You’re hitting your target audience in multiple channels, but is your marketing team getting the fundamentals right?

New research from the firm Kantar Millward Brown suggests that issues turning these cross-channel marketing efforts into integrated campaigns have limited just how effective they can actually be.

The company’s latest AdReaction report [registration] finds that fewer than half of all campaigns tested by the firm (46 percent) were taking steps to effectively integrate and customize their campaigns for end users—steps that could boost the effectiveness of a given campaign by as much as 57 percent.

Part of the problem, says the report, is that consumers are getting hit by advertising everywhere, and that means that the stuff that breaks through has to be particularly effective. According to a survey Kantar Millward Brown did as part of the report, 81 percent of consumers said that they see ads in more places, 74 percent say they run into more advertising, and 69 percent say that ads are more intrusive.

On the other hand, a significant chunk of consumers (59 percent) felt that many ad campaigns tended to be more integrated across platforms, while 51 percent said ads told better stories.

The research, including quantitative analysis spread across 45 countries, copy testing of 12 separate ad campaigns, and an analysis of Kantar Millward Brown’s own effectiveness and testing databases, led the firm to recommend a variety of solutions to marketers.

The company, based on its analysis, recommends that marketers add more integration cues into campaigns; start with a strong campaign idea; put quality into each individual ad; invest only in channels with clear campaign benefits; and customize the campaigns for each digital channel.

In a news release, Duncan Southgate, Kantar Millward Brown’s global brand director of media and digital, noted that the need to hit many channels won’t be going away.

“Media channels will continue to fragment and evolve,” Southgate explained, “but smart marketers will see the opportunities to connect with consumers in new, meaningful ways. Importantly, we know using more media channels can improve campaign effectiveness, but only if the channels work synergistically.”

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