Online Banner Ads as Effective as Television Ads in Building Brand Awareness, New Ipsos-ASI Research Confirms

Business Wire, Feb 17, 1999

NORWALK, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 17, 1999--

Ipsos-ASI Announces First Syndicated Research Database

to Measure Online Advertising Effectiveness

Ipsos-ASI, the worldwide leader in advertising market research for both television and the Internet, today released a new research study indicating that online banner advertisements are as effective as television advertisements in their ability to significantly increase consumer awareness of brands.

According to the research, the recall level of an online banner ad is equivalent to that of a television ad when measured for immediate recall, the industry norm for online advertising. The data shows that 40% of the respondents who view a static online banner ad will remember it, as compared to 41% of those who view a 30-second television commercial.

Marianne Foley, Senior Vice President of Ipsos-ASI Interactive, said: "This new study underscores the effectiveness of the Internet as an advertising medium, and demonstrates the value of online advertising to today's marketers. Given this research, we believe that more and more advertisers and agencies will take an active role in exploring the online medium and discovering the benefits to them."

This is the first significant finding of a landmark research study analyzing the effectiveness of online banner advertising, and comparing their impact to traditional television advertising. Other important yardsticks, including persuasion and brand imagery, will be analyzed and reported in future months.

Myer Berlow, AOL's Senior Vice President for Interactive Marketing, said: "Not only is this first major research study in which TV and online have been looked at using parallel methodology, it begins to answer one of the most frequently-asked questions among advertisers as to whether the online medium is an effective way to market their brands."

Berlow continued: "While comparisons to other media are extremely important to the advertising community, we believe that online advertising is even more effective than television advertising using other effectiveness measurements. No other medium allows advertisers the opportunity to immediately capture the attention of active and engaged consumers; to provide them with more information about their product or service; and to complete transactions. This is one of online's real competitive strengths over print and television advertising, and one that cannot be duplicated in the 'off-line' world."

Ipsos-ASI has been testing advertising in various media, and developing proven, effective testing models for more than thirty years. In addition to its television market research, which is widely accepted as the most trusted in the industry, the company has established itself as one of the nation's leading Interactive market research firms.

To date, Ipsos-ASI researchers have conducted "independent" tests on more than 300 online ads.

Among the more than 40 companies participating in this research study are many of the nation's leading marketers: Kraft, Barnes & Noble, Ralston-Purina, Prudential Insurance, The Gap, Godiva Chocolatier, Century 21 and Levi Strauss & Co.

"What gives these findings potency is the enormous database of research that Ipsos-ASI and AOL have been aggressively building," said Mark Witzling, Director of Marketing, Purina Interactive, Ralston Purina Company. "It is giant leap forward for the entire advertising community -- something that needed to be done for a long time."

About the AOL/Ipsos-ASI Online Database

This research is based on the mid-year results of the AOL/Ipsos-ASI Online database, the first syndicated and most robust online research database in existence today. Ipsos-ASI has been collaborating with Internet online leader America Online on the development of the project since June 1998.

Similar to the well-known television research database launched by Ipsos-ASI more than thirty years ago, the AOL/Ipsos-ASI Online Database will allow advertisers the opportunity to measure the effectiveness of banner ads against important benchmark research.

Using the Online Database, advertisers will be able to measure against comparative norms the creative execution, as well as recall and persuasion levels of their online banner ads before introducing the ads to consumers.

Marianne Foley said: "Although hundreds of independent tests have been conducted by Ipsos-ASI and other market research firms on a variety of online advertising topics, no known single database of information exists against which interactive marketers can test the effectiveness of their ads. This makes the AOL/Ipsos-ASI Online Database one of the most valuable advertising measurement tools available today."

To date, Ipsos-ASI researchers have tested more than 45 banner ads on approximately 7,000 randomly recruited consumers in various content and chat areas of the AOL service and AOL.COM. Before May 1999, approximately 200 banner ads will be tested with approximately 30,000 AOL and AOL.COM users, with all results archived by Ipsos-ASI in a single database for continued future research and analysis.