Brand Fame Uncovered: Storm unveils landmark research on Brand Fame in DOOH

• Brand Fame Uncovered succinctly defines Brand Fame from a consumer and expert perspective for the very first time.

• Premium digital Out of Home, such as Storm, is revealed to drive all fame metrics.

• Premium digital Out of Home is found to be the second most appropriate media channel for famous brands.

Storm, Clear Channel UK’s premium digital brand, has unveiled results of a groundbreaking study on Brand Fame in digital Out of Home (DOOH) advertising at an event in central London.

The research, Brand Fame Uncovered, is the first of its kind and examined what Brand Fame means to both marketing experts and consumers. The study used a series of tests to provide detailed insight into consumers’ conscious and unconscious beliefs about Brand Fame – and to establish if Premium DOOH, such as Storm, delivers it.

Working in partnership with consumer insight experts Cog research, the first stage of the project sought to establish a common definition of Brand Fame.

Defining Brand Fame:

Storm and Cog worked with Bournemouth University’s Associate Professor of Marketing Science, Dr Stuart Armon, to conduct a detailed review of academic literature on Brand Fame to isolate key attributes associated with Brand Fame. A survey of over 1,000 members of the public then established the qualities that consumers associate with famous brands.

The result was the first ever clear and succinct definition of Brand Fame from both a consumer, and an expert perspective:

Testing consumers’ unconscious associations with Brand Fame (System 1)

The second phase of the research used a series of scientific tests to establish the strength of consumers’ association between Premium DOOH and Brand Fame.

A first test measured 1,000 consumers’ unconscious responses (“System 1”) to brands on Premium DOOH using a process known as Implicit Response Testing (IRT). Participants were split into three groups: Group 1 were exposed to video stimulus of a series of brands on premium DOOH; Group 2 were exposed to video stimulus of brands on Digital 48-sheets; while a Control Group were not shown any video stimulus.

Results demonstrated that seeing a brand on Premium DOOH increased consumers’ positive association with Brand Fame metrics by 12% over the Control Group. Exposure to a brand on a Digital 48-sheet was found to increase positive association by 6% over control.

The positive uplift was universal across all categories with especially strong uplift for fashion, motoring and premium alcohol brands.

Testing consumers’ conscious associations with Brand Fame

A second consumer test used a method known as Max Diff Testing to establish consumers’ conscious responses to Brand Fame. Max Diff Testing takes into account participant’s preconceived and rational feelings about brands.

1,000 participants were shown six famous brands and asked to select the most and least appropriate media channel for them to advertise on from a list of eight media types: Press, Premium DOOH, TV, Radio, Digital 48-sheets, Magazine, Cinema and Online.

Overall, consumers rated Premium DOOH the second most appropriate media for premium brands to advertise on behind TV, with Digital 48-sheets ranking third.

Storm: Delivering Brand Fame

Qualitative results from test participants specifically praised Storm’s super premium sites’ ability to deliver Brand Fame, describing the sites as “eye-catching”, “grand and iconic” and “portraying brands as premium”.

Conclusions:

Brand Fame Uncovered has, for the first time, defined Brand Fame from an expert and consumer perspective: “Famous brands are powerful, premium and iconic. They’re highly visible, people talk about them and they are seen as being creative.”

Premium DOOH such as Storm drives all fame metrics when testing the unconscious brain.

When testing the conscious brain, it was found that consumers believe that after TV, premium DOOH such as Storm is the most appropriate channel for famous brands to be seen on.

“We are so excited to be launching this landmark piece of research today”, said Aimee Mckay, Managing Director of Storm.

“We already know that Brand Fame creates an emotional connection between advertisers and consumers that ultimately drives long-term brand building and profitability. Brand Fame Uncovered is the first time that Brand Fame has ever been conclusively defined. It is also the first time that rigorous, scientific tests have been used to provide conclusive evidence that consumers believe that premium digital Out of Home delivers brand fame for advertisers.”