Hello and welcome to your weekly FWD.
The rise of influencer marketing is causing waves as more and more fantasy-like posts surface which have generated comments calling Instagram ‘a ridiculous lie factory made to make us all feel inadequate’. The public are becoming attuned to paid posts, unrealistic images and the ‘highlight reel’ that is often the only visible representation of one’s life. In line with this, UK broadcasters are urging the government to create a social media watchdog to strengthen oversight of social media companies. The response? Yes, we know.
In the tech space, excitement is building over Apple’s impending product announcement on the 12th of September in Cupertino. The rumour mill is churning out speculation on whether the home button is being superseded with OLED screens, and if the iWatch will at last, be round.
HEADLINES
INSIGHTS
COOL
DEEP READS
Please feel free to pass OMD FWD onto your colleagues, clients and friends – they can subscribe here at any time and watch Wednesday’s get better! #OMDFWD
Hello and welcome to your weekly FWD.
At the centre of attention and creating (over) hype this week was the ‘weirdest event in internet history’ – the battle of the YouTubers, KSI and Logan Paul. Although, no one should be surprised that it was hijacked by pirates on Twitch. With YouTube charging $10USD to tune into the match, Twitch brought the game to the masses and indeed, ashore.
Advertising regulation was also full on, with Facebook removing 5,000 ad targeting options in a bid to prevent discrimination. “While these options have been used in legitimate ways to reach people interested in a certain product or service, we think minimizing the risk of abuse is more important. This includes limiting the ability for advertisers to exclude audiences that relate to attributes such as ethnicity or religion.” YouTube are also jumping on board with more non-skippable ads offered to advertisers. With more on the market being directed at larger catchments, how does this impact targeted marketing and segmented audiences?
HEADLINES
INSIGHTS
COOL
DEEP READS
Please feel free to pass OMD FWD onto your colleagues, clients and friends – they can subscribe here at any time and watch Wednesday’s get better! #OMDFWD
Hello and welcome to your weekly FWD.
You may be spending less time watching television and more time on your device, but that won’t shield you from the latest onslaught of advertising content being pushed online. Amazon is testing video ads in mobile search results. Ads are shown below the fold in search results and will either drive shoppers a product page, directly to an Amazon Store or to a custom landing page. Your Netflix nights may also see an unwelcome visitor in the form of promos in between episodes. How many videos in one sitting is too many?
Time to get a little more savvy on social media as the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is clamping down on how influencers declare their paid sponsorships. Gone are the days where someone’s affinities are purely personal. Finally, for a critical look into the aesthetics of Instagram set-ups, one user places posts side-by-side to prove that no one is completely unique. Time to opt out of ads and buy into originality.
HEADLINES
INSIGHTS
- The new instalment in the IPA’s AI Radar series looks at public attitudes to AI in the workplace
- Are ‘dumb phone’ sales rising because users want a break from always-on connectivity?
- Smartphones account for 62% of time spent online in the UK, according to UKOM’s Digital Market Overview
COOL
DEEP READS
Please feel free to pass OMD FWD onto your colleagues, clients and friends – they can subscribe here at any time and watch Wednesday’s get better! #OMDFWD
Hello and welcome to your weekly FWD.
You may be spending less time watching television and more time on your device, but that won’t shield you from the latest onslaught of advertising content being pushed online. Amazon is testing video ads in mobile search results. Ads are shown below the fold in search results and will either drive shoppers a product page, directly to an Amazon Store or to a custom landing page. Your Netflix nights may also see an unwelcome visitor in the form of promos in between episodes. How many videos in one sitting is too many?
Time to get a little more savvy on social media as the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is clamping down on how influencers declare their paid sponsorships. Gone are the days where someone’s affinities are purely personal. Finally, for a critical look into the aesthetics of Instagram set-ups, one user places posts side-by-side to prove that no one is completely unique. Time to opt out of ads and buy into originality.
HEADLINES
INSIGHTS
- The new instalment in the IPA’s AI Radar series looks at public attitudes to AI in the workplace
- Are ‘dumb phone’ sales rising because users want a break from always-on connectivity?
- Smartphones account for 62% of time spent online in the UK, according to UKOM’s Digital Market Overview
COOL
DEEP READS
Please feel free to pass OMD FWD onto your colleagues, clients and friends – they can subscribe here at any time and watch Wednesday’s get better! #OMDFWD
Hello and welcome to your weekly FWD.
The era of handheld entertainment, communication, connection and everything in-between continues to grow. Whilst devices are pushing out traditional paper-based methods (the last physical Yellow Pages was delivered in London last week) the app industry is going from strength to strength. Fornite has just launched on Android for Samsung phones, whilst Facebook is building its own AR games to use over Messenger video chat.
As more and more attention turns to fake news and what falls between the lines of free speech and defamation, this week Twitter grapples with defining ‘dehumanising speech’ and what this means for the deletion of such tweets and accounts. InfoWars weighs in on the debate with more than a dozen of their tweets being red-flagged for violating Twitter’s rules. 280 characters can hold more than we thought – short but rarely sweet.
HEADLINES
INSIGHTS
COOL
DEEP READS
Please feel free to pass OMD FWD onto your colleagues, clients and friends – they can subscribe here at any time and watch Wednesday’s get better! #OMDFWD
Hello and welcome to your weekly FWD! This week we say goodbye to summer and hello to a new harvest of autumnal updates from the tech world. With a new season comes a new wardrobe and this year you could not only get your hands on the Nike x NBA Connected Jersey that connects wearers to exclusive content, but it’s also rumoured Amazon is working on Alexa-powered smart glasses. Still feeling end-of-Summer blues? Sing them away with the now most streamed song on Spotify!
HEADLINES
- What does $1.1bn allow you to buy? Enter Google, who have purchased HTC’s Pixel mobile division
- OK, well what does $16bn get you? Enter Intel, who have acquired a computer vision software (for autonomous driving purposes)
- Slightly smaller yet no less significant, Apple have changed the Siri IOS browser from Bing to Google
INSIGHTS
COOL
DEEP READS
As usual, please share anything you find interesting using the hashtag #OMDFWD
Over the years at OMD EMEA, we have seen technology evolve drastically. Working with some of the largest brands in the world we have been fortunate to be at the forefront of technology, driving our clients through the ever-changing landscape. From the first ever out-of-home programmatic execution in Europe with Google’s real-time digital community noticeboard, to more recently the world’s first programmatically powered cinema. In the below post we take a look at our latest award-winning campaigns with technology and innovation at the heart.
Google showcase their community spirit with the first ever OOH programmatic campaign in Europe
For Google to launch their first OOH programmatic campaign, location was crucial. They selected Old Street, a world-leading technology hub, where they could easily influence their young progressive core audience. The roundabout was taken over by a large digital billboard, displaying real-time data feeds, with content for the local community to interact with via the Google app. Within six months of being live, four out of five people spontaneously recalled the activity, which led to an amazing 93% of people agreeing that they felt positively towards the Google brand!
OMD has also worked with the world’s leading technology giant to recently launch Android Pay’s first ever large-scale brand campaign, in a bid to drive Christmas sales. Working closely with the TFL network for ‘Taps’ and countless payments, they are using clever geo-targeting, audience behavioural data and capturing every moment to deliver the most relevant creative purchase.
Immersive theatre successfully launches pricey tech
Gaming has really taken off in the last few years as virtual reality has quite literally become more of a reality. When HTC first launched their VIVE VR system, the product was too pricey and therefore didn’t appeal to their targeted millennial audience. OMD’s specialist service unit Fuse, experts in partnerships and experiences, collaborated with Noma Labs and HTC to make the product more accessible by creating a fully immersive theatre production, ‘Virtually Dead’. The event was a massive success, selling out in both London and Paris within two weeks, the event exceeded trial KPIs by 91%.
Smurfs capture the hearts of their new digital followers
Having worked creatively with HTC’s technology to launch their product to the masses, we are now working with partners to create technology that is only just scratching the surface!
For the release of Sony Pictures’ Smurfs film, OMD partnered with Oath (AOL) and Unit9 to build an AR experience of the HoloLens, to excite their core target audience, previously only attracting adult fans of the franchise.
The experience itself was a gamified version of the movie in which users, led by Papa Smurf were encouraged to explore the world and unlock hidden content. It was tested countless times to ensure it ‘delighted’ children, exciting them with something they’d never experienced before and allowing them to immerse themselves in one of their favourite films.
Smurfs, “The Lost Village” was one of the biggest releases for Sony Pictures this year. We had incredible PR pick-up generating over 40m media impressions and behind the scenes content resulting in 20.8m impressions and 15.9 million video views.
Intel show off their creativity with a performance of a lifetime
Also within the world of entertainment, we worked with Intel, collaborating with Lady Gaga at the Grammys to produce an unforgettable, tech inspired experience dedicated to music legend David Bowie. This showcased Intel’s innovative technology through artist performance and fan experience. The end product surfaced as a visually stimulating performance by Gaga who controlled the stage effects in real time, thanks to Intel-powered facial scanning and video projecting technology.
Intel also managed to pull off a spectacular performance during the Super Bowl LI halftime show, where again, Lady Gaga was performing. They released a swarm of 300 Shooting Stars to form an American flag in the sky. Watch the behind the scenes video here!
Chatbots promote futuristic TV Series
One of the most significant technologies to recently surface and become more of a reality is Artificial Intelligence. As we now have the data and technology in place, there is a huge opportunity for brands to be innovative over the next few years. OMD was recently recognised for the second year in succession at the Cannes Lions festival, for their work with Channel 4. To launch the second series of Humans last year they created a Facebook Messenger chatbot to answer viewers’ questions, built on the computer conversation service PullString. The series is all about synthetic humans, so the technology was very fitting. Series 2 went on to become Channel 4’s best returning original drama for five years- check out full details of the campaign here.
With a significant leap in technology over the last few years, we are at a time where innovation can accelerate rapidly for most brands. At OMD, we are always striving to take our clients into unknown territory to push the boundaries of what’s possible. As some technologies are only just surfacing, it’s a great time for brands to capitalise and really make an impact!
With programmatic, emerging tech and artificial intelligence increasingly prominent in brand marketing strategies, we look forward to working with our clients to uncover the next big thing in 2018.
For more information about OMD or any of the campaigns mentioned, please contact us at [email protected]
“The digital transformation is not a completed project with a clearly defined beginning or end”. So say the organisers of this year’s dmexco conference, whose 2017 motto “lightning the age of transformation” shines a light on the key area of focus for the delegates this year.
The path of transformation is often unpredictable – forking and diverging as new technologies, new platforms and new measurement capabilities come to market. Most importantly however, we must always bear in mind for whom and often by whom the transformation is occurring – the consumer.
This year’s the dmexco conference puts the consumer at the very heart of the hundreds of talks, seminars and debates open to its delegates. Before we, at OMD EMEA, make our way over to Cologne to determine and challenge what digital transformation means to some of the industry’s best and brightest, we have put pen to paper to predict the five areas which will be most important for the not-too-distant future.
GLOBAL DIGITISATION
dmexco kicks off the two-day event with one of the most pertinent questions that will shape the future of the digital transformation – what does digitisation mean to the world? What impact will digitisation have on us as human beings and as businesses? How do we upskill ourselves and our local markets for an unpredictable future? Rather than answer these questions, we will look into what kind of mind-set is needed in the future of a digitised world, to ensure a successful transformation pathway.
REAL-TIME MARKETING
A consumer’s expectation of appropriate (and successful) brand communication is an acutely personal aspect of the digital world we now live in. Personalisation through privately owned platforms (such as smart phones) is now being enhanced outside of the handheld into real-time data-powered DOOH executions and beyond. Not only can brands deliver an always-on marketing approach to consumers, they can do so in a hyper-personalised manner. We’ll be interrogating what it means to be reaching consumers on the move, and whether stationary and mobile media should be treated as two separate or connected worlds.
DATA ISN’T EVERYTHING…
…but everything is nothing without data. One of the key themes that will be running through many of the talks during dmexco is ‘courage’ – the courage to experiment and take risk to rapidly advance your own digital transformation. We will be looking into some of the largest global brands who have taken calculated data-driven risks to deliver significant growth for their businesses. Within the performance aspect of our business, we will be investigating what the Coalition for Better Ads means to viewability, ad-fraud and brand safety and how worried should we be about GDPR.
ASSISTANCE THROUGH AI
It’s no surprise to see many speakers keen to talk about ‘The Age of Assistance’ via artificial intelligence, but what does this mean to us as marketers? Beyond the in-home opportunities, we’ll be looking into how brands have powered their own innovation and creativity through the use of cognitive systems and the first steps towards a powerful tool in any marketer’s armoury – predictive advertising through AI.
CONSUMER CENTRICITY
As mentioned above, the consumer should always be the focus of every digital transformation pathway. Many of the talks and seminars at dmexco will place the consumer front and centre. Whether it’s Deutsche Telekom’s “Journey to Digital Customer Service Excellence” or McDonald’s “Move to Customer Centricity” – many global brands are tackling how to address customers individually through digital channels. We will interrogate how to manage and build brand equity in a world of tech-savvy individuals that spans multiple generations across the globe.
OMD EMEA will be tweeting throughout the event – just follow @OMD_EMEA and Stuart Morris and Georgina Williams-Gray at @SG_OMD on Twitter and Instagram for live updates.
Hello and welcome to this week’s OMD FWD! Despite it being officially summer you can’t blame us for saying “Winter is coming”…as this week Facebook rolled out a special Game of Thrones photo filter for the season finale (don’t panic no spoilers included!).
Facebook has also been making some changes to the platform, moving towards TV-like content after seeing higher engagement from serialised publisher content, blocking advertising on pages that share fake news and withdrawing some of the less business-focused ad formats. Meanwhile, Amazon continues to rise in the ranks of the online giants, expanding its programmatic offering and moving into the FinTech space. However, Walmart and Google are partnering to challenge Amazon’s ascent by taking on Alexa in the voice-shopping market. It also appears that Alexa may face some other intruders in the future…kids!
Do you think you have an idea that could turn you into a tech titan? Perhaps involving smart homes or self-driving cars? Take a look at Uber’s first pitch to get some ideas on how to do it!
HEADLINES
INSIGHTS
COOL
DEEP READS
If you see anything FWD worthy in the week ahead, please share using #OMDFWD
Hola y bienvenidos a su FWD semanal!
This week the Spanish hit ‘Despacito’ became the most viewed YouTube video ever proving just how global YouTube’s reach is. However, it’s not just music fans that are flocking to the site, as top global advertisers are returning to YouTube after a brand-safety boycott.
Meanwhile, Instagram is maintaining its first-choice status for both food lovers and under 25-year-olds, as Instagram food photographers are to be celebrated at a London exhibition and the younger audience is now reported to spend an average of over 32 minutes a day on the app.
In the AI world, there have been more new and interesting developments, as it is revealed that intelligent drones are helping to stop poaching in Africa and this TED talk shows how AI is improving image recognition and detection…
Although Brits could soon go undetected on social media under a new data protection bill.
HEADLINES
INSIGHTS
COOL
DEEP READS
If you see anything FWD worthy in the week ahead, please share using #OMDFWD