Month: March 2021

This conversation has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity. 

Why merge Vizeum and iProspect now? 

We saw the businesses of our clients accelerating at a rate of knots last year so we used that time to think about how we could build a new agency. It was a process that moved quicker than planned because our clients were demanding faster, more integrated ways of working. They wanted us to have a better awareness of how the customer journey is changing, which meant we were focusing more on consultation with clients. It all started back in October but we’ve been able to test and make necessary adjustments to the model by testing [it] on both existing and new clients as well as on pitches. 

Is the reorganization over?

The reorganization isn’t done and is an ongoing process. It will react and reshape [to the market] as we move forward. Our intent is to integrate iProspect and Vizeum under a single brand name so we’re working with upwards of 50 markets right now to work out what that looks like when it hits the market, structurally, operationally and from a product angle. Our goal is to have this finished in most markets by the end of March.

It’s still early days but how have clients responded to the new model? 

Some clients were already using models where Vizeum and iProspect work together so the reception from them has been good because they’ve bought into the integrated model already. Other clients saw what the agency is trying to do and were happy. Then there are those clients who have questions about the iProspect name. They’re worried about being moved into an agency like iProspect that’s known for being performance-focused without a choice. We’re focused on making sure that iProspect is seen as an end-to-end agency now. It’s in situations like this where the Dentsu model resonates because clients can create these bespoke teams and so won’t necessarily have to worry about perceptions of an agency name.

Based on those conversations, where are you looking to grow iProspect in 2021?

One of the things we’re noticing from new business conversations, is a bigger focus on planning campaigns around audiences, and not channels. Advertisers are trying to get away from bombarding audiences with ads, which means gaining a better understanding of the context of environments where ads might appear. We’re also looking at connected TV  as well as the changing roles of big platforms that were just performance channels, but are branding ones now too. 

How are the teams staffed? 

We have the luxury of bringing together integrated teams to solve problems in an agile way. We’re creating joint teams in all markets, which will mean colleagues are split between the traditional performance or media departments. Instead, they’re working in integrated teams. It means that we don’t have to rely on the old proposition [to the client] where we say ‘here’s the team’ and ‘here’s the full-time-equivalent [wage]’ that relates to them. 

How does the new iProspect work in practice?

We can be more flexible in that we may need certain skills at the start of a project but then others at a later stage, which the model adapts to. From here, we can access broader capabilities within the wider Dentsu organization, whether that’s media investment, measurement, insight and analytics. While every Dentsu agency has access to this expertise, iProspect has a specific set of tools and data sets that we’re able to link up with those other businesses.

In the run-up to Christmas, we worked on pitches where clients wanted us to be able to bring brand and performance together in a way that worked at a strategic level, not just tactical. Equally, we’re seeing more digital businesses that have grown on the back of performance marketing but are now at a point where growth is slowing and they need an agency to help grow their brand. From a new business angle, we’ve started to see those sorts of sweet spots for us. 

PopSugar Fitness does boast an increase in audience in this category: in January, 7 million people visited PopSugar Fitness’s site, which targets young people in their 20s — or a 50% increase compared to December 2020, according to the company. In the same period, its YouTube videos’ view counts increased by 60%. And consumers spent 130.7 million minutes watching PopSugar Fitness’s videos on YouTube and Facebook collectively in January, according to Tubular Labs.

The vertical was the primary contributor to growth in PopSugar’s overall distributed revenue — aka revenue from third-party platforms — in 2020, according to the company.

Now, the PopSugar vertical is expanding its broader health and wellness content, with plans to launch an online hub to highlight its coverage for Mental Health Awareness Month in May. PopSugar Fitness also will feature more personal stories of those who struggle with mental health in an effort to end the stigma around those issues, according to the company.

And while the exact game plan for the coverage expansion, overall, is still largely to be determined, it will be shepherded by Jennifer Fields, who was hired in January as deputy editor of fitness, a new role at the company. Fields — who was most recently senior director of editorial development at WebMD, and has also served as site director for Good Housekeeping and in other editorial roles at AOL Health, WW and O, The Oprah Magazine — reports to PopSugar executive editor Mandy Harris.

This year, PopSugar Fitness will also work to produce more articles and videos around sleep, stress and anxiety management, self-care, meditation, mindfulness and self-fulfillment. A Group Nine 2020 study found 1 in 3 consumers want more personalized information about improving their physical health, and more personalized advice on how to improve their mental health, according to the company. 

Site visits to mental health content across all of PopSugar (not just its Fitness vertical) doubled throughout 2020 and peaked in January 2021. About 200,000 site visits in January 2021 were to content tagged as mental health, according to internal data cited by PopSugar. As of January 2021, content tagged as mental health made up about 10% of PopSugar’s content, according to the company, per Google Analytics.

“This response shows me we have nothing to lose by doing more of that,” Fields said.

In fact, PopSugar Fitness may stand to gain not only audiences but ad dollars. Advertisers are taking a broader view of health and wellness that goes beyond physical fitness to include “mental health, nutrition, and even relationships,” said Haley Paas, chief strategy officer at media agency Carat U.S. Claire Russell, head of media at Fitzco, echoed this trend, and said that clients of the independent, Atlanta-based agency haven’t increased their spends with fitness publishers in particular recently, but are expanding their definition of fitness.

Under Armour, as an example, renewed a sponsorship deal with PopSugar Fitness for an online workout content hub called PopSugar Workouts that debuted last week. The year-long deal includes a relaunch of PopSugar Fitness’s workout video franchise Class FitSugar with a new identity, fitness trainers and series, and two new 30-day Class FitSugar challenges hosted by fitness influencer Charlee Atkins. PopSugar declined to say how much money Under Armour is spending with the publication but described the deal as “a sizable partnership.”

“Following audience interest, we are still seeing fitness publishers and, more broadly, health and wellness content, maintaining audience attention,” said Paas.

Now that consumers are more comfortable with using them, marketers say they are experimenting with adding more QR codes to packaging and retail displays as well as testing them out in advertising. Ju Rhyu, CEO and co-founder of Hero Cosmetics, saw a 70% increase in day-over-day sales after the skincare brand was featured on The Today Show in late February with a QR code that led to the brand’s Amazon page. (Rhyu declined to share exact sales figures.)

“Now it’s making me think about how we can leverage QR codes more,” said Rhyu, adding that the brand had previously been featured on the morning show but hadn’t seen the same sales lift. “We’re talking about putting it on our packaging or on a display at retail. If we were to do an out-of-home activation, it could be cool to add a QR code so they could buy on the spot if they need. I want to explore QR codes more now that I’ve seen the potential of it from a commerce standpoint.”

Brands like direct-to-consumer furniture brand Koala and CBD pet brand ZenPup, are among the marketers exploring using the QR code more frequently on packaging, in advertising or both now that consumer adoption has increased. For DTC brands, the QR code can give brands a sense of how consumers interact with a brand in a retail space offline and that can be appealing for DTC founders, explained Jim Norton, chief revenue officer of QR code technology company Flowcode. Recently, JLo Beauty worked with Flowcode to add QR codes to its out-of-home campaign in New York City.

“It’s a simple, straightforward, Covid-protocol-friendly mechanism to deliver information, offers, and digital experiences to consumers,” said Koala CMO Peter Sloterdyk, adding that the brand is adding QR codes to give consumers product care information, customer service communications, assembly instructions as well as to track campaign engagement.

Sloterdyk continued: “It could be a menu or a product assembly video or a personalized digital experience; a QR code is a gateway to anything a marketer can dream up. And now that adoption is at an all time high, the barrier to entry (or engagement) has been removed.” 

Now that adoption is more common, marketers say they’re more likely to experiment with the type of content or experience they deliver to consumers via QR codes. “Now that these codes are understood, accepted, and part of the consumers everyday life brands have an opportunity to get creative with how they have to use them and the type of information they will share,” said Jen Weatherhead, CEO and co-Founder of Zenpup. The CBD petcare brand is adding QR codes to all of its packaging as a way for consumers to check the product’s certificate of authentication. 

Aside from using QR codes as a way to cut down on cluttered messaging on packaging, the use of QR codes can also help with attribution woes for marketers. “You can attribute that content to someone in a specific location in a specific moment,” said Brandon Perlman, CEO and founder, Social Studies, an influencer marketing agency. “Say you have an influencer driving people to a restaurant or a hotel, the QR code on location can provide a unique experience to that person in that moment and attribute that someone went there and performed the desired call to action.” 

Agency execs say that they expect the return and rise of the QR code to continue this year as consumers continue to vie for a touchless retail experience. Even as the vaccine rolls out and the ability to get back to some sense of normal seems possible, agency execs expect the adoption of the QR code to continue as it has now been normalized and made easier as smartphones native camera apps now easily scan them. 

“QR codes were ahead of their time,” said Whitney Fishman, managing partner, innovation and consumer technology at Wavemaker. “It’s made for 2021 in that it’s contact-less and seamless. Though it used to only exist on packages, it can now exist on menus, walls and more and can be used on smartphones to allow increased access and connectivity. Now you have the opportunity to transform anything into a storytelling tool via QR code.”

“There was always a focus on the nuts and bolts of how you’re going to improve their business, which is still important, but how do you get that across in a 90-minute video call? You’ve only got so much time to communicate how you can foster that relationship,” said Wolny, executive vp of commerce at the Cleveland-based agency Code3, which has done work for brands like Chipotle and Michael Kors. The agency won 67 pieces of new business last year despite the disruptions around Covid-19, according to Wolny.

Agency execs believe some elements of the process may have changed forever: the amount of time and financial investment they are willing to devote to chasing new business, for example, and, of course, the growing role of technology.

This new normal is not without its downside, however.

“A huge part of the new business process is for the client and agency to get to know each other, to get a feel for each other’s energy and personality — that is not easy over a computer screen,” said Stephanie Farmas, brand strategist at the San Francisco-based agency MUH-TAY-ZIK / HOF-FER, whose clients include Audi and Netflix and whose account wins over the past year include Sonos and Bed, Bath & Beyond. 

Farmas said she and her colleagues have sought to make their personalities shine through by sharing with prospects much more personal bios of the team, and by setting aside time over Zoom for simply chatting and swapping stories in addition to the formal pitch. 

Establishing a sense of connection through a video monitor has meant “being more open, honest and direct,” said Alex Sturtevant, director of brand at Stink Studios, the London-based studio whose clients include Peloton and Beats by Dre. It took on new projects over the past year with the likes of Riot Games and Facebook. 

A virtual pitch is, in some ways, a more transparent look into what it would be like to work together, Sturtevant believes. “The room behind me now is going to be the room behind me on day 1, 30, and 100 of an engagement,” he said. “The biggest hurdle in virtual pitching is not how to create moments of theater but how to telegraph energy. Understanding the importance of human elements — eye contact, gestures, changing physical positions — is crucial to a successful pitch.”

He stressed the importance of rehearsing the pitch, but not to the extreme. Doing so is important to ensure everyone on the team is on the same page — not that they nail a script. “Being overly rehearsed can fall flat in person, and over Zoom it’s a disaster,” he said. “The best pitches naturally turn into conversations. The worst feel like webinars.”

Ruth Bernstein, founder and CEO of New York agency Yard NYC, whose wins over the past year include Kohl’s and UBS Bank, said that in addition to eliminating excessive expense in travel, physical materials and “half-eaten containers of takeout,” the new pitch format has meant fewer demands on one’s personal life — namely, endless nights on the road.

Furthermore, the pitch itself has become more streamlined, with less “pitch theater and excess,” she said. It has also put independent agencies like hers on a level playing field with network agencies. “We can pitch business anywhere in the U.S. and anywhere in the world,” she said. “COVID has been the great equalizer for small agencies and new business.”

Michele Sileo, managing director of San Francisco-based Eleven, whose clients include Samsung and Lyft and which recently brought in Proximo Spirits’ The Kraken Rum, noted that historically the pitch has been seen as a test of sorts for how working together might feel. But that one meeting isn’t always a glimpse of things to come. “In reality, no one really knows how well teams will work together until the paperwork is signed, the sleeves are rolled up, and people jump in as one team,” she said.

A benefit of the changing rhythms and technologies the pandemic has necessitated is that it has created an environment in which the agency “pushes the envelope on our old processes and dives deep into the weeds of the client business more quickly,” Sileo added. That means “presenting less, interrogating more — and listening harder.”

The agency-client relationship is a two-way street, as Sileo sees it. “Adopting this way of working during the pitch process allows both sides to determine if they will be set up for success, and often have tangible results at the end of the experience.”