As the final seconds ticked down on Super Bowl 50, there were two decidedly different emotions permeating Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers fans. The orange and blue of the Broncos were flying high while for Carolina, it is “wait until next year”. But it wasn’t just joy and pain being felt in person in Santa Clara — it was around the world in the form of fan clubs and other supporters groups and individuals.

Years ago, we may very well have not known about the British fan who discovered the Broncos as a teenager in 1977. Nor would we have discovered that there is a huge Panthers fan in Germany, who never misses a game. Technology has enabled a new form of fandom and, for teams in any sport and any league around the world, it continues to open up tremendous opportunity.
 
In local team cities and regions, there is a natural phenomenon where love for a team is passed down through generations. Families continue long-held traditions. For clubs and leagues, this is a positive, but it also is logical and there can be a ceiling of opportunity. As globalization continues at a rapid pace, the question becomes: how do teams get new blood in the mix?
 
Obviously, digital plays a prominent role. It provides the tools to allow fans to engage with friends, co-workers, organized events — and directly with the clubs. From fan meet ups to direct incentives from teams and leagues, the new “hotbed” of fandom knows no geography, but there are some key issues to consider to ensure that the relationships are, and continue to be, meaningful.
 
For clubs and leagues, the age-old question becomes: what is the “value” of a fan? Yes, just having a fan in the first place is an important step, but how can a league get the most out of each fan, in a productive way that provides a true value exchange for each?
 
There really is no one blueprint for success and the metrics are different. For some teams and leagues, video or OTT premium subscriptions is their best opportunity. Merchandising, especially for larger global clubs (especially in soccer, with the likes of Manchester United) is a key driver of success. Some dig deeply into data, at a more granular level, to determine the best approaches in specific geographies. It is a highly complex proposition — but each team certainly has an opportunity to build their global base if they understand what can work best for them. Smaller clubs and teams with fewer resources can benefit, but they need to be more selective in their approach.
 
Technology is, theoretically, leveling the playing field. But understanding regional behaviors is critical. Again, there is no one strategy that works across the board, but being authentic and understand behaviors is key.
 
A North American fan, for example, expects a rich mobile app and multiple layers of digital engagement, including the opportunity to purchase right from the app. In stadiums, they expect wifi and all of the digital opportunities possible. It’s not a luxury. It’s an expectation.
 
In Europe, the expectations are different. Fans are generally more focused on the action happening in front of them on the field.
 
In China, there is likely no expectation for a team to have a mobile app — but rather a chance to interact via the more popular social apps there.
 
Additionally, as it relates to globalization, opportunities for revenue shift. Charging $5 a game through an OTT channel may be perfectly acceptable to someone in the US, but completely outrageous to someone in Malaysia, for example. As an organization, we look very deeply at these nuances and advise clubs and leagues on the right ways to authentically engage with fans while showing clubs and leagues the right way to monetize. It is a delicate balance — because if one fan is turned off by the experience, it could have a ripple effect throughout the entire fan base in specific geographies.
 
We’ve had a front row to the digital transition happening in sports — and there are a few key lessons that our clients learned along the way.
 
The profound move from desktop to mobile was a shock to the system. Not everyone was prepared to have half of their audience show up to their digital properties via mobile devices, especially on game day. One can imagine the backlash, when the desktop version of their site rendered on mobile devices — and it had a profound effect on revenue, especially retail. That’s why, for a number of years, we have strongly advocated for “mobile-first” strategies as a starting point, Obviously, it will mean different things to each club, but going mobile first has been a huge help for teams and clubs and their engagement with fans.
 
Another lesson learned is having a level of patience, while moving quickly, to get clubs and leagues in the right place with fans. Some clubs had to move from desktop to mobile/responsive web. Other went mobile first with sites, then over to apps. Now, the conversation is squarely around virtual reality (VR) and the prospects and opportunities this technology presents. Though it is mouth-watering to think about the possibilities, the fact is that VR strategies may take 12 to 18 months and a handful of clubs and leagues have the resources to move forward with it. The conversations with leagues, clubs and brands around all of this new technology is most certainly exciting but, as a leader in the sports technology space, our job is exercise the right levels of constraint and patience to ensure that it’s the right decision at the right time.
 
The sports world has a decided advantage over other industries. There are passionate fan bases that aren’t going away any time soon — and the category has benefited from that. Sports leagues and teams didn’t necessarily have to be on the bleeding edge of technology. It hasn’t traditionally been a category that needs disruption, but the wake-up call is likely coming soon if it isn’t here already.
 
Is eGaming going to erode the traditional sports base and become the Uber of sports? With nearly 70 million people playing eGames each month and 11,000 people packing Madison Square Garden on one day for an eGaming competition, it’s safe to say that there is some competition in the mix.
 
Will mobile devices replace TV networks as more and more people get their content over multiple devices? It’s possible, and a good question to ponder as interaction changes rapidly.
 
Will new sports erode the larger leagues? Will the younger generation be more apt to follow other leagues and take progressively take away share from the likes of the NFL, NBA, NHL and others? How will brands play a role in all of this?
 
There are likely a million more questions to ask and as the sports landscape continues to fragment, some will become more important than others sooner than later.
 
The good news is that we’re asking these questions in the first place. At Omnigon, we’re fortunate to have a wealth of talent and expertise to take a good hard look at each of them — and, with our recent partnership with Infront Sports & Media, we’re best prepared to help build a robust future across the entire sports ecosystem for brands, leagues and teams.

Igor Ulis, CEO, Omnigon

Web:www.omnigon.com/
Twitter:@omnigon

Consumers are bombarded by millions of different messages everyday in this new digital era, where home, work, and relationships are blurred distinctions. To manage their daily lives, the consumer has firmly taken control by becoming the decision makers for what they see, read, download, and more importantly what they want to block.

In the fast-paced mobile world, brands can’t afford to miss customer preferences, otherwise they will be quickly alienated by their target customers. As a result, brand marketers need to change the way they communicate with these new digital-savvy consumers by correctly employing mobile programmatic to accelerate a brand’s affinity with their consumers.

In short, mobile premium programmatic delivers the most relevant content, in the best format at the right moment in the perfect context to the most appropriate audience. By grasping the full potential of premium programmatic with four key principles, brands will earn consumer loyalty to engage in a lasting affair.
 
1. Respect your lover

Now that consumers have the power to block ads, the best solution is to engage in a one-to-one conversation and stand out using native advertising. Native mobile advertising is experiencing explosive growth, worth more than $50B USD worldwide (eMarketer). Brands not only need to seek acceptance from their customers but also capture their attention. Native mobile advertising delivers ad formats that respect the end-user and does not distract their experiences. More importantly, it enriches and educates consumers to take more informed decisions and cultivate mutual respect.

2. Find the one

Consumers are increasingly spending more time on mobile devices with changing behavioural patterns, and do not expect to be interrupted by non-contextual ads disrupting their activity. Data analytics is absolutely essential to provide this context. Mobile programmatic can reach almost any intended audience worldwide through premium publisher partnerships or engage a hyper-local audience niche. For example, first and third party data, location history, premium app usage behaviour, device OS, languages, time of day, and weather data, all help to provide context behind content. It’s time to give the right context to ads and deliver a unique and tailored experience for each individual.

3. Learn to trust

For users, it is irritating when an advertisement interrupts their mobile activity and takes them out of their activity into the browser or the app store. Adding to this frustration, the users then find themselves in front of a page or a video that does not display properly and is impossible to exit. Viewability and targeting issues are a continuous struggle for marketers but end-user experiences should not have to suffer as well. Within the mobile market today, there are no industry standards of yet, but regardless, premium programmatic is already able to guarantee 100 per cent viewability and targeting to prevent poor user experiences. This new level of authenticity can only serve to enhance trust between a brand and their customers and will transform the entire advertising industry.

4. Money matters

Engagement is the new mobile currency, set KPIs by applying data-driven decisions and evaluations. Knowing exactly when and how the customers will engage with your message and when they reject advertisements is key to building a sustainable and long-term two-way conversation. Brands need to evaluate a campaign performance based on conversions and evaluate branding campaigns based on the degree of user engagements. Also, brands should seek insights on what exactly takes place throughout the consumer experience in the conversion funnel, which can last from anything between 5 seconds to 15 minutes. Mobile programmatic marketers should measure and only pay for real impressions, real engagements, real-clicks, real-arrivals, and conversions.

Seal the deal

Communicating with customers in the most engaging and relevant ways will help brands create and nurture sustainable and positive relationships. Ultimately, loyal customers are a brand’s best ambassadors that generate lifetime value and trust. By applying these four key principles, mobile advertising can finally come of age and be a sustainable business. Monetising mobile through premium programmatic needs to be adopted more widely as it is the only way to let your consumers experience brand love.

Frédéric Joseph, Global COO, S4M

Email:london@s4m.io
Web:www.s4m.io
Twitter:@S4Mobile   @FredJoseph_UKFR

In today’s fast-moving digital landscape, organisations of all sectors and sizes are looking at ways gain the speed, flexibility and responsiveness needed to remain competitive. A desire to take advantage of emerging trends and opportunities has driven a growth in the popularity of Agile methodologies, which are focused on continual communication, collaboration and iteration, and also helped extend its influence far beyond the world of software development where it originated.

But if you too want to benefit from Agile adoption, you need to make sure you go about it the right way. More than simply following a set of instructions, to get the greatest value from the approach you need to not only do Agile, but be Agile too; otherwise you run the risk of failed initiatives and wasted budget.

In this article we’ll cover in more detail some of the key activities you need to undertake to make sure your Agile transformation is a success, drawing on lessons from those organisations that have effectively adopted the approach to help you achieve maximum impact and returns.

1. Assess the current state of your organisation

Before embarking on the road to Agile, conduct an ‘as-is’ audit to understand exactly what point your organisation is at currently. This will provide you with an overarching view of your organisation’s core practices, processes and cultural fit for Agile that can be used as a benchmark to measure the impact of future initiatives, as well as highlighting any blockers and pain points that your transformation will need to address.

Remember to involve your team from the start too, building staff questionnaires and collaborative workshops into your audit to capture insight that will inform your eventual training and rollout plans.

2. Choose an approach that works for you

Armed with a clear understanding of your organisational environment, you’ll be better able to define the best approach for your needs. There are numerous diverse frameworks that all fall under the term ‘Agile’, so be sure to explore a variety of options to find out what works best for you.

You don’t have to limit yourself to a single framework either. If you’re finding it difficult to fully embrace a particular technique, then consider tailoring it to better meet your requirements. Different departments may also have different goals, so don’t be afraid to adapt your approach accordingly.

3. Put the right knowledge and skills in place

Once you’ve defined your approach, you need a training plan that will provide your team with the knowledge and skills to put it into practice. Including lots of practical exercises and collaborative workshops will help equip staff with an understanding of Agile’s core principles and processes, as well as demonstrating how the approach will impact their particular role, department or tasks.

You should also factor in training for key stakeholders that provide a high-level introduction to the approach; focusing on business benefits to secure buy-in at an early stage.

4. Start small

While it can be tempting to launch right into an organisation-wide Agile transformation, beginning with a single team will help reduce risk, by enabling you to resolve any challenges encountered practising Agile ‘in the wild’ and optimise your approach in a small, contained environment first.

When choosing your trial group, look at who stands to gain the most from adopting Agile as well as who is already using elements of the approach, and be sure to regularly review progress to keep things on track.

5. Plan your roll-out

When you’re satisfied that your trial initiative is working effectively, it’s time to begin rolling out the approach. Keep your initial group involved in this process; not only will they give teams a proven example to follow, but they’ll also be able to act as Agile evangelists, championing the approach while allaying fears or concerns.

The review process implemented during your trial period should continue throughout your roll-out, to ensure that the approach is tailored to each team’s specific requirements. It’s also a good idea to conduct wider retrospective sessions that assess how effectively Agile is serving your organisation as a whole.

To find out more about making your journey towards Agile a smooth and successful one, download our Agile transformation white paper - and start reaping the rewards as soon as possible.

Glasgow is enjoying an unprecedented period of growth and development. Having completed the major regeneration programmes that dominated the 1990s and early 2000s, the city is now fully engaged in a second wave of transformation that is already placing it as a leading UK city and economic powerhouse.

Scotland’s largest city generated £19.3bn Gross Value Added (GVA) in 2014, the largest of any Scottish city. Impressively, Glasgow had the fastest growing city economy in the UK in 2013-14 and is third for UK regional commercial property investment (outside London).

This next phase in Glasgow’s growth is being spurred on by the £1.13bn Glasgow and Clyde Valley City Deal. The City Deal is an initiative by both the UK and Scottish governments to invest in the long-term sustainability and prosperity of the Glasgow city region. City Deal projects include construction, infrastructure and connectivity projects that will physically transform the fabric of the city and wider metropolitan region over the next 20 years.

Just as crucially, an element of the City Deal has been earmarked to fund innovation, business growth and to support the local labour market. Put simply: Glasgow is consciously creating the perfect environment for your business to succeed.

Key among these business incentives is the creation of a Centre for Business Incubation and Development. A disused building is being transformed into a hub for high growth, high value companies in advanced design and manufacture, creative and digital industries, and enabling technology. It is anticipated that the £5.1m project will open in May with the capacity to support 134 businesses, create 536 new jobs and increase gross business turnover by £53m.

Co-located with the Centre for Business Incubation and Development, Glasgow will establish a Challenge Lab where companies from key sectors will receive intensive business support from the public sector and, in turn, offer their time and expertise to tackle societal challenges. It is anticipated that more than 130 innovative businesses will be engaged with the Challenge Lab.

Glasgow has long been a leader of technological innovation, a trend which continues today and is reflected by the entrepreneurial nature of the business base. So much so, that Glasgow has been named European Entrepreneurial Region 2016 based on the regions strategies as the best to promote entrepreneurship and spread innovation among local companies.  

You’ll also find the skills, workspace and infrastructure required for your business to grow and succeed in Glasgow.

Top quality people are at the heart of any successful business and Glasgow has one of the most highly-skilled and flexible workforces in Europe. Launched in 2013, the city’s People Make Glasgow brand has immediately been embraced by visitors and Glaswegians alike for the simple fact that it’s undeniably true.

Glasgow’s universities and colleges regularly top rankings, win prestigious awards and train Scotland’s brightest minds. Strong engagement between academia and employers is one key to the success of Glasgow’s business base and guarantees a robust talent pipeline and provision of employability skills. While programmes like the Glasgow Guarantee offer wage subsidies and grants for apprentices and graduates.

From modern, award winning, waterfront offices with huge floor space or the very best converted and refurbished offices, Glasgow can provide a truly sustainable working environment. Three Grade A office developments completed in 2015 and a healthy pipeline ensures Glasgow will be at the forefront of commercial development in the UK. Rental rates are lower than many major UK cities making it one the best value for money locations.

Glasgow’s digital and telecommunications capability exceeds the most demanding technology requirements of today’s progressive companies. Keeping pace with the scale of development, the new Gigabit City fibre network will transform the city’s digital infrastructure, supporting internet connectivity up to 100 times faster than the UK average. In the first phase of development some 15 kilometres of new fibre infrastructure is being laid thus future-proofing the city as the demand for greater bandwidth continues to grow.

There is a critical mass of expertise, passion and innovation in Glasgow today. Coupled with 21st century infrastructure, and significant and sustained investment there is no reason to doubt that Glasgow will continue to be at the forefront UK growth and innovation. Choose Glasgow and you’ll be in excellent company.

For more information visit: investglasgow.com

Elizabeth McNeil, Marketing & Communications Officer, Invest Glasgow, Glasgow City Council

Tel: +44 (0)141 287 8616
Email:invest@glasgow.gov.uk
Web:www.investglasgow.gov.uk
Twitter:@Invest_Glasgow

In today’s business and marketing landscape, companies are under more pressure than ever before to be imaginative in how they reach customers and drive revenue. They must demonstrate that their choice of marketing tactics is not just a ‘nice-to-have’, but instead adds real value and  delivers return on investment. 

Offers and promotions programmes provide an opportunity for companies to grow a group of desirable customers who trust and value the brand, whilst increasing spend at the same time. However, in a highly saturated landscape full of competing offers, each aiming to attract customers, the way in which the offer is delivered and to whom, makes all the difference when ensuring success.

Access to engaged customers

With life demanding that everything is as quick and simple as possible, when it comes to offers today an approach that is readily accessible and digitally savvy is needed.

American Express’ Offers programme is designed to provide businesses with a channel exactly like this. It makes life easy for American Express Cardmembers through a simple digital offers process – Cardmembers receive targeted emails containing offers which are relevantly ranked according to their spend history; they can then select the offers of interest and save them on their online account. And when they use their Card to pay they see the savings through an automatic statement credit. Our unique ‘closed loop’ model, which means we have a direct relationship with both the Cardmember and the merchant, enables us to not only carefully target Cardmembers with offers based on their preferences, but also tailor the offer according to the specific goals of participating brands.         

Driving return on investment

Over a six month period last year, businesses participating in Amex Offers experienced an average of £11 Cardmember spend per £1 spent on the price reduction made available through through the Amex Offer. In addition, since the launch of Amex Offers last year, some participating businesses have seen customer enrolments and the number redeeming Amex Offers increase by more than 200 per cent*. Speaking of the programme, online retailer My1styears.com, a participating partner business, praised the mechanic of the platform in delivering beneficial outcomes; “Amex Offers gives us a large platform to reach out to likeminded consumers, while requiring a fraction of the administrative time and cost. A month into our first offer, it’s already generating very positive results.”

By streamlining the offers process and thinking beyond the norm of sourcing and redeeming vouchers, the Amex Offers platform makes life easier for its users and has the potential to deliver tangible financial results for American Express’ partner businesses.

For more information on Amex Offers please visit: www.createamexoffers.co.uk

Dan Edelman, VP Marketing, American Express

Email:ukmarketing@aexp.com
Web:www.createamexoffers.co.uk
Twitter:@AmexUK

*Data compiled from American Express AmexOffers data between June and September 2015

Are you familiar with the ‘6 thinking hats theory’? Are you prepared for planning for when things don’t go to plan?

Week by week the Cambridge Marketing Review On Air brings you the latest industry insights from leading marketing practitioners, including Debbie Frost, VP of Facebook, who explains Facebook’s users and how businesses use Facebook and Professor Malcolm McDonald on the future of marketing. More information on the kinds of topics you can listen to on the show include:

What’s the latest in content marketing and how do we engage our consumers?

Dr Dave Chaffey of SMART insights discusses content in digital marketing. Dr Chaffey is the author of 5 bestselling books on digital marketing and he has been recognised as one of the 50 marketing ‘gurus’ worldwide who have helped shape the future of marketing. Dr Chaffey explains that businesses are investing more in content marketing. This has led to increased competition as more content is created, and so is competing for consumers' attention. Dave is very clear that it costs money to create good quality content.

Emotional engagement comes from ‘Nuclear’ content, which can surprise or delight people. He suggests that less is more, and that it is best to create one excellent or 'Nuclear' content weekly or monthly.

Dr David Chaffey considers how you can measure the ROI of your content marketing strategy. He recommends segmenting your audience, splitting your analytics across types of customers, so rather than just analysing the number of people who have come to your website in a month, to analyse how they have come to your website eg from social media or adwords, email - as these are all segments and shows you what resonates with each segment and why they convert. For example, SMART Insights did a campaign called 'actionable analytics': they then measured how many people came to their website from this particular campaign, and then how many of those converted. Dr Chaffey thinks that content personalisation will be the next big phase in digital marketing, particularly in B2B marketing. For more information on any of the above, please visit www.smartinsights.com.

Does networking scare you? Would you rather fiddle with your phone than work a room?

Francis Tipper of Spoken Word Ltd (www.spokenwordltd.co.uk) has plenty of helpful advice. She argues that networking should be seen as a marketing tool, as a way to deepen your knowledge about your clients, competitors and customers. She argues nothing beats face to face meeting people. She reassures that you do not have to be gregarious and extrovert to be a successful networking, because it is all about generating rapport. Her tips include actively listening to the other person and having planned out how you are going to introduce yourself. Most importantly, you have to be genuinely interested in the other person.

How do businesses build up a network from scratch?

Simon Lewis of the UK Marketing Network explains how he grew a network of 60,000 followers on LinkedIn. He explained that he started the network in 2009, just after the Crash, so realised he needed to do something different. He toured the country in a bus, with in a team of 5, stopping at major cities to do events and then encouraging people to discuss the event afterwards online. Then they found that people wanted full-day conferences, rather than smaller evening events. They then launched OnTheEdge! Conferences, which are based around specific industries.

You can contact the show at review@marketingcollege.com or @cmcpointsofview

You can hear the show at: www.cambridgemarketingpress.com/podcast/

Lauren Pettitt, Marketing Executive, Cambridge Marketing College

Tel: +44 (0) 1954 234940
Email:lauren@marketingcollege.com
Web:www.marketingcollege.com
Twitter:@cmcpointsofview

Here’s why UK office workers need to take more breaks during the workday.

Despite what you learned from your parents, keeping your nose to the grindstone constantly may not be the best way to get ahead at work. Many UK office workers seem to think that productivity is measured by the amount of time spent at one’s computer, working continuously from morning to evening.

The truth is that frequent and deliberate breaks – that include more than running to grab coffee and a kebab to eat at your desk – are essential to concentration and true efficiency. And yet most UK workers are not taking their breaks seriously enough, if they take breaks at all.

The UK State of Work Report

A recent survey of 2,051 office workers, highlights four alarming trends that are starting to shape the modern workplace:

Trend #1: The lunch hour is disappearing

57% of office workers either don’t break for lunch at all, or they spend 30 minutes or less grabbing a bite to eat. So much for the lunch “hour.” Only 20% report taking 45–60 minutes for their midday meal.

Trend #2: We’re not answering when nature calls

52% of office workers admit they put off going to the toilet in the last week to meet a deadline, and all but 10% of them are repeat offenders – up to six delayed visits to the loo every week.

Trend #3: Work is following us home

A staggering 77% of those surveyed say they log into work or work email outside of standard business hours during a typical workweek, and 47% do this every day.

Trend #4: Distractions are driving us to distraction

More than half of office workers spend 40% or less of their time performing their primary job duties, thanks to the three biggest daily distractions: unexpected phone calls, wasteful meetings, and excessive emails.

Clearly, the chaos of the workplace is causing most enterprise employees to forego lunch, toilet breaks, and even work-free nights and weekends, not to mention the kinds of daily mental breaks that contribute to better work performance.

Armed with the right kind of knowledge, however, you can be the exception. The following four suggestions will help you get on top of your work so you can actually pause for a sandwich in the middle of the day or go on a quick walk to clear your head in the late afternoon.

Tip #1

Schedule uninterrupted blocks of time for yourself on your team’s shared calendar. (22% of those surveyed say this would improve their productivity.) During those blocks, turn off text and email notifications, don’t answer the phone, and even put a sign on your door or cubicle wall if you need to.

Tip #2

Stop answering email continuously throughout the day. 40% of office workers say excessive emails get in the way of work, so be strategic about how often you enter that inbox. Set aside 2-3 specific chunks of time to read and respond to email, freeing yourself up for longer stretches of time to focus on other things.

Tip #3

Create teamwork agreements in your organisation that specify the “rules” of communication. Define and document an expected turnaround time for email responses, a protocol for handling urgent communications, guidelines around the usage of the “reply all” and “cc” features, and the ability for each individual to set personal boundaries around distractions like email and instant messaging apps.

Tip #4

Streamline team communication using project management software, which automatically collects all collaboration and updates within the context of the projects you’re working on. This will keep conversations prioritised based on the importance and urgency of the project—not by whatever is at the top of your email inbox.

You deserve a break

By gaining control of your schedule and minimising distractions, you’ll be able to take purposeful breaks that energise and recharge you, rather than letting work chaos and random interruptions dominate your workday. 

Put these tips into practice in the next few weeks, and you should have plenty of time to join us for the “Big Break,” sponsored by Workfront. You’re invited to unwind at an outdoor relaxation station featuring massage chairs and creative activities, on 12 April 2016 from 11am—2pm at Spitalfields Market in London.

Jada Balster, Marketing Director, EMEA, Workfront

As any brand knows, standing out in an overcrowded retail market during the Christmas season build-up is both critical and incredibly difficult. However, a leading luxury brand Turn works with found a marketing mix that worked wonders, stirring up a 171 per cent YOY increase in revenue attributed to one campaign, through a unique combination of audience data and super-optimised device-targeting strategies. Among the insights that drove success: finding that the brand’s core converters engaged with media in the late evening, and generally on an Apple device, as opposed to on Android.

Leveraging data, this global retail brand not only heightened brand awareness, it created significant increases in ROI, and acquired key customer insights now fuelling its strategies. And a strategy like this one can work for your brand as well.

One key element of this data-driven effort involved focusing on Christmas gift recipients, not just buyers, in the campaign.

In the programme’s first phase, the brand pushed rich media to premium sites and leveraged key publications with video and high impact display-ad formats that emphasised core emotional assets. The message focused on building recipients’ desire for specific items. The goal was to amass user engagement with outreach that triggered customers searching for inspiration around Christmas gifts.

The data gathered during the early part of campaign fuelled phase two, driving sales by re-engaging customers based on their activity in phase one.

• The brand retargeted its display inventory across devices, reaching customers with dynamic creative messaging based on prior interest. This drove conversions by putting the right offers in front of the purchaser at the right time, and optimised this towards the combination of devices and operating systems which showed the highest conversion rates.
• The retailer also led with creative assets that connected its offerings in concrete ways to Christmas gifting. This drove strong revenue by emphasising the right product at the right time.

Campaign success: Bolstering outcomes with audience-led data research

The luxury brand’s campaign succeeded on multiple levels, and it also generated incredibly valuable insights to drive strategies year round.

• The brand saw a 29 per cent year-over-year increase in global ROI.
• Global revenue rose 171 per cent year-over-year as a result of the campaign.
• Customer actions during the campaign jumped 271 per cent year-over-year.

In the realm of immediately actionable insights:

• The data showed customers moving from desktop to mobile/tablet in the evening.
• Compared with an average user, customers browsed far less during the morning (7am to 9am).
• The data also showed users tended to consume media later into the evening (10pm to 1am).
• There was also strong brand affinity with Apple products, with Mac users 6x more likely to convert than Windows users, and iOS users seven times more likely to convert than those with Android phones.

By changing their device mix – ie targeting mobile, tablet, and desktop during the relevant day-parts – the retailer not only changed its media buying but its messaging as well. Refocusing on branding via mobile in the evening, they aligned messaging with performance in the afternoon, when desktops dominated users’ attention.

Moving into the following year, insights from the campaign have helped the brand leverage cross-device targeting and further improve its sequencing of messaging.
As you strategise your next campaign, aggregate, analyse, and employ data and research to shape and amplify your approach. The patterns and insight you uncover will put the power of immediate action in your hands, fuelling new and stronger campaigns every season, all year round.

Richard Robinson, Managing director & vice-president EMEA, Turn

Tel: 020 7255 5650
Email:emeamarketing@turn.com
Web:www.turn.com
Twitter:@turnplatform

Marketing should be an industry where creativity rules, where the next world-changing campaign is only a brainstorm away. But marketing has changed. It has grown up to earn a place at the boardroom table, but many marketers have found their day-to-day job has gone stale.

Globalisation, expansion, cost control and compliance bring process and complexity to the fore, at the expense of creativity. The management of multiple campaigns across multiple channels means that marketers often have to focus more on procurement, reporting and administration, and less on the creation of the next big thing.

Marketers risk becoming guardians of operation and efficiency, rather than trailblazers in innovation. This defeats the object of doing marketing in the first place. Yes, processes are essential. Yes, it is important to get bang for buck. Yes, the bottom line is ultimate measure of success. But why should this come at the expense of brilliance?

We still have wide-eyed and fresh-faced marketers joining our brands and agencies every year, but we are stifling them with bureaucracy. Marketers today need to deal with multichannel campaigns, assets, technologies and suppliers, but they have very clear aims –building brand loyalty, a quality customer experience and, of course, sales. It shouldn’t be so complicated to achieve something so simple.

To stop the tail wagging the dog, we need to strike a balance. Marketers should be marketers – not administrators, procurement or IT people. But restructuring the marketing machine requires us to have a deep understanding that all marketers are different – as are all organisations and workflows.

The successful modern marketer is the one who finds a balance between doing things right and doing the right things. But how is the equilibrium achieved? How do you find time to be creative when there are so many processes to manage?

To answer these questions, ITG has teamed up with The Drum to hold a round table debate in London on 27 April 2016. Joining me will be Richard Jones, Head of Design and Production of Marks & Spencer, as well as marketing and procurement leads from other brands and agencies. Together, we will discuss how things ever got this complicated, and how we can share best practice in marketing management to allow us to reclaim our real jobs.

To register for the event please visit http://beat.thedrum.com/ITG-Breakfast.html

Simon Ward, Founder and CEO, itg

Web: www.inspiredthinkinggroup.com

“If these elephants can show us anything it’s the simple fact that all you need is love”

Randy Plett travels around the world, documenting the amazing people and places he encounters. The iStock by Getty Images exclusive photographer has seen some incredible things throughout his photographic journeys but one experience stands out: the time he visited the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, an orphan-elephant rescue and rehabilitation program in Nairobi, Kenya.

 “I’m lucky to have been around a lot of elephants in my travels, but seeing so many of them running around and drinking from giant baby bottles without a care in the world was quite special,” he said.  “I was captivated by how playful and lively they were.”

 

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The orphanage rescues and raises elephants who have lost their families due to poaching or loss of habitat from issues like human overpopulation, conflict, deforestation and drought. They also rescue other animals like rhinos, giraffes and a particularly precocious gazelle.

“I was standing watching the animals when I saw a baby Thompson’s Gazelle eating about 10 feet away from me. I couldn’t’ believe how close I was to such a wild animal,” Plett said. “All of a sudden, it stopped eating and turned to look at me. It walked right up to my face and sniffed my nose — I thought it was going to bite my face. Despite my needless fear of a really small vegetarian animal, it was like pure magic.”

After spending time observing the animals, one of the things that resonated most with Plett was how the elephants appeared to be such emotional creatures.

“Elephants are very family oriented. They absolutely love each other and are very protective of one another. It was really sweet watching them play and cuddle, it was like their love made up for the loss of their mothers,” Plett said. “You could also tell how attached they were to their caretakers. One of the babies was cuddled up against one of the orphanage workers the entire time.”

 

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He hopes this affection translates through his photos and prompts people to feel the same sense of compassion toward animals.

“I often feel that animals get the short end of the stick and are exploited for our own benefit. That’s why it’s really important for humans to have personal experiences with animals and create a connection with them. The animals that we do get to interact with act as ambassadors for the animal kingdom, and the more we interact with them, the more compelled we will be to care for and protect them,” he said. “I hope my photos inspire people to better understand and appreciate animals. If these elephants can show us anything it’s the simple fact that all you need is love.”

Explore more photos of your favorite animals at iStock. Discover now. 

Together Works gathers a varied collection of success stories featuring in-depth interviews with famous brands and their agencies including L'oreal, PG tips, Compare the Market, Tanqueray and some challengers who aim to change the status quo. 

Here is the first release of the 12 stories where we look at the relationships between agency and client:

Makeup your mind

Picture this: What if you had your own personal makeup artist on standby to give you the latest look or style before you left the house?

That’s unlikely for most of the general public but that’s the premise of Makeup Genius from L’Oreal Paris, an app that is revolutionising the way we trial makeup. The app allows the everyday consumer to scan a makeup ad in a magazine, or a product barcode in the supermarket and see if it would suit from practically any angle or in any light. If that wasn’t enough, there is already a full catalogue of products waiting in the app which consumers can try on, without having to scan anything first. The classic try before you buy.

 

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Remy Averna, L’Oreal Paris vice president global integrated communications says ‘The idea is for the L’Oreal woman to get the same kind of service as you would get at the makeup counter anywhere.”...

Read the full story here

Millennials are highly sought after by marketers and brands. In fact, they’re in such high demand that they earn 5x spend from marketers compared to other groups. With 51 percent of consumer spending done by people over 50, are we missing the forest for the trees?

It’s not easy to justify all that extra attention on millennials. Is it because brands put a higher value on building long lasting relationships with a younger generation? It’s a compelling argument, but not strong enough to justify marketing spend half an order of magnitude higher than for other groups, many of whom are just as likely to convert.

Are marketers obsessed with unraveling the enigma of the Millennial, a starkly different consumer than any we’ve seen before? Millennials trust ads more than other groups. They’re also pretty good at filtering them out. Maybe advertisers like the challenge that accompanies cracking the code.

Another reason millennials get the lion’s share of the conversation is the prevailing assumption they’re tech savvy leaders in a world growing more connected every day. Though we don’t talk about it much, the data tells us this presumption is patently false.

Millennials are active technology users who tend to own devices in higher percentages than other groups. But it turns out they’re less tech savvy than many people assume: 58 percent of millennials haven’t been able to master workplace productivity tech skills. Millennials are born into a world of easy to use technology like smartphones and social media. More complicated technology presents a real world hurdle.

There’s a major difference between tech dependency and tech savviness. If you want to look at dependency, millennials actually aren’t that far ahead of Gen Xers. Things get even more surprising when you take into account the fact that baby boomers represent 25 percent of the population but 40 percent of spending on technology. They’ve quickly adopted home-based technology, making them the first tech-savvy retirees.

Baby boomers like Forbes writer Larry Magid and author Bob Hoffman are flat-out insulted by the characterisation that boomers don’t understand technology. “It was my generation that invented personal computers,” Magid writes. “Many of us used CP/M, DOS or even Unix long before Macs and PCs had graphical user interfaces.”

As advertisers, our characterisation of specific demographics don’t always fit reality. Millennials aren’t the gold standard audience. But even if they were, why are we targeting based on big, amorphous age groups when we have the power to do so much more?

The scalability and relevance that programmatic advertising offers actually suggests we might be missing the wood for the trees. Advertising technology empowers marketers with the ability to microtarget audiences or even target individuals on a one to one basis. By deconstructing the myth that millennials are their highest value audience, marketers can redefine who their most important customers really are.

Advertisers are already starting to recognise the benefits of addressing audiences age-agnostically, instead honing in on audiences that share passions. It’s time to push past our obsession with millennials and focus on learning more intimately about our audiences.

James Patterson, GM, UK, The Trade Desk

Tel: +44 (0) 203 826 7105
Email: sales@thetradedesk.com
Web: www.thetradedesk.com
Twitter:@TheTradeDeskInc

“I’m creative and inquisitive. I want to be inspired and inspiring. I love big ideas and delivering huge impact through my work. I am Emma – a marketing hero.”

Marketing is full of people like Emma – no matter their gender, age or background. Marketing is a discipline that celebrates great ideas, enthusiasm and innovation. But there is a problem: the traditional business of marketing doesn’t really reflect the passion and talent of the people who work in it.

Let’s face it, most marketing departments spend a lot of time dealing with stuff that has very little to do with marketing and customer engagement: managing suppliers; contracts; procurement; asset management; policing the brand; and dealing with unrealistic business expectations within unrealistic timeframes.

Marketers such as Emma are struggling with siloed operations, fragmented systems and digital transformation. At the same time, global marketing budgets are under pressure, and marketers are constantly being turned to as the champions of the new world of omnichannel customer engagement. This has led to marketing receiving an intense level of attention and scrutiny – having to constantly prove a return on investment.

Marketing has become fixated with, and paralysed by, process – and Emmas don’t get into marketing to do that. You can hear more about Emma and the challenges faced by modern marketers in the embedded video. We at ITG believe the solution to the problem doesn’t lie in spinning the wheels faster, but in automating and streamlining the processes that have little to do with the job of marketing in the first place.

But we also want to hear what you think. And that is why ITG has teamed up with The Drum to hold a debate about how marketing can reclaim its creative roots.

Our event: When Marketers Aren’t Marketers, will be held on 27th April 2016 at the Soho Hotel, London at 8:30am. On the panel will be ITG CEO Simon Ward, joined by Richard Jones of Marks & Spencer and Tina Kataria from SABMiller. Together, they will discuss how we are constraining our best and brightest marketing stars with unnecessary process and bureaucracy – and what we can do about it.

To register for the event please visit http://beat.thedrum.com/ITG-Breakfast.html

Jonathan Quayle, Media Centre Director, ITG

Web: www.inspiredthinkinggroup.com

Team iProspect is taking part in Tough Mudder London West on Saturday 30th April 2016 in memory of Angus Wood (1980 – 2015) to raise money for the charity ActionAid.

A valued iProspect employee, friend and mentor, Ang was a well-loved and respected colleague across the digital marketing industry. He achieved a huge amount during his five years at iProspect, including building a team of experts to focus on the Dentsu Aegis Networks social media and video buying, an industry-leading team that is now over 60 people strong.

Ang’s unexpected death in August 2015 has left a huge hole for many of us. He was a big investor in people and believed in developing great talent, and, to continue his legacy, iProspect has founded the "Angus Wood Innovation Award" named in his honour.

His friends and colleagues also wanted to do something to commemorate Ang’s kindness, wit and talent that inspired so many. So this weekend (Saturday 30th April), a 36-strong team will be ‘racing' in the London West Tough Mudder to raise money for the charity ActionAid. The punishing 12-mile course will see the team climb over and under 19 obstacles, including ‘the birth canal’, ‘arctic enema’ and ‘electroshock therapy’ through mud and freezing water, in a test of endurance, courage and teamwork.

Ang excelled at building high-performing teams, so the team felt that Tough Mudder was a fitting challenge.

EMEA CEO Chris Whitelaw said, “I wish the team the very best of luck (and stamina) in this gruelling challenge, and fitting tribute, for a tremendous cause and in memory of a remarkable man and friend Angus Wood.”

Angus and his wife Vaila have long supported ActionAid, partly because Vaila is the charity’s web analyst but also because of the way ActionAid works with communities to bring lasting change for some the world's poorest and most vulnerable people. If you would like to support the iProspect Tough Mudder team and help them reach their fundraising target, you can make a donation online via Just Giving.

As Fashion Week approaches, the excitement builds to see the latest innovative, fun and sometimes wacky styles strutting down the runway.

This year, one trend in particular is catching our eye – and it’s something any brand or small business can tap into to keep their look up-to-date.

Still-life imagery is a dynamic and compelling way to portray everything from clothing and accessories to nuts and bolts. A quick scroll through Instagram makes it clear, its simplicity makes it the style of choice for fashion bloggers and brands alike.

Below, Getty Images Senior Designer Shital Patel explains how to choose a great still-life image and what to look for when using them in your own projects.

Composition

When it comes to still life imagery, composition is key. Everything should be arranged with the same precision and thought you would put into setting up a shot with people. It’s important to strike a balance between orienting items so they have enough breathing room to stand out, and making sure they complement the other objects around them. One technique that is trending in imagery is called knolling, which is the process of lining up similar items in parallel or ninety degree angles, and shooting the items from above. Popular especially amongst bloggers and Instagrammers, this arrangement allows viewers to easily see individual objects, as well as take in the entire image as a whole.

 

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Negative space

While attention is typically placed on the objects themselves, the negative space surrounding them also plays a huge role in the impact of a still life. Empty space adds interest by framing and emphasizing the items and as a result, creates a dynamic composition that draws the eyes across the page. Having ample negative space is also a great way to allow for text to be incorporated without competing with the image.

 

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 Tell a story

Because of the level of detail you can include in a still life, they are an especially comprehensive way to tell a visual story and can even provide a sensory experience for viewers showcasing the texture and detail of items. Also consider the tone you are trying to set. Are you looking to create a controlled, organized atmosphere or an ambiance that is vibrant and frenzied? Think about the message you want to convey and the audience you are striving to connect with.

 

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Find stunning still-life imagery at ridiculous prices on iStock by Getty Images. Discover more.

Alli Echelman, Content Marketing Specialist, Getty Images

Tel: 646-613-4266
Email: Alli.echelman@gettyimages.com
Web: www.Gettyimages.com

I recently spoke at the China Connect conference in Paris with Yan Lee, our company’s product chief on connecting advertisers worldwide with Chinese consumers. China Connect is one of Europe's largest industry gatherings on Chinese consumer trends.

As Yan had put it in his session, “It’s important for international brands to understand and decode the digital media landscape in China before they can connect effectively and precisely to their target audience in the market.”

Albeit the incredibly fragmented digital landscape in China, effective audience buying is indeed possible for international players through programmatic cross-channel targeting via a unified data platform, and this is the only efficient way to cut through the noise.

So what do we mean by understanding and decoding China’s digital landscape? Here you go with some noteworthy insights:

1. Understanding China: The complex digital media landscape and strong prevalence of digital content consumption

Everyone knows China has a complex and fragmented digital media landscape, in which there are a lot of players of various sizes and nature that operate on different platforms and channels. For instance, if you’re asked about the key video players in the western markets, YouTube and Netflix would be the no-brainer answer. Yet in China, there are Youku Tudou, Sohu TV, iQiYi, LeTV, PPTV and more which each plays a significant role and serves a different group of demographics in the market.

The prevalence of digital content consumption is also an irrevocable trend. As of 2015, Chinese users’ time spent on digital media per day (185.1 mins, i.e. more than 3 hours) had already exceeded that on traditional TV (160.2 mins.), and took up over 50% of the total media time spent in China. They now spend less than 10 mins. per day on newspapers – this doesn’t mean they do not care about current issues, it’s just that they’re all reading news on digital devices now.

The huge size of internet user base plus hyper-busy internet traffic pose the first challenge to international brands who’re thinking to tap the China market – which is to effectively cut through the noise and get their message through.

 

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2. Decoding China: China will continue be leading the world in mobile – in adoption, time spent, and retail commerce

So what is the most popular device among Chinese users for digital content consumption? It is mobile – primarily Smartphone, without a doubt. An average Chinese user spends 74.6 mins. on the mobile internet per day – more than one-fifth of the total media time spent per day. While time spent on PC still exceeded an hour per day and showed a minuscule growth by 0.3 mins in 2015, its share of pie was on a gentle downward slope. According to a TNS survey, Internet users in China aged 45 or younger also spend more time with the mobile internet than the worldwide average.

With the wide adoption of Smartphone and digital payment channels, China also leads the world in mcommerce. According to eMarketer, China’s retail mcommerce totaled US$330+ billion in 2015, which was 2.7 times the summation of US’ and UK’s total. The gap is expected to widen to 4.4 times in 2018.

3. Connecting to China: Get a strong grasp on your target audience’s user behavior and interest before outreaching them

Chinese consumers are savvy online shoppers. In 2015, 64.8% of Chinese Internet users – equivalent to 418.7 million Chinese people – had bought something at least once online. The number is expected to virtually reach 70% this year, translating to 468.1 million Chinese people, and that means seven out of 10 Internet users in China could be your potential sales leads.

According to research firm Mintel, total cross-border online shopping is expected to rise to US$222 billion by 2020, up from US$97.3 billion last year, accounting for 17% of the US$1.3 trillion in Chinese online sales expected in 2020.

They are getting more discerning as well. According to a McKinsey’s 2016 China Consumer Report, there is a clear tendency among Chinese consumers to upgrade to premium products, especially in the cosmetics, spirits, dairy milk, hair care, rice, fresh produce, beer and other sectors.

When it comes to outbound travel, as Chinese have become more experienced travelers now, they tend to look for memorable experiences rather than products, with quality cinema, dining, spa visits and travel all seeing robust loyalty among Chinese consumers. As online travel agency Zanadu had shared (cited in a FT news report), “(Chinese travelers) go to the opera in Italy, watch the Northern Lights in Scandinavia and dine at Michelin-starred restaurants in Paris.”

And same as what they do in other retail consumption, Chinese consumers are getting more used to book their travel online. According to eMarketer, digital travel sales in China are expected to show another year of robust double-digit growth of 24% in 2016, hitting a total of US$81.7 billion.

 

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So you have a good grasp of the big picture now. With these in mind, here are some suggestions for international brand marketers or digital decision makers looking to tap the China consumer market:

1. Mobile is a must have in the marketing mix

Given the ultra-strong mobile penetration and adoption in the market, mobile is now a must-have in the marketing mix of brands who’re thinking to set foot in China.

The growth in mobile ad spend is already an unquestionable trend in the market. It is expected to take up 34.9% of the world’s total this year, and 49% of the pie in 2018 – which would be 4.5 times India’s share by then.

2. Get your website, ecommerce and online payment solutions in place to ensure smooth conversion

Get your website, ecommerce and online payment solutions (all in mobile-friendly setup for sure) in place to ensure smooth conversion, or better yet, capture the critical micro-moments and close the deals when the consumers need what you have to offer at the moments.

3. Take a cross-screen programmatic approach

One thing that I would like to highlight is – albeit the prevalence of mobile, advertisers should never neglect the importance of other channels in the marketing mix when planning campaigns, as Chinese Internet users tend to use multiple devices at different times of the day for different purposes, making it necessary for advertisers to adopt a cross-screen approach if they want to effectively reach the right people on the right device at the right moment.

Also, work with a reliable digital marketing solution partner who has local knowledge, solid experience and concrete expertise of the China market to ensure a powerful and meticulous delivery of your campaigns.

4. Get a data management platform in place (if you haven’t yet) to facilitate programmatic media buying

To do effective advertising in China, it is always imperative to take a data-driven approach to cut through the noise, or else your campaign message may simply get lost in the giant sea of information, no matter how well-crafted your message or visual are.

It is hence always good for marketers to work with a data management platform (DMP) to more effectively find out more about the audience they are trying to reach and where those consumers spend their time, so as to better employ the information they hold about their target audience and drive smarter and more accurate media buying by serving campaign messages that better suit the profiles and needs of different groups of target audience.

By the same token, one should always work with a digital marketing partner with strong data and technology capabilities who would be able to effectively identify the right target audience groups based on data analytics and deliver a truly programmatic and precise audience buying for your campaigns. 

Darren Jacobs, Head of Europe at iClick Interactive Asia Limited

Tel: 07874024204
Email: darren.jacobs@i-click.com
LinedInk: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/darrenjacobs

As part of The Drum MOMA Awards programme we hear from Tim Jones, Sales Director for Trinity Mirror's location-based ad network, pinpoint.

It's an understatement to observe that the landscape has shifted for news media brands in the past two years. Recent US ComScore data revealed that mobile accounted for two out of every three minutes spent consuming digital media and confirmed that mobile users are increasingly choosing apps as the preferred format for this media fix. Total time spent consuming digital media in June 2015 via mobile apps hit 779 billion minutes (vs. 'just' 551 billion minutes on PCs). As readers spend more time on mobile devices and less time reading on newspapers, magazines, and desktop computers, all publishers must adapt their distribution strategies to align with this fundamental mobile shift. 

Closer to home the latest UK Advertising Association / WARC Expenditure Report published this week revealed that, whilst last year UK advertising grew at its fastest rate since 2010, once again it was internet ad spend alone driving the numbers, showing an increase of 17.3% to £8.6bn with mobile accounting for a whopping 78% of that growth, growing to a total of £2.6bn. The challenge though, as ever, for a news publisher is to ensure that today's print dollars don't dwindle to tomorrow's digital cents and mobile dimes...

How is Trinity Mirror Group Performing in this Changing Landscape?

In March as a group we posted a record audience of 122.2m unique browsers for the month, according to the latest ABCe figures. That 122.2m figure represents a year-on-year increase of 31%. In terms of mobile performance, the number of people who view Trinity Mirror Group content exclusively on mobile devices has exploded in the past few years. In fact, we had more than 74 million unique visitors in March which represented over 60% of unique visitors. This take-off in mobile consumption stems primarily from our focus on social distribution and investment in mobile products (we have seventeen apps across its titles), all with the goal of getting mobile to offset print revenue declines.

Mobile and social distribution are in fact intrinsically linked, given some 35 percent of our mobile visits now come from social channels. So we're pushing out more of our content to third-party platforms like Facebook and Apple News, while also making pages compliant with Google AMP, the fast-loading mobile pages feature. We've also piloted Facebook's Instant Articles for three of our titles, The Mirror, Manchester Evening News and WalesOnline.

Embracing Innovation to Close the Mobile Gap

Operating at this scale of audience brings a new set of challenges and makes certain questions more pressing: how do we drive up the price point that we get for our inventory?, how do we accelerate the packaging of print and digital?, how do we monetise mobile at scale and mitigate against ad blocking?

To begin to answer these questions our strategic mantra has for a while been around a willingness to experiment and trial things, however big or small, either at a content level or an ad tech level. When you consider the typical app reader is more loyal to a brand than mobile web, unsurprisingly app development is a key plank to the group's mobile strategy, at both a title and network level.

This has meant both introducing new mobile products, like our latest, news aggregator app Perspecs, which aims to tell ''three sides to every story", and experimenting with in-app ads that are embedded in the editorial content and that can be replicated across devices. These native ''in-feed'' ads are generally more accepted by consumers, too, which helps with ad blocking on the rise.

At a network level another group innovation utilises native functionality to side step the challenge of ad blocking.  pinpoint is our app-mediated, hyper-local mobile ad platform that targets our growing app-only audience with location-based advertising. The tech enables advertisers to send targeted mobile messages, previewed in sponsored push notifications, to a network of fully opted-in smartphone users, aggregated across the group's universe of seventeen national and regional app titles.  

Having incubated the pinpoint business since 2014 and introduced increasingly sophisticated layers of geo-targeting capability (such as real time geofencing), as a group we're now excited by the prospect of using the proprietary location data to re-invigorate the mobile banner and serve more relevant in-app ads.

pinpoint are a sponsor of The Drum MOMA Awards and more details can be found here www.momas.co.uk and at www.pinpoint-targeting.co.uk

As part of The Digital Trading Awards Programme we hear from Rebekah Kennedy, Associate Account Director, TubeMogul who talks about Viewability.

Viewability – It’s the term that everyone throws about like a score on a school test. What percent are you getting? And do you know how to interpret the figures? Chances are that you have encountered someone who promises ‘100% viewability’. Guess what? They are using jargon to confuse you. So let’s jargon bust viewability to find out what it really is and what you absolutely need to know. 

Viewability
It’s important we define what viewability is from the very beginning. It is NOT just the percentage of the ad that was watched. That’s Viewability’s older sibling – the completion rate.  Completion rate was a adequate measurement metric for some time, however your ad could have been playing down the bottom of a page with sound off, with no way to measure if someone actually saw it. 

Viewability is defined as the OPPORTUNITY an ad has to be seen by a human. A combination of page location, player size, and what percentage of ad was viewable for the duration of the ad are all factored in to create this measurement. In June 2014, the MRC set a definition for the standard in viewability measurement. For a video ad: at least 50% of the player’s pixels must be in-view for at least two consecutive seconds. 

100% viewability
This is the golden goal, right? Well, not necessarily. One of the most common reasons that an ad is not seen, is that the consumer chooses to ignore the ad. 

This is the ‘natural rate of viewability’, similar to the concept of the natural rate of unemployment in economics - a recognition that some viewers will always ignore an ad if given the opportunity. Online, this happens by viewers muting ads, or by opening another tab or window or scrolling down to wait them out. Similar to going and making a cup of tea in the kitchen when an ad comes on TV. 
In my opinion if you are being promised 100% viewability, you should be asking questions. Who is measuring that 100% viewability? Is it an independent third party? Is it in line with the above-mentioned MRC standard? 
It’s very easy to game the system and buy ads on small player sizes, ads that follow you down the page, or ones that auto-play off-screen. You also need to ensure that the entire video buy is brand safe. Unfortunately, it is possible to score very highly on viewability but run across fraudulent traffic. 
Don’t use viewability as a metric in isolation – instead use it as a base for programmatic success. Better to focus on engaging the consumers who do view, constantly testing and learning to deliver the right ad on the right platform to the right market. 

CPM
The price of 1,000 ad impressions. Basically, the goal is to get more for less. But, the general consensus is that the less you pay, the less premium the inventory will be which then opens the campaign up to poor viewability challenges. The old adage: “You get what you pay for” rings true. You can reduce costs by constantly optimizing your campaign to ensure spend goes to where it is securing traction. Using a single platform to buy, plan and optimise your campaign in real-time will give you a leg up in regards to cost efficiencies.

Viewable CPM
A pricing model that accounts for the cost of media and the viewability rate of that media. To calculate VCPM, divide the CPM by the viewability rating. If you want to get more bang for your buck in regards to viewability – work to this pricing model over a flat CPM.

MRC - Media rating council
A body whose mission is to secure for the Industry and related users, audience measurement that is valid, reliable, and effective. If you ever wondered why people say that a viewable impression is is one where 50% of a video player’s pixels are in view in an active browser tab for any two consecutive seconds – it’s because these guys said so. There is discussion over whether new parameters should be set. Watch this space. 

NHT Non-human traffic
Refers to fraud and the deliberate practice of attempting to serve ads that have no potential to be viewed by a human user. Shameless plug alert! As of last month, TubeMogul launched its Non-Human Traffic Credit Program. Available to platform clients that have a master services agreement (MSA) with TubeMogul, the program refunds advertisers for non-human traffic identified as fraudulent by White Ops, an independent, third-party verification provider. 

So there you have it – viewability in a few easy terms. Impress your friends and throw out some of the above sayings over a pint. Or, better yet, deliver better ROI by optimising your viewability rate during your next brand campaign. 
TubeMogul are a sponsor of The Drum Digital Trading Awards UK and more details can be found here www.digitaltradingawards.co.uk and here www.tubemogul.com.
 

The Drum Digital Trading Awards (DTAs) have been an outstanding forum to recognise the exceptional people and businesses who pioneer and drive the ad tech industry forward.

Based on the award do itself and the great programme of events that The Drum coordinated in the run up to the event, one thing remains clear. Ad tech is here to stay, programmatic is the new normal and the industry still has lots of growing up, as well as growing, to do. We continue to go from strength to strength. All exciting times!

What impact would a Brexit have on the UK ad tech landscape?

When US tech companies launch in EMEA they tend to start in the UK. We have the biggest consumer market in Europe, the biggest online spend per head in the world on ecommerce, the most developed ad tech businesses in Europe and the best access to the most talent in one place – London. A number of these factors may not change if we leave Europe, yet our ad tech industry works extremely well at the moment, so would we really want to change our current dynamic with Europe?

Looking at some of the stats, six per cent of the UK workforce are EU nationals and in London the figure rises to 13 per cent. As well as occupying a large percentage of low-skilled roles, five per cent of top and high-skilled jobs are occupied by EU citizens. We certainly see this every day at Sphere. Look at the formation of your team – I imagine that it is a mix of people and nationalities.

At Sphere we now employ two people in our London office whose sole role is to proactively attract candidates from companies in France, Germany, Italy and Spain who want to relocate to the UK. In ‘tough to find’ candidate markets, such as campaign management and analytics, this is becoming a vital source of candidates for our customers and is helping them fill even more ‘tough to fill’ vacancies across the board, whether they are a publisher, advertiser, ad tech vendor or agency.

Being in the EU we have a larger talent pool outside of the UK and we are not restricted by red tape. 69 per cent of EU migrants from 2004 to 2015 gave ‘work’ as the main reason to come to the UK. Leaving the EU could have an impact on the simplicity with which you can hire someone from Europe.

Why is there such a war for talent?

There is a ‘war for talent’ because ad tech moves quickly. And people’s jobs and careers cannot keep up with this growth, innovation and the constant need for new skills. There are, however, enough candidates to fill the open vacancies in the market. Jobs do not remain open because there are not willing and capable candidates. They remain open as some businesses do not invest enough time in their employer branding and interviewing and attracting top talent.

What does your sales collateral look like when it comes to selling your business? How invested are your senior management team in attracting and spending time with new recruits? And like any campaign, how clearly do you set out the goals, time frames and objectives at the beginning of the search? And then stick to them when the ‘day job’ gets in the way?

As Greg Savage (a global recruitment ‘guru’) said, hiring great people can also be a process of “seduction”, we need to seduce the potential great employees from the start of our communication with them, eventually winning them over. So sometimes we need to take a long term view on attracting great people too.

We work with lots and lots of businesses who are brilliant at recruiting. And they are often the ones who grow the fastest while retaining their people. If you want to learn more about how to attract and retain the best people in ad tech, I would love to hear from you.

Ed Steer, CEO, Sphere Digital Recruitment

Tel: 020 3728 2973
Email:hello@spherelondon.co.uk
Web: spherelondon.co.uk
Twitter: @SphereDigRec

“Yes, I’m a marketing manager, but really I’m a project manager… I just don’t have the resource to be creative.”

This comment, from an audience member at a recent round table event hosted by The Drum, is sadly typical of the state of modern marketing.

The title of the event was “When Marketers are not Marketers”, and joining me on the panel were senior marketers from M&S, SABMiller and the IAB.

We all agreed that strong creativity leads to positive results in marketing, but we had to acknowledge that the time marketers have to be creative is severely restricted by the additional admin, procurement and reporting responsibilities that are increasingly piled on them.

The challenge for marketers, as Tina Kataria, SABMiller’s global category manager for agency sourcing, so succinctly put it, is to “keep creativity alive in a world of distraction.”

And these distractions are multiplying, driven by the proliferation of digital channels, increasing accountability and budgetary pressure. Budgetary pressures can lead to demands for cost cutting, which can be disastrous if not tied to increases in efficiency and improvements in the value of marketing activity.

There can be other fall-out from budgetary pressure. As the IAB’s Steve Chester pointed out, “cost-cutting can mean agency margins being squeezed, often leading to bad creative and driving down value.”

Adding to these issues, traditional notions of customer engagement and loyalty have been blown out of the water.

“Customers are indifferent,” said fellow panellist Richard Jones, head of design and production at M&S. “That is the job marketing has to deal with.”

Overcoming this indifference and building brand engagement means devoting more time to creative strategy and customer engagement, not less. And this means reclaiming time and resource for creative thinking by reducing the admin burden.

So that’s the conundrum we discussed at length: how to increase creativity in the face of demands for greater efficiency and value, and the avalanche of admin and process. It’s a problem I encounter all the time, and fortunately it does have a solution.

 

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Many of the time-consuming tasks that are taking marketers away from addressing the urgent needs of creatively encouraging customer engagement – managing campaigns, suppliers, assets, briefing, approvals – can be handed over to technology.

The panel had a very interesting discussion on the difference between those in marketing who understand the value of technology and those who don’t.

“Technology impacts everyone in business,” I argued, “because it’s where the savings lie.”

The right marketing automation achieves the double hit of freeing up your time to focus on creativity – most likely why you got into the job in the first place – and delivering those cost savings demanded by the board.

A joined-up approach to marketing operations that embraces technology can deliver hard savings through better and more transparent briefings and approvals, reducing reworks and delivery time.

It can provide improved adherence to CPAs, enabling you to do more in the time available, as well as providing the obvious major time and efficiency improvements by banishing spreadsheets and manual ways of working.

You’ll see a reduction in emails for each job, and savings from reduced reliance on freelance resource.

Efficient automated workflows give you the extra time you require to properly plan and develop strategy, while the visibility technology can provide of your entire operation enables you to measure campaign effectiveness to facilitate better planning and budget allocation.

We concluded that there are, in effect, two streams to marketing: ideas-driven marketing and data-driven marketing.

The first relies on good people with inspirational ideas, good instincts and, crucially, the time required to develop creative strategies and put them into effect.

The second provides the operation efficiency, value and reporting required, but it is time-consuming unless supported by the right technology – technology that frees up time for the ideas-driven marketing that can overcome consumer indifference.

Perhaps in a future where all companies take this approach, we’ll be able to come back to the Drum for an event entitled “When Marketers ARE Marketers”. I look forward to the day.

Please join the debate on Twitter at #MarketerNotMachine. And you can read The Drum’s write up of the event at thedrum.com.

Simon Ward, CEO and Founder, ITG