To add a performance layer to TV advertising, Float measured immediate impact by analyzing website analytics within the 15-minute window directly following a TV spot's airing. This provided near real-time data on whether a commercial drove immediate action, boosting confidence in the channel.
Related Insights
Tushy actively measures the cross-channel impact of its advertising, discovering that top-of-funnel channels like Linear TV drive a greater sales lift on Amazon than digital channels like Meta. This is attributed to the demographic overlap between Linear TV viewers and typical Amazon Prime shoppers.
Cookie deprecation blinds ad platforms like Google and Meta to on-site conversion quality. Marketers can gain a significant performance edge by creating a feedback loop, pushing their attributed first-party data (like lifetime value and margins) back into the platforms' AI systems in near real-time.
Tushy's out-of-home truck campaign isn't a 'spray and pray' tactic. The trucks use GPS and geofencing to ping nearby mobile device IDs. These IDs are then matched to home IP addresses to track subsequent website visits, providing directional data on the campaign's effectiveness and demystifying OOH measurement.
To prove marketing's ROI, run geo-fenced ad campaigns targeted at a specific set of retail locations. By comparing sales in these "test" stores against a control group of similar stores, you can measure the direct, incremental sales lift caused by your creative, providing black-and-white accountability.
New measurement tools are moving beyond probabilistic models (guessing based on IP/device) to deterministic view-through attribution. By using first-party data like platform logins, marketers can now directly match an ad impression to a purchase, solving a major measurement challenge.
Instead of relying on vague brand metrics, Float measured the success of its billboard campaigns by observing the direct lift in its performance marketing. Demo requests, website visits, and even Google and LinkedIn ad performance all increased by 30-50% during and after the OOH flights.
Moving beyond basic attribution, LinkedIn's new Conversion Lift Testing tool measures the causal impact of campaigns. It compares conversions between an ad-exposed group and a control group that saw no ads, allowing marketers to determine the true incremental value generated by their advertising.
Shift the mindset from a brand vs. performance dichotomy. All marketing should be measured for performance. For brand initiatives, use metrics like branded search volume per dollar spent to quantify impact and tie "fluffy" activities to tangible growth outcomes.
The next major shift in ad tech is performance-based CTV. This merges the attention of linear TV with the accountability of digital media, allowing advertisers to tie ad spend directly to outcomes like sales—a revolutionary change from traditional television's limitations.
Traditional ad testing relies on surveys, which are unreliable as respondents may not be truthful or self-aware. A more predictive method is to measure actual consumer behaviors like attention and emotional response using neuroscience and AI. These are more direct indicators of an ad's potential sales impact.
