Advertising in 10 Seconds or Less

Advertisers looking to maximize the exposure of their products and services often resort to tagging short, 10-second spots onto longer advertisements. The nature and length of tags are varied: some feature a second product (often a new one); some talk about retail distribution ("Buy this and all of our fine products at..."); and some offer a limited-time promotion ("look for the specially marked packages..."). Sometimes the tag is clearly separate from the original execution, but other times it may just look like one more point about the product. Do either work? Not often.

Any ad, in order to break through to consumers, has to have good quality creative. The quality of the creative is no doubt compromised in a 10-second ad, whether the tag-on is a condensed iteration of a longer ad or a stand-alone short spot: How much of a story can you tell in 10 seconds or less?

Advertisers typically have to shorten the ad that the mini-ad is being tagged to, sometimes making the previously full-length spot less effective. And while savvy advertisers will copy test the new base brand spot, they typically don't retest it to ensure that recall levels for the base brand don't slip once it's been shortened.

Further, because a tag is an add-on to an ad that is a little bit longer, say a 20- or 25-second spot, if that introductory ad doesn't break through, chances are the tag won't either. It's difficult enough for advertisers to capture the attention of the consumer in the first 15–20 seconds; the consumer is highly unlikely to reconnect for the last 10 seconds. With mini-ads, it's double or nothing.

Another pitfall with tags is that they can be added on to ads that are already worn out. If the customer is tired of the first 20 seconds of ad, they're not going to tune in for the last 10 seconds. Despite the best planning, it's impossible to tell when the creative will go stale. Some tags seem to get lost, sometimes because the ad is no longer holding viewers' attention at the end, other times because there is no clear logical or creative connection to the rest of the ad. Tags can create confusion if the change of subject is not clear, if product news in the tag is more interesting than the main product copy, or if viewers were not sure what was being advertised in the first place.

Ipsos ASI's research has shown that ads for new line extensions have the best ability to break through because line extensions are news. A recent study comparing ads for fast-moving consumer goods line extensions showed using a full 30-second spot to deliver news was more successful in terms of consumer recall than ads that were 10 seconds or less. Plus, provided the ad had good creative quality and broke through, the awareness level in the market place for the new line extension met or exceeded expectations.

In the case of tags for new line extensions, we found that the ads don't break through and the awareness level is below expectations. Any awareness for that new line extension was from in-store exposure, as opposed to TV creative, whereas if a new line extension was given a full 30-second spot, most of the awareness came from television first, and then additional awareness was generated in-store.

The next stage of our research analyzed line extensions only supported by magazine, outdoor, or street-level poster media advertising. Of course, the reach of these media is much lower than television, but even so, awareness levels were below expectations. For those brands that advertised both on television and in secondary media, the secondary media provided incremental awareness, but most awareness of that brand came from the TV spot. So don't expect secondary media to be your primary source of awareness either.

The best use of tags is to support related products where the additional product news contributes to a stronger message or more complete proposition and is designed to fit with the rest of the ad, but is differentiated clearly enough to avoid confusion. When done well and appropriately, mini-ads can effectively and economically introduce a line extension while reinforcing the base brand. This might be the appropriate tactic for a chewing gum manufacturer introducing a new flavor, or a frozen food producer offering a new size range, where the new product is a simple point of qualification from the base brand. And the best practice would be to test the ad with the tag in place as intended for air. Advertisers can test the tagged ad as they would any spot for the featured product, and in many cases, add measures to evaluate the effectiveness of the tagged feature as well. But when an advertiser has bigger news, a 30-second spot will better reward the investment.