Q&A: Scott Megginson On Reaching Consumers Online

July 28th, 2015 | Matthew Chung, Manager, Communications and Content

Scott Megginson
Scott Megginson

With his access to a trove of 10,000 measured digital campaigns and more than 2,000 creative tests, Millward Brown Canada President Scott Megginson has a firm grasp of what works online and what doesn’t. Megginson, who hosted a webinar at ACA’s offices last week, sat down for a Q&A to discuss strategies for digital success.

Q1: What is the biggest mistake online marketers commit?

A1: Although this might sound self-serving, I feel that many clients do not put the same rigour behind developing and validating their digital creative and media with consumers as they do with other forms of media. Online advertising spend has apparently surpassed television here in the past couple of years but research budgets seem to reflect more of the previous media reality. If I was putting more eggs in the digital basket, I wouldn’t accept the old “50% of my advertising works, but I’m not sure which half’’ attitude. In this climate of efficiency and ROI focus, there is no need for this. There are many options to approach testing and measurement – not just with Millward Brown, but throughout the industry.

Q2: You noted in your presentation that when it comes to campaign effectiveness, the “power of creative” outweighs the “influence of media delivery. » What are some suggestions to help measure and enhance digital advertising through media effectiveness?

A2: That is an observation from our Global analysts. If the creative misses the mark, it is hard to buy your way to effectiveness. It’s preferable to start with strong and validated creative. If advertisers adjusted their budgets to test and track the effectiveness of digital media proportionally to the amount of digital spend in their budgets, it would be a great starting point. We all need to keep learning as we go.

Q3: Can you expand on how marketers can ensure their creative doesn’t miss the mark? Obviously different challenges exist in online advertising, so what are some tactics that marketers should avoid and what have you seen work well?

A3: We have so many learnings on this, but I can start with a few.

Our eye tracking research suggests that for display ads you have under three seconds to deliver something personally relevant, emotionally resonant or distinctive, and connect that association to your brand. You will also benefit from leveraging brand assets, like logos, colours, and slogans. Synergy with offline campaigns will also help to bring your consumer to your brand and you can avoid clutter by using expandable or interactive ads that allow consumers to find more information.

Some general learnings for in-stream are to introduce the brand from the beginning of the ad, and keep it present — reveal ads do not perform well in this medium. Use a companion banner ad with in-stream, and keep it short. Mobile display should not simply be reformatted, as so much can be missed on the smaller screen.

For more insights from Scott Megginson, ACA Members can review his presentation slides used during the ACA Webinar – Optimize Your Digital Strategies.