Category: Data-Labor-Technology Stories

Amazon’s U.K. ad revenue is small compared to Google’s and Facebook’s. Industry experts estimated Amazon’s U.K. ad business to be in the low hundreds of millions of pounds versus Google’s £4.4 billion ($6.2 billion) U.K. ad revenue in 2017. But Amazon has big plans to grow its ad business in the U.K. this year.

Here’s a breakdown of its setup, based on conversations with advertisers, agencies and publishers familiar with its U.K. ad business, several of which spoke on condition of anonymity. Amazon declined to comment for this story.

Meet the team
Amazon has steadily grown its U.K. agency team over the last few years, with many of its hires ex-Microsoft staffers who came with strong relationships with U.K. agencies. Amazon doesn’t disclose its head counts, but agency sources have said Amazon has a team dedicated to servicing independent agencies, while agency groups have separate, dedicated Amazon representatives. “They’re really investing,” said one agency executive.

Amazon’s hiring spree doesn’t seem to be waning either, as the e-tailer tries to appeal to new clients that don’t already sell products on its site. The company lists 28 open advertising-based roles, spanning Amazon Media Group, Amazon Marketing Services and Amazon Advertising Platform, according to LinkedIn. The platform is advertising for roles ranging from senior agency development manager to more specialist job titles like head of partnerships for affiliates and partner marketing, as Amazon tries to shed light on a part of its business it has been reluctant to push too far to date.

After outgrowing its existing London offices in Holborn and Barbican, Amazon has begun to move into a new building in Shoreditch last summer. The new offices are believed to have capacity for 5,000 people, a large number of whom will be in media and advertising.

Amazon’s ad business has arrived in the U.K.
Amazon has been notoriously secretive about its ad business across Europe in general. Amazon’s reticence may in part stem from its decision to get as many existing sellers to advertise first before pursuing new clients. Any new advertisers would need the staff and resources to bring them up to speed with the intricacies of the platform, particularly given Amazon’s insistence that they both sell and advertise to get the most out of its platform.

Amazon has been quiet about its advertising services, but it doesn’t really need to actively promote itself, said Aydin Moghaddam, head of paid search at digital agency Roast. “Brands are becoming aware that more people start product searches on Amazon than on Google,” he said. “This is pertinent because product searches ultimately have the most commercial value for brands.”

One big difference between Amazon and the duopoly is that Amazon sells its three search ad formats — sponsored products, headline search ads and product display ads — by promoting the halo effect of organic sales on Amazon, according to agency executives. If an advertiser can drive more people to product pages on Amazon, the brand gets more exposure, reviews and visibility on the site.

The ad platform itself is basic in functionality compared to what the duopoly offers, which makes it hard to measure Amazon’s supposed halo effect, executives said.

The pitch to advertisers 
Amazon’s proposition in the U.K. consists of Amazon Marketing Services, its auction that’s akin to Google’s paid search, and Amazon Media Group. Amazon Media Group is the in-house team that sells Amazon’s ad products, working with brands and agencies on campaigns across display, video, custom ad units and voice across Amazon.com, IMDb, Digital Photography Review and Kindle. The AMG team is already known to have struck a close relationship with Diageo and its agency Carat in London, as evidenced by the former’s early attempts to monetize voice search via Echo devices and test shoppable videos on the Amazon Prime streaming service.

Barriers to growth
For some agencies, Amazon is their first choice for performance ad budgets, particularly for retail clients. But there is a limit to how much they’ll spend on the platform because there’s not enough competition in the auction from other advertisers. There comes a point when pouring more money in doesn’t have any effect on how many people click on the ad, and that’s when agencies cap their spending and switch to another platform.

“Every brand I know wants to spend on Amazon,” said Alistair Dent, chief media officer at independent agency iCrossing, “but it’s where the U.K. [Amazon] ad business lags behind the U.S., where there are a lot more businesses competing and far more consumers with disposable income purchasing on the platform.”

For Amazon to tap larger ad budgets in the U.K., it’ll have to offer more branding opportunities for advertisers and address its reputation as an enabler of counterfeiters selling dodgy products — an issue that’s kept a lot of luxury brands off the platform, agency executives said.

To grow its ad business in the U.K., Amazon also will have to become more than just a performance marketing channel. As of now, advertisers are limited to providing lists of products for banners rather than eye-catching branding banners. Advertisers might spend more on Amazon if they could target customers based on what they’ve bought in the past, rather than what they’re browsing at the moment.

“As a brand owner doing a branding campaign, I’d want to target people who have a history of liking shoes — not necessarily for an immediate sale,” said Dent.

Amazon’s publisher services ambitions
Compared to its advertiser charm offensive, Amazon’s push into publisher services — its header and server-side bidding products — seems even more threadbare. Some industry experts believe these services were more of a byproduct of Amazon’s sprawling growth than an intentional plan, like that of its advertising business. Case in point: Amazon’s server-side bidding wrapper, which has been hailed as yet another attempt to rival Google, was originally designed to serve its own ads at super fast speeds, Dent said. At a time when publishers are looking to reduce page latency, repackaging its existing server-side wrapper to sell to publishers seems like a no-brainer.

Adding publisher products in a piecemeal fashion has kept Amazon from getting its U.K. publisher offering off to a fighting start, though, some industry sources believe. It launched header-bidding products several years ago, then in Europe rolled out its cloud-based, server-side header-bidding product via its Transparent Ad Marketplace. “It’s a lot harder for them to convince publishers to migrate everything for that reason,” said an agency executive.

Timing can be everything
U.K. publisher attitudes toward Amazon vary. Some, having been burned by the duopoly for years, are suspicious of getting too cozy with another U.S. tech giant, so they refuse to use Amazon’s wrapper, suspecting it won’t be agnostic with demand, given Amazon both buys and sells media.

Amazon has an edge over other ad exchanges because of its trove of first-party customer data, including shopping intent data. That makes it a compelling demand source for publishers and is why many are curious about testing TAM. So far, the platform has pledged a level of transparency on auction data that Google hasn’t, according to sources.

“Amazon [along with Google] are also not offering full log-level data, but at least make one hour’s worth available to publishers. This insight gives us peace of mind that the product is working correctly and in the interest of the publisher,” said a media executive, who requested anonymity.

Amazon may trail other platform giants in building an ad business, but its timing is auspicious. Facebook’s relationship with publishers is more fraught than ever. Publisher enthusiasm for Facebook’s Instant Articles has cooled, and Facebook’s ever-changing algorithm has led publishers to prioritize other distribution channels.

“With the death of Instant Articles and the fact Facebook has messed up with publishers, there’s a big opportunity for Amazon [with publishers],” said a different media executive, who also requested anonymity. “People are starting to believe that Amazon will work more transparently with publishers and agencies from now on.”

The post Inside Amazon’s UK media and advertising growth ambitions appeared first on Digiday.

Citizens Bank of Edmond is trying to get closer to small business customers by providing space, guidance and almost anything else they might need — besides, of course, a loan.

The one-branch community bank in Edmond, Oklahoma once had another branch, 12,000 square feet located one block away from the main space, with a drive-thru window and some executive offices. But recently the bank decided to consolidate it into a single location and has now turned it into a “business social” co-working environment, called Vault 405, for its small business customers that includes wireless charging stations, conference rooms and a podcast studio.

It’s similar to the way Barclays’ Rise accelerator provides a co-working space for its startups, but Citizens also sees it differently.

“The difference is as that as a community banker I’m also a small business owner,” said CEO Jill Castilla. “So when I’m talking and collaborating with them in this incubator type of space we’re not just talking about what’s good for them, we’re talking about challenges we have in our small business and how we address them… The office space will be just as beneficial to the bank beyond loans and depots, it’ll make us a better small business.”

Read the full story on tearsheet.co

The post What a scrappy Oklahoma bank can teach the industry about branch strategy appeared first on Digiday.

Fashion week’s existential crisis continues to splinter the industry, sending designers to new cities, pushing them to off-season schedules, changing the way they do business with retailers and taking them off the runway altogether. As New York Fashion Week kicks off for the Fall 2018 season, the event feels as scattered as ever.

You could blame the customer for turning the fashion calendar on its head, but the changing tide has opened an opportunity for designers to forge their own path. Rather than fitting into a slot on a crowded fashion week schedule, they can make decisions based on what seems best for business. Because after all, it’s true: What matters today are the customers, and how they decide to spend their dollars.

“For us, we’re just a scheduler,” said Mark Beckham, business director of fashion weeks for the CFDA. “We want to present designers with the resources to do what’s best for their businesses, but there’s always going to be designers showing here. It’s OK if there’s fluidity — we’re supportive.”

For some, the new world order (or lack thereof), has worked out in their favor. An international see-now-buy-now strategy looks good on Tommy Hilfiger, which reported runway collection sellouts for every celebrity-studded in-season show. Coach’s revitalized return to the runway, while traditional in format, has lifted sales of its Coach 1941 handbag collection as well as its ready to wear. Others haven’t fared so well: Thakoon’s business has been put on indefinite hold since the New York-based designer tried out a direct-to-consumer, in-season model that failed to pan out in 2016.

But for the most part, luxury brands are stuck in a wait-and-see limbo that proves just how hard it is to turn around a sinking ship: Ralph Lauren, Burberry, Michael Kors, Marc Jacobs, Diane von Furstenberg and more are all in the progress of revitalizing business, and it’s a slow process.

“You can sort some of this progress into overarching buckets: the promising, the failing,” said Elizabeth Stafford, managing director of strategy at the brand engagement firm Sullivan. “But for the most part, we’re in an era of testing something new.”

As New York Fashion Week begins today (with two days of men’s shows, the result of another failed experiment), here’s the current state of the fashion calendar. It sheds light on an industry in flux, with shifting schedules, new strategies and a renewed approach on Instagram.

Leave it to the ‘gram
Who: Kanye West, Rodarte, Rebecca Minkoff
What: Skip the runway, the press appointments and the presentation-parties, and debut a new season’s collection directly to the masses through an Instagram feed.

It’s been a long time since an “Instagram fashion show” felt novel, but new takes on the approach have made a fair case that this is the runway show of the future. While Kanye West announced Yeezy Season 6 wouldn’t be showing during fashion week, there was no warning before he flooded Instagram with a barrage of images of models wearing the new collection. Each photo was a recreation of prior Kim Kardashian paparazzi photos, which included a perfectly meme-able Paris Hilton cameo. The whole thing was potentially illegal, since no models posting their photos disclosed that they were in a Yeezy ad, but the internet buzz bolstered the event as much as any runway show would have.

So much fun being a #KimClone in the new #YeezySeason6 campaign.

A post shared by Paris Hilton (@parishilton) on Jan 30, 2018 at 11:02pm PST

Brands didn’t need the celebrity of Kanye West to pull it off, either; they just needed a celebrity cast. Rodarte, which has previously moved its runway show from New York to Paris, also skipped the runway this year, opting instead to release a “digital lookbook” for the fall 2018 season directly on Instagram featuring Kirsten Dunst, Grimes and Kim Gordon as models. Rebecca Minkoff got ahead of fashion week with a new collection dropping in time with the Women’s March, premiering on Instagram with influencer buzz.

“There are several perks to the social media launch. The long-term strategy is really a budget consideration for designers, and this is a cheap way to show a collection. You’re going straight to the customer, and the press will ultimately follow,” said Laurie De Jong, a fashion week producer who operates LDJ Productions.

The shifting target
Who: Alexander Wang, Diane von Furstenberg, Kate Spade, Mara Hoffman, Audra Noyes, Marchesa, Altuzarra, Victoria Beckham, Tome, Philipp Plein, Tommy Hilfiger, Rebecca Taylor, etc.
What: Debut a new collection during a presentation, a party or a private appointment, in Paris or elsewhere internationally, or during a different season altogether

The fashion calendar has become impossible to keep up with because it’s impossible to pin down. Left to their own devices, designers are deciding new ways to launch collections, and sometimes that approach changes with every new season.

“It’s the Wild West,” said Aliza Licht, head of communications and marketing at Alice + Olivia. “I almost wish there was some topline order, because right now, it feels like a circus.”

There are several reasons designers’ strategies are scattered. For those showing during a private appointment, à la DVF (which recently saw its creative director depart) and Audra Noyes, it saves money and reverts the fashion show away from the public eye, diminishing the clash between showing and sale. Presentations, like Kate Spade’s fashion parties, on the other hand, capitalize on the free agency of the form, creating more Instagrammable moments. They can also scale down the spectacle: Victoria Beckham moved her runway show to a series of mini-presentations on the Upper East Side. For brands like Proenza Schouler and Altuzarra, going to an international city opens up the scope of the audience to attract new buyers and customers.

There’s one approach that could have staying power: shifting to the preseason schedule, in June and December. For now, it gives designers a less crowded space in which to present. But it also allows for more flexibility in the production schedule to experiment with more capsule collections throughout the year, fulfilling customers’ appetite for constant newness. That was the reason for Alexander Wang to make the switch, and Steven Kolb, the president of the CFDA, expects more will follow.

“There will be a transition period, a period of chaos,” Kolb said during a recent NYFW panel. “A core group of designers will root themselves in June and December, and if that business model holds true and proves successful, everyone will migrate and go there.”

The state of immediacy
Who: Tommy Hilfiger, Burberry, Ralph Lauren, Kanye West, Michael Kors
What: Designers continue to grapple with bringing the collections they’re showing on the runway in alignment with the season that runway showing is in.

After being seen as an industry savior, see-now-buy-now has become a feat that only the biggest brands with the deepest pockets have been able to pull off at scale. Save for a few small designers with nimble production processes, it hasn’t dramatically influenced the way designers show collections.

But it has had a rippling effect on what a fashion show’s purpose is. Since designers are expected to release more than two new collections each year, it makes sense that they shouldn’t just rely on two big runway shows each year, either. So they’re moving shows out of season, focusing on releasing more collections and dotting the year with special “projects” that yield more product.

“It’s less of a shift to immediacy than it is newness,” said Stafford. “Customers can figure out how to plan their closets — when to buy a coat, and so on. But what they’re used to is newness.”

The post Ahead of NYFW, deciphering this season’s fashion calendar appeared first on Digiday.

During the Super Bowl match-up of the Philadelphia Eagles versus the New England Patriots, brands looked for the next big hit. Would Chris Pratt’s flexing for Michelob Ultra work? Or would Mountain Dew’s lip-sync battle be the big hit? Ultimately, it’s clear that Tide’s attempt to hijack the Super Bowl won the day. Below, we…

The Super Bowl is over but Amazon’s ads definitely aren’t. Amazon, which released its Super Bowl ad on Jan. 31, followed up after the game with another short clip featuring Leslie Jones and JB Smoove. In the spot produced by Lucky Generals and D1, Amazon’s own creative team, the same student who asked Cardi B…

While the Philadelphia Eagles and New England Patriots battled on the Super Bowl on the field, plenty of brands, per usual, were playing it out online. According to a Saleforce analysis of social media activity, Avocados from Mexico, Pepsi and Doritos were the top three brands mentioned across both sponsored and organic content for the…

The Philadelphia Eagles triumphed the New England Patriots at this year’s Super Bowl. Off the field, humor and nostalgia triumphed as brands oped for lighthearted messages in a departure from last year’s politically tinged ads. Not everyone nailed it, though. Here are the brand winners and losers of Super Bowl LII.

Brand winners: 

Brand Janet Jackson
An early winner in this year’s Super Bowl wasn’t even there. Justin Timberlake performed in the halftime show for the first time since the infamous wardrobe malfunction with Janet Jackson 14 years ago. People protested Jackson getting the brunt of the bad press for the nip slip using the hashtag #JanetJacksonAppreciationDay while panning Timberlake’s own wardrobe.

By the beginning of the second half, #JanetJacksonAppreciationDay had been used more than 77,000 times, with 91 percent of comments carrying a positive sentiment, according to Brandwatch.

Spotify jumped on the moment:

She influenced a generation. Celebrate #JanetJacksonAppreciationDay with us. This is: Janet Jackson. https://t.co/T1iNhbzb62

: Solaiman Fazel pic.twitter.com/uVLWv82ArQ

— Spotify (@Spotify) February 5, 2018

HQ
Two million people tuned into HQ, the real-time trivia app, at halftime after HQ announced it would give away $20,000, the most it’s given away at one time. That means that 2 million people tuned out (or at least had part of their attention aimed at their phones) when Justin Timberlake took the stage for the Pepsi Halftime Show. “No nip slips tonight, just high quality trivia,” HQ trivia host Scott Rogowsky said as he introduced the game. Seven minutes in, the audience size dropped to 1 million viewers as Timberlake ended his performance and the Super Bowl went into another commercial break. By the end of the HQ game, the app was still commanding the attention of more than 250,000 viewers.

Tide
The laundry soap took control of the Super Bowl on the TV and second screen with commercials in every quarter that referenced past popular Super Bowl ads and featured David Harbour, known for playing Jim Hopper in Netflix’s “Stranger Things.” In the spots, Harbour asks viewers to question every ad they see in the Super Bowl because every ad that has clean clothes must be a Tide ad.

During the game, there were 52,254 tweets around Tide, with tweets being 32 percent positive, 49 percent neutral and 19 percent negative.

Brand losers:

Dodge Ram
Dodge Ram’s ad showed workers and shots of Ram cars set against a Martin Luther King Jr. speech from 1968, sparking criticism by social media users for its use of an iconic civil rights speech to sell cars.

Wow so we using #MLK to sell Ram trucks???? Hell naw….#SuperBowl

— MissesE (@choclatecandi30) February 5, 2018

Non-feminist ads
In a year where the #MeToo movement took hold of the nation, brands missed out on taking advantage of an important cultural moment and a chance to appeal to women (who also happen to have 80 percent of purchasing power).

The 3% Conference analyzed all the Super Bowl ads and polled Twitter to see which ads had at least one woman who was defying stereotypes and acting as the hero of the ad. Many failed its test, according to 3%, including Kia, Budweiser, Intuit, Pepsi, Toyota, Yellow Tail Wine, Persil, TurboTax, SquareSpace, Febreze, Michelob Ultra, Pringles, Diet Coke, QuickenLoans, Doritos, Tide, Dodge, M&Ms and Sprint.

Kia, for one, got called out for stereotyping women as groupies in its Super Bowl spot:

having fun playing spot the female stereotype in these superbowl ads @kia went with the classic groupies #3percentsb #NotBuyingIt pic.twitter.com/RpATWHxCfy

— Maranda Ryser (@marandaryser) February 5, 2018

Brands trying to copy Oreo’s blackout glory
A short blackout during a commercial break in the second quarter had many recalling Oreo’s real-time “dunk in the dark” marketing coup in 2013. Some brands tried to relive the moment this time, but didn’t quite make the same impact.

Why you gotta keep us in the dark like that @NBC? #blackout #superbowl pic.twitter.com/38qaRuDoPY

— Doritos (@Doritos) February 5, 2018

Clean clothes are still clean in the dark. If it’s clean, it’s a #TideAd #SB52 #SBLII #blackout

— Tide (@tide) February 5, 2018

The post Brand winners and losers of Super Bowl LII appeared first on Digiday.

It’s around 4:30 p.m. on a Wednesday in January, and David Harbour is sipping La Croix through a straw. He’s just finished playing a round of tennis with a few senior citizens at a country club on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Harbour, the 42-year-old actor best-known for playing Jim Hopper on Netflix’s Stranger Things,…

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles chose a blanket-the-airwaves approach to its marketing efforts during Super Bowl LII, running a series that started with a pregame ad for Dodge and included a whopping five in-game spots. Three of those ads promoted the Jeep brand. FCA called on three different agencies to handle the work, and each chose a…

Kraft dropped its first Super Bowl commercial in the third quarter of tonight’s game. It featured real people’s family photos. The 30-second spot, put together in real time, depicted everything you would expect–cute kids, dorky dads, pets, etc. Kraft began collecting photo and video submissions via Twitter and Instagram at 6 a.m. EST this morning,…