Mimieo testing effectiveness of Oscar trailers, ads
February 20, 2008
I want to thank my mom, my iPhone …
Interactive marketing technology firm Mimieo is letting consumers vote on movie trailers for Oscar-nominated films using the iPhone, Facebook and the site at www.VoteOscarAds.com.
Leading up to the Feb. 24 broadcast of the Academy Awards on the ABC network, participants will be asked whether they thought a certain trailer was entertaining and whether an ad made them more or less likely to see the film. The results will be used to create real-time movie rankings on the Vote Oscar Ads site.
“Our goal is to provide insight into advertising effectiveness by measuring both the entertainment and marketing value of commercials,” said Glenn Allison, chief marketing officer of Mimieo, Evanston, IL.
Votes are currently still being collected, with responses to date indicating that the ads for the films “There Will Be Blood,” “Into the Wild,” “American Gangster,” “Gone Baby Gone” and “Charlie Wilson’s War” ranking the highest in terms of entertainment and marketing value.
Also, Mimieo will be conducting research on the commercials televised during the Oscars broadcast. Advertisers will spend up to $1.6 million per 30-second spot on ABC’s Oscars broadcast, rivaling the price tag for commercials airing during Super Bowl XLII.
Advertisers such as General Motors Corp., Unilever, Procter & Gamble Co., J.C. Penney, MasterCard and Coca-Cola Co. are expected to participate in Mimieo’s Oscars commercials-testing effort.
Mimieo’s first pilot was during the Feb. 3 Super Bowl XLII, with more than 10,000 polls completed during a two-day period.
“We believe the fast adoption rate we have seen is due in part to the multiple platforms we provide to people,” Mr. Allison said. “We allow users to provide feedback using Facebook [and] mobile devices such as the iPhone and the Web.
“By making it easy for people to provide feedback, we hope to continue to increase the number of participants in our polls,” he said.
This research is claimed as unique because the data is collected from mobile devices and the Web, simultaneously shedding light on the measurement of the entertainment and marketing value of ads.
“The use of Mimieo provides companies with a channel for performing focus-group testing in real-time across multiple audiences,” Mr. Allison said. “One of the benefits of our technology is the ease of use.
“During our Super Bowl polling we had people responding to our polls from parties, sports bars, homes and around the world,” he said. “We plan on continuing our development in this area so we can open up new channels of communication.”
One of the findings from the Super Bowl polling was the identification of a gap. Findings from a recent Mimieo study showed some advertisers, such as Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment with the Iron Man trailer, ranked highest in entertainment, but lower in marketing score.
Alternatively, advertisers such as Universal Pictures with the “Wanted” trailer, ranked higher in marketing score, but lower in entertainment score.
The study revealed more viewers found the “Iron Man” trailer to be entertaining, but when it came down to the ad’s ability to influence preference for a brand, the Wanted movie had the higher score.
“Part of this comes down to the goals of the organization,” Mr. Allison said. “Is the goal to provide entertaining ads? Is the goal to provide ads that increase preference for a particular brand? Or is the goal to provide an ad that is entertaining and increases preference for the brand?
“By performing focus group polling with Mimieo, marketers will have the capability of measuring their performance with their strategic goals,” he said.