The future of mobile marketing is now undergoing a radical shift as more and more digital strategists are trying to understand what it takes to get consumers interested in your brand.
In fact in March 2019- the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) headquartered out of USA in collaboration with The Advertising Research Foundation and Neurons Inc – an applied neuroscience research company came up with some very relevant findings on how consumers process information in a mobile environment.
The research revealed the human brain needs 400 milliseconds (or 4/10th of a second or less than ½ second), to engage with mobile advertising and trigger an imprint, positive or negative. This means consumer time and attention can´t be taken for granted. Essentially, by the time a consumer blinks, their brain has already seen and processed a mobile ad. And more so, by the time it takes for their heart to beat once, they have very likely formed an emotional response (under 7/10ths of a second) https://www.mmaglobal.com/news/mobile-marketing-association-reveal-brands-need-first-second-strategy
The above statistics are not only mind blowing but also highlights the direction in which mobile advertising has gone- into the realm of NeuroMarketing which essentially means being able to capture brain activity and then reapply them as everyday tools for brands to reach out to their target audiences.
Our mobile screens dominate our worlds- Look around- in restaurants, in crowded tubes, in meetings, on flights, on the streets, on the dining table, during workouts in the gym- these screens pervade each and every aspect of our lives and in fact it feels that we are truly headed into a Dystopian era…
In fact ask yourself- When was the last time you actually looked up from your mobile screen during your working day and does it not make one wonder- how did people work before the mobile screens came alive?
But this brief blog is to understand the importance and the advantages of mobile marketing when its backed with data from neuroscientific research-
1- Mobile vs Desktop= Ads in a mobile feed get attention faster and trigger stronger cognition, compared to desktop. Whilst it takes 2-3 seconds for two thirds of desktop ads to get cognitively recognition and be seen- Mobile takes in comparison 0.4 seconds.
2- Video ads on mobile (even generally) create a far stronger impact and are twice as likely to create emotional response than static in faster exposure speeds (less than 0.7 seconds).
3- The human brain needs only ½ a second to engage with a video ad and generate a reaction – positive or negative. The above research study showed that More than 67% of ads tested had cognitive recognition at 0.4 seconds.
4- Ads that are associated with a weak overall brand performance takes only 1 second to generate negative responses. Well known brands by that logic create a faster cognitive recognition at the same time.
This is actually very revelatory for brands and brand marketers to focus on- ‘the first few seconds’ of their ad campaigns- and though many brands develop 15/30 second creatives or even 6/7 second ads- the above data mainly focuses on having an effective ‘first second’ strategy.
Mobile ads now have to move away from Leveraging on ‘customer acquisition’ to ‘customer cognition’ and the implications of these collaborative studies actually are changing the name of the game so to speak in the world of mobile advertising.
Though there will be challenges on aspects of how effectively the 1-3 second ads can effectively communicate with respect to quality, content and brand message, the only way is to jump on to this strategy and see how it pans out. Brands will need to work harder, creative executions will have to be more focused and smarter and quality will drive loyalty more than it ever did.
It’s time to Future Proof your mobile advertising strategy
Are you going to lead this change? Are you a leader or a management consultant or a company that would like to know more on how to bring about a model that is capable of bringing this future to the present. If so get in touch with us. Our brand founder and author of this blog Chetan Jha is leading not just change but also innovation across the board through best practises that echo compassion understanding and reflection. To know more, email us: [email protected]