Who won the Mail? #5
Have you ever wondered which ads placed in the national newspapers are the most effective at engaging readers? Newsline has partnered with Lumen Research to find out.
Perhaps taking advantage of growing public distrust of the big energy companies, sustainable alternative SSE has won this week’s most effective ad in the Daily Mail with a full page spread promising no energy price rises before 2016.
As the big six come under investigation for alleged price fixing, the Scottish energy company’s ad grabbed the attention of 90% of Mail readers with its clear, simple message – securing an average dwell time of three seconds.
The results are determined using eye-tracking technology that measures how long somebody looks at an ad, where the eyes go to first, and which parts are most popular.
Aside from the simplicity of the design, the ad’s success could also be attributed to a ‘PR effect’, with Thursday’s edition of the Mail featuring a number of articles about the issue of energy prices.
“This could point to the way in which PR amplifies the attention that advertising gets in a newspaper,” said Lumen founder, Mike Follett. “It’s a media effect that is rarely discussed, but may be a hidden extra benefit of press as a media.”
Gaze paths reveal that readers were first drawn to the bold text at the top of the page, followed by the company logo, the second-largest text and then the small print.
