News You Can Use

Campaigns Turn to a Cheaper Medium to Get Voters’ Ears: Radio

• Posted: December 14, 2015

Candidates for the Presidential primary campaigns, as well as PACs, have increased their use of radio ads, according to this article by Nick Corasaniti in The New York Times. This article discusses the strengths of radio advertising for a political campaign.

Among the appeal of radio commercials for political advertising, according to this article:

-Radio listeners are a captive audience while they are driving.

-Radio ads avoid the clutter of television.

-Compared to television advertising, radio advertising is less expensive.

-Production costs for radio are also lower than TV production costs.

-Conservative talk radio hosts have large and devoted followings.

-Radio provides a means to target local voters.

-It serves as a closing tool to remind voters to go to the polls and reminds them of the issues.

Corasaniti also discusses how radio companies are helping politicians reach voters and target listeners according to party affiliation, likelihood to vote and other criteria.  The radio stations also seek to win new business.  One of the largest radio conglomerates in the country, iHeartRadio, has seen a 30% rise in the fourth quarter in political advertising, when compared to the same period in 2011.

Details of the radio campaigns for both Republican and Democratic candidates are analyzed in this article.

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The Human Connection and Purpose Driven Strategies are at the Forefront for Top Mobile Marketers According to the MMA

• Posted: December 14, 2015

The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) announced the release of the 2015 Mobile Trends Report.  The report analyzed this year’s winning campaigns from the MMA Smarties Global Awards and Cannes Mobile Lions, and found a focus by mobile marketers on “deepening human relationships and leveraging the best that mobile has to offer to do so.”

The Mobile Trends Report was developed by the MMA in partnership with Millward Brown.  The report cross-references case studies from MMA’s Global Smarties and Cannes Mobile Lion finalists, in addition to those on the short list, in order to identify the characteristics common to the campaigns, and to also identify the emerging, effective mobile marketing trends.

The prevailing theme in 2015 was identified by this report as purpose-driven strategies “rooted in human need.”

According to Sheryl Daija, Chief Strategy Officer, MMA, “In our analysis of this year’s winning campaigns from the MMA Smarties Global Awards and Cannes Mobile Lions, there was a consistent trend of marketers using mobile to spark real, human connections—brands using the directness of the mobile channel to demonstrate a deep commitment to their consumer relationship.”

Successful tactics of the winning campaigns included:

-Two-way conversations to allow for customization and personalization.

-Strong focus on social tools.

-Integrated approach.

-Executions supporting interactivity or co-creation and active participation.

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Spotify Has Become the World’s Most Popular Music Streaming App

• Posted: December 14, 2015

Janko Roettgers, writing for Variety, presents data from App Annie which shows that Spotify’s Android and iOS apps are more popular than any other music streaming app worldwide.

Spotify was the mobile music streaming app on iOS and Android with the largest number of active users worldwide in Q3, according to the report. App Annie’s Mobile Music Streaming report shows Spotify’s app topping the usage and download charts in many countries around the world.

Roettgers notes that that Spotify has a much larger international footprint than Pandora. However, Pandora is only available to users in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand while Spotify is available in 58 markets around the world. Spotify also faces growing competition from local streaming services in India and France.

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Cross-Platform Advertising: Current Practices and Issues for the Future

• Posted: December 14, 2015

Peter Neijens, Chair in Media and Persuasion, and Hilde Voorveld, Assistant Professor at The Amsterdam School of Communication Research (ASCoR), provide an assessment of current cross-platform issues in this December 2015 Journal of Advertising Research article.

The authors analyze important peer-reviewed advertising and marketing journals as well as important industry sources.  The authors also conducted a brief survey among key players at media agencies about current practices to find out what they considered to be the major developments and challenges for the future.

Neijens and Voorveld found a disconnect between academics’ and practitioners’ work in the field.  The authors recommend increased collaboration between advertisers, media owners, media agencies, research companies, and academics, as well as additional research. They propose ideas for advancing both theory and practice.

The authors comment in their conclusion that, “It is impressive to note the current initiatives and the level of cooperation that already has been established, but more should be done: The different parties in the media industry should overcome their self-interests and realize that only a joint effort can help further the profession.”

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Marketers Overwhelmingly Call for Third-Party Measurement of All Digital Media Owners’ Inventory

• Posted: December 7, 2015

The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) surveyed its members to understand the perspectives of marketers on the issue of the viewability verification procedures used by digital media owners.  The results of the survey emphasized the need for third-party verification.

Among the findings:

-97 percent of ANA respondents believe that all digital media owners’ inventory should be measured by a third party.

-90 percent of respondents said they are not fully confident that their digital working media meets industry viewability standards.

-61 percent of respondents indicated they would shift their spending elsewhere if digital media owners did not provide independent measurement.

-Nearly two-thirds of respondents feel “very strongly” that a digital media owner should have internally derived metrics accredited by the MRC.

According to this press release, some large media owners do not allow third-party measurement vendors to report viewable ad impressions to their clients. Instead, they utilize internally derived metrics that have not been independently verified.  Currently, more than 20 firms are accredited by the Media Rating Council (MRC) to measure digital advertising viewability.

Bob Liodice, ANA President and CEO, commented on this issue, “During a time of intense scrutiny on transparency and accountability, it’s vitally important that all digital media owners measure viewability by an independent third party, consistent with industry standards. That’s just ‘table stakes’ for digital advertising.”

The ANA will continue working with the Media Rating Council and other industry trade associations to elevate the importance of this issue and drive industry standards.

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One Marketing Metric to Rule Them All? Group Believes It Has One.  Lengthy Test Across 100 Brands is a Step Toward Linking Marketing to Cash Flow

• Posted: December 7, 2015

The Marketing Accountability Standards Board (MASB) has developed a method to measure brand value and predict movements in market share.  Jack Neff, writing for Advertising Age, analyzes this “Brand Choice” metric.

MASB was established seven years ago by a coalition of academics, market researchers, and marketers. It recently concluded Phase I of its Brand Investment & Validation project.  MASB tested a “Brand Choice” metric based on surveys of approximately 500 people per brand. These consumers were asked to select among several competing brands in a category as if they were winners of a prize drawing.

According to David Stewart, Marketing Professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and MASB chair, “We believe by linking this Brand Choice metric to some pretty simple metrics like market share, price premium and distribution coverage, we can actually generate estimates of future operating cash flow, which allows you to get at the value of a brand.”

He also pointed out that this is the first time the Brand Choice Metric has been studied across such a broad array of brands in consumer packaged goods and automotive.

Phase II of the project involves comparing how the MASB’s metric compares to other brand valuation and evaluation models.  MASB will also study what factors reliably drive its Brand Choice metric – including marketing spending, advertising quality, and social media. Study parameters are still in development, and will likely take 18 months to test.  As a result, Mr. Stewart doesn’t expect results until 2018.

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MMA Releases White Paper on the State of In-Store Beacon Technology

• Posted: December 7, 2015

According to this press release from the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), the organization has released the latest update from their In-Store and Beacon Working Group. This white paper, “Understanding the Beacon Proximity Landscape,” defines the beacon ecosystem and outlines the opportunities and challenges facing retailers, brands, publishers, and consumers.  The privacy imperative is also addressed.

Sheryl Daija, Chief Strategy Officer of the MMA, stated, “Together with our member companies that are at the forefront of location marketing, the MMA is taking the lead in helping all stakeholders understand the state of the technology and the magnitude of the opportunity as well as provide guidance on best practice privacy measures.”

The paper concludes that beacons are receiving significant attention and high adoption rates because of their ability to provide real-world insights and location-triggered mobile engagements. Implementation, measurement, and best practices are also addressed in this paper.

 The full white paper is available for downloading from the MMA.

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Cyber Security is a Top Priority for Marketers

• Posted: December 7, 2015

Cyber security is a major concern for executives in the US and Europe, but not for Asia-Pacific executives according to this eMarketer article.  More than 500 business executives in the US, Europe, and Asia-Pacific were surveyed.  The article contrasts the leading technology priorities of executives in these three geographic areas.

58% of US and 41% of European respondents to a CNBC survey conducted by Mindmover and Lightspeed GMI ranked cyber security as their leading technology priority in the next 12 months.

However, executives in Asia-Pacific have different technology priorities.  Only 25% of these executives felt that cyber security was their primary technology concern.  Executives in this region ranked mobile ecommerce, internet of things (IoT), connected devices, mobile application development and cloud technology as higher priorities.

This eMarketer article also refers to research by PricewaterhouseCoopers showing that 45% of US CEOs and 21% of CEOs worldwide considered cyber threats, including lack of data security as an area of “extreme concern.”

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For more on this topic, check out the Advertising Tab in Morning Coffee.

 

 

It’s About Time, Literally: Ad Industry Eyes Temporal Planning

• Posted: December 7, 2015

Joe Mandese presents information on a new media planning tool, RFT (reach–frequency-time), to be introduced by Telmar early in 2016. This tool calculates reach and frequency based on the amount of time consumers actually spend with media.

According to this article in Media Post, RFT is not intended to replace conventional reach and frequency models, but it expands the options available to advertisers and agencies.

Telmar conducted a pilot study as a “proof of concept” for the RFT analyzer using candidates for the 2016 Presidential election.  This Media Post article provides additional details about this study.

According to Telmar President Corey Panno, the new RFT analyzer isn’t intended to be used as a form of media-buying “currency,” although it will be replicating the studies and offering the tool in markets where there is little or no audience data available, including emerging markets in Africa, Asia and South America.  But the real purpose of the analyzer is simply to give planners and ad executives another way to think about the role of consumer time spent with media plays in planning reach and frequency.

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Finally, Guidance on Social Media Ratings

• Posted: November 30, 2015

The Media Rating Council (MRC) has issued an official set of social media measurement guidelines.  In conjunction with the American Association of Advertising Agencies, the Interactive Advertising Bureau and the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, the MRC has released an in-depth 40-page document, which outlines common practices.

Also participating in the development of these guidelines were social media vendors, publishers, measurement organizations, ad servers and ad networks. In addition, the guidelines were reviewed by buyer-side trade organizations.

According to this article in Media Life Magazine, these guidelines cover methods used for measuring a number of types of social activity, including tracking and counting users accessing content within social media, interaction and/or engagement with social media content,

and consumer “listening” and sentiment.  The guidelines also cover the measurement of user-generated content and video.

The article includes these excerpts from the guidelines:

“In order for a user-action to be considered part of social media audience activity it should be trackable/measurable (publicly or privately), fall within the campaign time period (for campaign level or advertising counting) or defined measurement period and include all valid traffic.”

“Examples of trackable/measurable user-action may include interaction (clicks, shares, retweets, likes, favorites, etc.) with social media content, application downloads or social shares from a brand website to social media platforms.”

The Media Life article also provides a direct link to the guidelines.

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