In a study of 145 COVID-related Radio ads measured by ABX since March 4th, advertising effectiveness scores were amazingly high.  Radio spots featuring thanks to first-responders, helpful advice to listeners regarding resisting the virus, and conveying a serious tone in their announcements all did well.  Of course there are always those that don't work, as well.  Below are a sample of each and some tips for using radio effectively in crisis times.

Today's post looks at two case studies in integrated marketing communications - how paid and non-paid media interact in two major scandals - one with Nike and the other with United Airlines. The post is reprinted with permission from the Institute for Public Relations, and is written by three of its members: Katie Paine of Paine Publishing, Mark Stouse of Proof Analytics and Angela Jeffrey, APR, of ABX.  Contact information is below.  For more on this topic, see ABX resource page on integrated marketing.

Are consumers spending more for Holiday In-Store or Online?  During the Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend, which of the two are getting the lion's share?  We've been watching this for the past five years through a Share of Wallet survey during the seven weeks surrounding the big weekend. The purpose is to see what respondents are spending for gifts at the top retailers.  The data provides insights to our retail clients, so they can tie results to their ad effectiveness results.  We hope it is also useful to you. This year's survey covered 14,110 respondents, or roughly 2,000 per week over seven weeks.

As the Holidays approach, thoughts turn to retail. It's a perfect time to see how various department stores, fashion stores and online retailers have done in advertising effectiveness over the last 12 months.  Some retailers, like Kohl's, have consistently good ads (outside of radio), while others (high-end retailers) always bring up the rear. This post explores the best ads across seven media types, analyzing why they work so well out of almost 1450 ads tested in the past year.

A glance at the last six months of Wireless TV spots and Online Video (433) suggest they may be improving.  We also see a close correlation between Gender Equality scores and Reputation in this Category.  One strategy common to several of the Top 15 ads was the use of corporate image strategy, which reflected well on Gender and also yielded high Reputation scores.

We looked at evaluation results for auto ads, focusing on TV ads in the US, UK, Germany, and Japan to see if culture played a part in ad test results.  While there are many country-to-country differences, culture was not a big factor.  We’ll share some insights showing a top performer and lower performing ad in each country.

Today's Special Report on the absolute latest technology for advertising comes from Sophia Karakeva, Ph.D., a communications & marketing executive from DataScouting, based in Thessaloniki, Greece.  Sophia and ABX have both been deeply involved in the measurement of advertising and public relations.  

Ads in Space? Deep Fakes? Licensing Celebrity Faces?

No matter how companies do it, advertising remains one of the most important aspects of a business. However, advertising has evolved so much over the past decades that it has become nearly impossible for businesses to keep up. From simple flyers and giant billboards, to taking your ads into space and licensing celebrity faces, technology continues to disrupt the advertising industry.