Emotions matter!
I had a chance to listen to some of the most inspiring creative people on Golden Drum this year, several on them basing their presentation on emotions as one the most important drivers of advertising. Nothing new actually, but I am glad emotions are finally stepping into the spotlight. For us researchers, emotions are a tricky thing. We all know they are difficult to measure with traditional methods, but up until know we really didn’t have any other choice. Now, we do. And since we have obviously established emotions are important and we have the ability to measure them, how do we make a step forward? How do we incorporate biometric measurements into the advertising KPI’s? By proving we can improve communication performance of basically any story.
Telling a story - right
It quite simple really. Our brains are wired for storytelling. A story, if broken down into simplest form is basically a connection of cause and effect. And that is exactly how we think. Essentially, stories activate imagination and engage emotions. Emotions make a story more memorable. There is a catch though, when we think of stories, it is often easy to convince ourselves that to make them interesting they have to be complex and detailed. The truth is however, that the simpler a story, the more likely it will stick. The purpose of biometric measurements is not to evaluate stories or its creative appeal. The purpose of biometric measurements is to tell stories more effectively, which often means just reducing the cognitive load. Our experience based on more than 400 measured ads shows that even the slightest details can make a big difference in the overall success of an ad. Neuro optimization gives you the opportunity to get all the details right, something that has been unimaginable before the advent of neurotechnology. But for it to work, you have to integrate it into the post-production process. You need time and you will benefit from making it.
Small changes, big impact!
This year we had the opportunity to work with Raiffeisen BiH and McCann Sarajevo. The local RBB office decided to localize and slightly tweak the version that was already used internationally.
However neuro analysis showed very poor results mostly on the account of emotional response. The message conveyed in the voice over djeca su problem, a banka će vam pomoći da napravite predah i pobjegnete od djece was not well perceived and furthermore neutralized the good emotional potential of showing children. The company decided to halt and redefine. Finally a different wording was used, a wording that was more in line with the visual, a narrative that completely changed the concept with practically no other change - production-wise except exclusion of the last scene.
The ad was tested again and the results were considerably better (an increase in +3 NEMFA points - overall neuro effectiveness index) in comparison to the first version which was a tremendous improvement. Market performance results also improved respectively. It is hard to argue facts. And the fact is, numerous cases on which we worked on over the past year proved each story can be improved. And is not even about huge, expensive changes, it is about subtle details that can make a big difference if done right. Storytelling is one of the most powerful techniques in communication and motivation. It ultimately pays off to make the best out of it.
