program areas Digital Consumer

NEW YORK: Netflix, the online video platform, believes that programmatic advertising can provide numerous benefits for its brand – not least the ability to deliver personalised marketing messages at scale. Kathy O'Dowd, Netflix's global director/programmatic marketplace and channel development, discussed this topic at MediaPost's OMMA Programmatic Display conference. "We are moving to programmatic, in part, because it is so efficient, she said. (For more, including tips for brands, publishers and agencies, read Warc's exclusive report: Netflix's programmatic defence balances man and machine (link is external).) "We can be more individualised in the kind of marketing that we're doing – and that's ultimately, I think, every advertiser's dream." Given that Netflix has an extremely broad potential audience, its need for tailored digital communications is especially powerful. "You think about Netflix as a brand: we could be a fit for anyone with a credit card and an internet connection. But that doesn't mean that we're going to benefit from approaching everyone in the exact same way," O'Dowd said. "So, programmatic allows for that database buying. Then, on the flipside, the automation of it is great because we can do individualised marketing at scale." Full article available at http://bit.ly/1TxyOU5 (link is external)

Facebook commissioned SalesBrain, a US-based neuromarketing agency, to understand how people’s brains and physiology respond to identical stimuli viewed on a smartphone versus on a TV. The study focused on how the brain responds to 4 key areas: engagement, attention, emotion and retention. Today, people tune into content whenever and wherever they want. With viewing happening at home on a TV and on-the-go on a smartphone, marketers want to ensure that their messages are being received no matter the screen. To determine if their advertising is effective, marketers have traditionally turned to self-reported market research techniques, but those approaches have limitations. Enter neuromarketing, which according to the Neuromarketing Science & Business Association “is the systematic collection and interpretation of neurological and neurophysiological insights about individuals using different protocols allowing researchers to explore non-verbal and unconscious physiological responses to various stimuli for the purposes of market research.” Though still in its infancy as a marketing research practice, neuromarketing is giving marketers a direct view into people’s physical reactions to stimuli rather than relying solely on people’s ability to report their own feelings to that stimuli. Full article available at http://bit.ly/1KdlrGM (link is external)

Programmatic media-buying technologies are taking over the internet at a rapid pace, so much so that traditional offline media is the new frontier for the tech. Programmatic, digital out-of-home (DOOH) has been pioneered in APAC, and is now being exported around the globe. ExchangeWire charts is progress. The means of buying OOH media space using programmatic technology has been piloted in Australia for well over a year (link is external), and is about to be exported to other parts of the region; plus Europe is also on the roadmap with the launch date there imminent. The potential disruption of programmatic media trading will be discussed at next week’s ATS Singapore, during a panel session entitled ‘Joining the Dots – Why Programmatic Can Solve the Multi-Channel Conundrum’, where Vicki Lyon, Site Tour, CCO, will share her experience of rolling out the tech in Australia. Site Tour is part of a specialist consortium aimed at developing the opportunities in this space, along with IPG Mediabrands’ programmatic buying division Cadreon, plus Brandscreen, that has been running over 1,000 OOH screens that can display media traded using programmatic technologies. Site Tour, effectively an ad exchange, recently inked a contract with programmatic video advertising firm TubeMogul to allow advertisers to programmatically purchase video ads on billboards, kiosks, and elevator screens in Australia. The pairing has extended this relationship to the UK where they are imminently to launch the offering. ExchangeWire caught up with Site Tour’s Lyon (pictured) to learn more about the offering. Full article available at http://bit.ly/1UgdT9l (link is external)

The digital data “arms race” that is propelling major companies around the world to expand their data collection, consumer profiling, and online targeting capabilities illustrates how information from and about us drives the commercial (and increasingly political) marketplaces. Corporations want to know as much about us as possible—including how to influence us at any point in what they call (link is external) the “consumer journey.” Companies are significantly investing in sophisticated “data management platforms” that regularly gather and analyze our behaviors. Large amounts (link is external) of so-called first-, second-, and third-party data (information collated from their own files on us and amplified by additional files from numerous data brokers) are used to influence our online and offline experiences. Antitrust and merger regulators (link is external) have not kept up with how consumer data is being used today. It’s become a dynamic and critical factor, whose “actionabilty” (link is external) (the capacity to use our information both instantly and effectively) to influence the decision-making of both individuals and groups is crucial for competiveness. Companies are increasingly expanding their ability to effectively (link is external) track individuals and use that information (where are we online, what did we do, whom we communicate with, and what we read, buy, etc.). These practices illustrate how commercial surveillance has become a fundamental part of our lives today. But violating our privacy is just one key and disturbing dimension of this largely invisible data apparatus. Another is that data is used in new ways as part of a much more complex system that delivers influence and promotes behavioral changes. How data is used today to transform the consumer experience should be a focus of competition regulators. Merger reviews need to go beyond issues related to what price we may pay for a product to explore how data is and will be used to change our perceptions, relationships, and actions with items and brands. While advertisers and marketers have always been in the persuasion business, they’ve never before had the capabilities they have today—from neuromarketing to social media marketing to advanced data analytics used for targeting and much more. And nearly every day these companies advance the data-driven digital influence process. The very nature of contemporary media companies is all about using our information to drive consumer transactions, regardless of device and location. (See Google (link is external), Facebook (link is external), etc.). We still don’t know what the cumulative effect of all this will be, but our consumer-protection and competition regulators need to be on the cutting edge—not looking backward. Both the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission need to stay abreast of how Big Data and the techniques tethered to it change the nature of markets. The approval (link is external) of Big (link is external) Data mergers (link is external) by the DoJ and the FTC without a thorough analysis and public accounting, illustrates that it’s time to reform the process. This is on the agenda of consumer advocates, including those working together across the Atlantic.

What is Adobe Audience Manager? It’s a data management platform that helps you build unique audience profiles so you can identify your most valuable segments and use them across any digital channel. Understand your audiences: Get a complete view of your audience by combining all of your data sources in one place. Create new segments: Continually discover and organize new, valuable segments for smarter targeting and personalization. Advertise effectively: Make your ad campaigns more productive by targeting specific segments on any platform. What can Audience Manager do? 360-degree profiles: Combine information from online, offline and second- and third-party sources to create complete audience profiles. Audience activation: Conveniently target specific profiles on any content delivery platform, like content management systems and ad servers. Cross-device measurement: Identify, measure and target people as they move across screens and devices. Look a-like modeling: Identify prospects who are similar in behavior to your most valuable customers, so you can extend your reach. Read more about Adobe Audience Manager at http://adobe.ly/1Cl5hc1 (link is external)

In case you missed it, we recently released a study showing the first holistic analysis of cross-platform digital media consumption in the U.S., entitled Digital Omnivores: How Tablets, Smartphones and Connected Devices are Changing U.S. Digital Media Consumption Habits (link is external). The study brings together insights from across the comScore mobile suite of products and provides a first look at survey-based behavioral data on tablet use. In the report, we explore the increasingly fragmented digital media landscape shaped by the widespread adoption of smartphones and entry of tablets and other web-enabled connected devices. As people become increasingly connected through the use of these devices, we are witnessing the transformation of consumers into digital omnivores able to engage seamlessly with a steady stream of digital content across different platforms. Below we will share with you a few key highlights of the broader trends we’re seeing, and tomorrow I’ll be conducting a webinar that will dive deeper into this topic. Below we will share with you a few key highlights of the broader trends we’re seeing, which I also presented at a recent comScore webinar on the topic. You can find the Digital Omnivores webinar presentation here (link is external). Digital Omnivores Are a Global Phenomenon An analysis of ten selected global markets in August 2011 showed a notable percentage of Internet traffic (measured as browser-based page views) coming from non-computer devices. Singapore led among those markets with more than 7 percent of all Internet traffic in the country coming from smartphones, tablets and other connected devices. While mobile phones continue to be the main driver of non-computer traffic around the world, it is interesting to see tablets contributing a sizeable amount of traffic for a few mature technological markets. In Canada, tablets drove nearly 40 percent of all non-computer traffic. Read more at http://bit.ly/1C7wYEG (link is external)

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.--(BUSINESS WIRE (link is external))--Acxiom® (NASDAQ: ACXM), an enterprise data, analytics and software-as-a-service company, today announced that its Digital Impact division, now Acxiom Impact™, has won 11 “Best of Industry” 2015 Internet Advertising Competition (link is external) Awards (IAC), and was the sole agency to win two “Best in Show” awards from the Web Marketing Association (link is external) at ad:tech San Francisco 2015. Acxiom Impact’s work was also recognized by the Academy of Interactive & Visual Arts (link is external) with 18 Communicator Awards -- three gold and 15 silver -- from a field of 6,000 entries that were submitted this season. Acxiom has recently relaunched Digital Impact (link is external), its email and cross-channel marketing business as Acxiom Impact, an advanced marketing offering specifically designed to meet the unique needs of sophisticated enterprise marketers. The new, upgraded Acxiom Impact platform offers a wide breadth of features including data-rich targeting and personalization, flexible analytics and reporting, cross-enterprise collaboration tools and cross-channel orchestration capabilities. As a recognized leader in client satisfaction and marketing services, Acxiom Impact provides a broad range of leading marketing services, including campaign operations, analytics, marketing strategy, technical solutions and award-winning creative. “The Acxiom Impact creative team has again displayed the power of their creative talents with impressive award wins across several different categories,” said David Bonalle, general manager at Acxiom Impact. “These awards highlight Acxiom’s dedication to redefining 1:1 marketing at scale for our clients and Acxiom Impact’s strength as a leading provider of email and customer marketing services.” Read more at http://bit.ly/1BXV70k (link is external)

Despite struggles, marketers remain focused on improving big data (link is external), and those putting money toward such efforts are reaping the benefits. In April 2015 research by the Direct Marketing Association (link is external) and Winterberry Group (link is external), 43% of US marketing professionals said they expected their data-driven marketing (DDM) spending to be higher in Q2 2015 than Q1, and 60.2% of respondents expected DDM revenues to increase during the same period. However, June 2015 research by Econsultancy in association with Signal found that senior-level marketers in North America weren’t jumping for joy over returns from data-related marketing investments. Just over one-third said these had a strong positive impact. Promisingly, though, was that 47% said that they had some positive impact. Econsultancy suggested that first-party data could help the group reporting so-so results—along with the laggards, of course. When marketers were asked to compare different levels of data and their effect on desired outcomes, first-party data ranked highest across the board. It was most popular for gaining insight into customers, cited by 74% of respondents. More than six in 10 respondents also said it was the easiest to justify using, drove the highest increase in customer value and the highest campaign lift among data sources—all by a long shot. Read more at http://bit.ly/1IHPcJZ (link is external)

Mondelez International has struck a new deal with Facebook that the Oreo maker says will help it crack the code for selling more cookies online. The pact renews a one-year global strategic partnership announced in March of 2014 that covered 52 countries and gave the snacks and candy marketer access to Facebook's beta testing programs. The new arrangement also covers 52 countries and will "focus on creating and delivering creative video content and driving impulse snack purchasing online," according to a statement issued on Tuesday. Mondelez declined to release terms of the new deal but a spokeswoman said it is "significantly larger" than last year's deal. The arrangement was brokered by Dentsu Aegis Media. Mondelez will get access to a full-time Facebook creative strategist that will work with the company and its agencies to develop "scalable video content natively for the platform to optimize social engagement," according to the announcement. Facebook will also give Mondelez access to beta-testing programs on Facebook and Instagram. Additionally, the two parties will work together to create ecommerce solutions to "drive impulse purchases" in markets including the U.S., Australia, India and U.K. Full article available at http://bit.ly/1QPZEJd (link is external)

Facebook has given us a bit more of an insight into some of the more experimental new products and apps its product team has been working on. Speaking at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Facebook's chief product officer Chris Cox, showed off what could one day work as a more expressive version of the Like button. Instead of simply pressing Like, Cox said users could use their smartphones to take a selfie. But rather than just send that, the function could read the user's Facebook expression and transform it into an appropriate smiley/sad/frowning/indifferent face. Cox made it clear: "This is not on our roadmap, we don't know how to build this. It actually seems really hard, but it's the kind of thing unlocked by the power of all the different sensors on the phone." Read more at http://read.bi/1Ni1xJ5 (link is external)