Data-Labor-Technology

Nissan is making big changes to how it uses social media and data to better reflect women in Saudi Arabia who have recently gained new rights.

Over the last year, Saudi women have gotten the go-ahead to join the military, start businesses without the permission of a male guardian, fight sexual harassment and drive. These societal changes present an opportunity for Nissan in a sputtering economy, according to Hussein Dajani, the company’s gm for digital marketing and customer experience.

“Saudi women are no longer secondary audiences,” he said. “They’re equally important to males, and if not, then they are more important than them.”

Saudi women have undoubtedly made gains, but the headline-grabbing announcements obscure other cultural obstacles they face. To reflect those nuances, the Japanese car brand is making changes to what Dajani called the “tonality” of its posts. For example, Arabic words are either masculine or feminine, and, until now, Nissan has only used masculine words. Moving forward, the “choice of words” Nissan’s marketers post to the likes of Facebook and Instagram will be “extremely important,” said Dajani, whose team is working through reams of product data to identify what cars and language in ads will likely resonate with women. In the past, no one was interested in that data, said Dajani, so he said it’s like they’re “starting from scratch.”

Some of that audience data is from Nissan’s dealerships, while other insights are from audience segments on Facebook and Instagram. Regarding data, Dajani admitted Nissan is still in the “initial phases” of making sense of what it owns in the region. Unlike other data-heavy advertisers, the data that automotive brands like Nissan want is tangled in either their own legacy systems or those of their dealers.

Nissan’s transition began in earnest last September when Saudi Arabia announced it would let women drive. Within two hours of the announcement, Dajani’s team, which had been fine-tuning its real-time marketing processes, pulled together a Twitter post congratulating all Saudi women with a license plate bearing the registration “2018 GRL.” The post kicked off the #SheDrives campaign two weeks later, in which Nissan arranged driving lessons for Saudi women hesitant to learn to drive because of family opposition. Those lessons had unexpected instructors, who were the fathers, husbands and brothers of the women.

In a market where that style of women-focused marketing is new, Dajani opted to put no spend behind the posts. Nevertheless, major news outlets such as the BBC, CNN and Al Jazeera picked up the ads during the final months of 2017.

The post ‘No longer a secondary audience’: Nissan focuses on Saudi women with #SheDrives push appeared first on Digiday.

Snapchat has chosen to take a flexible approach to how Snapchat shows make money. In some cases, that means partners taking the lead in sales; in others, Snapchat does.

Snap’s content and advertising deals with major media companies including NBCUniversal (an investor in Snap), Turner and Viacom give the show producers the first rights to sell sponsorships and ad slots within their programs. The media companies get a favorable cut on ads they sell, typically more than the 50 percent of revenue Snap splits with Discover publishers on ads sold by Snap, sources said. For advertisers that want to sponsor individual shows from these major media companies, it means working with that specific company on a campaign. Prices for individual show sponsorships can still cost several hundred thousands of dollars or more, according to two senior ad executives.

Today, the CPMs on Snapchat video inventory is in the $6 to $10 range, according to ad buyers. If the buy is made through a Snapchat shows partner, the CPMs net out to $15 to $20.

Some of Snap’s content partners are also creating new packages for advertisers that want to buy more than one show. For instance, NBCUniversal, which produces everything from NBC News’ twice-daily “Stay Tuned” to E!’s thrice-weekly “The Rundown,” is already out in the market with a bundle that allows marketers to advertise against all of its Snapchat shows, a source said.

The story is slightly different with digital publishers and studios making shows for Snapchat. For instance, Uproxx, which will soon launch a new series called “Brawler” on Snapchat, said Snap is taking the lead on monetizing the show. Snap brought a Wendy’s series sponsorship for Barstool Sports’ “Fifth Year” last fall, according to Barstool Sports CEO Erika Nardini.

Snap is planning to double the number of shows it offers in 2018 to roughly 80, which will include working with both traditional media companies and digital publishers on the content.

While it can be pricey, sponsoring an entire show and creating specific assets that are contextually relevant to that program will lead to better engagement and ad performance, said Brent Poer, president and executive creative director for brand and content at Zenith.

“We have assets and if we want to be on Snapchat, we can go buy audiences run of site,” said Poer. “But I tend to want to go and cherry-pick and work with specific partners and shows — even if it’s the harder way.”

Increasingly, though, Snap itself is moving away from selling individual series sponsorships, according to the two senior ad executives. One ad exec said in a recent meeting with Snap, the company was nudging him toward a broader Snap Ads video buy across Snapchat, which would include placements within Snapchat shows targeted to the audiences the advertiser wanted to reach.

“Snap hasn’t been pitching specific shows to us, but it’s possible to buy their individual show sponsorships through the media partners,” said the exec. “Snap’s pitching in-stream inventory as a channel similar to the way that Google sells its preferred inventory. They talk about their inventory being consistent, high-quality and evenly reaching their audience.”

However, Snap is also beginning to put new types of shows on the table. The company is looking to stretch into long-form original video, though long is a relative term. As part of its new push into scripted programming, Snap is talking to advertisers about its plans to premiere episodic series and one-off programs that would run roughly six minutes long, said an agency executive familiar with the matter. It’s likely that this content is being produced by the joint venture that Snap formed with NBCUniversal last year to develop original scripted programming; NBCU has been mentioned as being involved in the longer content, according to the agency exec.

One senior ad exec, from an agency that frequently runs campaigns on Snapchat, said he expects the Snap Ads product to go almost entirely programmatic in the near future. More than 90 percent of Snap Ads were bought programmatically in the fourth quarter, and the number of advertisers spending in the auction doubled quarter over quarter, Snap said. This, combined with the recent departure of Snap’s head of sales Jeff Lucas — a longtime TV and media sales exec — only further reinforces the notion that Snap is emphasizing programmatic video buying above all else.

This won’t necessarily rule out the ability for advertisers to sponsor individual media companies and shows on the platform. The agency exec pointed to Twitter’s in-stream video ad product, which allows marketers to pick individual publishers, as a model that Snap is likely to employ as its programmatic business grows.

“Like Twitter, they are facing pressure to be profitable and streamline their sales force and operations teams,” said an ad buyer. “Going programmatic might sacrifice some CPM, but if they have demand, which it feels like they do based on their earnings and the fact that so many clients work with them, they could go fully programmatic. They already have self-service for geofilters.”

Tim Peterson contributed reporting.

The post Snapchat takes a flexible approach to how advertising is sold in its shows appeared first on Digiday.

Maybe chatbots can jazz up regular old display ads.

Emirates airline is using artificial intelligence for a chatbot that lies within display ads for its Emirates Vacations unit. The ads allow people to ask travel and trip questions and receive answers immediately within the ad unit. But the company believes AI can be impactful for another application: breaking down additional friction points when it comes to search. The chatbot will recommend destinations and vacation packages based on the context of users’ questions, the content on the site it appears on and Emirates Vacations’ inventory. For instance, if Emirates Vacations doesn’t have a hotel in Toronto, the chatbot won’t suggest a hotel in Toronto. “Explore the world without leaving the page,” the ads read.

“For us, it’s about looking at the customer journey and removing as many friction points as we can,” said Ailsa Pollard, svp of marketing at Emirates Vacations, which worked with WayBlazer on the execution.

Emirates Vacations began testing the ads in a 30-day campaign starting at the end of December. The ads ran on sites like The New Yorker, Lonely Planet, Time and Smithsonian in major cities across the U.S. At the end of the 30 days, Emirates Vacations saw an 87 percent lift in engagement compared to its traditional click-through ads, according to Pollard. Emirates Vacations tested 550,000 impressions for the new chat ad format and compared those to the same number of impressions for its traditional display format. Emirates Vacations wouldn’t share any metrics around engagement for its original display ads, only that it plans on continuing using the enhanced version.

Right now, the chat ads advertise four destinations: the Maldives, Bangkok, Milan and the Seychelles. So, if a user types in a general question about where they should go on vacation, the chat ad will recommend travel packages to these locations. The ads are also strategically placed against articles that reference these locations. For instance, Emirates Vacations ran one of its chat ads on People.com next to an article about singer Jordin Sparks visiting the Maldives.

Pollard also said these chat ads help to “weave new life into traditional display ads.” Traditional display ads have long played a role in consumer annoyance with online advertising, and many brands are looking into ways they can provide more value to users. Travel brands especially have to pay attention to user experience, Pollard said.

“Travel is really all about the experience,” said Pollard. “We see AI as a way we can add more relevance to the consumer journey and provide better responses.”

The post Emirates brings a chatbot to banner ads appeared first on Digiday.

Vaibhav Khullar, a London-based banking technology startup founder, noticed that digital ads alone wouldn’t generate a big enough bump in business. Six months ago, he decided that content, or branded stories, could be the answer.

“We started off with paid advertising, but online ads aren’t good for the market we’re working in,” said Khullar, the founder of six-year-old OSREC Financial, whose clients are mostly banks and hedge funds. “People who are tech savvy aren’t going to be as influenced by online ads as a high-quality article that’s shared around — it could be an article talking about things that might address an existing problem.”

In finance, content marketing has become a must-have to keep customers and attract new ones. But it’s a cluttered market. It’s tough for a company to distinguish its voice from others presenting the same topic in a similar format or style. For example, the “news and stories” section of Chase’s website features the headline “7 essential rules of saving“; Bank of America’s “Better Money Habits” offers “7 steps to stay financially fit” and Capital One weighs in on “7 ways to enjoy your wedding season without crushing your wallet.” The similarity in look, feel and presentation can make branded articles seem less authentic.

“You’re generally going into a marketplace where everyone is just shouting,” said Khullar. “It’s eventually going to be a mess of noise, and there’s going to be nothing coherent to be heard.”

Read the full story on tearsheet.co

The post Finance brands have a content ‘sameness’ problem appeared first on Digiday.

Walmart is following in the steps of Dick’s Sporting Goods and announced Wednesday night that it will raise the minimum age limit to buy guns and ammunition to 21. The retailer also said in a statement that it will stop selling items, like airsoft guns, that mimic assault-style rifles. The move is in response to…

Music-streaming giant Spotify filed its Form F-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday to register an initial public offering in the hopes of raising up to $1 billion. An IPO date has not yet been set, but Spotify’s move to sell shares directly on the New York Stock Exchange without relying on underwriters may…

AdExchanger |

Spotify filed its F-1 with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday, forgoing a traditional IPO for a direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange. Read the filing. The direct listing means Spotify can directly post its shares on the stock exchange rather than going through the traditional process of hiring a bank… Continue reading »

The post Spotify’s F-1 Shows Programmatic Makes Up 18% of Ad Revenue appeared first on AdExchanger.

Two weeks after the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, Viacom’s new Paramount Network is delaying the premiere of one of its flagship shows, “Heathers.” A TV adaptation of the 1980s film about
killings in a high school, the Paramount series is an updated version featuring dark humor — apparently a little too dark, given the timing of recent school shooting news.

Two weeks after the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting Viacom’s new Paramount Network is delaying the premiere of one of its flagship shows, “Heathers.” A TV adaptation of the 1980s film about mass
shootings in a high school, the Paramount series is an updated version featuring dark humor. Apparently, a little too dark given the timing of recent school shooting news.

Music-streaming company Spotify cemented plans for its unusual initial public offering while revealing the financial particulars of a fast-growing company that upended the music industry and revolutionized how consumers listen—but spent heavily to do so.