Category: Blog

2020 was a year like no other. It goes without saying 2020 brought us a multitude of challenges. As we move ahead into a new year, we’ve reflected on our recent Corporate Social Responsibility achievements.

While we have always valued diversity, inclusion and CSR at LoopMe, in 2020 we formalized a company-wide effort to organize, communicate and support various initiatives around diversity, inclusion and the greater good for our communities.

Since television was introduced in the living room some 70 years ago, TV commercials have been widely recognized for their ability to influence consumer actions, increase brand affinity and ultimately drive sales.

Over the last 5 years, TV consumption habits have drastically changed. Consumers now have a myriad of choices when viewing content – from streaming services to on-demand viewing. 

Marketers are faced with the challenge of how best to measure TV advertising success, often relying on reach and frequency as their key metrics to determine ad performance. 

However, given the fragmentation of the TV landscape, the ability to measure reach and frequency has become a bigger challenge, leaving marketers with a lack of understanding of the outcomes generated from TV advertising.

At week’s AdAge Streaming Next event, we discussed how outcomes-based TV advertising is possible and the tools available to marketers to measure consumer intent. 

I was joined by ITN Networks and Matterkind, providing both a publisher and buyer perspective on their strategies for TV planning, buying and measurement. 

Our panel session covered topics such as:

• What does my customer do after they have been exposed to the ad (the KPI)?
• What combination of screens gets my outcome fastest and most efficiently (ROAS)?
• How can I get this data in real time to make decisions and optimizations before all my marketing dollars have been spent?

Describe your side hustle?

I produce rap, hip-hop, and neo-soul music for musicians in mainly Chicago, but also around the country. I go by Acr0bat. Long story short, I make the instrumentaIs for the artists who sing or rap over the instrumental. I use a variety of different equipment to do this from Ableton, various Akai products, and Teenage Engineering’s OP1. What I’ve found throughout doing this, is that there are many talented artists who don’t have the resources to record or make music how they’d like to. So on top of the creative process, I find helping people make music how they envision is really rewarding.

What inspired you to get started?

I started making beats, when I was in middle school. I found it as a really great creative outlet, so I kept with it. I love getting creative with my music to make something outside of the mainstream norm, and this is one of the reasons they keep me going. I think throughout the years I just get inspired when I hear something different or something I’ve never heard before. Some artists who are examples of this inspiration include Knxwledge, Hudson Mohawke, Flying Lotus and Monte Booker.

What are your main goals and objectives?

Maaaaaaaaan this is a hard question, but I think about it a lot. Of course I’d love to work with some more popular artists, but I don’t think that’s an end goal. And if I was being cliché, I’d say I’d want producing to be my main source of income, but I don’t. I really like ad tech just as much. It’s a balance. I guess for now, my goal is just to continue to have fun with it.

Do you have a social media presence?

Instagram: @Acr0bat1

Twitter: @Acr0bat

YouTube: Acr0bat Produce

Spotify, Apple Music: Acr0bat

MODERATOR: Monique Braham-Evans, 212NYC Board Member & Account Executive, LoopMe

PARTICIPANTS:

• Steffon Isaac, Founder,The CLU Studio
• Arnetta Whiteside, Associate Director, Multicultural Research and Knowledge Management, Publicis Media
• Shayna Walker, Director of Diversity & Inclusion and Campus Recruiting, Horizon Media
• Sheryl Goldstein, 212NYC Board Member & EVP, Member Engagement & Development, IAB
• Deborah T. Owens, CEO, Corporate Alley Cat
• Carl Bernadotte, Head of Executive Recruiting, Consumer Marketing & GMS, Facebook, Inc.
• Carolynn Johnson, CEO, DiversityInc
• Nobles Crawford, Former 212NYC Board Member, Candidate State Committee, 71st AD & Senior Media Manager, Hygiene and Home, Reckitt Benckiser
• Sophia Woodhouse – President 212NYC

Over the last two weeks, I put together a group of panelists and spent time researching race relations in the advertising industry. Today’s webinar raised so many voices, each with a different perspective that created a truly enriching conversation. 

“Acceptance & Desensitization”

I opened with the acknowledgement of racism having long been alive and well in the United States.  In fact, it’s pervasiveness and steady hold over how things are done in this country has led to an almost acceptance within the Black community.  Accepting it’s unsafe to drive while Black.  Accepting we can’t enjoy nature by jogging in certain neighborhoods or bird watching in public parks. Accepting that crying out to breathe, the most basic of bodily functions, can in fact go completely ignored.  

Accepting the belief that we not only practice, but pass on to our children, that we have to work twice as hard, and be twice as good.  Accepting that certain clothing choices can come with certain consequences. Accepting that we’re never really safe, not even in our own homes. This acceptance, however, is more like defeat. We’ve become desensitized to the attacks on our children, the brutalization of our women and the killing of our men. 

Hearing it in this circle of trust amongst these thought leaders, that laid bare their feelings on such personal matters as Blacks themselves was a moment of realization for myself.  While we have in fact adopted this culture of suppression, we moving forward cannot afford to be desensitized.  

“I’m tired” 

One panelist detailed how she initially welcomed the many emails and messages of apology, shame and regret as race relations came to a boiling point in recent weeks.  However, as she noticed that the same people reaching out never once spoke to her prior to, or even once acknowledged her presence, she began to feel overwhelmed.  It became tiring to receive these empty messages of compassion that as soon as the headlines change and we’re on to the next news cycle, so would their level of self-expressed empathy.  However, another panelist chimed in that while it is tiring, we have a long road ahead of us before racism gets anywhere close to being dismantled.  Yes the learning and unlearning has to happen at a fast and almost dizzying pace, but we have to persevere and we have to keep pushing forward.

In short, this country has to do better.  Humanity has to be restored with how Black people are viewed, and how Black people are treated.  Yes, Black Lives actually do Matter — and until our lives are no longer in danger, then and only then can we live up to the principle and comfortably say that ALL lives matter.  That cannot be the chant that Americans choose to rally around for now though because all lives aren’t currently under threat.  In fact, as different as each of the panelists were, all were in agreement that we are now in a time where we have to move beyond words, and focus on actions.  We have to hold companies and leaders accountable, and no one can shift the responsibility onto someone else.  It’s our shared duty to show up and speak up in the fight against racism.  Silence serves no one and it is no longer an option.  You also don’t have to work in Diversity and Inclusion to take part in this movement.  Just simply ask yourself, “what can I do today?” to be a part of the solution, and then do it.  

Together, let’s make this time be different.

In the past few weeks we have all taken the time to reflect upon recent events. Whilst this has been a tumultuous time for many communities around the world where systemic racism has been ignored for far too long – it has also been a time of empowerment and togetherness.

We understand that without intentional and deliberate change, racism and social injustice will not go away. As a company, we are working hard to ensure we educate, communicate and take the necessary steps to ensure diversity and inclusion are at the core of our culture.

As a first step, we are undertaking the following actions:

•  Juneteenth as a paid leave day: To commemorate independence, freedom, Black history and culture, we are giving all US employees one day of paid leave on Friday, 19th June.

•  Unconscious bias training: All LoopMe employees will be asked to complete learning modules on unconscious bias.

•  Encouraging open dialogue: We are creating internal anti-racism resources to further our collective education. We hope this will foster open dialogue in the organisation. 

•  Causes we are supporting: Our teams are working with clients and employees around the globe to create programmes that support the Black Lives Matter movement, with all proceeds being donated to the cause.

•  Corporate social responsibility and LoopMe Gives Back Day: We are creating forums across our global offices to lead LoopMe CSR Committees.  This will enable us to formalise a company wide employee plan to support relevant causes that drive diversity and inclusion.

As part of our ongoing commitment to our communities, we are launching a LoopMe Gives Back Day. All offices will have one day every year, during working hours, to give back to communities in any way they decide. 

•  Setting expectations and accountability: To truly change our culture, we need all of our employees to champion anti-racist behaviours. 

We understand that this is not a point in time exercise but an ongoing commitment to our internal and external community. We are committed to supporting everyone through these difficult times and also to ensuring that we are doing all we can to create an environment where diversity is prioritised and each employee feels empowered to drive change. 

As a company, we support the Black Lives Matter movement and will continue to ensure we are doing everything we can to promote equality, fairness, and freedom of expression.

Stephen and Marco

Co-Founders of LoopMe

#IP2020

This week the adtech community came together once again at Adexchanger’s Industry Preview to discuss the progress the industry made over the last year and what’s to come for the year ahead. Kicking off the day were two (female!) CMOs from leading brands Pandora (the jewelry retailer) and Del Monte foods in a session on the new realities of retailers.

Moderated by Forrester’s principal analyst and adtech guru, Joanna O’Connell, the session dove into the evolving role of the CMO and how these brands were driving growth and innovation. Bibie Wu from Del Monte Foods asks herself two questions: how can we grow brand value and how can we grow company sales? Not only are they looking to find ways to “get out of the can” – their motto on product innovation and relevance to their consumer, but they are doing very interesting things internally to align that innovation within the marketing function.

The most eye-opening insight was that they have the R&D department report into the marketing function. Connecting the CMO to the R&D group will help drive innovation and adoption of new product lines but bringing the voice of the customer into the ring and leveraging the data they have to fuel innovation.

Charisse Hughes from Pandora spoke about the art and science of advertising and how we’ve gotten so far into the data and science, we’ve lost the art of the storytelling. To that end, they launched a TV campaign during a typical ‘non-buying’ season for jewelry to get back some of the good will at the brand story level – infusing more brand awareness messaging and ‘warm fuzzies’ to keep their brand top of mind with consumers when thinking about a purchase.

Hughes also mentioned that their data has shown that 80% of transactions still occur in store, while 80% of engagement is done in digital. So they are finding the balance between staying relevant when their demand is outpacing their strategy.

At a data and tech conference, it was refreshing to see brands getting back to the core of what they do best – connect with consumers and tell a story. Data and tech will empower these stories to be shared at the right moments, to the right people, but it’s great to see the role of the CMO is still in tact in the retail vertical.

The holiday season is officially underway — and with $7.4 billion spent on Black Friday and $9.4 billion spent on Cyber Monday, reveal that shoppers are looking to shop at brick and mortar stores, but also rely heavily on e-commerce. In fact, Cyber Monday has been reported as Amazon’s biggest shopping day in its history. 

Capturing the purchase of in-market shoppers will be a big challenge for brands as consumers attention spans are shorter and split across screens. LoopMe’s data revealed key insights into consumer shopping habits that highlight opportunities for marketers. 

Based on LoopMe’s proprietary Audience Intelligence tool, we found interesting trends for retail buyers, automotive shoppers, and even food & beverage.

What’s In Your Cart?

Based on LoopMe first party data, this season’s holiday shoppers show high interest in purchasing toys, apparel, and gaming consoles. 

LoopMe wanted to know more about the 33.6M in-market toy shoppers.  What motivates these shoppers purchase: Price or delivery? Where are they planning to shop: Amazon or other retail stores? According to LoopMe data, toy shoppers show higher affinity towards Walmart indiciating price as the primary driver for this category, followed by Amazon. 

For apparel, LoopMe data identified 47.8M in-market apparel shoppers. Amazon is the preferred destination for these shoppers, as compared to Macy’s, JCPenney and Target. However, mature shoppers (55+) are more likely to shop non-Amazon this holiday season. Female apparel shoppers are 20% more likely to shop non-Amazon while male shoppers are 50% more likely to shop via Amazon than other retailers. 

LoopMe identified 22.8M Americans that are looking to purchase a gaming console for the 2019 holiday season. Xbox & PlayStation are top brands among in-market shoppers. Of those looking to buy a console, young adults who are at their early earning potential are more brand loyal to Nintendo, Xbox and Sony. LoopMe is keeping an eye on emerging trends in the Gaming category, such as streaming services including Google Stadia & Apple Arcade.

With LoopMe’s Audience Intelligence tool, we provide both accuracy and scale for your desired in-market shoppers.

Auto Holiday Sales Trends

We asked Americans what would motivate them this holiday season to buy a new car from their local dealership and found that males are 33% more likely to favor low ‘cash out’ options (favorable lease terms or low APR)  while females are 15% more likely to favor “cash in” (favorable cash back or trade in value) options when purchasing a car. The single highest incentive for a purchase was trade in value with 32% of respondents choosing that as a motivating aspect to purchasing a car, followed by a favorable lease (26%), cash back (23%) and a favorable APR (19%).

These insights can inform a brand’s creative messaging to drive better performance for increasing dealership visits.

It’s Party Time

Apart from other marketers, LoopMe wanted to know how our audiences were spending their time over the holiday season: Would they host or be a guest? LoopMe data shows that Americans are 40% more likely to host and than to be a guest this season. Hosts are shopping at big box stores like Walmart and Target, but also they are frequenting grocery brands like Aldi, Randall’s, Albertson’s, and Safeway. 

Through the LoopMe Audience Intelligence tool, your food or beverage brand can reach the 23.5M people that will be guests and the 16.5M that are hosting with the right brand message to influence relevant purchases this season. 

LoopMe can identify these types of audiences for you or any other audience that might be right for your brand this holiday season. Make sure your marketer is able to identify not only the demographic but also the psychographic attributes of your customers and potential customers. Reach out to us at marketing@loopme.com to learn more.