3 Omnichannel Marketing Trends You Need to Know

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After a year or so that required marketers to adapt their strategies to fit digitally-enabled devices at home and shift away from traditional channels, Innovid set out to quantify pandemic-induced omnichannel marketing trends by analyzing billions of global impressions from 2020 across more than 550 advertisers.

Its 2021 global omnichannel benchmarks report, “The Year Streaming Went Supernova” unpacks three key marketing takeaways, including the explosive growth of connected TV (CTV), the importance of programmatic advertising for video and how dynamic creative is serving as a win-win for remaining nimble and driving impressions. 

#1: Make CTV The Center Of Your Omnichannel Strategy

Last year, CTV accounted for 40 percent of all video impressions—up from 31 percent in 2019. eMarketer anticipates this trend will continue this year, when over 25 percent of all US households will cut the cord.

Innovid found that global CTV video impressions saw a 60 percent year-over-year (YoY) increase. CTV ad spending is growing the fastest in APAC, but North America has the largest share of CTV impressions. Outside of North American, LATAM has the second biggest share of CTV impressions and the largest growth in share going to CTV, according to Innovid.

In 2020, mobile captured 43 percent of global video impressions and 68 percent of global display impressions. Meanwhile, global PC impressions in both display and video are still on a downward momentum. 

In 2020, PC’s share of global display impressions was 32 percent, while video impressions dropped to 16 percent—a 23 percent YoY decline. Nevertheless, in 2020, internet time spent on PCs rose 7.5 percent, signaling its importance in the omnichannel marketing mix.

#2: Give Your Campaigns A Programmatic Boost

Pointing to Statista data, Innovid reports that global programmatic ad spend will reach $147 billion this year, up 41 percent since 2019. Brands are increasingly leveraging programmatic for video, as evidenced by the 54 percent YoY increase in video impressions served programmatically. At 54 percent, digital native tied with programmatic as the fastest growing publisher type.

CTV represents one of the largest growing areas for programmatic advertising—in the US alone, it’s expected to hit $6.73 billion, up 54 percent from 2020, as per eMarketer data.

Additionally, Innovid found that programmatic CTV impressions surged by 207 percent YoY, second to CTV impressions served via digital native publishers.

As for share of programmatic CTV impressions by vertical, consumer electronics led the way with 56 percent, followed by auto at 46 percent and gaming at 33 percent.

#3: Leverage Advanced Creative For Agility, Engagement And Brand Loyalty

From the first half last year to the second, Innovid observed a 37 percent increase in the number of advertisers running dynamic creative video and a whopping 100 percent rise in the number of dynamic creative video impressions.

Compared to standard pre-roll, advanced creative ad formats generated a 309 percent lift in engagement and an average of 34 additional seconds earned.

What’s more, interactive CTV produced an additional 63 seconds earned and CTV ads averaged a video-completion rate of over 85 percent.

Brands in verticals that have traditionally led with linear advertising adopted these advanced creative solutions to pivot during the pandemic. Auto brands, for example, utilized geotargeting to alert customers about operating hours and services offered at dealerships. And in response to supply chain issues, CPG brands leaned on dynamic creative to update messaging in real time based on product inventory and availability.

Innovid’s analysis shows that the sweet spot for video ads is between 15 and 30 seconds when optimizing for click-throughs and video completions. Yet it’s worth noting that they saw a 104 percent YoY growth in 60-second ads in 2020, particularly around Q3 and Q4.

Yet another reason to embrace dynamic creative is that within display, it led to a 37 percent lift in CTR over standard display on PCs. On mobile devices, that lift surged to 82 percent.

Tinder Appoints George Felix As Chief Marketing Officer

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This week in leadership updates, Tinder names George Felix as chief marketing officer, the National Retail Federation taps Martine Reardon as chief marketing officer, Walmart appoints Jean Batthany as its first head of creative and more.

Tinder Taps George Felix As New Chief Marketing Officer

George Felix, who recently stepped down as CMO of Pizza Hut, has joined Tinder as the dating app’s CMO, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Felix succeeds former Tinder CMO Jenny Campbell, who exited the company in November 2020.

The National Retail Federation Names Martine Reardon Chief Marketing Officer

The National Retail Federation has appointed Martine Reardon as CMO and executive vice president of content and membership.

Reardon was previously CMO of Macy’s and has worked with the NRF since 2016 as a senior advisor for retail and marketing strategies.

Walmart Names Jean Batthany As First Chief Creative Officer

Walmart has hired Jean Batthany as its first-ever senior vice president, chief creative officer. As per Batthany’s LinkedIn, she will lead “the vision for consumer-centric communications across all channels.”

Batthany, the founder of Chief, joins from The Walt Disney Company, where she was VP, global creative for Disney Parks, Experiences and Consumer Products.

Kraft Heinz Canada Elevates Kelly Fleming As Chief Category And Brand Officer

Kelly Fleming has been named Kraft Heinz Canada’s chief category and brand officer, according to a press release.

Fleming, who’s been with the company since 2010, previously served as head of the grocery business unit.

Twitch Viewership Reaches An All-Time High In Q1

BY

This week in social media news, Twitch represents 72.3 percent of streaming viewership, TikTok is testing four new ad formats and released insight about how users perceive its ads, a new Pew Research Center survey highlights key social media use trends and more.

Twitch Accounts For 72 Percent Of Market Share In Terms Of Viewership

Streamlabs and Stream Hatchets’ latest live streaming report shows that in Q1, Twitch viewership reached an all-time high—growing 16.5 percent since the last quarter—Facebook Gaming closed the gap on YouTube Gaming viewership for the first time and watch time on YouTube Gaming has almost doubled year-over-year (YoY).

Why it matters: Twitch’s new milestone means the platform now represents 72.3 percent of market share in terms of viewership, a 6.5 percent increase from the previous quarter. Comparatively, YouTube Gaming’s viewership dipped about 550 million hours from Q4 2020 to Q1 2021. Meanwhile, Facebook Gaming viewership grew by about 156 million hours.

The details: In Q1, Twitch saw the biggest increase in hours streamed since the start of the pandemic, much of which can be attributed to its ‘Just Chatting’ category, which now accounts for 12 percent of all content watched on Twitch.

Streamers broadcast 35 million more hours of content to Twitch in Q1 than in Q4, and compared to this time last year, the total hours of content streamed to Twitch grew by 119 percent—from 121 million to 265 million.

For YouTube Gaming, YoY viewership grew by 28 percent but hours streamed dipped nearly seven percent compared to Q4.

Facebook Gaming has reached all-time highs across all categories, reports Streamlabs. In fact, viewership figures surpassed 1 billion hours watched in one quarter for the first time, streamers broadcast 5 million hours of content to the platform and nearly 400,000 unique channels were streamed to the platform in Q1 than the previous quarter.

View the full report here.

TikTok Is Testing Four New Ecommerce Ad Formats

According to ad buyers and recent TikTok pitch decks leaked from sales presentations, TikTok is testing four new ad formats, reports Business Insider. Currently in testing and expected to launch this year, the solutions will enable brands to showcase their products, retarget audiences with products they’ve shown interest in and customize sales and promotions to in-feed ads.

Why it matters: In the past year, TikTok’s US advertising business surged more than 500 percent, Sandie Hawkins, US general manager of global business solutions at TikTok, confirmed to Business Insider.

The details: As per Business Insider, the four new ad formats TikTok is building are: Collection Ads, which would let brands combine product catalogs and branded videos to direct people to product landing pages; Dynamic Product Ads, which automatically retarget people with products based on their online actions; Promo Tiles, allowing marketers to add customizable promos to their in-feed ads; and Showcase Tiles, giving creators the ability to promote products in their video via a link to the products shown in tiles below.

A media executive at a holding company also told Business Insider that TikTok is offering media credits to ad agencies to test out the new formats if they spend at least $5,000 over a two-week period.

Kantar Research Shows How TikTok Ads Are Perceived

TikTok recently commissioned Kantar to conduct a study across 20 different countries among 25,000 participants from September 2020 to January 2021 to understand how ads on TikTok are being perceived versus ads on other apps.

Why it matters: Last year, Kantar’s research revealed that TikTok’s Branded Hashtag Challenge incorporates all the winning features of successful ads, and could surpass major TV moments in reach and engagement. For example, as per Kantar, a Branded Hashtag Challenge for a soft drink in Japan recorded 52 million unique user video views, nearly as many as the record TV audience—60 million—for the 2019 Rugby World Cup with Japan vs. Scotland.

The details: According to Kantar’s findings, 72 percent of those surveyed agreed that ads on TikTok are perceived as inspiring and 67 percent agreed that ads on TikTok hold their attention. The latter figure represents a 10 percent lead compared to other platforms.

In addition, compared to ads on other apps, TikTok ads are considered 21 percent more “trendsetting,” with nearly 70 percent holding this sentiment.

When asked to choose between ad formats on other platforms or TikTok’s TopView ad, 72 percent of all respondents preferred TopView, citing its “more natural placement within the platform,” in addition to its sound-on and full-screen features.

Lastly, Kantar found that TikTok ads showed a 10 percent better ad receptivity on average compared to other platforms tested.

Pew Research: YouTube Is The Most Used Social Platform Among US Adults

The most-used social media platform by US adults is YouTube (81 percent), followed by Facebook (69 percent), according to a new Pew Research Center survey conducted from January 25 to February 8 among 1,502 Americans. Among the platforms Pew measured, the only platform other than YouTube that experienced significant growth since 2019—up from 73 percent—is Reddit, which grew from 11 percent in 2019 to 18 percent today.

Why it matters: Facebook is still one of the most used social media platforms with 69 percent of respondents saying they use it, but Pew’s data show that its growth has leveled off over the last five years. In addition, the respective number of Americans who report using Snapchat, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter and WhatsApp is statistically unchanged since 2019.

The details: As for other platforms in Pew’s survey, 40 percent of adults say they use Instagram and 30 percent use Pinterest or LinkedIn. Twenty-five percent say they use Snapchat and a similar amount report using Twitter or WhatsApp. TikTok, despite its explosive growth in the past year, is used by 21 percent of Americans. Another 13 percent say they use the Nextdoor app.

Adults under 30 stand out for their use of TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat, while a vast majority of those 30 to 64 use YouTube. The latter share drops to 49 percent among Americans aged 65 and older.

Comparatively, age gaps between the youngest and oldest demographic narrow for Facebook, with 70 percent of those ages 18 to 29 saying they use the platform and 73 percent of ages 50 to 64 saying they use it.

Other apps that stand out for their demographic differences include Pinterest, where women continue to be far more likely to use it than men—46 percent versus 16 percent. In addition, Hispanic Americans (46 percent) are more likely to say they use WhatsApp than black (23 percent) or white Americans (16 percent).

See the full findings here.

Google Ads Launches YouTube Video Experiments Globally

To help advertisers find their creative sweet spot on YouTube, Google is launching video experiments worldwide in Google Ads. The company says that in global studies it conducted in 2019 and 2020, advertisers who successfully used video experiments to optimize for lower-funnel performance on YouTube saw a 30 percent lower media cost per acquisition from the higher-performing creative.

Why it matters: When sporting goods retailer Decathlon set out to test video creatives versus single standard creative for key audience segments using Google’s video experiments, it saw 175 percent more incremental online conversations at a 64 percent lower cost per conversion and greater return on ad spend by 51 percent.

The details: The Google Ads video experiments will enable brands to analyze the impact of different video ads on brand lift, conversions or CPAs by letting you show two distinctly different video ads to the same audience, with different visual language elements such as brightness, text and framing. To start, Google suggests testing supersize text and logo, tighter framing and placing a call to action at the beginning of the video.

Reddit Is Reportedly Building A Clubhouse-Like Voice Chat Feature

Reddit is exploring a new feature that would let people moderate voice chats, a source familiar with the company’s plan told Mashable.

Why it matters: Reddit hasn’t confirmed the feature, but it would come as no surprise if it were tapping into the popularity and rollout of new audio-only features and apps, including Clubhouse, Twitter’s Spaces, Facebook’s Rooms and Discord’s new ‘Stage Channels.’

The details: Mashable reports that voice chats on Reddit could be part of the company’s ‘Powerup’ program. Announced last year, the program involves the launch of additional features for subreddits whose members buy a minimum number of Power subscriptions, which costs $4.99 a month.

Piotr Urbanski On Testing Conditional Hypotheses

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In this month’s a.university session, Piotr Urbanski, Ph.D., Ayzenberg associate director of marketing science, explains how to test conditional hypotheses—hypotheses that depend on the value of other variables— and the differences between probabilistic, directional and conditional hypotheses. The course aims to help analysts who are trying to put statistical confidence on the phrase, “It depends on…” and anyone hoping to ask better questions and understand the results of conditional analyses.

Marketing Water Plus Purpose In Action With PepsiCo’s Zach Harris

BY

On this 255th episode of Marketing Today, I speak with Zach Harris, vice president of marketing for the water portfolio at PepsiCo Beverages, North America. Throughout the episode, we discuss how to brand water, the new launch of bubly bounce, and PepsiCo’s other products like LIFEWTR and Aquafina. 

The conversation starts with Harris describing his career at PepsiCo, a company he’s been at since he graduated college. He says these experiences have taught him that the role of a brand is really to keep the consumer “at the center of everything you do.” Because without it, you won’t gain brand loyalty.

From there Zach goes deep into what it means to have purpose, both in your job and as a company, and how being a visible example of leadership is what ties a community together.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • Why an informal network is important for your career growth
  • Why you should be a visible example of leadership in your community
  • How to build trust among your customers
  • How to market a portfolio of products
  • What it truly means to have purpose behind your brand

Key Highlights:

  • [01:20] How Zach found his way to marketing in a family of doctors
  • [04:03] Why Zach has been at PepsiCo for his entire career
  • [06:34] Zach’s different cross-functional experiences 
  • [07:40] How different experiences have prepared Zach for his current role
  • [09:30] Zach’s passion for mentorship
  • [12:33] Being a visible leader in your community
  • [15:15] How to market and brand water
  • [17:52] What Zach thinks about when marketing the water portfolio 
  • [20:08] The branding of the LIFEWTR bottle
  • [22:18] How Zach thinks about purpose-driven marketing
  • [26:45] Driving sales with brand loyalty
  • [27:30] The launch of Bubly Bounce with Michael Buble´
  • [32:25] An experience that defines Zach, made him who he is today 
  • [36:57] Zach’s advice for his younger self
  • [41:05] A recent impactful purchase Zach made
  • [43:30] The brands, companies, and causes Zach follows
  • [47:05] What Zach says is the biggest threat and opportunity for marketers today

Resources Mentioned: 

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Connect with Marketing Today and Alan Hart:

Alan B. Hart is the creator and host of “Marketing Today with Alan Hart,” a weekly podcast where he interviews leading global marketing professionals and business leaders. Alan advises leading executives and marketing teams on opportunities around brand, customer experience, innovation, and growth. He has consulted with Fortune 100 companies, but he is an entrepreneur at his core, having founded or served as an executive for nine startups.

What We’re Reading—Week Of April 12th

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A look at the news and insights we’re sharing internally here at AList for the week of April 12th, 2021.

Why More Brands Are Making Environmentalism Central To Marketing

Ad Age

P&G has committed to inspiring 75 percent of Americans to wash their clothes in cold water by 2030 and General Motors pledged to offer 30 new electric vehicles by 2025 as well as go-all electric by 2035.

Why it matters: Sustainability was previously excluded from the value equation for consumers, but today it’s not only central to the perceived positive social impact of brands but also affects their results. According to Bernstein Research analyst Bruno Monteyne, the investor community is still divided about sustainability, with about 25 percent saying it’s the right thing to do and that it creates higher long-term returns in conjunction with a good commercial strategy; 50 percent noting they aren’t sure but are “powered ahead by the fact that there’s large interest from clients to invest in ESG funds”; and 25 percent “are probably doubting the whole thing but are staying quiet right now.”

Logitech SG Jumps On Clubhouse Session To Reach Millennial Apple Users

Marketing Interactive

Logitech Singapore hosted a 45-minute Clubhouse stream targeting Apple users. During the live event, the company asked the 35 listeners to play a game of ‘This or That’ and ran two giveaways with prizes including its bluetooth keyboard and wireless mouse. To create hype beforehand, Logitech enlisted three influencers who posted teasers about the event on their Instagram accounts.

Why it matters: Since launching in April 2020, Clubhouse, an invite-only app, has been downloaded 10 million times and has nearly 2 million weekly active users.

The Necessity Of Doing Well By Doing Good

McKinsey & Company

According to McKinsey Global Institute research, there’s potential to increase annual productivity growth by about one percentage point in the period to 2024, which then would equate to an extra increase in per capita GDP of $3,500 in the US.

Why it matters: That productivity dividend depends on the social responsibility companies invest in. Some areas to consider include preventing climate change, improving the quality of education, helping smaller companies with lower technological capabilities advance, revisiting wage norms and making reskilling an urgent priority.

Influencers Say They’re Seeing Racial Inequality

Bloomberg

Among the influencers of color who’ve experienced racism is Kenny Kox, a sketch comic who says he not only had his content reposted without credit, but that when he first started out on Vine, despite having 1.6 million followers, he noticed creators with less activity were securing brand deals while he wasn’t landing any.

Why it matters: Echoing this disparity is an Instagram account called @influencerpaygap. Formed in June of last year, the page invites influencers to anonymously share their brand partnership fees. 

One influencer wrote: 

“I would say 90% of the time I am turned down for any rate I give and told there’s no budget so they are only able to do gifting with me. My general rate per post is £100 and this gets turned down almost every time. The biggest paid campaign I have done was £500 for Daniel Wellington, 5 posts with swipe up stories over the period of 3 months.”

APIs Aren’t Just For Tech Companies

Harvard Business Review

Though application programming interfaces (APIs) have enabled the digital transformations of many established tech companies, APIs can benefit companies in every industry, particularly small to midsize ones that are struggling to reach digital audiences via saturated, tightly controlled ad networks.

Why it matters: Companies that have seen the most success with APIs follow three common practices. One, they unbundle software functionality into API-accessible business capabilities, a move that enabled Amazon to debut its most profitable business unit—AWS. Two, they develop products with an outside-in approach, from the customer’s perspective. And three, they use “ecosystem thinking” to map out strategies for sustainable growth, like Airbus did when it launched an API-enabled data platform called Skywise to help airlines lessen maintenance problems and prevent technical delays.

Jerri DeVard Launches The Black Executive CMO Alliance

BY

This week in leadership updates, former Office Depot and ADT chief marketing officer Jerri DeVard creates the Black Executive CMO Alliance, Prudential Financial taps Richard Parkinson as chief brand officer, Grand Hyatt Vail names Danielle Boyles as director of sales and marketing, a new study highlights a steady “CMO succession crisis,” J.Crew appoints Derek Yarbrough as chief marketing officer and more.

Jerri DeVard Debuts The Black Executive CMO Alliance

Jerri DeVard, previous chief customer officer of Office Depot and current Under Armour board member, has founded an organization called the Black Executive CMO Alliance (BECA) that aims to reduce the corporate diversity gap.

As of 2020, black talent makes up just three percent of the Association of National Advertisers’ (ANA) chief marketing officers.

BECA comprises 26 black executives from companies including Unilever, Netflix, Adidas and Peloton, reports Morning Brew. DeVard says that BECA is compiling a database of young marketing professionals who have the skills and background to succeed in the industry and that “BECA will challenge the corporate diversity gap and change the census by mentoring and building the pipeline of talented Black executives who will follow in our footsteps.”

Prudential Financial Appoints Richard Parkinson As Chief Brand Officer

Prudential Financial has named Richard Parkinson as chief brand officer, effective May 10.

Parkinson joins Prudential from Archetype, formerly Text100, where he served as global creative director for nearly seven years.

Grand Hyatt Vail Hires Danielle Boyles As Director Of Sales And Marketing

Danielle Boyles has been named director of sales and marketing at Grand Hyatt Vail, reports HospitalityNet.

Prior to Grand Hyatt, Boyles worked as chief sales officer at ConferenceDirect for a year and as director of sales and marketing for Hyatt Regency.

New Study Highlights Rise In CMO Appointments During 2020

CMO appointments increased 25 percent in 2020, according to a study from Russell Reynolds Associates, as reported by Marketing Dive. 

Though 45 percent of CMO appointments were women last year, that figure represents a five percentage point drop from the previous six months, compared with 27 percent of other C-suite level jobs that were filled by women. 

Meanwhile, men comprised 92 percent of chief revenue officers, 86 percent of chief commercial officers and 84 percent of chief sales officers.

Additionally, RRA’s analysis found that 84 percent of CMOs were hired externally, a five percent increase that signals a persistent “CMO succession crisis”

J.Crew Hires Derek Yarbrough As Chief Marketing Officer

Derek Yarbrough has been appointed J.Crew’s new CMO, according to a press release.

Yarborough joins J.Crew from Madewell, where he serves and will continue to serve as CMO.

In addition, J.Crew Group has added the following members to its board: Frits Dirk van Paasschen, a current board member of Williams-Sonoma and Royal DSM; Anna Fieler, the founder of Madison Park Ventures and a Shake Shack board member; and Nadia Rawlinson, the chief people officer at Slack. 

Activision Blizzard Appoints Fernando Machado As Chief Marketing Officer

Fernando Machado has left his post as global CMO of Restaurant Brands International to join Activision Blizzard as the company’s new CMO.

Machado was Burger King’s global CMO for about six years before joining the burger chain’s parent company.

VillageMD Names Ellen Donahue-Dalton As Its First Chief Marketing Officer

VillageMD has appointed Ellen Donahue-Dalton as CMO.

Previously, Donahue-Dalton worked at Medecision as chief marketing and experience officer.

Zendesk Taps Alex Constantinople As Chief Marketing Officer

Alex Constantinople has been named Zendesk’s new CMO.

Constantinople previously served as chief executive of Outcast for just under a decade.

ViacomCBS Hires Jason White as MTV Chief Marketing Officer

ViacomCBS has announced the appointment of Jason White to CMO of MTV Entertainment Group, reports Adweek.

White served as executive vice president, global head of marketing for Beats by Dr. Dre before taking on the role of CMO at Cura Cannabis Solutions.

Verizon’s New DE&I Plan Tackles Racism, Gender Inequality And Talent Retention

BY

Verizon, together with Interpublic Group, Publicis and WPP, has announced a new marketing initiative that aims to increase racial and gender diversity in the creative supply chain, and prevent racism, bias and stereotypes in advertising and media. The efforts are an expansion of Citizen Verizon, the company’s responsible business plan for economic, environmental and social advancement.

The first step in Verizon’s four-part diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) plan includes a commitment to spend over 30 percent with diverse-owned video production companies, over 30 percent with diverse-owned experiential production companies and over 30 percent with diverse-owned print production companies.

Verizon is extending this work to programs that inspire long-term growth, starting with a series called Multicultural Publisher Summits, launching in May. The program will give multicultural targeted, owned and operated media companies the chance to partner with Verizon and access insights from the brand’s leaders.

Pointing to data from Q4, Verizon reports that people of color comprised 37.1 percent of the combined Verizon marketing and agency teams, with new hires for people of color up to 49 percent. Plus, women made up nearly 51 percent of Verizon’s marketing and agency teams, with new women hires accounting for 54.1 percent.

The second focus of Verizon’s marketing plan includes promoting an inclusive work environment and diverse talent retention. Building on the Verizon ‘adfellows’ program, which supports entry-level, diverse marketers, the company is now addressing mid-level agency talent retention with a new six-month program, AdDisruptors. With this, diverse talent with five to eight years of experience on Verizon’s agency’s teams will have access to speakers and mentoring from thought leaders.

To remain accountable for producing creative that excludes racism, bias and stereotypes, Verizon’s third DE&I action includes the creation of a tool that measures the representation of race, gender, ethnicity and identity in ads—Verizon Diversity Inclusion Equality Measure tool.

Verizon also says it will utilize the Gender Equality Measure (GEM) tool and partner with the Association of National Advertisers’ (ANA) #SeeHer campaign to create ongoing training and boot camps for internal and agency teams, with the goal of ensuring females are represented in content. These teams will also be required to take content bias training.

In strengthening its accountability, Verizon has also formed advisory councils, Inclusive Work Panels, which comprises diverse team members who are tasked with pressure-testing creative.

Lastly, on the brand safety front, Verizon says it has reworked its marketing policies with guidance from the World Federation of Advertisers’ Global Alliance for Responsible Media. That means stronger prohibitions against harassment, hate speech, privacy and misinformation, as well as greater transparency about how Verizon’s DE&I values will impact its marketing partnerships in the future.

What We’re Reading—Week Of April 5th

BY

Your weekly roundup of the articles and insights we’re sharing internally, updated for the week of April 5th, 2021.

Here’s How Major Ad Agencies Like WPP And Omnicom Are Planning A Return To The Office

Business Insider

Omnigroup Group CEO John Wren says that when the company brings people back to the office, it will adopt a hybrid work model that emphasizes the importance of culture. Many employees will be partially remote and about eight percent will be permanently remote.

Why it matters: Wren tells Business Insider that they’ll insist, to the extent that it’s safe, new employees go into the office because “you can’t create culture remotely.” That will require them to bring managers back full-time, he adds.

Study: $5.2B In Monthly Earned Social Media Lost For Travel & Tourism

Hotel Business

IZEA’s study revealed that COVID-19 cost the global travel and tourism industry $5.2 billion in lost earned media per month due to a 92 percent decline in relative volume for organic social media content mentioning brands between February 2020 and March 2021. In addition, relative content volume for sponsored posts remains down 61 percent from February 2020.

Why it matters: With consumers not traveling as often, marketers must aggressively invest in influencer marketing to inspire an “I want to go there” moment in potential travelers and take advantage of pent-up demand after a year of no traveling.

4 Trends Driving The Future Of Retail

Ad Age

The pandemic has spurred a new era that emphasizes customer-first services. Trends that will shape this next phase of retail include long-term programs dedicated to social justice and delivering entertaining online shopping experiences such as livestream events.

Why it matters: It’s no longer enough for brands to simply offer an online checkout experience or check a box when it comes to diversity initiatives. Brands like e.l.f and American Eagle are investing in new social initiatives that cater to the former trend, while Barbie and Foot Locker have implemented long-term products that celebrate equity and inclusion.

The New Age Brand Strategy: Trends, Opportunities And Challenges

The Fashion Law

Lorraine Tay, joint managing partner of Bird & Bird ATMD, asserts that to continue shaping a brand’s essence, a brand must remain accountable to the global community for the social, cultural and environmental impacts of its decisions, as well as recognize that social media can cause the brand to lose some control of its image, which necessitates the patrolling of online narratives.

Why it matters: As the essence of branding shifts from a “badge of origin” to the equivalent of a lifestyle choice or representation of fundamental values, so too must the tactics used to cultivate that essence, writes Tay. As a result, a business should arm itself with an arsenal of innovation and creation as it builds on the foundation of goodwill that it generates.

Marketers Escape From ‘The Upside Down’ Now

Forbes

Media agencies’ insistence on purchasing 100 percent viewability ads and the carelessness of ad tech vendors have together exposed marketers to even more fraudulent sites and financial loss.

Why it matters: The actions of dishonest agencies and ad tech vendors have adversely affected the performance of marketers’ digital marketing and required them to spend even more on things like viewability detection vendors, fraud verification vendors and brand safety detection. 

The IAB 2020/2021 Internet Advertising Revenue Report

BY

Last year, spending confidence and economic activity plunged, with advertisers pausing campaigns and shifting ad dollars from traditional to digital media. According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s 2020/2021 Internet Advertising Revenue Report, that shift resulted in an overall 12.2 percent increase in digital ad revenue last year compared to 2019.

The first half of 2020 was hit particularly hard, with digital ad revenue growth in Q2 declining 5.2 percent YoY. Nevertheless, IAB’s analysis reveals that those losses were offset by revenues in Q3 and Q4—an increase of 11.7 percent and 28.7 percent, respectively.

Lockdown-induced behavior, including the rise in adoption of connected TV, online shopping and at-home services, as well as the surge in social media usage, are among the reasons why digital ad revenues rebounded, and will continue to grow this year.

First off, social media accounted for 29.6 percent of all internet ad revenue, as revenues ballooned to $41.5 billion in 2020—a 16.3 percent YoY growth.

Search continues to dominate, bringing in $59 billion in ad revenues, a 7.8 percent increase since 2019 and representing a 42.2 percent share of total ad revenue.

Yet it’s digital video that saw the biggest ad growth last year, with a 20.6 percent increase in revenue since 2019. It now accounts for a 18.7 percent share of total ad revenue for 2020, a 1.3 percent increase YoY.

Pointing to the format’s rising prominence, IAB mentions that total digital video ad revenues were 61 percent higher in 2020 compared with 2018.

Mobile accounted for a majority of digital video’s growth, surging 25.3 percent to $18.5 billion—the strongest revenue growth across all formats when compared to desktop.

IAB also observed gains in audio revenues. The format grew by over $350 million in 2020, a 13 percent increase YoY largely driven by higher mobile audio revenues.

Programmatic ad revenues grew by $14.2 billion, a 25 percent increase YoY in line with the uptick in agencies and brands that shifted from performance to mission-based marketing. Digital video in particular has seen the biggest increase YoY versus other non-search ad methods, reports IAB.

In 2020, display just slightly increased its share as revenues totaled $44 billion—a 15.4 percent increase. During Q4, display format revenues experienced the strongest YoY growth in revenue, up 35.4 percent since 2019.

In addition to internet advertising, the only other media types with positive ad revenue growth were eSports and video games, at 17.9 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively.

As far as revenues by pricing model, IAB’s data show that 67.1 percent of 2020 internet ad revenues were priced on a performance basis, up from 62.9 percent in 2019; 32.4 percent were priced on a cost per thousand (CPM) basis, down from 35.2 percent in 2019;  and 0.5 percent were priced on a hybrid basis, a 1.9 percent decline from 2019.