The power of actionable audio ads in the cost of living crisis

Given that 50% of the UK population owns at least one smart speaker, the growing use of smart speakers and specifically voice assistants continues to steadily increase. At the same time, the economic downturn and cost of living crisis continues to affect households, resulting in the general population becoming more careful and hesitant about how they spend their money.

With this front of mind, Pizza Hut partnered with ad-tech firm Say It Now and agency, Navigate Digital, to create a smart speaker advertising campaign that enabled customers to claim delivery discounts. Pizza Hut was looking to increase its overall brand awareness and position itself ahead of its competitors in a highly competitive market.

Smart speaker listeners who heard the Pizza Hut advert on digital radio stations were able to receive a 30% discount directly to their phone, upon interacting with their smart speaker directly by saying ‘Alexa, Open Pizza Hut Delivery’. 

The results from this campaign were phenomenal and highlighted the power of Actionable Audio Ads, as well as the need for more campaigns to be focused on instant gratification. The total campaign dwell time was 44 seconds, 52% session to call-to-action conversions and 224 call-to-actions were executed.

The campaign worked so well because Pizza Hut was tapping into the power of actionable audio advertising, but they were also considering the fact that people will be more cautious about how they spend their money, and that they want to be able to carry out that action without having to stop whatever they are doing. This is the way forward for brands to stay competitive whilst being mindful of the current economic climate. Actionable audio ads ensure that the brand name in the campaign stays at the tip of their consumers’ tongues, increasing brand recall increase by 25%(Neuro-Insight study).