Will the Virtual Influencer ruin it all?

In the past 10 years, the rise of social media influencers has dramatically shifted how brands interact with new and younger demographics.  It has gotten to the point where one does not need to be a celebrity before then, they could be famous simply for having a lot of likes and a lot of opinions online. Although many of these influencer/brand deals may save some money from traditional advertising routes, many of these influencers have gone on to create challenges for these brands. As these influencers are human, scandals come to light or, they may simply go out of favor for their audiences. Depending on the agreements these brands have with influencers, this can cause extreme damage to the brand's reputation. 

Brands are now looking for alternative ways to connect to these younger audiences (gen z and younger millennials) who are not easily swayed by traditional marketing campaigns. An alternative to this is a virtual influencer/brand ambassador. We have seen them for years, Lil Miquela, Guggimon, and others but what if, the brand had their own dedicated influencer. Cancel proof, no travel, no crazy schedules, no usage fees, or extensive contracts. Some brands are starting to opt for it. Olmeca presented Maria Margarita and Samsung unveiled G-Nusmas last year. 

A lot of the downsides to "real" influencers are what may make a brand go for a virtual influencer. But, what are the pros of a virtual influencer that are not dependent on the "real" influencers? In many ways, we are just cycling back to traditional marketing under a new name. Although some brands have been very happy with their virtual influencers, when a character/person is so heavily associated with just one brand, the younger demographics may not see this as inauthentic. It is a bet these brands are willing to take and they will need to figure out what really sets these virtual influencers apart from the "real" ones. Otherwise, the "real" influencers will be here to stay for a very long time. 

sources:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2022/10/18/the-rise-of-virtual-influencers-and-what-it-means-for-brands/?sh=83bf17e6b56c

https://news.samsung.com/global/an-out-of-this-world-whimsical-employee-meet-samsungs-newest-virtual-avatar-gnusmas

https://whiskeyraiders.com/article/maria-margarita-virtual-influencer-olmeca-tequila/

Amazon Ads

https://www.vox.com/recode/2022/11/10/23450349/amazon-advertising-everywhere-prime-sponsored-products

In class, we discussed Amazon as a destination for digital advertising.  Reading this article, I found the size and scope of Amazon's ad unit to be quite astounding, especially the quote that says "Amazon's ad revenue surpassed the money it makes from Prime, Prime Video, and its other audio and e-book subscriptions combined."  

It is interesting how vast a portfolio of advertising placement Amazon has; in addition to ads on the site when shopping on Amazon, there are ads on digital prosperities such as Twitch, advertising in digital video content (including Thursday Night Football), and then on top of that, advertising placement on physical boxes sent out by Amazon.

Amazon is a company known for its leadership principles (https://www.amazon.jobs/content/en/our-workplace/leadership-principles) - and at the top of the list is that they are "customer centric."  The other business units - Prime, Prime video, audio, and e-book subscriptions are just that: customer centric.  These are all areas of the business meant to attract and retain customers.  Advertising, however, is historically not customer friendly, as most people don't like ads.  The article highlights this struggle as it described friction between the ad division and the customer experience division.  

However, given the huge profitability of the Ad Unit, it seems likely that this business will only continue to grow.  It will be interesting to see if "Customer Centric" continues to stay as the top Leadership Principle as this growth continues.  

(Additional link: https://advertising.amazon.com/solutions/industries/automotive-marketing - an interesting link that shows how Amazon positions it to advertisers in different industries, in this case the automotive industry)

Voice assistants’ effects on search

 

I am curious to see how Alexa and Google Home will change search.  Seeing as how Search makes its money on ads these days, will commerce in the future still use search as the interface between buyers and sellers or will voice assistants now take care of those transactions?  If yes, how will they monetize those transactions taking place through voice assistants?  Will advertising still be relevant, or a sustainable model?  Would voice assistants recommend ways/brands/companies to purchase a product?  If so, would those recommendations still be an auction model, with those who bid highest for those ads getting the featured spot? 

As voice assistants become more popular and more accurate, I’m curious what other features they will deliver that may change the ways of how big tech companies currently do business.  I’m also curious about what opportunities beyond BAU they present.  While currently they seem to fall in to the category of predictive analytics (answering a question given to them) in the future I’m sure they will fall into deep learning (presenting the questions and the answers without needing to be asked).  I wonder what that will look like and how consumers will treat or react to that type of service.

Niche Marketing via Influencers: How Real Estate is Adapting

The United States is a society that prides itself on the “brand” of the individual while Americans fall into the need for conformity. Luxury real estate developers are tapping into this ethos with the recent NYT pieces on niche influences that gain access to specific buildings and views in exchange for free advertising. Marketing is moving away from the general trendsetter into niche influence that reflects the “brand” of the individual who is rejecting mass conformity for the individual aesthetic. By tapping into niche influencers, luxury real estate is finally hyper-targeting a specific audience that often is difficult to engage. 

While this may seem like guerrilla marketing, this exclusivity for engagement benefits both the account posting and the product they are promoting. It is a sophisticated exchange of services for view ( in the case of the NYT article) that will no longer be available for the majority of the public once the apartment sells. In combination with the tone at the end of the piece about a South Bronx property fueling gentrification as the exchange of benefits is tried to justify the end by adapting themselves as a local member of the community via the niche influencer introductions.

 Source: 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/24/business/real-estate-tiktok-social-media-influencers.html

Horizon Media Launches an AI Tool That Promises to Optimize Ad Spends

While many marketers have been thinking about how AI could potentially replace writers and designers, the folks at Horizon Media are thinking about how it could potentially replace ad buyers, too. After two and a half years of development, they’ve finally launched Neon, an AI tool that promises to help advertisers optimize their ad spend across major retail media networks like Amazon, WalMart and Albertsons. They’ll use artificial intelligence to predict critical KPIs like ROAS (Return on Ad Spend), analyze the results of competitors (which was previously impossible for advertisers) and leveraging data used in previous marketing mix models. 

As the popular argument goes, I still believe that tools like Neon should remain just that—tools. I don’t think that society will (or should ever) be in a place where AI can replace humans entirely. I believe that tools like Neon can make well-informed recommendations, but a human should always have to be the person who presses the “launch” button when a campaign is ready to go live. For example, if a major retailer is suddenly going through a scandal, an AI bot would miss those cultural cues and run the ad not knowing the PR ramifications associated with doing that. I am a firm believer that AI can enhance processes by improving the efficacy of an advertisers’ marketing dollars, but I would be surprised to see it replace the (human) workforce altogether.

Sources:

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/horizon-medias-night-market-launches-neon-an-ecommerce-predictive-ai-platform-to-plan-and-optimize-media-investments-to-revenue-outcomes-301723235.html

https://www.marketingbrew.com/stories/2023/01/20/horizon-created-an-ai-tool-that-it-says-can-help-optimize-retail-media-spend

Google being sued by the DOJ for monopolizing digital ad tech

 https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-sues-google-monopolizing-digital-advertising-technologies

So this dropped and I wonder if it will have any teeth. Does Google have anything to fear and would we all really be much better off with other options? I guess competition is good for the consumer, but what does a solution really look like? I have more questions than commentary on what looks to be a real threat to Google's dominance. Is it a real threat though? They've beaten the rap before and they certainly have the technology, money, and power to fight the case. I wouldn't want to bet against Google even though I 100% believe that they have a somewhat monopolistic stronghold on the digital advertising business. Time will tell, but this case could change the game in digital advertising. 

AI and the future of creative work

In the past year, we have seen the release of various "creative" AI platforms such as DALL-E and ChatGPT. Although some brands have embraced the platforms and have even released campaigns heavily based on the outputs of AI, others are concerned about how this may affect the role of creatives in the advertising space. I believe that it is important for creatives and agencies as a whole to embrace these platforms and utilize them as tools to better sell their services. When my team is working on a pitch with very abstract creative, we may pull from these platforms to help illustrate the ideas to clients. 

Ultimately, these platforms are not able to do the “actual” work. They may be able to produce a reference image but a client may want to make adjustments/improvements. This will require creatives directors, copywriters, and artists. In order for projects to be completed in a timely and efficient manner, producers and account managers are needed. Although these tools will continue to get better and may start to mimic the duties of one’s job, it is a human that then needs to make the decision on what to do with the output of these platforms.

Source:

 https://adage.com/article/marketing-news-strategy/watch-mint-mobiles-ad-created-chatgpt/2462502

https://adage.com/creativity/work/hardees-campaign-proves-ai-has-its-limitations/2462851

To be Tracked or Forgotten: The Impact of Jan 1 with CPRA

To be Tracked or Forgotten: The Impact of Jan 1 with CPRA

This January saw the first steps in the most current US battle between digital advertisers and US privacy advocates when it comes to cross-site tracking (known as behavioral advertising). This activity occurs when a consumer watches a knitting video on youtube and then is fed a “wobbles” knitting sponsored post on Instagram. This differs from contextual advertising which learns from a consumer's past actions on a single platform. IE when you watch knitting reels and then are fed sponsored posts for yarn releases or knitting patterns on Instagram. 

January 1, 2023 saw the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) implementation. This new privacy act allows consumers to opt out of cross-contextual behavioral advertising.  Privacy experts are applauding this step forward for US data protection as a “catch-up” to EU regulation. However, some critics believe that the consumer requirement to opt-out for each website will create user fatigue similar to EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) IE how an individual just starts accepting most cookies in order to gain access to the website regardless of what information these cookies are gathering. Some US critics believe the policy should be an Opt-In to better facilitate protection for the consumer. However, this critique is opposed by the digital advertisers that utilize this data as the consumer’s data is what is used to pay for the “free and open” internet. 2023 will be an interesting year as digital marketing adapts to these infantile privacy laws as the true impact will not be known for a few more months.

Netflix at the Upfronts

https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/netflix-tv-upfront-advertising-1235488128/

Netflix replacing Paramount at this year’s Upfronts is cementing a paradigm shift in advertising.  Upfront Week has historically been grounded in the traditional linear television ad space.  The New Fronts emerged as a companion to Upfront Week, but for digital advertising platforms.  However, Disney started to blur the lines between linear and digital last year when they removed Hulu from the New Fronts and instead did a company presentation across all platforms.  (https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/disney-pulls-hulu-from-newfronts-plans-company-wide-advertiser-showcase-1234904956/).

It is interesting that Paramount decided to vacate their Upfront Week presentation entirely, thereby leaving an opening for Netflix.  Paramount has a strong portfolio of linear platforms (and television’s current number 1 rated series Yellowstone), as well as their own digital platform in Paramount+ so one would certainly expect to see them at the Upfronts.    

Lines between linear and digital advertising continue to blur and it will be interesting to see the evolution of both Upfronts and New Fronts.  Some thoughts on trends to keep track of include:

1)      Will traditional media companies like Paramount stay away from Upfronts moving forward, or will they return?  These are expensive events to run and Paramount’s exit this year could be tied to the economic downturn

2)      Long term will there be “Upfronts” and “New Fronts” or eventually do these two sets of advertiser events merge into one (in the way that Disney has done for their portfolio of linear and digital)

 

Identifying the right metrics

 

I think that identifying the most important metric to track in digital marketing is a particularly interesting topic.  For example, impressions, interactions, time spent, conversions, etc. all serve different elements of the marketing funnel and can be traced back as a metric depending on the strategy of a particular digital marketing initiative. 

Metrics can even be less finite such as: collecting a new customer, re-engaging a retained customer, or even being able to articulate paying the lowest cost per metric, are other ways to identify success within a digital marketing campaign.

I feel that identifying and agreeing on what these metrics are upfront is a great way to ensure that the framework of a digital strategy is being met.  For example, once the framework of goal, strategy, tactics, and metrics is laid out, one can have a better understanding of (1.) what digital channels to use to serve the goal, and (2.) what metrics should be used to evaluate success of meeting that goal.

I’m also interested to learn more about how multi touch attribution plays into metrics even once such a framework is put together.  With many different touchpoints, often the last touch channel gets the credit for delivering on a metric when in fact it may be a variety of touchpoints that led to that metric delivery.

From Zero to ChatGPT Hero: How to Harness AI in Marketing

 From Zero to ChatGPT Hero: How to Harness AI in Marketing

I recently watched my co-worker use ChatGPT to help her write an investment memo and I was really impressed by its capabilities to provide content quickly with little direction. It feels a little like cheating and a little like harnessing the next greatest technology ever. I am curious as to where the line between plagiarism and useful tool lies with ChatGPT. It's nice to have options when it comes to marketing ideas and ChatGPT might be a great way to unblock a stuck content creator that needs the next blog or social media post. Is this the beginning of the end where the machines take over and learn how to market to humans better than we can to each other? It's not there yet, but it stands to reason that AI and ChatGPT will have a place in the digital marketers toolbox going forward.       

TikTok Is Being Banned on an Increasing Number of College Campuses

The University of Texas at Austin is the latest school to ban TikTok from its WiFi and other wired networks. They’re following the lead of other state schools like The University of Georgia system, Auburn University and many others.I am very intrigued by the impact that this forbiddance could have on brands who heavily rely on the social media app for its advertising spend—specifically brands who target college students. According to one TikTok Research Study, ads created specifically for the app in partnership with a creator result in 83% higher engagement rates than those without. In other words, this policy could have serious ramifications for brands relying on influencer marketing. It isn’t just the audience that’s valuable, either—it’s how the audience is accessing their content. According to neuromarketing and neuroanalytics firm Neuro-Insight, in-feed ads have a 23% higher detail memory than television ads.

While students may find clever workarounds for accessing the app, I imagine that this will still have a significant impact on a brand’s social media KPIs like views, impressions and reach, which could in turn have negative consequences for ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) and CAC (Cost to Acquire Customer). I could also see this having implications for the NCAA’s NIL rule and therefore athletic recruitment. For example, if a top athlete has a choice between a school that allows TikTok versus one that does not, will he/she opt for the school that allows TikTok so that they can earn money by partnering with brands on the popular social media platform? Brands will also suffer because if the athlete’s audience who they are targeting are concentrated in a certain region (e.g. the school the athlete attends), then brand’s might miss out on the huge returns that TikTok promises its advertisers.

Sources: https://www.morningbrew.com/daily/stories/university-of-texas-austinban-tiktok, https://www.tiktok.com/business/en-US/blog/tiktok-drives-greater-audience-engagement

https://www.tiktok.com/business/en/blog/brand-collaborations-tiktok-creators-drive-big-results