SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--IPG Media Lab, the creative technology arm of IPG Mediabrands, in partnership with Immersion Corp. (NASDAQ: IMMR) today announced the results of a scientific media trial examining the impact of touch-enabled advertising created with haptic technology. The resulting report, Ads You Can Feel: The New Mobile Experience, shares best practices, findings and insights on leveraging users’ senses, including sight, sound, motion, and now, touch, to create visceral mobile experiences. Over the course of the study, touch-enabled ads from a wide array of industry sectors, including automotive, hospitality and food & beverage were used to test consumers’ reaction to the experience.
The study of Immersion’s haptic technology, which enables users to feel touch effects on digital devices, found that adding touch to ads increases engagement and users’ sense of connection with a brand. Among the most notable findings is that haptic technology elicits a strong emotional response, particularly increasing levels of happiness and excitement. In the study, a standard video ad achieved happiness and excitement levels of 37% and 30%, respectively. Haptic video advertisements, or TouchSense® Ads, saw upticks in both categories at 44% and 38%. Moreover, this outcome created a halo effect on the brand, generating a +6% increase in perceptions that the brand itself is exciting because haptics were added.
"The connection between touch and emotion is universally understood as an innate part of how people perceive the world around them. Using touch in ads shows advertisers how they can leverage this part of the human sensory experience," said Dmitry Lipkin, senior director, global marketing at Immersion. “By partnering with IPG Media Lab for this media trial, we’re able to demonstrate the advertising value of haptic technology across a variety of sectors, and how brands can leverage this technology to create deeper, more meaningful consumer experiences.”
In an ever-fragmented consumer landscape, brands are still determining how to best leverage technology and enable user interactivity. This served as the key element behind the launch of the media trial, which used seven distinctive ad types across two variant modes (skippable and non-skippable) to measure engagement and connectivity levels of haptic technology.
Leading brands from a range of industry verticals, such as BMW, Royal Caribbean, Arby’s, and Truvia participated in this innovative media trial.
“The results of our trial clearly demonstrate the significance and power of incorporating another sense, specifically touch, in advertising,” said Kara Manatt, SVP, Intelligence Solutions Strategy at MAGNA. “It’s exciting to uncover this unique and innovative technology for our clients, which can provide instrumental value in the mobile ad space.”
Key Highlights Include:
- Haptic technology creates a more emotional experience, leading to consumers feeling more “excited” and “happy” during ad exposure.
- Engaging the sense of touch drives a 62% increase in feelings of connection with the advertised brand, which is often very difficult for marketers to do.
- Ultimately, adding haptics to video ads leads to a 50% lift in brand favorability, which equals 68% cost savings over the cost of increasing brand favorability using ads without haptic technology.
- Effectiveness of haptics spans across standard demographics, even driving purchase intent among the hard to influence (potential new customers). However, it’s important to note that early tech adopters are especially responsive to ads enabled with touch technology.
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Best practices for implementing haptics include:
- Notifying consumers up front that the ad is enabled with touch technology.
- More specifically, using a notification without branding from the advertiser, so as not to provide an ad prompt before the ad itself has a chance to engage consumers.
- Don’t overdo it. Less is often more when it comes to this new technology. Don’t overwhelm consumers with overly high levels of haptic feedback.
In conducting the media trial, a total of 1,137 Android users were recruited from a representative online panel and were asked to take a mobile survey. The survey directed participants to a media experience of their choosing, where they were able to view a webpage and watch video content. Each participant was randomized into a test cell that determined what type of pre-roll ad appeared prior to the content. Passive data collection took place during the ad experience, such as completion rates, time in view, etc. Afterwards, participants completed a survey that measured traditional branding metrics and qualitative feedback.
About IPG Media Lab:
The IPG Media Lab is the creative technology arm of IPG Mediabrands. Equal parts think tank, real-world proving ground, and change enabler, we provide agencies and media operators with the power to harness emerging communication opportunities by offering expertise, resources and consulting services tailored to drive quantifiable outcomes, learnings and strategies. The IPG Media Lab is part of IPG Mediabrands, the media innovation and investment arm of IPG. For more information, please visit www.ipglab.com or follow @ipglab.
About MAGNA:
MAGNA is the centralized IPG Mediabrands resource that develops intelligence, investment and innovation strategies for agency teams and clients. We utilize our insights, forecasts and strategic relationships to provide clients with a competitive marketplace advantage.
MAGNA harnesses the aggregate power of all IPG media investments to create leverage in the market, negotiate preferred pricing and secure premium inventory to drive maximum value for our clients. The MAGNA Investment and Innovation teams architect go-to-market investment strategies across all channels including linear television, print, digital and programmatic on behalf of IPG clients. The team focuses on the use of emerging media opportunities, as well as data and technology-enabled solutions to drive optimal client performance and business results.
MAGNA Intelligence has set the industry standard for more than 60 years by predicting the future of media value. The MAGNA Intelligence team produces more than 40 annual reports on audience trends, media spend and market demand as well as ad effectiveness.
About Immersion:
Immersion (NASDAQ: IMMR) is the world leading innovator of touch feedback technology, also known as haptics. The company provides technology solutions for creating immersive and realistic experiences that enhance digital interactions by engaging users' sense of touch. With more than 2,300 issued or pending patents, Immersion's technologies have been adopted in more than 3 billion digital devices. The company provides haptics in mobile, automotive, gaming, medical and consumer electronics. Immersion is headquartered in San Jose, California with offices worldwide. Learn more at www.immersion.com
Forward-Looking Statements:
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties, as well as assumptions that, if they never materialize or prove incorrect, could cause the results of Immersion Corporation and its consolidated subsidiaries to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.
All statements, other than the statements of historical fact, are statements that may be deemed forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, statements regarding the benefits and capabilities of Immersion's haptic technology or TouchSense Ads and statements that with Immersion's haptic technology or TouchSense Ads, mobile ads and brand experiences perform better on key metrics such as brand sentiment, brand favorability, and purchase intent.
Immersion's actual results might differ materially from those stated or implied by such forward-looking statements due to risks and uncertainties associated with Immersion's business, which include, but are not limited to, the risk that competing technologies may reduce demand for Immersion's haptic technology; unanticipated difficulties and challenges encountered in product development efforts by Immersion and its licensees; unanticipated difficulties and challenges encountered in implementation efforts by Immersion's licensees; adverse outcomes in any future intellectual property-related litigation and the costs related thereto; the effects of the current macroeconomic climate; and delay in or failure to achieve commercial demand for Immersion's products or third-party products incorporating Immersion's technologies. Many of these risks and uncertainties are beyond the control of Immersion.
For a more detailed discussion of these factors, and other factors that could cause actual results to vary materially, interested parties should review the risk factors listed in Immersion's most current Form 10-K and Form 10-Q, both of which are on file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements in this press release reflect Immersion's beliefs and predictions as of the date of this release. Immersion disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements as a result of financial, business, or any other developments occurring after the date of this release.
The use of the words "partner" or “partnership” in this press release does not mean a legal partner or partnership.
TouchSense, Immersion, and the Immersion logo are trademarks of Immersion Corporation in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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