Category: Insights

Last week, Kantar hosted an impressive new forum of industry debate and discussion focusing on unearthing growth opportunities for UK brands in the modern age. Located at the BFI Theatre on Southbank, London, the full day of seminars and live experiences bought together industry professionals and inspiring agenda-setting leaders to discuss challenges, opportunities and issues which face marketing departments, creative and media agencies, and media owners.

Key themes:

1. What can we learn from the 2019 Brand Z Top 75 brand?
   • Growing brands and expanding their portfolio of goods and services into new ecosystems and entering new, unsuspecting categories. Amazon is now the most valued brand in 2019, and their diversification into voice and entertainment beyond their original USP of an e-commerce platform have catapulted their business results and their reach of new consumers.
   • Top brands are creating interesting new B2B connections, partnering with somewhat abstract brands to create new consumer experiences or bespoke products. Key examples include McDonald’s partnership with Uber Eats, Toyota partnering with Pizza Hut, and Amazon with Nike.

2. Major challenges facing marketers, planners and media owners in 2019;
   • Capping campaign frequency to avoid wastage was a major theme in productivity conversations. Marketers wanted to challenge agencies to provide more rigour in capturing actual frequency thresholds across channels. According to Kantar, 57% of clients aren’t confident in their current planning of frequency.
   • The least understood channels for driving ROI, according to a sample of clients via the Kantar study, are sponsorships and partnerships. 44% of clients agree that sponsorship is the least trusted channel to deliver an accurate ROI. This was a hot topic as it was apparent that sponsorship needed more shared data from the marketing community to prove an ROI success indicator.
   • What is the right threshold to adopt a test and learn agenda? Conversations from senior marketers had unified thoughts on a 70-20-10 approach to commit 70% of working media towards strong performing, tried and tested media channels, 20% against innovation in tested channels, and 10% against out-of-box thinking to drive earned media. All respondents agreed this approach needed a robust measurement framework, off the back of sound hypothesises.

3. Dispelling e-commerce myths
   • Panellists discussed how marketers can have an unwarranted fear or hesitation in amalgamating e-commerce channels into overarching plans. E-commerce ad spend is rising, but not at the level of adoption of consumers to its platforms. This conversation prompted us to explore new figures released from Kantar;
     • Of the online grocery universe in the UK, face wash accounts for only 3.8% of value share, however if we flip this, in terms of online retail sales, it represents 31.8%
     • 45% of e-commerce online spend contribution is from shoppers aged over 55, meaning marketers shouldn’t assume e-commerce is driven by younger consumers; don’t neglect the silver surfer!
       1. 48% of online ‘heavy’ shoppers are aged 55+
       2. It’s not only younger audiences that want convenience (40% of older consumers want shopper delivered to their door)

What does this mean for OMD clients?:

• Think creatively and beyond your immediate category when considering B2B partnerships to leverage brand equity or exchange goods and services. More brands are open for value exchanges to engage with new consumers.
• There are predominant and shared frustrations and unknowns in some key media planning topics such as frequency management, ROI clarity on certain channels and test and learn agendas. There is an industry-wide call to arms to share successful case studies and results with the industry to set benchmarks to help set more accurate standards.
• Dispel myths of e-commerce as a channel which only connect with agile, future-facing Generation Z, as e-commerce already has the scale and spend volume of wider, older audiences.

Authored by Tobie Rhodes, executive director at OMD EMEA

Last week, Kantar hosted an impressive new forum of industry debate and discussion focusing on unearthing growth opportunities for UK brands in the modern age. Located at the BFI Theatre on Southbank, London, the full day of seminars and live experiences bought together industry professionals and inspiring agenda-setting leaders to discuss challenges, opportunities and issues which face marketing departments, creative and media agencies, and media owners.

Key themes:

1. What can we learn from the 2019 Brand Z Top 75 brand?
   • Growing brands and expanding their portfolio of goods and services into new ecosystems and entering new, unsuspecting categories. Amazon is now the most valued brand in 2019, and their diversification into voice and entertainment beyond their original USP of an e-commerce platform have catapulted their business results and their reach of new consumers.
   • Top brands are creating interesting new B2B connections, partnering with somewhat abstract brands to create new consumer experiences or bespoke products. Key examples include McDonald’s partnership with Uber Eats, Toyota partnering with Pizza Hut, and Amazon with Nike.

2. Major challenges facing marketers, planners and media owners in 2019;
   • Capping campaign frequency to avoid wastage was a major theme in productivity conversations. Marketers wanted to challenge agencies to provide more rigour in capturing actual frequency thresholds across channels. According to Kantar, 57% of clients aren’t confident in their current planning of frequency.
   • The least understood channels for driving ROI, according to a sample of clients via the Kantar study, are sponsorships and partnerships. 44% of clients agree that sponsorship is the least trusted channel to deliver an accurate ROI. This was a hot topic as it was apparent that sponsorship needed more shared data from the marketing community to prove an ROI success indicator.
   • What is the right threshold to adopt a test and learn agenda? Conversations from senior marketers had unified thoughts on a 70-20-10 approach to commit 70% of working media towards strong performing, tried and tested media channels, 20% against innovation in tested channels, and 10% against out-of-box thinking to drive earned media. All respondents agreed this approach needed a robust measurement framework, off the back of sound hypothesises.

3. Dispelling e-commerce myths
   • Panellists discussed how marketers can have an unwarranted fear or hesitation in amalgamating e-commerce channels into overarching plans. E-commerce ad spend is rising, but not at the level of adoption of consumers to its platforms. This conversation prompted us to explore new figures released from Kantar;
     • Of the online grocery universe in the UK, face wash accounts for only 3.8% of value share, however if we flip this, in terms of online retail sales, it represents 31.8%
     • 45% of e-commerce online spend contribution is from shoppers aged over 55, meaning marketers shouldn’t assume e-commerce is driven by younger consumers; don’t neglect the silver surfer!
       1. 48% of online ‘heavy’ shoppers are aged 55+
       2. It’s not only younger audiences that want convenience (40% of older consumers want shopper delivered to their door)

What does this mean for OMD clients?:

• Think creatively and beyond your immediate category when considering B2B partnerships to leverage brand equity or exchange goods and services. More brands are open for value exchanges to engage with new consumers.
• There are predominant and shared frustrations and unknowns in some key media planning topics such as frequency management, ROI clarity on certain channels and test and learn agendas. There is an industry-wide call to arms to share successful case studies and results with the industry to set benchmarks to help set more accurate standards.
• Dispel myths of e-commerce as a channel which only connect with agile, future-facing Generation Z, as e-commerce already has the scale and spend volume of wider, older audiences.

Authored by Tobie Rhodes, executive director at OMD EMEA

According to Cisco, video will make up 80% of consumer online traffic by the end of 2019.

But how long are they watching for?

Over the last 2 years we have seen video embed itself as the social format of choice, with the rise of Stories, .gifs and new channels such as IGTV and TikTok cementing the moving image’s place in the social content sphere.

We’ve been told as marketers that attention spans are waning and the race to the shortest video content possible is the race to run. Whilst this may hold true in certain circumstances (such as the most effective YouTube bumpers staying at 6 seconds or fewer), we think this is the year set to see the return of longer-form video pieces capturing attention spans and bringing worthwhile ROI.

Why?

A number of reasons – the nature of marketing content is shifting (for instance, more and more sponsored Influencer content is being consumed, which naturally takes longer to engage with), and as production values improve/quality becomes cheaper, captivating video content can last longer for the same budget. It’s proven that if you can capture attention spans for longer, the sales uplift of those who engage is greater. Basically, it’s worth the investment in your production to ensure your audience invest their time.

In fact, 64% of consumers said video content from Facebook has influenced a recent purchase decision. That’s almost on a par with real-life friend recommendations.

So, what’s the key to ensuring audiences engage with your video content? As distribution sophisticates at pace, through pre-planning to understanding the audience, use case and context with which they will engage with your content is paramount. Video is here to stay, but in a million different forms, and understanding how to effectively service many consumer needs with one content production will ensure you stay on the front foot.

According to Cisco, video will make up 80% of consumer online traffic by the end of 2019.

But how long are they watching for?

Over the last 2 years we have seen video embed itself as the social format of choice, with the rise of Stories, .gifs and new channels such as IGTV and TikTok cementing the moving image’s place in the social content sphere.

We’ve been told as marketers that attention spans are waning and the race to the shortest video content possible is the race to run. Whilst this may hold true in certain circumstances (such as the most effective YouTube bumpers staying at 6 seconds or fewer), we think this is the year set to see the return of longer-form video pieces capturing attention spans and bringing worthwhile ROI.

Why?

A number of reasons – the nature of marketing content is shifting (for instance, more and more sponsored Influencer content is being consumed, which naturally takes longer to engage with), and as production values improve/quality becomes cheaper, captivating video content can last longer for the same budget. It’s proven that if you can capture attention spans for longer, the sales uplift of those who engage is greater. Basically, it’s worth the investment in your production to ensure your audience invest their time.

In fact, 64% of consumers said video content from Facebook has influenced a recent purchase decision. That’s almost on a par with real-life friend recommendations.

So, what’s the key to ensuring audiences engage with your video content? As distribution sophisticates at pace, through pre-planning to understanding the audience, use case and context with which they will engage with your content is paramount. Video is here to stay, but in a million different forms, and understanding how to effectively service many consumer needs with one content production will ensure you stay on the front foot.

Whilst the idea of personalised communication isn’t exactly new news, we in Create think this will grow to pretty epic proportions.

Not sure about personalised marketing? What if we told you content featuring a targeted call-to-action performed 178% better than a generic call-to-action. Not only do these personalised messages deliver better performance, they are also preferred by customers. 50% of U.S. consumers say they prefer receiving personalised marketing messages and 91% are more likely to shop with brands who send personalised offers.

As the volume of branded content across platforms continues to grow, so too does user ‘blindness’ to content that doesn’t immediately resonate.  This increasingly competitive environment for consumer attention will force brands to invest more time, resource and money in to content that is crafted to meet the preferences and behaviours of specific groups of consumers.  The ability to deliver this content is driven by both user preference, but also more sophisticated targeting technology.

How?

Firstly, via data collection: Using data to better understand your consumers provides the stimulus for a content strategy that more accurately caters to their actual desires.

Alternatively, a technology solution: For example, dynamic creative optimisation (DCO) is a set of technologies that massively simplifies the process of tailoring content experiences for consumers in real-time. With this capability, advertisers can reach target audiences with potentially infinite unique creative variations that cater to the specific user being served the ad, without the legwork you’d expect.

What’s more, the emerging ability to use DCO in native advertising campaigns brings a powerful tactic, enabling brands to tailor each component of the content their audience is exposed to. Marketing is hopefully about to become far more relevant, and therefore hopefully both more effective and worth your audience’s time.

The growth of women’s football worldwide in recent years is to be celebrated. There are a lot of great initiatives ongoing to engage girls and women in football, new competitions as well as a growing number of women playing and watching football. For example, the Women’s World Cup in Canada was the second most-watched FIFA competition after the Men’s World Cup, with it’s record-breaking 750 million TV viewers.

Media has contributed a lot to this growth. In fact, there has been strong support for Women’s sport from traditional media owners, such as BBC and ITV in the UK who have included female experts and commentators in their coverage for the first time. This could be one of the reasons there has been a 7% increase in the female audience on YouTube for the World Cup 2018 content compared to Euro 2016, based on figures from the OMD EMEA & Tubular’s World Cup 2018 Wrap Up.

Source: Tubular Labs data

Today the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup is kicking off, and in light of the event we posed ourselves a challenge – to investigate what makes someone a football fan and if this experience is different for men and women.

There are several valuable lessons to learn from the FIFA World Cup held last year in Russia. Here at OMD EMEA, we conducted research around the competition in collaboration with our research partners Blis Media and Dynata. Within the study we combined surveyed perceptions with the behavioural data from mobile users who had been in certain key locations during matches in Russia and the UK (stadiums, fan parks and pubs). This was supplemented with social listening across the whole period of the World Cup. Our insights are informed by these proprietary studies and further desk research.

Women have traditionally been stereotyped as passive viewers of football, interested only in the peripheral aspects of the game. However, we saw no significant difference in motivations between men and women when it comes to following an event such as a World Cup. For men and women, support of their national team was the main motivation to watch the matches and the feeling of belonging to a larger group of their country’s supporters.

Moreover, according to the passive data we collected, more women were watching the World Cup matches in pubs in the UK (58% vs 42% male audience), while there were almost the same number of women and men watching the matches in the fan parks in Russia (51% men and 49% women). As social listening revealed, women also talked about the event sharing the excitement of watching the matches and the big moments of the playing teams.

Source: OMD EMEA/ Blis Media

Generally, people love football. The study proved that in fact, both female and male fans claimed to love football largely to the same extent. All the differences we found were related to intensity of interest (high interest fans vs. low interest fans) and commitment, not gender.

From the levels of commitment to football we identified two types of fans: social fans who usually follow games for the social and entertainment factor and vested fans who tend to be more passionate. They attend games at stadiums, participate in initiatives, such as fantasy football, buy merchandise products and consume sport related media. Vested fans are more likely to remain loyal over time, but crucially from our findings, they can be men as well as women. Interestingly, our research revealed that in some cases the female fans showed an even greater interest in the World Cup than the male fans.

We had the opportunity to discuss this with Raquel Rodriguez, a Penn State graduate and professional footballer, who scored Costa Rica’s first ever World Cup goal in 2015. Raquel’s experience confirms the importance of passion over gender.  Moreover, when people are involved in a sport or a sports event, the players’ gender becomes less relevant to fans. These findings suggest a huge potential of the Women’s World Cup, which many brands may undervalue.

Exploring the fans’ dynamics and how passion impacts the behaviour of fans, we concluded that this is a question of acceptance not only of inclusion. Unfortunately, the environment is still not always welcoming for the female fans despite the progress mentioned earlier.

There are several findings pointing in this direction. For example, how fans were watching World Cup matches. The figures reveal that women are much more likely to watch football with family or small groups of friends.

Source: OMD EMEA/ Dynata

In other words, they are more likely watch matches where they are already accepted. We also found that there were less women watching games at the stadiums compared to men. This signals an important implication: if context and environment is not friendly towards passionate fans, a massive audience can be missing.

Source: OMD EMEA/ Blis Media

It is also true that there is an effort being done to make male football games at stadiums more family inclusive. Many fathers bring their children to the games, with seating areas often allocated specifically for families. However, this is not always the case. At the same time, the women’s matches are always family oriented.

From reviewing academic research on why people engage with sport we furthered our understanding of motivations amongst football fans. The motives are entertainment, escapism, achievement, inspiration and bonding with other fans.  Using these territories applied to women’s football we see a broad opportunity for connection and bonding territories. While the male tournament carries more of the tribal element, both can appeal through the aesthetic appreciation of participants and deliver key moments for communal celebration. These will appeal to ALL with an interest in football, including male fans, who will be important to engage in an authentic way to deliver on the potential of the women’s game.

The situation is clear: the brands promoting inclusive football environments are likely to benefit.  Coca-Cola, McDonalds, Adidas and Nike are the strongest players on this field. Many brands have a real potential to play a significant role in normalising the environment due to their capabilities and millions of loyal consumers worldwide. It is also an opportunity for the brands. There is still no strong brand association with the women’s football, in other words the space is not owned by any brand.

Speaking about international sports events, brands in this environment are visible to a large, passionate audience. Though at a smaller scale compared to the Men’s tournament, the Women’s World Cup also provides a great opportunity for brands to reach the audience, but it is not enough just to be seen. With inclusivity being the key, the generated engagement will drive ROI in both the short and long term.

It is crucial that we do not try to compare women’s and men’s tournaments, neither in terms of importance or priority, nor in terms of physical strength and abilities of male and female players. Making comparisons of this kind are misleading when the results are applied from a gender perspective – whatever sport event is compared to the Men’s World Cup will not deliver at the same scale.

The Women’s World Cup and the female football in general should not be in the shadow of male football. It should be treated as a sport on its own. We see the potential and we believe that the Women’s World Cup can be hugely engaging for fans whether they are female or male. It is important to understand that it is not just about more women watching the women’s World Cup. We hope to continue to see a change in the attitude towards women’s football without referencing the male one. Maybe more mums will be inspired to bring their daughters to the football class and more fathers will be sharing moments with their daughters at the women’s tournaments.

In conclusion, it’s all about perception. If football continues to be associated with male players, it will be organic implication: women’s football will remain at the same scale. There are still many girls leaving football at the age of 14 due to lack of opportunities and stereotypes still existing, as well as professional female players giving up their football career due to low wages. Raquel also underlines that support and resources need investment. Female football is a growing phenomenon and represents a big arena for brands and investors to promote themselves commercially, above and beyond the positive associations with inclusivity and equal opportunities, in one of the most followed entertainment categories.

Thanks to the OMD Insights team – Scott Nelson for their invaluable contributions and Pete White for his inspirational guidance and persistence. Special thanks to Raquel Rodriguez for her unique insight from a player’s perspective.

The growth of women’s football worldwide in recent years is to be celebrated. There are a lot of great initiatives ongoing to engage girls and women in football, new competitions as well as a growing number of women playing and watching football. For example, the Women’s World Cup in Canada was the second most-watched FIFA competition after the Men’s World Cup, with it’s record-breaking 750 million TV viewers.

Media has contributed a lot to this growth. In fact, there has been strong support for Women’s sport from traditional media owners, such as BBC and ITV in the UK who have included female experts and commentators in their coverage for the first time. This could be one of the reasons there has been a 7% increase in the female audience on YouTube for the World Cup 2018 content compared to Euro 2016, based on figures from the OMD EMEA & Tubular’s World Cup 2018 Wrap Up.

Source: Tubular Labs data

Today the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup is kicking off, and in light of the event we posed ourselves a challenge – to investigate what makes someone a football fan and if this experience is different for men and women.

There are several valuable lessons to learn from the FIFA World Cup held last year in Russia. Here at OMD EMEA, we conducted research around the competition in collaboration with our research partners Blis Media and Dynata. Within the study we combined surveyed perceptions with the behavioural data from mobile users who had been in certain key locations during matches in Russia and the UK (stadiums, fan parks and pubs). This was supplemented with social listening across the whole period of the World Cup. Our insights are informed by these proprietary studies and further desk research.

Women have traditionally been stereotyped as passive viewers of football, interested only in the peripheral aspects of the game. However, we saw no significant difference in motivations between men and women when it comes to following an event such as a World Cup. For men and women, support of their national team was the main motivation to watch the matches and the feeling of belonging to a larger group of their country’s supporters.

Moreover, according to the passive data we collected, more women were watching the World Cup matches in pubs in the UK (58% vs 42% male audience), while there were almost the same number of women and men watching the matches in the fan parks in Russia (51% men and 49% women). As social listening revealed, women also talked about the event sharing the excitement of watching the matches and the big moments of the playing teams.

Source: OMD EMEA/ Blis Media

Generally, people love football. The study proved that in fact, both female and male fans claimed to love football largely to the same extent. All the differences we found were related to intensity of interest (high interest fans vs. low interest fans) and commitment, not gender.

From the levels of commitment to football we identified two types of fans: social fans who usually follow games for the social and entertainment factor and vested fans who tend to be more passionate. They attend games at stadiums, participate in initiatives, such as fantasy football, buy merchandise products and consume sport related media. Vested fans are more likely to remain loyal over time, but crucially from our findings, they can be men as well as women. Interestingly, our research revealed that in some cases the female fans showed an even greater interest in the World Cup than the male fans.

We had the opportunity to discuss this with Raquel Rodriguez, a Penn State graduate and professional footballer, who scored Costa Rica’s first ever World Cup goal in 2015. Raquel’s experience confirms the importance of passion over gender.  Moreover, when people are involved in a sport or a sports event, the players’ gender becomes less relevant to fans. These findings suggest a huge potential of the Women’s World Cup, which many brands may undervalue.

Exploring the fans’ dynamics and how passion impacts the behaviour of fans, we concluded that this is a question of acceptance not only of inclusion. Unfortunately, the environment is still not always welcoming for the female fans despite the progress mentioned earlier.

There are several findings pointing in this direction. For example, how fans were watching World Cup matches. The figures reveal that women are much more likely to watch football with family or small groups of friends.

Source: OMD EMEA/ Dynata

In other words, they are more likely watch matches where they are already accepted. We also found that there were less women watching games at the stadiums compared to men. This signals an important implication: if context and environment is not friendly towards passionate fans, a massive audience can be missing.

Source: OMD EMEA/ Blis Media

It is also true that there is an effort being done to make male football games at stadiums more family inclusive. Many fathers bring their children to the games, with seating areas often allocated specifically for families. However, this is not always the case. At the same time, the women’s matches are always family oriented.

From reviewing academic research on why people engage with sport we furthered our understanding of motivations amongst football fans. The motives are entertainment, escapism, achievement, inspiration and bonding with other fans.  Using these territories applied to women’s football we see a broad opportunity for connection and bonding territories. While the male tournament carries more of the tribal element, both can appeal through the aesthetic appreciation of participants and deliver key moments for communal celebration. These will appeal to ALL with an interest in football, including male fans, who will be important to engage in an authentic way to deliver on the potential of the women’s game.

The situation is clear: the brands promoting inclusive football environments are likely to benefit.  Coca-Cola, McDonalds, Adidas and Nike are the strongest players on this field. Many brands have a real potential to play a significant role in normalising the environment due to their capabilities and millions of loyal consumers worldwide. It is also an opportunity for the brands. There is still no strong brand association with the women’s football, in other words the space is not owned by any brand.

Speaking about international sports events, brands in this environment are visible to a large, passionate audience. Though at a smaller scale compared to the Men’s tournament, the Women’s World Cup also provides a great opportunity for brands to reach the audience, but it is not enough just to be seen. With inclusivity being the key, the generated engagement will drive ROI in both the short and long term.

It is crucial that we do not try to compare women’s and men’s tournaments, neither in terms of importance or priority, nor in terms of physical strength and abilities of male and female players. Making comparisons of this kind are misleading when the results are applied from a gender perspective – whatever sport event is compared to the Men’s World Cup will not deliver at the same scale.

The Women’s World Cup and the female football in general should not be in the shadow of male football. It should be treated as a sport on its own. We see the potential and we believe that the Women’s World Cup can be hugely engaging for fans whether they are female or male. It is important to understand that it is not just about more women watching the women’s World Cup. We hope to continue to see a change in the attitude towards women’s football without referencing the male one. Maybe more mums will be inspired to bring their daughters to the football class and more fathers will be sharing moments with their daughters at the women’s tournaments.

In conclusion, it’s all about perception. If football continues to be associated with male players, it will be organic implication: women’s football will remain at the same scale. There are still many girls leaving football at the age of 14 due to lack of opportunities and stereotypes still existing, as well as professional female players giving up their football career due to low wages. Raquel also underlines that support and resources need investment. Female football is a growing phenomenon and represents a big arena for brands and investors to promote themselves commercially, above and beyond the positive associations with inclusivity and equal opportunities, in one of the most followed entertainment categories.

Thanks to the OMD Insights team -Scott Nelson for their invaluable contributions and Pete White for his inspirational guidance and persistence. Special thanks to Raquel Rodriguez for her unique insight from a player’s perspective.

For several years, consumers’ feelings of uncertainty and anxiety for the future have been compounded by fears for the effects of human behaviour on the environment. This feeling of uncertainty, which has, in fact, become quite normal and is referred to as the ‘’#neveralnormal’’, is reflected in consumers’ lack of trust in established institutions and brands. As we all have seen in the newspapers, familiar brands are experiencing difficulties, with many household names going into administration, and a downturn in Europe’s share of the Top 250 global retailer’s revenues since 2006.

Economic uncertainty, political tension, environmental change and the 4th industrial revolution have been the main forces of dramatic change. The Gilets Jaunes/French Yellow Vests protests in France, the arrival of a populist government in Italy and Brexit in the UK all reflect deep-seated political and economic discontent.

With further political upheaval expected in 2019, consumers’ crisis of trust is deepening, and leading to greater emotional involvement and action.

This brings us to a set of marketing “commandments” to meet the new consumer’s expectations.

COMMANDMENT 1: CONTENT, CONTEXT AND CONTACTS

To retain consumer trust, brands must be mindful of the context for their adverts. If they are placed next to unethical content, they stand the risk of being accused of being linked too or even funding that content, and consumer trust will inevitably be affected.

Content-wise, brands have been accused of condoning “fake” news by running their adverts next to it and inadvertently financing it at the same time. It has been argued that advertisers are unaware of what content their adverts in fact support, but Randall Rothenberg, president and CEO of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, suggests that this is a weak excuse, calling it, in fact, a “moral failure”:

The third element “contacts” shows that the number of times an advert is run also impacts trust. In 2017, Forbes showed that the average consumer is exposed to up to 10,000 brand messages a day.

OMD Latvia conducted an online bespoke quantitative study to illustrate this point at the Mi:t&Links. Conference FALSE THINKING conference in Riga, March the 8^th.

63% of 18-75 years old living in Latvia claim seeing the ad too many times reduces Trust in Advertising

COMMANDMENT 2: BE CLEAR AND DELIVER ON YOUR PROMISE

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which came into effect in May 2018, underlines the importance of consumer trust, giving consumers more control over their data at the same time as offering reassurance that these are in safe hands. In 2018, IBM ran a study, which showed that 73% of people were concerned about their privacy on internet sites and 65% did not trust social media companies to handle personal data responsibly. GDPR could be regarded as a simple compliance issue, but it could also be seen as a catalyst for businesses to implement new business models with consumer trust at their core.

With the advent of AI and fast developing technology, like 5G, transparency has become particularly important owing to the potential misuse of an increasing amount of new data that are intended to provide a more personal approach, as well as delivering the ultimate in modern living standards in our homes. If data is handled badly, consumer trust will inevitably be lost. The downside of GDPR, however, is that data protection is couched in legal terms that laymen find difficult to understand, highlighting a need for simplification.

COMMANDMENT 3: AUTHENTICITY IS THE KEY TO SUCCESSFUL COLLABORATION

One example of a lack of authenticity took place in September 2018 when renowned social media influencer Scarlett Dixon was paid to promote Listerine on her Instagram page.  Whilst she highlighted that the post was an ad, she was highly criticised for the content being completely staged. After all, who wakes up with perfect make up and hair, balloons next to their bed and Listerine on their bedside table?

Instead of relying on celebrities to bump up their sales, brands are now turning to nano-influencers: everyday consumers who tell small communities of friends about their favourite products, thus creating trusted content for brands. Kate Edwards, the COO of the social marketing technology startup, Heartbeat, explains how it works, “Brands have always known that word-of-mouth marketing works well, but it hasn’t been until now that we’ve had the technology to activate this channel in a scalable, cost-effective way. That’s why brands are moving away from influencers and celebrities, and more toward recognising the voices of everyday consumers.” In addition, CGI avatars are beginning to replace human influencers. Examples include the virtual models, Lil Miquela and Shudu, who engage with their fans just like any human influencer would, maintaining transparency and building trust.

COMMANDMENT 4: ACT AS A GOOD CITIZEN WOULD

Brands should see themselves as individuals with moral values. For instance, in October 2017, Corona came out in support of its native country, Mexico, following a devastating earthquake. It re-branded three million beer cans as “Mexico Extra” and donated the proceeds to reconstruction projects. It also encouraged involvement with relief projects through its website mexicoextra.com.

COMMANDMENT 5: STAND OUT FOR A POINT OF VIEW

As social media gives louder voices to extreme views, brands are asked more and more to standout for a point of view.

Taking inspiration from the Me Too Movement, in January 2019 the shaving brand Gillette launched a new ad campaign which features a nearly 2-minute-long video drawing inspiration from the Me Too movement by tackling issues like sexual harassment, bullying and toxic masculinity. Reactions on social media have been mixed. There are many people praising the video for encouraging all men to do the right thing. However, it also has many people threatening to boycott the company, accusing them of lumping men into one group, painting a bad picture for men all over the world.

Another example of a brand assuming a moral stance was when Nike chose Kaepernick to front their 30th anniversary poster. The well-known footballer had brought attention to police brutality against African-Americans by kneeling down during the national anthem and refusing to “show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of colour”.  Nike came out in support of his decision to stand up for his personal beliefs.

COMMANDMENT 6: DEVELOP GREATER EMPATHETIC UNDERSTANDING

As we all know, marketing is moving from “mass to me”. At OMD, we believe that every interaction a consumer has with a brand represents an opportunity to create a valuable relationship, with “empathy”, the backbone of trust, being key.

As planners who design end-to-end consumer experience to create valued relationships between brands and their consumers, we at OMD try to anticipate consumer needs through a deep understanding of our audiences, their untapped needs and desires, exploring ways in which a brand can use communications and media to fulfil them.

OMD PREDICTS

OMD predicts that in the future we will increasingly see engineered empathy as a key driver of success. As consumers are feeling more comfortable with AI and robots, they will be expecting emotional interactions from brands through AI. Empathetic services that help deliver human-like interactions in all contexts, by adapting to the customer’s real time emotional state, will be always welcomed by consumers.

But until then…get the principles right: Be credible, transparent, reliable and consumer first seem to be some of the main key drivers of consumers’ trust. And then…be aware of the trust corrode-rs that advertising is in control of and follow, if appropriate, the above suggested commandments.

Bricks and mortar stores are shutting at pace. What does it mean for eCommerce in the UK, and how is branded content a part of the mix? We have already seen the effects of consumers tightening their spending, resulting in the downfall of major names on the high street. Can social save the shops?

One of the primary reasons that many high street brands are struggling is due to a failure for bricks-and-mortar retail to keep up with digital expectations. Drab web design and questionable user experiences turned consumers off, and on to other more developed ecommerce propositions, such as Amazon. It’s, sometimes, about more than just price – it’s also about immediacy, seamlessness and simplicity.

So as users increasingly turn to the digital to make purchases of physical items, how can retailers adapt to survive? It’s increasingly less about your core website and more about being present at the perfect purchase moment. In 2019 Instagram will become a shopping platform in itself, with the introduction of a native credit card payment system. Browsing #ootd just became so much more dangerous.

Facebook will be implementing new AR ads, allowing users to virtually try out new products (such as makeup and sunglasses).

And WhatsApp is creating a business platform which will enable brands to respond to customers within 24-hours. In some countries, WhatsApp is already a common form of communication between retailers and consumers.

What does this mean for a waning high street? Brands can learn from the likes of IKEA, Amazon and Alibaba, which have transcended from online to offline experiential stores, designed not to aggressively push sales and stack up products, but to allow people to get hands on and experiment with the brands’ products. This experience encourages consumers to make their purchases online. The tactile high street shop may not quite be dead yet, resuscitated by evolving digital experiences.

Bricks and mortar stores are shutting at pace. What does it mean for eCommerce in the UK, and how is branded content a part of the mix? We have already seen the effects of consumers tightening their spending, resulting in the downfall of major names on the high street. Can social save the shops?

One of the primary reasons that many high street brands are struggling is due to a failure for bricks-and-mortar retail to keep up with digital expectations. Drab web design and questionable user experiences turned consumers off, and on to other more developed ecommerce propositions, such as Amazon. It’s, sometimes, about more than just price – it’s also about immediacy, seamlessness and simplicity.

So as users increasingly turn to the digital to make purchases of physical items, how can retailers adapt to survive? It’s increasingly less about your core website and more about being present at the perfect purchase moment. In 2019 Instagram will become a shopping platform in itself, with the introduction of a native credit card payment system. Browsing #ootd just became so much more dangerous.

Facebook will be implementing new AR ads, allowing users to virtually try out new products (such as makeup and sunglasses).

And WhatsApp is creating a business platform which will enable brands to respond to customers within 24-hours. In some countries, WhatsApp is already a common form of communication between retailers and consumers.

What does this mean for a waning high street? Brands can learn from the likes of IKEA, Amazon and Alibaba, which have transcended from online to offline experiential stores, designed not to aggressively push sales and stack up products, but to allow people to get hands on and experiment with the brands’ products. This experience encourages consumers to make their purchases online. The tactile high street shop may not quite be dead yet, resuscitated by evolving digital experiences.