British Vogue Research: Ad-blocking has limited impact on visually-oriented publishings

  

Fears have been mongering around since Apple unveiled its most recent iOS system allowing ad blocking. Nevertheless, this trepidation, according to Vogue UK’s research, is overblown, and that there could be a silver lining for publishers and brands should they start to shift onto digital platforms.

 The 2015 British Vogue Business Report surveyed 2787 upper-middle-class women to look at the evolving reader relationship with magazines in print and online, and concluded that people’s overall attention to advertisement across all platforms has never been higher, with significant increases for websites and digital editions.

            In addition, over 75% of under-35s said they trusted advertising and other paid-for communications, and a whopping 94% of magazine readers said they paid attention to website advertisements. The premium ads featured on Vogue’s website were described as “genuine” and “appealing” by the likes of Vogue.

            Besides British Vogue’s studies, other researches also bolstered the conclusion that the panic was wildly exaggerated. According to JPMorgan, people were half as likely to block ads on mobile, since ad blocker applications only affect ads on mobile browsers rather than those within apps. In addition, ad blockers of iOS 9 are only able to block pop-ups in Safari, a browser that occupies 23% of total share on tablet and mobile, and an even scantier 4% on desktop.

Moreover, in the context of readers and users of glossy magazine brands in print and online, advertising perusing becomes part of the experience. Half of Vogue’s pages are composed of high quality and engrossing advertisements on which viewers enjoy spending time viewing. Oftentimes the key issues for visual-oriented magazines are to create visually appealing ads so as to captivate readers’ attention rather than to eliminate them altogether. As a result, to generate greater revenue, future publishers should create less but more effective ads.

One short-term solution is to create native, video and branded contents. Publishers could feature product placements within their editorial photo shoots, and create tutorial videos featuring Shoppable Ads integrated within the contents. For high-end brands, followers expected to see more video contents and more exclusives on parties and runway shows. Burberry recently presented the premiere on its exclusive “Functionregalia” collection on Snapchat including a never-before-seen glimpse into its design studios, bringing about the largest audience to date among all other Burberry’s social media platforms have realized. Burberry is said to host a live make-up tutorial on cosmetics in due course that would be streamed exclusively on Sephora’s YouTube channel.

Links

http://digiday.com/publishers/british-vogue-attention-ads/

http://www.businessinsider.com/jp-morgan-note-on-impact-of-ad-blocking-2015-9

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/burberry-presents-the-functionregalia-collection-in-london-accompanied-by-a-live-performance-by-alison-moyet-following-its-premiere-on-snapchat-300146846.html

Content Marketing—content is present and future of marketing

Explanation for content marketing on Wikipedia shows: Content marketing is any marketing that involves the creation and sharing of media and publishing content in order to acquire and retain customers.  And content marketing can be presented in a variety of formats, including news, video, white papers, e-books, or even case studies, etc.

In class, we have discussed how to get the most out of digital display creatively and how to effectively display advertising. However, the most important thing should always be the content. How to display is based on what to display and who to display. Deliver the right information to right targets is the key to successful marketing.  Both of these two articles pointed out that quality is much more significant than quantity. We should always remember to pay attention to the content to attract consumers and maintain long-term relationship.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/steveolenski/2015/10/02/this-just-in-the-whole-world-is-into-content-marketing/2/

http://www.business2community.com/content-marketing/the-ten-commandments-of-content-marketing-01340166

Median Age of Social Media Users is Getting Higher

According to a recent research from GfK MRI, although millennials are still the dominant players in the social media world, we are actually having a more maturing group of social media users. 

" US — The median age of Facebook users is 40 – up from 29 years in 2009 – with other social media networks showing similarly mature users with Instagram the youngest at 30 "

"The median ages of other social site users are 44 for LinkedIn, 42 for Google+, 38 for Pinterest, 38 for YouTube and 32 for Twitter".

I think there are several important implications from this demographic changing trend. 

First of all,diversity, along with market size, of social media is expanding. It is great as companies can approach a wider demographic and of course, more customers, in this virtual world.  Secondly, companies should adjust their digital marketing strategy accordingly. As mentioned by Florian Kahlert, managing director of GFK MRI: "...just adding social media sites to a plan without other sophisticated targeting no longer automatically increases your younger or savvy target groups..." And it may be worth devoting more marketing effort to the maturing customers. Although the dominant role in the social media world is still the young, the spending power of the maturing group is probably stronger.  For example, LinkedIn, with the highest median ages of 44 among major social media sites, also had the highest median household income (approximately $112,500).  I think that's probably one reason that luxury brands are spending more time and effort on social media platform. Last but not least, the content of marketing materials should be adjusted accordingly as more maturing people are usually less emotional than the young. They are more rational and put more emphasis on the actual quality and value. In other words, maybe not very appropriate, the maturing group are less likely to be intrigued by the seemingly fantastic ads. 

Reference: 
http://www.research-live.com/4013959.article?utm_source=google&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=research-live.com

Publishers are in peril from annoying ads

Sale of Business Insider shows the challenge facing anyone that relies on digital advertising, an interesting article from this week’s Financial Times explains.

Non-subscription based publishers’ revenue models seem to turn into a vicious cycle of crowded ad placements and upset customers. Relying only on display ads and crowding the websites push viewers more towards ad-blocking extensions, which, according to the article, cost $22bn of advertising revenues last year. For publishers like Business Insider, this might imply a long-term risk of value destruction. As the article puts:

“Publishers, which have a long-term interest in not alienating users, need to impose tighter rules for advertisers themselves. If they do not, the tensions will descend into warfare among advertisers, consumers, ad blockers, and software companies that nullify ad blocking, such as PageFair.”

Link to FT article

New App: Peeple

There has been a lot of buzz this week about a new app called Peeple launching in November. Many depict the app as "yelp for humans." The app allows users to rate other people's attributes such as their romantic lives, personal integrity, professionalism, etc. The app is already attracting criticism as many people believe the platform will breed bullying. In fact, someone can be added to the app (and up for review, criticism) without their consent or knowledge. Anyone can add someone, they just need the person's phone number and proof that they are socially or professionally connected.

Will the new app attract marketers? A few AdWeek spoke to were very hesitant based on the potential for bullying and negative implications. I agree. This app seems to go against all of the recent anti-bullying campaigns and progress. I sure as hell wouldn't want my name put out there and the mere fact I can't control that is just wrong.

http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/will-brands-get-behind-peeple-app-already-being-called-cyberbullys-dream-167345

eeple, which will let you rate other people's attributes—such as their romantic lives, personal integrity and professionalism—the same way you'd rate the restaurant around the corner. The app goes live in November, and it's being billed the "Yelp for humans" since you can give people one to five stars, just like on Yelp.

Peeple is already attracting criticism since it seems ripe for mean-spirited attacks, but the company's founders say they aren't creating an app for bullies, according to The Washington Post. Here's how it works: Users must be 21, have a Facebook account and post reviews under their real names. To add a person and review him or her, the user has to have that individual's cell phone number to confirm the two are socially or professionally connected. Abusive commentary can be reported to Peeple's administrators, who will decide what stays and what goes.  

It all sounds a little dicey, doesn't it? If Peeple gains traction, will marketers want to play on it? Or will they be turned off by the potential for bullying? We asked a couple digital marketers to weigh in. 

Twitter May Go Beyond 140 Character Limit

Twitter still has not confirmed, but many sources say that the #2 social media site will soon extend its notorious 140 character limit. This may have a significant impact on how brands are using the platform. Larger character limits would allow for more extensive conversations between brands and their customers. This could mean that brands begin using Twitter for customer service similar to many brand's use of Facebook.

But is this a good idea? Isn't the very thing that defines Twitter, its real time, quick headline design? It will be very interesting to see if the rumors are true, and if so, what impact extending the character limit (even a little) has on the platform. It seems like a relatively small change, but I think it could have big consequences.

http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/if-twitter-goes-beyond-140-characters-brands-will-follow-more-customer-service-167252?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Adweek_Newsletter_2015153008&utm_source=sailthru&utm_term=AWK_TodayTech

Will Email marketing die?

I read the following news article on Techcruch recently: http://techcrunch.com/2015/10/01/turing-email-wants-to-make-sending-emails-as-fun-as-using-slack/. This article talks about how Turing Email has set out to change the way we check our email. There are other companies like Slack that have already started changing the way we communicate with co-workers at work (including mailing). I used Slack when I was interning with a VC firm in the bay area this summer and found it way better than any other software that I have ever used for office communication (I have worked at 4 companies now). Even at home, the use of e-mail has been declining as we communicate more on social media and use various other sources for information and content. With these trends, I sometimes wonder how relevant E-mail marketing would be after a few years.

Having said that, seems like email is still very relevant. I still don't know many people who don't have an email id whereas I know quite a few people who are not on FB, or don't use Twitter or Snapchat. I found an interesting blog (with some interesting statistics) that talks about the relevance of email marketing even in today's environment: https://www.campaignmonitor.com/blog/email-marketing/2014/09/email-marketing-statistics/. I guess the thing is that e-mail marketing is not going away anytime soon. Rather the blogpost suggests that e-mail marketing is a very effective means of digital marketing. Guess the point then really is that e-mail may still be very relevant today but if it doesn't evolve with the times, then it could become redundant. As ways to interact with e-mail evolve, so should ways to market using e-mail!

Technology as a Driver of the Consumerization of B2B

I am at the Founder.org conference right now, where I see many young B2B and B2C startups pitching to silicon valley investors (Founder.org is a VC fund investing in student founders in North America and Europe. I am working for the organization as an associate who sources and screens startups in Munich, Germany and New York City.)

What I found interesting among many of the B2B companies here is how they approach marketing and sales and how it differs from how traditional B2B marketing is often understood and taught. It's not just that their technology is the necessary 10x better (according to the rule of thumb for adoption) than the current market solutions, most of them are also trying to create a competitive advantage by using marketing technology to outpace traditional players.

There is Konux for example, a sensor startup that develops the hardware and software for the future of industry, an internet of sensors. They are automating and structuring marketing in a way that traditional sensor companies just cannot perform because they lack the digital mind set and skill set. They are doing content marketing to tell stories about their team and how their sensors are being used. They build up a CRM and an automated sales cycle that allow a leaner organization, wider reach and faster and more personalized follow-ups.

There also is Building Radar, a lead generation platform for the construction and interior design industry. Their algorithms not just screen the internet for future construction projects, their data management system also allows them to personalize their service and address the best matching supplier for any project.

I've talked to both teams and studied how their competitors are doing marketing and sales. For a so called digital native it is shocking how manual they still work and how slow they have grown over the years. Leads are being generated mostly offline, sometimes fax and telephone still are their preferred means of communication. They are operating in multi-billion dollar industries and they are now threatened by new companies who not just disrupt the technology used but first and foremost the marketing and sales technology. The Economist already brought up the topic in 2014, hinting to the fact that technology is one of the drivers that leads to a personalization of B2B sales. The core idea of this trend is that also businesses are run by people and business to business sales decisions are being made by human individuals. For me, it is exciting to see how digital technologies allow to transform not just products and services but also all aspects of business in any particular industry.

Dunkin’ Donuts and AirBnB master the art of location-based digital advertising

Until recently, location based advertising  remained a small part of mobile ad budgets, primarily because it's difficult to pinpoint the exact person with the right type of ad on the fly. But if you get Google on board for targeting your ad campaign, you can be the trend-setters in the field. Dunkin’ Donuts and AirBnB took the initiative to monetize the most frequent activities done by tourists from out of town.

Dunkin' worked with Johannes Leonardo  and Trilia Media to build a Google campaign timetocoffee.com, which crunches two sets of data—the walk times to Dunkin' locations in the Times Square area, and current wait times at each—to determine which Dunkin' will get you coffee quickest.Users just need to search for "coffee near me" on Google Maps or in Google Search on their mobile phone and they will see an ad that says, "Find the fastest coffee." Clicking the ad brings up Google Maps, which auto-populates the user's location and points to the right Dunkin' to patronize.

Airbnb, not behind in the race, is launching a campaign called "Hosted Walks". This particular venture helps NYC tourists to see and explore tracks off the beaten path and not just the usual tourist traps. Airbnb also partnered with Johannes Leonardo, to tap into the site's vast hosting community to provide host-led audio tours of Midtown Manhattan via Google Maps. When a user searches for touristy things to do in the Times Square area, or input their tourist destinations into Google Maps, an ad will prompt them to see New York like a local. Clicking on the ad brings up Google Maps, which auto-populates user's location and calculates a route to their location that takes them by hidden gems—which are then narrated by Airbnb hosts in audio as well as speech bubbles.

Both these firms have leveraged the most popular tourist activities and combined it with a convenient simple local service and a digital ad to sell their products. The digital experience which accompanies the ads is quite unique, simple and addictive for new comers to the city. Who thought consumer experience was only limited to physical stores? Transcending the ad experience to a doable action to monetize a service physically within 15-30 minutes of seeing the ad is a stellar achievement in the digital world. Moreover the convenience and simplicity of using the pop- up ad makes it all the more sticky and is the unique selling proposition of these Google campaigns.

Christina Yoo, associate programmatic media director at Essence, states how a new version of the location-based campaign is now using better targeting tactics alongside programmatic buying, improving accuracy."In the beginning, one of our biggest problems was getting accuracy at scale," Yoo said. "We want to have these perfect location-based experiences for the individual, but we also want to make sure that the information that we're getting is accurate."Part of the reason why advertisers are struggling with place-based mobile advertising is because marketers aren't looking for data outside of apps, which have built-in location metrics for brands to measure against.When locations are brought together and people are targeted in real-time based on where they are, brands have to go beyond that [app] signal!

Source: http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/how-dunkin-donuts-and-airbnb-are-turning-google-searches-experiences-nyc-167216

YouTube's Most Native Ad Yet Puts Shoppable Cards Into Organic Videos

With new native ads, YouTube has the potential to change the ad game completely. They have recently incorporated advertisements into actual organic videos i.e. how-to tutorials - no longer are ads regulated to the space between each video or seen as an interruption, but it instead it will become a more seamless and relevant integration. The videos will begin to feature shoppable cards (think Pop-Up Video) that are relevant for consumers who are watching i.e. beauty ads for products featured in a beauty blogger's tutorial.

This new "native" advertisement is incredibly impactful for the marketer - allowing their brand to become relevant and making the purchase much easier for the consumer.  

The one down-side to these shoppable cards, is that marketers may not be able to prevent whether or not their product ad appears in a negative or inappropriate video. However, YouTube claims its algorithms will prevent such a disaster - only time will tell when they roll out the program. 

http://adage.com/article/digital/youtube-shopping-ads-akin-google-search-ads-pre-rolls/300635/

Smart toys' effect on children development and marketing

With the emergence of smart toys for children, producers and academia have conflicted views on the effect of these on children's development. While producers claim the smart toys help develop and stimulate children's brains, critics are concerned that the constant stimuli of smart toys are inhibiting children's imagination and could cause problems focusing. Furthermore they also worry that companies are using the toys to push their own commercial agenda and obtain sensitive customer data before the child even knows he's a customer. However, in a world that is increasingly smart, tech-driven and multitasking, what time is the right to introduce children to this world and in what manner? Or are the skeptics just pushing their regular pessimism about technological change?

http://mashable.com/2015/09/29/high-tech-plush-toys-are-the-new-imaginary-friends/#KBtMH8GhvOqd
https://modelviewculture.com/pieces/smart-toys-and-the-endangered-solitude-of-childhood
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=131239&page=1