New Impact Index Shows Power Of Sports Advertising.

A review of ABX’s recently introduced Sports Impact Index, consisting of a single score with 14 key performance indicators, shows examples of how it can measure the effectiveness of ad creative vs. non-sports ads, scoring higher in reputation and purchase intent.

According to ABX President Gary Gatto, the index not only empowers marketers to create and measure the impact of sports-related ads quickly and accurately, but can show, for women in sports ads, how the impact can generate up to 70% lift in creative effectiveness, especially among fans of women’s sports.

The index — developed through extensive research on sports-related ads vs. all other types, based on ABX’s database of more than a half-million evaluated ads — showed consistent trends across all demographics, ethnicities, cultures and geographic areas covering 19 countries. 

The major takeaway? “When sports-themes and/or sports celebrities are properly incorporated into ads, creative effectiveness improves,” ABX’s report says.

A look at the index itself alongside KPI scores such as message delivery, reputation and purchase intent shows that sports ads outscored non-sports nearly across the board with reputation and purchase intent 15% and 10% higher, respectively.

Comparing ads with women in sports vs. all other ads with women for three major brands shows all KPIs are higher in the former group of ads, with reputation and ABX’s Gender Equality Measure scoring highest. “High scores for female gender equality, as well as those for men and children, contribute to both reputation and purchase KPIs,” the report says.

ABX warns, however that “while the data suggests that incorporating sports themes and sports celebrities can generate improved ROI for your brand, simply putting an athlete in an ad is not a guarantee of success. Creative with higher impact is Step One. Reaching the sports fans you need to generate a higher sales lift is Step Two. The ABX Sports Impact Index measures both and provides insights to maximize your return.”