Marketing

5 Key Takeaways From The 2019 ANA Masters of Marketing

Last week over 3,000 marketers descended on Orlando, Florida for four days of learning and inspiration from some of the best CMOs in the business along with other movers and shakers.

This was my first trip to the Masters representing Empower, and I couldn’t be more excited to share what I learned and heard. Here are my 5 key takeaways from the event:

1. Back to Branding Basics

Marketers such as Target, Chipotle, Dunkin’, Buffalo Wild Wings and Pearle Vision discussed how focusing on a clear purpose and putting consumers at the center of everything drives growth.

Tony Weissman revealed how Dunkin’s purpose of “refilling optimism” served as a rallying cry for transformation while Seth Freeman from Buffalo Wild Wings shared how the brand found its way back to being the “place for true fans.” Rounding out the retail food turnarounds, Chris Brandt shared how Chipotle sought to retain its “Food with Integrity” cred by no longer apologizing and celebrating the food it serves.

Target’s transformation was one of the most compelling stories on the stage, as the brand successfully emerged from its biggest sales slump. “It didn’t take a miracle. It took getting back to basics,” said CMO Rick Gomez. Gomez outlined Target’s transformation strategy which focused on “meeting guests in a truly differentiated way” throughout all aspects of the brand experience.

Pearle Vision’s Doug Zarkin described a similar formula with the brand leaning into its local roots and Dr. Pearle’s heritage to deliver the promise of “Genuine Eye Care from your Neighborhood Doctor.” The approach was inspired by both patients and franchisees who had left the brand and spurred more than 5% growth in the eye exam business. “When you talk to people who fire you, they give you a real honest assessment of how you let them down,” explained Zarkin.

Implications for Marketers: Having a clear positioning requires sacrifice and embracing change. “Change is not always comfortable, but in today’s environment, the best work is often not comfortable,” said Gomez.

Here are a few examples of great work that really drove home the power of harnessing a clear positioning and creating engaging storytelling:

2. Doing Good is Good For Business

P&G Chief Brand Officer Marc Pritchard shared how “Brands have a social responsibility to be both a force for good and a force for growth.” Pritchard shared how the CPG giant is leveraging content partnerships with Disney and National Geographic to support broader platforms like clean water and keeping girls in school.

Andrea Brimmer from Ally Bank talked about using the brand as a weapon and being brave amidst the competition to attract heat. And Bank of America’s Meredith Vendome took it a step further in choosing not to lend money to organizations who sell assault rifles.

A few inspiration examples:

Implications for Marketers: Consumers want to know that your brand stands for more than profits. Find out what matters to people and celebrate their values to heighten relevance.

3. Driving Growth Through Diversity And Inclusion

Reflecting the needs and values of diverse audiences is here to stay. Bob Liodice, President of the ANA discussed how the organization is promoting efforts to #seeall and #seeher to heighten diversity and female empowerment.

Rick Gomez from Target shared how the new Auden line of women’s lingerie was designed around body positivity and size inclusivity. “We want women to know the problem is not your body, it’s your bra,” he said.

Ally Bank has seen tremendous success with its Moguls in the Making program, championing entrepreneurship at historically black colleges in partnership with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and the Sean Anderson Foundation. “We want to be part of the solution, fostering efforts that help increase opportunities for economic growth and education, so everyone has the chance to realize their dreams,” said Brimmer.

Some inspiration stories:

Implications for Marketers: Diversity and Inclusion is not a fad. In a world where relevance drives resonance, brands need to speak to diverse segments to help expand the worldview and ultimately fuel growth.

4. The Dissing of Data

While some marketers like Disney, Hershey and P&G mentioned using data to target specific audiences and create personalized experiences, there wasn’t a whole lot of discussion around data-driven marketing strategy.

Gary Vaynerchuk chastised marketers for throwing all common sense out the window because there was “no report for them to latch onto.”

Mike Messersmith from Oatly talked about how data can be a crutch. “We have a strong belief that unless you are 100% sure you have the right data and are interpreting it in the right way, data can lead you to the wrong decisions.” The company does not believe in research, data analysis or segmentation. “The only thing we have is a voice,” said Messersmith.

Implications for Marketers: Data doesn’t make marketing decisions. Marketers make decisions using data. Marketers should look at data through an emotional lens to deepen resonance and fuel impact.

5. Creative Media Matters More Than Ever

Finally, I walked away from the conference energized and with strong resolve that brands must harness the power of creative media and systems thinking to connect on a human level. The back to basics theme threaded through all the presentations had a hyper-focus on developing human connections. It’s a great time to be an independent agency focused on client impact.

Gary Vaynerchuk talked about how marketers have removed accountability by parsing out creative from media. And that in putting them back together, we will drive growth. Other speakers like Charlie Chappell from Hershey spoke about how “tying creative to media becomes really powerful.”

“The whole notion of humanity is a big theme…. We are building brands and brands are very emotional things. At the end of the day, you have to connect rationally, but also in the heart,” said Meredith Verdone, Chief Marketing Officer at Bank of America.

A little inspiration: Tide’s recent “Not for Laundry” campaign.

Implications for Marketers: Building brand experiences and connected story systems inspired by human impact moments will continue to be critical. By putting people at the center of all we do, everyone wins.

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Media

Google Gets Rid of Average Position Metric. Now What?

Beginning September 30th, Google will officially commence sunsetting the average position metric in the Google Ads platform.

Google originally announced the shift back in February, and if no uproar is heard from the advertising community, they’ll continue as planned without significant delays, which they have a history of implementing. There was little hubbub made around the announcement, so they’re moving forward.

How Important was Average Position?

When it was announced, the removal of average position didn’t come as a huge shock to advertisers. The metric had historically provided some semblance of ranking, but never painted the fullest of pictures.

For example, an average position of 1.0 could be achieved by appearing as the first paid advertisement within a search engine results page (SERP) – regardless of ad placement. So, an ad could appear in position 1.0 above the organic results, but could also show below the organic results and earn the same ranking. Quite misleading, seeing as ads at the bottom of the page have a much lower likelihood of getting clicks. This, in turn, affects click-through-rate (CTR), which affects quality score (QS), which affects cost-per-click (CPC).

Metrics Advertisers Should Focus on Moving Forward

The removal of average position puts the onus on newer metrics – introduced Q4, 2018 – that provide insight into placement as opposed to rank. Google has labeled these prominence metrics. They are:

Absolute Top – ad was shown in the very first position above the organic results
Top – ad was shown in any of the positions above the organic results
Impression (Absolute Top) % – percentage of impressions appearing at the absolute top of page
Impression (Top) % – percentage of impressions appearing at the top of page

There are also new impression share metrics that depict an advertiser’s share in relation to these new metrics:

Search (Absolute Top) Impression Share – impressions received in the absolute top position divided by estimated number of impressions eligible to receive in the top position
Search (Top) Impression Share – impressions received in the top position divided by estimated number of impressions eligible to receive in the top position

These new metrics help advertisers understand one vital piece of information: how often they’re appearing above the fold. The average position metric couldn’t say that. Despite providing absolutes (i.e. an average position of 1.6), it never truly gave advertisers an understanding of where their ads were shown.

The addition of the auction insights feature within Google Ads gave a little more gravity to average position. For example, advertisers could use auction insights to understand how much higher or lower their average position was compared to their nearest competitor. But if the competition’s ads show above the fold more often, does it really matter if you outrank them on average?

The idea of an ad not being viewable was never a problem associated to paid search, but it has been flying under the radar for quite some time. These prominence metrics will bring some semblance of the concept of viewability to search, something that has been noticeably missing since Google reimagined the SERP layout in early 2016.

Similar Issues with Impression Share

Other metrics within Google’s arsenal have also had similar faults – impression share being one of them. An overall impression share number rarely provides the best representation of market share for a campaign.

First off, impression share is dependent on the mix of keywords within a campaign. The keyword build of one advertiser is guaranteed to be at least somewhat different than their competitors. Having a higher impression share than a competitor doesn’t mean you own more of the market, it means you garner more impressions for the terms you’re both mutually advertising on.

Second, there will always be lower impression share keywords that are vital to a campaign (think broader category terms that aren’t regularly clicked), but end up driving high impression totals. These keywords can single-handedly bring down the overall impression share of a campaign. At Empower, we like to concentrate on the idea of impression share for converting terms i.e. what’s the impression share of terms that have converted – or resulted in a desired action – over a given timeframe? How these terms perform from an impression share perspective can help determine a brand’s true market share as it relates to their search-specific goals.

Bidding Farewell to Average Position

Despite the positives this change will usher in, there will still be those who lament the loss of average position. Advertisers who have grown accustomed to using it as a direct gauge of competitive pressure and advertisers using the metric to inform their algorithmic bidding or automated rules strategies fit under that bucket.

These advertisers should rest easy, though. For those worried about understanding competitive pressure, the new prominence metrics will paint a more vibrant picture of the competitive search landscape than ever before. The same can be said for those concerned with bidding and automated rule adjustments. They should be agile enough to shift towards basing these decisions on the prominence metrics as well.

Overall, the shift away from average position comes with more pluses than minuses. It will allow advertisers to understand what position their ad spend is truly earning them. There’s also solace in the fact that advertisers will know their ads have the capacity to be seen. With all the dollars going towards understanding viewability within the programmatic space, it’s nice to finally see that same logic applied to the search landscape.

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Media

Don’t Wait For Data-Driven TV Standardization

The ability to leverage both third and first party data to better target our TV buys has led to ROI improvements of twice the traditional buys. And while those results are outstanding, the truth is that we’re still a long way from realizing the full potential of data-driven TV.

The issue? There are too many disparate data sets across the various media companies that offer data-driven TV, meaning advertisers have to constantly recreate and redefine the audiences they want to target.

Because there is no standardization across the industry, the reality is that the term “data-driven TV” is a gross oversimplification. And the lack of standardization can create a lack of transparency. While one media company uses Acxiom data, another uses Experian. Another is using Nielsen, ComScoreTV— not to mention all of the different audience modeling methodologies.

When we say “data-driven” TV, what data are we even talking about?

That’s the problem. And the lack of seamless technical integration among these partners makes the process manual and clunky. We have to re-create the same targets multiple times and send them through multiple tech partners before we can leverage them. This results in a lot of inconsistency, from the target audience definition to the planning tools, to buy guarantees and measurement of performance.

And the inconsistency is enough to make some brands avoid the confusion by passing on data-driven TV altogether. But three major networks have decided to offer a unified audience, which could finally solve for the industry’s lack of standardization.

All Eyes on OpenAP

Fox, Turner and Viacom have launched OpenAP, a web-based platform that allows marketers to choose data sets and create ad-targeting criteria, which can be used for numerous TV buys. The goal is to make it easier for advertisers to deliver their ads to a specific audience.

They plan to use set-top box data from comScore along with Nielsen ratings and consumer information. Advertisers will be able to log into OpenAP, upload their specific targeting data, cross-reference with other third-party data and assemble a custom audience. Those data sets will eventually be verified by Accenture.

Imagine the potential of its success. Advertisers will be able to target a very niche audience, from expecting mothers to first-time home buyers, or video gamers across a wider selection of networks while leveraging the same data sets and following a single workflow.

OpenAP’s success could signal the end of this data-driven difficulty. We’ll have to wait and see, but there’s reason to be optimistic with NBCU and Univision recently announcing that they will both join. For now, until there’s industry standardization, marketers must leverage all types of data available or risk losing pivotal insights into their audiences and better returns on their TV dollars.

Test and Learn in the Meantime

The reality is that there’s no guarantee OpenAP succeeds and that companies can’t wait to see if it does. To avoid missing out on valuable insight and performance in the meantime, marketers should be willing to fight through the clunkiness and redundancy. Marketers must test and learn across the multiple datasets (micro-markets, we’re calling them) and platforms today to be ready to capitalize on the opportunity when data-driven TV is ready for primetime.

These “micro-markets” of different datasets are all we have. It’s the only way until there’s standardization. Think of it as the search engine race back in the mid-2000s. No one knew Google would go on to dominate the search engine space, so companies had to strategize for Yahoo, Bing and Google alike.

Data-driven TV can eventually offer the transparency of a traditional TV schedule and the targeted and measurable benefits of digital media. But be cautious about waiting for that standardization. Your competition may not.

Intelligence TV

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Marketing

Relationship Marketing and the Pivot Away From Conversion Marketing

At the heart of both advertising and marketing is a shared goal: to inform. They inform people that a product or solution can make life better. But information is no longer scarce nor hard to find. People can be more specific now in their search for information than ever before.

In 2018, people are less likely to Google where shoes are being sold. Instead, they’re most likely Googling; “best running shoe for beginning runners with high arches for less than $100.” The way people are looking for information has changed, so marketing had to change with it. People no longer want to be interrupted. They know what they want, and in most cases can get it with a few clicks.

The online ads that may have gotten their attention before have died with ad block. Consumers aren’t interested in a transaction. They’re interested in something much more.

Understanding Relationships for Relationship Marketing

We’re human, so we’re relational beings. We’re relationship driven. Relationships help us not only define ourselves; they help us learn, keep us entertained, and provide utilitarian value. Relationships are often talked about in the context between two humans, but relationships can be had in way more mediums than just the one between people

Key to any lasting relationship is an element of evolution. A relationship does not happen in a moment in time. It happens over time, and it evolves based on the evolving needs of the two parties involved.

Now, change does not equal repetition. While repetitive behaviors may exist, future interactions will change and be different due to prior experiences. As both parties gain a deeper understanding of one another based on past experiences, the relationship becomes more complex.

So, if relationship marketing is where we are going, there are some serious changes we must make as marketers.

Changing Behavior

Today’s marketers can no longer afford to focus on conversions alone. We must instead focus on developing, growing and maintaining relationships with our audiences. Conversions still have a place – they’re the desired outcome of a meaningful relationship.

We must also evolve our understanding of a brand. Once upon a time, marketers determined the narrative surrounding a brand. Social media’s inverted that relationship, and today brands are defined by their audiences.

Now brands must be flexible and offer customized interactions to an audience encountering them on multiple touchpoints. It must do all this while still maintaining the underpinnings of who it is though. Interactions with your brand should be customized, but the experience should be uniform.

Lastly, brands and marketers must partner with machines to make this possible. If we’re to focus on relationships and all the nuances that go with it, then we have no choice but to lean on artificial intelligence, automation and digital innovation to help make that a reality. While the goal may be to get brands to act more like humans, the way to do this is with the help of machines.

Understand The Type of Relationships Your Brand Wants

Using the machines and technology mentioned above, marketers can truly discover not only the type of relationship it wants to have with an audience but the relationship an audience already has with your brand. That’s why these insights are so important in building a strategy.

Use that data to discover what your audience wants. Some brands may assume a relationship they have with their audience, but if that’s not backed by data, a brand runs a serious risk of alienating its audience that has different expectations than what’s being delivered.

A narrative can’t be forced. Not today. Brands must remain flexible, so that when it discovers that relationship with an audience, they can cater to it without seeming forced or disingenuous.

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Influencer

Public Relations Marketing

The landscape of public relations (PR) is constantly changing. So much so that it took thousands of submissions, a year’s worth of research and a public vote for the Public Relations Society of America to agree upon an updated definition.

Currently, PRSA defines public relations as, “a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.” This was an evolution of the 1982 definition which stated, “public relations helps an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other.”

Just as the definition has evolved, so has the practice of PR. PR is more public and relational than ever before largely due to new platforms and technologies. Digital marketing has risen in popularity as an important fold in PR strategy. Holistically, a strong PR campaign ultimately drives consumers to buy your products.

A Lot More Public

We’re in the age of citizen journalists. Everyone has a phone, and everyone has a platform thanks to social media. A comment overheard from a casual conversation can go viral in seconds. If you turn on the television to watch an evening news program you’re bound to see shaky cell phone footage and a Twitter handle as the source. Quite a change from the “old days” of professional production (or even tripod mounts), huh?

A Lot More Relational

Today, public relations professionals outnumber journalists six to one. An article by Muck Rack sheds even more light on the disparity between professions, specifically outlining the decline in the newsroom, where industry employment in the U.S. has dropped a staggering 23% between 2008 and 2017. Muck Rack went on to say, “looking specifically at news reporters, photographers, videographers and editors, jobs across print, broadcast and digital media fell from 114,000 to just around 88,000. Nearly a quarter of jobs in the industry gone in less than 10 years. Let that sink in.”

We have attended many conferences and heard first-hand from journalists who are overwhelmed with emails that they admittedly only give an email 20 seconds of attention until he or she moves on to the next — and that’s if you’re lucky. To cut through the clutter, brands need to have a strong and relevant story. Brands also need to build relationships with an audience broader than just media to succeed. Media coverage, although important, is no longer enough.

Public Relations is Not Just Media Relations

Public relations should go well beyond media relations. Unfortunately, marketers are constantly using those two words interchangeably. At Empower, traditional PR work and tactics are found in our Word of Mouth Marketing practice, with earned media just being one of the components of a strong PR plan.

We don’t just get brands “covered.” We believe in meaningfully engaging influencers via experiences that bring the brand’s stories to life. This mindset and integrated approach ultimately allows us to leverage influential third-party authorities to endorse and advocate for our brand. By eneabling brand advocacy and loyalty through the power of word of mouth, we go above and beyond transactional “coverage” for our brands.

Word-Of-Mouth Marketing Works

There are endless stats out there to support word of mouth marketing (WOMM.) One in particular, according to Nielsen, says an impressive 92% of consumers believe recommendations from friends and family over all forms of advertising. When consumers do turn to Google, Kissmetrics says 25% of the results link out to user-generated-content (UGC), which is why influencer marketing is vitally important to help control a brand’s message.

Another eye-popping stat: McKinsey research shows WOMM generates twice as many sales as paid advertising! Hiring a marketing team that creates a comprehensive marketing strategy will be beneficial to your business or company. It’s not to say there isn’t a place for paid advertising, but while advertising builds awareness, public relations builds trust.

All public relations is marketing, but not all marketing is public relations. Your public relations tactics are a valuable part of the overall marketing mix. According to PRSA, below are some disciplines within PR:

Brand Journalism/Content Creation
Corporate Communications
Crisis Communications
Events
Executive Communications
Internal Communications
Marketing Communications
Media Relations
Multimedia
Reputation Management
Social Media
Speechwriting

That being said, marketing goes far beyond public relations. From a definition standpoint, Dictionary.com says marketing is “the action or business of promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising.” The American Marketing Association Board of Directors approved the following definition in 2013, “marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.”

That definition is a lot to take in, which is why marketing is oftentimes a function that is somewhat all-encompassing. Marketing includes disciplines like:

Advertising
Brand Position
Content Marketing
Data and Analytics
Digital
Programmatic
Public Relations
Search Engine Marketing
Search Engine Optimization
Social Media
Targeting and Segmentation

Four P’s Make it Five

For decades, those who study marketing learn about the 4 P’s: product, price, place and promotion. There’s a very important “p” missing and it relates to public relations: people! People are the ones with money. People are the ones who will purchase your product or service. And people are often the ones influencing other people to purchase your product or service.

PR Planning Principles

When implementing public relations strategies and tactics into a marketing plan, it’s important to develop principles to reference. These principles serve as filters for decision making during the planning process.

Identify the audience. It is important to know the audience you’re trying to reach with your efforts so you can build an idea from the ground up that connects the brand story directly to the target audience.
Draft a story. Once the audience is determined, craft a story that is relevant to them. In the case of the media, craft the story with the outlet’s readers in mind. Leverage key messages as a launching point that can be tailored to the audience. Be a storyteller, use statistics where they are relevant and incorporate imagery or video to help paint a vivid and intriguing picture.
Map influencers and channels. Consider which influencers (media, bloggers, social influencers, etc.) and channels will be most effective and engaging when sharing your story. Evaluate influencers based on their relevance to the story, influence on the given topic, reach and audience engagement. Also consider their presence on the social media channel that resonates most with your audience. Look into which channel or channels help you best tell the specific brand story, whether it’s through traditional media, social media or both.
Craft shareable content. Encourage influencers to talk about the brand in an authentic and engaging way. From news releases and pitch letters to media kits featuring photo and video content, every piece that is developed for an influencer should be designed as shareable, quality content. Each of these pieces should strategically include key messages reinforcing the story, which influencers can then share with their communities.
Customize outreach. Once you have an understanding of who you are talking to and how you will communicate with them, it is time to begin customized outreach. Aim to never send a form-fill-email or blast a news release. Each and every piece of outreach should be highly customized to the influencer, their channels, and their audience. By taking the time to customize the outreach, you’ll have a better chance of successfully gaining their attention, showing relevance and obtaining quality coverage.
Cultivate relationships. One of the most rewarding aspects of public relations is the long-term benefit of building mutually-beneficial relationships with influencers. If you’ve done the hard work to convince them to become enrolled in the brand, then it’s critical to continue nurturing the relationship to cement them as loyal brand advocates.

Measurement

Measurement used to be a place where marketing and public relations split. While public relations efforts are typically awareness drivers with a focus on relationship building, there are some instances where the tactics can run further down the funnel. Setting KPIs and a measurement plan at the beginning of every campaign is vital for both PR and marketing. Marketing plans need to be integrated, and so should measurement plans.

From planning through measurement, public relations plans are stronger as a part of a holistic marketing approach. Campaigns and plans are stronger when they include public relations. If you have colleagues down the hall who specialize in data, web development, sales… use them! Start by asking your SEO colleagues what keyword and search opportunities are out there to incorporate in your press materials. Tap members of the social team to understand which platforms and KPIs they’re optimizing against to better understand how a paid media strategy can amplify your PR program. Check with brand managers or the sales team to learn about the sales goals and how they are tracked. Collaborating with other marketing departments is critical as PR becomes more results-driven. These conversations need to happen in every stage of a campaign to ensure success.

As PR continues to evolve, like any other form of communication, it’s important to remember the key differences between PR and marketing and what makes each valuable. Whether it’s leading a program with a people-first mentality or developing a plan based on data-driven insights, PR is a word of mouth strategy that has a place in every campaign.

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Media

Human Relationships are Key to a Successful Programmatic Campaign

It’s true–machines and algorithms within the programmatic ecosystem allow us to make faster media buying decisions, smarter data-driven optimizations and provide real-time results.

But we cannot forget that humans are a key component to the programmatic ecosystem. Humans provide key benefits to programmatic that machines may never be able to grasp. To be more specific, machines will never be able cultivate relationships with publishers that allow us to access custom premium content, provide bid-strategy analysis and test and learn opportunities. Building relationships with publishers in the programmatic ecosystem is key to having a successful programmatic strategy.

We’ll explain why below by focusing on Empower’s own relationship in the programmatic ecosystem with our partner, Meredith Corporation.

Direct and Programmatic Teams Submit RFI Together

Publishers need to understand the full strategy to provide the best value and inventory opportunities. They can help create stronger plans and more cohesive campaigns when planning direct opportunities like custom content in conjunction with specific programmatic PMP deals, and apply the learnings from one area of a campaign (e.g., which segments perform best in which contexts) to others. By submitting joint RFIs, Empower clients can also receive added-value opportunities for combining spend between direct and programmatic. And it allows the publisher to provide customized plans across all available channels.

Gain Access to Premium Inventory and Improve Bid Strategies

If Empower buyers notice specific inventory sources or publishers are performing well, but are unable to reach optimal scale, we engage with publishers directly to access more of the high-performing inventory. We also work together with publishers to develop customized pricing and bid strategies. Due to our direct relationships with publishers where our campaigns are running, we can often gain valuable insight.

For example, if Empower bids X percent more on this type of inventory, we would win Y percent more auctions.

We Have Open and Ongoing Dialogue with Our Publisher Partners About Campaign Performance

Programmatic buying allows Empower to quickly see campaign success because of its real-time nature. But if a campaign isn’t performing, instead of just quickly pushing the ‘off’ button on a PMP deal, we talk to our publishers to determine the cause. After all, if you don’t share your KPIs and goals for each partner, how are they supposed to know your target level of performance? Publishers can and will optimize on their side to help us improve performance.

“Deal optimization is about creating deal success for the buyer,” says Chip Schenck, vice president, data & programmatic solutions at Meredith Corp. “Smart agencies and clients will engage with their important publisher partners to learn how to improve campaign efficacy through improved win rate, cost management, inventory selection and contextual and audience performance — all of which is information the publisher has access to as part of their auction. Publishers benefit when clients win, so it is symbiotic.”

Building an Open and Transparent Relationship Helps Provide Test and Learn or Beta Opportunities for Empower Clients

When Empower publishers get to know us, and get to know our clients’ businesses well, they think of Empower and our clients first for beta opportunities. Beta opportunities include exclusive inventory access to on new media properties, new inventory sizes, new ad products and discounted pricing.

While machines continue to carry more and more weight, the human element will never disappear. In fact, leaning on tech more, makes human oversight even more necessary. Achieving the right balance between the two ensures the very best of both worlds.

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Media

Empower’s Second Annual Advanced Video Summit Tackles the State of the Industry

Over 20 media partners participated in Empower’s advanced video summit to help navigate the rapidly changing video ecosystem. Not only did the creative media agency pop the hood on valuable insights, but Empower also leveraged this opportunity to push plan and purchasing innovations with key media partners.

For example, at its first advanced video summit, Empower convinced NBCU to beta-test its first-ever national programmatic linear video buy with one of Empower’s retail clients. What was originally developed as an intel strategy has quickly turned into a competitive edge.

Below are what advertisers should be taking note of in the near-future:

Video is Video – No Matter Which Screen
Standardization of Audience Data
Addressability is Growing
Content Providers Reclaiming Content
Mergers and Acquisitions
:06 Ads

The following are Empower’s game-changing takeaways from the advanced video summit:

Beyond the Big Screen

TV is not dead. In fact it’s growing…albeit fragmented. Live viewing is declining; however, viewership in totality is growing. According to Nielsen, overall time spent increased roughly 20 percent in the last three years.

Consumers are viewing premium content on more than their television. It’s important to reach them whenever and wherever they’re watching. We know that linear and digital work hardest in tandem. Advertisers should consider a video strategy encompassing all screens to avoid missing valuable consumers.

Empower is beginning to shift its approach away from GRP-focused RFPs to ones that are impression based, focusing on unified impressions across linear and digital that will allow for the optimal mix.

The one piece missing from all of this is a measurement that unifies impressions across all platforms. Viacom and Videology are working to create cross-platform measurement that will measure cross-platform views as viewership shifts to on-demand and over-the-top (OTT) environments.

Opportunity to Use Data That Creates a Universal Audience to Purchase Beyond The Demographic

What is OpenAP? It enables unified, consistent audiences within premium TV content at massive reach and scale. It also delivers cross-publisher targeting and independent posting for advanced audiences.

OpenAP is founded by a conglomerate of television publishers and operated by a leading, neutral third-party auditor, Accenture. Current partners include Fox, Turner, Viacom, NBCU and Univision. Empower anticipates more partners to be added soon – comparable to the AEN Networks, Discovery Inc. and the ABC’s of the world.

Shockingly, NBCU was anticipated not to be a part of OpenAP but just announced on April 19, 2018 that they will be joining – also making Comcast data available. Univision was then added to compete with Telemundo (part of NBCU).

The major benefit is the use of consistent audiences by all media publishers who are in the OpenAP platform, whether it be a first or third-party audience. This provides the trust and ease of activation within these custom audiences across the publisher’s entire video portfolio.

What does the future hold for OpenAP? Keep an eye on video planning tools. In collaboration with agencies, OpenAP hopes to provide video planners with a platform to inform across the publisher’s video landscape on where to plan their audience-targeted video. To date, there is no indication the platform will allow for the purchase of video inventory across the participating publisher’s inventory.

Opportunity to Target One-To-One Messaging Strategy When it Makes Sense for Brands

Addressable TV is the process of serving household-specific TV advertising based on an advertiser-defined target in a privacy compliant manner, regardless of programming or time of day in both live and playback modes.

This allows for one-to-one advertiser to household communication – focusing on households, not programs. People often refer to addressable TV as the “direct mail” for TV with data-driven targeting.

Current providers include:

Satellite – DirecTV, Dish
MVPDs – Altice (formerly Cablevision), Comcast, Cox, Charter, fios

NBCU will be leveraging its own Comcast homes (households that have Comcast cable and set top box), offering the first-ever live linear addressable capability (coming in 4Q18/1Q19). This will be the first non-satellite company offering live viewing addressable capability at scale. They will compete directly with DirecTV and DISH, who currently have majority HHs. Also currently in beta are companies like Freewheel and Sorenson Media that are using smart TV technology, providing addressability via “glass” rather than the set-top-box.

Premium Content Providers Are Moving Away From a Shared Distribution Model

Media companies are taking back their content. Ten years ago, a little company named Netflix pitched premium content providers on an opportunity to distribute their TV series and movies as an added bonus to viewers who were mainly using the service for new DVD home delivery. It sounded like a perfect opportunity – premium content providers get to make some money on the side in the hopes of inspiring viewers to eventually pick up shows they liked via Netflix and catch new seasons as they’re released. Missed the start of Grey’s Anatomy? No biggie. Get caught up on Netflix and start watching the latest season live with ABC.

Netflix has made a huge profit from this business model and used those profits to fuel original binge-worthy content. Media companies are now striking back by taking back their content from Netflix. For example, Disney has removed its content and is currently building out its own direct-to-consumer platform (due next year) that will house Star Wars and Pixar films. Premium content providers are aiming to create valuable content libraries in order to compete with FAANG (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google).

Premium Content Providers Are Moving Away From a Shared Distribution Model

Mergers and Acquisitions

Also born out of the Netflix craze are a rash of mergers across the media landscape. Over the past five years, six major media companies have merged (two in the last three months) and more are pending.

Here’s a list of the mergers:

2013 Comcast and NBCU
Discovery and Scripps (deal closed 3.6.18)
AT&T and Time Warner (Turner) (deal closed 6.10.18)
Disney (ABC) and NBCU are locked in a bidding war for Fox assets
The rumored merger of CBS and Viacom ended in lawsuits leaving both parties looking for new partners

Empower sees great potential with these mergers and acquisitions. There will be more opportunities to leverage negotiation and integration opportunities across a larger portfolio of networks.

Continue to Pursue :06 Opportunities When They Make Sense

The six-second ad spot delivers quick impact, leaving no time for viewers to switch channels or exit the room. They also reach a large audience at a time when they are fully engaged in the programming. These short but impactful ad spots provide an opportunity for advertisers to build long-term brand awareness. There are lots of advantages to consider the six second ad spot if it makes sense, but right now it’s limited in linear and primarily sold in sports and specials. Additionally, many networks are slow to embrace due to an already cluttered environment. There’s also a lot of discussion around how to price and measure as most networks value six seconds the same as fifteen seconds.

Empower continues to push for these opportunities on the linear screen but recognize the shorter unit length may be more conducive to shorter content (think mobile). In many cases, it makes sense for advertisers to still utilize standard unit lengths of fifteen or thirty seconds for set up and/or sequential messaging with six second videos.

NBCU is embracing this model by bringing initiatives like “Playing Through” on Golf Channel. Advertiser’s commercial spot will air in a split screen with continued sports coverage to encourage engagement. Seemingly, split screen within content is a better bet than a standalone six-second ad within a traditional commercial pod.

On the Horizon

In the future, expect to see content providers provide guarantees on audience reach. A select number of networks are currently guaranteeing their advanced-targeting buys on audience impressions (beyond age/sex); however, they will take it a step further and start guaranteeing audience/in-segment reach, meaning the buy guarantees to reach, for example, 95 percent of the audience during flight. Viacom is one of the first to test and will soon have a case study available on performance.

Another hot topic in video space, especially for linear video, is attribution. Look for a conglomerate of premium-content providers to partner with companies like Data + Math in an effort to use data to map out the effects of various forms of video on sales of product. This will trace exposure to a commercial to an actual sale, giving the linear screen the credit when it is due, something that is currently not easy to do.

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Media

Beyond Comprehension – Where Voice Search Could Be Headed

Voice search has long been a hot topic. In response to this, all of the big players have developed their own product covering voice-enabled options such as mobile search (Siri, Google Voice, Bixby), home assistants (Alexa, Google Assistant), PCs (Cortana), even remote controls (Xfinity Voice Remote).

This saturation has increased awareness, interest and overall use of voice. Google has recently seen about 20 percent of its queries via mobile devices come in via voice. That number is expected to climb in the next few years.

Fast Tracking Mass Adoption

The fact that voice search and devices with the capacity for it are so prevalent makes trial easy enough. The problem is – does trial ensure long-term adoption? And does adoption mean consistent complex interactions, or merely using voice search for navigational or hands-free-related purposes occasionally? Because there’s a big difference between the two.

As it relates to adoption, the biggest barrier has always been comprehension. The eventual goal for comprehension is for language to be discernible in any environment, and to respond with accurate answers.

Currently, most voice-recognition software isn’t polished enough to accomplish this. Experts have stated accuracy levels need to reach at least a 95 percent accuracy threshold for people to feel confident in the technology and in-turn accelerate mass adoption. Hitting that 95 percent level – which Google Voice accomplished last year – was a huge milestone, but continued improvement beyond that level will go a long way towards the public trusting voice.

Moving Beyond the Basics of Comprehension

As voice-accuracy levels continue to grow, there is another obstacle to overcome. Voice will need to go beyond comprehension. It will need to possess the ability to understand complex, conversational interactions – conversations that go beyond a specific string of words or fall within a set of manufacturer-approved questions. Voice will need to adapt in real-time and interact with humans. It will also need to adapt to its user to anticipate questions before they arise.

Google demoed this type of forward-thinking technology at a conference this past June. Their voice functionality successfully made a phone call to a hair salon and made an appointment with a human. Google CEO Sundar Pichai noted the technology – called Google Duplex – was still being worked on behind the scenes. “The amazing thing is that Assistant can actually understand the nuances of conversation,” noted Pichai.

And that’s the key. The true potential of voice. Enabling the technology to go beyond simply responding to prompts. Propelling it to interact in a conversational – and meaningful – manner. The possibilities around technology like that are limitless.

The Current Role of Voice Search

2020 is a big year for voice. This is when ComScore predicts 50 percent of all searches will be voice-related. The point when voice is destined to become the new face of search.

But voice search – even the futuristic utopian version – still has its limitations. It’s unlikely to be the silver bullet that puts an end to the traditional keyword-based model. Its strength isn’t in producing pages of results. With voice, it isn’t about options, it’s about specificity. One prompt, one response.

Additionally, there are certain interactions that require more than auditory cues. Asking a digital assistant for the best pizza place in your area might yield multiple results that inherently require more research to decide. Do they deliver? How much for a large pizza? What toppings can I get? Are there any coupons? What’s the wait time? Sometimes we don’t realize how multi-layered even the tiniest decisions can be. As of now, these are typically interactions best conducted by traditional search.

However there is a scenario where voice can and has excelled – when someone knows exactly what they want and exactly where to get it. That is the interaction for which the current iteration of voice is built. It’s what the biggest names in technology have whittled its purpose down to – serving as a direct conduit to known entities.

Profit Shouldn’t Be The Main Goal

The previously mentioned “I know what I want and where I want it from” scenario is why it makes so much sense for Google (with their Walmart and Target partnerships) and Amazon to dive headfirst into this type of technology. Voice and digital assistants represent a direct line of communication to the place every retailer has always wanted to exist – the home. Amazon tried this same tactic with their Dash buttons, but the idea didn’t fully resonate. No one wants dozens of branded buttons throughout their home that need to be located every time something runs out. They want simplicity. And voice – designed for short, direct questions with short, direct answers – provides that simplicity:

“Alexa, order more Bounty paper towels.”

Done. Alexa knows the quantity you ordered last time, your address, payment info, all of those things that previously smeared the traditional keyboard-based process. It’s such a genius move on Amazon’s part. It’s marketed as a household helper or assistant. It’s there to serve you and provide answers to the mundane things you might not want to look up. But it’s just a well-disguised check-out line Amazon has somehow managed to place directly on your kitchen counter.

And nothing against this current focus. It’s making lives easier, which is the goal of most technological advances, while allowing companies to profit. It’s a win-win based on the current limitations of the technology. But we also need to ensure we’re not dumbing down the technology in the name of profit.

There are endless possibilities within voice, but the best ones are those least associated with a revenue stream.

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Influencer

Navigate Brand Crisis with Social Listening

It always happens when you least expect it – a brand reputation crisis. It could be a negative customer service interaction, an influencer or spokesperson gone wrong or a poorly timed commercial.

Whatever the cause, Netbase reports that 28 percent of crises spread internationally within just one hour. Having a strong crisis management strategy is critical to protecting brand health, and social listening can help you see the true impact of a crisis and quickly regain control.

What is Social Listening?

Social media monitoring looks at public, digital conversation on a predetermined topic, such as your brand name, to provide key insights that can inform the development of meaningful strategies and concepts. Beyond crisis management, social listening is used to:

monitor brand health
uncover and gain insight into audiences
measure campaign performance or customer engagement
understand the impact of influencers
develop opportunity framing

The Role of Social Listening in a Crisis

If your brand is partnering with an influencer or celebrity and that person gets into trouble for any reason, social listening can help determine if the impact will be felt by your brand. Similarly, social listening can help you get ahead of the game to determine if a brand, celebrity or influencer is the right fit for you and if they pose a potential future threat to your brand health.

For example, when working with a popular home improvement duo, a client wanted to determine if Jonathan Scott’s divorce would be a cause for concern. Using social listening, the Empower team determined that not only was conversation on the divorce miniscule, but the conversation that was surrounding it was positive and focused on how honest Scott was with fans. Even the celebrity duos’ missteps and failures were met with empathy and loyalty, which made them a solid partner for the brand.

Understanding Crisis Severity

Social listening shows the volume and virality of crisis conversations related to your brand’s situation to dictate if a response is needed, and, if necessary, who should deliver the response. For example, one client had an established partnership with a prominent morning show whose co-host was accused of sexual harassment. The Empower team quickly assessed consumer sentiment and volume trends to determine that the brand placement on the show would not be impacted by the potential scandal and there was no need to create a response plan.

Showcasing Conversational Themes About Your Brand

Social listening lets you know what consumers are talking about in real time. It will tell you the issues that are resonating, what emerging themes exist, who is fueling the most mentions and the passion/intensity of those mentions. These tools let you segment conversations by promoters and detractors to learn about their characteristics such as profession, interest, geography and influence level of those involved to help better formulate a strategic response.

For example, a client was experiencing negative conversation around a new product and wanted to understand how widespread and deep the negativity was spreading. The Empower team was able to determine that the total number of comments were few, the conversation sentiment was mostly neutral and that those who were actively talking negatively did not have much influence in the social space after all.

Knowing When to Respond, What to Say

Beyond understanding if the issue is widespread enough to warrant a response or action, knowing how customers are talking about the crisis and understanding the emotions on underlying issues helps to craft the best response. The Empower PR team works closely with the research & social teams to understand the full ecosystem a statement will be entering and craft an appropriate response.

Keeping Stakeholders Informed

Social listening provides real-time data that can keep stakeholders informed. This technology arms you with data your brand needs to respond to a crisis, even if it seems like a career-ending situation at the time. For example, when a beloved home makeover show had a lawsuit launched against it, some were quick to believe that a product placement on a related show would be catastrophic. But the Empower team provided real-time reports to the client to prove that not only was the conversation surrounding the lawsuit minimal, but it quickly faded over a few days.

If you experience a potential brand crisis, real-time and accurate insights are paramount to understanding the magnitude and speed of the issue and determining when and when not to respond. Social listening can help illuminate all of this and more to help your brands tell the right message to the right people at the right time.

It is vital to understand that in 2018, brands no longer control their narrative. Your narrative is dictated by how people discuss your brand on social media. Are you listening?

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Media

Google Updates Brand Safety Exclusions For YouTube

Google recently changed its approach to content exclusions within YouTube and other video properties.

Starting mid-August 2018, advertisers will no longer be able to use self-selected sensitive content categories to restrict where their ads run on YouTube. They’ll need to select from one of the three exclusion categories (called “Inventory Types”) listed below:

Expanded – Covers all videos on YouTube and Google video partners that meet Google’s monetization standards
Standard (Default Setting) – Covers ads across a range of content that’s appropriate for most brands, such as popular music videos, documentaries, movie trailers, etc.
Limited – Covers ads on a range of content appropriate for brands with particularly strict guidelines – especially for inappropriate language and sexual suggestiveness

These three options, while a bit more concise than the current setup, leave a great deal of room for ambiguity when it comes to content. The “standard” setting for example, which serves as the default option, allows for the inclusion of the following not-so-safe content per Google:

Limited clothing in sexual settings, sensual dancing, moderate sexually suggestive behavior, or a music video containing sexual content
Moderate profanity used in a non-hateful, comedic, or artistic manner, or a music video with frequent profanity

For brands looking to be as safe as possible, content falling into the above category likely wouldn’t be something they’d want to run alongside. There also exists a great deal of vagueness in the terms “limited” and “moderate” within the above descriptions. The previous format allowed you to exclude your brand from all content related to a specific subject, but the new default “standard” setting seems to allow for an acceptable amount of content that might not be brand safe. This will push most advertisers to focus solely on the “limited” inventory setting along with whitelists, block lists and third-party brand safety tagging as backup.

Additionally, Google has sworn to automatically apply exclusions for deplorable content. This should prevent ads from running alongside the most controversial topics, such as terrorism, nudity and recent tragedies. But keep in mind, this is an area they’ve attempted to snuff out in the past, with little success.

Past Brand Safety Concerns

YouTube took down more than eight million videos in late 2017 for violating its content guidelines. From October through December, roughly 6.7 million videos were flagged for review by automated processes alone. From there, roughly three out of four of those videos were subsequently removed. They also put as many as 10,000 employees on a manual, human-driven YouTube review group designed to curtail further issues.

But in reality, there’s no surefire way to police the entirety of YouTube. The sheer amount of content being added to the platform every minute and every day (400 hours and 576k hours respectively) is almost unfathomable. Without 100 percent error-proof natural language processing (NLP) and machine-based image and video recognition capabilities that can not only review – but also comprehend, digest and categorize – every single second of user-generated content, there’s no true way to ensure 100 percent safety on a platform like YouTube.

Artificial Intelligence and Brand Safety

Google has noted their algorithm shoots down 70 percent of violent extremist content within a few hours of being uploaded. This is the highest priority negative content that the new, automatic exclusions are designed to catch, but as noted, they’re only catching and subsequently removing seventy percent of it.

Google knows there’s no way to truly put out this fire unless they invest even more heavily in preventative artificial intelligence and machine learning – with a focus on automation designed to protect as opposed to automation designed for profit.

But do these most recent changes signal a move in that direction? A direction that demonstrates they’re ready to truly put protecting their advertisers first? Not yet.

Keeping Advertisers Safe

Lumping all of YouTube’s monetized content into three buckets doesn’t seem like the answer advertisers are seeking. More specificity would have been the best course. More options to ensure brands know where their ads will be served and where they won’t. This new format simply adds layers of ambiguity, which will lead to confusion. We’ll continue to see advertisers denouncing YouTube after ending up alongside content they don’t want associated with their brand. We’ll continue to see those same advertisers questioning how this could have happened.

With that said, these new “Inventory Type” classification categories seem more designed to alleviate blame on Google’s part than to protect advertisers when issues arise. In order to keep advertisers safe, Google needs to invest more heavily in the automation piece. But in all honesty, it’s in their best interest to wait.

Google likely won’t fully invest in automation designed to protect until enough large brands decide to fully divest from their platform due to brand safety concerns. Once that happens, it will signal a sea of change. The moment at which preventative automation becomes a profit-driving mechanism for Google – one they can use to lure back the advertisers they’d driven away, while enticing others to spend even more.

Despite all of this, YouTube is still a platform of incredible value. It’s still an environment with unparalleled reach. It’s still an environment allowing access and engagement with unique and sometimes hard to find audiences. And it’s still an environment most advertisers should invest in.

It’s just not an environment most advertisers can fully trust – yet.

Google Programmatic YouTube

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