Maintain Your Brand Strength Is A Shrinking Economy

When the economy tightens and marketing budgets shrink, the very first thing to do would be to ensure that marketing spend becomes a lot more efficient.
Marketers need to make sure that the consumer is literally keeping an eye on the ball. And they can now do that by using eye-tracking.

To put this innovative research science into perspective, just look at the facts. The signs of an imminent recession are all around us. Around the world, marketing and sales executives are being asked to do more with less.
It's a demand many have heard in previous hard times, and most managers muddled through then. According to experts it is not wise to cut your advertising spending during a recession. Data has proved that companies that advertise during a recession increase their market share.

According to a Gallup & Robinson study of 12 years' worth of surveys about recall and likeability of advertising that appears in the annual pigskin classic, there is a direct relationship between the confidence people have in the economy and the attention they pay to Super Bowl commercials. The event regularly draws the biggest TV audience of the year. Many viewers watch the game live and, therefore, don't skip past the ads.

The Gallup & Robinson data, recall is 11% lower than average and 36% lower than in good times. "About one quarter of change in recall is related to the change in consumer confidence." Of course, the economy isn't the only factor at play in when it comes to recall, said Mr. Purvis. The content of an ad is important, as is the quality of the game.
Creativity is an essential resource to survive in the market and for this reason we always look for it. Companies entrust their image to advertising agencies to realize ever more creative, innovative and amazing advertising.
However, creativity may have detrimental effects when consumers pay more attention to the ad at the expense of the advertised brand. Advertiser can maximize their marketing spend by conducting research into the potential effectiveness of the advert.

A case for eye tracking
Eye tracking is a general term for techniques used to measure where people look. It's been stated that the eyes are a window to the soul, there is a close correlation between the eye movements and our psychological processes.
Research has also proved that there is a correlation between eye gaze and recall. The longer one looks at something the higher the chances of remembering that thing. The difference between eye tracking and traditional testing methods lies in the data collection because it is an objective quantitative measure and does not rely on what people say. It is a known fact that people do not always mean what they say or say what they mean. Eye tracking combined with traditional testing methods give an objective picture of what they saw and a qualitatitive or quantitative study drills deep into the motivations behind the actions i.e. the whys.

Eye tracking plays a key role in the creative decision making because it can it gives an objective analysis to support choices between creative designs.
The eye tracking analysis can identify the most effective design among several options. So you can choose between different designs for different channels. For example one design can perform better among the youth than in the older market or among females than men. So eye tracking provides an advertiser with an objective data which ensures that you get the most out of your media spending.
Eye tracking does not kill creativity
Eye tracking should not be viewed as a "kill joy" in advertising creativity but as a unique way to research creative effectiveness. Eye tracking can give the creative free reign to come up with some very different ideas and let eye tracking studies decide which is the most visually effective. Small changes in advertising design can have significant impact in the way in which people perceive the advert.

When to use eye tracking
Eye tracking is most useful when you want to test:

Brand awareness - To assess how much people notice the branding in terms of logos, brand values and brand titles.
Navigation - To identify any conflicting terms as well as how different navigation layouts interact with each other.
Page layout - To show how a page layout and color scheme affect the way users scan a page on a website.
What people ignore
Choosing a homepage design - You create a set of criteria against which to test and then see which homepage design is most effective.
Proving what people say - Whilst people may say they didn't notice something eye tracking will prove this. A great example of this is that users generally don't notice the navigation until they're lost.

The heat maps produced from eye tracking studies can actually be very effective in quickly uniting everyone within the organization and advertising agencies about what changes should be made to the website or an advert. Another great benefit is that you don't have to wait for a long time to get your results. Eye tracking results are instant and companies can view the results as the research progresses.

About the Author:
Lindiwe Matlali is the Managing Director of Prompt Research Insights South Africa's first eye tracking Research Company. We are experts in eye tracking and are supported by a strong and competent global partner. By introducing this innovative technology, we can now provide scientifically grounded usability and market research analyses for websites, internet applications, online shops, multimedia applications, software, advertising campaigns, TV, packaging, and products.

Contact: Lindiwe@promptresearchinsights.com or
011 465 1469. Web: www.prinsights.co.za