New Study Shines Spotlight on the Benefits of Creating Positivity for Diverse Audiences

Study validates campaigns across African American, Hispanic and LBGTQIA+ audiences with exceptional and five-star rated results

Undertone, a Perion Network Ltd. (Nasdaq: PERI) company and the leader in data-driven, Intelligent High Impact campaigns, today published a study through its partnership with System1, a global advertising effectiveness, brand equity and innovation firm: “Creating Positivity for Diverse Audiences.” The study analyzed nine publicly available video advertisements from 1,350 adults age 18+ who classify themselves across one of three audiences: African American, Hispanic or LGBTQIA+.

Ads reviewed were from Geico, McDonalds, JIF, Orbitz, Uber, Bubly, Cadillac, Pepsi, and Pantene. The ads that had the highest Sales Spike, indicating short-term effectiveness, received an “exceptional” rating; the top long-term effectiveness Star Rating is five stars earned by only 1% of all ads measure by System1. Six of the ads received a four-star rating and three a five-star rating. In addition, seven were honored with exceptional sales spike ratings, one with strong and one with good rates. Altogether, the results exemplified that although physical representation is vital, the right approach and way of looking at the world will be rewarded.

Themes from the ads included nostalgia, family, authenticity, celebration, inspiration, music, and acceptance. Common threads also included creative storytelling focused on positive portrayals of true and relatable characters celebrated for the differences that make them who they are along with the humor, wisdom, love, creativity, and humanity shown through the people in the ads.

“To understand how we can better resonate with diverse communities, our team worked with System1 to explore the emotions consumers feel when viewing an ad,” said Dan Aks, president at Undertone. “Many companies state that they want to make a difference for a more inclusive world, but to do so, it is vital to understand the audience’s perspective. Results from our study show that the specific ads our audience watched go beyond simple representation to appeal to diverse groups while excelling on an emotional, human level to advance equality.”

System1 exposed each consumer in the group to one advertisement that might typically target them, with a total of three ads per audience measured. Respondents chose a facial expression from a wheel of seven emotions including a neutral option to select the degree to which they felt that emotion when exposed to the ad. Before concluding the results, respondents were also re-exposed to the ad to supply in-the-moment reactions.

When analyzing the results, System1 provided two scores: a short term “Sales Spike” based on emotional intensity and unaided brand recall and a long-term Star Rating built on a weighted average of emotional intensity, total emotions/lack of neutrality and the two most valuable emotions, happiness and surprise.

Throughout a seven-year partnership, Undertone and System1 have measured the emotional effectiveness of digital and video advertisements for Undertone’s clients as a form of user experience testing to perfect the company’s approach to intelligent high impact advertising. System1’s strategy is based on the Nobel Prizewinning work of Dr. Daniel Kahneman who provided that 95% of decisions are driven by thinking that is fast, intuitive and emotional known as System 1 thinking.

In 2021, Undertone’s passion for showcasing diversity in creative helped them launch "The Uplift Collective,” where they focus not just on the creative aspect but, the publishers in their network as well. The Uplift Collective is a portfolio of publishers that are minority, women, & LGBTQIA+ owned, as well as those who are committed to advancing social justice, environmental sustainability, and equal representation. This dedicated portfolio enables Undertone to connect Uplift publishers with demand opportunities from advertisers across all verticals, while providing brands the ability to support underrepresented communities and global causes via mindful media buys.

For more information on the study visit https://undertone-diversity.splashthat.com/.

About Undertone

Undertone creates memorable ad experiences by thoughtfully orchestrating solutions across video, advanced TV, rich media, and social, to drive unmatched brand lift and audience engagement on virtually every screen, and every device. Their award-winning creative team uses the company’s 20 years of experience, and billions of impressions worth of data to intelligently craft campaigns that can drive full-funnel KPIs while making meaningful connections with the 200MM+ unique users they can reach every month. Undertone brings the art and science of advertising together to intelligently craft campaigns that uplift consumers, brands, and publishers alike. Visit undertone.com to learn more.

About Perion

Perion (Nasdaq:PERI) is a global technology company that delivers holistic strategic business solutions that enable brands and advertisers to efficiently “Capture and Convince” users across multiple platforms and channels, including interactive connected television – or iCTV. Perion achieves this through its Synchronized Digital Branding capabilities, which are focused on high impact creative; content monetization; its branded search network, in partnership with Microsoft Bing; and social media management that orchestrates and optimizes paid advertising. This diversification positions Perion for growth as budgets shift across categories.

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