How to create strong ad campaigns across multiple screens

Marketing teams are still not joining the dots when it comes to planning, producing and measuring ad campaigns. People no longer consume media in a linear, predictable way, yet advertising and marketing professionals still tend to treat each platform as a separate silo. Evaluating the effectiveness of a TV ad alone, for example, won’t tell you much about the impact of a campaign as a whole.

To create campaigns that achieve brand objectives, we must mirror the way people live now: interacting with multiple screens over the course of a day. According to our AdReaction research, the typical UK multi-screen user consumes almost seven hours of screen media each day, including 148 minutes on TV, 111 minutes on their smartphone, 97 minutes on laptops and 55 minutes on tablets. Nearly a third of that time (32%) is spent watching TV and using a digital device simultaneously.

Understanding and connecting with consumers is impossible without taking an integrated approach. The challenge here is that we can’t predict or control how or when consumers will encounter ads, and therefore the different brand elements and messages they deliver. But what we can do is plan for optimum concurrence, which means knowing target consumers very well and understanding their behaviours: which platforms do they use, when and in what order?

According to our research, smartphones and laptops are used most during the day, while TV dominates in the evening. We also examined what’s driving consumers when they use multiple screens simultaneously. UK consumers spend 7% of their screen time “meshing” – for example, looking for content online that relates to a magazine ad they’ve seen – and 25% “stacking”, for instance, browsing Facebook with the TV on in the background.

This knowledge enables advertisers to maximise the effect of advertising by building on a creative idea that’s flexible across all platforms and optimising the media plan to construct a cohesive brand experience across multiple screens. While all screens can achieve brand-building tasks, different screens do imply certain attributes and can play specific roles: TV, for example, is generally best at generating salience or awareness, while mobile ads perform well on communicating messaging and motivating purchase intent.

The outcome is a seamless journey across screens, with messages that are blended and executed together, and content that is contextualised on each platform.

Keeping in tune with consumers

Research plays a crucial part in this process. It’s essential to check in with the consumer at three key points to establish how well the creative content is resonating, and if the campaign is on track to achieve return on investment.

1. The early stage
To help refine plans, research can be used to identify the most potent combination of creative and channels. An approach that combines direct questioning with neuroscience and qualitative methods will provide a really deep analysis of what’s most effective. An example of this methodology would be asking consumers about the ad, using facial coding to measure people’s expressions when they watch it, as well as exploring consumers’ wider views through in-depth focus groups. This will answer critical questions such as whether the campaign will drive brand predisposition now and into the future, and how both creative and media composition can be optimised to ensure overall campaign success.

2. Just before the ads go out
A final check using quantitative direct measurement (for example, offering a range of answers to the question: how will the advert affect your use of this brand?) provides assurance that the creative will deliver against the task, as well as measuring brand predisposition, associations and engagement with consumers ahead of launch. Is the ad connecting emotionally? Will the creative be noticed and remembered? How could campaign composition be optimised to ensure reach and engagement?

3. Post-campaign
Impact should be measured in a way that tracks performance concurrently, across all touchpoints, and links back to sales and the brand. Media effects need to be disentangled to understand what each channel added, and how they worked together. It’s equally as important to measure consumers’ attitudes and opinions as behaviour; this will tell you what part your creative and media choices played in people’s purchase decisions, and the residual long-term effect they will have on the brand.

As consumers become harder to reach, the need to develop more personalised campaigns becomes increasingly essential. This calls for getting the right creative across the screen at the right time, working to an integrated media plan, and using research to listen to the consumer’s voice at key stages.

The brand-building benefits to be gained from this approach to planning and running a campaign are far reaching. Not only will it help marketers execute ads that engage consumers – rather than interrupting them with a potentially fragmented coincidence of messages – it will also provide a holistic view of performance they can use to more effectively co-ordinate the various agency partners involved in implementing the strategy and campaign.

Amanda Phillips is head of UK marketing at Millward Brown

More like this

Maths marketing: why modern ad agencies need mathletes
Eleven ways marketing and ads can stay creative in today’s climate
What Albrecht Dürer can teach content marketers

To get weekly news analysis, job alerts and event notifications direct to your inbox, sign up free for Media Network membership.

All Guardian Media Network content is editorially independent except for pieces labelled “Brought to you by” – find out more here.