Google CPG blog - News and Notes from Google"s CPG Vertical

The Branding Value of a Search Impression?

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

We are often asked and have long wondered "What impact does a search result have on branding for cpg?" Our answer has often been....vague.

To uncover the answer we recently commissioned a study with Media Screen.

Search is a known winner for direct response, and we wanted to prove that search has value as a branding tool too! The study measured the branding impact of paid search ads on organic search terms for four CPG product categories; cosmetic, beverage, food/snack and household/laundry.

In the study respondents were then asked to complete a brand survey to measure the brand impact on aided awareness, unaided awareness, purchase intent and purchase consideration after being exposed to search results.

Our key findings were what we had expected - when the test brand appears in paid search positions, unaided awareness and purchase intent increase for that brand.

The survey also took into consideration the impact on competitive brands. It was concluded that when the test brand appears in paid search positions, unaided and aided awareness decrease for other brands.

Yahoo! recently commissioned a similar study with Media Vest. Their study confirmed our finds that a sponsored search link has a positive impact on unaided awareness.

"What this study actually proves is that search moves the branding needle for CPG," Yaakov Kimelfeld, senior VP-analytics for MediaVest said, "It's really good news for brand marketers, because there are really strong efficiencies they can find in search marketing."

If you are interested in learning more about the results of the study, let us know!