Increase Brand Recognition with the Correct use of Ad Placement

Let’s start with a simple question: how many people do you know that actually enjoy the commercials that interrupt their favorite TV-show? Exactly, me neither.

For years, online marketers have been investigating what consumers will tolerate and how ads can deliver a strong message. One of the most desirable effects of an ad is brand recognition – this means whether customers recognize your brand and correctly associate it with the right product. 

When people watch a Tony Chocolonely ad, you want them to actually taste the chocolate when seeing the Tony Chocolonely logo. And not associate it with something completely different, like for instance Brussel sprouts. Can you now imagine the importance of brand recognition for your brand?

The Principle – How To Increase Brand Recognition

Now, Taiwanese scientists discovered something incredible. It appears that the level of brand recognition greatly depends on just two factors: ad placement and congruence. Let’s do a quick explanation on these two:

• Ad placement: The placement of an advertising video during the consumption of video media, is very important for the success of an ad campaign. In this research, ads were placed in the middle of an online video (mid-roll) or afterwards (post-roll).
• Congruence: (In this case) the level of cognitive similarity between the content of the video and the content of the ad. For instance, a video about cooking and a McDonald’s ad are high in congruence, because they both have a strong association with food.

Ok, interesting and all, but how does this combination increase brand recognition? That’s what we want to know!

The trick lies in combining the two factors mentioned above. According to the Taiwanese scientists: you must place congruent ads in a mid-roll commercial block. Whereas incongruent ads work best in a post-roll commercial block. Also, ad length appears to have a positive effect on ad memorability, where longer ads lead to better brand name recognition. 

So How Does This Work?

Imagine yourself being an online marketer for Nike and you have to sell this year’s soccer-boot collection. What’s the best way to place your online ad? According to these Taiwanese scientist, your commercial will get the highest brand name recognition as a mid-roll ad in a congruent situation. The obvious example of high congruence is of course a video about soccer. However, a video about sports or a video featuring a famous soccer-player is also high in congruence. Because it makes sense in your brain. And that’s exactly the point.

On the other hand, when your ad is incongruent, post-roll is the most efficient placement. So when putting the Nike soccer-boot example in a post-roll situation: your ad would be most fruitful in a completely incongruent setting. Think for instance about a make-up tutorial or a video about the African wildlife. In this case, your brain can’t connect the dots, because there is no similarity between the video and the ad.

Concluding: put your Nike soccer-boots commercial within the soccer video and after the make-up tutorial! For both situations applies: longer ads lead to more brand recognition.

How Long Should Your Ad Be? Beware Of The Catch!

As I mentioned before, longer ads lead to better brand name recognition. However, there is a catch! It might sound obvious, but the ad must not exceed the length of the video itself. People experience this as disruptive and annoying and will probably not finish watching your ad. It’s important to keep the length of the initial video and the disrupting ad in balance, to avoid people becoming annoyed!

Take Home Points:

• For higher brand recognition, mid-roll ads work best in a congruent situation, whereas post-roll ads better be incongruent.
• Longer ads lead to better brand name recognition. Beware to keep the length of the video and ad in balance!