Tag: Media

OMD @ DMEXCO 2017

dmexco is the global business and innovation platform of the digital economy, enabling visitors to experience disruptive trends and define the business potential of tomorrow. With over 250 hours of conference programme, more than 1,000 exhibitors and 90,000 square meters of exhibition space – Europe’s leading digital trade fair is growing. As the meeting place for makers and shakers, visionaries, marketing and media professionals, tech enthusiasts and creative thinkers, dmexco combines a leading trade fair for digital marketing with an extraordinary conference.

We are extremely excited that OMD, for the fifth year running is returning to Cologne to help guide our clients, partners and friends through the exhibition and offer an unparalleled experience. This year OMD is offering a comprehensive range of guided tours, from mobile and programmatic to data and social, live hacks focusing on data strategy and marketing technology, and bespoke recommendations for talks and panels you should attend to make your time at dmexco as profitable and educational as possible.

Let us guide you

Start your dmexco experience with a guided tour from our team of OMD experts. For German speaking tours please sign up here. For English speaking tours across mobile, programmatic, data and social please contact [email protected] to reserve your space. English tour timings are as follows:

September 13th

  •  The mobile and social tour- 10.00
  • The programmatic and data tour- 12.00
  • The overview tour- 16.00

September 14th

  •  The mobile and social tour- 12.00
  • The programmatic and data tour- 14.00
  • The overview tour- 16.00

Participation in the tours is only possible after registration. As participants are limited per tour, make sure to secure your place today.

Taking to the stage

Let our experts compile the panels and keynotes that you won’t want to miss. With past speakers including Mondelez’ Dana Anderson, Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, Vice’s Shane Smith and Google’s Sridhar Ramaswamy, the 2017 agenda, including our OMD and Omnicom spokespeople, is bound to be exceptional. 

Your home at dmexco 

With a jam-packed programme make sure you visit the OMD stand to re-energize. Join us for refreshments, networking opportunities or a guided tour. For more information about dmexco and how we can make your time in Cologne more valuable, please contact [email protected]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6XnoDuRPbU


My Four Observations from The IAB Europe AdEx Benchmark report

The IAB Europe AdEx Benchmark report is always a great opportunity to halt the permanent hyperloop we all work in and take stock of exactly what our industry has gone through.We can see that growth has stayed at a consistent level of around 12% year-on-year over the past 5 years as online media matures, accounting for €42bn of all media. However, the following are four areas from this year’s report that I feel have driven real change within the market:

  1. Polarisation within Europe: The larger markets have matured as the tech landscape has settled and programmatic is now a cemented part of online activity within the largest markets.  This compares to the emerging markets, who are seeing rapid growth as the tech giants transfer the learnings from the mature markets’ earlier development and infrastructure. This has meant exponential growth for the likes of Romania and Slovenia, as the initial entrants into areas such as programmatic have been received positively, driving further confidence.
  2. The Organisation of Data: The accountability of online media has always been positive, but equally it has led to further complexity in the market.  Not only has measurement begun to see some degree of standardisation, helping brands understand true effectiveness over time, but it has also allowed for more dynamic, real time decisions to become a standard practice. However, this organisation of data has not just allowed for clearer measurement. Publishers and platforms have segmented their audiences with more effect – the understanding of observed behavioural insights, as well as development of robust custom audiences has meant that targeting is paying back a stronger ROI and, as a result, increasing investment.
  3. The Integration of Media and Content:  Building on the last point, and due to the complexity of formats that online media comes with, content is playing a tighter role within all media decisions.  The term “mobile first” is overused in our industry and not because people don’t appreciate the importance that the device plays in people’s lives, but because brands would all too often put their TV ad straight onto a mobile placement.  The insights we are getting from our ability to analyse data more effectively has meant that the content creation and production process is now more dynamic and increasingly relevant to the device, context and environment when served.
  4. The Growth of e-Commerce: The advancements of e-commerce from a platform experience (as well as improvements in distribution) have meant the consumer has more and more confidence in adopting this method of shopping.  This has naturally has led to a rise in more direct performance media such as search. As content experience improves and the fact that the point of desire and traction can now happen in a matter of seconds, more immersive forms of online content has begun to prove direct attribution to sales.

There are still many opportunities across the industry to improve the experience that brands provide within online media, as well as simplifying the technical infrastructure that they operate in.  However, there is a lot to be positive about as we enter the 3rd wave of disruption and the mass adoption of areas such as Artificial Intelligence and the internet of things.


My Four Observations from The IAB Europe AdEx Benchmark report

The IAB Europe AdEx Benchmark report is always a great opportunity to halt the permanent hyperloop we all work in and take stock of exactly what our industry has gone through.We can see that growth has stayed at a consistent level of around 12% year-on-year over the past 5 years as online media matures, accounting for €42bn of all media. However, the following are four areas from this year’s report that I feel have driven real change within the market:

  1. Polarisation within Europe: The larger markets have matured as the tech landscape has settled and programmatic is now a cemented part of online activity within the largest markets.  This compares to the emerging markets, who are seeing rapid growth as the tech giants transfer the learnings from the mature markets’ earlier development and infrastructure. This has meant exponential growth for the likes of Romania and Slovenia, as the initial entrants into areas such as programmatic have been received positively, driving further confidence.
  2. The Organisation of Data: The accountability of online media has always been positive, but equally it has led to further complexity in the market.  Not only has measurement begun to see some degree of standardisation, helping brands understand true effectiveness over time, but it has also allowed for more dynamic, real time decisions to become a standard practice. However, this organisation of data has not just allowed for clearer measurement. Publishers and platforms have segmented their audiences with more effect – the understanding of observed behavioural insights, as well as development of robust custom audiences has meant that targeting is paying back a stronger ROI and, as a result, increasing investment.
  3. The Integration of Media and Content:  Building on the last point, and due to the complexity of formats that online media comes with, content is playing a tighter role within all media decisions.  The term “mobile first” is overused in our industry and not because people don’t appreciate the importance that the device plays in people’s lives, but because brands would all too often put their TV ad straight onto a mobile placement.  The insights we are getting from our ability to analyse data more effectively has meant that the content creation and production process is now more dynamic and increasingly relevant to the device, context and environment when served.
  4. The Growth of e-Commerce: The advancements of e-commerce from a platform experience (as well as improvements in distribution) have meant the consumer has more and more confidence in adopting this method of shopping.  This has naturally has led to a rise in more direct performance media such as search. As content experience improves and the fact that the point of desire and traction can now happen in a matter of seconds, more immersive forms of online content has begun to prove direct attribution to sales.

There are still many opportunities across the industry to improve the experience that brands provide within online media, as well as simplifying the technical infrastructure that they operate in.  However, there is a lot to be positive about as we enter the 3rd wave of disruption and the mass adoption of areas such as Artificial Intelligence and the internet of things.


Channel 4- Hunted

Could you go off the grid and evade capture from some of the UK’s leading surveillance experts? Hunted was a new thriller from Channel 4 that challenged 14 people to do exactly that, with trained detectives snapping at their heels as they were on the run.

OMD UK’s challenge was to launch the show and ultimately get people to tune in.

The Idea

With one surveillance camera for every 11 people in the UK, the show would make viewers imagine life on the run. OMD UK used this fact to do something that has never done before – they turned media into surveillance equipment and recreated the paranoia of being hunted.

The team brought the ‘invisible net’ of the surveillance power of the UK to life, putting people in the shoes of ‘the hunted’ and showing the difficulty of the task they were facing.

Hunted 3

Making it Happen

OMD UK developed a staggering 325 different creative messages that ran across 114 formats on 37 media channels. Each ad was personal, reaching them in places they least expected and surprising them as they went about their day. Every single creative was contextually aligned with each individual media format:

  • ATM cash machine screens told you to ‘cut up your card’
  • Personalised Starbucks cups said ‘Don’t tell anyone your name’
  • Public transport said to ‘hide your face’
  • Travel card wallets told you ‘This is a tracking device’
  • Receipts warned you ‘you’ve told them where you are, run’
  • Petrol stations advised you to ‘abandon your car’
  • Beer mats proclaimed ‘you have no mates’
  • Mirrors said to ‘change your identity’
  • Club stamps told people to ‘give a false name’
  • Train panels instructed you to ‘leave town and never come back’
  • Public telephones warned you to ‘never call your family’
  • Public toilets told you to ‘leave no trace’
  • Roadside panels advised you to ‘be prepared to eat anything’

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Results

There were over 19,000 tweets about Hunted on the build-up to the first episode and OMD UK smashed their campaign targets.


Monster champion jobseekers in brand refresh

Monster has launched a new campaign with OMD, their first in seven years, to reinvigorate the Monster brand in the UK with a specific focus on the millennial audience; potential candidates who are in the earliest years of their career.

Monster Recruitment May 2016 1

Andrew Warner, Vice President Of Marketing at Monster said,

“For too long the job market and career conditions in the UK have seen jobseekers as victims. In terms of competitors, the landscape is ‘functional’ rather than thrilling; category apathy means there is little to distinguish between the major competitor offerings. This campaign, planned and implemented by OMD, aims to reposition jobseekers as heroes – champions – with Monster on their side and in their corner. Monster helps jobseekers ‘Find Better.’”

It’s a bold stance and is supported by a bold, multi-million pound media campaign, combining high-impact Out Of Home and Digital OOH advertising in commuter-saturated areas nationally with high-reach executions across radio, digital and social channels. This includes the BFI IMAX, the largest ad canvas in Europe, and digital screens across major transport hubs in London and nationwide.

Monster Recruitment May 2016 10

Further nationwide coverage is provided by a nationwide radio campaign that manages to keep reach high while still focussing on the ‘Millennial’ audience.

“As well as prominently displaying Monster’s revitalised brand, the media mix speaks to the target audience through their most prevalent channels and will land the brand values as well as driving direct response through digital channels,” added James Jackson, International Executive Director at OMD. “It is well supported by social media campaigning across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and to further target the young jobseeker audience, features Snapchat as a major element.”

The practical outcome of the channel mix is that the varied channels work together to reinforce the refreshed Monster brand and drive candidates and new partners to the Monster site. This campaign is mirrored across European markets.

Monster have big growth ambitions and this campaign is a reflection of that, as is their significant investment in their product offering and a successful drive to increase the number of jobs on their site to 500,000 in the space of a year, helped by aggregating jobs from other sites and partnering with more blue-chip clients such as Sky, Apple and Lloyds. Monster are dedicated to doing more than providing a simple job board and are supporting jobseekers with a wealth of career resources and training initiatives.


Millennials- why we’re worth advertisers’ attention

There is a huge amount of debate in the marketing industry regarding millennials, our value, affect and the way in which we are shaping the future of the industry as we know it. However who better to ask than a millennial themselves? As a 26-year-old working in the marketing industry I decided to take a closer look at why we’re a generation to be taken seriously.

When looking at the importance of the millennial generation to advertisers I could simply say we’re important because we’re shaping the future of the world. However that in itself is a huge statement so to break that down…millennials today account for nearly 50% of the world’s population. This makes us the dominant workforce and the generation holding the majority of the globe’s spending power. A recent study by Accenture found we spend on average $600 billion each year, and therefore based on this staggering figure alone, I’d say at the very least we’re worth advertisers’ consideration! With millennials spanning an age range of 16-34, 1 in 4 of us are now parents, holding not only the spending power and purchasing decisions for ourselves, but for our families. However it’s not just about sheer numbers, although these are impressive and would make a compelling argument by themselves. For me it’s the way in which we behave that makes us such an important and interesting target audience.

millennial-disruption-insights-2015-9-638

As a generation of digital natives we live in a hyper-connected world that provides endless opportunities at our fingertips, fuelling a hunger to discover more. This means that our expectations have permanently changed and are constantly changing: we want more in life, to discover more and go further, and in turn we demand not only more from our lives and ourselves but also from the brands we love. By demanding more we’re challenging brands, pushing them to be more innovative and creative in order to catch our attention and create noise. If advertisers weren’t striving to break the mould would Virgin Holidays have created a campaign using Virtual Reality to sell holidays? If we weren’t a generation pushing brands to be more innovative we could still be booking our holidays on the telephone. Likewise, if Carlsberg wasn’t interested in capturing our imaginations, they would dedicate their entire media budget to TV instead of making a bar (of the booze variety!) made entirely out of chocolate!

If Carlsberg did chocolate bars... Pictured: The Carlsberg bar made entirely out of chocolate.

Not only are we a generation whose demand is fuelling continuous innovation but we’re the harshest critics, and therefore the best generation for a brand to learn from in order to gain a share of voice and see real business growth. Yet it is not just about our being opinionated that is important to advertisers, but the fact that we share our views on blogs, social media, with our friends, family and colleagues. We can make or break a brand in a few keystrokes, and brands know it. With 67% of consumers using a company’s social media channel for customer service, hundreds of brands including Nike, Starbucks and Walmart have customer service teams dedicated to their social channels, ready to handle negative comments and promote praise.

 

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By challenging brands to be continually dynamic, millennials have subsequently become a force that has changed the way advertisers use media. The way in which brands interact with a 16-year-old on Snapchat vs. how they engage with a 34-year browsing Instagram or through Stylist magazine on a Tuesday commute home is very different. There is therefore no ‘one size fits all’ strategy when looking at the channels through with to engage millennials and this again has led advertisers to view their marketing strategies through a different lens.

Whilst we cannot group millennials into a single channel or platform, I think there are inherent themes that apply to all millennials which advertisers can apply to any media channel. For example, I believe authenticity is incredibly important – and by authenticity I mean approachable authenticity: we want to see and hear from real people who we can relate to, or aspire to be like. This theme comes to life through blogs, vlogging and social media; Zoella’s YouTube channel has over seven million subscribers whilst the Kardashian sisters have a combined Instagram following of 275 million. With 50% of millennials researching products on social media, we can see what a powerful and credible tool it can be. By building their brand through social media and reality TV the Kardashians’ empire is now worth $300 million.

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With millennials spending an estimated 22 hours on their phone each week it would seem an easy solution to simply target us through digital channels; however, I believe we can still be reached through traditional channels by being authentic. Notably, Dove’s Beauty Sketches campaign used real, normal women to shine a light on the differences in beauty perceptions. This campaign resonated with millennial women around the world and resulted in becoming the most viral video of all time, with over 135 million views.

Another theme that I believe can transgress all media channels is the evolution of the brand ambassador. I have already mentioned how important it is for millennials to feel like they can connect with real people and I think this is becoming particularly apparent in who advertisers now pick to front campaigns. The most successful supermodels today are no longer just visible on the catwalk and billboards, but let us into their lives. The likes of Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid (millennials themselves) now take us backstage at the Victoria Secret Show and on their Saturday night out with the Taylor Swift squad, opening their world to us via social media. Their influence cannot be ignored and many brands such as H&M and Balmain have chosen to embrace it.

To promote their new partnership and collection with H&M, Balmain chose Kendall, Gigi and Jourdan Dunn to front their campaign which launched exclusively on Instagram. Using their influence with the millennial audience H&M and Balmain’s collaboration went on to be their most successful, with an Instagram reach larger than the UK population and the range selling out online and in-store in a matter of hours. This demonstrates the power of brand ambassadors when attributed to the right brand.

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Likewise the role of the brand ambassador can be just as influential when used on traditional media channels, if advertisers use the right person to fit their purpose. For instance, Burberry’s use of Emma Watson, a millennial we have grown up with watching Harry Potter and whose passions for issues such as gender equality we now share, led to a 23% increase in sales for the brand.

Emma-Watson-Burberry-shoot-2-Spring-Summer-2010-anichu90-17188887-1600-1086 2

I could go on about the themes that I think are important to millennials that can be used on any media channel, but the key point I am trying to address is that millennials are changing the way advertisers address their marketing strategies. It’s not just about our sheer numbers and spending power that makes us an important audience but our behaviour and what advertisers can learn from us. By being a demanding generation and challenging brands to always be more innovative than the previous day, we are pushing them to find new ways to create noise, which means looking at how channels can be used in new ways. You just have to look at Carlsberg’s billboard including a beer tap to see how traditional channels can be using in a unique way to catch our attention. By taking note of millennials’ demands, criticism and behaviour we offer advertisers the opportunity to learn, challenge themselves and in turn become the most innovative, creative and powerful brands in the world.


Matt Adlard, a Senior Planner who works on the Luxottica account

We asked Matt Adlard, a Senior Planner who works on the Luxottica account, four questions to understand a bit more about what he does in his spare time as the ‘Topless Baker’, a half dressed chef who live streams weekly cooking shows on Meerkat. Matt has been recognised as one of the top live streamers by AdWeek who described him as a ‘live streaming star that every brand should get to know’; he has also spoken at the Festival of Marketing about how brands should use live streaming. These questions cover Matt’s live streaming journey and what he has learned along the way.

  1. How did you get into live streaming and why Topless Baker?

We were doing research for Oakley about what owned social channels they should look at in 2016, and came across Periscope and Meerkat. There were some reservations that starting a new social channel would be worth the investment in terms of increased engagement.

I had started a blog, ‘Topless Baker’, earlier in the year, combining my love of food and exercise, and saw this as a perfect opportunity to demonstrate to the client how effective it could be. I knew I had a huge first-mover advantage and I could gain traction quickly so I ran home that night and the rest is history!

  1. So what did Oakley think about all of this?

We presented the business case to them and they were very impressed. Within three months, I had 20,000 followers on Meerkat and 1,800 on Instagram with an engagement rate above 30% per post.

When presenting this to Oakley, we were able to demonstrate that by creating authentic, engaging content, you could drive increased social engagement and organic reach, with minimal investment or paid media required.

  1. What are the benefits of live streaming and why should brands be using it?

Although it might be hard to see how brands can relate to ‘topless baking’, there are key lessons and benefits that can be applied to any brand.

First is the ability to drive increased engagement above and beyond traditional social channels. Consumers are hyper-savvy nowadays – especially the millennial audience. They are looking for engaging, authentic content that they can’t find anywhere else. The challenge we face with many traditional media channels is that it is a ‘one to many’ conversation – live streaming is the exact opposite and it allows you to have direct conversations with fans in real time, which drives huge engagement compared to traditional social channels.

Take OMD’s client Sony Pictures for example: everybody sees the actors going down the red carpet at premieres and can look at photos online, but imagine if fans could get insight into what happens behind closed doors at the event? Seth Rogan could Periscope to fans behind the scenes taking questions about his latest film release, giving exclusive insight that couldn’t be found elsewhere.

Secondly, you will learn more about your audience in one hour than you will through any traditional media. Thanks to the real-time nature of live streaming, you can react to fans’ questions or comments on the go, allowing you to be ‘creatively reactive’. You will learn what your consumers do or do not like about your channel quickly, which in turn allows you to adjust your content accordingly for your next episode.

Finally: the ability to drive cross-channel reach. By asking followers on Twitter what you should do in your next stream, or posting footage and images from the stream on Instagram afterwards, you can leverage live streaming across multiple touchpoints which in turn increases reach beyond the original channels.

  1. What advice would you give to brands looking to live stream?

The key piece of advice to brands is to be brave. There is still a huge first mover advantage within live streaming and brands need to be bold enough to take the first step.

Brands are very much used to having complete control over content, being able to filter, cut and edit footage to make sure it is perfect; however this is exactly what a live streaming audience doesn’t want to see. They want to see brands in their unfiltered, natural state, and although there are uncertainties around this, by taking that first step before competitors a brand can reap the rewards.


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