A “Universal” Solution for Better Targeting

Movie studios face unprecedented pressure, with streamers vying for consumer attention, a wallet-squeezing inflationary economy, and a pandemic that continues to rock the global culture of moviegoing. Studios must use all the data at their disposal to better target audiences for their productions, to convince them to get back into theatres now that it’s much safer.

The challenge: moving pictures, moving audiences

Having access to the latest audience data allows brands and advertisers to adapt strategies and deliver more relevant messaging to the right people, but audience preferences and behaviors are constantly evolving.

Universal Pictures International (UPI) wanted to understand moviegoing behavior better to improve planning and increase targeting efficiency. They needed the latest audience data to further improve their targeting and achieve even better campaign performance.

Our approach: revealing connections hidden in the data

The team accessed proprietary consumer research data in the Dutch cinema market using Audience Origin, Choreograph’s global data service. With the ability to re-contact interviewees for additional insights on movie attributes, they linked this data with the Core study to create an updated, bespoke audience. ​

Using Choreograph’s Audience Translator, survey-based audience segments were created to efficiently activate segments on Google, Meta, TikTok, and Snapchat.

Audience Origin enabled the team to conduct a re-contact survey among 2,000 people in the Netherlands involving questions related to respondents’ movie-watching habits and preferences, such as their preferences for various movie genres. 

The first re-contact study identified aggregated audience segments most relevant to the children’s movie Puss in Boots, to test the approach.As an example, the study identified aggregated audience segments most relevant to the movie, including Animation Lovers, Suspense Seekers, and Dreamers. The survey also revealed that ‘Animation Lovers’ are associated with the psychographic marker of ‘not having time to spend on preparing and cooking food.’ The team used Audience Translator, to translate this cohort to the corresponding segment in DV360, called ’30-minute Chefs.’ 

Insights like these helped UPI expand the campaign’s reach through unexpected yet effective segments, giving the team a template to use for other films in its portfolio.

data-driven results: reliable brand lift, for any movie

The team used historical data to optimize standard targeting for UPI. However, to determine the effectiveness of the new UPI audience segments, they ran an A/B test between: the new approach utilizing survey-based audience segments, and the standard targeting based on historical performance. The test showed promising results for the new, optimized targeting approach. Using Audience Origin and Audience Translator to find the new UPI audiences allowed EssenceMediacom to improve targeting. 

To find out if this new approach could yield improved targeting for other campaigns, the team conducted brand lift studies for the UPI movie campaigns Cocaine Bear and Tár, with the following results:

Cocaine Bear Results:

• 25% uplift on ad recall for OLV
• 15% cost reduction of true view CPM
• 42% increase in CTR on social

Tár Results:

• 10% uplift on ad recall for OLV
• 4% cost reduction of true view CPM
• 22.2% reduction in CPA on social

The team was able to implement a new, more effective targeting approach, resulting in a significant lift in ad recall and increased campaign effectiveness. With the help of Choreograph’s interconnected products in a streamlined process from data to activation, the team could identify key audience segments for UPI, and efficiently work downstream with GroupM Nexus to consistently and quickly match profile attributes with the ad platform taxonomies for activation. 

The pilot campaign for Puss in Boots led to successful brand lift studies for other movie campaigns, and the plan is now to implement the Choreograph product suite across all future campaigns that can benefit from this. This approach guarantees the consistent and effective use of audience insights to achieve more impact at scale.

“We are extremely proud of this collaboration,” says Darryl Lemmer, Marketing Director NL at UPI. “Through this solution, we can use GroupM’s proprietary panel, and by conducting a re-contact study, we have obtained valuable insights from our target audiences. The first results are looking really great!”

The pilot campaign for Puss in Boots led to successful brand lift studies for other movie campaigns, and UPI now plans to implement this solution for all future campaigns. This approach guarantees the consistent and effective use of audience insights to achieve more impact at scale.

Footnotes:

1. On Meta
2. On Meta
3. On Snapchat