SajitonTech: 2017

Sunday, December 31, 2017

How Do You Vote? 50 Million Google Images Give a Clue Technology

By STEVE LOHR from NYT Technology http://ift.tt/2Ci5LoM
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Honda Rose Parade Sponsorship Includes Charitable Donation

Honda Rose Parade Sponsorship Includes Charitable Donation

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Honda is playing up its long-time Rose Parade sponsorship with a social campaign from RPA that gives to children in need.

In honor of 58 years of Honda celebrating the New Year on Jan. 1 in the Rose Parade, for every rose emoji shared on Facebook and Twitter Dec. 31 through Jan. 3, Honda will donate $1 to charity up to $25,000, “because every child deserves the chance to pursue their dreams,” according to the automaker.

To contribute, posters can leave a rose emoji in the comments of Honda’s Rose Parade video. For each rose left in the comments, Honda will donate to the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation, The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, the National Youth Project Using Minibikes, the Nicklaus Children’s Hospital and Children’s Hospital of Orange County.

The 38-second video on the automaker’s Facebook page shows Honda’s float entries in the parade over the years.

Consumers can also take part in the promotion by leaving a rose on Twitter.

As of Sunday evening, Dec. 31, Honda was 25% to its goal.

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December 31, 2017 at 06:48PM

Saturday, December 30, 2017

Tesla the Car Is a Household Name. Long Ago, So Was Nikola Tesla. Technology

By JOHN F. WASIK from NYT Technology http://ift.tt/2CoUtMn
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Why Are All Our Words in Bubbles? Technology

By JONAH ENGEL BROMWICH from NYT Technology http://ift.tt/2CbIMvu
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Friday, December 29, 2017

Nintendo’s Switch Brings Some Magic Back Technology

By SIMON PARKIN from NYT Technology http://ift.tt/2BWIdlj
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Study Reveals Why Consumers Block Ads On Android Mobile

Study Reveals Why Consumers Block Ads On Android Mobile

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Google Chrome, one of the most popular web browsers in 2017, will begin allowing users to start blocking ads in February 2018. While Chrome runs on a variety of platforms, such as iOS, it's most popular on devices running Android.

The move prompted Free Adblocker Browser (FAB), a mobile browser for Android with a built-in ad-block feature, to survey U.S. consumers as to why they block ads, what they do when they see ad block walls or requests to subscribe, and how they think publishers should make money.

About 17% of all FAB users are in the U.S. and spend on average 50 minutes browsing. The findings reveal 43.3% of survey respondents think publishers should only make content available to those who pay. Nearly 57% believe that ads should be the main source of the publisher's revenue.

Mobile advertising took 54% of total digital ad revenue in the first half of 2017, up 22% compared with the first half in 2016, reported the Interactive Advertising Bureau in its half-yearly digital ad spend report.

Advertisers spent $21.7 billion on mobile during the first six months of 2017, up 40% from $15.5 billion in the first half of 2016.

Forrester Research estimates U.S. mobile display and social ad spend will grow from $25.5 billion in 2017 to $50.5 billion by 2021.

In addition to blocking ads, protecting their phone from viruses, malware, scams and privacy issues are top reasons to download a mobile ad blocker. Some 21.3% believe an ad blocker protects them from viruses, malware, phishing, and other attacks, while 11.5% look toward ad blockers to protect their privacy.

Respondents, 9.4%, cite speed as another reason to use an ad blocker. Another 1.4% of ad blockers are concerned with the life of the battery on their device.

Nearly half of those participating in the survey cited pop-up advertisements as the most unfavorable. Non-skippable video ads, auto-play video ads, and banners also irritate mobile users.

Ad-block walls keep users away from viewing the content unless they switch off their ad blocker or whitelist the website, but the study also shows that these walls decrease the number of visitors to websites. Only 9.3% of users agree to whitelist the website if required and 24.1% whitelist websites temporarily before turning on the ad blocker after leaving the site.

Some 66.5% of U.S. users do not whitelist the website, with about 42.5% leaving the page to search for the information elsewhere.

Survey participants understand good content takes time to produce. Some 68,4% of FAB users realize to provide high-quality content publishers need to make money, either by showing ads or by making content available only to users that pay.

They agree that paid subscriptions are a way for publishers to augment revenue, but when asked how many sites they subscribe to, nearly 60% said none. Some 10.9% noted one website, and 20.7% said between two and four websites.

The main reason why they don't subscribe to publisher sites: 44.4% said they can find the information for free on other websites, and 17.6% of respondents the subscriptions are too expensive.

About 15% do not want to share their personal information, 11% said registration takes too much time. Only 9.2% said they sign up for a website they like and visit often.

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December 29, 2017 at 02:06PM

Gannett Focuses On Memberships, Digital Growth

Gannett Focuses On Memberships, Digital Growth

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Gannett CMO Andy Yost says 2018 is “the year of brand appraisal,” and the time to focus on growing memberships.

“Subscription’ sounds transactional, ‘membership’ sounds like a two-way relationship that gives you access to things you can’t get elsewhere,” Yost told Publishers Daily.

Gannett has a number of paid membership products. It released an ad-free mobile membership in October, in which readers can pay $2.99 a month to access USA Today without ads on its mobile app.

“It is part of our digital-subscription growth strategy,” Yost said. “One of the things we will continue to do in 2018 is other digital subscription product opportunities that might make sense to offer.”

Yost noted there is “an appetite” for consumers to pay for experiences that meet their needs. Some readers may want an ad-free experience, and others may want “every sports story possible and a premium product around that.”

Getting more readers to sign up for memberships requires showing them why a brand and its offerings are worth the outlay. Yost said a big part of that is giving readers content tailored to their preferences.

Most readers come to publisher’s sites from social platforms. The challenge is to convert those audiences to paying members. If a reader comes to a Gannett site for sports news, target the reader with a digital subscription that includes sports content.

“We need to really lead with why our brand has what you need from a benefits perspective, and that’s a way to help us more effectively convert our audience to a paid subscriber,” Yost said.

The CMO, who has been with Gannett for about three years, says his focus is “showing the value [our local brands] are delivering beyond the journalism we are known for.” Gannett’s Insider Loyalty Program is another membership program, which give deals and premium content to subscribers, as well as offers from retail partners or special edit-led event series that subscribers get preferential access to.

Gannett owns 109 local outlets, as well as USA Today. That means Gannett is looking for ways to tap into local communities, such as through hosting high-school sports awards and food and wine events.

Yost said these experiences “create access and connections for our consumers in new and different ways.” Next year, there may be opportunities to expand into healthy living or business networking events.

Gannett has added more features to its digital subscriptions as well this year, updating its sites and apps. The publisher underwent a massive redesign of its 110 brands, rolling out a new design, layout and brand logos, across all platforms, to unify its portfolio.

Gannett also experimented with more 360 degree and VR video programming. “Our digital properties are bringing [readers] experiences that they might not get through just our print platform itself,” Yost said.

Digital subscribers means new subscribers, and the goal is to engage visitors to Gannett’s sites to make them more likely to sign up for paid programs. “The digital-only subscription is about reaching new audiences.”

Yost also believes 2018 is the year to focus on customer experience.

“Traditionally in our industry, we have thought of customer experience as the delivery of your print newspaper and how we manage you in our call centers. But every interaction is a customer experience,” he said. “That's everything from an app working to advertising not being viewed as intrusive.”

Such programs are important to Gannett, and to other publishers hoping to make more revenue from digital efforts. In the third quarter, total operation revenue for the USA Today parent company fell 3.6%, from $772.3 million in the same quarter last year to $744.3 million this year.

While print advertising and circulation revenue declined, Gannett’s digital advertising revenue rose 4.1% to $102.9 million.

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December 29, 2017 at 12:43PM

Companies Need To Be Proactive To Combat Email Phishing

Companies Need To Be Proactive To Combat Email Phishing

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Another year marked by email phishing and data breaches is coming to an end, and it is crucial for businesses to take this threat more seriously in the New Year.

Email is now hackers’ preferred method of attack and the largest source of data breaches in the United States. Nine out of ten cyber attacks begin with a phishing email, according to PhishMe, and notable breaches this year include Uber, Equifax, and Yahoo.

The responsibility for identification of phishing emails has largely been placed on consumers thus far. Businesses advise email users to recognize certain phishing email characteristics such as spelling and grammatical errors, and then to report any suspicious incoming mail.

This is a flawed approach, and it has obviously done little to slow the phishing pandemic. The number of phishing attacks increased 65% year-over-year from 2015 to 2016, according to theAnti-Phishing Working Group (APWG). Although the APWG has yet to release its full 2017 study, it did report a consistent stream of phishing attacks in the first part of the year.

Phishers are also becoming smarter about their attacks, leveraging spoofing and social engineering tactics to appear legitimate, and thus making it more difficult for consumers to tell the difference between real emails and phishing emails.

It is imperative that enterprises take on the responsibility of securing their email themselves to better protect their customers from malicious advances. Proper email authentication like DMARC, which builds on SPF, is essential for any business that sends email messages of any kind. The more companies protected with DMARC, the stronger the resistance to the phishing virus will be.

More companies should also follow Facebook’s lead by creating a centralized resource of emails sent. Facebook announced last week that it would begin listing every security email it sends, so users can double check whether Facebook actually sent a message when they receive suspicious emails.

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December 29, 2017 at 11:10AM

How To Get Your Email Delivered: ZeroBounce Offers A Guide

How To Get Your Email Delivered: ZeroBounce Offers A Guide

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Separate your transactional emails from your customer service reminders, using different IP addresses for each. Make sure that Google’s recapcha is on your registration screen to prevent bots from signing up. Use SPF, DKIM and DMARC authentication. And always insist on double opt-in.

These are among the 43 guidelines offered by ZeroBounce in The Complete Guide to improve Inbox And Deliverability, a paper released on Thursday.

The purpose of this free practical advisory is to "help companies who are struggling to reach their audience," says spokesperson Corina Leslie.

She adds that the report is a I"resource from which they can learn, step by step, what to do to avoid deliverability issues and improve their communication and overall marketing performance."

In addition to tips, the report provides technical details and partial vendor listings in some instances. When advising readers to use a reputable DNS provider, for example, ZeroBounce lists such firms as Cloudflare and DYN Managed DNS.

ZeroBounce, the provider of an email validation service, contends that 2017 was the year of email marketing, noting that it outperforms channels like social media. However, email marketers face the kinds of challenges outlined in this report.

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December 29, 2017 at 11:10AM

For TV In 2017, Trump Was Disrupter In Chief

For TV In 2017, Trump Was Disrupter In Chief

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In all sorts of areas in our technological, social and economic lives, so-called “disrupters” are pop-culture idols these days.

And yet one disrupter is not idolized at all -- one Donald J. Trump. Since he took the oath of office last January, he has been a disruptive force in so many spheres both foreign and domestic.

And yet he is not regarded adoringly as a disrupter by the same people who worship the disrupters who upend traditional industries and then give TED talks in which they brag about it.

In television in 2017, Trump was the disrupter in chief. It sometimes seemed as if entire segments of the TV industry were suddenly retooled to accommodate him.

This was especially true in cable news and late-night TV. It might not have seemed possible, but the three principal cable news channels -- Fox News Channel, CNN and MSNBC -- did an even worse job this year of reporting the news of the world than ever.

It was as if the news channels were not in the news business at all. Instead, like moths to a porch light, they flocked to the Trump story as if nothing else in the world mattered.

And from their point of view, maybe nothing else did matter. Somehow, they had come to the conclusion that Trump was the only topic their audiences cared about.

As a result, except for the occasional “big” story that they were obligated to cover (such as the year's natural disasters and terrible mass shootings), the news channels expended most of their efforts in 2017 to reporting on Trump -- or more to the point, not so much reporting on him as yakking incessantly about him.

As anyone knows who understands the TV news business, it is much more economical to put on silly talk shows in a studio every night than to actually go out with correspondents, crews and equipment each day to all four corners of the Earth in order to produce content that will feed a continuous “news wheel” 24 hours a day.

In that respect, it's understandable why we don't really have a genuine 24-hour news service on cable TV, although it would be nice.

Late-night TV's comedy assembly line was also reconfigured for the Trump era in 2017 -- so much so that the attention paid to the Trump administration by the late-night shows is credited with reordering the entire hierarchy of weekday late-night.

The conventional wisdom about Stephen Colbert's rise to the No. 1 position was that he either did more Trump satire or he did it better than Jimmy Fallon and “The Tonight Show.”

In scores of TV columns over the past year, this was the gospel put forth by critic after critic -- none of whom likely considered doing the hard work of actually quantifying the number of jokes or bits about Trump that either Fallon or Colbert produced in 2017.

I didn't undertake such a count either. All I know is, almost every time I took a look at either one of them on any given evening, there they were joking about Trump.

The photo above with Fallon as Trump and Martin Short as celebrity interviewer “Jiminy Glick” was typical of what you would see almost any time you tuned in to either Fallon or Colbert this year.

Who really knows who did more? The important thing is: In this first year in office, Trump disrupted cable news and late-night TV. What's he going to upend in 2018?

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December 29, 2017 at 10:49AM

Facebook: Not A Media Company, But A Controller Of News

Facebook: Not A Media Company, But A Controller Of News

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Last week, Facebook made the controversial announcement that it would drop the “Disputed” tag from stories fact checkers found to contain false information. Instead, “Related Content” will appear around posts that seem suspicious or contain information that is outright false in an attempt to add context.

What the platform is really saying is it will no longer take responsibility for those stories that are clearly fake, making the rounds among its more than 2 billion users — and the damage caused in their wake.

For a company that insists its focus is tech, not media, the power it’s able to exert over the news landscape is alarming. Following the 2016 election, when claims against the platform accused it of contributing harmful and false news that swayed the election, Mark Zuckerburg, cofounder and CEO, doubled down by stating once again, Facebook is not a media company, and further, fake news isn’t harmful, citing only 1% of the news found on the site as fake.

Small numbers do not negate harm, as several intelligence agencies have pointed out. In an increasingly polarized political environment, they can cause irreversible damage.

Just a few weeks after the 2016 election, the site introduced its “Disputed” tag, teaming up with fact checkers across the globe to help debunk dubious articles. Fact checkers will continue to work with the site, but with a more nuanced approach.

Part of the problem with this new approach and the excuses being touted by the site, is Facebook’s relaxed response to bad journalism. In addition to doing less to account for the spread of dubious stories, the social network insists the algorithms are to blame for what people see and don’t see.

According to the company, therein lies the proof it's not a publisher, but a distributor of other people's information. But, humans are the creators of those algorithms, and therefore, responsible for the information spread.

As more people go to social media to get their daily news, what is a platform’s responsibility to its audience? How can a company like Facebook, paying millions a year to produce its own native content, not to mention soaking up over 20% of the digital ad market, continue to operate the status quo?

If the public cares about quality journalism and stamping out fake news, regardless of political affiliation, it’s going to have to put pressure on platforms like Facebook and others. It must demand these “tech” companies take responsibility for their share in the damage done by the fake media they circulate.

The future of journalism will be stronger for it. After all, the press has a constitutional charge: It is a watchdog to power.

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December 29, 2017 at 08:58AM

San Francisco’s Skyline, Now Inexorably Transformed by Tech Technology

By DAVID STREITFELD from NYT Technology http://ift.tt/2Ecpl3g
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Allstate's 'Mayhem' Tries Hard To Keep Resolutions

Allstate's 'Mayhem' Tries Hard To Keep Resolutions

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Allstate is bringing back “Mayhem,” the brand’s whimsical mischief maker, for a campaign that breaks during the college football bowl season.

The #ResolutionsAreMayhem campaign will air during the Allstate Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1 and the College Football National Championship Game on Jan. 8.

The campaign will use Mayhem to tap into consumers’ New Year’s resolution behaviors and aims to keep Allstate insurance top-of mind. Most people start the year with innate optimism to improve themselves/better their lives. And this year, Mayhem will do the same, resolving to stop creating mayhem in 2018 and to be all about safety and making sure folks are better protected with Allstate.

The campaign, from Leo Burnett (Chicago), rolls out in phases that mirror actual consumer resolution behavior across national TV, digital and social, according to the financial services company.

First, in "Mayhem Resolution", the character resolves to resign as the loveable mischief maker fans have come to know, while Allstate reminds customers that resolutions are made to be broken and that they’re in Good Hands with Allstate. Then, in “Road Flare,” “Home Security,” “Tennis Ball” and “Lightning Rod” he is shown trying to help consumers be safer.

However, in a spot breaking Jan. 8 during the national championships, Mayhem realizes thinking the New Year will be free of mayhem is as naïve as believing that most people will keep their resolutions all year long. He gets fed up, breaks his resolution, and officially announces he is back – reminding consumers that they can’t always avoid life’s uncertainties which is why they need the protection of Allstate.

Each spot will feature the hashtag #ResolutionsAreMayhem, a tag that will also appear in digital and social content focused on relatable consumer resolutions, like dieting and exercise. In addition to the TV spots, the effort includes digital and social components to roll out in three phases: making resolutions, struggling but keeping resolutions and breaking resolutions.

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December 29, 2017 at 04:17AM

Thursday, December 28, 2017

Bookstore Chains, Long in Decline, Are Undergoing a Final Shakeout Technology

By DAVID STREITFELD from NYT Technology http://ift.tt/2BQNSZO
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Uber Sells Stake to SoftBank, Valuing Ride-Hailing Giant at $48 Billion Technology

By MIKE ISAAC from NYT Technology http://ift.tt/2EbkBun
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LinkedIn Evaluates Its Agency Roster

LinkedIn Evaluates Its Agency Roster

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LinkedIn is conducting a roster-wide assessment of its ad agencies, according to Adweek, which reports that the business social network may be looking to reduce the number of agencies it uses.

The reassessment comes after last year’s acquisition of the company by Microsoft for $26.2 billion.

In response to a query, LinkedIn issued this statement:

“Our model depends on trusted agency partners from around the world. We’ll also continue to explore conversations with new agency partners as new projects arise and our business needs evolve.”

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December 28, 2017 at 04:32PM

Moving Your Number to Google Voice Technology

By J. D. BIERSDORFER from NYT Technology http://ift.tt/2Cg8SNb
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Escaping a Malware Trap Technology

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Email Addresses Part Of Ancestry Data Leak

Email Addresses Part Of Ancestry Data Leak

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Ancestry.com has suffered a data leak consisting of 300,000 email addresses, user names and password combinations, according to a blog post by Tony Blackham, chief information security officer at the family history firm.

The company’s security team was alerted when a researcher found a file containing personal data on Ancestry.com customers on a RootsWeb.com server. Roots.com, a service hosted by Ancestry.com since 2000, is a free set of tools used by people seeking and sharing genealogical information.

Ancestry states that "Our Information Security Team reviewed the details of this file, and confirmed that it contains information related to users of RootsWeb’s surname list information, a service we retired earlier this year."

According to IBTimes, security expert Troy Hunt, creator of the "HaveIBeenPwned.com" data breach repository, notified the firm of the 2015 data compromise.

In reaction to this incident, Ancestry has locked the accounts of the 55,000 affected users until they revise their passwords, and it has sent emails to those consumers. However, it has seen “no activity that indicates these accounts have been compromised,” Blackham says in the post issued last weekend.

The file contained 300,000 email/usernames and passwords, but Ancestry determined that “only approximately 55,000 of these were used both on RootsWeb and one of the Ancestry sites, and the vast majority of those were from free trial or currently unused accounts,” Blackham adds.

It also found that “about 7,000 of those password and email address combinations matched credentials for active Ancestry customers.

Ancestry “reviewed the RootsWeb file to see if any of the account information overlapped with existing accounts on Ancestry sites,” Blackham continues.

Its conclusion: “We did confirm that a very small number of accounts -- less than one percent of our total customer group -- used the same account credentials on both RootsWeb and an Ancestry commercial site. We are currently contacting these customers."

Blackham assures account holders that “this issue involves less than one percent of our users, so there is a very good chance your account wasn’t involved.” And it notes that RootsWeb does not host sensitive information like credit card numbers or social security numbers, and is not supported by the same infrastructure as Ancestry’s other brands.

The company is also conducting a “deep analysis” of RootsWeb and its design, Blackham states.

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December 28, 2017 at 01:14PM

Snapchat Building 'Stories Everywhere' Product

Snapchat Building 'Stories Everywhere' Product

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Snapchat is developing a new product called Stories Everywhere that will take its Stories feature from the namesake mobile app and make them available across the web.

Cheddar first reported about the development of the product Wednesday.

Snapchat parent company Snap Inc. has hired former News Corp. executive Rahul Chopra to lead the effort. Chopra was previously the CEO of News Corp.'s social news company Storyful, and also led video efforts for the company.

Stories Everywhere would mark a dramatic change in strategy for Snapchat, which has long operated as a walled garden, limiting its content to its own application. It is not immediately clear where or how the stories would be distributed.

For comparison, Twitter, which for a long time was similarly blocked off from the rest of the web, eventually allowed websites to embed its tweets. Snapchat could take a similar approach.

Such a move would also be applauded by Snap’s media partners and advertisers, as it would dramatically increase the potential audience for its stories. Snapchat includes professionally produced content by media companies like NBC News and Viacom, as well as stories comprised of user-submitted snaps and created by an in-house content team.

According to Cheddar, Snap also restructured its content division around four executives: Mike Su, who will oversee content-related product development; Michael DiBenedetto, who will lead content strategy and operations; Sean Mills, who will oversee original content; and Josh Stone, who will lead media company relations.

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December 28, 2017 at 01:14PM

Social Media-Manipulating Cult Influencers And Other Trends To Look For In 2018

Social Media-Manipulating Cult Influencers And Other Trends To Look For In 2018

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TBWA Worldwide's annual 2018 insights report examines what the agency calls "pre-trends" rooted in evolving cultural shifts.

Convergence is the emerging theme uniting the predictions, says TBWA. Genetic technology will collide with activism, memes with currency, digital goods with fashion, creative direction with algorithms and cults will meet social media.

Among the Omnicom-owned agency's top five pre-predictions, Insta-Cults is the agency's most "out-there pre-trend," says Sarah Rabia, global director of cultural strategy, TBWA. “We believe that next year, we may see the formation of a new kind of cult: one built around an influencer who manipulates social media, monopolizes attention and mobilizes their fans, a la Trump.”

Brands, therefore, must ask themselves how they can leverage these cult Influencers and loyal fandoms to build a modern culture brand, she advises. "It wouldn’t take much for many mainstream celebs to tip the balance into cult leader, arguably we have some already," Rabia says. Singer Lana Del Rey, for instance, asked her fans to join a mass occult ritual against Trump and Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop sparked a community of wellness that has made some extreme followers ill with the eating disorder orthorexia.

As the physical and online worlds blur, TBWA believes what it calls Vapourware will introduce computer-generated goods like lenses, filters and virtual designs created purely to be worn for social media. Brands can engage with this trend by enabling audiences to buy in to these products without buying anything.

Another tech-driven trend will allow brands to decide whether their content will be made by humans or machines, possibly resulting in algorithm-penned songs, games, novels, and feature films.

With what TBWA calls Meme Money, Blockchain advancements will help advertisers and brands trace social media shares, likes and follows to a legitimate source for credit and remuneration.

And as DNA technology empowers people to predict and manage their healthcare, brands will need to ask how far they will go with genetic technology, if at all?

This is the first year that TBWA's cultural insight studio Backslash has published a trends report. The year-old start-up serves mostly as an internal cultural service but plans call for expanding it over the coming months to do more public content and work with brands within and beyond TBWA. The unit’s team comprises journalists, strategists, TV and documentary makers.

For more on this year’s findings look here and here.

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December 28, 2017 at 01:14PM

The Video Digital Strategy That Didn't Work In 2017

The Video Digital Strategy That Didn't Work In 2017

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Social influencers sent search traffic to brand sites, new holidays were created to bring attention to marketplaces, brands and products, and long-tail keywords were bought up by some to take advantage of an old, yet tried-and-true search strategy lost in algorithms and technology.

Backed by data, SimilarWeb released findings of one failed digital strategy and three successful ones.

The one "less winning strategy" relates to Mashable. "It may be a stretch to place all the blame of mashable.com‘s decline on its decision to pivot to video, but there are not enough examples of this pivot making a positive difference to a site’s traffic for it to stick around as a smart suggestion in the marketing strategy meetings of 2018," wrote Daniel Sevitt, content marketing manager at SimilarWeb, in a blog post.

Mashable.com cut about two dozen staff from its editorial team to focus on video in April 2016. SimilarWeb estimates the site went on to lose nearly half of its U.S. audience during the next 18 months. Then in November 2017, founder Pete Cashmore and investors sold the publication to Ziff Davis for $50 million.

SimilarWeb also cites three "winning" digital strategies for 2017. They include referring traffic through strong influencer networks such as rewardstyle.com, taking advantage of new holidays such as Single’s Day, and gaining traffic from low-demand search terms using long-tail keywords.

The strategy of gaining traffic from low-demand search terms using long-tail keywords is not new, but chewy.com brought it back to life in a new way, according to SimilarWeb.

Chewy.com began investing in paid traffic from long-tail keywords to drive visits from low-demand queries to its range of pet products. The strategy helped establish its brand and raise its profile, and may even have led to its acquisition by PetSmart in April 2017 for $3.35 billion.

In just months, chewy.com had turned long-tail searches into customers. Quarter after quarter, the online retailer sought "new unloved keywords and bought the traffic they generated, expanding its customer base with every click through," proving paid search can become a "powerful acquisition tool to take on the market leaders" like PetSmart and Petco.

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December 28, 2017 at 01:03PM

Agency Offers 'Gift Rapping' Service At Shopping Mall

Agency Offers 'Gift Rapping' Service At Shopping Mall

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Like a lot of agencies, Washington-area ad shop White64 is always looking for the next new thing and that includes how to express a little holiday cheer each December.

This year the agency came up with the idea gift “rapping.”

The basic idea was to find a freestyle rapper, set them up at a mall kiosk in the Washington, D.C. area near the agency's offices, and have them create customized “freestyle gift raps” that shoppers could share with family and friends via social media.

The execution hinged on finding the right talent and the agency found Harry Mack, the California-based freestyle wrapper, who was trending big time after his recent appearance on the Ellen Show, hosted by Ellen DeGeneres.

The agency contacted him and he signed onto the project, provided there was a charity component to the concept. So the agency teamed with Second Story, a local charity focused on empowering youth from under-served communities.

With Mack on board, White64 worked up a comprehensive social media plan that would amplify exposure to the event beyond those present at the mall.

Last weekend, Mack hit Tysons Corner Mall in Virginia and gave the gift of rapping. The agency captured his freestyle flow in a series of “snackable” videos. A site experience enabled “gift rap” recipients the ability to view and download their customized content.

While Mack was rapping Second Story staffers were wrapping—actually wrapping gifts for a fee—at a nearby kiosk. All funds raised by Second Story at their wrapping booth went to the charity’s coffers. White64 also created a freestyle rap video of Harry promoting the charity.

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December 28, 2017 at 12:03PM

Bold Prediction For TV In 2018: Guns, Guns And More Guns

Bold Prediction For TV In 2018: Guns, Guns And More Guns

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Bet on this, and it will be the easiest money you ever made: TV in 2018 will bristle with guns.

Or, more to the point, TV in the new year will continue in its role as a kind of national showcase for violence in all its forms. Much of the blood-letting will be gun-related.

A few seasons ago, I wrote a column on how easy it seemed for so many characters then on TV to walk up to other people and unhesitatingly shoot them in the head.

This trend has not abated. On the contrary, violence on TV has only become more widespread. It is so common that except for a very small handful of TV dramas, it appears to be everywhere you look on TV today.

This really has been the single most long-lasting trend in television content in my career: the expansion -- and by now, acceptance -- of violence on TV.

Which is why making a prediction that guns will proliferate on the tube in 2018 is really a tongue-in-cheek exercise. Of course they will proliferate. They have never not proliferated.

The creators and producers of most of the dramas on TV, along with their network front-office enablers, apparently see the world as a never-ending series of violent events. It’s possible they believe their audience sees the world in much the same way.

Thus, in piling on even more violence for people to watch on TV, producers might feel that they are providing something that people want and expect from them.

And as the years go on, that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. By now, there has been so much violence on TV for so many years that almost no one bats an eyelash over it anymore.

Nor do very many people seem to acknowledge its deleterious effects. Yet I have made this observation for years: Consuming a steady diet of violent, antisocial content on TV can make one irritable, tired, depressed, bleary-eyed and short-tempered.

In 2018, I fully expect to feel all of these emotions again as the parade of new and returning TV shows pass before me.

Here’s a prediction I would love to make: In 2018, TV will suddenly ease up on the casual bloodshed that has been its stock-in-trade for decades. My advice: Don’t bet on it.

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December 28, 2017 at 10:02AM

Google, Wpromote: Predicting Lifetime Value Of Customers In 2018

Google, Wpromote: Predicting Lifetime Value Of Customers In 2018

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Wpromote, a California-based independent digital agency, focuses on helping brands define, understand and predict the lifetime value of customers. This has become one of the more innovative search strategies in 2017.

It takes a minimum of 12 to 24 months of data to analyze and use the signals in a productive way, said Mike Stone, chief relationship officer at Wpromote,.

He said the agency was one of the first this year to test the customer lifetime value modeling with Google. Now the company is rolling it out. "We built a team of data scientists this year to support it," he said. "And we took a profit-driven bidding approach to what we look at within AdWords."

The general premise is that 20% of customers generate about 80% of a business's profit. Stone said advertisers have not invested that way digitally. By changing the way they invest based on the type of customers, brands can increase profit with less investment and increase the equity -- and this requires an understand of their customer data.

In partnership with Google, Wpromote began looking at customer lifetime value by analyzing transaction IDs and order IDs to create a list of the most to the least profitable customers.

That data, which allows companies to build audiences, is applied to how Wpromote bids on AdWords campaigns, social and display media.

"It's been the mantra for any direct-response advertiser for the past 30 years, whether direct mail or television, but it has not really been applied to way people buy digital," he said.

The key is understanding the lifetime value of consumers exposed to certain types of media.

Stone said the company is close to developing the ability to model the predictive value of customers, partly based on past purchase behavior. This is applied to Customer Match and Lookalike Audiences by creating a "living model."

In one example, Provident Urgent Care wanted to drive doctor visits to either express care or virtual facilities the situation was not an emergency. In partnership with Google, Wpromote gave the clinic visibility into visits by creating dynamic ads. Searches for "doctor near me" would serve up information on the location of the nearest Provident Urgent Care clinic and provide the length of waiting time to be seen by a doctor. The campaign tracked the action or impression to a physical location.

The goal is to move away from using last-click attribution, which Stone said that is "the most difficult thing we need to do now -- get the mindset away from the last-click attribution model."

Most companies don't use this type of model, Stone said, but they should.

Wpromote, an early Google partner, boasts Marriott and Health Services, among others brands supported by about 340 employees. About 35% of clients are in retail, with the remaining coming from hospitality, financial services, real estate, software, healthcare and automotive.

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December 28, 2017 at 09:47AM

Oath's CRO Talks Mobile Advertising In 2018

Oath's CRO Talks Mobile Advertising In 2018

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Last week, Oath, a subsidiary of Verizon Communications launched in 2017 and specializing in digital content, introduced new digital advertising formats it is testing. Encompassing augmented reality, utility, native and social advertising, the company’s advertising plan is mobile-focused as it enters its second year in the ring.

John DeVine, Chief Revenue Officer at Oath, discussed the company's direction with Publishing Insider.

PI: What were some of the advertising, digital publishing trends Oath saw in 2017 that will impact its direction in 2018?

We’re interested in strengthening and scaling up our creative portfolio. Going into 2018, mobile and video will be at the forefront of everything we do.

This year, we launched an innovation council focused on greater ad experiences at Oath. By bringing together our sales, operations and engineering teams, we’re working to define what’s next in mobile advertising, and these new platforms are just the start.

Since the launch of Oath, we've been busy bringing together our best assets and building for the future. That's especially true with our creative portfolio of ad experiences, because today's consumers expect more from advertising and marketers need the right tools to build brand love.

With nearly 70% of our audience on mobile, we’re focused on delivering a better ad experience that's mobile-best and consumer-first.

PI: What new mobile-focused ad formats is Oath testing?

We’ve partnered with some new brands to test out formats, including augmented reality, native, utility and social advertising. Consumers are going to benefit from them all. Users be able to save coupons and deal in their mobile wallets with our new utility formats. These formats also allow brands to alert consumers to special deals via notifications.

PI: How is your augmented reality ad unit set up?

It’s powered by Yahoo Gemini, which also powers our native platform, and will enable consumers to access immersive ads from their Yahoo Mail. Oath is testing a native ad that will run across all Oath mobile apps, such as Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports, Yahoo Weather and HuffPost. We’re working with brands like Home Depot and Potter Barn.

One of most exciting parts of this format is the level of digital storytelling brands can bring to their ad experience. Williams-Sonoma recently acquired Outward, a startup focused on augmented reality and 3D imaging. Companies across the board see value in this type of mobile ad experience, which enhances engagement.

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December 28, 2017 at 08:52AM

Are Social Apps Bumming People Out?

Are Social Apps Bumming People Out?

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This post was previously published in an earlier edition of Mobile Insider.

At least on a national level, good news has recently been in short supply. Folks have more cause for disagreement, with more platforms on which to butt heads than ever before.

It should come as no surprise, then, that people aren’t in the best mood when using social apps like Facebook and Twitter.

Compared to average app users, in fact, social app users were 3.2 times more likely to be in a negative mood during the third quarter of the year, according to recent research from mobile video ad firm AdColony.

Also -- somewhat remarkably, I would think -- social app users were two times more likely to be in a negative mood than consumers using a news app, AdColony found.

Letting people frame the conservation is always risky, according to Bryan Buskas, Chief Customer Officer at AdColony.

“Any environment that relies heavily upon user generated content is apt to variably affect users’ moods,” he tells me.

Of course, the research raises of ton of questions for social giants and their ad partners: Are people in bad moods more inclined to open social apps, or do the apps bring them down? Are bummed-out consumers less receptive to ads in general, or might their sour moods make them more amenable to certain products and marketing messages?

There don’t appear to be clear answers to these questions quite yet. “As the sentiment data was collected at a single point in time for each user, the actual causality for their moods is unknown,” according to Buskas.

With billions of dollars on the line, however, social apps and advertisers should no doubt take these issues seriously.

In the meantime, we know what sort of apps and ads are correlated with better moods among mobile consumers. People playing mobile games on their phones, for example, are usually in pretty good spirts, AdColony finds.

Indeed, 77% of respondents playing a mobile game at the time they were surveyed reported being in a good mood, compared to 61% of those engaging with a non-gaming app.

Additionally, the firm found that 75% of mobile users were in a good mood while engaging with in-app ads.

As for why, Buskas explains: “Many of the frustrations we have on our phones are the result of in-browser experiences that aren’t optimized for mobile devices.” Yet, “As this survey was distributed 100% in-app, respondents were already in more enjoyable and user-friendly environments.”

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December 28, 2017 at 07:05AM

Infiniti Plays Up Seat Comfort In 'Thrones'

Infiniti Plays Up Seat Comfort In 'Thrones'

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Infiniti’s first TV spot for the new 2018 QX80, the brand's flagship full-size SUV, is built on the premise that luxury is inclusive and sophistication is something to be shared.

The 30-second national spot, titled "Thrones," opens with a series of images of the most luxurious seats from around the world. Taking inspiration from various regions and historical eras, the thrones featured were custom made. The spot then cuts to a scene of friends inside the new Infiniti QX80 and its specially crafted luxury features, including quilted semi-aniline leather-appointed seats and wood trim accents.

"The beginning of the commercial says it best: 'For centuries, the best seats were built for one.' Today, we aim to deliver the ultimate expression of inclusive luxury where no passenger takes a back seat,” said Phil O'Connor, director, marketing communications and media, in a release.

The spot, which breaks Jan. 1, was created by Infiniti and the brand's creative agency, 72andSunny Los Angeles. The effort also includes a variety of shorter films on Infiniti's social media channels.

The automaker is also prepping the debut of a concept car at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit on Jan. 15. The concept previews a new generation of Infiniti vehicles, according to the automaker.

"As a new wave of technologies begins to take shape, our Detroit concept car heralds a new generation of Infiniti,” says Alfonso Albaisa, senior vice president global design, in a release. “A seamless and stunning new design philosophy demonstrating Infiniti artistry in the new age of autonomy and breakthrough drivetrains. In Detroit, shown alongside Prototype 9, Infiniti aims to showcase a new elegance, one that strikes harmony and simplicity in a complex world."

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December 28, 2017 at 02:22AM

Wednesday, December 27, 2017

Some Things About Tech Were Good in 2017. No, Really. Technology

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Apple Watch Series 3 Excels, Even if You Don’t Need Cellular Technology

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5 New Year’s Resolutions to Protect Your Technology Technology

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What Is Bitcoin, and How Does It Work? Technology

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Facebook Users Take Battle Over Tracking To Appellate Court

Facebook Users Take Battle Over Tracking To Appellate Court

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A group of Facebook users plan to ask a federal appellate court to revive a lawsuit accusing the company of violating their privacy by tracking them throughout the Web via the "Like" button.

U.S. District Court Judge Edward Davila in San Jose, Calif. dismissed the case last month, ruling that the users couldn't proceed with allegations that Facebook violated its privacy promises. The consumers recently filed papers initiating an appeal to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Davila's ruling stemmed from a lawsuit alleging that Facebook violated a host of federal and state laws, as well as its own privacy policy, by collecting data about people through its social widget. The consumers said Facebook gathered data about its users whenever they visited sites with a "Like" button, even if the users were logged out of Facebook at the time.

Davila dismissed all claims last year. He said Facebook didn't violate the federal wiretap law because it didn't "intercept" communications on sites with a "Like" button. That law prohibits companies from intercepting communications without the consent of at least one party.

"The fact that a user’s web browser automatically sends the same information to both parties does not establish that one party intercepted the user’s communication with the other," he wrote in July.

He also ruled in November that the users couldn't proceed with claims that Facebook violated its own policies.

The social networking service is also facing another privacy battle in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. That matter stems from allegations that Facebook tracked users at health sites -- including ones operated by the American Cancer Society, Melanoma Research Foundation and University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center -- via the "Like" widget.

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December 27, 2017 at 05:07PM

The Library of Congress No Longer Wants All the Tweets Technology

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Thank You, President Trump... For Giving Me A Blog To End The Year With

Thank You, President Trump... For Giving Me A Blog To End The Year With

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A year of political media and marketing that seemed to defy precedence is ending, as you might expect, on yet another unprecedented note: an ad campaign thanking the President of the United States for letting Americans say something they were never prohibited from saying: “Merry Christmas.”

The $1 million campaign created and bought by pro-Trump PAC America First Policies, features people portraying regular American citizens thanking the President, including a cherub-faced girl, posing in front of a Christmas tree, who says: “Thank you President Trump for letting us say Merry Christmas again,” with the song “We Wish You A Merry Christmas” playing in the background.

Never mind that Americans were never prohibited from saying it, or believing it. In fact, the First Amendment protects both those rights.

The paid media effort was either a targeted at an audience of one (President Trump) or to persuade his supporters that Trump has, in fact, somehow protected their right to say “Merry Christmas.”

Trump, who kvetches almost incessantly about “fake news,” literally created a fake issue about a plot to keep Americans from wishing each other a Merry Christmas, and a PAC spent serious money trying to convince Americans of that fact.

In the ultimate irony, Trump even thanked himself in a Christmas Eve tweet asserting, “I am proud to have led the charge against the assault of our cherished and beautiful phrase. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!”

That Trump likes self-congratulating himself isn’t new. That he likes creating fake wars to fight is also standard fare. But to exploit one of America’s most cherished traditions for political gain isn’t just a lie, but a shameless assault on reality.

On that note, and without any thanks to President Trump, let me wish all our readers a belated Merry Christmas. And even though POTUS hasn’t weighted in on it -- yet -- I’ll throw in a Happy New Year!

Wishing you all the best for 2018.

VIDEO

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December 27, 2017 at 04:30PM

Publix Toasts All Holidays

Publix Toasts All Holidays

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Publix Toasts All Holidays 12/28/2017

Publix holiday spots are an annual tradition in the Southeast region, where the grocery chain is a familiar presence and popular place to purchase ingredients for their seasonal meals.

Developed with agency 22squared and Publix's in-house creative team, this year's “Toast to Traditions” campaign is designed to encourage consumers to engage with the brand through live events, traditional TV and social media.

The campaign’s 60-second TV spot reflects the grocer's diverse consumer base by recognizing their differences and the thousands of personal, multicultural and diverse seasonal traditions they honor each year. Have a look here.

"We hope this work inspires people to learn a little about someone else's journey. Because, as much as we're different, there's so much we share," says Ryan Stafford, senior vice president, creative director, 22squared.

In addition, Publix invited customers to share their own traditions with hosted live in-store events. Guests were able to transform their holiday stories into art, thanks to an on-site photographer and illustrator. These recipients were then encouraged to post their designs across social media.

Publix also supported its broader holiday messaging across its own social media channels, specifically Pinterest and Instagram. (Twitter, it seems, is used primarily by the grocer to address individual complaints and concerns.)

For over 30 years, 22squared and Publix have created integrated campaigns around key occasions, including Mother's Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas, with the partnership expanding to incorporate everyday milestones like birthdays.

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December 27, 2017 at 03:43PM

2018 Trends: Anti-Ageism, Extinction Tourism, Me Milestones

2018 Trends: Anti-Ageism, Extinction Tourism, Me Milestones

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Sparks&honey has released its annual trend forecast predicting that 2018 will usher in a year of “cultural shifts” that include, transit cars offering manicures, and dressing up food to mimic animals and people.

The report offers some observations on retail reinvention and artificial intelligence, and delves into how the confluence of polarization, accelerating technological advancement, and evolving social norms are playing an outsized role in the year ahead.

As many Millennials and Gen Zers continue to put off marriage, the Omnicom-owned agency believes 2018 will introduce the “Me Milestone” trend where people celebrate individual moments in their lives, such as landing a new job. It remains to be seen if brands will launch registries specific to these individual moments, but it is likely that more advertisers and brands will participate in Alibaba's Singles Day, known as the biggest ecommerce day in the world as people celebrate their independence by purchasing their own products on November 11.

Following this year's movement for inclusiveness, ageism will continue to be a hot focus for advertisers and brands as messages shift away from trying to be younger forever in favor of embracing and living a fuller and maturing lifestyle. CoverGirl and agency Droga5, for instance, recently introduced advertising with 69-year-old Maye Musk. And L'Oreal and agency McCann continue to feature brand ambassador Helen Mirren.

Another topic gaining more notice: the plus-size market via the 67% Movement. One notable question, however, is whether this plus-size shift will expand to the men's market. There has yet to be oversized male models walking down the runway. Men, on the other hand, will be in the headlines thanks to the on-going Harvey Weinstein fallout via what the agency calls the “Detoxing Masculinity” movement that will play down a male-dominated culture and viewpoint.

Catastrophe response will also gain attention as brands, advertisers and companies will wrestle with how best to leverage their talents to help storm recovery in what the agency calls "disaster design." This fall, 22squared, for instance, created 'Irma Gives Back' to help victims of Hurricane Irma, the largest Atlantic storm in recorded history.

Climate change will help fosters the “extinction tourism” trend where travellers will increasingly seek out extraordinary and exotic destinations, such as Antarctica. And expect brands to introduce messages based around “Armour Therapy” designed to help ease concerns about the unpredictable and unstable world.

Among the 90 predicted trends, others include asynchronous meals where people eat food beyond the traditional breakfast, lunch and dinner; Kidults where kids act like adults and adults act like children; and Mass Upscaling where brands introduce more luxury-priced offerings.

Check out the full report here.

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December 27, 2017 at 01:42PM

Personalization - Are You Really Ready To Do It?

Personalization - Are You Really Ready To Do It?

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Marketers get caught up in the promise of personalization, but is it beneficial for all brands, particularly data-constrained CPG brands? Before investing in personalization, brands need to answer the following questions.

1. Is the target open to providing personal information, and can the brand respond immediately once the information is shared?

Not everyone likes to provide personal information. A 2017 global study commissioned by SAP Hybris found that 52% of Americans feel comfortable sharing an email address, but only 37% feel comfortable sharing past purchases and preferences, and only 25%, a mobile number. Other research has found that women and those over 45 years of age are less forthcoming with this information.
Brands can overcome shopper hesitancy by building trust via an immediate and relevant response. SAP Hybris discovered that 87% of those providing information expect acknowledgment within 24 hours. Other studies have found that marketers have less than an hour to provide a relevant discount.

2. Is the brand grounded in a passion?

Brands that succeed with personalization, particularly in CPG, are typically linked to a passion. Unilever and CVS run a highly successful personalization program, “Your Style, Your Way.” Launched in 2015, the program marries rich insights from CVS’s database with Unilever’s extensive hair care product line to provide personalized solutions based on a woman’s desired fashion statement. Rather than focusing on an individual’s hair type or problem, Unilever addresses the woman’s underlying passion — the style she craves. Quizzes help CVS shoppers envision a new look, enhance a current style, or adjust to a new lifestyle.

For more functional categories, a sense of personalization can be achieved by linking to a belief, value, or higher-order joy. The key is to find a unique and credible role the brand can play in an everyday delight or social cause. L’Oréal’s “Worth It Rewards” program goes beyond beauty to include aspects facilitating social change with its “Women of Worth” recognition program.

3. Is the brand’s customer knowledge relevant and seamless across channels and digital devices?

Brands are typically reliant on retailer or third-party data to execute personalization. These sources provide rich profiles, but many focus on a small aspect of a target segment. Understanding values, preferences, and unmet needs beyond a brand’s immediate category makes it easier to surprise and delight with interesting content and offers. Brands that can link information across different sources (retailers, social platforms, etc.) are more likely to succeed with personalization.

Furthermore, brands should be prepared to show a consistent level of familiarity when engaging with individuals across multiple touchpoints. An online survey by Segment noted shoppers experience some level of frustration when their experience isn’t personalized online and in-store. Brands should strive for personalization consistency across touchpoints to avoid making individuals feel as though the brand “forgets” who they are in different situations. Individuals think in terms of ongoing brand experiences, and marketers should too.

4. What is the right balance of customization and personalization for the brand’s target?

Customization and personalization are not the same thing, and a good program artfully combines the two. Customization enables the user to shape an interaction, while personalization refers to the content, offers, and information driven by the brand or retailer. When the wrong type of content is personalized, the creep factor sets in. How did brand X know a user just took a photo, and when did that user give permission to access his or her camera? Make information sharing as consensual as possible versus legally compliant but cajoled.

5. Are KPIs (key performance indicators) aligned with immediate and longer-term goals?

Data from the most recent annual study of personalization trends by Evergage and Researchscape revealed an interesting paradox for performance measures. The most common KPI for personalization is conversion lift (68%), yet the top reason to do personalization is to deepen a relationship. Ironically, only one in three organizations measures retention, an assessment of the relationship. Additionally, if relationship building (versus acquisition) is the goal of personalization, brands should look for ways to incorporate owned and earned media, along with the paid media used for personalization and acquisition.

Personalization is part art, part science. Success comes when technology, selectively applied, makes the human experience better. Smart brands will ground themselves in the human needs first and judiciously use data to serve the needs of shoppers.

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December 27, 2017 at 01:42PM

This Spring, Think Experiences

This Spring, Think Experiences

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In today’s consumer marketing landscape, strategies and tactics are changing. To make an impression on consumers—including the coveted millennial demographic—marketers are steadily embracing immersive experience-based marketing. There’s good reason for this accelerating trend away from product-based initiatives. Marketers who monitor social media understand the tremendous value of experiential marketing.

In addition to millennials, a cross-section of generations now share information and images about their experiences—from travel to dining to art exhibits to concerts to parties and events—online. They are defining their own “brand,” i.e. their own lifestyles and social statuses, by their activities, rather than by their material possessions. Young adults, especially, are now more interested in spending money on enriching experiences instead of products.

And brands are adapting to this cultural shift accordingly. Rather than focus on product pushing, it is wise for brands to develop their consumer experiences, both in and out of stores. The smart marketing approach is to create relevant, memorable experiences through the lens of the brand’s product or service.

There are several opportunities to consider in the experience-based marketing realm. First, there is the complimentary consumer experience—something customers don’t pay for, yet an experience that reinforces a positive impression of the brand in their minds. This is essentially a “bonus” offer for a product, and we’ve seen it especially in the global travel industry. For example, hospitality chains are working towards a millennial-enticing environment with cooler décor, live music, 24-hour cafes, yoga classes, free Wi-Fi and smartphones used as room keys.

Second, brands are now offering a new kind of launch experience – one where consumers play a part in the launch itself. Unlike traditional tactics, in these new launches, sales are directly tied to the experience itself. A great example is what Alexander Wang x Adidas created this past summer – a grassroots experience where posters were hung around NYC with the product shots and codes to text via a chatbox in order to purchase the new collection. Fashionistas felt the intensity and excitement as they took to the streets, mobile device in-hand, to make their purchases – then have the clothing delivered right to their homes by bike messenger!

In recent months, two brands have executed exemplary experiential marketing projects.

In November, esteemed cognac brand Hennessy held “Le Grand Voyage,” a series of intimate events in Brooklyn. Cognac fans were led through a multi-media event that featured a series of art installations, explaining the history of Hennessy. Of course, Hennessy was served throughout. Not only were attendees reminded of how much they enjoy Hennessy, but they also walked away with knowledge of the brand’s whole backstory and the process of producing fine cognac.

Perhaps the most stunningly-executed recent experience-based marketing campaign was designed by the team at luxury handbag and luggage design house Louis Vuitton. “Volez, Voguez, Voyagez – Louis Vuitton” is a much buzzed-about exhibition taking place at New York City’s American Stock Exchange Building through the first week of 2018. Billed as “the unexpected journey at the heart of Louis Vuitton,” it is a retrospective detailing the history of the French trunk maker. The story of the brand is told through portraits of its founders and the various designers that have helmed the House of Louis Vuitton from 1854 to the present day.

The exhibition also features objects and documents from the company’s heritage archives. To give the experience an interactive element, event producers created an app which allows exhibit-goers to bring portraits to life with augmented reality. To the hordes of fans flocking to see it, the exhibit reinforces Louis Vuitton’s place in high fashion history and positions its products as museum-worthy pieces of art.

These are companies at the forefront of the experience-based marketing trend. In addition to crafting strong messaging and traditional advertising campaigns, brands would be well-advised to start crafting experiences like these recent examples to keep consumers fully engaged and brand loyal.

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December 27, 2017 at 01:42PM

ANA Finds Programmatic Impacting Traditional Media Too, Especially Out-Of-Home

ANA Finds Programmatic Impacting Traditional Media Too, Especially Out-Of-Home

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Programmatic media-buying may be associated most with digital media channels such as display, search and social, but the reality is it is transforming the way big brands buy all media. That’s one of the major takeaways from the Association of National Advertisers recently released Programmatic Media Buying report.

While online and mobile media do dominate in prevalence of programmatic media-buying, all media are now being bought in significant amounts via programmatic platforms, including television, radio, “print,” and even outdoor.

The percentage of ANA members citing the so-called media may be small, but it is growing fast as brands and agencies embrace automation, superior data targeting and platforms to make their media dollars more effective and efficient.

Not surprisingly, after online and mobile, out-of-home is the most dominant medium bought programmatically, thanks in part to ability of digital out-of-home media options to easily integrate into programmatic’s digital interfaces.

Twenty-three percent of ANA members responding, cited using programmatic technology to buy digital OOH media. Another 7% cited using it to buy conventional outdoor media, such as billboards and signs.

TV (cited by 14% of respondents) and radio (13%) are the next most common programmatically-bought media, followed by print media such as newspapers and magazines (9%).

The report does not discuss the impact programmatic has had on ad budgets allocated by medium, but overall, it is beginning to have a profound impact among ANA members, with respondents reporting well into the double-digits of their total spending (see range of responses below).

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December 27, 2017 at 10:08AM

The Symbiosis Of Social And Programmatic

The Symbiosis Of Social And Programmatic

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Which came first? The acceleration of social media thanks to programmatic media-buying technology? Or the expansion of programmatic media-buying thanks to the inclusion of social media channels?

You don’t have to be an egghead to know the answer is a symbiotic one: the rapid expansion of piecemeal unstructured media impressions generated by the explosion of social media channels has created a void that couldn’t possibly be processed manually and could only be fulfilled programmatically.

Conversely, the ability to tame social media by using technology and -- perhaps more importantly, data -- to target consumers more effectively through social media channels, has contributed appreciably to the expansion of programmatic media-buying.

It’s no surprise that Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Snap and others have taken a page out of Google’s self-serve targeting and media-buying automation to enable legions of advertisers and media buyers to easily adapt their platforms into their audience reach models and internal planning and buying system.

We may never get an accurate accounting of how much of that has been impacting the long-tail of smaller brands, but we have a pretty good snapshot of how it is impacting the biggies, thanks to the recent release of the Association of National Advertisers’ Programmatic Media Buying report.

The report found that “social display” is now the fifth most prevalent platform for programmatic media-buying (cited by 45% of the ANA members participating in the survey), while “social video” now ranks sixth (35% citing).

Taming the torrent of social media opportunity is only part of the story. Perhaps the bigger effect has been the availability of behavioral data generated by social media users that can be used to improve the targeting of audiences programmatically.

Social data now ranks as the third most prevalent source of so-called “first-party” data used by brands to target consumers programmatically, just after their own in-house CRM data and website publisher’s cookies.

When it comes to the application of so-called “second-party” data -- data generated by walled gardens that brands can use to target consumers -- social media data ranks No. 1.

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December 27, 2017 at 09:38AM

How To Tell The Financial Health Of Digital, TV Shows

How To Tell The Financial Health Of Digital, TV Shows

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How do you explain the cancellation of an original digital TV show?

Don’t think you can use time-honored reasons. You need to be more clearly specific. We’re all for that.

In the traditional TV world, there is always talk about poor TV ratings -- or about key 18-49 viewers data -- when it comes to poor-performing shows. If not that, then perhaps a show’s poor time period is to blame.

In the digital world, CNN just stopped its 4-month-old “The Update,” produced on social-media platform Snapchat.

One revealing explanation about why the program ended was a more specific financial reason; it couldn’t sell enough advertising. Specifically, that the program’s ad revenue-sharing deal with the site wasn’t going anywhere, according to reports.

We understand this because it is always about dollars and cents. And, of course, sense. We have advocated for some time at TV Watch that a TV show's effort should be reflected by an easier performance measure.

Say a big TV network show on a specific night pulled in $7 million in national TV advertising, versus another grabbing $5 million, and three others doing just $1 million a piece. Now we have a better -- though not perfect -- picture.

To be sure, stuff can be complicated -- especially when you don’t include factors such as carriage, affiliate or retransmission fees, local TV advertising revenue or even the value of show as a promotional tool for other TV shows or products.

National TV advertisers, of course, want to know much more these days. For example, how did their media/advertising money perform in selling products/service give a specific episode?

Take a cue from the theatrical movie business.

We know what “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” did in terms of U.S. box-office business over the last two weekends -- and pretty much what the production's budget was, according to many reports. So we all know where the financial health of this media/entertainment enterprise is going.

TV shows should embrace better future data stars — and leave out the metric wars.

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December 27, 2017 at 09:28AM

Brand Authenticity Key In Era Of Digital Overload

Brand Authenticity Key In Era Of Digital Overload

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In 2017, the media business bore witness and weathered a year of fake news and inauthenticity that has taken an industry based on facts and turned it on its head. Through the false application of what is and isn’t fake news, trust in media is unfortunately no longer what it used to be. That is a fact.

In 2018, it’s crucial to understand how media brands can set themselves apart in a time of endless choices, information overload and misleading news sources. In my view, three easy steps must be taken in order for media brands to differentiate themselves in an overcrowded digital ecosystem and maintain not just trust, but relevancy, with their audiences.

Know What Your Brand Stands For. Shout It from the Rooftops.

In 2018, knowing one’s point of difference will become a must for media brands.

To succeed in today’s crowded digital space, brands and marketers need to take a moment to determine exactly who they are, what they stand for and how they can create a community-like bond with their audiences to overcome the trust issues facing media today.

Consumers need to see that media brands are paying attention to the causes and subjects their communities care about. The reporting and content covering these topics must find alignment with readers and their passions.

For example, Conde Nast recently created a “Next Gen” campaign targeting digital-focused millennials. They added digital accompaniments for a few of their older titles and launched social strategies, like Vogue’s Snapchat Discover and British Vogue’s Facebook Messenger bot, for personalized fashion news. This move from a veteran media company proves its investment in the new generation and drives interest among that target audience.

Whether a brand’s focus is social justice, lifestyle content, sports, etc., own it within the content produced, partnerships and interactions with target audiences. If asked, a reader should, without hesitation, be able to say what a media brand stands for.

Stop talking about platforms and focus on activating your “tribe.”

Through the upcoming year, media brands need to ensure they show up in authentic ways for their audiences. Too many times, media brands are fighting the perception of the platforms where they are housed, particularly print or digital, instead of differentiating their brands through their storytelling voice and where they show up.

The focus in 2018 that will set brands apart is creating these activations that speak to an audience, or “tribe,” in the manner that is most authentic. When brands see themselves as being more than a website or newspaper, so do their tribes.

For example, The Next Web announced they changed their entire conference format this year to appeal to a significantly wider audience. They built in custom networking technology that supports their tribes of entrepreneurs, marketers, developers, etc., in making connections. Creating experiences that resonate with your audiences and seeking to meet their needs pushes a brand ahead of its competition and keeps them both relevant, and more trustworthy in this world of digital overload.

Have your tribe represent you.

Keeping your audience engaged and making them natural brand ambassadors is an essential final step in staying competitive in the industry. Brands must surprise and delight their tribes to get them to advocate for the brand

At the USA Today Network, my company, we do this in a variety of less traditional, more unexpected ways. To get a variety of tribes engaged we host events around the country, including food festivals and awards for high-school athletes.

To drive community across our local tribes and national audience, we recently refreshed and aligned the look of our more than 100 properties to deliver a sense of solidarity throughout our national and local publications.

2018 is the year for media brands to own their point of difference, building a social connection with their audiences. It will be essential to zero in on the brand’s commitment and own it from every angle, from content to events to partnerships and beyond.

In the next year, brands must give their tribes more, before someone else wins them over.

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December 27, 2017 at 09:04AM