Category: Blog

After many months of deliberation, the Media Rating Council has finally delivered their ruling on what counts as a viewable video impression on mobile devices. The guidelines are fairly similar to those currently implemented on desktop: 50% of pixels in view for two consecutive seconds. The main changes are the need for the ad to load before the viewability count starts, solving issues around signal and Internet speeds, and issuing new guidelines for image-based display ads in a newsfeed.

Inevitably there will be discussion about whether these guidelines go far enough. Should it be two seconds in view, or for the entire ad? GroupM, for example, is well known for taking a firm stance on viewability on behalf of its clients, requiring 100% of the video player to be in-view and 50% of the video to be viewed with sound on, while Nielsen has announced partnerships with all verification vendors to provide clients with the flexibility to determine viewability using different criteria.

While an agreement between all parties involved in delivering a campaign was all that was necessary to implement viewability standards on desktop, mobile has proven to be more difficult. In order to track viewability on mobile, the ad must be run using VPAID tags. VPAID allows ads to be interactive and permits third parties to run a tracking pixel on the ad, ensuring that it meets the agreed standards. Any advertising run using VPAID can easily be tracked, both in-app and on the mobile web.

Read the full article on MediaPost here.

After a week off the video of the week we thought we’d give you a Temptations advert to make sure you’re feline fine – supplying you with a truly purrfect advert all about making sure your cats are given the care and attention they need.

Part cringe inducing, part wonderfully apt callback to the best of the 80s, this Temptations-produced cover of Simple Minds’ classic (championed by the cult classic Breakfast Club movie) reflects a clear case of audience targeting – using nostalgia to capture the hearts and imaginations of  those now of an age where pet owning is an almost inevitable part of life. There’s also an important message about pet awareness that underpins the sentiments of the

Strange that Temptations chose Simple Minds though – why not go for ‘Eye of the Tiger’? ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’? ‘Everybody Wants to Be A Cat’? ‘What’s New Pussycat’? We think that’s a pretty comprehensive list of possible suggestions.

You can watch  the advert below:

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

During the Star Wars celebration last month, Lucasfilm and Disney announced their latest project – a virtual reality film written by David Goyer, whose previous credits include The Dark Knight, Blade, and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, alongside VR specialists ILMxLAB. This made headlines as the first film commissioned, produced and written with the express intention of being consumed in a VR context. Though an incredibly experimental process, the appointment of one of the greatest movie writers of the last decade shows that Disney means business, presenting VR as a viable, tangible and commercially justifiable option for entertainment. Though an exciting prospect for audiences, the film’s announcement is also an incredibly pivotal moment for marketers – if VR is indeed here to stay, what does it mean for relationships between creatives and consumers? Audiences can now be immersed in an entirely new art form, and modern advertising must adapt to stay ahead of the game.

The trend for VR and 360 Degree video has been gaining momentum in the advertising world with considerable pace over the last year. With its much more immersive and interactive user experience, 360o has given creative agencies a new ease of life, albeit alongside a new set of challenges. To have a major film studio now adopting similar techniques adds an extra weight and validity to these endeavours, proving that VR is not just a gimmick but a popular way of engaging audiences.

Goyer has gone on record saying that his story about Darth Vader will ‘make you cry’. This is something that 360-degree video excels at – thrusting users into completely absorbing environments, circumstances and contexts that create emotional reactions and visceral connections between the user and the experience. Video is already a proven way of breaking through to audiences of different ages and demographics, and succeeds best when it depicts ideas, narratives or visual images that provide an empathetic and exciting link with consumers. VR is the next step of a running trend.

Read the full article here.

One of the biggest successes of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games was the promotion and championing of sports and activities amongst disabled communities, raising awareness for those often left underfunded and unappreciated.

Channel 4, therefore, did a huge amount of good in promoting the Games, and Rio is another opportunity to provide a fantastically positive depiction of these athletes. The ad is funny, humorous, empowering and uplifting, using all the jazz hands and music hall vibes necessary to make for a memorable and exciting ad. After 2012, it will be exciting to see all eyes turn to the Paralympic Games when they kick off in September. See it below:

Well folks, we have a tearjerker, and it comes from Samsung Galaxy Edge. A gloriously epic piece of advertising, retooling major national anthems from leading countries and having them sung by individuals in different parts of the world – creating, in effect, a global anthem for all nations to sing. Middle Eastern nations can chant the German national anthem, while in the US the South Koreans get some glorious renditions. Children, old people and everyone in between all get in on the action, surrounded by photogenic, varying and idyllic backgrounds.

And then it can be streamed by Samsung devices wherever it needs to be.

It’s wonderfully shot and a lovely little feature, one that, given the seemingly endless spat of bad news, can really inspire hope.

Watch the ad here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBxMpuiBO7Q

 

Cannes Lions is unique in the advertising calendar. No other trade event comes close for the creativity, number or sheer quality of those in attendance.

While the creativity and artistic merit of the advertising industry is acclaimed and discussed in the Palais, the outskirts of the festival are where it becomes interesting for the technology providers. This year questions around measurement, verification and optimisation came to the fore, as brands and agencies attempt to determine the value of their advertising.

Measurement in online advertising has almost been a victim of its own success, unlike any medium, online can reveal precisely how many people have viewed an advert, for what length of time, and what action was taken following that exposure. The extent of measurement has led to most digital advertising being used in a performance capacity – how many views, clicks or engagements did the ad generate – and these metrics used as the principle KPIs for campaigns. But just because we can measure these metrics does not mean we necessarily should; they are not always the best way to judge a campaign’s success.

For some brands the only metric which should be used to determine effectiveness is the impact the campaign has on sales over time. For others it should be the effect the campaign has upon brand metrics, such as brand recall and affinity. Many of the conversations at Cannes revolved around how the industry can move measurement away from metrics like views, towards KPIs which really matter to brands, allowing them to easily judge the return on investment delivered by digital.

Read the full article on the MMA Blog here.

When you ask people what they’d expect from an Olympics advert, they’d probably expect something rousing, physical, and a reflection of the solidarity of the Games. Gilette, it seems, has decided to go for something completely different – a gritty, realistic interpretation of the life of an athlete. Not everything is medals and cheering – before the finish line comes months if not years of grueling, demoralising training – narrowing your focus down and blocking out every possible distraction. Training can take you away from your family, your loved ones and throw you into some of the hardest conditions imaginable – a tricky scenario for all.

Gilette have therefore created 3 minutes of realism – admitting the difficulties of an athlete’s life while showing their need for a healthy facial hair regime. With a bonus soundtrack from Sia, this is a nice little piece of anti-conformism.

Watch the ad below:

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

It’s fair to say that Pokemon Go has taken the world by storm – the media frenzy surrounding the new app is almost unprecedented. Already we have stories about sackings, hilarious cheats and even crime-fighting successes, and apparently this is only the tip of the iceberg for what Nintendo has in store.

But beyond the mass adoption and crazed Pokemon fandom reliving their 10 year old lives, it’s clear that marketers are rubbing their hands with glee. Pokemon Go is the triumph for mobile – users are literally walking around, heads glued to the screen, ready to either catch their latest find the moment it appears next to them, or stop by at the local ‘Pokestop’ (a pinned location on the map, normally referencing a landmark or unusual installation across the towns and countryside) to pick up relevant items.

Fundamentally, Pokemon Go is all about location – it relies on users to actively move, to return to venues and Pokestops, fight battles at specific areas, and hunt rare Pokemon in obscure locations at different times of the day. This is no longer an alien notion for users – they are already doing it every day (but without the Pokeballs and gym battles).

It doesn’t seem too far a step for Nintendo to think about these Pokestops as a potential avenue for marketing revenue – transplanting specific venues like bars, hotels and restaurants, and placing them in the fictional Pokemon world. Discovering a Pokestop in the game is exciting – it is a significant spot for millions of users. It isn’t hard to envisage a world where users start frequenting specific bars and restaurants simply because they are directly next to a Pokemon Gym – a location that requires the user to spend a long time spent in one place. It’s augmented reality marketing at its most effective.

Beyond this emphasis on location, the idea of augmented reality and app usage, once a concept in its infancy, has now become a fantastic part of the mobile experience. Pokemon Go grounds itself in real-world geography, embellishing reality with and extra layer of fun and interactivity. The emphasis is on the user journey (both geographically and within the phone). It is this relationship between the user, their phone, and the world around them that marketers need to appreciate. With a large proportion of users welcoming location-based targeting (as shown by the eMarketer graph) and it becoming more and more frequently used on a day-to-day basis, marketers have to stop seeing mobile as a device to advertise on, but as a vital part of a consumer journey. Ads have to respond not only to their audience’s tastes, but also to their specific circumstances at certain times of the day. Pokemon Go is making this abundantly clear.

Virgin Media have done a fair few features with Usain Bolt in tow, but this new ad omits the comedic element in favour of something far more intense and personal to the athlete – delving into the psyche of one of the most exceptional men on the planet. Given the run-up to Rio (pun intended?), this change in tone is to be expected, but makes for a professionally well executed and exciting video that has a kaleidoscope of different shots – placing Bolt not simply on the track, but also in the club, or on the street like ‘one-of-us’.

It’s a vibrant, punchy, run-of-the-mill sports-based ad, but here given extra significance due to its timing and star-studded nature.

Watch the ad here:

 

As parents everywhere will attest, the most frequent and difficult question to answer is without doubt ‘why?’. From an early age people want to know the cause or driving force of everything and it’s often the hardest question to answer.

It’s certainly a challenge when trying to identify how artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms drive uplift. We know the uplift is there, it’s clear to see from quarterly results that entertainment campaigns on average see 151% uplift, retail 135% and technology 96%. But where it becomes more difficult is in establishing the individual factors which have produced this uplift.

Each time an impression is about to be served information is pulled from trillions of data points which are stored in a Data Management Platform. This data can be broken out into factors such as gender, age, household income, operating system, device manufacturer, device models, battery life, how a device is charged, weather, home location, office location, location habits (how often does someone travel and where to for example), which apps are downloaded, which sites are visited, which time of day promotes the most interactions etc. The list goes on.

A huge amount of data is processed to determine how likely a user is to interact with any given ad at any given time. AI makes it possible to take all the data available to technology providers and transform it into actionable insights which allow campaigns to be served to the users who are most likely to engage with a piece of content at that moment in time.

Read the full article on understanding AI Uplift here.