SIGNAL IN THE NOISE: ADVERTISING IN THE AGE OF DATA

Advertising is the quintessential example of an industry known for creatively embracing what’s new and next. From emerging technologies, channels, and formats to bold, go-to-market media strategies that are guided by evolving customer expectations for personalised, seamless, and omnichannel experiences, the most successful brands, agencies, and vendors just keep moving forward. 

This topic has been discussed for a number of years now from “Talking to Ourselves”, “Lee Chow Will Only Say This Once”, CP+B’s “Woodshed”, and “the Disruptor Series” and many others. What is absolutely clear is that the agency model has shifted. We all know it’s shifted. We can feel it. Our relationship with the client has shifted. Our value proposition (and perceived value) has shifted. The culprit? For the sake of brevity – is “Data”.

The introduction of “data” into our business has shifted the perception that what, once upon a time was considered alchemy, is now quantifiable. The pendulum that swings between art and science in advertising has decidedly taken a step towards science. Why? Well, for one, it’s the natural course of human progress. 

We humans have a history of decoupling and commoditizing our once lofty constructs. You may remember years ago the arduous task (and associated costs) of building a website? Today, we have Squarespace for $16 per month. 

Moreover, with the dollars attached to advertising at large, you can bet that any number of intelligent people will attempt to commoditize any number of its functions. To this end, the advent of this “Age of Data” has put all advertising practices under scrutiny.

But the backlash today being witnessed (against the traditional ad agencies of the world) is palpable. The problem appears to be that this “Age of Data” promised far more than it has delivered.

It is the natural and inevitable course of human evolution. However, being able to quantify and benchmark every consumer transaction along the customer journey is not tantamount to success. We now, arguably, have access to every metric under the sun but the data is largely meaningless. We are still pressed daily to find the signal in the noise.

This harsh reality has manifested in plateaued CX performance, digital transformations that did not deliver the expected returns, and early efforts to capitalize on new technologies and models that took a technical, rather than operational, viability path.

The larger risk may be market-based. While taking a step back to build foundation, those firms may have missed a closing window of good economic times and deferred more aggressive strategies to an economic climate that is at best mixed and, at worst, recessionary.

At the same time AI and robotics move deeper into the organization, closer to the customer, and, more profoundly, into the very makeup and operations of the company. This presents the best mechanism to drive growth - a strategically planned ecosystem that delivers value to customers throughout their life cycle. To establish a successful ecosystem, CMO's will need to thread the needle between employee experience, customer experience, brand purpose, creative, and technology, imbuing all these crucial areas with customer obsession.

Smart CMOs will undoubtedly begin pulling back on strategies that drive short-term gains at the expense of customer affinity, including dark patterns —design patterns that manipulate customers against their own interests. Meanwhile, spend will flow back into creative as the importance of differentiated branding becomes apparent in a world of digital sameness.

At the same time, technology-driven innovation — the ability to deliver new business results through opportunities discovered by continuously experimenting with technology, both emerging and established — will soon be table stakes for leading organizations.

Today, deep learning is sorting pictures posted on Snapchat, natural language processing is providing the backbone for customer service chatbots, and machine learning is helping companies accelerate product development by handling tasks from forecasting the effect of cancer drugs to helping to edit Hollywood movies.

Just imagine an advert that dynamically changes the tone of the voiceover based on the unique preferences of the viewer. The convergence of AI with human creativity and insight will transform advertising, and we’re just beginning to see what’s possible.

Artificial Intelligence allows machines to be able to carry out tasks in a way that we would consider “smart”. And, Machine Learning is based around the idea that we should just be able to give machines access to data and let them learn for themselves. Employing both, however, despite their infinite promise, has also not yet delivered real, tangible value (at least at scale or en masse.)

Yet, we are still pressed daily to find the signal in the noise. Moreover, we are still dealing with error-laden legacy data in disparate silos and clients are ill-equipped and the speed of technological change (which means we are always catching up.)

As a result, somewhere between ‘what is infinitely possible’ and ‘what is possible today’ lies the ad agency paradox today. Selling the promise of data-driven creative and personalisation at scale to clients whose platform simply will not get them there.

This paradigm shift also extends its own vernacular – now also far more focused on return on investment and short-term results. And herein lies the problem du jour. But, in the short term, humans are still the ultimate software. 

It is as if, metaphorically, someone had just invented the paintbrush. Despite, potentially, never using one, you can still see the infinite possibilities in its premise. But you can see (in this example) that the paint brush’s promise far exceeds its current application. Ultimately, this is simply the ebb and flow of all human endeavour. 

The agency of the future will undoubtedly be consumer centric, automated, transparent, collaborative, intelligent, nimble, experiential, and focused on a sprint versus a marathon approach. They can champion creative but will undoubtedly have deep expertise in strategy, consumer insights, and measurement.

Moreover, this heightened focus on the measurement will allow agencies to not just understand campaign performance, but to also understand how a brand is moving people through a journey and how advertising is fostering that movement.

With a heightened level of insight about what people think, feel, and do (after they interact with a brand’s advertising) we are simultaneously entering an advertising landscape with more immersive experiences that engage consumers on a deeper emotional level. 

One thing we do know? The importance of data and how it’s used to make changes that put consumers first cannot be understated. Agencies that pay attention to this now are sure to set themselves up for success in the years to come.

Who is Goodbuzz?

FIGHTING FOR AUDIENCE PASSION AND LOYALTY IN A FRAGMENTED LANDSCAPE OF DISTRIBUTION OPTIONS. 

Goodbuzz Inc. is an independently owned advertising agency founded in 2008, with long-term business relationships based on exceeding our clients' expectations. Our focus has always been the work, the people who create it, and the people we create it for.
 

We are a community of artists, strategists and technologists, bound together in a quest to engage and inspire consumers.  After more than 20 years of entertainment marketing, we understand the power of story to influence and motivate consumers, and create an emotional connection between them and your brand.

Goodbuzz help brands create and capture value from emerging trends in technology, society and the workplace. We prototype the future and believe the best way to predict it is to create it. More on Goodbuzz and it's principles.

Nike's Emotional Branding Wins Hearts

We are surrounded with so much information today it's a miracle that any messages break through, but Nike's strategy (via Wieden+Kennedy) of creating emotional, empowering ads and large viral pyramids that leverage the Nike brand and message content is one of the most effective emotional branding examples in the marketing world today. Their customer loyalty is astronomical, all thanks to the masterful application of emotional branding and the centuries-old storytelling archetype of Heroism. 

Nike Advertising and Emotional Branding

Nike's brand inspires fervent customer loyalty around the world.  This is primarily because Nike's advertising uses the emotional branding technique of archetypes in its advertising – more specifically, the story of the Hero. It’s an age old tale, a tale of a hero pitted against a great foe, and after a great struggle, emerging triumphant. 

Building Loyalty + The Hero Archetype

Nike's advertising isn’t the only group that uses the Hero archetype to inspire customer loyalty. Many other companies use this emotional branding technique to great effect. In most cases, the foe is external. The most common story of the hero is that of an underdog, a man of humble origins setting out to defeat a greater evil – one far more powerful than he – and, against all odds, emerging triumphant.  As long as there is a clearly identified enemy and a clearly identified hero, the emotional branding can begin. 

Brand Strategy

Nike's advertising takes the common hero story and turns it on its head. Instead of inspiring customer loyalty by singling out an external enemy, it pulls out the stops and focuses on an internal foe – our laziness. Nike knows just how often we battle with our lazy side. Every morning when that alarm goes off and it’s still totally dark outside, the battle begins. When we choose how long to run, the battle continues. This is how Nike's marketing uses emotional marketing to inspire customer loyalty. They know that while some people may identify with an external foe, all people identify with an internal one.

Nike's strategy resonates because laziness is a universal foe and someone we can all hate, the "consumer is the brand hero". In one way or another, we are all the hero of our own story.  Nike's marketing has long since identified that feeling – and used it to inspire timeless customer loyalty.  They succeed by showing people how to dream bigger and live better. Help them to care more, enable them to do great things and inspire them to be the hero of their story.  Just watch the video below...

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♔ SOCIAL MEDIA CASE STUDIES [GB_V90]

GE and Volvo share their Twitter hashtag strategies – Digiday

Honda has earned the Best Use of Pinterest award for their #pintermission campaign that gave pinners $500 to actually make the stuff they pin - Ragan

NIVEA has created an interactive YouTube video of a couple on a disastrous date that fans can share on Facebook and Twitter - Adverblog

Ford explains how they're asking fans to help create a social campaign for their Fiesta Movement - Forbes

Burberry is letting their fans tweet #madefor to see their new personalization feature from London Fashion Week - BrandChannel

The U.S. Army is sharing their social media handbook, including the "Do and Don't" checklist for Facebook and Twitter – B2C

Pizza Hut came to the rescue for #LastMinuteLovers on Twitter who needed a gift for Valentine's Day - Examiner

Macy's is promoting National Heart Health Month by giving to the American Heart Association through their social media sites - Businesswire

Pantene asked their fans to tweet #WantThatHair while celebrities walked down the red carpet during this year's Academy Awards to get tips on how to achieve their style - DailyMake

Taco Bell announced their Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Taco on Twitter with a Vine video - WebproNews

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♔ Seven Secrets to Optimizing Your Facebook Page

Facebook changes features and functionality on what seems like a weekly basis, so it can be difficult to keep up with what’s new.  And as a result of a slew of recent changes, you may not have noticed a number of updated features that give you more control over your Facebook page—and, by extension, your Facebook marketing efforts. Therefore, consider this your cheat sheet. If you’re not already putting these features to work for your Facebook page, now’s a great time to start.

Organic vs. Viral Visibility

Stats are a goldmine for marketers. And Facebook provides no shortage of data and insights that can help you track how your Facebook content resonates with your audience, as well as what types of post spark the most engagement. You can also see how many people have viewed your Facebook posts organically (your page’s fans) and virally (friends of your fans). Simply hover over the “…. people saw this post” link below your page post to see the count. Regularly checking out these numbers can help you fine-tune your content to consistently post information that resonates not only with your page’s audience, but with their connections, too.

Reposition Photos

Whether you love or hate Timeline, you can’t deny that it’s a much more visual experience for Facebook users. That being said, a photo may sometimes not appear as you’d envisioned because of the site’s automatic cropping and positioning parameters. The good news? You’ve got control! Go to your post and click the pencil icon in the top right corner. Select Reposition photo, then use your mouse to better align the photo within the space provided. This is a great trick for the default photo size, as well as photos that you enlarge by highlighting the post.

Schedule Facebook Posts

We don’t advocate automating your entire social presence (after all, you’re not a robot—you’re a person!) But the ability to schedule posts can save you a great deal of time and make sure your page is covered during traditional downtimes like evenings and weekends (which is when a lot of page admins see increased Facebook traffic). To schedule a post, make sure you’re in your page’s admin view (where you can see insights at the top and your page posts below). If you switch over to your page’s News Feed and try to post from there, you won’t be able to schedule. Under the status window, you’ll see a clock. Click and add the year, month, date and time you want your post to publish. Once you’re done, a window will pop up that confirms the update has been scheduled.

Define Admin Roles

If you work with a team of people to manage Facebook pages, you’ll want to take advantage of the more recent admin role functionality. Facebook has defined several roles: manager, content creator, moderator, advertiser, and insights analyst. Each role comes with a varying number of responsibilities, with managers having complete access to all tasks (pictured below).  This way, you can ensure that your admin team can fulfill various page-related tasks, but perhaps it’s not appropriate for every member to have full-fledged access.

Edit Links

It’s happened to all of us. You find the perfect link, copy and paste it into the status update window, and bam—the meta data leaves a lot to be desired. Facebook automatically imports this information from the source, and although you can’t change a link’s thumbnail, you can edit the title and description. When the link preview pops up under your status window, simply double-click the headline and description text and you’ll be able to make edits as needed. This might seem like a small adjustment to make, but let’s face it—everything you post on your Facebook page counts. And the more polished and enticing the information is, the more engagement you’ll likely see.

Highlight Fan Posts

One of the more consistent complaints with Timeline is that it consolidates fan posts into one window on the side of the page, rather than interspersing them on the page’s main feed. Just as you might highlight a status update, you can highlight fan posts, too, and draw more attention to user-generated content. Click the wall posts box, select the post you want to highlight and click the X in the right corner to select Highlighted on Page. Not only does this feature give your page some increased content diversity, but also signals to your fans that you’re paying attention to their content—and appreciate their contributions to your page.

See Page Likes

Getting people to like your Facebook page is the key to a robust presence and an engaged community. Yet it’s also important that you, as a Facebook page, like other pages—and they return the favor. Not only does this increase the size of your Facebook audience, but it creates a more robust news feed and allows you to more easily share updates and activity from other pages. To see which pages have liked your page (and so you can return the favor, if applicable), go to New Likes in your admin panel. Click See All, then go to the top left and change from People to Pages.

You’ve likely heard the saying “the devil is in the details.” And Facebook marketing is no exception. By incorporating these tips into your Facebook strategy, you’ll make subtle yet noticeable improvements to your page—and continue to know more about your audience, too. When you factor in Facebook’s fast-moving stream and continually growing user base that’s approaching 1 billion people, you need all of the competitive advantages you can get to make your Facebook page stand out in a crowd.

Have you discovered any other little known Facebook tips or tricks that have improved your Facebook marketing efforts?  If so, please feel free to post on Goodbuzz or email it to us (and we will do thy bidding). 

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♔ THE END OF FACEBOOK (AS YOU KNOW IT) | 2004-2012

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Do you remember when you first used Facebook?  Think back if you will to those pre-IPO days when you (the empowered user,) could receive updates from ONLY those sources you actually cared about. Remember that liberating and democratizing time when you actually could control the content you were exposed to? You were your own empowered media programmer and for potentially the first time YOU didn’t have to be exposed to all the crap you hated. If you didn’t like Burger King - you just didn’t “Like” Burger King. If your philosophical values meant you didn’t like Starbucks - you just didn’t “Like” Starbucks. It was your way of demonstrating what you really cared about. It was a simpler time when Brands had to actually EARN your interest and loyalty. Moreover they had to deliver value and extend actual transparency.

But then it happened. Facebook sold out. It may have been around the time that Twitter sold out to the Saudi Royal Family (see http://bit.ly/Twitter-fail). It may have been around the time when GENERAL MOTORS (the company best known today for making rental cars,) like a petulant teenager pulled all it’s advertising spend simply because the platform didn’t allow them to BUY their way in. They pulled their ad-spend essentially because the platform was too ‘democratic’.

Once the monetization process began, different ad units were extended, new page layouts, timelines, sponsorships and paid/promoted posts. Multiple vehicles - all designed at one thing – allowing brands (that you don’t care about in the least like the Starbuck's ad below as an example) to capture your attention again.  By doing this Facebook have effectively violated the basic premise that actually made it relevant and democratizing in the first place.

So, get ready to be increasingly reached by only large commercial interests - and NOT by the pages you actually care about.  Sadly, Facebook today has quickly eroded into just another corporate mouthpiece. 

Thoughts?  Be a part of the discussion. Tell us what you think?

 

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♔ Five Easy Ways to Boost your Facebook Privacy

✔ Why Successful Retail Is Sticky Retail?

In a recent European shopper study we found 65% of shoppers in specialty high street stores in Italy left the store prematurely (summer 2012). In other words they engaged only once with either a product, some merchandising or marketing collateral and then left the store... does that surprise you? This statistic tells us that there is real opportunity for retail marketers to engage with shoppers more deeply.

Introducing a multi-platform experience is one way of improving that depth of the customer relationship. The more effort we spend changing how people interact with the environment the better. In the same study 75% of shoppers who made four or more interactions spent money. Positive proof that dwell times and stickiness drive are a consequence of buying behavior; the decision our clients face is what pieces of the retail-marketing puzzle go where.

Brand Perspectives
Brands own the retail relationship; they have the trust of the retail customer. Measures such as recognition, visibility, share of shelf, share of basket, dwell time, pick and take rate and sales densities help to define good and bad retailing.

Many brands are reliant on the retailer as an ambassador to raise awareness and sales. In highly competitive generalist retail environments brands that have two or more locations and more marketing collateral tend to score better for recognition and saliency. Brands with little or no support get lost very quickly. Smart brands use different channel touch point to get their message across.

Many brand owners use retail to change how people think about them. By approaching consumers out of context they can change they way we view them. Louis Vuitton in New York celebrated its collaboration with the Japanese artist Yajo Kusama, famous for red polka dots, will a life size mannequin of the artist to project their windows and capture the zeitgeist.

Retailer Perspectives
Retailers want to improve shopper numbers, frequency of visit and basket size. The different tactics used to drive performance influence placement, message and opportunity for brands. Future-facing retail is multi sensorial, respects the consumer and uses messaging to support brand storytelling by providing intimate moments at retail.

Size isn't everything - consider West Edmonton Mall reportedly the fifth largest shopping mall in the world (the largest in North America) and still with the largest waterpark in the world. It is relevant to future retail as long as it keeps offering what shoppers want in a memorable and competitive way. Contrast this retail giant with The Little Mule coffee house in Melbourne; a distinctive, individual, relevant proposition that shows real empathy in delivery. The shopper experience is enhanced every time by great staff getting it right.

The giants of retail experiences create solutions either through display or messaging. Category zoning is a useful device to pull and push shoppers through the retail space using dialogue effectively. Simple examples range from the hologram display at London Luton Airport that educates passengers about carry on luggage requirements to more impactful window displays like adidas in South Korea showcasing giant 3D holograms featuring exploded diagrams of the latest running shoes.

Nike's termini store in Rome, Italy, captures the spirit of Nike brand with a coherent on the go retail proposition. Its role is clearly to gain attention and interest; this often gets delivered through digital screens, interactive displays and three-dimensional collateral.

Shopper Perspectives
There are three drivers of shopper behavior: motivation, entertainment and ease. Individual shoppers are complicated, they are driven by sets of motivations, and are also looking to satisfy a need or fulfill a wish. They are influenced by promotion, by format and packaging and they are habitual and often  inconsistent in what they do. 

At retail we can compare similarities and identify patterns amongst groups of shoppers, and then predict future behaviors to maximize the opportunity the retail channel presents.

The shop is where people are engaged, interested and welcomed. The most efficient and effective retail experiences are about scripting, not just about proposition and product display. Demonstrations, evidence and experiences cut across all touch points, and shoppers are open to influence. Our studies prove that 60% of bar counter customers intent on buying the next round of drinks will up trade if an alternative is recommended by the bar staff, that's a whopping commercial opportunity resulting from observing retail behavior.

[ Reprinted from Contagious - Author Jonathan Webb is co-founder of shopper consultancy Retail in Action

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✔ How to select a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) partner?

For many businesses, hiring an agency to assist with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) represents the perfect balance between getting the necessary work done to ensure positive results with your company website and investing the time and energy needed to complete these tasks in-house.   However, although hiring an agency to carry out website optimization tasks might seem like a no-brainer, it’s important to be aware that not all SEO consultancies are created equally, so be sure to ask potential providers the following questions:

1 – How long have you been in the business of Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

Certainly, everyone needs to start somewhere – and there’s a chance the new consultant you hire will be able to obtain the same results you could achieve with a renowned SEO firm.  However, when it’s your hard-earned money that’s on the line, keep in mind that a long track record of successes demonstrates credibility.

2 – How does your company stay up-to-date on industry changes?

It's the difference between Penguin and Panda.  Because things change so quickly in the SEO industry, it’s imperative that you hire an individual or firm that’s up-to-date on the latest algorithm adjustments.  To determine whether or not your chosen agency makes ongoing education a priority, look for things like whitepaper publication, guest articles contributed to industry websites and presentations.  Really, any credibility indicators that demonstrate that your chosen agency is respected for its knowledge and expertise will suffice to prove that its SEO professionals stay on top of the latest news and releases. 

3 – Do you engage in any grey- or black-hat practices?

If you’re making the investment into hiring an agency to improve your website’s optimization, why risk blowing your money on consultants who use the grey- or black-hat practices that could eventually get your site penalized in the search rankings?  To avoid throwing your money down the toilet in this way, carefully question agency candidates on their ethics and the specific methods they use to promote their clients’ sites.   

4 – How do you approach keyword research?

There are as many ways to approach keyword research as there are SEO consultants working today, so while there’s really no right or wrong answer to this question, it is important that the agency you select uses keyword research techniques that are in line with your company’s natural search placement goals.  Pay special attention to agencies that promise high Search Engine Results Page (SERP) rankings for extremely competitive keywords.  If it sounds too good to be true it typically is.  While the eventual payoff may be nice, you’ll see much better results with a keyword research plan that will allow your company to micro-target.

5 – How do you qualify traffic in your campaigns?

Simply getting more visitors to your website isn’t always a good goal for an SEO campaign.  What you really want are highly-qualified visitors that convert well according to your company’s conversion rate optimization plan, so be sure to ask potential SEO agency candidates how they plan to filter visitors and build the right type of traffic for your site.

6 – How will the success of your campaign be measured? 

Just as a simple increase in site visitors isn’t enough to justify campaign success, be sure to ask your chosen SEO agency how they determine whether their efforts are in fact working.  Be sure whatever metrics are used to measure success are ones that truly indicate success for your business.  As an example, simply increasing average time on site – a commonly reported SEO metric – doesn’t matter if these changes aren’t tied to corresponding conversion rate increases and ROI.

7 – What types of reporting will you provide?

In order to protect proprietary SEO tactics, web optimization agencies may limit the scope of their reports to eliminate detail that could be used by competitors to recreate successful campaigns.  However, that doesn’t mean that you should be left in the dark about how things are progressing with your project.  Ask specifically about how frequently you’ll receive reports and what level of detail will be included to stay on top of your campaigns.

8 – How available are you for client communication?

The wonders of digital communication mean that you aren’t limited to choosing from SEO agencies in your immediate geographic area.  But whether you decide to work with a remote provider or a consultant in your city, be very clear about the level of communication you can expect to receive as a client.  If anything goes wrong with your site, you’ll want to resolve these issues as quickly as possible – but to do that, you must have access to clear communication channels with your SEO agency.

9 – Do you have any long-term clients who are satisfied with your work?

SEO agencies are occasionally criticized for drawing out the length of their projects in order to increase their billable hours.  So for this reason, it’s important to gather feedback from past customers who have successfully completed long-term projects with your potential consultants.  If you hear from several companies that investing in a full-length project with your chosen SEO agency resulted in positive ROI, that’s a good indication that you’ve chosen who will put your website’s needs ahead of re-billing priorities.

10 – Do you limit the number of clients you take on at once?

If you’re thinking of working with a larger SEO agency that has a substantial in-house staff, ensuring that appropriate focus is given to your project may not be an issue.  On the other hand, if you decide to work with a small team or a solitary SEO consultant, ask if your chosen provider sets limits on the number of ongoing projects that can be taken on.  Because SEO campaigns require consistent effort to be successful, the last thing you want is for the provider you’ve contracted with to bump your project to the back-burner to handle a bigger customer’s request.

11 – Who will be doing the work on my campaign?

Depending on the SEO agency you retain to work on your business’s web optimization projects, you could have a highly-qualified SEO technician performing ongoing on-page and off-page SEO work – or, you could unknowingly have certain elements of your campaign shipped off overseas worker where quality controls may be much more lax.

Finally, given all the different variables involved in selecting the SEO agency that’s right for your company’s needs, consider starting with a short-term project to get a feel for the caliber of the organization’s work.  Starting with a three-month assignment should give the agency enough time to produce some meaningful improvement in your website’s results, as well as providing you with enough information about the agency’s work practices to decide if they’re the right fit for your SEO needs.

And lastly - if you’re a brand manager looking for a proven, experienced cutting-edge SEO agency – give us a shout.  We’re always happy to see whether we can help.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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