How often are people really paying attention to your brand? While you may think often, the truth is, attention is a finite resource and while we look to ‘steal’ attention, people have become more distracted, with shorter attention spans and a bombardment of daily messages to wade through. Reports suggests the average Australian is exposed to a conservative 4,000 ads a day with some proposing it’s closer to 10,000.

We are simply unable to process that volume of messages, which means most ads are being ignored or instantly forgotten. But imagine if you could prime your audience to notice your ad. Better still, remember your ad or the penultimate, act on it.

We know sponsorships work

Cross-platform sponsorships on television and BVOD are one of media’s most powerful advertising products. They offer unmatched access inside some of the highest-reaching, fan-heavy and most talked about content on any screen. 

The evidence supporting the value of sponsorships is overwhelming. Leveraging creative elements, context in program and consistency of message offer marketers the opportunity to tap the audience on the shoulder, capture their attention and build brand salience across multiple moments and touch points of attention that become the scaffolding of memory structures.

Once again, we’ve proven sponsorships drive attention, engagement and action, in our latest research study, the final instalment of our multi-year Science of Sponsorship. 

This research began more than six years ago, and in that time, we've analysed over 50 series of well-known TV programs and 250 brands, in studies involving more than 55,000 Australians. In addition to our regular tracking, we’ve partnered with the Marketing Scientist Group to delve even deeper into why sponsorships work. Our latest study surveyed 2,200 Australians, exploring attention to creative assets, the impact on mental availability and the mindset of viewers. 

We call it our final instalment because we now have the formula for why sponsorships work. 

Success has a formula

It takes time to create a perfect sponsorship and key to sponsorship is time. More sponsorship assets deliver more time on screen, which creates more impact. Assets like TVCs, billboards and in-program integrations provide multiple opportunities for audiences to see a brand, which builds attention, memory and recall.

We know that broadcast TV and BVOD are the gold standard for building attention at scale. Sponsorships on TV are video and audio, they're on the biggest screen in the house, high impact and full-screen.  And they're embedded in premium, brand-safe, local content, reaching millions of Australians, or in the case of MasterChef Australia - over 13 million Australians.

This variety and volume of assets delivers unprompted awareness, unmatched by any other medium. A fully integrated sponsorship, including billboards, a bespoke TVC and in-program integration lifts unprompted recall 167 per cent more than a standard TVC alone. 

We call this the layer effect – deeply integrated sponsorships can meaningfully move the needle on building mental availability, working together to enhance, reinforce and cement the messaging. Brand time on screen as part of a sponsorship is powerful, and it’s important to make every second of attention count.

Quality attention matters

Attention and time on screen are just the beginning. To truly unlock the power of sponsorship, you need to consider the quality of your attention. 

Our first study into the Science of Sponsorship established that fans of programs pay more attention to the show itself and the ad breaks, versus non-fans. We also found that purchase intent amongst fans is 14 per cent higher than non-fans. So, building quality attention in fan-heavy programs can unlock further brand value, reaching a more invested and leant in audience.

Our latest study delved even deeper. We looked at the attention to different creative elements within sponsorship assets like billboards, bespoke TVCs and integrations. This is where you find the hidden power of sponsorships. 

What appear to be innocuous decisions, like an incidental glimpse of a bucket of chicken within an Australian Survivor reward challenge, is a priming effect for viewers to pay 9 per cent more attention to a subsequent TVC. Mirroring messaging within the creative of a TVC, billboard and integration can lift a brand's association with a key campaign message by up to 20 per cent.

On their own, each layer adds effectiveness to partnerships, but together they work in harmony to achieve brand objectives and deliver measurable results.  

Prime time is priming time

Ultimately, marketing is a memory-making business, the art and craft of storytelling and emotions, making brands salient and sticky with clever use of logos, slogans, packaging, sounds, colours, talent – the list goes on and sponsorships are the perfect playground.

A sponsorship is the sum of its parts, multiple moments and assets linked together to drive brand outcomes, all supercharged when embedded into loved shows with loved talent.

We know that quality programs that dial up positive emotions go further than typical programs in driving attention – like the winning moment on MasterChef Australia or Sam Pang’s quips in Have You Been Paying Attention?. When we leverage these environments, underpinned by ideas built with strategic rigour, insight, and a distinct creative approach, we can uniquely capture quality attention that ultimately drives action for brands.

We’re giving our valued clients, agencies and partners first access to the full Science of Sponsorship findings via in-person briefings and presentation, with the full report publicly available in the coming weeks.

Find out more here: https://www.paramountanz.com.au/news-and-insights/science-of-sponsorship/