Traditional Media Planning and Buying Still Have a Future

In the past, media planning and buying were simpler. It was a time of four broadcast networks with the rumblings of some emerging cable networks as competition. Broadcast sales ruled the day and negotiations were made with a lunch and a handshake. Contracts were stewarded and posted using Nielsen, and at the end of the campaign (often a full year), there was either an over-delivery for the client or a shortfall.

With the advent of automation, the use of data to form targeted segmentations and the ability to transact in real-time, the advertiser/network relationship is less personal but more efficient. However, there are lessons to be learned from the old ways of buying and selling media, and a place for traditional buying and the human touch in today’s media world.

Sales Personalization

Consumer personalization through automation, where messages are tailored to household or individual, offers relevancy and a greater call to action. But personalization in business transactions also has a place in this new advertising world. Being able to connect with a human sales expert to ask questions, research possibilities, and discuss ideas is a legacy sales hallmark that is still valuable in today’s automated sales arena.

Marketing Initiatives

As part of the legacy system of negotiations, additional sales placement opportunities for advertisers were possible, such as in-program insertions (which are increasingly computerized) or signage at an event. While automation is excellent at placing messages in advertising slots created by the sellers, it can’t always take advantage of these other, less formatted marketing opportunities that require human intervention to implement and monitor.

Brand Safety and Fraud

There is nothing worse than running a commercial for an airline during a news report on a crash, but it happens. With automation, algorithms can help to prevent such mishaps, but it is also valuable to have a sales and traffic compliance team monitoring activity. Having a human touch also reduces the risk of ad fraud.

Consumer Safety

With the high degree of personalization in automation, there is the risk of the right message for the household being received by the wrong family member, such as a pregnancy kit being served to the father of the household when it was intended for the daughter. Traditional media may not be as hyper-focused as programmatic, but it offers viewers a degree of anonymity while still targeting the household.

Soft Human Attributes

As Business Insider noted, humans remain masters in skills that AI and machine learning can only mimic, whether using common sense to solve problems, feeling and understanding emotions, or harnessing creativity. While there is much to be praised about the efficiency of automated buying, there are also advantages to retaining the human element of media planning and buying legacy protocols.

This article first appeared on the Videa blog.

The Impact of Mobile on Marketing and Branding. Insights From the Impact Conference.

The second annual Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) Impact conference, held this past week in New York, offered marketers new perspectives on how to leverage mobile in their branding and campaigns. New technological advances such as VR, AR and AI can be creatively used to help consumers better engage and interact with products and services.

The Power of the Consumer

Mobile in particular is a very powerful tool for the consumer since they have all of the control. Kristi Argyilan, Senior Vice President Marketing, Target, stated that, “We can no longer simply buy their attention. We have to earn it every day.” To that end, she explained that, “We engineer relevance for true one-to-one.” Relevance is pivotal in a time of fragmented attention and a flood of messaging. Add to this the fear of brand safety and fraud means that ads and campaigns are under more scrutiny than ever before.

Overcoming Brand Damage

What do you do when a brand is damaged? Jonathan Beamer, CMO, Monster, admitted that his company, “Hasn't rocked it for a decade.” Monster was founded 25 years ago and offers a cautionary tale to others. “We were disruptors and then we were disrupted.” Today, there is a shorter life span for Fortune 500 companies with fewer and fewer maintaining their size and power over a decade. Beamer blamed bad management for losing sight of the original purpose and squeezing profits when they should have been re-invested in the business. “We missed how mobile and other technology could also be used to serve our mission.” Data and insights gleaned from research have helped Monster re-establish itself with a firm mobile presence that speaks to an invigorated target consumer – the job seeker rather than the recruiter. “We dig deep into consumer research’” and found that, “consumers want a champion. They want a company that will do right by society,” he concluded.

Enhancing Brand Position

Ophelia Ceradini, Vice President Digital Innovation and Technology, Estee Lauder, is charged with the task of enhancing an already strong brand through the use of new mobile technology to better match products to consumers. She focuses on, “The power of the human touch and emotions underpins the high touch approach.” Estee Lauder has advanced a myriad of AR elements to their site including ways that women and men can personalize their experiences online using facial recognition on skincare needs. The site then recommends which products each individual should use. Voice assistants are now enabled to recommend store locations as well as offer meditation so the application of products is hands free.

The Next Steps for Mobile

In this fast paced competitive environment, how can mobile continue to grow its marketing prowess? Dr Neil Morgan of the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University is spearheading the MARS (Mobile Analytics Realtime Social) project that asks what marketing capabilities do we need to be good at to survive today? His project interviewed over one hundred executives at over 80 companies over a range of performance metrics and levels of digital adaptation.

He found there are four areas of concentration that impact a consumer’s expectations across categories: Individuality, Immediacy, Integration and Information. “We should be in the golden era of marketing with accuracy, accountability and agility,” he stated. “But instead we find entropy, barely concealed chaos, like a roller coaster creeping up before they drop you down.”

There is a lot of data available out there but what is the next step? Marketing is divided, tech is eating strategy, which bell and whistle should I choose, adding but not changing and the potential errors that can occur when we mix third party data into our first party data.

He advises that companies need to first choose a strategy and decide how they will compete. Develop growth stacks based on exchange, experience (eliminating pain points) and engagement (to drive enhanced functionality) and then join, build and manage communities. Finally, marketers need to integrate all learnings into the fabric of the organization, creating an environment of trust where people are willing to share.

Next Steps

As we all grapple with the continuing refraction of industry, a greater understanding of the potential of mobile will enable marketers to successfully leverage their consumer outreach. From damaged brands that can come back from the dead to successful brands who strive to maintain their brand position, the promise and perils of mobile need to be understood and fully integrated into a company’s mission. 

This article first appeared in www.Mediapost.com

Impacting the Ad Effect and Insuring Brand Safety. An Interview with the ARF’s Paul Donato

Advertisers are finding that the context in which an ad is viewed – not only within the commercial pod surrounded by other ads, but also the specific media platform, brand, device and time and place -  impacts the ad effect, both positively and negatively. With the proliferation of devices and platforms and the fragmentation of the media environment, brand safety is becoming a bigger issue. 

Paul Donato, Chief Research Officer at the ARF, has conducted considerable research in these areas and spoke to MediaVIllage about the insights and conclusions:

Charlene Weisler: What do you mean by context?

Paul Donato:  The context of an ad is the environment in which the advertisement is viewed, from the content surrounding the ad to the platform on which it appears. There is a large body of evidence supporting the premise that the context of an ad can affect perception of the ad, both positively and negatively. 

Weisler: And brand safety?

Donato: Brand safety is an issue that arises when the context of the ad, usually the content that the ad appears in tandem with, causes negative consumer reactions that can impact perception of the brand being advertised. Brands are afraid to appear next to unsavory content out of the fear that they may lose consumer trust and hurt brand equity if they are perceived as being supportive of that content.

Weisler: What are some of the highlights of the research you have seen regarding the effect ad context can have on perception and recall?

Donato: The research on the context effect goes back about 60 years. Studies have shown both positive and negative effects from ad context, though the focus lately has been on negative effects, given recent brand safety controversies. Most studies on the context effect have involved television commercials, and the general consensus was that the programs surrounding the commercials did impact the response consumers had to those commercials. Studies found that consumers were more likely to recall commercials in their favorite programs, and that advertising was more effective when there was alignment between the program and the product being advertised.

A recent ARF review of research on the context effect found that, while the evidence clearly supports the legitimacy of the context effect, the studies don’t sufficiently explain why the context effect occurs. Additionally, the ad context is difficult to isolate as it interacts with factors like brand and product characteristics and consumer attitudes.

Weisler: How does context impact ad receptivity?

Donato: The context of an ad impacts consumers’ state of mind, attention level, and emotions, which sets the stage for how an ad is perceived and processed. However, context is only a secondary factor to be considered, because quality of ad creative, reach and targeting are usually much more important in determining those responses.

Weisler: What are the elements of context and which ones are most pivotal?

Donato: The content the ad appears in and the other ads it is surrounded by, the media platform or brand, the device, and time and place all contribute to the context of an advertisement. Evidence is strongest regarding the content the advertising appears next to, like the program a commercial appears in, the text of an article next to a display ad or the video content that follows a pre-roll ad. How can an advertiser control for maximal context? and brand safety? How can ad context be used strategically to drive increased ad recall and more positive ad perception?   

It’s important for brands to conduct research with target consumers to uncover reactions to the content and context in which they plan to place their ads, as there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Brands should look for their target consumers’ preferred content, the content they pay most attention to and the content that prompts the most positive emotions. By placing ads in these contexts, brands stand a better chance of improved ad perception and recall from consumers.

The other way to improve ad effectiveness using the context effect is to align advertising with the content it will appear with on multiple emotional dimensions, which creates a sort of halo effect. It’s not enough to include a football-themed ad to play during a big game – advertisers need to understand why consumers love the specific sport and how their teams make them feel to create a strong alignment with the programming and the consumers’ emotional state.

Companies that conduct the necessary research and consider context from the beginning of the ad creation process will see the biggest gains from the context effect.

This article first appeared in www.MediaVIllage.com
 

Getting Ahead of a Changeable News Cycle. An Interview with Videa’s Shereta Williams

Every day seems to bring a new catastrophic or controversial news crisis that charges the atmosphere. While we cannot control these events, we can control how we respond and navigate through them. Placing advertising that is sensitive to the program content through addressable is a way to demonstrate greater sensitivity as well as protect the brands’ reputation.

I sat down with Shereta Williams, President, Videa and talked with her about the risk to brands in this changeable environment and what companies can do to navigate the shoals.

Charlene Weisler: What would you say is the biggest risk to brands at this time?

Shereta Williams: The biggest risk comes in lacking the agility necessary to respond to the event at hand. If you don’t have the means to respond to a major event that everyone is talking about, you’re risking the possibility of automatically being seen by the general public as associating with the negative aspects of that given event. One wrong message, whether on social media, in a blog post or otherwise, can impact your brand in the blink of an eye.

Weisler: What are the biggest challenges that brands face today?

Williams: Brands are facing the challenge of not being able to adjust their current campaigns that may be negative considering current events, to something more positive. Social media is a perfect example of that and Twitter is an especially challenging channel. One wrong hashtag, or even one wrong “favorite,” can turn your consumers against you. Further to that, going back to a “business as usual” attitude too soon turns people off and can be seen as making light of the tragedy after the fact.

Weisler: Are there any opportunities for brands or steps that they can take in responding to news crisis cycles?

Williams: Don’t be silent. You don’t want to make too much noise, resulting in one of your messages being misconstrued but you also don’t want to sit back and say nothing. Take a stand for what you believe in and craft a message around that belief that doesn’t alienate one person or group. Also, align your marketing and communications efforts so that you can quickly adjust your message in light of current events. They can also take advantage of the opportunity to help in a very visible way. For example, AirBnB’s response during Hurricane Harvey was a perfect marketing moment to both let people know they were making homes available for free and to showcase their compassion by doing so.

Weisler: How can programmatic buying of media assist brands in maintaining their integrity?

Williams:  Data. It’s all about the proper use of quality data, measurement, and analytics. As consumer data sets become richer – beyond just typical household demographics – brands will be able to utilize those metrics in more compelling, possibly safer ways. At Videa, for instance, we use cross-indexing of data from Nielsen and comScore. Those are not complete sets of psychographics, obviously, but they are foundational data that still drive the bulk of automated selling and buying. Because of the speed of today’s news and media, brands and agencies will always have to be on-guard to some degree with messaging at the ready for when emergencies or incidents occur. Programmatic offers an expedient way  to market when a quick response is required, and when paired with intelligent use of data, can be a very powerful way to promote goodwill for your brand.

Weisler: How can brands get in front of these news crises?

Williams: It’s all about planning ahead. Unfortunately, crises are happening all the time. While brands can’t necessarily predict the future, you can craft a narrative for possible scenarios that speaks to your core values so that when the crisis hits, you can adjust that same narrative to be relative to the topic at hand. Ensuring that is communicated across your entire company from marketing to IT is just as important as the narrative itself – you don’t want one person affecting the entire integrity of the brand.

Weisler: Looking ahead to 2020, where do you see the role of media, of programmatic TV and of advertising?

Williams: We are seeing, from the programmatic TV perspective, an increased awareness and adoption of this technology to drive results and maximize engagement. There is momentum from both the buy-side and sell-sides for an easier, more transparent way to buy and sell TV advertising – less of a walled garden approach. We believe, over the next few years, there will also be a stronger movement and embrace of establishing a set of common guidelines and open standards across the industry. We expect there to be more examples of data sharing and transparent fee structures across platforms, and more openness, in terms of technical platform integrations and how business transactions take place.

This article first appeared in www.Mediapost.com