Teads, the global media platform, and OMD, a subsidiary of Omnicom Group, will release Monday the results of a pioneering neuroscience study focused on understanding the "attention" metric used in the advertising industry. It also offers insight into three new measurement tools for this metric.

This study, conducted in March 2023 in partnership with RK Neuroconsulting and Offerwise, focuses on video advertising across Latin America. Kimberly-Clark in Latin America participated in the research. 

“Attention is not just a technical metric,” said Juan Nino, CEO at OMD LATAM. “It’s a human metric."

The research team used technology to measure human behavior. That’s the challenge, he said.  

The study, which used real campaigns from clients, relied on neuroscience research to discover how the environment of different platforms -- including news websites via Teads and three leading social-media platforms -- influenced levels of attention in viewers.

“We need to develop the metrics with a responsible mindset,” Nino said. “We need to understand and study each platform carefully if we want to be successful in using this metric in the media plan.”

OMD is exploring this metric based on pilots across select campaigns to determine how to use attention in media and campaigns.

Analyzing the attention patterns in a Huggies campaign from more than 1,400 participants across Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico, Teads and OMD unveiled insights aimed at assisting brands in optimizing marketing investments through strategic audience attention metrics.

“When my agency first brought this to my attention, I wanted to put it in every brief,” said Sergio Valcarel, intelligence hub director in Latin America at Kimberly-Clark. “I needed to understand how this would impact my business. When we first started on this journey, we talked about the theory of attention. This is the first step.”

Cau Stefan, research and insights manager Latam at Teads, described the three measurements, key performance indicators (KPIs), that emerged from the research.

The concept of the "Micro Attentional Moment" uses advanced eye-tracking software and measures “the fleeting instance when the brain absorbs visual content” to gauge visual engagement between ads and the contextual surroundings.

The study also introduced "Attention Coefficient K” to measures the quality of attention by distinguishing between focused attention and distractions from the environment, underscoring the role that attention quality plays in shaping ad recall. 

The study also explored the "Attention Loss Factor," which quantifies the attention an ad loses to its surroundings, as well as “Scroll Speed,” or the speed at which a user scrolls through the content. 

Key findings from the study included platform variation. The study revealed significant attention variations across platforms, with Teads generating 74% ad recall -- the highest of all platforms. This compared with 70% for one social-media platform, 53% for the second, and 51% for the third.

The study also underscored the importance of creative optimization and ensuring that attention is captured on average during the first 2 seconds of an ad. The research indicated that creative optimization directly impacts the campaign's memorability, with the potential to attract 30% attention to a brand on an ongoing basis.

Understanding the loss of attention also is important. Some 46% of attention is drawn away by the environment, presenting a unique challenge and an equally unique opportunity for advertisers to capture the remaining 54% more effectively.

The study also highlighted the speed at which people scroll on mobile phone screens, and the research measured this movement. The dimensions of a mobile phone screen measure approximately 15 cm, while the typical user tends to scroll at a relatively brisk pace of 4.7 cm per second, implying that in a high-scroll speed environment, users tend to miss about one-third of the mobile phone screen.

By understanding that a slower scroll speed corresponds to increased engagement with content, Teads was able to achieve a scroll speed of around 2.2 cm per second.

When comparing platforms, Teads and one major social-media platform demonstrated similar scroll speeds, with each registering around 2 and 2.2 cm per second, respectively.

Another leading social-media platform had a scroll speed of 5.6, while the last platform measured at 6.3 — more than two-and-a-half times and nearly three times faster than Teads, respectively.

This data emphasizes Teads' ability to facilitate user interaction through a measured scrolling experience that fosters meaningful content engagement.

Consumers have more ways than ever before to divide their attention among a variety of media channels and viewing devices such as smart TVs and mobile phones. This environment challenges marketers to better understand how consumers pay attention to advertising.

Streaming video content has a 13% higher attention index and …

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This week, TikTok introduced multiple features that should help advertisers better track the performance of their ad campaigns in the social-media app, including new attribution analytics and self-attributing networks.

Drawing a direct link between ad exposure and conversion isn’t easy, especially in the ever-evolving social-media environment. TikTok has even stated that 79% of all conversions attributed to TikTok by users themselves were missing from last-click models, according to a post-purchase survey.

Because of this, and the indeterminate journey of a TikTok consumer, the ByteDance-owned app is trying to help advertisers on its platform gain a deeper understanding of how their campaigns are driving engagement and response through a variety of new tracking and display options.

First, TikTok is launching a series of features for Attribution Analytics, which can be found in the TikTok Ad Manager platform.

“The first feature, included as part of this release, is Performance Comparison, a measurement tool that visualizes conversions across different time windows to help advertisers find an attribution strategy that works for their business,” the company wrote in a recent statement.

Performance Comparison will allow marketers to analyze and compare the number of events reported under different attribution windows for additional actions like “View Content,” “Add to Cart,” “Initiate Checkout,” “Purchase,” and the impact on KPIs, such as cost-per-acquisition (CPA).

The company acknowledges that its default attribution windows do not always capture the actual value of a marketer's efforts. This new feature looks at the number of conversions that occurred across a 7-day click-through window, for example, compared to a 28-day click-through window to help advertisers decide the most sensible window for their campaign goals.

In a move to lure more advertisers to the platform, TikTok says it is developing additional in-app measurement tools that will “support other campaign types including app, offline, shops, and others” for further transparency.

But TikTok is also making self-attributing networks -- otherwise known at “SANs” -- a requirement for its ad partners, aiming to provide another ad-response route back to TikTok’s measurement system.

“Advertisers use Mobile Measurement Partners (MMPs) to understand the actions that users take after an ad is clicked or viewed over a certain period of time. Currently, TikTok has an integration with a number of MMPs. However, to measure clicks that lead to conversions in a multi-touch experience, advertisers can't rely on MMP data alone,” the company stated in a blog post.

TikTok says that its SAN is “a new, separate MPP network integration” that delivers enhanced visibility into the platform’s “true contribution to app performance campaign outcomes.” It does this by matching the user ID on file at the advertiser’s end with conversion data from TikTok via the MPP.

“Conversions can be more accurately recognized by TikTok and reported in TikTok Ads Manager, without any impact on existing advertiser MMP final attribution analysis,” the company added.

All in all, a SAN provides a more secure way to offer additional ad activity data to advertisers which could result in more widespread attribution of relative ad campaigns.

Advertisers already working with an MPP may see various impacts from the change, but regular advertisers using TikTok ads direct likely won’t see any alterations to their campaigns. 

Apple fans stood in line overnight outside the New York City store in hopes of catching a glimpse of CEO Tim Cook as he opened the doors on the iPhone 15 launch day.  

Despite all the hoopla around the launch, Apple’s popular mobile phone is getting a lot of pushback from one of its deepest rivals. Google this week launched another attack on Apple about it using an old messaging technology. The latest messaging technology, which would allow greater collaboration between Apple and Android users, is called rich communication services (RCS).

To mock it, the search giant created a fake video advertisement for an “iPager.”

The Android Google group created the campaign in collaboration with the agency DAVID Miami.

The ad takes a humorous ‘90s theme approach to clarify the struggle for iPhone users. The ad requests that Apple upgrade from SMS to RCS via the “launch” of the iPager, a parody device of an old pager.

RCS is a modern messaging with features like high-quality media sharing, read receipts, typing indicator and most importantly, better security. 

Apps like Google Messages support end-to-end encryption, ensuring text message content is private and secure. When iPhones and Android users text each other, the conversation happens across SMS, which is less secure, according to Google.

If Apple adopts RCS, the company would join the rest of the mobile industry that is committed to upgrading the cross-platform messaging experience for everyone.

DAVID Miami is known for working with Burger King, HSBC, Activision, and Corona.

“iPager isn’t real, but the problems that Apple causes by using SMS are,” said Google in the video description on YouTube. “Let’s make texting better for everyone and help Apple #GetTheMessage and upgrade to RCS.”

But, hey, Google tells view in the ad, iPager has a belt clip.

The idea behind the ad it to help Apple get the message and upgrade to RCS, so the transition in messages—text, video, and images—between iPhone and Android devices is smooth.

Most carriers and phone manufactures have adopted RCS. Samsung claims it’s one of the first major device original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). It commercially launched in Europe 2012 and in the United States since 2015, according to the company.

On SMS' 30th birthday, end-to-end encryption for group chats rolled out for Google Messages in beta, and went live in open beta in January 2023. By May, Google announced that 800 million people had access to RCS, and Google Messages was enhanced with Magic Compose, a new Google messages feature powered by generative artificial intelligence (GAI). 

End-to-end encryption for group chats in Google Messages fully rolled out to all RCS users, and RCS is enabled by default for new and existing users—unless they have turned RCS off in Settings.

Google’s campaign span across online videos, influencers, and social media. 3D-printed mockups of the iPager device will also be sent to select influencers to remind them of the messaging issues they experience, and that they are caused by outdated technology used by Apple.

A coalition of 18 states are asking a federal judge to uphold Montana's ban on TikTok, arguing that the prohibition will “protect Montanans’ privacy from a foreign power and their health from a potentially dangerous product.”

“The states’ police power has always included the power to protect their citizens from deceptive and harmful business practices,” officials from Virginia and other states argue in a friend-of-the-court brief filed this week with U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy in Missoula.

They claim TikTok “intentionally engages in deceptive business practices which induce individuals to share sensitive personal information that can be easily accessed by the Chinese Communist Party,” and that its platform “harms children in Montana” and other states.

The states are weighing in on the lawsuit brought by TikTok and several users who are seeking to block a law that will prohibit app stores from offering the app to people in Montana, and prohibit the use of the app in the state (with some exceptions for law enforcement). The measure doesn't penalize users, but provides for sanctions starting at $10,000 per violation against TikTok and mobile app marketplaces.

Unless enjoined, the law will come into effect on January 1 of next year.

Montana lawmakers who passed the bill expressed concerns that TikTok's parent company, the Beijing-based ByteDance, shares data about U.S. users with China. Similar concerns have spurred other states to prohibit use of the app on government-owned devices or public WiFi networks, but Montana is the only state so far to ban the app.

The Montana legislature also accused TikTok of failing to remove “dangerous content” that allegedly encourages young users to engage in risky activity, such as “inducing unconsciousness through oxygen deprivation,” and “cooking chicken in NyQuil.”

TikTok and several users say the law is unconstitutional, arguing that banning a communications platform violates the First Amendment. TikTok also says there is no evidence that its data practices are different from other social platforms'.

TikTok has drawn support from a broad array of organizations, including civil rights groups, tech industry associations, and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

The Reporters Committee said in a friend-of-the-court brief filed last month that TikTok is a critical tool for journalists, arguing that the app's short-form format “makes it a valuable source of firsthand recordings of breaking news events.”

Among other examples, the Reporters Committee noted that the March 3 New Yorkerarticle “Watching the World’s 'First TikTok War'” credited the app with offering some of the first videos of Russia's invasion of the Ukraine.

TikTok's supporters have also argued that much of the “dangerous” material on the app is available on other platforms.

Virginia and the other states counter that TikTok “poses a unique threat to consumers’ privacy and security,” given the app's connection to the Chinese Communist Party.

Molloy is expected to hold a hearing in the matter on October 12.

This year’s holiday shopping season will be driven by Millennial spending, and heavily influenced by social media and streaming, according to a survey by HarrisX for Samba TV’s annual holiday report.

Three-quarters of U.S. adults, and 83% of Millennials, plan to spend the same or more on holiday shopping this year than last year.   

Millennials plan to spend $1,474, on average, exceeding all other age groups by more than $600. Among Millennials planning to spend more than last year, 40% say it’s because they’re in a better financial situation. The average planned spend across all adults is $978, and boomers plan to spend $626. 

Half of all adults plan to do an equal mix of in-store and online shopping. 

Social media and TV ads, along with family and friends, are the top three sources of gift ideas (above).   

Facebook and TikTok are the most influential social sources for Millennials and Gen Zs, respectively: 

More than 80% of the adults use streaming services, while half have a cable or satellite TV subscription. 

Eighty-eight percent of Millennials watch TV on their mobile phones, as do 91% of Zs, 73% of Gen Xers and 43% of boomers. 

Half of adults overall use social media while watching TV, and 33% shop online while watching TV. 

More than a third (37%) of Millennials have used an on-screen QR code to make a purchase from a TV ad, and 85% have made an online purchase on their mobile phones.   

These behaviors underscore the importance of using social and TV ads for effective targeting, and creating attention-grabbing and if possible interactive ads to drive immediate purchases, notes the report.

“Consumer spending is steady despite the economic turmoil, but their approach to buying goods and services this holiday season is increasingly more diverse and disaggregated,” said HarrisX CEO Dritan Nesho. “To reach today’s hyperconnected consumers, retailers need disciplined and persistent multichannel strategies for both advertising and sales. These shoppers increasingly say their buying behavior is influenced as much by social media and streaming as it is by traditional advertising, and they usually partake in digital activities and purchasing concurrently and across multiple screens.”

Other findings:

For the first time in these annual surveys, consumers actually plan to spend more on themselves ($294, on average) than on gifts for their significant others ($197), and just a few dollars less than they plan to spend on children ($299). Average spend on extended family and parents are pegged at $70 and $60, respectively.

Nearly two-thirds (62%) of consumers plan to buy clothing, and 28% plan to spend the most on clothing. The other categories that will generate the most spend include gift cards (55%), toys (38%), jewelry (27%), home electronics (26%), cosmetics (23%), smart phones/tablets and computers (21%) and sporting goods (20%).  

Most consumers are saying they’ll start shopping later this year. More than half (54%) plan to delay their holiday shopping until after Thanksgiving. But again, Millennials are an exception: Fewer than half say they’ll wait until November to start shopping.

Nearly three quarters (70%) of adults overall plan to shop on Black Friday this year, with 34% overall and 48% of Gen Zs saying they’ll shop in-store on that day. 

Fifty-eight percent plan to shop online on Cyber Monday. 

"Most shoppers are planning to delay their holiday shopping until after Thanksgiving, making Black Friday and Cyber Monday crucial days for brands to capture attention and drive conversions this year,” says Ashwin Navin, co-founder and CEO of Samba TV. “And with the bulk of this year’s dollars spent planned for purchases for oneself, consumers are using these holiday sales to get in on deals for themselves.” 

The survey, which has a margin of error of plus/minus 2 percentage points, was conducted Aug. 22-30 with a sample of 2,507 U.S. adults weighted for age, gender, region, race/ethnicity, income, mobile carrier, streaming subscriptions, and party ID to be nationally representative. The sample included 1,043 cord cutters.

Italian gin brand Malfy debuted a new global augmented reality experience: "Escape to a Malfy World."

London-based agency Art of the Possible handled the creative.

Targeting consumers aged 25 to 40 eager for travel and adventure, the experience is inspired by the Amalfi Coast. The new work seeks to bridge the gap between the real world and the heightened reality of imagination.

The AR experience is accessed digitally via a phone or other mobile device when users click a web link, social post or QR code, found on 300,000 bottles, out-of-home and point-of-sale sites worldwide. Influencers are also part of the social mix.

Once activated, users can choose different routes to enjoy various magical settings, each featuring different Malfy images — a beautiful hotel terrace overlooking the sea, enriched by the essence of Malfy Con Arancia, to a swimming pool scene, infused by Malfy Con Limone. 

Darabase built the digital experience.

Carlotta Colkin, global brand director for Malfy, said the work is the first AR experience for a gin brand. The chance to share a "Malfy Moment" via social "further amplifies this magical experience" for fans of the brand.

According to PRISMA's 2022 report of full-year sales and results, the brand grew 285% in its home market of Italy. Malfy, which is positioned as an icon of Italian style, is owned by Pernod Ricard.

Art of the Possible's client work includes Jolt, bibigo, Lamb Weston and Plymouth Gin.

Spafax, an in-flight entertainment company, has launched AdConnect, a self-service media-buying experience that resembles programmatic platforms.

For agencies, AdConnect creates a streamlined process for purchasing airline digital ad spaces, offering varied inventory options with the security of IAB standard digital formats.

Agencies can tailor campaigns to specific demographic profiles, geographic regions and travel class.

Jean-Marc Thomas, managing director APAC at Spafax, said: “Airlines are keen to further monetize their digital channels through brand partnerships and advertising. However, airlines are sensitive to consumer perception and concerned about reputation. AdConnect is more exclusive than typical programmatic platforms. Only agencies and brands that are invited may use it.”

A key element of the platform is the opportunity to navigate the passenger journey across multiple airline touchpoints, such as before and after flights, or during bookings. 

AdConnect utilizes airline websites, mobile apps, notifications, airport lounge screens and onboard IFE systems to help brands leverage visibility. 

Current Spafax clients include Air Canada, British Airways, Emirates, Explora Hotels, jetBlue, LATAM, the Lufthansa Group and Singapore Airlines.

Spafax is owned by the WPP Group.