The majority of B2B video adverts do not grab viewers “attention” or “drive brand recall”, according to new research from the LinkedIn B2B Institute and advertising research firm Media Science.

Of the 109 real B2B adverts shown to 770 users as they scroll through a LinkedIn feed, 53% of participants fail to recognise the advert and, of those, only 36% correctly identify the brand. The results come from biometric tracking while the user watches the advert, combined with a post-tracking recall survey. 

Put another way, on average only 19% of participants both remember the advert and attribute it to the correct brand.

According to the study, 81% of the time the “creative and media dollars behind a campaign are wasted” as they fail to be noticeable or memorable.

This study focuses exclusively on video format adverts on a LinkedIn feed, which may have influenced the low recall rates. Although LinkedIn is primarily a professional platform, it is typically less associated with advertising in comparison to other social media channels.

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Nonetheless, these findings come at a time when many B2B brands are focusing on bolder creative.

According to the latest data from LinkedIn, over three-quarters of B2B marketing leaders in the UK are developing bolder creative and data from Marketing Week’s exclusive 2024 Language of Effectiveness research, supported by Kantar, shows over half (57.9%) of the B2B marketers surveyed say their department’s focus on creative quality has increased over the past 12 months. 

Although creativity and its quality is increasingly important to B2B brands, the findings of this study suggest creative is still not as effective, or cost-effective, as it could be. There are four key improvements suggested by the study:

1. Attention is short

Unsurprisingly in a hyper-connected world with a proliferation of media platforms, the study finds attention is “fleeting and fragmented”.

As respondents scroll through a LinkedIn feed interspersed with test adverts, the researchers use eye tracking technology to record the movement of the viewer’s eyes at a micro second level. They also monitor heart rate and electrodermal activity (a measure of the skin’s electrical conductivity, which changes in response to sweating) to indicate a viewer’s engagement. This provided researchers with 350 hours worth of data.

From this, the study finds that while test adverts are on screen for an average of 12.3 seconds, the viewer only pays attention for an average of 3.7 seconds. Even during this short time frame, the viewer rarely remains focused on the advert for the full 3.7 seconds. Instead they switch focus from the advert 2.4 times on average.

Although the study could not identify a “creative silver bullet” that guarantees attention, columnist Mark Ritson pointed out at Marketing Week’s Festival of Marketing last week that emotion in advertising has real benefits, as research shows emotional communications are more profitable than rational ones.

The study did summarise that as attention is short, it is critical for marketers to focus on the “important part of the marketing message: the brand”. The report authors add that if the goal is to maximise value from the advertising and creative budget “the brand must always be the star, never the supporting act of the creative”.

2. Brand early and often

Following on from this, the study’s second recommendation is that B2B video adverts should “brand early and often”. The research finds frequent mentions of the brand are linked to “better recognition and correct brand identification”.

Adverts that have three or more brand mentions achieve on average 48% correct brand identification in the post scroll survey, compared with only 32% of recall for adverts that have just one brand mention.

Moreover, the study finds “no notable negative” impacts for adverts with many brand mentions, leading the researchers to conclude there is “no such thing as over-branding” an advert.

The report finds more branding was in fact good for audience engagement, as adverts with branding present for 60%-100%, or 100% of the duration, receive likeability scores of 5.5 and 5.3, respectively. This is compared with 4.9 for adverts with branding only present 20% of the time.

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The study also advises it is important to mention the brand early on as it finds “higher levels of active attention at the start of the advert”. 

3. Keep it short

The researchers track cognitive processing by measuring cardiac deceleration data, which is taken as evidence for viewers looking at and actively processing an advert. Cardiac deceleration is highest during the first four seconds of a viewer watching an advert, while after four seconds a viewer’s attention becomes more inconsistent.

Based on the results, the researchers recommend “shorter and more succinct brand messages”. The study includes videos between six and 180 seconds, and finds the length of the advert does not impact the amount of attention the viewer pays. Indeed, length of gaze time, number of fixations and likeability rating from the viewer does not vary between long and short adverts.

Shorter adverts (10 seconds or less) receive slightly higher recognition results (68%) than adverts that are 18 seconds or less (59%), which leads the researchers to conclude  shorter adverts are better value for money.

4. Strategic sound

The final recommendation from the study is that using sound “strategically” can give adverts a competitive edge. The report admits including sound in ads may seem like a moot point since LinkedIn is a default sound-off environment and only 70% of the adverts sampled include sound.

However, 8% of participants watched with the sound on. When it is audible, which was only while the ad was on-screen for an average of three to five seconds, sound is found to enhance memory and engagement. Therefore, the researchers suggest that while video adverts must work without sound, as most users don’t turn it on, sound should be included to maximise the potential of adverts for the small percentage of viewers who listen with the volume up.