Data-Labor-Technology

Beer brewer Carlsberg will stick with its Facebook-focused online advertising rather than abandon the social network that left millions of its users’ information open to exploitation. Walking away, according to Liam Newton, the advertiser’s top marketer, would ignore its need to be more mindful of the moral ambiguities around how data is used in digital marketing.

After meeting to address the scandal, Newton’s team decided that Carlsberg would continue running ads on Facebook — at least for now — though the data breach has reiterated the importance of data management at the brewer. Advertisers can’t rely solely on the online platforms to protect user data, and they must be more careful with how they target those users.

“At the moment, we feel we’re on the best platforms for us in terms of what we’re trying to do,” Newton said. “But we’ll continue to review that.”

Advertisers are split on whether they should pull their ads from Facebook after political data firm Cambridge Analytica was found to have harvested data from 50 million Facebook users without their permission. Some companies, like Mozilla and Sonos, have paused Facebook budgets, while others such as Carlsberg continue to spend on the platform in the U.K., albeit more cautiously.

Pulling ads from Facebook would be a big call for Newton. Carlsberg has a strong following on the social network — unusual for a beer brand — thanks to its former ties to football, and more recently, a reversion back to its Danish roots, which Newton said has brought younger and more diverse followers to the brand’s Facebook page. Those followers — and therefore Facebook — are key to Carlsberg’s bid to convince drinkers it’s a high-quality beer and separate it from other brands traditionally linked to binge-drinking culture.

So far, Carlsberg’s plan appears to be working. According to YouGov’s BrandIndex tracking data, Carlsberg’s Impression score, which measures whether someone has a positive or negative impression of a brand, rose in the U.K. from 7 points last April when it started pushing the beer’s roots on social channels to 9 points on March 25.

Newton attributes part of the shift to the Instagram-first strategy his team devised with creative agency Fold7. Due to the social network’s more visual and crafted experience compared to Facebook, Carlsberg’s marketers thought Instagram, where it has 237,000 followers, would be the better outlet for a creative strategy focused on the aesthetics of Danish culture. Carlsberg’s reach on Facebook — its biggest social network in terms of followers, with 2.8 million — is too big to ignore, said Yelena Gaufman, strategy partner at Fold7, but developing content for Instagram’s higher creative threshold means it’s more likely posts will work across both platforms.

While Carlsberg won’t make any wholesale changes to how it spends money on Facebook, it will publish less reactive posts and more planned ones on Facebook and Instagram, said Gaufman. More of the planned posts will feature a character Carlsberg created, the modern-day Danish philosopher, played by actor Mads Mikkelsen, while influencers will produce less of them. Videos of Mikkelsen’s character, particularly 30-second posts, tend to perform the best of all the content published across its social networks, according to Gaufman.

The popularity of the campaign and the broader creative strategy has piqued the interest of Carlsberg marketers in other markets. As such, Mikkelsen has become a global ambassador for the brewer, and his philosopher character will front the beer’s first global campaign.

As Carlsberg wrestles with its perception in the U.K. and beyond, the brand is also changing the way it buys media. The brewer hired media agency Initiative last August and spent the following months establishing new ways of measuring effectiveness that reflect the constant flow of content Carlsberg produces. The shift has paved the way for changes in Carlsberg’s relationships with its agencies, some of which are based on business performance, while others are more about the development of assets, Newton said.

“Sometimes, you’ll have a [campaign] debrief three months out, which is great retrospectively because it offers some learning about what you might want to do in the future, but the nature of our media isn’t like that anymore,” he said. “We’re not doing two big bursts of ads.”

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The Lumascape is about to get its close-up, but it’s far from ready.

Facebook’s crisis over Russian propaganda ads and misuse of people’s data has made increasingly clear the role of data and tech in people’s lives. That’s about to gain steam, with enforcement of the EU privacy law, the General Data Protection Regulation, starting in May. Already, people have been greeted with pop-up messages in stilted legalese from ad retargeters trying to gain consent from people to track their browsing activity.

Ad tech companies aren’t known to the public the way Facebook is, but Facebook’s troubles have contributed to a growing awareness that people are being tracked, which won’t make it easy for those ad tech companies to gain consent. Stories about Russian ads populating the news feed had been in the headlines for months before anyone heard of Cambridge Analytica, the data firm with ties to Donald Trump that’s at the center of the Facebook scandal. Ad tech is mainstream news now, but the industry has a long way to go in learning how to explain itself to the public. (The platforms, being consumer brands, are generally better at this, but they’re not immune to reproach; Facebook was widely criticized for bungling its response to the Cambridge Analytica situation.)

“Ad tech companies have had a couple historical problems communicating what they are and how they do it because it’s really complex and, if you’re a layman, really boring,” said Matt Rosenberg, who has worked on the ad tech and media sales sides and is now an independent tech consultant. “I challenge you to find 10 people in our industry that can cogently explain what they do to their parents.”

By its nature, ad tech tends to attract people who like working behind the scenes. “The minute ad tech people took over South by Southwest, it became uncool. Party over,” said Todd Sawicki, CEO of Zemanta, a programmatic native ad platform.

Compounding ad tech’s communication problem is that many companies have been blustering their way through for years, trying to convince prospective customers that they’re on the cusp of doing something highly advanced to target consumers, which may never materialize. For many of these companies, there’s little to differentiate them and the competition other than a good sales pitch.

“When you don’t spend time talking to consumers, and you spend a lot of time talking to other people that speak your acronyms, you can develop a way of speaking that’s not the most consumer-friendly,” said Eric Franchi, co-founder of Undertone and longtime fixture of the ad tech world. “If you look at a lot of websites, it’s hard to decipher what it actually does and how it’s different from others.”

That approach won’t go over well when these companies start asking people for consent under the GDPR. Just consider these in-browser messages that some retargeters recently showed users. Criteo asked people to opt into getting “relevant offers from reputable brands,” which to most are the pesky ads that won’t go away for the shoes they bought three weeks ago.

Ad tech and platform companies generally abide by the minimum legal requirements, but those don’t match up with the common-sense view of consumers, who get uncomfortable when data is shared too broadly, said Ari Paparo, CEO of programmatic bidder Beeswax, who earlier called those retargeters’ efforts to gain consent “ridiculous.”

People will be less likely to opt in if they start seeing jargon-filled messages in their browsers all the time, fraud researcher Augustine Fou said. “People won’t understand what it means,” he said. “None of these ad tech companies are known to people.”

Claude Denton, CTO and co-founder of Nanigans, a retargeter, acknowledged that GDPR enforcement is bearing down at a sensitive time, with all the news about data collection and calls for “a lot more communication and clearer communication.” Denton said Nanigans plans to let its advertisers, which consumers are more likely to recognize, take the lead in seeking consent but work with them to make the case that by giving consent, people will not just get ads that are more relevant, but they’ll also help ad-supported publishers.

“It’s tricky,” Denton said. “Ultimately, the benefit is the publishers you like to read stay in business and continue giving you free content. You’re seeing a lot of publishers starting to hide behind subscription paywalls. As an ad tech player, I hope it’s still viable to support a model where most of the internet is supported by advertising.”

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Last week Google said that it wanted to have publishers solicit people’s consent to collect their information on the search company’s behalf — potentially paving the way for how other tech giants that sell ads on publishers’ sites, like Facebook and Amazon, might try to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation without significantly changing their ad tech operations.

Under the European privacy law GDPR, for Google to sell targeted ads to publishers’ European readers, it needs to obtain their permission. Legal experts said it’s legal for Google to obtain that consent secondhand.

Google also said that it would accept the role of joint controller of that data for publishers using its DoubleClick for Publishers ad server and AdX ad exchange; the publishers would also serve as controller. That joint controller role is important because it means Google is taking ownership of the data and can do what it likes with it. If Google had opted for the alternative designation, “processor,” it would only be able to use the data as prescribed by the controller — in this case the publisher.

“It probably reflects the reality that Google is going to be using the data for its own benefit, not merely servicing the publisher. I don’t think there’s any way for them to proceed differently,” said Gary Kibel, partner at law firm Davis & Gilbert.

“If an organization is willing to take on the data controller mantle, you have to raise the question of: Why are they voluntarily taking on those obligations? It must be because there are additional uses that they want to make of that data. It’s not simple processing anymore,” said Scott Lyon, partner at law firm Michelman & Robinson.

Those additional uses are likely Google’s existing ones: Being able to identify people across various sites and target them with ads based on their browsing behavior. By assuming the controller role and getting data collection consent through the publisher, Google is simply being more upfront about what it already does when people visit sites on which it can sell ads. “It’s pretty much the way things work today in the U.S. already,” said Kibel.

Google’s approach to GDPR compliance may serve as a template for others that want to sell targeted ads on publishers’ sites. But its approach is not the only one.

The digital advertising industry organization, IAB Europe, is also ironing out a way for ad tech firms to piggyback publishers in order to get people’s permission to collect their data (Google has said it is working with IAB Europe “to explore proposed consent solutions for publishers”).

An important difference between IAB Europe’s solution and Google’s appears to be that IAB Europe’s spans multiple companies whereas Google’s is specific to Google, said Kibel. That direct relationship could address the concern that IAB Europe’s solution leaves publishers vulnerable because participating ad tech vendors aren’t strictly vetted for compliance.

It’s unlikely that all ad tech companies would be able to similarly roll out their own consent solutions and gain adoption among publishers. But Google is a strong enough player that it can get publishers to comply to stay in Google’s network, said Kibel. Other ad giants such as Facebook and Amazon may follow its example.

In assuming the position of controller alongside the publisher, Google maintains autonomy in how the data is used. But in obtaining that data through the publisher, it is liable if the data is not collected correctly. By rolling out its own consent solution, Google may be better able to ensure compliance and eliminate the risk of publishers collecting data without proper consent.

In a joint controller relationship, the parties need to spell out in their agreement what the scope of their obligations are, and if one is going to obtain the consent on behalf of both, the other one needs to have confidence that the other is getting consent in a way that addresses the obligations, said Alysa Hutnik, partner at law firm Kelley Drye.

“The concern with GDPR is, everybody in the data supply chain could become liable. If the publisher fails to get sufficient consent for Google when [Google’s] tags or pixels are on [the publisher’s] site, the publisher could be potentially liable. Google, of course, could certainly be liable for collecting that data without the proper GDPR compliance process,” said Kibel.

“The way they’re solving the problem is, ‘Okay publisher, I’m going to put the burden on you. Go obtain this consent. But then I need to be able to verify it because, as a joint controller, I’m on the hook too,’” said Lyon.

It remains to be seen how fully Google will be able to ensure compliance. Google has so many publishers in its network that it’s going to be impossible to manually audit them, said Kibel.

One way that Google could get publishers to comply is by helping them serve non-targeted ads to visitors who don’t grant consent while still making money.

“The trick is going to really be the implementation,” said Lyon.

Are you ready for the GDPR? Download Digiday’s guide for research, tips, a GDPR dictionary and more. 

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Millennials are so last season for AT&T. The telecommunications company has moved on to Generation Z, which Beth Shiroishi, vp of global corporate social responsibility strategy, calls the “next buying power generation.”

AT&T is working with entertainment company and creative agency Fullscreen on its “Later Haters” campaign that encourages teens to use positive messages to stand up against online hate. The campaign, which began in 2016 and continues to evolve, illustrates AT&T’s overall Gen Z strategy that revolves around three main points: leading a conversation about cyberbullying, using influencers who are activists and placing its messages on up-and-coming platforms such as Wattpad. The campaign has generated more than 175 million impressions and nearly 8,000 more social followers, according to AT&T.

Teens are embracing activism and cause marketing. With “Later Haters,” AT&T wanted to dominate the conversation about cyberbullying and has learned to stay away from blanket, black-and-white statements, according to Shiroishi.

“Much of the public discourse right now would lead you to believe that we are in this bilateral world where everything is one thing or another, but this generation is so much better able to understand nuances than older generations,” she said. “Gen Z knows there’s some good and bad in everybody.” For that reason, AT&T makes sure to not leave bullies out of the messaging.

Every part of the “Later Haters” campaign has either had a big-name celebrity or a flock of micro-influencers attached to it — all of whom are connected to the cause of eliminating online bullying and have had their own struggles with it.

AT&T’s influencer push started in August 2017, when it partnered with Olympic gymnast Gabby Douglas to encourage sending kind messages online with the hashtag #EveryDayVacay. Then, from August to November, AT&T produced its own show about high school bullying, “Guilty Party,” which appeared on social platforms and AT&T’s streaming service DirecTV Now. The show starred a lineup of influencers, including Tiffany Alvord, Kian Lawley and Teala Dunn, with a combined following of 38 million.

At the same time, AT&T worked with the Dobre Brothers, twins with a combined following of nearly 10 million, for We Day, a touring event that inspires youth to make a difference in their communities, as well as with YouTube stars Rebecca Black, Miles McKenna and Shannon Beveridge for the “Love is Love” cross-country tour put on by Fullscreen Live from October to November.

Twenty-eight micro-influencers also participated in the campaign, sharing AT&T “Later Haters” content across platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and even Twitter, though Shiroishi said Twitter is not the prime destination for Gen Z.

AT&T is venturing onto new platforms to reach Gen Zers outside of Instagram and Snapchat. Wattpad, a site where people can share their own fan fiction, is a promising new destination for AT&T, said Shiroishi.

AT&T ran a contest on Wattpad — which has 65 million users and raised $51 million in funding from investors including Tencent, according to the company — from October to November 2017 as part of the “Later Haters” campaign, asking people to write 500-word essays on the topic: “What would you like to say to your haters?” Shiroishi said the company received more than 900 essays and 14,464,736 impressions over a six-week period.

“For Gen-Z, [Wattpad] really lets them bring their voice to the table,” said Shiroishi. “Plus, it provides a deeper connection than a quick post to Instagram or Facebook.”

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On social media, legacy beauty brands are still playing catch-up in order to compete with their younger competitors’ savvy online strategies. Total brand revamps and the acquisition of these digitally-native upstarts have helped some, like Coty and L’Oréal, inch closer to success in the space, but there’s still work to be done.

New research from the social insights company Preen.Me found that Coty’s Covergirl — which underwent a brand overhaul last year, to much fanfare — still lags behind newer brands ColourPop, NYX Cosmetics, LimeCrime, Morphe and Melt Cosmetics in terms of social conversation.

“Brands like Covergirl, which have successfully benefited from large media spends, are often slower to adapt their strategies to the potential of social advocacy,” said Preen.Me’s co-founder and COO, Haggai Klorman. Conversely, he said, successful “masstige” brands (which sell high-quality products at low prices) like NYX and Morphe have tapped into their social communities, both directly and via influencer collaborations.

Between 2016 and 2018, Covergirl was mentioned the least (among the six brands reviewed) across social platforms (41,000 times) and had the lowest number of unique users creating brand-centric content (15,000) and interacting with its accounts (14.7 million). NYX, on the other hand, saw the largest conversation during that period, having been mentioned 3.5 million times. It also had the most unique users (537,000) creating tagged content. Morphe, however — which trailed only slightly behind in those metrics — garnered the most social interactions (tags, comments and likes) overall, boasting over 1 billion.

Originally founded in 2008 to serve makeup artists and influencers, the brand is “getting the most bang for their buck, in terms of social,” said Klorman.

One could assume that Covergirl — which was founded in 1989 — simply has a different, less socially engaged fanbase, but Preen.Me found that it actually has a high brand affinity with the likes of ColourPop and NYX. It shares roughly 33 and 27 percent of those brands’ overall audiences, respectively.

The key lesson here for legacy brands is to better activate these online conversations from their fan bases, said Klorman: “In the long run, brands that win on social activate a large part of their fans to do the talking for them.” That includes encouraging users to tag their own content or use branded hashtags for a chance to be featured on the brand’s account; hosting giveaways centered around social content creation; and crowdsourcing product and content ideas via their channels.

Not to mention influencer partnerships, which both Morphe and NYX have taken most advantage of in the last two years, according to Preen.Me.

“These modern brands have used platforms like Instagram to grow, developing stronger narratives and getting a first-hand understanding of what their girl wants to consume online,” said Hélène Heath, a senior editor at the visual intelligence platform Dash Hudson. “By emphasizing content that highlights their fans and dropping special collaborations with relevant Instagram superstars, they have been able to outpace traditional companies who rely on more basic activations and not moving as quickly.”

Since its relaunch, Covergirl has begun adopting these strategies and, despite its late start, the brand is making headway. Its social velocity, or the intensity of the conversation surrounding the brand (measured by the concentration of posts and engagements), grew by 270 percent in 2017, compared to 114 percent the year before.

Still, many of its younger competitors continue to build off of their success, which could make it harder for Covergirl to keep up. NYX Cosmetics increased its social velocity by a whopping 857 percent last year, for example, followed by Limecrime, which saw its conversation intensified by 366 percent.

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