Kantar bridges the gap between demand gen and brand building using AI

 Kantar, the world’s leading marketing data and analytics company, introduced brand lift metrics into Link AI for Digital, the first of the company’s next-gen AI predictive tools. This enhancement makes it possible to predict digital ad effectiveness for demand gen performance and brand building, all in as little as 15 minutes.

Link AI for Digital now offers a new set of three metrics – Aided Awareness, Consideration and Purchase Intent – to respond to a growing need to assess digital ads more holistically. The evolution of the tool is the first example of the company’s new Katalyst innovation programme, where client collaboration is core to the product development process. 

“Digital advertising is rapidly becoming the central pillar of most advertisers’ media strategies. To build on our market leadership in brand building, with Link AI, we have responded to this shift and delivered the most innovative creative effectiveness testing tools in the market. Until now, advertisers may have found it difficult to test digital at scale pre-launch. Link AI for Digital comes to the market to overcome those challenges and make creative assessments quick and economical. Campaigns can be tested in minutes to inform tactical and strategic decisions,” said Ted Prince, Chief Product Officer at Kantar. 

Link AI systematically decomposes each ad into a sequence of frames using OCR, audio and transcript analysis to extract up to 20,000 features from the video file using AI video processors and inputs them into machine-learning models trained on the Link database to predict the ad’s percentile score on creative effectiveness metrics. 

Besides the ability to iteratively test likely brand impact and optimise content in real time, AI allows for rapid batch testing and creative meta-analysis. Ads can be coded by creative elements, such as humour, sustainability or when the brand first appears, to identify which ones are most likely to drive brand impact across brands, product categories, and even content performance in different cultures.  
 
Commenting on the new capabilities, Jane Ostler, EVP, Creative and Media, Kantar, said: “We know from talking to CMOs that they want to move from the demand gen vs brand impact debate; great adverts have always been able to do both. We can now prove that is true. Integrating brand lift metrics as part of Link AI for Digital advanced analytics sets us apart from the industry. It empowers advertisers to test rapidly at scale with a level of confidence that was not possible before. This is critical to leveraging the power of digital to build brands and drive sales.”