The document discusses best practices for digital marketing based on recent findings. It finds that emotional and storytelling content is most effective at driving online engagement and business results. Specifically, it notes that campaigns aiming to create buzz and build brands through famous, emotional content that gets shared see the best long-term effects. While social media can amplify great content, it works best as a supporting channel rather than leading digital strategy. The document advocates testing content online for emotional effectiveness and impact on key performance metrics.

1. 1
Let’s Get Emotional About Digital
BrainJuicer
November 2014

2. 2
Digital Marketing: The Big Questions
May 2014
Digital is transforming marketing –
but what does that mean for
research and testing?
Our POV on digital content addresses these questions:
– How different is digital – has everything changed?
– How do you build buzz and kick up a commotion online?
– What is the role of social?
– How can using behavioural science help?
– What should your campaign aim for?

3. 3
May 2014
How different is digital -
has everything changed?
(It’s evolution, not
revolution)

4. 4
Social strategy: it’s all about emotion and storytelling
% Uplift in number of hard business
effects by digital campaign strategy
-16% +1% +30% +34%
Information Participation Emotion Storytelling
‘Seriously Social’, Peter Field, IPA, 2014
Advertising analyst Peter Field
looked at entrants for the 2014
WARC prize for social strategy,
exploring what actually created
hard business effects (e.g. profit
gain, share gain).
Conclusion?
It’s all about emotion and
storytelling.

5. 5
This fits with recent findings about traditional marketing…
“Emotional campaigns are
more effective & more
profitable than rational
campaigns - even in
'rational' categories…”
31%
% Reporting very large profit gains
Campaigns lasting 3+ years
26%
‘Marketing in the Era of Accountability’, Binet & Field, IPA, 2008
16%
Rational Ad Strategy Combined Emotional Ad Strategy
Campaign strategy

6. 6
Seduction beats persuasion – online or offline – but why?
To marketers, traditional and digital feel like very different
worlds. But we experience them using the same brain.
Behavioural scientists like Daniel Kahneman tell us how
important emotion and instinct are in decision making – far
more so than reasoned consideration.
In other words…
We think much less than we think we think.

7. 7
Digital is stronger – on average – than TV ads
Straight to Video Pedestrian Solid Performance Must See Blockbuster
Digital Videos hitting 5-star: 15%
TV ads hitting 5-star: 4%
Emotion-into-Action™ Score
*assumes share of voice = share of market
68
73
78
82
Spend
maintains 
share*
TV global average
Digital Video global average

8. 8
What does 1 to 5 star digital video content look like?
Peugot – Drive of Your Life Dance
Galaxy Note – Artwork
Sainsbury’s – Christmas at Home
Pepsi Max– Test Drive
TNT– Channel Launch

9. 9
May 2014
How do you build buzz and
kick up a commotion
online?
(If people feel more, they
do more)

10. 10
As we do with traditional, embrace emotion
The motor is the same –
pure emotion (not the
velvet glove of emotion
wrapped in the iron fist
of persuasion!)
But how you create
emotion in the digital
space, and the tools you
use, are different…

11. 11
Digital culture happens below the line
Content
Memes
Parodies
Comments
Press Coverage
Interactivity
Fandom
Reblogs
Games
Discussion Threads
Remixes
User Reviews
Hashtags

12. 12
May 2014
What is the role of social?

13. 13
You have to give people something to do!
Three’s “Pony” was a 5-Star ad. It was shown on TV
over a weekend, then lived online – and over 1
million people shared their pony remixes.

14. 14
But remember: social media is a support act, not the headliner
‘Seriously Social’, Peter Field, IPA, 2014
Campaigns that lead
with social media
perform worse than
campaigns where it
plays a supporting role.
10% fewer hard
business effects in the
short term.
44% fewer hard
business effects in the
long term.

15. 15
What kind of content works best on digital campaigns?
‘Seriously Social’, Peter Field, IPA, 2014
Cause-driven (avg. 1.5
real business effects)
beats Brand storytelling
(avg. 1.1) – even more
so when it’s a for-profit
campaign!
No surprise, given the
power of emotion –
helping people feels
good!

16. 16
May 2014
What should your
campaign aim for?

17. 17
Aim for Fame
For lasting effects, the aim is brand-building
– campaigns with that goal
saw a 144% uplift in hard business
effects long term.
And just as in traditional marketing,
the best way to build brands is
famous emotional marketing.
Aiming for fame – building buzz and
WOM – saw boosts in hard business
effects in both long and short term.
‘Seriously Social’, Peter Field, IPA, 2014

18. 18
5-Star ads are most shared
Average # online shares (Viral Video Chart)
to January 2014
280,000
630,000
1,050,000
1-2 star ads 3-4 star ads 5 star ads
Base: 136 US ads tested in ComMotion® for FeelMore50™ 2013, those with share data available from Unruly (Jan 2014)

19. 19
But remember… great content is only part of the story
The optimum marketing balance is still
60% brand-building, 40% activation.
Brand-building online is best done via
brilliant emotional content.
Activation online happens via digital
touchpoints – websites, Facebook,
direct marketing.
To optimise it, you need to understand
and change behaviour.
‘The Long And The Short Of It’, Les Binet and Peter Field, IPA, 2013

20. 20
So, What Should Brands Do About Digital Testing?
1. Digital is an evolution, not a revolution – seduction still beats persuasion,
May 2014
online as well as off.
2. Traditional metrics don’t work for digital. But they didn’t work for
traditional, either! Measuring emotion is the key.
3. Social media is a great backup channel for brilliant emotional marketing,
but a poor lead channel for it.
4. Test for emotional effectiveness - the closer to execution you can test,
the better.
5. For long-term effects and brand building, go for big, emotional content
that creates buzz and makes your brand famous.
6. For day-to-day sales activations and digital touchpoints, adopt a test-and-learn
mentality rooted in behavioural principles.

21. 21
Turning human understanding
into business advantage
Contact us:
enquiries@brainjuicer.com
Visit us online at:
www.brainjuicer.com