Using Display Ads to Attract an Audience to Cinemas After Quarantine

YouTube

The key instrument for our media strategy was YouTube. We used In-stream and Bumper Ads formatsー classic media communication that allows you to build a sequence of contacts with one user at a frequency of 4+. At the same time, this instrument accounted for only 45% of the allocated budget in the media split.The In-stream format acted as the core of all communication, and YouTube Bumper Ads was a "catch-up" tool that encouraged user action.

VISUALIZATION OF THE 43-SECOND YOUTUBE IN-STREAM AND BUMPER ADS SHOW SEQUENCE

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YouTube In-stream

YouTube Bumper Ads

YouTube In-Stream

In the YouTube In-stream format, we launched creatives in rotation in two formats: 15 and 43-second video clips.

ACCORDING TO THE RESULTS OF THE FIRST WEEK OF THE CAMPAIGN, THE VTR INDICATORS FOR THE VIDEOS WERE:

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15-second video 46%

43-second video 44%

Based on our experience, the VTR benchmark for this video content format is 25-27%.

VTR (view-through rate) = (View/Show)*100%

Viewing ー continuous 30-second video playback (in case the video is shorter than 30 seconds ー viewing to the end), or interaction with video content.

YOUTUBE CAMPAIGN RESULTS FOR THE FIRST WEEK:

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Why Were The Results Of This Campaign So Good?

• Engaging content and creativity.

We received a high indicator of audience engagement: most users had watched the video to the end. CTR of 0.32% for each video was another indirect proof of audience interest, with the internal benchmark being around 0.15-0.18%.

CTR (click-through-rate) ー click-through rate, which tells you how many people who saw the video clicked on the link.
CTR = (Clicks/Shows)*100%

• Effective targeting.

Even though most of the population goes to the cinema for entertainment, we needed to single out the users to whom the advertisement would be relevant for display. We divided the targeting into six groups. Two groups included Google standard audiences, and the rest were specific audiences by keywords or sites.Audiences from Google’s standard library were split by movie and TV genres.

EXAMPLE OF THE AUDIENCE BY MOVIE GENRE:

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Specific keyword audiences were split into audiences with general queries (e.g., "movie tickets," "movie schedule") and audiences with specific needs for movies relevant at the time of the search (e.g., premieres and movies on air).

At the same time, we worked with keywords by competitors and gathered one special audience by the type of sites that users visit. This audience included competitors' sites.

YouTube Bumper Ads

At Bumper Ads, we used two audiences for targeting:

• users who have already seen the In-stream video;

• users from the MULTIPLEX contact database.

The task was to get a repeat contact with the "hot" audience at the frequency of 4+.

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Creatives format YouTube Bumper Ads

YouTube campaign results

A snapshot of the YouTube campaign results for the month showed that the VTR for a 15-second video increased to 48%, and for a 43-second ー to 45%.

MONTHLY YOUTUBE CAMPAIGN RESULTS:

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Facebook

Facebook was used as a tool for additional audience reach. Based on our expertise, about 20% of the Facebook audience are not YouTube users or do not see Google Display Network ads. Using this platform allowed us to reach this target audience as well as to make contact with the audience which intersects at frequencies 5-7.Additionally, we launched a video with the ThruPlay procurement model and static banners in rotation.

ThruPlay is an option for optimizing and billing video ads for the purpose of "Watching Videos".

Example of creatives for a Facebook campaign

Results of Facebook campaigns

We managed to get 8 772 030 impressions, reaching 2 073 975 users at frequency 4:

• In ThruPlay campaigns, we received 2 150 503 impressions, 162 663 of which were views, and reached 960 271 users.

• Additionally, static banners collected positive feedback.

Examples of feedback on Facebook campaign ads

Google Display Network

GDN played the role of a reminder tool. We used an audience similar to YouTube, which gave us extra feedback. So, during the period of media activity, we received 63 347 497 impressions at the optimal frequency for us of 5+.

Brand awareness

Since we launched campaigns on YouTube and Facebook, we decided to use the internal tools of these platforms – Brand Lift – to assess the level of brand awareness and brand loyalty.

Brand Lift – a tool that enables you to explore the effectiveness of video advertising in influencing the main media metrics: loyalty, ad memorability, customer intent, etc., and then optimize video campaigns based on the data obtained.

Brand Lift On YouTube

On YouTube, we started a poll to analyze consumer intent:
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"Which of these brands would you most likely choose?"

And we divided the research into Kyiv and Lviv + other Ukraine regions with Multiplex cinemas. It was impossible to launch research by targeting the whole of the country due to the fact that the competitors from one region of the country to another region varied.

Statistics In Kyiv

The first checkup (a week after the campaign was launched) showed an increase in consumer intent by 2.04%. This is a good indicator since the control group accounted for 45.38% of all the users covered.

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Percentage of increase in brand awareness

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Other Regions With Multiplex Cinemas In Ukraine

The control group of users covered was 52%. This meant that more than half of the users who did not see the ads gave a positive answer for the brand to the question asked: "Which of these brands would you most likely choose?"

The experimental group during the final measurements remained at the level with the control group. This has proved that advertising cannot affect consumers’ intent.

One of the hypotheses was that brand loyalty was already high, and the competition extremely low if not zero.

Brand Lift On Facebook

We took measurements on Facebook with the following questions:
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Have you seen multiplex ads in the last two days?
How familiar are you with the Multiplex brand?

For the first question, we have received a percentage increase in brand recognition of 7.8 points. This is a fairly good result with the niche benchmark within Facebook itself being 7.1 points.

BRAND AWARENESS INCREASE, %:

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The second question received a percentage share of brand awareness increase of 8.1 points with a benchmark for a niche being 1.6 points.

BRAND AWARENESS INCREASE, %:

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Results

In the course of the flight, we managed to achieve the desired frequency of 8.1, which exceeded the target of 7.3 points planned at the beginning of the flight. Based on the dynamics of the brand query trend line, we saw an increase in Multiplex brand traffic in Google Trends.

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Brand traffic in Google Trends

Indirect indicators demonstrate that the client managed to exceed his ambitious income plan with the support of a display campaign.

Promodo is one of the best companies I have ever worked with. I worked with Promodo in three areas at once: SMM Management, SEO, and Paid Promotion. The team always showed phenomenal results, regardless of the marketing channel. I would also like to note the excellent management of all projects and the ability to meet deadlines.

Alexander Zhilyaev

CMO at Multiplex

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