EmSense Corporation, leading innovator in measuring audience EEG brainwave and other bio-sensory responses to advertising, video games and entertainment media of all types, released findings from a newly released quantitative study. The study reveals critical elements of Cannes Lion award winning advertisements and their distinguishing performance characteristics. Applying its propriety bio-sensory technology to the top 2007 Cannes Lion winning advertisements, EmSense has uncovered a unique response pattern that is consistent for ads that win Cannes accolades. The study finds that successful ads have three commonalities; speed of engagement, positive emotional trend and the newly discovered, “cognitive jolt.”
“We believe we may have cracked the code for creating television ads that win at Cannes,” said Elissa Moses, Chief Analytics Officer at EmSense. “At the very least, we are certain of what drives effective advertising and how ads can be more engaging.” This first-of-its kind study unlocks understanding in areas that are highly valued by marketers and information that can be successfully leveraged by creatives, but have been difficult to capture though traditional copy testing methods.
For the study, EmSense sampled 200 male and female consumers in San Francisco and New York between the ages of 18 and 54, and collected unbiased bio-sensory data that indicate active engagement (thinking) and emotional valence (positive and negative emotions). The data is collected using EmSense’s dry and lightweight wireless EEG headset, called “EmGear,” which is embedded with sensors that measure brainwaves, heart activity, blinking, breathing and moments when individuals blush as they are exposed to a series of ads.
Top line results identify unique bio-sensory response patterns for “Speed of Engagement,” “Emotional Trend,” and “Cognition.”
The study results indicate that Cannes winning ads consistently excel across key dimensions including Speed of Engagement, Emotional Trend, and Cognition, when engaging audiences.
Speed of Engagement
“The first EmSense Indicator of Efficacy centers on the question: how fast does an ad engage? The “hook” can be either cognitive or emotional but either way everything that happens before the audience starts engaging is lost time and money,” says Moses.
In the case of Cannes winning ads, not only do they engage significantly faster than the database norm of almost 1,000 commercials, but they engage through emotion, not cognition.
Cannes winning ads tend to engage within the first 1-2 seconds while on average, a typical ad engages within 5-7 seconds.
Emotional Trend
Does the ad leave consumers in a more positive place emotionally then when the ad began?
While good story telling in advertising is likely to take the audience on a journey of up and down emotion that can include dropped calls, unsightly stains and close call car accidents, (as 2007 Cannes winners did), the goal is to leave the viewer in a better place emotionally than where they started and ideally feeling particularly good when confronted with your brand.
EmSense examines the emotional response trend mathematically and evaluates ads based upon the ability to take the audience to a “higher place” emotionally by the end of the commercial.
In the EmSense Cannes Study, all of the Cannes winners were “good” or “great” on emotional trend.
Cognition Discovery – The “Cognitive Jolt”
The biggest breakthrough of the EmSense Study came in seeing the pattern of how Cognition is used in Cannes winning ads. “While others may want to stereotype them as using wildly creative devices and being predominantly emotional,” says Moses, “the truth is they are masterful at evoking cognition at just the right time. This we believe is the true secret of winning at Cannes. It may also be the true secret of creating effective advertising.”
In evaluating these results, the EmSense analytic team, which included Tim Hong and Dan Weitzenfeld, discovered a unique brainwave pattern in response to the Cannes winning ads.
After rapid initial emotional engagement and disparate emotional responses as the stories unfold, there is a characteristic Jolt of Cognition that occurs about two thirds of the way into almost every ad. This Cognitive Jolt is usually triggered by the reveal or resolution to an engaging story line set-up with focus on the brand as intrinsic to the story resolution.
In essence, the audience has been emotionally engaged into a story and then switched into thinking mode with the brand reveal potentially leaving a positive halo of emotion surrounding the brand as it is being actively considered.
For years advertisers’ have tried to get their brand name into a commercial “early and often” when in fact it may be far more powerful to give the brand an emotional “warm up” through story telling that predisposes the consumer to process the main message. Cognition is the precursor to memory.
It should also be noted that the Cannes winning ads in the EmSense Study also faired above average on purchase consideration and even higher on likeability.
Indicators of Efficacy
Implementing EmSense’s bio-sensing technology and diagnostic questions, this study fully measured the following key Indicators of Efficacy:
— Engagement Efficiency
— Brand/Product Response
— Emotional Trend
— Key Points of Cognition
— Audience Synchronicity
— Reported Likeability
— Reported Brand Consideration
Looking Forward
A new batch of Cannes Award winners have just been named for 2008. EmSense plans to repeat this study on the new winners in the future.
About EmSense
EmSense provides actionable insights and evaluation to advertisers, marketers and content developers who aim to create the strongest possible engagement and emotional responses from audiences. With the first lightweight, non-invasive EEG headset, bio-sensors, software and data based norms designed to capture emotion and cognition, EmSense uniquely provides clients with quantitative bio-sensory data and the competitive advantage to more effectively communicate. EmSense is headquartered in Monterey, CA, with offices in San Francisco, CA, Santa Monica, CA and Westport, CT.
