News You Can Use

Netflix and Spotify Ask: Can Data Mining Make for Cute Ads?

• Posted: December 20, 2017

Last week, Netflix decided to have some holiday fun courtesy of its user data. So the streaming service took to Twitter to pose the question, “To the 53 people who’ve watched A Christmas Prince every day for the past 18 days: Who hurt you?”

The tweet was meant to be an entertaining jab at a cheesy holiday film that the company released last month. But while many saw the humor, others were creeped out by the specificity of the information, with some complaining that Netflix appeared to be using its data in a flip manner that mocked some customers.

It’s no secret that companies, especially those born in the digital age, are amassing deep and detailed troves of information on the habits and preferences of their consumers. For streaming services, that data fuels the recommendations. But companies are also taking a bit of a risk when they turn those findings into marketing, whether through conversational social media posts or advertisements from Spotify with lines like “Take a page from the 3,445 people who streamed the ‘Boozy Brunch’ playlist on a Wednesday this year.”

A message that one person might see as clever and unexpected can just as easily be seen by another as an ominous reminder that Big Data is often lurking just around the corner.

Netflix emphasized that the use of data to better serve users was a main part of its business and that its behavioral data was collected anonymously. The company has frequently shared interesting information about viewers’ habits in the past, said Jonathan Friedland, a Netflix spokesman. He added that last week’s tweet might have inspired an intense reaction in part because “it was brought down to an individual level as opposed to a broader trend level.” But he pointed out that Netflix does not use customer data to sell ads on its platform, as Google and Facebook do, or sell it to other entities.

Source: Maheshwari, S. (2017, December 17). Netflix and Spotify Ask: Can Data Mining Make for Cute Ads?  The New York Times.

From ARF CEO & President Scott McDonald: A 2020 Census Flop Would Pose a Danger to U.S. Business

• Posted: December 13, 2017

It is a reality in the business world that everything is becoming more data-driven. We get more and more data on customer preferences and behaviors. We augment our own (first-party) customer data with other companies’ (third-party) data, and we use advanced data analytics to find patterns, spot trends, improve targeting and evaluate outcomes.

In such a digital data-driven world, the decennial counting of noses known as the U.S. Census may seem irrelevant or outdated. But, in fact, the data that the Census Bureau collects—both in its decennial count and in its annual American Community Survey (ACS)—have never been more important to business constituencies.

Nearly all of the commercial databases that allow businesses to be so “data driven” require benchmarking to solid population parameters. This is especially true in cases when we are trying to understand (or make claims about) the broad national population, but it is also true when we are merely trying to get a good fix on small or local market segments. Almost invariably, samples and databases need “truth sets” that serve as benchmarks to evaluate the quality of the dataset and provide a basis for statistical adjustments.

And this modeling depends, to a large degree, on data collected by the Census Bureau.

The decennial Census and its annual ACS counterpart are the mother of all universe estimates—the most fundamental anchors underpinning so many marketing, media, and CRM databases. So this is not a good time for the U.S. Census to go wobbly. Yet that is the concern.

In 2014, Congress demanded that the 2020 Census cost no more than the 2010 Census (without any adjustment for inflation) – a constraint that caused the cancellation of some important tests targeted at hard-to-count populations both in rural areas and in central cities. The Trump administration cut the budget request for the Census Bureau by another 10% and the Director of the Census Bureau, John Thompson, resigned. In the wake of all of this disruption, the General Accountability Office recently designated the 2020 Census as a government program at “high risk” of failure.

To his credit, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who oversees the Census Bureau, recently went back to Congress to argue for an immediate supplement to shore up the planning and testing required for 2018—especially for the first-ever use of online forms for basic data collection. Ross also indicated to Congress that the 2014 stipulation of keeping spending flat to 2010 levels is not realistic and proposed spending that would amount to a $3.3 billion increase.

Historically, the U.S. Census has been conducted in a manner that is highly professional, apolitical, and as accurate as demographers know how to make it. At a time when American businesses need rock-solid benchmarks for their increasingly complex data integrations, we should ask for nothing less of the Congress and administration overseeing the 2020 Census.

McDonald, S. (2017, Dec. 6). A 2020 Census Flop Would Pose a Danger to U.S. Business. Forbes.

Metrics Matter Most to Brands and Agencies

• Posted: December 13, 2017

A survey undertaken by WARC for its Toolkit 2018 publication, covering 616 marketing and advertising professionals around the world, finds that viewability and accurate measurement are the most-cited cause for concern (49% brands, 45% agencies) ahead of issues like talent and skills (44% brands, 39% agencies).

Other digital issues such as ad fraud (13% brands, 12% agencies) and ad blocking (9% brands, 13% agencies) are at the bottom of the list.

Despite an extensive catalogue of concerns—which also include the complexity of adtech and martech, the rise of zero-based budgeting, and consumer data regulation—few respondents feel that digital spending will reduce in 2018.

An apparent willingness to continue spending, however, does not signal that the relationship between advertisers and media agencies is improving. Over half (51%) of brand respondents believe there remains a crisis of trust between clients and media agencies—an opinion that is shared by agency-side colleagues: 52% of those working at media agencies agree with that view, as do 57% of respondents from creative agencies. WARC will be exploring further themes highlighted in Toolkit 2018 at a London event on January 10th and in a global webinar on February 12th.

Metrics Matter Most to Brands and Agencies. (2017, Dec. 7). WARC.

MRC Releases Digital Audience Standard, Incorporates ‘Duration Weighting’

• Posted: December 13, 2017

From Joe Mandese, Editor-in-Chief of MediaPost: The Media Rating Council (MRC), which has effectively been the standard bearer for the “viewability” of digital ads for the past couple of years, released its first-ever standard for digital audience measurement.

The new standards build on the MRC’s prior work on viewable ad impression measurement, as well as “invalid traffic filtration” requirements, spelling out industry best practices for collecting and processing data used in estimating audience characteristics at the impression level.

Importantly, the standards introduce the concept of “duration weighting” viewability of digital ads — laying the groundwork for the MRC’s broader effort to develop a cross-media measurement standard, which is also under development.

The MRC emphasized that while it remains committed to incorporating weighting into its planned 2018 cross-media measurement standards, it stated that “additional research will be conducted over the next year. That may lead to refinements of the requirements around duration weighting for digital ads and those of other media types, which ultimately will be reflected in those forthcoming standards.”

Mandese, J. (2017, Dec. 7). MRC Releases Digital Audience Standard, Incorporates ‘Duration Weighting’. MediaPost.

Why Retailers are Rethinking their Holiday Ad Strategies and Moving Away from Storytelling

• Posted: December 13, 2017

From Lindsay Rittenhouse of Adweek: Brick and mortar once dominated the retail landscape during the holiday season, but 2017 marketing trends make it clear this is no longer the case. Americans who previously went to extremes like sleeping outside chain stores and inadvertently starring in viral Black Friday brawl videos are shopping online in ever greater numbers—and retail brands have been forced to adapt.

This year, more big chains and their agency partners are abandoning long-form, emotionally resonant storytelling in favor of shorter spots focused on exclusive deals and repeat shoppers.

“We’re thinking about retail in a very new way,” Kohl’s CMO, Greg Revelle, told Adweek. “We’re really leaning into our loyalty program.”

Toys R Us kept things shorter and more light-hearted with “The Naughty List Is Not an Option,” which includes funny spots in which kids work to be on their best behavior ahead of Christmas. The ad has a storytelling element, but it’s not at all like the tearjerker “Tree” from 2015, which focused not on a single toy or gadget, but on a budding friendship between a little girl and her older neighbor.

Similar to the others, JCPenney’s holiday campaign is driven by price. The brand and its agency of record, mcgarrybowen, tapped real customers to take “the JCPenney Holiday Challenge” which highlights the exclusivity of its product assortment and low prices.

Sears, too, is focusing heavily on deals and promotions this year. The retailer’s main promotion was its Holiday Blowout sale. Sears spokesman Brian Hanover said the effort was “one of the biggest storewide promotions in recent years” for the retailer.

Rittenhouse, L. (2017, Dec. 1). Why Retailers are Rethinking their Holiday Ad Strategies and Moving Away from Storytelling. Adweek.

Networks Plan Q1 Test of Data + Math Ad Platform

• Posted: December 13, 2017

Editor’s note: this article is a synthesis of reporting on the same topic from Jeanine Poggi of AdAge and Jon Lafayette of Broadcasting & Cable

In October the Video Advertising Bureau (VAB) held a meeting for about 40 executives representing most of the major TV content companies. The VAB was seeking a way for the industry to develop credible third-party metrics that show how effective TV is at a time when advertisers’ spending on TV is largely flat and spending on digital advertising is growing rapidly.

Now, a handful of those who attended (including A&E Networks, AMC Networks, The CW, Discovery Communications and Fox News) will move forward with a new attribution model created by analytics firm Data + Math.

“When we talk to advertisers they’re aware that TV worked, but I think we all felt we let digital take credit for a lot of the hard work TV does in driving awareness and brand education and, at the end of the day, really driving results,” said Mel Berning, President and Chief Revenue Officer at A+E Networks.

“The industry needs scalable and standard attribution and business outcome measurements that benefit marketers, agencies, buying platforms and publishers,” said Ben Price, President, U.S. Ad Sales at Discovery Communications.

Scott Collins, President of Advertising Sales at AMC Networks, said, “We are pleased to participate in this effort to use technology to demonstrate in clear and direct terms the value of the impressions we deliver across our five popular and well-defined networks in a dynamic and competitive marketplace.”

Data + Math was founded in 2016 and is backed by Comcast Ventures and Greycroft Partners. The company’s solution uses data from set-top boxes, smart TVs and over-the-top platforms combined with machine learning techniques to essentially “learn” the connection between multi-screen TV exposures and customer sales or conversions.

The meeting was part of a recent trend for the industry to discuss some of the key issues in a fast-changing media environment. Earlier this year, Turner, Fox, and Viacom formed Open AP, a consortium designed to standardize the definition of target audiences as more clients look to switch to audience buying from the traditional use of age and sex demographics. Recently, Linda Yaccarino, chair of NBCUniversal for ad sales and client partnerships, gathered more than 100 buyers, sellers, clients and research to come up with a new way to address commercial TV’s problems with consumer experience and measurement.

Lafayette, J. (2017, Dec. 5). Networks Plan Q1 Test of Data + Math Ad Platform. Broadcasting & Cable.

Poggi, J. (2017, Dec. 5). TV Networks Move Forward with New Attribution Model. AdAge.

Attention: The Gorilla in the Room

• Posted: December 6, 2017

Consumers have always had the ability to be distracted by advertising, but the proliferation of technology has created infinitely more opportunities for that to happen. For advertisers, the importance of attention is intuitive. If someone does not pay attention to your ad, it won’t have an impact. But, as with most things, there is a lot of nuance there, and putting some hard facts and figures behind that intuition helps with understanding the scope.

And that’s exactly what we did at Turner Ignite.

All exposures are not created equal

Consider this analysis correlating tune-in and store visits for a quick-serve restaurant: In a sample of more than 3,000 people over the course of a year, we looked at people who were exposed to the QSR advertising within the two scenarios laid out previously—attentive TV watchers and distracted TV watchers.

The data showed that impressions delivered to attentive viewers were up to four-times more effective in driving store visits than exposures to the other group. In short, optimizing a media plan for areas where people pay attention, rather than just a GRP, drives greater conversion.

Attention varies more with context

For example, TVision Insights found that State Farm ads with Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers garner 10% more attention when they air during Packers games. Turner found similar results when using “Driver Tags” to measure the context match between the programming content and the actual ad creative—there was greater return on investment where there was a closer alignment.

This is why efforts within the Turner Ad Lab and other joint industry initiatives, as well as continued adoption of emerging native formats, are vital. They put into practice, beyond just lip service, what’s needed to re-imagine ad experiences and improve the ROI that advertisers get from video advertising.

Russo, J., & Schiffman, D. (2017, Nov. 30.). Attention: The Gorilla in the Room. AdAge.

Two Surveys on Artificial Intelligence Generate Very Different Results

• Posted: December 6, 2017

Many Marketers Consider AI to Be Overhyped

While artificial intelligence (AI) and big data may be some of the biggest buzzwords in 2017, they are also marketing concepts that many marketers consider to be overhyped. And for many, these concepts are more of a fantasy than a reality, according to a study from marketing automation provider Resulticks, which surveyed 318 US senior-level marketers.

Almost half (47%) of respondents said they think AI is overhyped, and another 31% said the same of big data. More than half of marketers polled said marketing technology vendors are to blame for these overhyped concepts—and for the fact that they’ve been overused to the point of creating confusion.

When asked how well they think marketing technology vendors deliver on their product claims with regard to these buzzwords, few of those surveyed felt vendors deliver exactly what they promise. That’s not to say everyone thinks this way. Overall, many marketers said that vendors deliver some of what they promise in terms of concepts like big data and personalization.

But still, few felt they delivered exactly what they said they would. In fact, 18% of marketers said martech vendors deliver on their AI product claims. In contrast, 43% felt they overpromise and underdeliver.

Kats, R. (2017, Nov. 29). Many Marketers Consider AI to Be Overhyped. eMarketer.

How Marketers Think AI Is Going to Affect the Industry

According to new research from Accenture Interactive, a majority of marketers in the retail sector are using AI-driven personalization to drive growth across channels. The research also shows that eight in 10 business-to-business marketing execs believe AI is poised to “revolutionize” the marketing industry by 2020, and an even greater percentage of marketers in general (86%) believe AI will make their work more efficient and effective.

Sixty percent of marketing leaders expect AI to improve campaign analytics, digital asset management and insight collection (Salesforce).

Click the link below to view the infographic.

Wander, E. (2017, Dec. 3). How Marketers Think AI Is Going to Affect the Industry. Adweek.

Online Ad Prices Rise as Industry Combats Counterfeit Inventory, Google Says

• Posted: December 6, 2017

The average price of ad space purchased through Google’s ad-buying systems has increased over the past three weeks, the company said, which it attributes to its adoption of the “ads.txt” industry initiative earlier this month.

Ads.txt is a mechanism for online publishers to signal which partners and ad systems have permission to sell their ad space legitimately, thereby limiting the ability for nefarious actors to create and sell counterfeit inventory.

Google’s disclosure is good news for publishers, many of whom believe the price of their ad space has been devalued by counterfeit inventory available in the market. Industry executives have likened the problem to fake Rolex watches driving down the prices of the legitimate product.

For marketers, the shift means they could end up paying higher prices for online ad space. But it should also give them greater confidence they’re receiving the product they’re paying for, and potentially prevent their ads from appearing on unexpected sites with questionable content or unknown ownership. “Advertisers and agencies may need to pay a little more. But if they don’t vote with their dollars then unauthorized selling will continue”, said Pooja Kapoor, Head of Global Strategy, Programmatic and User Trust at Google.

According to Google, adoption of ads.txt has accelerated quickly in recent weeks. Over 50% of ad space available to buy through its ad-buying software, DoubleClick Bid Manager, now comes from publisher domains using ads.txt to help verify authenticity. Over 750 of the Web’s top 2,000 websites now have ads.txt installed, according to Google.

Marshall, J. (2017, Nov. 30). The Wall Street Journal.

Why Smart Speakers Are Ready for Primetime this Holiday Season

• Posted: December 6, 2017

One of the most interesting, and perhaps unexpected, tech product categories to emerge in recent years has been smart speakers (i.e. wireless speakers with integrated voice assistants). When Amazon first made the Echo widely available in 2015, many weren’t sure what to make of the product. Was it just a gimmick, or did it actually have potential as a new consumer tech category?

As it turns out, consumers who bought the device liked it (Note: their data show that between June and October of this year, Smart Speaker penetration has gone from 8% to 11% among all Wi-Fi households). And they found more use cases for it, from listening to music and news, to setting reminders and timers, to answering basic questions. Last year Amazon introduced the Echo Dot as a more affordable, entry-level device that quickly amassed interest and proved there was a market for this product category. Since then, Amazon has rapidly expanded and diversified its smart speaker offering to the Echo Look, Echo Show, Echo Plus, and more. Other tech titans have also since entered the category, with Google Home garnering positive reviews and Apple getting ready to enter the market with the forthcoming HomePod.

But it’s not just the smart speaker market that’s on the verge of breaking out. It’s really the clearest sign we have that the ‘smart home’ may also be beginning to materialize. For many consumers, the smart speaker is the gateway device to enabling a smart home, and recent data suggests smart speakers are complementary to an array of other smart home devices.

In fact, smart speaker households are several times more likely to use a variety of ‘smart devices’, most notably smart thermostats (2.8x as likely), smart hubs (3.4x) and especially smart light systems (6.3x).

Lipsman, A. (2017, Dec. 1). comScore.