Yandex Surveys: how brands can predict their advertising results

Learn how one of Russia's largest networks of digital electronics and household appliances created stunning commercials about a seasonal promotion and increased brand recognition by 15% and the intention to buy new products by 12%.

Yandex Surveys creatives

These days, it's not enough to simply shoot and release a commercial. Before you do that, you need to know what product features you want to highlight to make sure the creative addresses consumer needs, stands out among your competitors, and solves your business tasks. But how do you predict the audience's reaction before releasing the commercial?

You can make a forecast by testing video creatives in Yandex Surveys. The tool evaluates the video using 13 criteria and shows what impressions users have, how well they remember the video, and whether it solves the brand's tasks.

Last year, the Yandex Surveys team conducted our own research and discovered that the success of a commercial depends on nine basic elements and four consumer trends.

What to take into account to make a successful creative

Consumer trends

Saving time
Making life easier
Saving money
Sense of balance

Basic elements

Novelty
Utility
Entertainment
Desire to try
Intent to buy
History
Heroes
Video sequence
Music

Basic elements

Unique for each brand.

We found that brand ads often fail to cover two key consumer trends — saving time and money. For consumers, it's important that products do those things —and it makes them more likely to buy the product. The intention to buy is also influenced by the useful information in the video and the message that the brand makes everyday life easier (“Making life easier”).

A “green” promotion as a way to attract attention to the brand

In the spring of 2021, the digital electronics and home appliances chain store “Eldorado” partnered with the PHD advertising agency to launch a large annual ad campaign about recycling. Customers all over Russia could bring their old electronic devices and get a discount on new ones and a 20% cashback on any purchase.

The target audience of Eldorado is very wide: the customer age varies from 25 to 55 years. What's special about the company's business model is that it combines traditional sales outlets and an online store. The interests and needs of the offline and online audiences may differ, but the campaign had to get all consumers into a single funnel.

Eldorado decided to announce their “Green utilization” promotion through commercials starring Russian show business celebrities Nikita Dzhigurda and Vadim Galygin.

We discovered user impressions from the videos

The videos were tested with the help of Yandex Surveys. The study showed that users liked the ads. The video with Nikita Dzhigurda was rated 4.09, putting it at the market level, and the one with Vadim Galygin was rated 4.28, above the market level. In both cases, respondents noted that the videos are useful and original (the “Novelty” parameter), and that the product makes life easier and saves money. According to the Yandex Surveys data, usefulness and novelty are two of the main ingredients of a high-quality creative in the retail industry.

The total rating of the video across all the 13 parameters, taking into account their importance to consumers:

"“Green utilization” aims to support sales, but most importantly, the campaign draws attention to the problem of environmental pollution and encourages customers to recycle their old devices," says Zoya Prokhorova, the “Eldorado” brand manager. "It's important that our videos focus on consumer trends so that the consumers of various ages living in over 300 Russian cities can relate to Eldorado's green initiative. With Yandex Surveys, we were able to see user ratings for our video based on clear criteria and use these insights to prepare our future campaigns."

“ A creative is among the key components of successful advertising. If a company has many ad campaigns, like ‘Eldorado’ does, you can't test them using focus groups or desk studies because these methods are not effective cost- and time-wise. That's why products like Yandex Surveys are extremely useful for both advertisers and agencies. With Yandex Surveys, we can evaluate campaign effectiveness quickly and in advance, make corrections to the ads, and achieve better performance indicators. ”

Boris Abramov, Digital Account Director at PHD.

“ We discovered that certain creative characteristics may affect the brand metrics. These include the video's entertaining quality, visible branding, and persuasiveness. We also recommend that companies create their ads with a focus on rationalization as one of the major global consumer trends. People want to optimize everything around them, including their budget. If brands can convince the audience that their products and services help to reduce costs, the success of their ads is more likely. ”

Victor Gryaznov, business partner of the Household Appliances and Electronics industry.