Yahoo7’s insights division has answered the hotly debated question among creatives and marketers: how branded is too branded?
Delving into light, medium and heavy branding across three brand categories, the research found the least effective level of branding was medium, with both light and heavy proving successful for specific objectives.
The research measured campaign creative against cognitive, emotional and behavioural engagement objectives, with a combination of visual and verbal branding at both product and parent brand level.
Becky Smith, head of insights and analytics at Yahoo7, said: “The key takeaway for every marketer and creative is that ‘meeting in the middle’ isn’t the most effective way to achieve brand objectives.”
Despite popular belief, heavy branding does not damage the opinion of the brand. In fact, the research found heavy branded most successfully drives cognitive engagement, including spontaneous awareness, prompted awareness and purchase intent; new customer acquisition; and driving natural brand bias.
In contrast, the research demonstrated light branding drives loyalty with brand users and likability.
With less than half of Australian content marketers currently measuring ROI of their strategies, and only 3 per cent describing their organisation’s strategy as ‘sophisticated’, the research provides the industry with the data-led insights to inform effective content marketing strategies.
“Both marketers and creatives need to make decisions based on the data, and be clear on the campaign objectives from the outset,” Smith said.
“They should also consider the value in crafting multiple versions of creative with differing levels of branding to effectively target new and existing customers, who we know respond differently.”
