The Power of Digital Display Advertising
In 2016, digital display ad spending has surpassed search ad spending, accounting for 61% of all digital ad spending in the US. Although industry experts expect this trend to continue in 2017, many of the same experts advise against digital advertising and consider search ads that king of PPC. Digital display campaigns considered less effective due to their low click through rate and very low conversion rate, but, there are many less known benefits to having display ads visible across the web at all times: Exposure, building brand awareness and brand liking.
Think about it. Why do we stand in line in the middle of the night and compete with other Apple enthusiasts for the right to receive a new iPhone on the very first release day? Is it because we need a new phone with all those new and amazing features? Or maybe it’s because we are constantly exposed to images and information on various websites, blogs, and social media, encapsulating us in the conceptual framework that Apple has created. A framework that predisposes fans to do whatever it takes to be first in line — literally and figuratively — to maintain an iPhone.
How is this possible?
In a nutshell: the more you expose people to something, the more they will like it.
At first, you didn’t like that song. The lyrics made no sense, and the music wasn’t your style. Somehow that song grew on you, and you started liking it more and more each time you heard it, maybe you even started shamelessly humming in public. Or maybe you hear a song, and can’t shake off that sense of Deja Vu. Something just sounds, warm, fuzzy and familiar, and keeps playing in your mind although you have no idea where or when, or even if you’ve ever heard it.
This phenomenon is known in cognitive psychology as the Mere Exposure Effect, or the familiarity bias. It suggests that one (mere) exposure to a stimulus is enough to create familiarity, which increases liking simply because we prefer things that we already know. Repeated exposure increases said liking even more. Whether it is a song, product, a trend, an image, or a brand, positive feelings will increase with repetition.
