Millward Brown Egypt - Creating Impact in Today's Media Landscape

Editor's Notes

• #12: Programmatic advertising, which relies on algorithms to determine in real-time whether or not to engage a consumer, is a staggering innovation. However, those algorithms often rely on limited digital touchpoints, which ultimately overweight the importance of direct-response metrics and KPIs. Brands are becoming aware of this overweighting, and in the next year, they will increasingly demand that these programmatic algorithms also consider softer measures of brand health. For marketers, if programmatic algorithms rely exclusively on direct-response KPIs (click rates, view rates, interactions, etc.), they can be disconnected from a brand’s reality. Advertising objectives for many large brands are often more focused on building awareness, communicating messages, and moving brand attributes. These activities currently don’t have a traditional digital footprint; rather, they are psychological footprints in the mind of the consumer. These psychological footprints can only be accessed via attitudinal surveys, and since this information will never be available for every person exposed to a campaign, marketers will need to develop smart approaches and innovative proxies to ensure that brand health considerations are reflected in programmatic algorithms. A brand’s programmatic bidding strategy, and the technology that powers it, is only as good as data that is fed into it. Programmatic algorithms and systems will increasingly differentiate themselves not just based on their ability to manage cost effectiveness on behavioral metrics—their ability to do this while also delivering campaigns that build brand metrics is where the new battle is going to be. To overhaul programmatic bidding inputs is a major challenge, but marketers will achieve this incrementally in three stages: 1. In the near term, advertisers will use new methodologies to conduct brand effectiveness evaluations of programmatic campaigns (ensuring that campaigns optimized solely based on behaviors are still delivering well on brand metrics). 2. In the medium term, advertisers will encourage programmatic partners to feed normative brand effectiveness learning data analyzed by site, ad, creative, and audience into programmatic targeting algorithms. 3. In the long term, advertisers will push to enhance programmatic algorithms beyond existing industry targeting variables to include richer audience psychographic and attitudinal data such as existing brand favorability.
• #19: Social and mobile media are hardly “new” media in 2015. But even as the brand dollars flow in more consistently and in greater volume, marketers are spending energy developing siloed strategies for each platform. These media have yet to achieve the sophisticated measurement of their more established counterparts—most platforms can only offer peeks inside their own performance. To prove their collective value, social and mobile platforms need to offer a more coordinated look at the landscape they occupy. 2015 will see the start of a transformation from “walled garden” marketing and measurement toward cross-device, cross-platform, and cross-media approaches that evidence the full impact of these platforms on brand equity, consumer behavior, and sales. Innovation in advertising has been the financial lifeblood for social and mobile media, with brands eager for more targeted reach and higher engagement. But in the rush to monetize through advertising, it can be easy to forget that marketers do not want to build a strategy around any one site – or even around one device – but rather around an evolving and intricate set of consumer behaviors. Consumers do not navigate solely within Facebook and Instagram, or between iAd-supported apps on Apple devices. With the flick of a finger, they swipe between media empires to Twitter, Snapchat, Whatsapp, and the entire open mobile web, all while the TV plays in the background and a tablet is open nearby. Brands need to understand the synchronized impact of these behaviors to justify continued (and increased) media investment. To facilitate this, individual platforms will provide more open, connected data, which links ad exposure to brand attitudes, consumer behaviors, and sales. Linking this data to established consumer panels will allow ever more fine-grained insights into the effects of all social and mobile marketing. Further consolidation in media ownership may also help standardize these data and processes. Marketers can already grasp some threads of performance through standalone audience and attitudinal measurement. Cross-platform measurement will not achieve the granularity of standalone measurement in 2015, but it will start to deliver insights into how brands and their media agencies can best harmonize their overall social and mobile strategy.
• #20: Conventional wisdom says that our mobile phones are the vessels by which we bring the digital world into the physical, but we’ve moved beyond the point of intersection. From the places we take them to the apps we choose, our phones know us as few others do. They have come to represent us— our digital avatars. Millward Brown’s AdReaction 2014 study demonstrated that mobile devices have already become the dominant screen globally for the 65 percent of people who have them. Moreover, research from Millward Brown South Africa shows a staggering 74 percent of people abandoning purchases due to information they viewed on their mobile phones. These devices are becoming the first component of the 21st Century human exoskeleton— always with us, always on. Accordingly, mobile devices are transforming traditional media forms into interactive digital touch points—in short, connected mobiles turn everything digital. Through simple response mechanisms using QR codes, NFC chips, audio recognition, and beacons, the ownership of a smartphone potentially makes everything easily interactive. Every brand touch point, however “analog” it seems, can now be readily digitized. And consumers increasingly expect them to be so, whenever they want them to be. 2014 was the unveiling of reinvented analog channels, and the first experimenters showed us what could be achieved. Lord & Taylor stores are already using beacons to greet guests upon arrival and to provide relevant offers and tips—browse the handbags and receive a Michael Kors promo. PowaTag, a nascent app, now allows you to scan and buy products directly from the glossy pages of a magazine—buy the coat you like directly from an ad in Vogue. China Telecom covered an entire building in Xiamen with a giant outdoor QR code promoting their music player and providing promotional offers. As adoption widens in 2015, analog’s modern-day design will truly take shape. A fresh look will be given to these channels and their ability to reach consumers at the right time and place. Marketers must think about ways they can leverage digital technologies across all elements of the media mix to make their message personal and contextually relevant, their brand accessible, and the purchase easy.
• #26: We don’t believe this should be considered a strict formula. But we do believe this framework can be a helpful philosophy. So what do we mean by each of the elements?
• #28: For most brands, the 70% zone of low-risk, bread-and-butter marketing is likely to involve established channels such as TV, print, outdoor, and radio. But this will vary across categories and countries. A strong FMCG/CPG brand in the United States might use TV, outdoor, online display, and online video. A brand in a considered purchase category in Germany might use print, sports sponsorship, online search, and online display. A new service brand in Japan might use TV, event sponsorship, mobile display, and QR codes. For some brands, the 70% could also include word-of-mouth marketing. But to say that 70% of the budget should fund communications in channels that are considered to be safe, familiar, and effective is not to say that 70% of a media budget should remain static from year to year. Based on ongoing learning and evolving brand objectives, channel composition within the 70% could vary significantly over time and from campaign to campaign.
• #31: Innovating around media approaches that are known to be effective could include a broad range of options. It could mean taking a small risk, such as increasing your spend on a channel that seemed to work well in your 10% last year. It could mean spending behind a channel where you don’t have concrete research evidence of a return on investment. Or it could mean taking a risk in an established channel that is familiar to you, perhaps by sponsoring a sporting event for the first time when you have previously been known for associations with music festivals. For many brands across a range of categories, social media currently falls into the 20% category. Brands have some practical experience and strongly believe in the exciting new ways social media allows them to interact with their consumers. But they still have questions about the return on their investment, and they are still learning how to create and deliver campaigns that are truly social by design.
• #32: We often find that innovative use of channels really drives to ROI up relative to what could be considered as expected for that channel.
• #34: The 10% zone is the place where genuine experimentation takes place with new and emerging channels. But this risk-taking should be in line with brand and campaign objectives; iPhone apps and Pinterest pages are right for some brands, but not all. For many brands, mobile currently falls into the 10% category. The mobile marketing landscape continues to evolve as ownership of smartphones and tablets grows rapidly around the world, and questions abound about the best ways to take advantage of these new opportunities. Coke UK is reported to have a “mobile first” mentality in their planning process. Starting with the 10% not only ensures that 10% innovation happens; it also ensures that these projects are given due consideration and a chance to play an integral role in the overall campaign, rather than being seen as afterthoughts.
• #35: Heraclitus
• #37: The evolution of the smartphone has provided us with unparalleled convenience and access to data, but this access goes both ways. Never before have the likes of Google, Facebook, and their advertisers had more access to information about us, and increasingly, about where we go. If you are carrying an iPhone or Android device and the location services are active, chances are Apple and Google are tracking your every move. It was only a matter of time before advertisers started to cash in on this wealth of data that is being collected 24/7. While some might find it unsettling to have their whereabouts constantly tracked, learning about where consumers go and when undoubtedly provides a mass of useful data that can be leveraged by advertisers for better-targeted, more personalized brand experiences. The advertisers that see the greatest returns from location-based targeting will be the ones that look at this technology from the perspective of what it can offer their consumers, rather than merely trying to support their own interests. Using behavioral mechanisms to tailor customer experiences will be key for brands who seek to stand out from the crowd. Virgin Atlantic has recognized this and has been trialing location beacon technology at London’s Heathrow Airport to generate a more personalized customer experience – providing passengers with useful reminders about boarding times and gate information, as well as pulling up their boarding pass as they approach airport security. Macy’s in the US has also been conducting various trials of location-based technology to enhance the in-store experience for their customers. Shoppers at Macy’s can receive a personalized welcome and access location-specific special offers, rewards, and discounts – all delivered to the shopper’s smartphone via an app. And McDonald’s China partnered with Angry Birds to create a location-based promotional game to entertain and reward restaurant visitors. Players were able to vote for their favorite McDonald’s in China, and the most popular branch had a gigantic Angry Birds slingshot attached to the famous golden arches. The implications for the marketing world are enormous. Advertisers will be able to use this data to better understand consumer in-store journeys and dwell times – not to mention giving media owners the ability to accurately measure the level of exposure to POS displays or OOH sites. Service providers such as airlines and banks can make use of the technology to enhance customer experience in increasingly competitive industries, while retailers will be able to tailor a personal shopping experience for each and every customer. In 2015, giving the customer what they want at the right place and the right time will be a key differentiator for cutting edge brands that seek to build personal relevance and meaning with their consumers.
• #39: This Vine for Oreo is simple… people get it on the first loop and stay around for another view or two. They love seeing a great tip for a well loved brand. This contrasts with a llot of the Vines that we look at which reached peak comprehension and therefore peak emotional resonance on the third view after which boredom or irritation sets in.
• #40: Native advertising—online ads created to blend in with a publishing platform’s format—will be huge in 2015. However, not all native solutions are created equal. The worst are perceived as blatant propaganda and are as boring as your parents’ vacation slideshow. But the best evoke positive feelings, resonate with consumers, and drive brand impact. Advertisers should identify publishers getting native right and then partner with them to execute best-in-class solutions. The Atlantic’s early foray into native advertising left much to be desired. The magazine published a native ad called “David Miscavige Leads Scientology to Milestone Year.” The Church of Scientology paid for the piece, which was resoundingly criticized for its overwhelming bias and for only including a single note that it was sponsored. Other publishers sometimes seem to disown their native advertising by including excessive indicators that the content is sponsored. Whether deceitful or disowned, this sort of native advertising is unlikely to deliver a strong return. On the other end of the spectrum, The Onion and Forbes strike an effective balance between advertising and editorial by explicitly mentioning that content is sponsored and perfectly matching their sites’ regular tone and style. Within the walls of The Onion headquarters is Onion Labs, a full-service agency that produces content. Similarly, Forbes offers their BrandVoice platform for both print and digital clients. Onion Labs boasts clients such as 7-Eleven, Microsoft, and YouTube, and Forbes has produced BrandVoice content for financial powerhouses including TD Ameritrade, Merrill Lynch, and Northwestern Mutual. Native ads are able to succeed in a number of ways that traditional display ads have not. Although consumers can find display ads intrusive, they may trust native content more since it runs alongside editorial content. While consumers often ignore ads on the periphery of a webpage, native content tends to sit front and center. Most importantly, however, effective native ads have the ability to speak directly to consumer interests. For example, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues utilized a GIF-heavy Buzzfeed native ad called “17 News Anchors that are Having a Rough Day” to promote the movie. The content fit perfectly with both Buzzfeed’s clever editorial content and the movie’s slapstick humor. Research from Sharethrough and IPG Media Lab indicates that native ads consistently outperform their standard counterparts – consumers look at native ads 52 percent more frequently than banner ads and are more likely to share with friends and family. And as marketers begin to understand the benefits that native solutions offer, they are beginning to spend big. Marketers spent $4.7 billion on native ads in 2013, and this number is expected to more than quadruple to $21 billion by 2018, according to research from BI Intelligence and the Interactive Advertising Bureau. The smartest advertisers will use the best platforms to get the most out of this money, but the worst will see it go to waste. Brand effectiveness research in 2015 will start to uncover whether the promise of native is being consistently delivered.