The past year has been a rollercoaster ride for Australia’s production companies, media agencies and clients and creatives. Set amidst a backdrop of a global pandemic, natural disasters from floods to fires, border closures, and a talent desert, many held on for dear life.

But in amongst the uncertainty, Australia’s creative industry continued to reflect the country’s culture, mood and humour.

As we edge closer to the return of Australia’s richest advertising prize, The State of Originality – Nine’s way of encouraging brand owners and their agencies to bring their best for a chance to win $1 million of inventory across Nine’s vast ecosystem – this Big Ideas Store session takes a deep-dive into what it takes to make an ad a piece of art.

Four great minds in the industry, who are also judges of The State of Originality, join Powered Director Liana Dubois to show and talk us through their favourite ads, giving an insightful commentary into what makes a million dollar advert.

Cindy Gallop, Advertising Consultant and founder of MakeLoveNotPorn; Tara Ford, Chief Creative Officer of The Monkeys; Paul Chappell, Strategic Partner and co-founder of Brand + Story; and Josh Whiteman, Director and co-founder of Brand + Story reveal their thoughts on what it takes to fulfil the six categories to win the prestigious prize – originality, simplicity, strategy, branding, emotion and execution.

“Creativity flourishes with constraint,” said Gallop, a former Advertising Woman of the Year recipient in the US. “I haven’t seen any drop in quality or calibre of advertising even with all the tragedy and very difficult times all around us.”  

Attention in advertising is often the industry’s elephant in the room. With no single metric or industry standard, it’s a jungle out there to try to measure the perfect way to reach an audience and have their brand memorised.

But a ground-breaking study by Nine and research company Amplified Intelligence has revealed new clarity on why attention is so important – and the best explanation may be found by looking at two unlikely animals: a giraffe and hamsters.  

Before we go on safari through the attention animal kingdom, however, Nine’s Director of Effectiveness Jonathan Fox explains why attention is a hot topic.

“Attention is important because of its strong links to business outcomes and it measures the effectiveness of an advert,” said Fox. “Advertisers want more of it, agencies want to find out exactly where it is, and media owners want to make sure they’re selling it at the right price.”

Nine conducted a study with attention research company Amplified Intelligence, which measured three different types of attention: active attention (eyes on screen); passive attention (in proximity but eyes not on screen) and non-attention (not in proximity of the screen).

The study was conducted in 200 households, with a camera placed beneath their televisions and phone cameras accessed to measure 9Now.

“We wanted to see what we could learn scientifically about the quality of our advertising, content, promos and integration across Nine’s assets,” said Fox. “The one thing I want to stress is that this attention study was done with people in the comfort of their own homes and not in a lab.”

The findings discovered that attention all comes down to the environment the viewer is experiencing.

“We found high levels of active attention across 9Now and our TV ad formats,” said Fox. “A 30 second ad on 9Now took out the top spot with a whopping 21.1 seconds of active attention. The exciting news for us is that these high levels of active attention deliver a big impact in both the short term and the long term.”

Amplified Intelligence has found that an ad requires at least three seconds of active attention to access memory and for each additional second beyond this it stays in the memory for about three days. So while social video places brands in the memory for days, TV and BVOD places brands in the memory of consumers for months.

“Nine’s linear TV and 9Now deliver long periods of active attention for advertisers,” said Professor Karen Nelson-Field, who led the study. “Based on the link between attention and memory, this keeps brands in consumers’ minds for longer.”

Short term impact is measured by Short Term Advertising Strength (STAS) – which is the increase in those who decided to purchase a product after ad exposure compared with those that chose to purchase that same brand without ad exposure. Those who saw ads on TV on 9Now chose to purchase that brand 79% more than others in the group.

And this is where the giraffe and hamsters should get some attention.

“You need to buy four social video hamsters to deliver the same short-term impact as one 9Now giraffe,” said Fox. “But the four hamsters only last in the memory for a few days, whereas one 30 second ad on 9Now will stay in the viewers memory for about three months.

“So, to achieve the same impact as a 9Now giraffe you need to buy a lot more social hamsters. In fact, every nine days you’d need to buy four more hamsters over three months.

“And that’s why stacking hamsters doesn’t make a giraffe.”

Human behaviour is the reason why the study found different attention was paid to different platforms. For YouTube on mobile or desktop, the participants’ eyes tended to drop down to the skip button. For TV, viewers tend to be on the sofa, and while there may be distractions, at the very least they’re listening to it. And then there’s 9Now on mobile devices when there’s just the viewer, no distractions and a more intimate one-on-one appointment viewing.

The research also found that longer ads on socials don’t give you more active attention, it gives you more wastage. That stands at odds to TV and BVOD, where putting longer ads on does deliver commensurate active attention. This is related to platform functionality and the role it plays in time-in-view.

“Attention is a proxy for ad effectiveness; more attention delivers disproportionately better outcomes in both the short term and long term,” said Fox. “And Nine’s content and viewing experience delivers market leading attention.”

And, just like the giraffe, sits head and shoulders above the rest when it comes to seeking attention. 

The Influencer market is often derided, but it would be unwise to dismiss their role in today’s marketing ecosystem. From A-list celebrity stars and social media icons to everyday brand fans and micro-influencers, marketers are harnessing the power of digital platforms to find audiences.

But finding the right Influencer is critical for a brand’s campaign to get cut-through. Credibility, authenticity and a firm knowledge of regulatory framework is key. 

A panel containing some of the most powerful people in Influencer marketing, including founder of Sweaty Betty PR and one of Australia’s original influencers Roxy Jacenko; Sharyn Smith from Social Soup and Chair of Australian Influencer and Marketing Council; Head of Branded Content at Powered Studios Jessica Parry; and General Manager of Powered Studios Anna Quinn, tackled some of the issues facing the industry in a session ‘Buying Under the Influence’ at The Big ideas Store.

With the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) recently cracking down on finfluencers — social media influencers who focus on money matters — about their legal obligations around what constitutes financial advice, marketers must do their research on what influencers best suit their brand.  

“We see it as a good thing. More regulation is only going to bring more trust into the industry,” says Sharyn Smith. “Regulation helps build credibility. With ASIC’s [finfluencer crack down], I saw a stat that said a third of all 18 to 21 year olds follow a finfluencer.

“We want to keep financial markets safe and we are working with ASIC to clarify what giving financial advice constitutes. But then…it’s also a good thing that young people can develop financial literacy so we want to find the right way to go about this and I think the industry will evolve and be better for it.”

“The biggest time in influencer marketing is taken up by finding the right influencer; you have to invest the time and money into that, and brand safety comes from if you are in a more regulated environment.”

The relative newness of the category and ongoing changes to regulation can make it a tricky environment to navigate without the expertise. Jessica Parry helps clients navigate through those regulatory areas through her role as Head of Branded Content at Powered and says Influencer marketing is playing catch up to the world of branded content in traditional media.

“We have always abided by regulatory rules in branded content,” says Parry. “We want to work with influencers who understand what they’re talking about, so, yes, great to be an finfluencer but what are your qualifications? How credible are you in the space? We’ll apply the knowledge that we have gained [from branded content], make sure they’re aware of the regulations and then obviously get legal advice if we need it.”

Parry agrees that Influencer selection is key to a successful campaign.

“We look for quality, and if the influencer has 200,000 followers but the content is average that’s not great,” she says. “They have to have quality content, we have to be able to trust that they will produce the content they say they will; engagement is important as is reach obviously, but I think the most important thing for us is to consider the client’s objective.”

For one of Australia’s original Influencers, Roxy Jacenko, ensuring brand safety with the creators she brings on is important – and she offers some sage advice for those wanting to connect with brands.

“There’s been lots of different matters [involving Influencers in media stories] that have come up over the course of the last 24 months, and I think the most important thing to remember as an influencer is to be smart when you’re using social media,” she says.

“I know as someone who employees people, the first thing we do is check on social media to see how they conduct themselves, and how you act on socials is going to affect how you sell yourself into a brand or an agency.”

With consumers demanding authenticity and Influencers that are on the same page as their own ideals and ethics, Sharyn Smith says she is now seeing the rise of the micro-Influencer.

“The smart ones are the ones locking in the brands that they believe in, and that align with their values,” says Smith. “While we all want the bigger Influencers if you want to elevate a brand, the powerhouse is now with the micro-Influencer, which we call the ‘potency’. The potency is in the niche now; we want to move beyond this generalized lifestyle.”

And while Jessica Parry would use micro-Influencers for an FMCG, a recipe or fitness campaign, she says the true power of Influencer marketing can be illustrated through harnessing the power of Nine’s suite of assets.

“I see Nine as the ultimate macro-influencer because we have so many brands that can communicate to different audiences,” says Parry. “We consider our audience, and the client expectation. We have that advantage of taking a soundbite from Instagram and expanding it in such greater detail across our assets. Where applicable we’ll use Nine talent and mix that up with Influencer talent.”