Tool to Spot Viral Potential of Ads

Three US organisations have partnered to develop a tool, the Miami University AIMS Sharability Scale, which they say quantifies the likelihood of advertising messages being shared with others.

Interactive media company CNET Networks and online consumer health information provider MedTrackAlert are the firms working with the University, which is located in Oxford, Ohio.

The organizations claim that their new tool evaluates how different executions of a campaign's message influence word-of-mouth and other forms of social sharing, and say that this information has not been available to the ad industry until now.

CNET Networks Director of Research Liz Lightfoot says the new tool will offer businesses the ability to deliver a return on their advertising spend. Research gathered during the tool's testing period highlighted its ability to evaluate multiple ad types in a campaign and predict which ad will be shared the most. Primary findings showed that motivation to share was different for consumers versus businesses.

Said MedTrackAlert President Ted Smith: 'Given that the goal of advertising is to achieve the greatest reach in the least time with the target audience, it is of tremendous value if one can have some index of the social potential of advertising creative.'

The tool will be available to marketers and academics at no charge from the end of June.

AIMS stands for Armstrong Interactive Media Studies. Web sites are at www.cnet.com, www.medtrackalert.com and www.muohio.edu .

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