5 ‘Spooktacular’ Halloween ad campaigns

To celebrate Halloween, we’ve picked out 5 of our favorite Halloween campaigns to get you in to the spirit!

 

Horseless Headman – Snickers

Produced by AMV BBDO for Snickers in 2012

 

Star Wars Halloween – Verizon  

Created by agency Wieden + Kennedy, with the advert last being aired in 2013

 

Gear 360 Captures Ghost in Creepy VR Found Footage 

Created by 1 Trick Pony in 2016

 

The Scariest: LG’s ‘So Real it’s Scary’ Campaign 

Superheroes Amsterdam created this in 2012 for LG

 

Giant Talking Spider – Skittles

Created by DDB Chicago aired in 2013.

Morrisons: The Data Champions?

Morrisons is next up in our Data Champions series, where we take an in-depth look at companies ‘championing data’. To be considered a data champion companies should be using data in a unique way to help achieve their overall business objectives.

In the first of this 3-part series we looked at how Under Armour is disrupting the sportswear industry, revolutionising the ‘connected fitness’ movement.

In this article we’ll be looking at supermarket chain Morrisons. Founded by William Morrisons in the 1890’s, Morrisons has been a mainstay in the UK supermarket industry for over 100 years. It’s now the UK’s fourth biggest supermarket chain, particularly impressive given that it started as a food market in the streets of Bradford, and where their HQ is to this day.

You may have heard of our AI solution, PurchaseLoop Foot Traffic, which uses AI to drive consumers to stores. This is one way in which retailers are harnessing AI to solve business objectives, however Morrison’s are using theirs to solve another problem – waste. A report should published by Wrap (a UK Government backed charity, set up to reduce food waste) revealed the scale of the issue, with supermarkets wasting on average 235,000 tonnes of food in a year.

Morrisons have teamed up with Blue Yonder, a provider of AI and Machine Learning solutions for companies in the retail sector to improve their customer service and efficiency.

Using data from the last 3 years, Morrisons looked at internal data (peak selling times and best selling products and external data (public holidays and weather forecasts) for each of their 491 stores. This data was then analysed and an algorithm was trained to predict what each individual store needs which product at what time. This is then ordered automatically, in turn freeing up time for Morrisons staff to focus on the customer.

This forward thinking by Morrisons has paid off, in just under 12 months they’ve reduced shelf gaps by 30%. It’s also reduced the amount of days Morrisons are holding stock for, which now stands at 2–3 days. This has had a direct impact on their overall sales figures, with like-for-like sales rising 1.7% in the final quarter of 2016, including their strongest Christmas trading period in seven years.

When supermarkets and other stores introduce Artificial Intelligence systems, there’s often a suggestion that this will lead to job losses. This isn’t the case for Morrisons, as as employees are actually spending more time on the shop floor.

Morrisons CEO David Potts had this to say:

“Our biggest new initiative has been our new automated ordering system. The system is capital light, utilising cloud technology and store-specific historic sales data to forecast stock requirements. It is reducing costs and stock levels, while also saving time for colleagues, and providing a better offer for customers. “

With retailers under a lot of pressure to persuade consumers to come into store, rather than order online, they are looking to improve the in-store experience. This is another example of how big data and the use of artificial intelligence can significantly improve business results.

‘Wheel’ in the ROI: LoopMe’s Auto Event

This week we hosted a breakfast designed to educate, inform and provoke thought leading conversation amongst our guests, following from the success of our Christmas focused vertical.

This time, we took a deep dive in to the automotive sector. Advancements in tech are a driving force (excuse the pun!) in disrupting this industry and we’re now seeing tech companies such as Uber and Waze disrupting the automotive industry with non-traditional approaches.

So, for those of you were unable to attend the auto event, or would like a quick reminder – read on!

Data is still the missing piece

Stuart Bluck, Head of Research & Insight at Auto Trader kicked off the morning. Stuart led with a piece called ‘Data is still the missing piece to the automotive marketing puzzle’ session where he illustrated how difficult the buying process has become for consumers due to the wide range of options they face, only enhanced by the internet.

Stuart then discussed the findings of a campaign that Auto Trader recently ran where customers recorded first-hand accounts of their auto buying process. One of the themes was that the buying process is difficult as they’re inundated with different brand messages.

One telling stat was that 2/3 people changed their mind on the make and model of a car they were looking at during the purchase journey.

Buck emphasised the role mobile advertising can play in combating this problem as it is with consumers throughout the buying process. This is understandably harder than traditional channels like TV and OOH.

Auto & AI – ‘Wheeling’ in the ROI

LoopMe’s very own Tamsin Lawrence was up next speaking on the important role mobile devices to play in progressing consumers through the sales funnel. Did you know that users spend 11 hours researching their next car?

Tamsin then introduced PurchaseLoop, LoopMe’s brand uplift optimizer, highlighting some recent auto brand success stories. If you’re interested in learning more, get in touch.

Staying ahead in a changing market

Up next was Lauren Barnett of LoopMe who interviewed Steffie Beaven, Account Manager at MGOMD. Steffie highlighted the importance for brands to see TV and mobile creatives as two separate entities, as the right creative has a tangible impact on campaign metrics.

Luca Andreose, Sales Director at Sophus3 then took to the floor. The marketing software company work with many European automotive brands, tracking the digital behaviours of their consumers. Sophus3 research has shown that the average consumer researches at least 4 different car brands settling on one. This is a very poignant statistic, as it yet again highlights the need to stick with the consumer throughout the buying process. More exciting news on this soon!

Last to speak was Phil Rowley, Group Innovation Director at PHD, who delivered an attention grabbing presentation ‘Media Innovation for Autos: Why you might be doing it wrong’. Phil highlighted the importance of innovation for car brands, pointing out that they are now competing against car brands and tech companies for consumer loyalty.

Referencing Ester Boserup’s quote ‘Necessity is the mother of invention’ he commented that auto brands can fall into a trap of innovating for the wrong reason – either to demonstrate their worth of the brand or just because it’s a fun thing to do! He made the point that none of these matter as it’s not about the consumer, and you need to put them at the heart of your innovation.

Thanks again to our speakers for their insights and we hope to see you all at another event soon! If you’d like to learn more about our PurchaseLoop products for automotive brands, get in touch.

LoopMe Awards US: Voting is Now Open

We’re excited to announce that you can now vote for your favorite PurchaseLoop campaign.

The LoopMe Awards looks to celebrate the best in AI-optimized mobile video advertising. The shortlisted campaigns have all used PurchaseLoop to deliver enhanced campaign results and fulfill brand marketing objectives. Voting is open until October 30th–you can only vote once,  so make your vote count!

The final four campaigns for the US LoopMe Awards are:

 

Aud & PHD Media: Audi was one of the first brands in the United States to run a PurchaseLoop | Foot Traffic campaign with the intent of increasing dealership visits in their Sunbelt market (Los Angeles). Using location data from Placed and AI optimization, LoopMe was able to track and directly optimize for dealership visitation, serving ads only toward audiences and environments with the highest propensity for visiting an Audi dealership. The use of this technology resulted in a +31% increase in visits to dealerships in the LA area.

Jockey & Pure Growth: Pure Growth approached LoopMe with the task of raising awareness for the Jockey brand and their “Show ‘Em What’s Underneath” campaign. Originally a test, this campaign turned into a four-flight, full-year PurchaseLoop effort that ran throughout 2017. Through PurchaseLoop, awareness of the Jockey brand rose by 70%, and purchase intent increased by 30%.

 

Butterball & Y&R: Y&R worked with LoopMe in the Summer of 2017 to promote Butterball’s Every Day campaign, with the goal to increase brand awareness and purchase intent amongst ad viewers for the brand’s new products. LoopMe’s display of the Butterball ad increased purchase intent by +26% (exposed AI). The campaign also surpassed both benchmarks for VCR (+80%) and CTR (+0.35%). LoopMe’s AI accounted for a +3% uplift in VCR and +50% uplift in CTR.

Norwegian Air & Vizeum: Vizeum partnered with LoopMe on Norwegian Air’s inaugural 737-Max campaign to drive awareness of their new non-stop routes to Ireland and Scotland. To measure brand impact outside of standard metrics, LoopMe asked a group of control and exposed users within the target audience if they knew of these new non-stop routes to measure initial awareness. Once the responses were analyzed, LoopMe’s AI & DMP worked in tandem to actively target an optimized audience segment with the Norwegian Air creative to increase awareness by 94%.

 

What is PurchaseLoop?

PurchaseLoop is the world’s first brand uplift optimizer, driving better results across the metrics which matter in real-time. PurchaseLoop goes beyond campaign metrics to deliver the metrics that really matter. Check out our video to learn about how PurchaseLoop works.
To dive deeper into each campaign and vote for your favorite, click here. Good luck to all the nominees!

LoopMe shortlists twice at the IPA Media Owner Awards

We’re proud to announce that LoopMe have been shortlisted in two categories at the IPA’s Media Owner and Ad:tech Awards 2017.

The MOA’s celebrate exceptional levels of service that both media and ad tech companies provide to their agencies and clients. LoopMe have been shortlisted for both ‘Best Unfeatured Company’ and ‘Best Technology’ for our product, PurchaseLoop (patent pending).

The winners will be determined by industry experts, who include Amy Lawrence (MediaCom) and Suzy Ryder (OMD). Click here to view a full list of judges.

Our shortlisted product is PurchaseLoop, the world’s first brand uplift optimizer, driving better results across the metrics which matter in real-time. PurchaseLoop goes beyond campaign metrics to deliver the metrics that really matter and was awarded ‘Best Video At Tech Innovation’ at the Digiday Video Awards Europe.

Winners will be announced at the ceremony on November 28th. Good luck all!

4 stats showing the rapid growth of UK digital advertising

IAB UK in association with PwC recently released their bi-annual report which measures the size of the UK digital advertising market.

Overall digital ad spend in H1 2017 was £5.56 billion, a £675 million increase from last year. Here are 4 other stats which shows the rapid growth in UK digital advertising.

Mobile is almost half of all digital spend

The UK mobile market totals 43% of all digital spend, an 8% increase from the same period in 2016. As the graph below shows, this follows a general trend seen since 2006 and especially since 2014.

1

 

Mobile and search are on the charge

Both search and display ads on mobile devices are growing rapidly with a +37% and +40% increase respectively from H1 2016. Display advertising on mobile device was £1144 million, compared to just £157 million in 2013.

2

Mobile is has taken top spot for display

One of the most eye-opening stats is that ad spend on mobile devices is 57% of all digital ad spend. This is a 53% increase in just 6 years. According to comScore’s ‘Mobile’s Hierarchy of Needs’, 61% of the UK’s total digital minutes is spent on mobile devices. This fact, in combination with how  prominent smartphones have become in day-to-day lives of consumers has seen advertising pounds move to mobile.

3

Online video is more widely adopted than banners

Not only are mobile ads 5X more engaging than standard banners, but as the ad spend report attests, the industry is now aligned with this. For the first time since ad spend records began, online video has overtaken banners as the most popular display format.

4

Click here to download the full report.

LoopMe Awards UK: Voting is now open

The LoopMe Awards are fast approaching, and we’re excited to announce that you can now vote for your favourite campaign.

The LoopMe Awards looks to celebrate the best in AI-optimized mobile video advertising. The shortlisted campaigns all used PurchaseLoop to deliver enhanced campaign results and fulfil brand marketing objectives. Voting is open until October 30th and you’re allowed one vote per email address. Make your vote count!

The final six campaigns for the UK LoopMe Awards are:

Yorkshire Tea & Goodstuff

GoodStuff’s client, Yorkshire Tea were looking to promote their Yorkshire Tree campaign which was supporting their CSR goal of planting one million trees in the UK and abroad within the next five years. Using PurchaseLoop, awareness of Yorkshire Tea’s mission rose by 50%.

02 & Mobext

With two compelling 10-second video adverts, PurchaseLoop was used to increase brand consideration among users who were in-market for a new network provider. PurchaseLoop was responsible for the entire uplift in brand consideration.

Microsoft & The Story Lab

In this campaign, PurchaseLoop optimised to brand affinity and purchase intent in real time, moving consumers further along the purchase funnel through content engagement. This was the first campaign globally to combine AI brand optimisation in real-time with a programmatic buy.

Peugeot & OMD

Peugeot are known for their small cars, but in 2017 the released the 3008, their second car in the hotly-contested SUV category. By utilising PurchaseLoop technology LoopMe identified users within Peugeot/OMD’s target audience who would consider purchasing the 3008 SUV and optimised towards these users in real-time. The campaign ran in 2 phases, and from phase 1 to phase 2 purchase intent rose by 50%, demonstrating how data can be used as part of a long-tail automotive sales strategy.

Fosters & Publicis

Fosters were looking to increase their market share in a competitive beer market during the summer months. Using PurchaseLoop, Fosters surveyed consumers to ask: ‘Is Fosters a brand you are likely to drink?’. Using data from these responses, LoopMe created a bespoke segment that had the highest statistical chance of being positively affected by the advert, with a 97% uplift from control to AI exposed.

Philips & Dentsu Aegis 

Philips and Dentsu Aegis ran two high impact full-screen mobile formats which encouraged consumers to ‘get that healthy mouth feeling’ using the new Sonicare Diamond Clean Toothbrush. Using PurchaseLoop, there was an 18% increase in purchase intent.

What is PurchaseLoop?

PurchaseLoop is the world’s first brand uplift optimizer, driving better results across the metrics which matter in real-time. PurchaseLoop goes beyond campaign metrics to deliver the metrics that really matter. Check out our video to learn about how PurchaseLoop works.

To read a full description of each campaign and vote for your favorite click here. Best of luck to all nominated!

5 Reasons You Shouldn’t Forget About Mobile When Crafting Your Super Bowl Strategy

The Super Bowl is a staple in American culture. Although the Super Bowl is largely taken in through TV, it has experienced a huge lift in streamed viewership. Last year, Super Bowl LI was the most live-streamed game to date, bringing in an average of 1.7 million viewers per minute–up 23% from last year. With the high cost of commercials during the game, supplementing your strategy with mobile advertising is key to ensuring campaign success; especially considering the recent research showing that mobile video is more effective than TV.

  1. Since 2015, there has been a 224% increase in viewers streaming the game.
  2. Phone usage on Super Bowl Sunday increased between 7-10% in comparison to previous Sundays.
  3. There was a 30% increase in mobile usage in the first half of the game.
  4. The average cost for a 30-second commercial was $5 million in 2017.
  5. Over 70% of viewers experience the game across both mobile and TV, while 73% of viewers plan to use at least one device during the game.

Since Super Bowl commercials are such a high cost, you want your alternative mobile video advertising to show real results. Close the loop, maximize your campaign and reach Super Bowl audiences utilizing PurchaseLoop, which uses AI to increase Brand Uplift and Foot Traffic. To learn more about PurchaseLoop, click here.

For more data and insights, download your free Super Bowl one pager here.

LoopMe shortlist at the EMMA Awards 2017

We’re pleased to announce that our work with Peugeot and Yorkshire Tea have both been shortlisted at Mobile Marketing’s Magazine’s, Effective Mobile Marketing Awards 2017.

Our first shortlist is with Goodstuff and Yorkshire Tea for ‘Most Effective Brand Campaign’. The campaign, which was recently awarded Bronze at the Creative Tech Awards, combined AI technology and engaging creative to optimise to brand awareness, increasing it by 50%. View our case study video of the Yorkshire Tea campaign to learn more.

Our second shortlist at the EMMA’s is with Peugeot and OMD in the category ‘Most Effective Use of Data’. This campaign drove purchase intent for the brand new Peugoet 3008. Using PurchaseLoop technology, LoopMe identified users within Peugeot / OMD’s target audience who would consider purchasing their latest model and optimised towards these users in real-time.

From phase 1 to phase 2 of the campaign, there was a 50% increase in purchase intent, demonstrating how data can be used as part of a long-tail automotive sales strategy to drive purchase consideration in real time.

At the 2016 EMMA’s with Renault and MGOMD we were awarded ‘Most Effective Use of Video’ for the ‘All-new Renault KADJAR’ campaign, so we have our fingers crossed for similar success this year!

Congratulations to all the shortlisted brands and companies, we look forward to celebrating with you all on Nov 16th! Check out the rest of the categories here.

 

Under Armour: The data champions?

Its been well publicised that the world’s most valuable resource is no long oil but data, so in the first of this 3-part series, LoopMe will be taking an in-depth look at companies who are ‘championing data’. To obtain a spot in this all-star list these companies must be gathering and using data in an innovative way to help achieve their business objectives.

The first company we’ll be looking at is Under Armour (UA). Set up in the late 90’s by former college football player Kevin Plank. Under Armour has transformed itself from a traditional sportswear brand that first began selling compression shirts, to a global organisation that is using large sets of data to achieve their mission: Make all athletes better through passion, design and the relentless pursuit of innovation.

It’s this culture of innovation which is at the heart of Under Armour and led by Plank and his team that has seen a shift in their positioning from a sportswear brand to a tech juggernaut. They now compete with the likes of Nike and Adidas but also with Apple and Samsung. This shift was marked more clearly with Plank delivering the keynote speech at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in 2016.

Under Armour are betting big on technology, and thus have coined the phrase ‘Connected Fitness’ which is a movement under the Internet of Things umbrella. Plank says that connected fitness looks to solve one simple question; “Why is it that we know more about our own cars, than our own bodies?” He plans to solve this through the combination of apps, gadgets and clothing to improve your health and fitness. This 60 second advert, titled ‘Future Girl’ embodies their connected fitness vision. Maybe it’s a bit farfetched for the immediate future, but we’re closer than you may initially think.

Acquisitions

Eyebrows were raised when Under Armour started their $710 million shopping spree of fitness apps. The first to be bought was MyFitnessPal which was acquired for $475 million dollars in November 2015. The Baltimore based start-up founded by brothers Mike and Albert Lee in 2005, offers a mobile app and website for people to track, learn, communicate and improve their health and wellness.

With a community of over 80 million, UA’s acquisition has proven to be very shrewd, as now UA and MyFitnessPal has the world’s largest digital health and fitness community with over 120 million members.

Shortly after UA snapped up MyFitnessPal, they acquired Endomondo and their 20 million database for $85 million. The Norwegian company is a social fitness and mobile application, which gives users the ability to track their workouts, challenge their friends and analyse their overall training performance.

November 14th 2013 was a landmark day for Under Armour, as it marked the completion of their acquisitions as they bought MapMyFitness (not to be confused with MyFitnessPal!) for $150 million. MapMyFitness operates a suite of social wellness-orientated websites and associated mobile and tablet applications including MapMyRun and MapMyHike with over 80 million users.

What does all this mean?

With a community of over 200 million active users who log their fitness activity across different apps, UA now has a wealth of first-party data in which to improve and innovate the services that they offer. MyFitnessPal, MapMyFitness, Endomondo and their own fitness application UA Record, accompanied with their wearables are all used to improve the day to day lives of their customer base culminating in Under Armour’s health box.

Under Armour partnered with HTC to develop the HealthBox, which is priced at around $400. The HealthBox analyses the data points from all an individual’s UA devices and applications taking into consideration everything from their calorie intake to sleep duration. It then uses this data to suggest a personalised workout plan and suggests where they can improve.

Kevin Plank had this to say at “CES 2016” ‘If we could contain this amount of data, putting it into one place, and be able to truly empower the consumer, giving them information which will allow them to enrich and enable their lives it will be powerful’. His vision for Under Armour makes them a force to be reckoned with in both the tech and sports industry.