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  • May
  • 15

Will Programmatic Trading Come to Offline Media too?

Will_Programmatic_Trading_Come_to_Offline_Media_tooOnline display advertising is booming – up by 12.4% in 2012 according to the IAB – and one of the drivers of that growth has been programmatic trading technology.

In a nutshell, programmatic trading allows for the automated buying of ad inventory via ad exchanges.  Publishers load their inventory into one side of the exchange and buyers, be they clients or their agencies, buy that ad inventory at the other end.  The transactions between buyers and sellers occur automatically depending on the parameters set by both parties. 

The beauty of programmatic trading is that it’s both efficient and effective for advertisers. It’s efficient in that advertisers are buying audiences rather than space. Those audiences can be based on their own data, such as the behaviour of the visitors to their site, on 3rd party data provided by the ad exchange (such as geodemographics or interests derived from browsing behaviour) or, more usually, a combination of the 2.  Hence, the advertiser can avoid the wastage of irrelevant impressions associated with the traditional approach – a particular problem for premium brands.  Efficiencies have also resulted from the explosion in online ad inventory that programmatic trading has driven, forcing down the overall price of online ad inventory.

The effectiveness derives from its performance based nature.  Advertisers can measure the actions their activity is creating and bids for inventory can be changed in real time (known as Real Time Bidding or RTB). Also, creative can be tested on the fly and optimised to that which is delivering the best results. 

At its best, programmatic buying can deliver the marketing nirvana of the right ad, with the right message, delivered to the right consumer, in the right context and bought at the right price.

Programmatic trading’s heartland is the world of remarketing and retargeting – targeting existing customers or prospects with relevant ads designed to move them through the final stages of the purchase funnel.  But more premium inventory is coming available which is tempting advertisers to divert brand,rather than just direct response, budgets to programmatic activity.  And with closed premium networks becoming available, and ‘brand safe’ technology negating the risk of online ads appearing in inappropriate environments, luxury brands are increasingly investing in programmatic too.

So programmatic trading has been a boon for advertisers.  Its no wonder that, according to IDC research, it’s forecast to grow from 17% of UK display ad sales to 30% in 2016. At Cream, we’ve found the programmatic activity can outperform generic PPC in some instances.  So wouldn’t it be a natural progression for advertisers to want to buy their offline media programmatically? Of course, and it looks like that’s the way things are heading.

Vistar Media has already launched an ad exchange for buying and selling digital outdoor space in the US.  Advertisers can logon to a website and select where they want their ads to run and for how long, then set their maximum bid and the space is bought automatically. Of course, some of the aspects of programmatic trading online are missing from this model – such as the performance-based nature and the audience targeting but that will come too.  With the advent of Route in the UK, it’s quite possible for advertisers to buy outdoor space based on very specific audience requirements. And with facial recognition increasingly being built into digital outdoor, advertisers will be able to understand the basic demographics of those viewing their ads and their dwell time so there can be a performance metric too.

Programmatic buying has also been introduced to radio in the US. Los Angeles-based Triton Digital has recently built an ad exchange that allows advertisers to automate the buying of online and mobile-audio radio ads. It has sold some inventory for media companies such as CBS Radio, which streams content on the web from many of their local stations.

But the big questions is, will programmatic buying ever come to TV? With the budgets spent in this arena and the ‘blunt cudgel’ like targeting on offer, programmatic buying seems to offer an opportunty to drive real efficiencies for advertisers.  And with initiatives such as Sky AdSmart, which allows targeting to individual households based on their demographics (a process called addressable TV advertising), specific programmatic audience targeting becomes a real possibility. Of course, TV stations will need to ‘play ball’, but if the pressure comes from advertisers, they’ll have to. 

Our view is that it’s inevitable that programmatic buying will extend to all aspects of offline media because advertisers will demand it, although it won’t completely replace the traditional segmented approach.  Advertisers will still want the re-assurance of ads that appear in the places and at the times they’ve specified and many brands will still see the appeal of targeting broad audiences.

But as programmatic buying spreads, so the onus shifts more to the brand marketer who will need to become literate in both its pros and its cons.  On the latter front, take its performance based nature – an advantage only if you’re measuring the right actions. And programmatic needs to be continually benchmarked against other techniques to keep it ‘honest’.  If marketers fail to grasp these realities, then this new form of buying will fail to deliver on its promise.

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By: Neil Cunningham

Posted in Advertising, Offline Media, Online, Out of Home, TV | No Comments »

  • May
  • 1

How are Magazine Publishers Reacting to Declining Print Revenues?

How_are_Magazine_Publishers_Reacting_to_Declining_Print_RevenuesWe’ve been predicting there’ll be a ’shake out’ in the magazine world for quite some time and last week saw a major casualty with the demise of Bauer’s ‘More’ magazine after 25 years of publication.

Although the shut down of so high profile a title came as a surprise, a look at More’s recent circulation figures made the reasons easy to understand. The July to December ABCs revealed a 40% fall in weekly circulation to plunge the magazine below 100,000 for the first time, and this despite a an reader research-led revamp last Summer involving a move away from celebrity-focused editorial.

Magazine publishers are still struggling to find lucrative alternatives to print circulation and advertising revenues. Audiences are moving online and, with so many alternatives for advertisers in this environment, publishers are struggling to replace offline revenues with online ones. Bauer clearly decided the prospects for future ad revenues weren’t good, online or offline, so ‘More’ had to go.

Different publishers are approaching this core challenge in different ways.

For example, whilst Bauer is selectively trimming its magazine portfolio, they’re also selectively expanding in other areas.  Their acquisition of Planet Rock in February, a loss making radio station previously owned by millionaire and rock music fan Malcolm Bluemel, reflects their view that radio in general is a growth media and that guitar music in particular is a fast growing genre.  Further radio acquisitions may follow – Bauer is believed to have held talks to buy the loss making Absolute Radio.

Bauer may be shifting the balance of power of their media portfolio in reaction to the changing media habits of consumers but IPC have taken a different approach. Their response has been to align their commercial offering more closely with the needs of advertisers in the hope that more attractive formats will help to boost flagging advertising revenues across their existing portfolio.

The owner of Marie Claire, Look and InStyle has launched a new advertising position across all its titles – Inspired Conversations. The aim is to connect advertisers more closely with IPC’s editorial content – a shift towards ‘native marketing’ we predicted earlier this year – and to offer a more holistic solution to their advertisers challenges across their magazine portfolio.

Take IPC’s new ad product Amplify, launched earlier this month. Amplify  involves the advertiser taking over a section of an IPC title’s site relevant to the campaign. This advertising unit features both the advertiser’s creative and IPC’s editorial content. Consumers who interact with the advertiser’s creative are driven to the advertiser’s chosen site, and those that interact with the editorial content are driven back to the section of the IPC brand’s website that is sponsored by the advertiser. So far, so good, but that’s not all.  Using RadiumOne’s data-driven advertising platform, IPC can analyse who’s interacting with the advertiser’s content and how they’re interacting with it to identify a relevant audience with purchase intent.  The advertiser-sponsored content is then served (or amplified) to other audiences who fit this profile across IPCs range of sites.

IPC has also launched Social Catalyst, a venture which will use PeerIndex’s network of over 150,000 key influencers to generate genuine word of mouth for advertisers across Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Quora, in addition to other blogs and websites.

And more advertising innovations will follow – 2 new advertising initiatives are to be announced in the coming weeks and further research is being undertaken with advertising partners into how consumers engage with brands, content and advertising across all platforms.

Trimming your portfolio and trying to extract more value from your existing portfolio are 2 strategies you’d expect in a sector in decline, but surely launching new titles is counter-intuitive?  Well, that’s exactly what challenger brand Shortlist Media are doing.

However, it’s new title – Never Underdressed – will be digital only.  The fashion title, which is being pitched against market leaders such as Elle, Vogue and Marie Claire, will launch next month on desktops, tablets and smartphones only.

Of course the content will be key to its success but Shortlist are also banking on a range of ‘innovative and immersive new advertising formats that extend across desktop, tablet and mobile and allow brands to deliver…high impact campaigns across all platforms simultaneously.’ They’ve certainly appointed a team to deliver digital advertising innovation  with the project being headed by Carrie Tyler, the former digital director of Elle, as editor, and Lucy Alexander, the ex-digital ad director of Elle, as publisher. It will be interesting to see if a ‘mobile first’ product can cut through the clutter in the women’s magazine world and deliver a solution to advertisers markedly better than those titles adapted to the mobile environment.

Which strategy will succeed? Perhaps all of them.  Some titles are clearly past their sell-by date, publishers need to offer ad formats that are less interruptive in line with general trends in advertising, and the lower costs of distribution of digital only products will make easier to launch challenger titles. And publishers need to try new things – otherwise their influence over consumers and their share of advertising revenues will continue to fall.

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By: Carrie Millard

Posted in Advertising, Magazines, Mobile, Offline Media, Online | No Comments »

  • May
  • 1

How Should Advertisers Capitalise on the Second Screen?

How_Should_Advertisers_Capitalise_on_the_Second_Screen‘Second screening’, using a smartphone, tablet or laptop at the same time as watching the TV, isn’t new – how long have laptops been around? – but it is something that advertisers are becoming increasingly aware of.

So how significant a phemomenon is it?  In  short, it’s big.  Depending on which study you chose, around 75-85% of us are using other devices while watching the TV. However, the majority of us are engaged in unrelated tasks – mostly emailing.

This begs the question, ‘Is the second screen of benefit to advertisers or is it merely distracting people from the beautiful TV ads that brands have created?’  We’d argue that it’s a benefit, and here’s why.

Firstly, distracted TV viewing is hardly new.  It’s just the book, magazine or newspaper being read, or the conversation being had at the same time as TV is increasingly being replaced by activity on a smartphone, tablet or laptop. Some consumers may be distracted from viewing ads, but the likelihood is that they’re no more distracted than they were in the past.

The second point is that the advertiser has more opportunity to influence what the consumer is doing on their second screen than they would have had on traditional ‘distraction’ activity.  Second screening is an opportunity for brands to increase engagement with those seeing their ads.

Thirdly, studies do demonstrate that significant proportions of TV viewers are carrying out activities directly related to what they’re viewing on TV. Somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 are searching for additional information about the show they’re watching, about 1/5 are chatting about it on Facebook or Twitter and somewhere between 27% and 44% are searching for products spotted in a show or an ad.

And finally, second screen interaction with a brand has a positive impact on brand metrics – a study conducted by Nielsen for mobile video firm
AdColony found that TV plus mobile exposure (smartphone or tablet) improved brand recall by 69% and purchase intent by 72%.

So now we’ve established the second screen is a major opportunity for advertisers, how should they capitalise on that opportunity?  Let’s begin with TV advertisers (although the second screen has big potential for non-advertisers too).

The key place to start is getting the basics right. If you advertise on TV, people are going to be researching your product on their tablet, mobile or laptop during that ad and immediately after.  You need to make sure you’re capitalising on that instantaneous demand. Simple steps such as upweighting search spend, particularly mobile search spend, and sponsoring terms related to the ad should be your first port of call.  You might also ’sync’ other aspects of your digital campaign to take advantage of second screen activity – for example, social advertising on Facebook and/or Twitter would help reinforce your message amongst those social networking whilst they’re viewing.

The campaign hashtag is another simple and logical step. It creates a hub for conversations about the ad and your brand on Twitter – conversations which your brand could and should participate in to shape and leverage. And more can be done with it too.  In 2012, Audi ran a spot during the Super Bowl in which a group of young vampires partying outdoors at night was incinerated by an Audi’s daylight-simulating LED headlights .  The hashtag #SoLongVampires was used on Twitter, but not just on Twitter - viewers who entered the hashtag into Google were treated to an ad for Audi’s “Vampire Party” on Facebook.

Incorporating mobile specific response mechanisms makes sense as it makes it easier for viewers to find out more about your brand.  Waitrose have used augmented reality app Blippar to help viewers access ad related content – in the case of their recent Christmas campaign, a cake decorating tutorial by Delia Smith and an interview with Heston Blumenthal.  Perhaps better suited to this purpose is audio recognition app Shazam, which is being used increasingly to help viewers to take the next step to further engagement with ITV advertisers. And marketers shouldn’t forget the humble SMS short code which may not be as sophisticated as some of the newer ‘kids on the block’, but is more ‘mass’ than any AR or audio watermarking app (we all text.)

The next step, in terms of creativity and investment, is to create or sponsor specific second screen content.  It’s one that blue chip brands are increasingly taking to extend the brand experience beyond the ad and to interweave their content with the viewing experience.

For example, Coca-Cola created ‘Polar Bowl’ to accompany last year’s Super Bowl, extending it’s animated polar bear ads on to the second screen, so viewers could ‘watch’ the bears react to the game in real time. In 2011, Honda’s animated Jazz hatchback ad enabled viewers who downloaded the related iPhone  to “capture” on-screen characters, by physically swiping their phone at the ad, and interact  with them —for example, making them dance by singing into an iPhone’s microphone. And this time last year, a trailer for the Ridley Scott film Prometheus rewarded viewers who had used its hashtag #areyouseeingthis by featuring some of those tweets in its next commercial.

But leveraging the second screen phenomenon isn’t just for TV advertisers.  If brands are creating category-related searches as a result of their TV activity, there’s no reason why rivals can’t benefit by increasing their own digital spend for the duration of the campaign. And if TV shows are creating conversations around topics related to the brand, then the brand should be particpating in those conversations and leveraging them to their advantage.  For example EA, the digital games company, has a strategy of leveraging football conversations to maximise it’s social buzz. It’s #86messi campaign, a giveaway launched off the back of Lionel Messi breaking the 40-year-old record for most goals in a year, reaped the brand more than 50,000 mentions on Twitter.

However, before you embark on any second screen activity which requires significant time or investment, there are 3 things you should be aware of. Firstly, is it your target market that will be interacting? For example, according to a recent study by Deloitte/GfK, discussing TV programmes via the second screen while watching them is something popular among the under 34s but pretty rare amongst the 55+s. The programme content may be ideal for your brand but if the audience are wrong, the time spent engaging in those conversations will be largey wasted.

Secondly, much second screening happens post viewing. Most want to watch the programme first and then go online to find out more about it and talk about it.  It might be best to time your activity as appropriate.

And finally, interacting with TV content in real time is still a niche pursuit – and remains a niche pursuit whatever the age of the viewer or their propensity to own a mobile device.  Most viewers still prefer to relax and watch rather than get involved – second screen apps developed by broadcasters have yet to take off.  Things will no doubt improve but it’s no coincidence that much second screen activity is centred around ‘blockbuster’ TV events like the SuperBowl or the Olympics where audiences are huge and even a small take up can be significant.

What does the future hold? Probably more 3rd party apps to connect TV viewers conveniently to advertising related content using technologies like audio watermarking. And, with the increased penetration of internet enabled TVs, second screen content will be increasingly integrated into the ‘first screen’ as viewers interact direct via their Smart TV. And we’d expect second screen content to get more sophisticated and engaging as advertisers continue to experiment and understand what works for their individual audiences.

However, there one thing future trend we’re sure about - second screening is something that’s here to stay. It can benefit all brands – be they TV advertisers or not. All they need is a coherent strategy and a proactive approach. You don’t need to engage in second screen activity – it may not be right for your brand for the reasons discussed – but you do need to appraise it as an opportunity or you may be missing a trick.

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By: Neil Cunningham

Posted in Mobile, Offline Media, Online, TV | No Comments »

  • Apr
  • 17

What Brands can Learn from Net a Porter’s Approach to Content Marketing

Net_a_Porter_The_Collections_Special‘Content marketing is the art of communicating with your customers and prospects without selling…Instead of pitching your products or services, you are delivering information that makes your buyer more intelligent. The essence of this content strategy is the belief that if we, as businesses, deliver consistent, ongoing valuable information to buyers, they ultimately reward us with their business and loyalty.’

This extract, from the Content Marketing Institute, succinctly sums up the theoretical basis of content marketing.

With reference to Cialdini’s 7 laws of persuasion, content marketing plays on the ‘law of reciprocation’ – if brands give consumers something that they value (i.e. useful advice) then consumers feel the need return the favour (i.e. by making a purchase). Good content marketing works on other levels too – making a brand more likeable and approachable and presenting it as an authority – factors that further deepen the relationship with the consumer and make the brand even more persuasive.

Many premium brands are starting to wake up to the power of content marketing but one that saw its potential right from the start was Net-a-Porter.
Back in 2000 when Natalie Massenet founded the luxury fashion etailer, she envisaged it as “fashion magazine of the future,” offering consumers a seamless path from inspiration to purchase. Until recently, this vision took the shape of a layer of editorial that sat atop the product selection, providing buyers with a point of view on the current season. However, in the past couple of months, things have moved to a different level.

It all started in February of last year when Tess Macleod-Smith, who was Publishing Director for Esquire and Harpers Bazaar, was recruited to develop a new media and publishing division at Net a Porter. The aim was to use content to broaden the audience and to attract advertising revenues to complement Net a Porter’s core transactional revenues. Macleod-Smith’s Editor-in-Chief at Harpers Bazaar, Lucy Yeomans, followed soon after and the first fruits of the division were announced in February this year.

First came the launch of The Edit, a digital magazine distributed to 1.5 million Net a Porter customers every week. The themed editions demonstrated Yeomans’ editorial influence – rather than just focusing on new products on the site, Yeomans’ aim was to create something different. Her philosophy for The Edit, ‘ …it’s considered, it’s curated, it’s not reactive, it’s putting something together with a real point of view.’

Perhaps counter-intuitively for an online brand, The Edit’s launch was accompanied by Net a Porter’s first foray into print with the launch of The Collections Special. Featuring shoots by Paolo Roversi, David Bellamere and Liz Collins, the 104-page magazine showcased the spring collection whilst carrying advertising from the likes of Valentino, Gucci, Michael Kors and Alexander McQueen. It was distributed to 120,000 of Net a Porter’s top customers who had expressed an interest in print.

But the most ambitious project is yet to come. This Autumn will see the launch of a 300 page magazine, featuring content ranging from world class fashion shoots and style pages alongside features on beauty, travel, art, culture and politics. The new title will be available on newstands globally and via subscription, will be available 6 times a year and will feature APP technology to make it shoppable.

How should other premium brands react to Net a Porter’s content marketing approach? We think there are several lessons to be learnt.

Firstly, it’s about giving something of value to your customers, not just thinking about your own products. These initiatives feature editorial on brands that Net a Porter doesn’t feature and content that will entertain, inspire and inform their readers in other aspects of their lives beyond fashion. In addition, they will be open to advertisers who’s product doesn’t feature in Net a Porter’s tightly curated collections. As Yeomans explains, ‘ You can’t cover Asian influences without talking about Prada. You can’t do geometry without talking about [Louis] Vuitton. We have to make sure we are looking after the… [customer] first. Not everything will be shopable via Net-a-Porter, but we’ll make sure her path to buy those things is as easy as possible.’

It could be argued that it would be difficult to meet advertising revenue targets without opening up the opportunity to a broader stable of brands, but this approach also demonstrates a brand with confidence in its offering, and with its readers’ best interests at heart.

Secondly, it’s about knowing your customer. Yeoman’s can draw on the findings of Net a Porter’s 7,000 strong customer panel, each of which keeps a detailed diary. It’s difficult to pitch content correctly unless there’s a deep understanding of how your customer lives their life, what they want out of it and what other content they consumer and how.

Finally, it’s clear that if a pure online player is prepared to invest in print, then print remains a significant channel for luxury brands. Yeomans justification is simple, ‘ I really love print and I think there’s something incredibly luxurious about it…[but] for me, it goes back to the [customers]. They buy four or five magazines per month…’ Net a Porter need a print offering because their customers love to consume print.

Of course, one of the benefits of this approach to content marketing is the ability to build a deeper, direct relationship with their customers – a relationship which bypasses traditional publishers and potentially saves brands a hatful of marketing spend.

Publishers are alive to the threats and are working hard to add their own new revenue streams. Cosmo’s Shopping Genie app demonstrates the way things are likely to go, with magazine brands leveraging their role as trusted adviser to drive commercial revenues from purchases.

Publishers stepping into ecommerce. Retailers becoming publishers. Both parties seem set on a collision course. The next few years are going to be very interesting indeed…

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By: Neil Cunningham

Posted in Content, Magazines, Offline Media, Online | No Comments »

  • Apr
  • 4

Which Medium Drives the Most Word of Mouth?

FriendsMost premium and luxury marketers will admit that positive word of mouth is amongst the most important sources of new business for their brand. And most will have invested in initiatives designed to drive positive word of mouth for their brand – it’s one of the reasons behind the increasing investment in social media.

However, new research from commercial TV marketing body Thinkbox and research consultancy Data2Decisions has revealed that the most effective driver of word of mouth could be a medium that has been around for considerably longer.

In their latest research, an econometric study entitled ‘POETIC – Paid, Owned, Earned: TV’s Influence Calculated’ Thinkbox and Data2Decisions  examined over half a million data points for 36 brands across the retail, finance and drinks sectors to see which brand activities were most effective in driving earned word of mouth.

Their conclusion was that TV was by far the most medium, driving 51% of all incremental word of mouth for the brands in the study. It’s closest rival was PR/Events/Brand News at 19%, followed by Online Search, Display and Affiliate Search Advertising (12%), Changes to Brand Products or Services (9%), Print Advertising (4%), Outdoor Advertising (2%), Direct Mail (1.5%), Cinema (1%) and Radio (0.5%). In total, 72% of incremental brand conversations were driven by paid media.

In addition, TV was found to drive conversations over a more extended period than other communication channels. The level of WOM was found to be 85% of the previous week’s (100% Week One, 85% Week Two, 72% Week Three etc), meaning that word of mouth generated by TV lasted for several months. Running TV advertising every 3-6 months was found to maintain levels of brand conversations.

Another key finding of the research was the balance between offline and online word of mouth, with the vast majority (95%) of conversations in the study taking place offline – either face-to-face or over the phone.  It suggests that marketers are perhaps paying too much attention to media that are driving online word of mouth whilst neglecting those that are creating many more conversations offline.

In supplementary findings, the study also found TV was the most effective driver of additional website visits and had the most positive impact on corporate reputation.

For premium and luxury brands who are already TV advertisers, or considering being TV advertisers, the research provides a powerful case to make (or continue making) that TV investment – and perhaps to undertake activity in 3-6 months bursts to maintain optimum levels of word of mouth activity.

For those that aren’t on TV, the research is limited, as the word of mouth effects have only been judged for TV advertisers.  A similar study for non-TV advertisers would make interesting reading but, in its absence, the key take outs seem to be the importance of PR in generating word of mouth (2nd to TV), and the danger of focusing too much activity on generating observable word of mouth online without understanding what’s happening offline.

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By: Lucy Jennings

Posted in Offline Media, TV | No Comments »

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