Who won the Metro?
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.
It’s like Christmas 2009 all over again when Asda nabbed one of Sainsbury’s classic slogans. Remember? When good food cost less at Asda (instead of Sainsbury’s) and Christmas was practically ruined? No? Well the cheeky price-busting supermarket has only bloody gone and done it again.
While this year’s Christmas remains safe (for now), Asda’s headline thievery managed to win it this week’s top spot in Who won the Metro?, with an impressive 96% of readers engaging with the ad for a total of five seconds – that’s 2.3 seconds above the norm.
Asda’s clever advertising also meant that 60% of respondents were able to recall the ad. Ka-ching!
According to Lumen, the high engagement was down to the simple design with concise text. The ad also complies with the top left to bottom right viewing pattern, which Lumen has observed across a range of print ads.
“There is a constant evaluation between effort spent and interesting information gained – an effort-boredom trade-off,” said Lumen.
“This means that, in general, the further down the gaze path we travel the less attention a feature gets. This is why it’s important to design for time not space.”
Despite achieving both a solid standout and engagement, Lumen said that the ad might have performed better still if the headline was positioned above the newspaper.
(Or if it was a Waitrose ad.)
Asda’s sneak tactic, by using the headline for their own means, takes advantage of something called ‘authority bias’.
Lumen explains that heuristics are mental shortcuts our brain uses to save us time. Authority statements, such as “2 out of 3 doctors recommend…,” work by playing to our subconscious tendency to obey authority.
“In this case, Sainsbury’s is indirectly suggesting that ASDA is the ‘authority’ on low prices by citing ASDA as the ‘value benchmark’,” said Lumen.
“Sainsbury’s aim to compete with ASDA’s low prices legitimises that idea that ASDA are seen as the ‘authority on low prices’.”
According to Robert Cialdini, professor of psychology and marketing at Arizona State University, adverts with an authority figure are significantly more influencing.