ADOTAS -- Here’s how our crackerjack panel of industry leaders responded to the following Burning Question:
As 2013 reaches its midway point, what has been the most significant industry news story, development or trend so far this year?
“So far, the biggest story has been the shift the industry has taken toward better, more effective advertising units, and means of measurement. The old standard display ads (300×250, 728×90, etc). With limited value (few people click these, and half of those that do click do so by accident), and little room for branding, these ad units are hold overs from the 1990s that users have grown accustomed to ignoring. The move toward newer, more exciting ad units, branded marketing, sponsored content and native advertising, along with a collective understanding that the Web holds far more value than can be measured via click-through rates, is a subject that has taken over the year, and is a welcomed change.” – Jay Miletsky, CEO of Sequel Media Group (formerly MyPod Studios).
“The most significant trend the ad tech world so far this year is the shift towards to “Customer-First” approach to digital marketing. Instead of thinking about channels first, commerce companies, digital brand marketers and the like have been able to focus more and more on first discovering who their customer is leveraging thousands of customer attributes from 1st and 3rd party data, then translating that into targeting capabilities and available channels where their customer can be found. This has been enabled by an array of data management companies and evolved DSPs that not only put “consumption” of data at the cornerstone of their products but they make actionability a focal point. The new “class-A” client side and vendor-side marketers will be data-mining wizards that show brands HOW their data can be leveraged to increase the return on all marketing investments. Products like Facebook’s Custom Audiences feature is a perfect example of the publisher-side evolution to support this approach, which allows marketers to serve ads to, or exclude serving ads to people based on their email addresses and phone numbers, which opens up some of the core advantages of cookie-targeting to offline-only companies. The business students of today who are looking to get into marketing and advertising ought to take a long, hard look at data-mining practices, softwares and approaches to making data-first decisions, not creative-first decisions.” – Andrew McDermott, VP of Product, Spruce Media.
“Certainly Google’s ‘Enhanced Campaigns’ product launch is a clear signal on the importance of mobile integration into marketing strategy, not just digital, while potentially creating greater revenues for Google through upward pressure on CPCs across paid search. To this point, Enhanced Campaigns has been more disruptive than beneficial to the industry because advertisers need to modify their account structure and technology developers need to re-architect their bid management capabilities. This major pivot by Google definitely has long-term potential of providing cross-device tracking and measurement but, in the short term, advertisers, agencies, and technology developers are really doing more busy work and taking time away from creating true growth.” – Keith Wilson, Vice President of Agency Products at The Search Agency.
“One of the most significant industry developments this year has been the evolution of real-time marketing — the speed at which brands are jumping into social/cultural happenings and conversations. There’s a race going on to see who can be the first to post to Facebook, or tweet out a relevant comment or piece of content that ties a brand’s offering to something that’s happening in that moment. It could be something playful like the Super Bowl blackout tweets. Or something more serious — like connecting people to the help they need during a catastrophe. There is tremendous value and importance in brands participating in these types of in-the-moment actions and activities — and we work with our clients to do so. As an industry, we just have to make sure that we’re also staying focused on the care and feeding of big brand-building ideas, and the craft required to execute them flawlessly.” – Rob Rizzo, Executive Creative Director, Digitas Boston and Detroit.
“In a year with so many exciting developments in the paid search space (such as Google’s Remarketing Lists for Search Ads, Bing’s Search Ads with Brand Images, Google Image Extensions, and the recent FTC directives regarding ad labeling in search result pages), Google’s Enhanced Campaigns is far and away the biggest development in the paid search industry this year — or even in the past five years. As the largest change to Google’s AdWords platform since its launch more than ten years ago, Enhanced Campaigns has stirred up quite a bit of controversy. Savvy advertisers who have played in the mobile and tablet space for years are worried about increased competition driving up cost-per-click—and less advanced advertisers are welcoming a solution that lets them advertise across all devices much more easily, without having to build incredibly complex accounts. However, the real impact of Enhanced Campaigns is still to come, as the July 22nd deadline shifts all AdWords participants to the new format and advertisers begin learning how to leverage the incredibly powerful (but complex) new bid modifiers, enhanced extensions, and advanced cross-device reporting.” – Jeremy Hull, Associate Director of Paid Search, iProspect.
“Guilty Authenticity: There is a trend emerging that speaks directly to less glam and more of the authentic story behind the brand – the who, the where, the how, and the why. Brands are telling direct stories on the front of pack in place of clichéd images of ingredients or fake locations. Brands with a conscience and a potential guilt trip will be particularly successful.” – Fred Richards, Worldwide Creative Director, Consumer Branding at The Brand Union.
“We see a big trend in the increased emphasis on customer experience over channel development. In 2012, three out of every four organizations told Forrester that their goal was to ‘differentiate on the basis of customer experience.’ But in real life, most brands were ranked as ‘OK’ or ‘poor’ in Forrester’s 2012 customer experience index. Only 3% were ranked as ‘excellent,’ punctuating a sharp decline that started in 2007 and is now at an all-time low. Brands are now recognizing the need to extend their focus beyond cross-medium advertising, digital included, and take a hard look at the experiences they are delivering to customers. Customers, at the same time, are demanding more than just good products and good advertising. They are seeking multi-dimensional value in the form of dynamic, technology-enabled and culturally relevant experiences.” – Zihla Salinas, CMO, RAPP.
“Content Based Marketing: We all know that ‘content is king,’ but few have found an effective way to consistently activate this brand marketing approach. The reality is that the Millennial generation seeks discovery and craves information about products and brands before they decide to make a purchase. Content-based marketing not only allows for curation but also serves as a way to deliver an authentic and compelling backstory that will help differentiate brands and cement affinity with this fiercely loyal consumer base. Content that delivers these stories provides the currency required to finally realize the much hyped potential of social media as a powerful medium.” – Dick Thomas, Founder & CEO, TRIS3CT.
Apple’s replacement of UDID with ‘ID For Advertising’ even though it was announced previously, it has finally crossed into majority adoption mid-2013. This is important, as it allows for a privacy friendly way on mobile to manage attribution/conversion tracking and to build the types of audience segments that desktop media buyers are looking for. – Howie Schwartz, CEO/Founder, Human Demand.
“A lot has been written about the rise of mobile sites and the subsequent decline of websites. And we think that trend will continue, but not every brand could, or should, look at these two consumer touch points as mutually exclusive. A few of our clients are beginning to understand the relationship their brand site and their mobile site have with each other. We are beginning to see that in some cases, one strengthens the other, while the aggregate of the two yield a far more loyal and frequent shopper. As our skills to match the traffic data across touch points increases, we believe this consumer behavior trend will increase in the quarters and years ahead.” – Paul Gunning, CEO of Tribal Worldwide (DDB’s digital arm).
“The biggest story of 2013 so far has to be the ‘Cookie War.’ Or perhaps ‘Cookie Soap Opera’ would be more apt. We’ve seen Mozilla threaten to block 3rd party cookies wholesale, then pull back at the 11th hour upon realizing it wasn’t all so black and white after all, then start out on an impossible mission to make a list of good and bad guys. IE 10′s default Do Not Track died the death we all predicted. The threats to the cookie have accelerated advertisers’ adoption of technologies that are often significantly worse for users and their privacy. Facebook and Google watch all this unravel, safe in the knowledge that the erosion of cookies creates new competitive advantages for them, while Apple and Microsoft re-invent themselves as conscientious objectors. The juggernauts of the Internet are all in play and the stakes are high – our privacy on one hand, the economic health and continued freedom of the Web on the other. — Andrew Shebbeare, Founding Partner & Global Chief Strategist at Essence.
“Halfway through 2013, it’s becoming clear that this could be the year of the sensor. From Google’s launch of Glass to Disney’s MagicBand, more and more companies are finding creative ways to use sensor technology to enhance user experiences. As part of its recent iOS7 announcement, Apple signaled its support for Bluetooth Low Energy sensors with its iBeacon feature. Mary Meeker’s latest Internet Trends report forecasts sensor-enabled wearable computers as the next major computing wave. Retailers such as Timberland and Kenneth Cole have begun using sensors to deliver micro-targeted content and offers to shoppers via their smartphones while they shop in stores. Throughout the remainder of the year, expect to see more examples of sensors being used to connect the physical and digital worlds.” – Hilmi Ozguc, CEO, Swirl.
