How Frequency of Exposure can Maximise the Resonance of your Digital Campaigns

By Gabrijela Okadar, Manager – Marketing Effectiveness, Nielsen

Advertising campaigns that resonate in the minds of consumers are hard to find: A Nielsen study shows that 22% of digital ads failed to drive uplift for key brand metrics in Australia. Encouragingly, understanding frequency – the number of times consumers see a campaign – has a demonstrated impact on resonance, and can ensure brands maximise their digital spend.

Data from Nielsen’s Digital Brand Effect reveals that, in Australia, exposure to digital advertising 5-9 times is the optimal range to improve the overall brand lift of the campaign – increasing the resonance by 51% on average.

Campaign objectives of Awareness and Intent show a strong link to frequency in global analysis undertaken by Nielsen. For campaigns with these objectives, resonance can be increased with every additional exposure.

Other campaign objectives have optimum frequency point for resonance: after a peak number of exposures, resonance begins to fall. Resonance of ads targeting Brand Preference and Favourability peaks for consumers at three and six exposures, respectively.

A brand’s category also influences the importance of frequency in the success of digital campaigns. For consumers of certain products, there is a strong link between high exposure to campaigns and how it resonates with them. For others, frequency is not a reliable factor to improve the connection between consumers and a campaign.

In categories such as fast moving consumer goods, electronics, and shopping/retail, frequency is closely tied to holding a clear spot in consumer minds. Categories such as financial services showed less of a connection. This may be explained by the fact that loyalty is harder to shift and depends highly on advertising quality.

The number of times consumers are exposed to a campaign will inform the strength of their response to the brand. Understanding how the objective of the campaign and product category influence this response can help advertisers to drive better results. To avoid paying for exposures they don’t need, and maximise resonance with consumers, brands and advertisers will benefit from an understanding of this optimal frequency effect.