High levels of consumer engagement paves the way for digital out-of-home advertising
Published: 12 May, 2010
Pioneering face-tracking research into consumer moods and engagement has revealed significant potential for digital out-of-home advertising in shopping centres.
The research, carried out by Kinetic Worldwide partnered with Clear Channel Outdoor UK, aimed to provide more accountability for advertisers seeking to engage with the 19 million UK adults who claim to have seen mall advertising in the last week.
Face-tracking technology from Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute was employed to track eye and face contact with digital advertising at Westfield Royal Victoria Place, Tunbridge Wells.
The HD camera was placed on a digital advertising unit for three weeks, providing data on the number of shoppers making contact with the advertisement and the duration of contact, as well as age, gender and mood expression (happy, sad, impassive and alert). The research also featured a separate footfall measure of shoppers and face-to-face interviews.
Findings revealed that younger audiences looked at advertising displays for longer, while engagement tripled at weekends thanks to a more relaxed mindset. Regarding the performance of digital advertising campaigns, the study found that animation and scrolling copy worked better than static copy but the degree of animation was crucial to attracting shoppers’ attention. Use of full video or over-elaborate animation had very little additional impact.
Pip Hainsworth, marketing director at Clear Channel Outdoor UK, said: “Advertisers in the mall environment not only benefit from their proximity to the point of purchase but also from the general happiness of consumers, and their predisposed receptiveness to commercial messages. This research provides proof, not only that digital out-of-home works in attracting attention, but also in keeping consumers engaged.”
Nick Mawditt, global director of insight and marketing at Kinetic Worldwide, added: “The mood data is a real bonus and those advertisers clever enough to target by the mood and mindset of the consumer can really benefit.”
