What makes your brand worth listening to? It’s all about the story your brand is telling–and how. In this episode of Let’s Talk About Brand, we sit down with Scott Newman of branding agency work x work and the audio storytelling festival On Air Fest to discuss the importance of telling your brand story through…
This 85% 3-D Printed Rocket Uses the Biggest Metal 3-D Printers Ever | WSJ
Inflation Proves Stubborn in January
The annual pace falls again, but service prices aren’t easing up.
AMC Networks Reorganizes Commercial Revenue Group Ahead of Upfront
AMC Networks is switching things up ahead of the upfront. Top line Today, the company announced a strategic reorganization of its commercial revenue group, giving additional responsibilities to key leaders and creating new teams focused on sales and pricing/planning. The leaders taking on expanded roles in the reorganization will be heavily involved in driving upfront…
The publisher’s guide to audience engagement
Evolving content recommendation technologies are transforming reader experiences on publisher sites. For publishers, their evolution comes at a time when personalized recommendations are essential to engaging and maintaining ever-growing audiences.
Data-driven content recommendations have become effective tools for addressing consumer preferences, helping publishers reach their audiences at every stage of the customer journey and more effectively. To help publishers uncover tactics and insights for engaging audiences via content recommendations, this new report highlights how brands are employing personalization to drive quantifiable reader, viewer and listener engagement.
Download this new guide from Piano to learn:
- How to address audience engagement challenges with content recommendations
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Sponsored by: Piano
The New Republic Names Michael Caruso as New CEO and Publisher
The privately held publisher The New Republic, a 109-year-old title that offers leftist political analysis and reporting, has hired Michael Caruso as its chief executive officer and publisher. Caruso begins the role Tuesday. The appointment fills a chief executive position left vacant since 2016, when owner Win McCormack purchased the title from Facebook cofounder Chris…
Barkley, MiQ & iProspect, PinkNews, Chewy and NBC News Custom Productions are among this year’s Digiday Video and TV Awards shortlist nominees
The interest in short-form video content across social media platforms has grown exponentially, with most companies now maximizing engagement through multi-channel means.
This year’s Digiday Video and TV Awards finalists focused on diversity and representation, with efforts to accurately and respectfully depict diverse communities in media. They also showed heavy investment in ad tech innovations, the top-performing category by a landslide.
Another key throughline is how interactive content allows viewers to shape stories and experiences through their choices — paving the way for new shoppable content innovations.
The first on the shortlist is Barkley, in five categories (the most of any entrant). One of those categories is Best Brand Film – Series for the ‘Pets Stay Free’ campaign with Motel 6. This campaign highlighted that Motel 6 is a welcoming place for all family members, including the furry ones. Barkley and Motel 6 did this through a “choose-your-own-ADventure” on Hulu that targeted pet owners with the question, “are you a cat or a dog person?” The ‘Pets Stay Free’ campaign was a success, receiving over one billion earned impressions, widespread national outreach and earned media. All of this led to an increase in year-over-year sales for Motel 6.
This year’s most-entered category was Best Ad Tech Innovation, in which one finalist’s project is striving to make a difference in the DEI space. MiQ and iProspect worked together on Hilton’s audience awareness campaign, which sought to reach current hotel stayers and LGBTQ+ and Black travelers by leaning into their motivations for travel. Through this ‘It Matters Where You Stay’ campaign, Hilton, MiQ and iProspect demonstrated how impactful care and comfort are on hotel stays. Users exposed to MiQ’s media ended up booking 37 days in advance — 19% higher than organic traffic to the site.
PinkNews is a finalist for both Snapchat-oriented categories, with the most popular one being Best Snapchat Show. PinkNews saw a gap in the available content on Snap and aimed to fill that with its show, ‘Closet Critic.’ This fast-paced, snappy program details the fashion evolution of some of Gen Z’s favorite celebrities and their impact on the world, from Zendaya and Kim Kardashian to Jojo Siwa. The series combined PinkNews’ audiences’ love of fashion, celebrity and news content to create a premium viewing experience with viable sponsorship opportunities. Since its launch in December 2021, PinkNews has published 70 episodes, amassed 500,000 subscribers and reached 50 million unique users.
For Best Multi-Platform Video Campaign, Chewy is a standout finalist with its ‘Chatty Pets’ campaign, capturing the world exclusively through the eyes, actions and humorous inner monologues of real animals. This campaign gave a voice to the universal excitement pets feel as they anticipate a Chewy delivery. The inspiration behind ‘Chatty Pets’ was from pet parents believing each pet has a distinct personality and people’s love for personifying their pets. The campaign resonated strongly with pet parents, generating the most organic video views of any video on Chewy’s YouTube channel at about 700,000 organic views.
The highest-performing new category this year is Best Shoppable Content Strategy. The finalist highlighted is NBC News Custom Productions for its ‘Peacock Holiday Steals and Deals’ with Jill Martin franchise. This longstanding segment leveraged viewers that routinely tune in while introducing them to shoppable content across streaming and social platforms. This program incorporated new technologies and brought in elevated production components, including an indoor drone camera, and drove the highest viewership days for TODAY All Day in 2021. Peacock also promoted the special on its interface by listing the channel in the number one spot and including hero images on its homepage. The special secured Peacock Premium subscriptions and increased revenue by more than 30% year-over-year.
Stay tuned to find out who the judges will select as this year’s winners. In the meantime, check out the complete list of finalists below.
Best Ad
Big Day the Agency – HexClad Brand Awareness TV Commercial
Calix
CallTower
CHS & Hyperoptic – Ready to Reach Hyperspeed?
PlayStation & MOCEAN
The Woo
Best Ad Tech Innovation
Ampersand & Hill’s Pet Nutrition
Curastory
Extreme Reach, Diversity in Ad Creative, launch of first-ever, at-scale report
Introducing CTV Ad Enhancements by Sharethrough
Mars, Incorporated and Realeyes – Using Attention AI To Predict Real-World Outcomes
MiQ & iProspect – Hilton’s Audience Awareness Campaign
Best Advertiser in TV or Video
Calix
Quigley & Ball Aluminum Cup
Best Brand Film – Series
Barkley
Calix
NetApp TV – The IT Office
VICE Media Group, DeVito/Verdi, and Laurel Road – I’m Also A Doctor Docuseries
Best Brand Film – Single
AMC Networks Content Room
Barkley
INNOCEAN USA
Roku
The Woo
Best Brand Studio
Roku Brand Studio
Best Connected TV Platform
Beachfront | The Sell-Side Ad Server Built for Convergent TV
Digital Remedy — Flip
Premion
Publica
Best Digital Video Monetization Program
EX.CO’s Publisher-First Video Platform for BoardingArea
STN Video
VDO.AI – Ad Monetization Platform
Best Digital Video Platform
In The Know
NetApp – Launch of NetApp TV
OnlyFans – The OnlyFans Creative Fund: Fashion Edition
Publica
ViewLift
Best Distribution Strategy
Jellysmack
Roku Brand Studio — Roku Rundown: House of the Dragon
Best FAST Channel
Pocket.watch
Tastemade
The Hill TV – Best FAST Channel
The Vevo Pop Channel
Best Live Video Strategy
Cheil USA & Samsung Electronics America – Samsung Live
Firework & The Fresh Market – Launch Thanksgiving Video Commerce Campaign
PPK
The Washington Post
Best Multi-Platform Video Campaign
Chewy
EA and mSix&Partners – Launch of Madden22
HBO Max x ATTN: – Recommended By campaign
Magnite Helps Travel Texas Expand Cross-Platform Audience Reach With Programmatic Addressable
PlayStation & MOCEAN
Roku
Best Original Programming
“New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce,” a JUKES original production presented by Wave Sports + Entertainment
Hulu
In The Know
LADbible Group
NetApp TV – Watts the Future
South China Morning Post
Best Production Strategy
Goldthread
Quigley & Ball Aluminum Cup
TheSoul Publishing
Best Shoppable Content Strategy
AMC Networks Content Room
E! News: “Shop LivE! for the Holiday Season”
Firework & The Fresh Market – Launch Thanksgiving Video Commerce Campaign
Horizon Media & Petco
Peacock Holiday Steals and Deals with Jill Martin – NBC News Custom Productions
Best Snapchat Show
Insider
Insider
LADbible Group
PinkNews
Best Snapchat Shows Producer
E! News The Rundown – Snapchat Producer Beverley Crawford
Jellysmack
LADbible Group
PinkNews
Best Social Video Campaign
Barkley
CHS & The Allianz Group – What would you tell your 8-year-old self?
INNOCEAN USA
Jungle Creations for Heinz – Heinz & Twisted: Sandwich Goals
La Mer – Global Hero Product Launch – Video Campaign
Quigley & Ball Aluminum Cup
Best Streaming Service
Hulu
Local Now
Paramount+
Paramount+
Tubi
Best TV/Streaming Ad Sales Program or Product
AMC Networks Content Room
AMC Networks Content Room
Nexstar Digital
Octillion
Premion
The Trade Desk
Best Use of Instagram Reels
Goldthread
Best Use of Stories
An Even Playing Field Profiling the US Adaptive Open Presented by the USGA & Golf Digest
Barkley
Barkley
Calix
Insider
VICE Media Group, DeVito/Verdi, and Laurel Road – I’m Also A Doctor Docuseries
Best Use of TikTok
amika
Blue Hour Studios & LikeMeat – LikeWings #WingIt2WinIt
Concacaf World Cup TikTok Launch
INNOCEAN USA
OLAPLEX
The Washington Post
Best Use of YouTube
Insider
MiQ & Dentsu
Overtime – Best of YouTube
South China Morning Post
The Social Standard x Adobe
The Task & Purpose YouTube channel
Digital Studio of the Year
TheSoul Publishing
We Are The Mighty
Video Executive of the Year
Erica Berenstein, News and Documentary – Insider
Micah Gelman, The Washington Post
Oliver Warley, PinkNews
Qian Dai, Goldthread
Raghu Kodige, CEO and co-founder, LG Ad Solutions
Rob Schneider, Chief Strategy, Content & Development Officer, Learfield
Why You Shouldn’t Be Swayed by the Popularity of Super Bowl Ads
Your opinion doesn’t matter. Mine doesn’t either. Not really. Because opinions don’t drive business results. In fact, opinions often mislead. They can be like a head fake, as football coaches call it. Those coaches teach defenders to ignore the runner’s head and focus on the hips, because the hips don’t lie–the runner is heading where…
