Australian advertisers can now increase the effectiveness of their out-of-home campaign by more than 40 per cent by applying neuroscience to their creative according to findings of a new ‘Iconic Trigger’ research study.

The ‘Iconic Trigger’ research by Neuro Insights, the world leader in using patented neuroscience technology to measure the effect of advertising and media content, was commissioned by Australia’s largest out of home media company, oOh!media.

The study found that by identifying the most powerful, or iconic, moment in TVC or video pre-roll and applying it to out-of-home environments, advertisers could increase a respondent’s long term memory measure by an average of 42 per cent.

The findings are the result of testing 60 commercials from the past two years with consumers to identify a TVC’s iconic triggers. Further neural testing was then conducted to identify the impact of using iconic trigger images in the out-of-home signage environment compared to other creative executions.

Carlton Draught’s CANNES award winning TVC, The Great Beer Chase, can not only be analysed to understand what the iconic moments are within the TVC but also demonstrate how to utilise these moments on outdoor signage to increase the effectiveness of the campaign by tapping into the viewers long term memory.

CEO of oOh!, Brendon Cook, said the results showed that out-of-home campaigns, using iconic triggers that were identified in their creative, produced more impact by tapping into consumers’ long term memory which is linked to enhancing the overall ROI of a campaign­

“This research provides advertisers with an actionable tool that identifies moments from their TVC or video pre roll, most strongly held in the long-term memory, which we know has a positive impact on ROI,” Mr Cook said.

“Our Neuro Iconic Triggers tool removes much of the creative guesswork and gives clients the brain power to more accurately engage and influence growing audiences in out-of-home environments.

“It works by using the iconic image from the TVC or video pre roll on a billboard or shopping centre ad panel. The image effectively acts as the ‘replay button’ – re-triggering those memories which have been previously stored when originally watching the TVC or video pre roll.

“Using an iconic image dramatically increases long term memory and recognition.”

Peter Pynta, director of Neuro-Insight, said: “Our research and testing has broken new ground by empowering advertisers to yield the best integration between TVC’s and Video pre-rolls with Out-of-home media channels.

“This approach is grounded in decades of neuroscience evidence on the way the brain stores and retrieves experiences – with the recent addition of some very specific TV and out of home advertising campaigns.”

Mr Cook said: “With TVC and Video pre roll being a significant component of most campaigns, the Iconic Trigger contained within the content offers a scientific approach to identify the most effective creative link, or consumer touch points, across multiple media channels.”

“Advertisers can now more confidently plan and buy out-of-home and other media that utilise TVC and Videos”.

The ‘Iconic Trigger’ study follows on from earlier research powered by The Leading Edge “Out-of-home Effectiveness”, which also found that when comparing different formats independently and in combination with each other demonstrated that those using TV and out-of-home together delivered 15 per cent increases in ROI.