
0.07%
UK
0.08%
Sweden
0.09%
Canada
0.10%
USA
non-
CLICKERS
AND There are
16%
50% fewer CLICKERS
0.11% 0.12% 0.14% 0.17% 0.19% 0.30%
clickers NOW Germany Switzerland Netherlands Greece Singapore Malaysia

than in July 2007.

Source: DoubleClick for Advertisers, January to December 2009

*Click-through rates on individual ad campaigns by industry vertical for DoubleClick
rich-media formats only; U.S. advertisers.
Source: comScore Custom Analysis, March 2009 & July 2007 **Click-through rates across static image, flash & rich media formats; a cross-section of regions.
I spend a lot of time fighting against
media metrics that don’t matter.

kate sirkin
evp global research director
starcom mediavest group

2.

Cookie deletion has the

potential to create havoc
in media planning, execution
and campaign evaluation
COOKIE-BASED MEASUREMENT AND COOKIES MEASURE COMPUTERS, NOT PEOPLE
TARGETING APPROACHES OFTEN RESULT IN Due to cookie-based targeting, it’s difficult to ensure the
INACCURATE MEDIA PLANNING, execution correct person is actually being served an ad. Also, because
AND CAMPAIGN EVALUATION the demographic data in cookies comes from a variety of
sources – such as registration data, modeled demos based on
content consumption and estimations by zip code – the quality
Why is cookie-based measurement sub-optimal? of cookie data varies, meaning the results do too. For these
reasons, campaign delivery often misses its target.
HIGH COOKIE DELETION RATES In the below example, the advertiser’s target was women aged
30% of all U.S. and 24% of all EU Internet users delete their 35-54 years old. However, post-campaign evaluation using the
cookies in a month, and they do so an average of 4 to 6 times comScore panel showed the majority of exposed consumers
a month. Deletion rates for 1st party (i.e. website) and 3rd party were outside of the target audience.
(i.e. ad server) cookies are similar. Cookie deletion can result
Percent Composition of Exposed Audience
in 2.5X overstatement in unique visitors to a website, and a
similar overstatement of reach and understatement of frequency
in ad campaigns. 20.6% (age 15-24)
22.4% (age 25-34)
40% 60%
25.3% (age 35-44)
17.3% (age 45-54)
14.4% (age 55+)
A One-Week Snapshot

cookie A cookie B cookie C 40% of exposed Only 43% of females exposed to the
consumers were men campaign met the targeted age group

DAY 1 DAY 7
A COOKIE CAN’T TELL THE DIFFERENCE
Because of multiple users on a computer, you might intend to reach
cookie cookie a 35-year-old woman with your ad when it is actually being served to her
deleted deleted 45-year-old husband or 18-year-old daughter who is using her computer.

The site reads THREE distinct cookies, which means

this ONE visitor is counted THREE times.
? ?
Source: comScore Custom Analysis, April 2010 Source: comScore Custom Analysis, April 2010
 3.

Digital campaigns have the

ability to build brands and
lift e-commerce & retail
sales, and as in traditional
TV advertising, creative
plays a critical role
 DIGITAL ADVERTISING PROVIDES AN EFFICIENT for retailers, the lifT in retail sales
MEANS OF BUILDING BRANDS and LIFTING can be upwards of 5X higher than the
both E-COMMERCE AND RETAIL SALES lifT in e-commerce sales
Retailer Dollar Sales Lift Among Households Exposed to Online
Display Advertising

Lift:
Exposure to display ads doesn’t just impact 17%
online sales—it lifts in-store sales as well. $11,550
$9,905

Lift:
27%
Non-exposed
$994 $1,263
Exposed
Digital Advertising’s Impact on In-Store Sales* for CPG Brands
Online Sales In-Store Sales
Among Households Exposed to Online Display Advertising
Source: comScore report, “How Online Advertising Works: Whither the Click” (published in the
2009 Journal of Advertising Research)
100%

80%
For CPG brands, digital advertising can generate
Average $ lift was 22% nearly the same in-store sales lift in a three-
Percent lift in $ sales

60%
82% of campaigns month period as TV advertising does in one year.
40% showed a positive
sales lift
20% Comparison of In-Store Sales Lift* for CPG Brands Resulting from
Online Advertising vs. TV Advertising
0%
No. of offline sales effectiveness studies
-20%

+8% +9%

Source: comScore-dunnhumby CPG Offline Sales Lift Studies, 2008-2009
*Advertising’s impact on retail sales is measured by linking the comScore panel of 1 million
U.S. Internet users to their retailer loyalty card data from dunnhumby, which provides
a measure of the panelists’ in-store buying activity.
Source: comScore AdEffx Offline Sales Lift for Internet; IRI BehaviorScan® for TV, 2000-2009
*BehaviorScan® tests conducted over one-year period and reflect CPG ad campaigns’ typical
reach, while the comScore studies were conducted over a three-month period and reflect a 40%
household Internet reach against target. It is possible that some wearout of the TV creative could
have occurred during the one year of the TV campaigns.
Digital advertising has delivered Advertising on digital has become more sophisticated and
on its promise of efficiency and production costs associated with rich media and video
campaigns continue to rise, making the stakes higher than ever.
effectiveness, but creative has been
largely overlooked Now is the time for creative to take center
stage in digital advertising.

This shouldn’t be the case given that more

than half of the impact of advertising comes
from the quality of creative. All advertising is a combination of
art and science, logic and emotion,
conviction and motivation. Until recently, digital
Percent Influence on Shifts in Brand Sales* advertising focused on the left brain area of science,
logic and conviction. While these are important,
it is clear that the next frontier is art, emotion and
motivation, which come from that elusive
butterfly creativity.

I have always believed that the

52% Internet will usher in the next
48% creative generation of creativity. Creativity
Media Plan Quality** that not only can we see, hear and
& Weight,
Price, Other feel, but also measure its impact.
RISHAD TOBACCOWALA
Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer
VivaKi

Source: comScore ARS Global Validation Summary

*Numbers represent the percent variance in sales shifts explained by the corresponding factors.
**Creative quality is based on the ARS Consumer Choice Score, which measures changes in
consumer brand preference through a simulated purchase exercise. A lift in the score is highly
correlated with in-market sales lifts.
STRONG CREATIVE CAN INCREASE When these strategic elements are used in
EFFECTIVENESS, BUT DIGITAL DISPLAY ADS DIGITAL CAMPAIGNS, they’ve demonstrated an
ability to increase retail sales
OFTEN DON’T INCLUDE THE ELEMENTS
As in traditional TV advertising, digital campaigns that
NEEDED TO MAXIMIZE ADVERTISING’S IMPACT effectively leveraged these strategic elements generated the
greatest offline sales lift.

Key strategic elements, which have been Percent Lift in Retail Sales of CPG Brands Among Households
proven to improve the quality of an ad’s creative Exposed to Online Display Advertising
and therefore its impact on sales, are used at a
much lower rate in digital ads than in TV ads. Elements present* Elements not present

80.0
75.0 75.9
75%
Percent of Digital and TV Ads* Containing Key Strategic Elements

Digital Display Ads Television 48.0 48.4

(Rich Media, Banners, 50%
Rectangles) Ads

Brand Differentiating Key Message 17% 31% 31.1 32.0 33.4

New Product /New Feature Information 19% 44% 25% 21.8
Product Convenience (explicit & stated) 0% 9%
6.0 7.3
Competitive Comparison 10% 24% 0.0
0%
Superiority Claim 13% 26%

-25%
-20.6

Source: comScore ARS Integrated Database
*Cases drawn from comScore ARS test databases and balanced by category (n=100 for
digital display ads, n=3,681 for television ads); majority of cases involved CPG brands.
Source: comScore ARS-dunnhumby Case Study of Major CPG Brands (Blinded, n=13),
2009-2010
*Key strategic elements included in this analysis were: Brand Differentiating Key Message,
New Product/New Feature Information, Product Convenience, Competitive Comparison and
Superiority Claim.
When it comes to digital advertising, The inclusion of price-RELATED
price-related incentives are used INCENTIVES in online display ads
much more frequently than in DRIVES offline sales
traditional TV ads

This begs the question:

In many ways the Internet is being used today
in a manner more similar to newspapers and
is online the new print?
magazines than TV as it relates to the inclusion
of price and promotion information in digital ads. Percent Lift in In-Store Sales for CPG Brands Among Households
Exposed to Online Display Ads

60%
Percent of Digital and TV Ads* Containing Value Elements

Digital Display Ads Television

(Rich Media, Banners, Rectangles) Ads 40% 48.9%
Value (Economy/Savings) 22% 2%
39.5%
Value (Special Offers, Coupons, etc.) 38% 2%
28.4%
20%
26.8%

0%
No Value Coupon Free Explicit Value
Information Only Samples Claim

Source: comScore ARS Integrated Database

*Cases drawn from comScore ARS test databases and balanced by category (n=100 for Source: comScore ARS-dunnhumby Case Study of Major CPG Brands (Blinded, n=13),
digital display ads, n=3,681 for television ads); majority of cases involved CPG brands. 2009-2010
As consumers spend more and more
time online, it’s critical for marketers to reach
our consumers at the right time, with the right
message, communicated in the right way.
Tools that help drive those insights help us stay
on the cutting edge.

GAYLE FUGUITT
Vice President Consumer Insights
General Mills
4.

The ability of content

to engage consumers can
amplify the effect of an ad
placed within the content
Placing an ad within highly engaging There also appears to be a high
content can help to maximize correlation between engagement & age
the ad’s impact

What is engagement? Engaging content has a greater impact on older consumers.

• Level of focus & attention
• Loss of self-consciousness
• Altered sense of time Comparison of ARS Consumer Choice Score* for Engaged
• Intrinsic rewards vs. Unengaged Viewers by Age Segments

• Immersion
A comScore ARS study involving online video found that
consumers who were highly engaged with the video content 45%
33% Lift
generated a stronger ARS Consumer Choice Score for the
ad placed within the content than unengaged viewers. Lift
13%
This higher score is correlated with in-market sales lifts, Lift
demonstrating the ability of content to amplify an ad’s impact.

Comparison of ARS Consumer Choice Score* for Engaged

vs. Unengaged Video Viewers 95 107 88 117 83 120
Engaged Unengaged Percentage
Viewers Viewers Lift
Age 16-29 Age 30-49 Age 50+
ARS Consumer 118 87 36%
Choice Score

ARS Consumer Choice Score ARS Consumer Choice Score

Engaged Viewers Unengaged Viewers

Source: comScore ARS Custom Analysis, October 2010 Source: comScore ARS Custom Analysis, October 2010
*ARS Consumer Choice Score measures changes in consumer brand preference through *ARS Consumer Choice Score measures changes in consumer brand preference through
a simulated purchase exercise. A lift in the ARS Consumer Choice Score is highly correlated a simulated purchase exercise. A lift in the ARS Consumer Choice Score is highly correlated
with in-market sales lifts. with in-market sales lifts.
 5.

When selecting from

a variety of media-placement
strategies, it is important to
consider the relative costs
and benefits of each
 Not all targeting is created equal. Select Media-placement strategies
Each has tradeoffs in terms of cost,
reach and impact Audience Targeting: Targets consumers based on past
interest or interaction with related products/content but who
From audience targeting to contextual buys and from retargeting have not yet visited the advertiser’s site
to efficiency or premium buys, there are many placement
options that media planners must now consider. Because each Contextual Targeting: Targets sites with related,
offers different pros and cons, it is important to select a media- page-level content
placement strategy that best fits the specific campaign objective.
Efficiency Pricing: Based on cost-per-click engagement
with creative
Likelihood to Search For Advertised Brand Post-Exposure
1800 Premium Pricing: Based on high-visibility placements
1600 The larger on premium publishers
1400 Premium the circle, the
Pricing greater the Retargeting: Based on data that confirms users have
1200 Contextual reach.
Targeting previously visited an advertiser’s site
1000
Cost Index

800 Run-of-Network (RON): Includes ads that appear

Efficiency Audience
600 Pricing Targeting Retargeting anywhere in the network, often optimized by conversion
400
Run-of-Network
200 When considering a media-placement strategy, the best option
0 often differs based on long-term versus short-term goals.
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 For example, some placements – like Efficiency, Pricing and
Lift Index RON – optimize quickly to deliver traffic to a site (i.e. drive
traffic within the first week), but they don’t always sustain these
As shown in the above chart, Retargeting provides the highest
audiences over time (i.e. traffic drops off after the first week).
lift in search at an efficient cost, but it doesn’t deliver as high
When it comes to longer-term effects, Audience, Contextual
a reach as other strategies. Meanwhile, Run-of-Network
and Premium strategies have been shown to work well, although
placements provide a large reach at an efficient cost but garner
Retargeting outperforms these three.
relatively low lifts in search.
Source: comScore report, “When Money Moves to Digital, Where Should it Go?”, September 2010 Source: comScore report, “When Money Moves to Digital, Where Should it Go?”, September 2010
Note: All campaigns in this study ran between July 2009 and March 2010 and were sold and delivered Note: All campaigns in this study ran between July 2009 and March 2010 and were sold and
by ValueClick Media. delivered by ValueClick Media.
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