Zappi Expands Amplify with Help from Major Brands

Automated consumer insights platform Zappi has expanded its Amplify ad development system, co-developed by consumer brands including PepsiCo, McDonald's and Reckitt, to help marketers optimize and validate their digital and TV advertisements at every stage of the creation process.

Zappi, which was launched in 2012 by MESH Planning Partner Stephen Phillips (pictured), quickly spread internationally, expanding its marketplace both with its own tools and those of major agency partners. The firm, which has offices in Boston, London and Cape Town, is used by 350 brands to better understand consumers, accelerate the innovation pipeline, and optimize ads and products before they go to market with pre-launch data.

For Amplify, Zappi uses a three-part framework across System 1 emojis, in context and System 2 forced exposure to build a 'holistic view' of ad performance. This framework, which Zappi calls the 'Three R's' comprises 'Reach' - measuring brand recall, creative and brand 'distinctiveness', and viewer retention to understand an ad's potential to 'stand out'; 'Resonance' - tracking second-by-second emotional response while consumers view the creative; and 'Response' - observing how creative impacts brand appeal and purchase uplift. Consumer feedback across this framework is combined and compared against country, category and brand-specific benchmarks to determine creative effectiveness.

The expanded solution has been used to develop and optimize more than 6,000 ads, providing a comparative benchmark that dynamically evolves with each new data point, providing a predictive assessment of how consumers respond to the advertisement, while also identifying optimization opportunities to iterate and improve work. Phillips comments: 'Marketers are awash with post-launch datasets that enable them to understand, on-demand, what is working so they can scale and optimize their efforts. But pre-launch, creators are underserved with the data they need to inspire, optimize and validate their ideas. Zappi's Amplify 2.0 is leveraged by leading, global consumer brands to bring their best ideas to the forefront time and time again for everyone'.

The firm, which raised $170m in growth capital at the end of last year, is online at www.zappi.io .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.