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The "zero moment of truth" now supercedes the "first moment of truth" as a consumer's initial interaction and engagement with a brand's product, said Ted Buell, '07, Head of Industry at Google. "There is a period of time before people visit a store when they go online to read reviews, seek recommendations, and watch videos about the product—this is the 'zero moment of truth.'"
"As a result, consumers are entering the purchase decision process earlier than traditionally has been the case," Buell told students during a presentation, sponsored by the Kilts Center for Marketing at Harper Center on April 21.
"We have come a long way in terms of what search and display ads can offer—the information they provide to consumers, the engagement they create with users, and the targeting and measurement they offer to advertisers," Buell said. The evolution of digital advertising has helped U.S. Web advertising revenue, which reached $26 billion in 2010, surpass newspaper advertising revenue for the first time.
"A number of very engaging, dynamic ads have appeared on YouTube," Buell said. "These ads created immersive experiences by incorporating real-time interaction using video, Tweets, and other digital content. In one case last July, Old Spice's YouTube campaign helped the brand increase video views by 50 percent, Twitter followers by 10 times, and sales by more than double."
Mobile devices offer increasingly more efficient and effective ways for advertisers to reach consumers today, he said. Close to 90 percent of Americans own a mobile phone, including 40 percent who own a smartphone, Buell said. By the end of this year, Buell added, half of Americans will own a smartphone.
"The introduction of Android and the iPhone has enabled advertisers to use digital media in a mobile context to further target and reach the right consumers in the right place at the right time," Buell said. "Mobile is immediate and enables local discovery." Two in five mobile searches have local intent, which is double seen for desktop searches. For instance, Priceline found that 82 percent of its mobile app customers booked their hotel within a day of arrival, compared to 45 percent for customers on its website. Of those mobile customers, more than half were within 20 miles of the hotel at the time of booking and 35% were within 1 mile of the hotel."
In the past 12 months, the number of searches done on mobile devices has increased fourfold, he said. "Mobile allows for constant connectivity, and mobile search is incremental and complementary to desktop search," Buell said. The features available in a mobile device, such as location, payment, and calling services, provide even more targeting and transaction capabilities for advertisers.
Mobile also complements advertisers' offline media, such as TV, radio, and print. During the 2011 Super Bowl, searches for Go Daddy, which advertised during the game, increased by 38 times on desktops and by 315 times on mobile devices, Buell said. "These are people watching the game and using their phones to learn more right then and there. There is a clear positive relationship between offline media and mobile search."
Businesses in general must become aware of the consumer trend towards researching products on the internet before making purchases, said Arvind Soni, a second-year student who attended Buell's presentation. "To understand such macro-level trends is critical for any business for designing effective marketing campaigns," Soni said.
— Phil Rockrohr