Category: Data-Labor-Technology Stories

As part of a promotional strategy for Ed Sheeran’s latest album, Snapchat has introduced its World Lens featuring Ed Sheeran as a Bitmoji, as reported by Billboard.

 

Users can make Sheeran Bitmojis sing his latest song ‘Perfect’ as many times as they want by opening the front facing camera and then selecting any lens from the bottom. 

 

They can then select the lens with the blue divide symbol featured on Sheeran’s latest album to make him sing the song. Sheeran fans took to Instagram to share their enthusiasm for the Bitmojis.

 

 

 

Snapchat has recently released a new feature; its Sponsored Animated Filters, to help brands engage their audience.

 

 

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Amazon, Walmart and Kroger are no longer just mass retailers. They’re becoming media owners, too, offering their brand suppliers point of sale advertising opportunities. An increasing number of companies like Procter & Gamble and GSK are adapting their merchandising and marketing in response.

George Manas, president of Omnicom-owned Resolution Media, manages more than $3.4 billion in ad spending and focuses on integrating search, social, programmatic and commerce into media planning and buying with other Omnicom shops like PHD and Hearts & Science. We talked with Manas about the rise of this so-called retail media, why paid search is king and still rules and why he’s bullish on digital subscription services. Below are excerpts of our conversation, edited for length and clarity.

What’s the most interesting change in retail media you’ve seen this year?
All the major digital players like Facebook, Google, Pinterest, Snapchat and Instagram have developed ad offerings that start to bridge the gap between retail and media, in the form of shoppable ads or swipe-up-to-purchase type of ads, for instance. On the opposite side, the likes of Amazon and Walmart are acting like media owners. Amazon is really making inroads into advertising, renovating its search and programmatic products. So more and more, media is being wired for retail, and at the same time, more and more retail is wired for media. It’s an interesting convergence on both sides.

What is Amazon’s role in the rise of retail media?
Amazon, in particular, is in a privileged position because it has many content and commerce properties, and Amazon has shoppers’ login identity that is the key facet for it to become an advertising platform. Facebook has built an ad empire off of its identity graph with over billions of user logins. Amazon is starting to leverage the same model. Amazon is building its own identify graph through Amazon Prime to truly understand the consumer behavior, be it a shopping experience or a video-viewing experience. Now, with the Whole Foods acquisition, Amazon is able to bring offline consumer behavior into its identity graph.

When brand suppliers use retailers’ point-of-purchase ad opportunities, where does the media budget come from?
Historically, much [ad spend on mass retailers] came from a brand’s shopper team, retail team, cooperative advertising team or whatever team that was responsible for leading the brand’s retail partnerships. We continue to see the growth of ad investments in shopper marketing in general, which includes cooperative advertising. But now, we are starting to see the convergence of a brand’s traditional marketing investment and retail ad investment. Ad dollars are moving across the two with more fluidity. The traditional marketing model is deflated, and the marketplace is forcing brands to have a new kind of conversation that is more inclusive of brand marketing and retail marketing together.

Which ad formats drive the best results?
Paid search remains critical to win in retail media. On Amazon alone, for example, paid search drives the highest return on investment across the board for the vast majority of our clients. Winning in search and content is the foundation of marketing on Amazon and Walmart. Once brands gain the visibility organically, they need to use targeted paid search to win the lowest-hanging fruit, where consumers have the highest purchase intent that is relevant to the brand within those retail platforms.

But search marketing on the likes of Amazon, Walmart and Kroger isn’t just buying keywords.
Totally. In retail, search becomes more complex because clients need a search strategy that blurs the line between traditional keyword search, their back-end inventory strategy, logistics considerations and nuanced price-point considerations. Brands just can’t decouple their search strategy with their product strategy and inventory strategy. Clients now realize that they not only need a Google search strategy, but also an Amazon search strategy and a Walmart search strategy.

What does retail media’s future look like?
The Amazon effect is truly real, and we will continue to see retail media being algorithmically driven. On the flip side, the retail space needs more human touch, which is enabled by augmented reality and artificial intelligence. Those tech advancements open a whole new world of brand marketing, product marketing and creative experience on the retail shelf. Meanwhile, more brands will turn to subscription-based solutions. Dollar Shave Club is a prime example of what is possible in digital subscriptions. Some high-end beauty and grocery companies are also embracing this model.

Who will win in the convergence of retail and media: platforms like Google, Facebook and Snapchat, or mass retailers like Amazon, Walmart and Kroger? 
I’m tempted to look to China for some possible indication, but even there, in such an advanced online retail market, WeChat and Alibaba are neck and neck. I think we are going to be without a clear winner for some time.

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“Greed: No one admits to feeling it, yet it is the purest of emotions. We had to be taught to be selfless.” The Middle East is renowned for its extended sales and shopping festivals, which makes standing out at this time of year a challenge. With help from Impact BBDO in Dubai, department store Centrepoint…
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Publishers have been enthusiastic about voice assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant this year, often undaunted by the fact that these platforms require bespoke content, and the route to monetization is still unclear. After promising levels of its audience returned each week to use its Alexa skill, CNBC’s global ad sales team will start selling audio sponsorship packages to advertisers in the next few months.

The company said its voice audience across Amazon and Google (on which CNBC launched in the U.S. in May) has doubled since January, though the company declined to share absolute numbers. When people interact with skills they are loyal: CNBC said audio audiences are the second most loyal behind those on its iOS and Android app. For the most part, CNBC reaches existing audiences through voice assistant devices, offering them audio content in a more useful way.

CNBC has created content for Alexa-powered devices in the U.S. since November 2016. In December, CNBC International launched an Alexa flash briefing so audiences in Europe and Asia can get region-specific updates on financial news. CNBC International’s digital team of eight people located in its London and Singapore offices are creating this device-specific content. The CNBC International Alexa skill, which audiences can use to ask for stock quotes from outside of the U.S., will launch in January.

Of course, much of this growth is due to more people owning devices, said Deep Bagchee, svp of product and technology at CNBC. Reports from Strategy Analytics found there are 24 million smart speakers globally, while forecasts from consulting firm Activate suggest smart-speaker ownership will peak at 41 million devices in the U.S. in 2019, when people will be able to access voice assistants through many other consumer products besides speakers.

“The platform is new and nascent; we want to monitor and judge how they grow,” said Bagchee. “Right now, it’s about experimentation, getting on the platform, how the features perform, how much people are consuming and what is resonating.”

With its six-person emerging platforms team dedicated to integrating CNBC’s content into new places that works closely with editorial, which produces content for the platforms, CNBC has expanded the content on audio assistant devices to offer four additional flash briefings focused on specific areas: CNBC Markets Now, CNBC Tech Check, Mad Money Cramer Remix and Mad Money Lightning Round. CNBC also creates video content for the Amazon Echo Show, some of which is produced specifically for the device. To gauge success, CNBC measures the growth of the total audience, how often people return each week and how many times CNBC’s skill is unable to answer queries. Bagchee said offering fewer features but ensuring they deliver on the user experience is the key concern.

The problem for all skills on Alexa and other audio assistants is making people aware of them. In October, Activate said more than 25,000 possible skills are available, and 65 percent of U.S. Alexa users have not yet enabled a third-party skill. CNBC has experienced this problem firsthand: As part of its ongoing audience research, when asking people what feature they would find most useful from its skill, people requested stock prices, without realizing that CNBC offers those already.

“The broader issue is around platforms educating users about skills,” Bagchee said. “Platforms need to create more awareness.” One way to address this would be for Google or Amazon to defer to a third-party skill if they don’t know the answer to a query, but how the platforms would choose or charge for this raises questions.

For next year, the goal for CNBC is more audience growth by promoting its voice assistant offering through CNBC’s other channels and creating a sustainable revenue model without compromising the user experience.

“This first year has validated the experience. We had to make sure the audience is there, and the user experience is good,” Bagchee said. “There is demand out there with finance advertisers who want to reach the audience in the tech space. Scale will be important [for advertisers], but the platform is so new there is still value in brands being associated with investing first, by crafting the right ad and user experience. We don’t want it to be audio billboard full of ads.”

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We didn’t have time to post every agency holiday card we got this year, but we did manage to feature 73 of them. Below, check out seven favorites–all inspired takes on a year-end tradition. Anomaly – “Dear Satan” This agency goes all in at Christmas. Last year they made an amazing eight-minute film, narrated by…
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The Publicis Groupe agency will donate the money saved by closing its six offices and shutting down its social-media channels for one week to Light Up Puerto Rico to help restore power across the
island.

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2017 might be remembered as the year that publishers got more serious about things like commerce, events and other lines of non-advertising revenue. But everybody who took their first step into those waters will have a long way to go to catch up to PopSugar, which has had commerce at the heart of its operation almost since its founding 11 years ago.

The company’s co-founder and president, Lisa Sugar, hopped on the phone with Digiday to discuss the evolution of content and commerce, how branded content will change in 2018 and what it means that Amazon is now more engaged in media and marketing. The conversation has been condensed for brevity.

Give me two things we’ll see more of in media in 2018.
Experiential and offline media extensions are going to continue to explode. I would also say licensing and brand extensions, going back to the days of Martha Stewart.

Give me two things we’ll see less of in 2018.
Less display. That’ll continue to go away. Also, there will be less companies. I think some of these places will not make it another year.

The easiest way for a lifestyle publisher to diversify its revenues in 2018 will be ______.
Partnerships. We’re seeing more collaborations among publishers, so they can double up. I’ve been seeing that more and more.

What’s the biggest challenge that lifestyle publishers will face in 2018?
Continued differentiation.

Lot of publishers took steps toward diversifying revenue away from advertising. You’ve been doing this for a while. What does it say that people are moving in this direction, and what do you think about the prospect of more competition?
I think it’s fine that more people are playing. It’s going to be about staying ahead. One of the things we’re going to be doing next year is launching a beauty line through Ulta. It takes the brand from a marketing perspective into 300 stores in our top DMAs. It’s one thing to send off clicks and get affiliate links. Anyone can do that now. Anyone can start their own page and do that. It’s how you continue to stay ahead of everybody else.

Do the publishers that are just moving in have what it takes to do that?
I think what’s important to our brand is that they really trust us. Just having the right angle of knowing what we’re asking them to spend money on is something we’d take very seriously. A lot of other places might just be rushing after the trend or the hot topic, not caring what they’re putting out there.

What’s your big takeaway from branded content this year that will inform what you do next year?
I love that we’re working with brands that are really becoming more partners. It’s less transactional. For good or bad, we really get to understand each other, sharing data and building a better product. That to me is very exciting. Getting to that point takes a while. There’s always learnings when you grow departments really quickly and scaling. But when it works, it really works.

Both marketers and publishers say they want to do more with fewer partners next year. What gets you on an advertiser’s short list?
People are going to look at scale and reach. They’re going to look at engagements. Just to get that RFP in the first place, you need to hit some numbers to show that we check that box for the client. I feel for our sales and creative teams. All day long, they have to come up with the biggest and best idea that’s never been brought to them before. It’s not an easy job. I don’t envy what those guys do, but we do have fun really diving into what needs to get done.

Facebook and Google are being more proactive and offering more assistance in creating content for their platforms. Is 2018 going to be the year when you have to think of them as competitors?
Yes. They’ll definitely be competitors. But they’re still very much a marketer and a partner of ours. We’re selling shows to Facebook Watch. From a marketing perspective and a content perspective, we’ve been able to grow so much because of social.

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If your company is complying with the upcoming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), what about the ePrivacy Regulation?

While GDPR is finalized and scheduled for implementation on May 25, the accompanying ePrivacy Regulation is still in the approval process, and its language could change.

An “optimistic” forecast, Future of Privacy Forum Policy Counsel Gabriela Zanfir-Fortuna told me, is that the ePrivacy Regulation will be finally approved by the end of 2018, although the im
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Is it time to stop thinking of the Web as mobile versus desktop? It’s a sentiment I’ve heard a lot this year, and it speaks to the maturity of mobile, and our evolving conception of media
consumption. However, without such distinctions, I couldn’t clearly communicate some interesting developments. For instance, for the first time ever, we know now that video on mobile overtook
video on display.

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Snapchat’s years of neglecting influencers have caught up to the company. At one time, those influencers offered an opportunity for Snapchat to grow its audience and even steal some attention from other platforms like Instagram. But Snapchat failed to capitalize on the opportunity and has seen Instagram seize it. Now, Snapchat has decided to try to win back the influencers it has lost to Instagram over the past year. Neither its success or its failure is certain.

“What Snapchat needs
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