Online advertising in New Zealand has proved less effective than in Australia and Hong Kong, an ACNielsen study in all three countries has found.
The New Zealand results showed that among those exposed to the ad there was a 1.3% increase in intent to purchase compared to an 8% rise in Australia and 5.8% in Hong Kong.
But the study — claimed to be the largest on online advertising effectiveness — showed overall online advertising works for brand advertising.
In New Zealand eight advertisements for five leading brands were measured. On average those viewing the ads showed a 20% increase in ad recall, a 3% increase in top-of-mind brand awareness and 1% in aided brand awareness along with a 2% rise in positive brand attitudes.
The best performer was Toyota whose banner ad performed 88% better than the average ad tested. How? By using an uncluttered message, a product image to attract users, and persistent use of a brand logo. “The results are pretty impressive for an advertising medium that’s been beat up over the past six months as one that doesn’t work,” says Ramin Marzbani of ACNielsen.consult.
After six years in the New Zealand market online advertising accounts for just 0.5% of total ad spend — three times less than in Australia.
The study compared two identical sets of web users — one exposed to the ads and one not. It found for every 1000 banner ad impressions, on average, online advertising in New Zealand resulted in:
- 69 more people clearly remember seeing it and correctly connect the ad with the brand;
- 30 more people have top of mind awareness of the brand;
- 3 more people say they definitely will or probably will buy the advertised brand;
- 11 more people who recognise your brand name;
- 6 more people with a favourable opinion on your brand.
Costs of the 1000 banner ad impressions varied from $50 in New Zealand to $A30 in Australia and $HK160 in Hong Kong. The report adds a warning that just because online advertising can boost branding, it doesn’t guarantee it will be a profitable trade-off for the marketeer. TV advertising works too, but if the price was $A10,000 per 1000 impressions it would not prove profitable to advertise on that medium. So too for the internet, the report says.