advertising Archives - Page 9 of 22

In News

Stop Funding Fake News in talks with media agencies to demonetise misinformation sites

August 6, 2019 No Comments

Stop Funding Fake News, the social movement pressuring brands to boycott newsbrands that it believes routinely spread misinformation, is turning its attention to media agencies.

Anonymous officials from the activist group told The Drum that for it to achieve its goals of demonetising fake news sources, it has realised it must court the middlemen between brands and publishers.

Inspired by Sleeping Giants in the US and Stop Funding Hate in the UK, the group operates anonymously, claiming activists could be at risk if their identities were known.

Adobe, Chelsea FC, Harry’s, Experion, eBay, Moonpig and Manchester United are among the 40 brands and charities that the group has convinced to block out a number of sites off the back off a campaign it launched March 2019.

Now, it’s looking to advertising and media agencies to engage in a dialogue about the news industry. A spokesperson said agencies have approached the group, keen to grasp what sites should be considered for blacklist.

This is particularly beneficial for Stop Funding Fake News’ cause as agencies handling multiple clients ought to be able to widely blacklist offending sites – a step-up from the brand-by-brand approach the group previously took.

It said it is now expanding its network to help “persuade” ad agencies that it is “bad for their clients to be associated with the lies and racism found on these sites, so it’s in the interest of ad agencies to ensure they don’t put them there.”

It urges agency figures to get in touch at [email protected] for discussion.

Misinformation has been linked with deaths around the world, not to mention that fact that generating clickbait lies can be a lucrative trade. Earlier this year, The Drum explored the harms fake news causes globally, talking to misinformation experts, Wikimedia, and BBC News about how to curtail the issue.

As a largely ad-funded media, greater scrutiny is being placed upon the brands that are enabling these stories.

By John McCarthy

Sourced from The Drum

In News

Why You Should Spend More On Advertising Than Any Of Your Competitors Or Die A Slow Death

August 1, 2019 No Comments

Sourced from B&T Magazine

In this opinion piece, founder and head of growth at digital marketing agency King Kong, Sabri Suby, speaks on why you need to be spending more on advertising than your competitors are, or face a slow death.

In the past decade, there’s been a huge migration of businesses moving online, in search of better clients and fewer overheads. Every man and his dog is jumping on the online advertising bandwagon, and it’s showing no signs of slowing down.

But if you think online marketing is a free ticket to an endless supply of leads that will cost you next to nothing, then you’re in for a rude awakening. If there’s one thing your business should never, ever cut corners on, it’s digital ad spend and acquiring new customers into your business.

Supply and demand

Digital advertising has now out surpassed TV as the number one advertising channel. Meaning the number of advertisers is increasing and the quality of the competition is rising – but the inventory available isn’t increasing at the same rate.

There are only so many humans on the planet, and they only spend so much time per day scrolling through Facebook or Instagram. The basic laws of economics will tell you what happens next: the cost per click across all channels is driven up, and up, and up.

Increased demand and higher cost of entry has sharpened the competition and kicked the chancers to the kerb. Small businesses want their ads showing up in potential customers’ newsfeeds – but so do McDonald’s and Uber Eats and Coca-Cola. In this supposedly level playing field, we’re all competing for the same people, but the big guys can spend a lot more to acquire a customer than a regular small business.

This doesn’t mean there’s no hope for the little guys; but it does mean that they need to step up, get smart and start learning how to spend their hard-earned money wisely.

The digital marketing sea is turning red with businesses that can’t survive the rising costs, leaving their skeletons dotted along the shoreline. These dying businesses are typically filled with lazy marketers who still think they’re back in the good old days, where the competition was weak and winning was easy.

They spend the majority of their time plotting out how they can spend less, get the cheapest clicks, and reduce their costs. They reminisce about the times when all they had to do was put their ads in the Yellow Pages, sit back, and wait for the phone to ring.

Anyone who continues to think like this is going to get eaten alive by those who truly understand the cost of acquiring good customers. The business that can afford to spend the most to acquire a customer will always win, every single time. If you stop thinking of advertising as a cost, and start realising that it’s an investment, the leads and clients will begin to flow.

This shift in mindset will allow you to justify spending more than any of your competitors, putting you one step ahead of the rest. You will be able to go out and market more aggressively than any of your competitors, allowing you to get all the customers and win.

Stop panicking and start learning

So, what if you want to start winning, but you’re scared to make the jump? Here’s the secret: stop spending all your time worrying about costs, and start educating yourself. In order to justify the increased spending, you’re going to need to know your numbers inside out.

Force yourself to understand the technology. Learn about CRMs. Discover how automation can help your business. Once all the pieces start to fall into place, increasing your ad spend won’t feel like such a risk – it will simply make sense.

And when you start to get your digital marketing right, you’ll be making so much money from your customers, that the rising costs of acquiring those customers won’t matter anymore. For every dollar you spend, you’ll get three, five or ten back.

When the results are that good, you’ll want to be putting in as many dollars as you can afford. And if you’re still too scared, don’t come crying to me about how your $10 boosted post didn’t generate you any leads.

Sourced from B&T Magazine

In News

Did Apple kill creativity in advertising?

July 3, 2019 No Comments

By Ben Kay

Our advertising columnist Ben Kay blames Apple for the decline in standards of creativity in ad land. He’s not giving up his iPhone just yet though

Why has creative advertising been in a decade-long malaise? I would suggest that the rot began with the arrival of the Apple Mac.

This wonderful personal computer was the first significant step in the democratisation of creativity. It enabled its users to change typefaces and sizes at the click of a mouse, a process that had hitherto taken letterpresses, typesetters and paste-up artists. What had for decades been an expensive, time-consuming skill, practised by highly skilled artisans, became practically free, virtually instantaneous and practised by anyone.

It took a few years for this transfer of abilities to seep its way into the consciousness of clients, but what started as a seep soon became a deluge, peaking with thousands of passive aggressive notes to flatmates written in 14-point Comic Sans.

That made it impossible to tell a client that making the logo bigger would take a couple of days and cost hundreds of pounds. They soon became aware that it would take seconds and cost nothing, and that strengthened their hand beyond recognition.

By Ben Kay

Sourced from Creative Review

In News

The future of social media marketing

June 26, 2019 No Comments

By Alex Packham

Social media started out with Myspace and Bebo (oh the nostalgia) before graduating to platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. Here we are now in 2019, ‘hashtagging’ and ‘storying’ like it’s nobody’s business.

What’s next for the social media industry?

1. A shift in focus: less on feeds, more on private messages

The feed is such an integral part of social media networks that it could never just vanish overnight. Regardless, people are using social media more and more as a way to get in touch with people and have instant message conversations.

To remove the feed entirely could be problematic though. The feed is the main source of incoming for many social media networks as most people will spend their dwelling time here. It’s also used as a key space for advertising. With visual formats such as Stories and Facebook Watch gaining speed, it’s likely that advertising will inhabit these forms in the absence of a feed. After all, IGTV is in the midst of discussions on adding advertisements to the content as we speak.

We have no doubt that the feed will start to play a smaller role in the growth of social media networks, but it’s here to stay for a long while yet.

2. Despite numerous industry worries, influencers aren’t going away

2018 / 2019 has been a tricky time for influencers with a lot of bad press and finger-pointing documentaries. However, not all influencers are deserving of the bad rep.

Influencers who are troublesome in the industry will become extinct over the next few years. Their followers will lose trust and begin to diminish, while brands will ‘wise-up’ to influencer red flags and learn how to find influencers who will work more effectively with their brand.

Although social media networks are still likely to be saturated with #ad and influencers galore, it’s not really the end of the world. If trustworthy and authentic influencers are all that reminds then the odd paid promotion will be much less problematic than it is today.

One trend we expect to see more of very soon is brand marketers educating themselves more about the influencer marketing supply chain. This will enable them to only work with influencers who promote their brand effectively and actually sell their product. Watch this space for further developments.

3. Brands will be making more of an effort to plan their content and be more consistent across channels

As social media continues to be an incredibly saturated space, the quality of content must also rise.

Brands that are smart will invite a social media specialist to take a look at what they’re currently doing, as well as give advice on where social media (and the internet in general) is headed. This will enable them to get a leg-up on future trends and plan ahead for the next five years.

Brands not able to identify what works for their business will lose customers to their competitors.

Plan, execute, analyse and repeat what works.

4. Small communities will trump big networks for most businesses (even more than they already do)

We all know that Facebook Groups and messaging apps have become so very popular over the last couple of years as a way to unite people with similar interests in thousands of niche topics. Whatever your tipple, there’s a group for it, filled with like-minded individuals posed for a heated discussion.

The general public is bored of seeing the same story over and over again. But having the context of a group changes things. A post about a new coffee shop only becomes interesting and relevant to you when it’s posted within a Facebook Group specific to your location.

Furthermore, the average person is usually more comfortable participating in conversations and sharing opinions within a smaller community, without fear of judgement from the entire world wide web. This ‘safe space’ atmosphere will continue to help groups become a hub of activity and engagement.

One thing that won’t change is that social media is the cheapest, fastest and the most scalable marketing channel available to most companies. That isn’t going away, period.

Welcome to the next five years of social media marketing.

By Alex Packham

Sourced from The Drum

In News

What is display advertising?

May 27, 2019 No Comments

By Poppy Mortiboys-Harrison

Many successful marketing strategies are built on banner advertising – but why? Find out the secret to banner ads, and how they work, in our dedicated guide.

Display advertising is everywhere you look. Splashed across social media, bordering that blog you like sat atop the headlines on the Sky News website – it’s the paid, digital marketing tactic used by most businesses, without you even knowing it.

That said, we’re so used to seeing adverts that we habitually flick the anti-ad switch in our brain. In fact, approximately 200 million internet users have installed ad blocking software for this very reason.

The modern marketer is now faced with a new kind of challenge: make a display ad campaign that both stands out from the crowd, and sticks in the mind – which, considering the competition, is easier said than done.

Read on to learn what display advertising actually is, how it works, and for examples of display ads designed for a variety of online platforms.

On this page, we’ll cover:

What is display advertising?

A visual form of advertising that incorporates both text and graphics, display advertising appears on specifically designated areas of a website or social media platform in the form of a banner ad.

The internet’s answer to billboard advertising, display adverts (otherwise known as banner ads) are designed to increase the click-through rate to a landing page. This is done by cleverly combining striking imagery, attention-grabbing copy, animation, and even video content – using more than just words to create a stand-out, snapshot ad.

Display advertising is most commonly used to increase brand awareness, and to re-engage with customers who have previously paid your site a visit. It can also be used, to generate new customers by leading them to a landing page via a click-through path. The point of a display ad is to engage the potential buyer, and develop their interest in your product or service before going in with the hard sell.

If you’re thinking of making a display ad yourself, be sure to consider the format. JPEG, JPG, PNG, and GIF images are all accepted by any network, but not all networks accept HTML5. Animated banners come with their own technical specifications, while image banners only need to be under 150kb in size – and of course, be compliant with regulations set by the ASA.

Top-performing display ad sizes include:

Ad size (measured in pixels):	Description:
300×250	The medium rectangle ad – at it’s best when embedded within text, or at the bottom of an article.
336×280	The large rectangle ad – also performs well when embedded within a block of text.7
728×90	The leaderboard ad – does well when placed at the top of content and is a popular choice on forum sites.
300×600	The half page ad – more space means more content, but it also means more money. Highly appealing visually, and highly clickable.
320×100	The mobile banner ad – can be used as an alternative to the medium/large rectangle ad, and provide twice the height of the standard mobile leaderboard size.

Types of display advertising

Display advertising can be separated into three broad categories:

1. Retargeting

Delivers highly relevant ads to your audience based on specific user behaviour and interactions.

For example, creating specific adverts targeting users who have reached your pricing page, but do not complete their order is an example of retargeted display advertising. This works by using the data generated from their visit to your site to then direct adverts containing similar, or same-category products. This can be done automatically using dynamic remarketing display adverts, which are popular on e-commerce sites.

Dynamic remarketing works by pooling information from the data feed regarding the product or service that the customer has been viewing. This information is then used to automatically create a customer-specific banner ad based on a premade template.

To do this yourself:

Link your Google Ads (formerly Google AdWords) account with your Google Analytics account.
You’ll then need to add a small bit of code (provided by AdWords) across all pages of your site
Next, create remarketing lists. These are specific website visitors to be targeted on account of their previous interactions with your website, ie: those who have seen a particular category collection.
Finally, within AdWords, make a remarketing campaign with different ads targeting different customers based on their interest in the product or service.
All done! Now, when your customers visit your website then leave again, they’ll still have visibility of your brand via online marketing. This recurrent visibility will help to build trust with your audience, as brand familiarity increases brand trust.

2. Acquisition

This type of campaign focuses on driving direct sales and acquiring new customers, doing so via in-market audiences, affinity audiences, and interest targeting.

In-market audiences are those looking to make an immediate purchase. Google will be able to know who these people are based on search history.

For example, someone reading mattress reviews, searching for local bed shops, and looking at different supplier sites is probably on the hunt for a new mattress (and maybe some funky new pyjamas too).

Affinity audiences are a little harder to pin down. This term might refer to those who aren’t in ‘research mode’, but might – in light of their online profile – still be in the mood to buy. These people are categorised as ‘long term interest’ prospects by Google.

The affinity marketing audiences in Google Ads are split into the following ‘long term interest’ categories:

Banking
Beauty
Food and dining
Home and garden
Lifestyle and hobbies
Media and entertainment
News and politics
Shoppers (bargain)
Shoppers (value)
Shoppers (luxury)
Sports and fitness
Technology
Travel
Vehicles and transport

Once the affinity audience member has been categorised, streamlined display adverts will appear on the sites they visit that support display adverts.

To illustrate: someone who avidly reads the interior design blogs they subscribe to, and regularly listens to a ‘how to decorate’ podcast, would be categorised into the ‘home and garden’ affinity marketing group (available in Google Ads).

3. Brand Awareness

Focussing on reach rather than conversion, an awareness campaign requires careful planning. In order to be effective, it will also need to run for quite a long time, which is costly in both time and resource.

The aim of the awareness game is to reach as many people as possible whilst sticking to your budget. Likes and shares will help to further your reach, but securing these in the first place can be tricky. Some businesses will even pay for more visibility and followers, but this can be obvious to the reader, so we recommend sticking to organic, SEO-driven methods.

Whilst a brand awareness campaign won’t have the same clear ROI as one that focuses on acquisitions, it will have possibly unseen benefits in the long run. Brand familiarity can do wonders for your business, as the more the customers see the brand, the more they’re likely to they are to trust it.

How do display ads work?

Using the same basic principles as print advertising, display ads are designed to inform, engage, notify, and increase awareness. They work by generating traffic to your website from an external source.

The point of a display ad is to encourage the customer to click on it. Simple. To increase the chances of being clicked, display advertising targets people with specific internet habits that are linked to the product or service being advertised.

Rather than just appearing in the customer’s search results, , display ads differ from normal ads in that they appear on different websites in a variety of forms. They can be static or animated, contain text, an image or both, and can appear on social media platforms in the form of Facebook banners, Snapchat geofilters, or Instagram sponsored ads.

Banner ads also appear on regular websites in the reserved advertisement space, ie at the top, bottom, or down the sides of a page.

Display ads work by targeting customers who have already expressed an interest in your product or service, which is detectable through their previous site visits or browser habits. This increases the ad’s chance of being clicked, and your chances of getting a conversion.

Don’t worry, though – it’s not all left to Google guesswork. You can have a say when it comes to the placement of your Google ads, and can opt for either automatic or managed placements.

Automatic Placements
Google will determine the placement of your ads based on the sites it deems relevant to your business.

Managed Placements
You can decide on the placement of your ads based on customer search trends and business relevancy.

Of course, the way to gain complete control over who sees your advert is to buy advertising space on a specific website. That way, you’ll already know the tone of the site and the type of audience likely to see the advert.

Display advertising examples

To properly describe what different display ads might look like would take quite some time. So, as pictures speak a thousand words, we’ve put together some display ad examples to show what display advertising really means.

Example one:

LinkedIn banner ad – This is an example of brand awareness display advertising that is specifically designed for LinkedIn, and made to get the brand name ‘out there’. The reference to ‘work’ in the slogan makes it clear that the ad is designed for LinkedIn – the pun is intriguing, but there’s no hard sell here. An ad like this would feature in LinkedIn’s paid advertising space.

Note: LinkedIn banner ads are: 1400×245 px.

Example two:

A medium-rectangle ad, designed to be an acquisition display advert on a search-appropriate website, such as an interior design blog. This captures the user intent – interior design – and subtly displays an advert that is in-line with that intent. This display advert would appear in a paid ad slot.

Example three:

Large-rectangle ad – designed as a retargeting display advert to be used on any site the targeted prospect is likely to use, ie: social media. The discount offer and code are larger than the brand name, as prior brand familiarity is assumed.

The same background image as other display adverts is used for consistency. However, the slogans have been replaced with an enticing offer, which encourages the customer to click through to the website and use the promotional code.

All three of the above display ads are marketing the same company, using the same principle, but targeting different customers at various stages of the user journey.

The time and placement of the adverts is determined by the audience’s search habits. If they’ve never searched for ‘beds to buy’ on Google, they’re likely to see example one (the brand awareness ad); if they have Googled ‘beds to buy’ but never visited the Start-up Bed Co’s site, then Google will assume they’re interested in buying a bed, and will show them example two (the acquisition ad); and, if they’ve previously visited the Start-up Bed Co’s site but didn’t purchase a new bed, then Google will show them example three (the retargeting ad) to lure them back with an exciting offer they can’t refuse.

Overall

Display advertising is a type of paid marketing that grants access to a variety of online platforms, and targets customers and prospects according to their search intent.

An efficient and effective method of digital marketing, display advertising gets your business’ name out there and keeps it in the mind of the buyer. Using social media ad space, as well as related websites and organic searches, display advertising is everywhere – and now you’ve read this article, you probably won’t be able to stop spotting display ads in your day-to-day online activity.

For properly targeted social media campaigns, a social media management system can streamline your approach – maximising efficiency and your profits. Keen to find out more? Pop to the top of the page, and we’ll put you in touch with reputable suppliers.

By Poppy Mortiboys-Harrison

Sourced from Startups

In News

Boots puts a spin on glossy summer ads as it commits to championing body confidence

May 23, 2019 No Comments

By Rebecca Stewart

As summer looms so too does a deluge of ‘summer ready’ and ‘beach body’ ads targeted at women. But Boots’ latest ad from Ogilvy has turned the trope on its head.

Part of a wider commitment from the retailer to focus on body confidence in its marketing, Boots has launched an integrated summer campaign it hopes will “give women the confidence to be whoever they want to be.”

Based on its own insight that 76% of women in the UK have avoided summer activities – like going to the beach or attending music festival – because they feel self-conscious, the TV spot at the heart of ‘Summer Ready’ follows the story of two women embarking on a summer trip.

As they head into shop in Boots, they see a Protein World-esque ad which asks, ‘Are you summer ready?’. The pair are shown laughing it off, before heading to their destination. Boots products feature in the ad as the duo get ready to head to the beach.

The spot is set to a custom version of the Diana Ross classic, ‘I’m Coming Out’.

Helen Normoyle, marketing director for Boots UK and Ireland, said that amid a shift in the conversation around confidence the brand “had a role to play” in ensuring the discussion wasn’t about shape or size but about women having the confidence to be whoever they want to be.

“The statistic [we uncovered] is really shocking and as the brand that stands for championing everyone’s right to feel good, we wanted to take action.”

She added: “That’s why we’re celebrating women who aren’t driven by a need to be someone else’s definition of ‘summer ready’. In doing so, we hope to inspire the rest of the nation to stop worrying about what others think and just start feeling great about themselves.”

The TV ad marks the beginning of a summer-long campaign with activations set to take place throughout the season which will run across ATL TV, print, PR & influencer marketing, loyalty and more.

The play from Boots builds on other commitments it has made to championing body confidence, including its sponsorship of all the national women’s football teams in the UK.

“This is not just about summer. Our partnership with women’s football has given us the opportunity to talk to our customers in new ways, supporting a much bigger social conversation to help improve the confidence and wellbeing of others,” explained. Normoyle.

Boots Health & Beauty print magazine has been leading the charge on this too, having banned image re-touching from its their cover seven years ago.

Boots has been heavily focusing on beauty in its marketing. Its 2018 Christmas ad from Ogilvy married its brand purpose with its beauty proposition, telling the story of a mother and daughter to showcase how giving the gift of beauty can make someone feel.

Earlier this year, it announced it was upping investment in its beauty proposition, overhauling its bricks-and-mortar stores and bringing fresh brands into the fold as it looks to keep is grip on the burgeoning market.

By Rebecca Stewart

Sourced from The Drum

In News

Three tech trends set to impact digital advertising beyond 2019

May 21, 2019 No Comments

By Nikki Gilliland

Global digital advertising revenues are on the up, growing 17% in 2018 to reach $251 billion (or 45% of global advertising revenues).

This rise is expected to continue, with digital advertising predicted to represent 50% of total advertising spend across the world this year.

While immediate investment is something of a certainty, what trends are set to impact the digital ad industry as we head further into the year and beyond?

Subscribers can read more on the topic in Econsultancy’s Getting to Grips with Digital Advertising: Best Practice Guide. In the meantime, let’s take a look at some of the most notable innovations that advertisers should be aware of.

Artificial intelligence

We have only just scratched the surface of what artificial intelligence can do for the advertising industry. So far, this has largely extended to improving ad relevancy, optimising spend, or enhancing personalisation.

One good example of AI being utilised in this way is Toyota’s 2017 ad campaign for its Mirai vehicle. The campaign made use of natural language processing in order to create advertising copy tailored to thousands of potential buyers and their specific needs.

According to AdWeek, Saatchi LA did this by training IBM’s Watson AI marketing engine with fifty scripts of relevant copy based on location, behavioural insights, and occupation data. Watson was then able to deliver thousands of pieces of copy (explaining the car’s features and how they are relevant to the user), with each one sounding as if they were written by a human. The campaign ran solely on Facebook, allowing Toyota to make use of the platform’s complex behavioural data and targeting capabilities.

This intersection of creativity and data (whereby the AI is used to enhance human input) is where many experts see the technology’s big potential. It is far removed from stereotypical assumptions about AI.

In Econsultancy’s report, Marek Wrobel, Head of Media Futures at Havas, notes: “The best results happen when AI works with human insight, and in our industry, this will mean we’ll have more time to spend on creativity rather than, for example, reporting or optimisation.”

Conversational technology

It is the norm for brands to target users with advertising on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. However, chatbots have also enabled brands to talk to users in text-based conversations, and to create an informal and less disruptive style of communication.

Could the next step be a big shift to messaging services like WhatsApp?

In 2018, Facebook’s WhatsApp messaging service introduced a business version of its app. This means that businesses can now share their company details within a profile, as well as handle customer service enquiries and interactions. This is a different proposition to WhatsApp allowing intrusive ads onto its platform. However, the social messaging platform hasn’t been quite so firm in its stance against this either. In late 2018, it was reported that WhatsApp was to launch ads in its Status feature, marking its first real foray into monetisation.

Whether or not WhatsApp expands on ads, experts predict that we will see brands of all kinds start to seriously consider the app from a marketing perspective. Peter Buckley, Communications Planner at Facebook, explains: “If you think about how you communicate with your friends and family, it’s most often messaging. Yet businesses are a little bit slow on the uptake with messaging – communications are most often via call centres or email.”

In future then, we can expect to see a shift to messaging platforms, in order for businesses to enhance both customer service as well as marketing.

Connected technology

Advertisers must think differently in the context of a connected world. This is one of the biggest takeaways from Econsultancy’s report.

This is because technology such as smartwatches, cars, and household appliances (like fridges or thermostats) have opened up a wealth of valuable new data and potential insight for advertisers to draw upon. Of course, some brands are already making use of this data. Take Siemens, for example, which has partnered with Finish dishwasher tablets. Siemens’ ‘Home Connect’ technology updates the owner’s Amazon shopping basket when their supply of dishwasher tablets is running low.

In a more simplistic sense, the connected world also just means the opportunity for a larger amount of screens – i.e. on our car dashboard or freezer door. This means that advertisers will need to think beyond connected TV’s and smartphones (and standard 16:9 ads).

That being said, advertisers must also think differently in terms of how they approach advertising on connected devices. Providing something of value for consumers is key, and a necessity if brands want to ensure real results (rather than apathy towards an ad-saturated world).

By Nikki Gilliland

Sourced from Econsultancy

In News

Dating App Lumen Asks Over-50s To Get Their Kits Off For Anti-Ageism Ad

April 26, 2019 No Comments

By Ally Burnie

A dating app for over 50s has persuaded half a dozen people to bare it all in a protest against ageism in advertising.

The ad created by dating app Lumen features models holding nothing but a placard with anti-ageism slogans to cover their naked bodies.

Slogans include: ‘Grey hair don’t care’, ‘Nobody puts Granny in the corner’ and ‘It’s our time to be seen’.

The campaign will be unveiled to commuters on the London Underground from Monday 8 April.

Lumen co-founder and CMO Charly Lester said: “The fact that almost nine in 10 over-50s think that advertising aimed at them needs to change should be a real wake-up call to the industry about the ‘everyday ageism’ all around us.

“Not only is it a case of underrepresentation, but heavily edited images are making older people feel like it’s not ok to be themselves.

Lester added: “We’re calling on advertisers to reconsider how they portray older age groups and show them for the attractive, funny and real people they are.”

The campaign follows research by Lumen which found 86 per cent of over-50s wanted advertising targeted at them to change, with 51 per cent suggesting there is too much airbrushing, and a further 36 per cent put off by models looking like plastic.

Overall, 30 per cent said models and celebrities were made to look younger than their actual age, with 36 per cent saying there was too much emphasis on the “downsides” of ageing.

And, 31 per cent of over 50s believe that advertising is ageist.

By Ally Burnie

Sourced from B&T

At B&T, we believe that advertising like this can shape and influence culture. That’s one of the reasons we created Changing the Ratio, Australia’s diversity and inclusion conference for the advertising industry. Check out the 2019 schedule today.

In News

Lastminute.com launches in-housing consultancy Playbook

April 24, 2019 No Comments

By Rebecca Stewart

Having successfully in-housed its own media buying and planning, Lastminute.com has launched a consultancy arm – Playbook – to help other brands do the same.

In an industry where businesses are increasingly bulking up their internal arsenal, Playbook will guide brands through the complex process of internalising core marketing capabilities, including media planning, tech, data and content creation.

Although it’s being pitched as a consultancy, it’s not run by consultants, instead, it will be led by the same team behind Travel People; Lastminute.com’s own in-house media and trading arm.

Playbook and Travel People will both be led out of a new media business within Lastminute.com called Forward. Alessandra Di Lorenzo, Lastminute’s chief commercial officer, will head up this new company as chief executive.

Playbook is already working with several unnamed travel and FMCG clients.

Lastminute.com has been bulking up the services it offers to brands since it launched Travel People 2016, scaling up its programmatic capabilities and finding new sources of revenue by letting other advertisers plug into its adtech stack.

Since last year, it has been giving advertisers the option to build their own microsites propped up by Lastminute.com technology.

Steered by Di Lorenzo, as a way to protect the travel platform’s revenues against the threat of the digital giants like Google and Facebook, Travel People has helped Lastminute.com up its annual media revenues by 40% in three years.

As a brand, Lastminute.com started in-housing its own media in 2016, after pausing its relationship with former planning and buying agency Manning Gottlieb OMD. Although Publicis still handles its above-the-line work, it runs its own media desk.

Di Lorenzo explained how having gone through this process itself, Lastminute.com has “experienced the challenges, solved the problems, spotted the opportunities and honed the process,” of setting up shop in-house.

“We realised that we are perfectly placed to de-risk the process for other businesses, and to help move other brands forward by making their marketing activity more efficient, intelligent and relevant,” she added.

“2019 and beyond looks set to be a tough year for marketers. In-housing proven and repeatable marketing activities is a no-brainer for companies wanting to empower their teams to drive powerful and tangible achievements, faster. But – understandably – many don’t know where to start. That’s where Playbook comes in.”

Playbook will work closely with businesses to help them identify opportunities and successfully build the necessary confidence to in-house core marketing capabilities.

This includes deciding what technology providers to work with and how, building an in-house content function, monetising and making better use of data or upskilling internal teams.

The launch from Lastminute.com follows on from a recent ID Comms report that revealed finding talent to bolster in-house media capabilities was cited as one of the top concerns among marketers in 2018.

By Rebecca Stewart

Sourced from The Drum

In News

Put on an alternative spread this Easter

April 15, 2019 No Comments

By Caroline Parry

Indulgence and, of course, chocolate will always be crucial to Easter, but increasingly this holiday is seen as a celebration of springtime, and people are seeking gifts and experiences that reflect this shift.

This is no doubt that Easter is important to us, with 57% of consumers considering it to be a “proper” holiday, according to a 2018 YouGov survey. This is compared to say, Mother’s Day, which Britons do not see as such a big occasion.

Its importance in our lives is reflected in our social behaviour with Facebook seeing year-on-year growth of 1.6x in our conversations about Easter in 2017. The top five topics discussed around that time are significant others, food, beverages, parties and events, and travel, while the top trending Easter hashtags are #love, #chocolate and #family.

Let’s take a look at some emerging UK Easter trends for 2019 and supporting marketing activation tips advertisers could consider on Facebook platforms in line with these….

Alternative indulgence

Confectionary sales in the UK grew from £375m in 2017 to £395m in 2018. However, while chocolate will always have a place on the shelves at Easter, increasingly consumers are looking for Easter treats to marry with their growing concerns about sustainability and health. Many more of us will be searching for guilt-free ways to spoil ourselves this Easter!

With reducing plastic waste now high up on the agenda of most consumers, forward-thinking brands are thinking outside the traditional egg box to meet these concerns. Innovative chocolate brands, such as Montezuma, vegan brand Goupie and dairy-free brand Booja Booja, are using recyclable packaging, some of which is reusable.

Treating ourselves isn’t limited to gorging on chocolate, and for many people self-care is becoming the alternative way of indulging. Health and beauty e-tailer Lookfantastic struck a chord last Easter with its £65 Beauty Egg, which offered a limited edition collection of seven ‘must-have’ products packaged in a metal egg. No surprise then that this year’s Easter Beauty Egg Bungle had an early waiting list.

Marketing activation tip: Think outside the Easter egg box, by showing more options than just chocolate in your marketing campaigns. How about a carousel ad format where you can showcase a wider brand story and message through different images? For e.g. chocolate, eco packaging, as well as an idea for guilt-free or healthier indulgence / pampering.

The great Easter escape

With family a top trending hashtag over the Easter break, it is a holiday that is increasingly about sharing special moments together. With 72% of consumers feeling no pressure to buy Easter gifts, according to a 2018 Mintel Seasonal Shopping report, we are increasingly swapping presents for social experiences.

Spending on activities far outpaces gifts, according to the same Mintel report, with an average of £113 spent on sharing experiences together compared to £67 on presents. British adults love to hark back to their childhoods when out with friends, with many getting their Easter fun fix by going bowling or trampolining.

Families also love to get out and about, and the many events staged by brands around Easter are ideal opportunities for spending time together. Crafting days and Easter egg hunts, such as the Cadbury partnership with the National Trust, are always big draws, but alternative events such as the Science Museum’s Power Up, which combines gaming with an exhibition, appeal to both parents and kids.

As people prioritise spending time together and creating that sense of belonging, it is little wonder that 10 times more photos are posted and shared during the Easter breaks than before or after.

Marketing activation tip: You can broadcast direct from events so that a wider audience can join the fun and conversation by using the Instagram live feature! Bridge the real world and digital divide seamlessly. By leveraging Facebook marketing partners you can create ads and messaging which are triggered contingent upon weather. We all know British weather can be unreliable, so it’s handy to have bespoke messaging ready to roll out in rainy or sunny circumstances over the Easter weekend.

Creating a meaningful Easter

With Facebook seeing a spike in conversation around food, beverages and parties on Easter Day itself, we know the Easter feast is a vital part of the holiday. British consumers are investing more time and money in making food more meaningful by buying seasonal produce, often sourcing key ingredients locally at stores or markets.

Supporting British producers and local retailers adds real meaning and a sense of story to our Easter food. It’s the reason that over half of shoppers surveyed by digital marketing agency Silverbean, said it is the time of year when buying home-grown products and using local suppliers is essential.

Spring is a time of abundance when it comes to vegetables, and with interest in organic foods and local, independent shopping spiking around this time of year, many turn to social to celebrate their love for fresh local produce. And they really do love it, #rhubarb and #artichoke boast almost a million tagged boasts between them.

Even the major retailers understand shoppers are looking for ways to show their support for local and British suppliers. Morrisons uses a “blue passport” to mark up its lamb products as British and highlight their home-grown credentials. Meanwhile, Hyke Gin is tackling both local and food waste by taking unwanted grapes from the British supply chain and turning it into gin.

Marketing activation tip: If you have great content like Easter ingredients, recipes and pictures to share, consider trying the Instant Experiences templates to quickly create valuable interactions with your customers. Did you know Instant Experiences are loading faster than ever? – now 15 times faster than standard mobile websites – so you can use them to seamlessly connect to an audience. Also, if you have a great local story to tell about your product, you can geo target ads to a certain audience where that messaging would resonate strongly.

Easter, a season of sun

With Easter bringing the first Bank Holidays of the year, it is an excellent opportunity for a holiday or breaks. Almost half of the £1.1bn spent over the Easter weekend in 2018 was spent on Easter getaways, according to travel website Kayak, and 89% of Easter conversation on Facebook in the UK was on mobile.

After the long winter, many are chasing the sunshine and warmth. Back in 2016, the “cool” and adventurous Scandi destinations were booming, last year saw consumers look to sunnier climes. Dubai was the most booked destination for Easter in 2018, with the perennially popular Spanish cities of Malaga and Alicante close behind.

Once again, environmental issues rate high on the agenda for British consumers. Green mini-breaks are becoming the preferred choice for many consumers. The Hilton London Bankside has responded with the creation of the world’s first vegan hotel room, which features suede-like furnishings made from mushroom matter.

Marketing activation tip: Travel insurance brands may want to up-weight their activity on Facebook and Instagram as we know most people leave it last minute to get their insurance sorted! Geo targeting such ads around airports and stations can prove effective. Hotels and retreats can showcase their unique or new look sustainable offerings in a more immersive way by using the power of 360° videos and boosting that content as ads to maximise reach and amplification.

Summary

Easter is still very much about chocolate eggs and bunnies, but consumers increasingly see it as an opportunity for treating themselves, and for spending time with family and friends by sharing great experiences. It is increasingly important however that enjoying these holiday moments is not at the expense of their wider concerns around health and sustainability.

By Caroline Parry

Sourced from The Drum