Opinion - Generation Media

Can I have your attention please?

Felix looks at how, in an ever changing world of ad metrics, companies can effectively measure engagement and ensure their advertising efforts are productive.

The advertising world is always looking for new solutions and ways of verifying and proving its worth. We are always looking for ways to expand as an industry and to improve user experience, with some changes forced and some coming about through innovation. Attention metrics are the result of such innovative thinking around forced changes. Over the last 5-8 years, companies have been exploring digitally how to verify that consumers are engaging with their adverts and prove creative concepts, and the fast-approaching demise of 3rd party cookies has accelerated this exploration. Due to tracking limitations, less attribution is possible and standard metrics - such as return on ad spend (ROAS) and cost per acquisition (CPA) – are harder to define. Advertisers need to focus on other metrics to prove that consumers have engaged with their ads and will go on to purchase.

These metrics are sometimes hard to come by within the toy industry, unless brands have exclusive arrangements with core retailers or buy direct through commerce platforms like Criteo, Nectar 360 or Dunhumby. Multiple brands are also moving to their own eCommerce sites. Give restrictions do not allow youth audiences to be driven to purchase, at Generation Media we developed advanced contextual strategies allowing us to reach the right audience at the right time, verifying engagement through other metrics such as view through rate (VTR) or cost per engagement (CPE). However, the wider industry, which is reliant on reporting mechanics which make use of third party data, will have to amend the way they prove concept, as will the parental and gift-giving audiences.

So, what are attention metrics? Attention metrics measure a wide range of marketing performances.

These include activity, longevity and other engagement criteria. Below are five tips on how to make attention metrics relevant to your advertising efforts.

• Define

Figure out what attention means to your brand and what can help drive attention to your products. There is no one size fits all approach and defining this is key to extracting the best results for your product and the consumer’s digital experience. As an example, if the product has a gaming element, focus on how long users are interacting with the game and levels of completion. Alternatively, if the brand is focused around fashion, look at the number of images the user is looking through. This information could be in custom formats or within social.

• Identify

Choose and explore what is possible to record and track within your products/ads. Look at lead times, price metrics, repeat purchase options and discover how granular you can be with what is at your disposal. What metrics are relevant and possible to track with your products and owned channels? Once these key details are established, you can look at how users are scrolling over content, changing pages, viewing videos, commenting, sharing etc. Working with specialist companies, especially on rich media campaigns, you can establish heat maps, returning engagement through the mouse scrolling position and other repeat engagements.

• Create

Once you have identified and defined the most important parts of the consumer engagement and journey for your brand, it is time to create bespoke metrics that are relevant to you. Work with media agencies to start focusing their planning and audiences to deliver these. Ideally a testing period would be available. This allows for an A/B test campaign optimising towards new and old metrics. This will then validate the newer approach and allow for any future tweaks before cookies are phased out.

• Implement

Work with your media agency to implement trackable solutions to recording these metrics and understand what tools are available to provide consistency cross platform. Google analytics is a good place to start, but there are multiple custom solutions out there. Exploring is key to find the right solution for you.

• Test

These new attention metrics allow for a series of create testing. Once proven, these tweaks to narrative and creative can be amplified, not just digitally or through paid media but through owned and earned channels too. Creating a resonate tone of voice across all media aspects will help divert users’ attention and bring your brand to the forefront.

Attention metrics will become commonplace across the industry, so start thinking how they relate to your brand and what constitutes success now. Undoubtedly, you will need to understand a new field of acronyms and you should consider establishing bespoke metrics, to get ready for tomorrow, today.