All posts by Verso Advertising

Next to Now: Fleet Week

Next to Now, ,

It’s Fleet Week in NYC and Memorial Day Weekend throughout the rest of the U.S., but as we stand over the grill this weekend, we’ll also be pondering the states of the art of social buy buttons, mobile advertising, podcasting . . . and grilling.

 

WHEN SOCIAL MEDIA DOESN’T MEAN SALES, Part 1

Digiday reports that buy buttons on Pinterest and Instagram have not taken off for retailers. This is more evidence that social media cannot be the sole focus of your marketing plan. Whether you believe in marketing funnels or marketing pinball, there is a difference between awareness, engagement, and intent to purchase.

#social #marketingfunnel #marketingpinball

 

WHEN SOCIAL MEDIA DOESN’T MEAN SALES, Part 2

Luxury brand Burberry is a social media powerhouse with over 40MM social followers, but that hasn’t translated to sales, as revenue is slipping. They’re working on it, but Burberry’s conundrum remains a cautionary tale for marketers everywhere.

#social #roi

 

GOOGLE REVAMPS MOBILE ADS

To improve performance, Google is revamping its mobile ad platform to allow for more and bigger ads. This is good news for advertisers. 

#mobile

 

PODCASTS CONTINUE TO BOOM

The explosive growth of podcasts continues:

“‘We’ll probably more than double this year, and, the year before, it tripled year-over-year, so we’ve been seeing really great growth over the past three or four years in podcasting. Just looking back, I think we’re 10 times where we were three years ago,’ said Bryan Moffett, general manager of National Public Media, NPR’s corporate underwriting division.”

#npr #podcasts

 

Photo (c) Lynn Ruane

Next to Now: May 20, 2016

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WHITHER PODCASTS

This New York Times article explores how podcasts are expanding beyond Apple’s original vision, and asks what that means for the future of podcasts—especially in the face of real competition from the likes of Spotify and Amazon’s Audible. The market continues to expand:

“By last year, at least 46 million Americans listened to podcasts each month. This year, that number will reach 57 million, according to a survey by Edison Research.”

#podcasts #apple

 

WITHER VINE

Video darling Vine has seen a major decline as more than 50% of major influencers have left the platform. Facebook live is ascendant.

#vine #video #live

 

SILENT VIDEO

Video marketers pay heed: 85% of Facebook video is watched with the sound off. That should help with the audio line on the production budget at least.

#video #facebook

 

SIGNS THAT SNAPCHAT ADS ABOUT TO EXPAND

Digiday reports that Snapchat is developing a curatorial algorithm that will function to determine the content users “want” to see.  Whether or not this is good news for the users is an open question, but it undoubtedly means that Snapchat is developing new advertising projects. None of this is a surprise.

#snapchat

 

Next to Now: 2016 BEA Edition

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While the book world bustles about Chicago during 2016 BEA, the world of advertising has been busy talking about the marketing funnel, YouTube best practices, marketing intelligently to smart women, and more.

THE MARKETING FUNNEL IS NOT DEAD

A while back we pointed to an opinion piece that argued that the marketing funnel is dead and has been replace instead by marketing pinball. In fairness, we’re now pointing to Sam Bridger’s opinion piece that argues that the funnel is very much alive. In the piece that inspired Sam Bridger, Mark Ritson argues that marketing pinball mistakes tactics for strategy: 

“The error that Mr John makes is looking at the tactical resources that he uses to traverse the various steps in the buying process, rather than the journey itself. Clearly today’s consumer is availed with a whole set of resources and influences unimaginable a decade ago. But that is not the point of the sales funnel, which charts the consumer journey, not the tactical attempts of brands to influence it.”

While “marketing pinball” is a metaphor that continues to feel closer to our experience of today’s marketing environment, and we don’t think one metaphor is necessarily a refutation of the other—they’re both metaphors with the full range of accuracy and fuzziness that metaphors deliver—it’s worth heeding the arguments of a couple old pros.(via @FishFood)

#tactics #strategy #marketingfunnel #marketingpinball

 

DO WOMEN PREFER GENDER-NEUTRAL LANGUAGE IN MARKETING?

In a study on marketing to women, eMarketer reports that 74% of women would rather receive gender-neutral marketing messages. This was true across all age groups. But when it comes to “likes” and follows, younger women are more likely to engage than older women:  

“Female users ages 18 to 29, however, were a bit more likely to follow brands on social media and sign up for email marketing newsletters compared to older female respondents.”

#women

 

HEARST TARGETS PRINT SUBSCRIBERS DIGITALLY

Print subscribers are some of the most engaged readers around, so we are excited by Hearst’s announcement that they can now target print subscribers digitally:

“When someone fills out a subscription form online, that data is loaded up into Hearst’s system and attributes like age, ethnicity and household income from third-party data are tacked on. Hearst can then target those readers across its online sites.”

The buy-in is too steep for book publishers right now, but we look for that minimum buy comes down.

#data #print

 

EMAIL EFFECTIVENESS

According to the Relevancy Group, US marketing executives believe that email alone drives the same amount of revenue as their social media, website and web display ad efforts combined.

#email #backtoschool

 

STILL TRYING TO SOLVE FOR CTR

Since the Dawn of Time (or at least the dawn of the first Web ad), human beings have been striving to find a decent alternative measurement to the justifiably beleaguered click-through rate. Now, a new group of digital publishers have banded together to explore the latest alternative: time-based sales. We wish them god-speed.  

#deathtotheCTR #data

 

HEARST UPS THE POP-UPS ON SNAPCHAT

Hearst announces that they will be running more pop up events on Snapchat after their success around prom themed Discover posts. Snapchat is making a serious run for live event marketing against incumbant powers Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.  

#snapchat #twitter

 

WHAT’S THE IDEAL LENGTH OF A YOUTUBE VIDEO?

While studies of TV ads show :15 spots more effective than :30s (and at half the cost!), some studies show that YouTube videos as long as three minutes are making a serious impression. YouTube’s take-away? “Go short or go long.”

#youtube #video

 

YOUTUBE MAKES THE CASE FOR ITSELF

And it’s a good one: YouTube reaches more 18-49 year-olds than any broadcast or cable TV network; 91% of YouTube impressions are viewable compared to the 54% industry average (also: this is buy definition since YouTube is sold on a cost per view basis); 8 of the top 10 most influential celebrities according to U.S. teens are YouTube stars; 100% growth in time spent watching YouTube on TV.

#youtube #video

 

YOUTUBE MAKES A CASE FOR EMPOWERING ADVERTISING

YouTube’s Susan Wojicki makes the case that ads that make women feel empowered make a significantly bigger impact for the advertiser:

“Women ages 18-34 are twice as likely to think highly of a brand that made an empowering ad.”

#video #women

 

SHEKNOWS PROMOTES ITS FEMINIST AUDIENCE

In the NewFronts, SheKnows makes a similar point to YouTube—if by empowerment you think of the word “feminism” (and we do). Adweek reports on the first Digital Content NewFronts presentation from Sheknows:

“SheKnows played up its research to back up a number of feminist-minded online classes and original videos. To help marketers first get a grip on its audience, the women’s media company shared data from 1,622 online participants who answered questions about how they define feminism. Overall, 46 percent of women identified as a feminist. Another 32 percent weren’t sure or said it depends and 22 percent of women don’t consider themselves a feminist.”

#politics #feminism #targeting

 

NEWSFRONTS PUSH INTEGRATED CONTENT

A recent article in the New York Times has good insight into the recent push for integrated content. While the examples in this piece are too rich for any book publishing budgets, it’s an indicator of an overall trend we’re watching closely and taking advantage of wherever budgets allow.

#native #video

 

TOMS TAPS VR

The “buy one, give one” message has always been an integral part of Toms sales strategy; so it’s a smart move to use the immersive storytelling experience of VR to tell the stories of the people who receive the donated shoes.

#sales #compassion #vr

Next to Now: The Millennials Edition

Next to Now,

 

VOX ALL-IN FOR SNAPCHAT

Vox Media is betting against the 97.9% of marketers who found Snapchat wanting in that ROI survey. At this week’s New Front presentation, Vox revealed that it’s expanding its Snapchat presence across all its brands and creating a Snapchat Studio.

#snapchat #vox

10 BILLION VIDEOS A DAY

A new statistic proclaims that Snapchat is now a major player in video views:

“10 billion videos are now viewed each day on the ephemeral photo- and video-sharing app, up from 8 billion per day in February.”

#video #snapchat

SNAP-READY OUTDOOR ADVERTISING

Adweek features a fun Netflix campaign that invites users to use Snapchat’s face-swap technology with their outdoor ads. We love the combination of digital and outdoor, and using Snapchat lenses is a great way to share with Millennials and younger. 

#outdoor #snapchat #social

GEEKS UPVOTED ON IMGUR

Imgur released results from a new survey that show why millennials are cool with being geeky, and why it’s hard to market successfully to them.

#millennials #geeks

IMGUR TARGETS ADS TARGETING YOUNG MEN

Imgur makes a convincing case that it’s the place to be if you’re interested in reaching males ages 18-34.

#imgur

EMAIL REMAINS STRONG EVEN WITH MILLENNIALS

While the link is available for subscribers only, this headline in eMarketer says it all: “US Millennials Are Frequent Users of Email”:

“Email is still very much alive for US millennials. While it may not offer users the “wow factor” that platforms such as Snapchat, Instagram and YouTube often inspire, communicating via email remains a core digital activity for most young adults.”

#email #millennials

ON THE OTHER HAND . . .

Millennials don’t exist.

(via @GeniusSteals)

#millennials

VOGUE DIGITAL

Have we failed to mention Snapchat for a few posts? Just in time for the Met Gala, Vogue releases its first stand-alone “Snapchat-like” app:

“The iPhone app, out today, is a blend of site and magazine content, with a dash of Snapchat-like functionality. Using an algorithm, it pulls together a daily feed of eight stories tailored for the user by reading patterns. The feed’s interface is reminiscent of a Snapchat Discover story: users swipe right through headlines, and swipe up if they want to read the full article.”

#vogue #mobile

FACEBOOK FOR PRESIDENT

A survey of social media marketers found that over only 2.1% of the marketers said that the glitzy new kid on the block, Snapchat, provides the best ROI. 95% reported that Facebook provides the best ROI of all the social media channels. Twitter was second at 63.5% and Instagram a distant third at 40.1%. 

#social #facebook

 

 

 

Photo (c) TT: Central Park Purple Rain

Next to Now: The future is always unfinished

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THE RISE OF THE MICROINFLUENCERS

Bigger is not always better when it comes to influencer marketing:

“For unpaid posts, Instagram influencers with fewer than 1,000 followers have a like rate of about 8 percent, while those with 1,000 to 10,000 followers have a like rate of 4 percent.”

That’s good news for book publishers and any advertiser whose budget is more micro than mega.

#targeting #instagram

 

NEW MEDIA TARGETING

Hulu’s SVP of Sales makes a good point in Adweek (caveat emptor: he’s a sales guy, so he’s trying to sell you something). It’s good to know how a site indexes for the target audience, what the most popular content is, etc., but . . .

“. . . those questions and answers come from yesterday’s play book. Hulu’s median age really doesn’t matter. What matters is that we can pinpoint any age group advertisers are trying to reach. It doesn’t matter how we index against millennials or any other audience segment. Why bother with indices? What matters is that we can deliver 100 percent of an advertiser’s target segment. And while popularity of programing is directionally interesting, what’s more interesting is the ability to buy against both heavily streamed shows and shows that are heavily viewed by your target audience.”

In the new media reality, the question becomes: where can we put our ad so it’s served to 100% of the audience and content adjacencies that are right for our book.  

#video #targeting

 

EXPERIMENTS IN OUTDOOR

Hubspot highlights seven interactive outdoor campaigns that caught their eye. We’ve noticed a couple of these on Next to Now over the past year — including the Women’s Aid poster in London — but it’s good to look at them in one place and remember how outdoor is changing thanks to digital innovation.  

#outdoor

 

YOUTUBE MOBILE

More stats from Google that will remind you why you don’t have to make broadcast TV spots any more, including the fact that YouTube reaches more 18-49 year olds on mobile alone  than any broadcast or cable TV network. 

#mobile #video #youtube

 

ADBLOCKOPLYPSE NBD

According to Mashable, fear of mobile ad blocking (FOMAB) outstripped the reality. The mobile ad business continues to do well. But it does look like the scare has helped publishers of all stripes take user experience a little more seriously; if so, then maybe it was a good thing.   

#adblocking

 

Today's image is Cy Twombley's "Untitled I-VI (Green Paintings)" Series on view in the "Unfinished" show currently up at the Met Breur

Next to Now: On Streaming, Targeting, and Cheating

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NATIVE AD PERFORMANCE

Commenting on a study of native advertising click-through rates, Media Post is surprised to see that native ads do better on mobile. We are not. Mobile remains the best platform for high engagement—and not just because of mistaken clicks:

“The research found that click-through rates (CTR) for premium native ads were highest on smartphones, at 0.38% in 2015, while tablets saw an average CTR of 0.33%. Native ads on desktop computers saw CTR rates of 0.16%.”

#native #mobile

 

SNAPSHOT: SPOTIFY LISTENERS

72% of Spotify listeners are Millennials, and they’re listening mostly in the afternoon. Here’s a link to Adweek’s infographic on the Spotify audience and its listening habits.

#streaming #spotify

 

GENIUS STEALS?

Creatives should have their eyes and ears wide open, looking everywhere for inspiration, including Reddit. Just remember, that if you’re using someone else’s idea (especially when you use it word-for-word), you should pay them. Ask Axe.

#creative

 

DEMOGRAPHICS ARE NOT A BLUNT INSTRUMENT

A little reminder from Google that easy assumptions about demographics—such as, “only men are interested in video games” or “only people with babies in the house buy baby products”—are often overturned when you look at the data.  

#data #demographics #targeting

 

FACEBOOK LIVESTREAM COMMERCIALS

Digiday reports that Facebook is testing commercials in their live stream.

#facebook #livestream #video

Next to Now: Communication

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This week, the news was all about communication: innovations in messaging, email rates, attention spans and more.

 

F8 INTRODUCES SPONSORED MESSAGES

Facebook’s F8 conference introduced their latest updates to messaging—now including sponsored messages. The announcement marks a significant opportunity for paid advertising in the U.S. messaging business.

#messaging

FACEBOOK SHARING IS DOWN

One reason Facebook is going all-in with their messaging app is that overall sharing on their regular Facebook platform is down. According to the website, The Information:

Screen Shot 2016-04-15 at 10.04.05 AM

#facebook

 

EMAIL CLICK THROUGH RATES DECLINE

While email  remains one of our most powerful tools for marketing and advertising, the overall click-through averages are declining:

“North American email engagement fell again in Q4 on a year-over-year basis, reports Epsilon in its latest quarterly analysis of clients’ email activity. The click-through rate of 3.2% was down from 4% during the year-earlier period and from 4.4% in Q4 2013, maintaining this metric’s gradual descent. Meanwhile, the average open rate stood at 30.6% in Q4 2015, down from 32.2% in Q4 2014.”

#email

 

DO YOU KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE’S ATTENTION SPAN?

A new study suggests that millennials prefer very, very short videos (as in ten seconds or less) while older generations prefer slightly longer videos (but not tooooo long: just thirty seconds).

#video

Next to Now: Does the Marketing Funnel Still Work?

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MARKETING PINBALL

The CMO of Publishers Clearing House writes on Ad Age about the death of the marketing funnel and the birth of marketing pinball. The article’s focus on brands means it’s only moderately useful for book publishers, but it’s still a good read about the current state of the customer journey—instead of traveling along a well-defined linear path from awareness to inquiry to intent to purchase, the current path-to-purchase happens in a field of touchpoints as the consumer bounces from desktop research to stores to blogs to coupons to stores to reviews to comparison shopping.

#data #marketing #pinball

 

OUR CROSS-PLATFORM WORLD

If you want to play marketing pinball, you have to start understanding our cross-platform world. One place to start is this recent comScore report.

#crossplatform

 

A CLOUD OF DON DRAPER MOMENTS

CMO online interviews Wunderman CEO Seth Solomons on creativity and data:

“Today it’s about delivering more experiences at the points in time that matter most to the brand’s consumers. For me, it’s no longer about landing on a single Don Draper moment. Data and an understanding of engagement expectations are what make multiple Don Draper moments possible, on the devices and platforms that matter most.”

Another way to think about this, is to apply the baseball metaphor business writer and blue chip consultant Ram Charan uses in his advice for companies: it’s better to hit a whole series of singles than to keep swinging for a home run.

#data #crossplatform

 

MESSAGING MARKETING IS HERE AND IT TALKS LIKE A BOT

The ability of AI to hold a conversation in messaging apps is beginning to show fruit in the messaging world, with implications for customer service—and, by extension, marketing.

To learn more start with this article in Adweek:

“[A] growing number of startups [employs] automated messaging to help consumers do everything from hailing cabs to paying bills. Some say these services, known as chatbots, could be the biggest digital to-do since mobile apps. The bots are forms of artificial intelligence that create personalized one-to-one interactions.”

Then you can read more on chat bots from Digiday.

#messaging #chatbots

 

THE BENEFITS OF TARGETING TRANSPARENCY

A new study discussed in the Harvard Business Review suggests that not only do ads targeted to user behavior outperform non-targeted ads, but they do even better when the users *know* that they’re being targeted because of user behavior. Score another one for transparency.

#targeting #transparency

 

NEW BILLBOARDS ONLY HAVE EYES FOR YOU

A new campaign for General Motors uses cameras that identify passing cars by their grills and deliver customized billboards explaining to drivers of Nissan Altimas, Toyota Camrys, Hyundai Sonatas exactly how the Chevy Malibu is a superior car to the one they’re driving. Creepy? Maybe. Or maybe it’s an extension of the online targeting that consumers are beginning to expect. Imagine a subway billboard telling a Cassandra Clare reader all the ways your new YA fiction title would make a great next read.

#billboard #digital

 

 

MOBILE ATE THE WORLD

Benedict Evans has updated his “Mobile Eats World” presentation—in case you still need convincing about the ubiquity of mobile devices.

#mobile

 

 

ADBLOCKING HOLDS STEADY AT 10%

A recent comScore report suggests that ad blocking is holding steady at 10% of desktop users, and is not ramping up as had been feared. Younger males are far and away the most likely group to block ads.  

#adblocking

 

 

Next to Now: No Fooling Edition

Next to Now, , ,
April 1st is the first day of National Poetry Month, and, much to the delight of older brothers everywhere, April Fool’s Day.

 

 

In celebration of National Poetry Month, give Jonathan Galassi a call and let him read you a poem: 949-342-5374

 

In celebration of April Fool’s Day: Pigeons with backpacks.

Screen Shot 2016-04-01 at 2.39.05 PM

“Pigeons outfitted with lightweight backpacks soared over London from March 14 to 16, collecting air quality data across the city that was shared via Twitter. The Pigeon Air Patrol was a collaboration between Plume Labs and DigitasLBi to raise awareness for an even larger air pollution project to be crowdsourced from London’s largest moving flock: its humans.”

 

TIPS FOR REACHING PARENTS ON INSTAGRAM

An Instagram for Business post suggests that the visual platform is a great way to reach moms (and dads):

“Instagram found that 93 percent of moms access its network at least once per week, with 68 percent doing so daily.”

They also link to successful campaigns for Campbell’s and Gap Kids.

#instagram #moms

 

CRUZ AND SANDERS EXPERIMENT WITH FACEBOOK’S CANVAS

While brands have been slow to try Facebook’s new Canvas feature, the political campaigns of Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders have seen good success with it. Facebook client partner Chase Mohney told Digiday:

“Canvas is great for two big reasons. It provides these campaigns with the opportunity to tell an immersive story — their story — using video, stills and calls to action — really whatever works for them. And it’s designed for mobile, which is where the voters campaigns want to reach are spending their time anyway.”

One reason for advertiser reluctance that the article doesn’t mention? Cost. The CPM is in the $450-500 range. That’s just a *wee bit* higher than we normally see with Facebook ads . . . much less rich media available on blue chip sites.  

#social #facebook

 

SIMPLE IS BEST

A new study suggests that in the visually complex world of the current Web, simpler messages hold the key to ad effectiveness.

#creative #simple

 

INNOVATIVE OUTDOOR

A campaign for the upcoming release of Game of Thrones has dragons “landing” in major cities everywhere. As advertisers, we applaud the innovative nature of the advertising. As city residents, we suspect that if any marketer showed up outside our windows with another jack hammer, just in the name of pulling off a cool marketing stunt, we would ourselves turn into dragons.

#outdoor #creative

 

HOW MUCH DO WE LIKE OUTDOOR ADVERTISING?

Well, we like it a lot. For some reasons why, here is an article from Digiday pointing to smart, fun “conversation-starter” campaigns for Thinx and Caspar on New York subways:

“‘We like subway ads because we want to create a presence in New York City where trends are set,’ Miki Agrawal, CEO and co-founder of Thinx said on stage at Marketing Unbound, the annual conference hosted by the Economist. ‘And we want our ads to be conversation starters for New York subway riders.’”

#outdoor

 

Next to Now: The Music of Advertising Edition

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DOES PODCASTING SELL?

Podcasts don’t provide traditional reporting for ads, but a recent study suggests that it does sell products (well, underwear anyway). Mack Weldon reports that doubling-down on humorous podcasts has doubled their sales. According to Digiday:

“Podcast advertising now represents 25 percent of Mack Weldon’s overall ad budget per month, 100 times more than a year ago. The medium has become more effective than display ads for the company, because when people listen to podcasts, they are fully engaged and they can continue listening while making a purchase.”

#podcasts

 

THE UPSIDE OF BEING POSITIVE ON FACEBOOK

Huffington Post has found that “feel-good” videos far out-perform hard news stories on Facebook. Of course, this tells you more about what the Huffington Post audience is looking for than other audiences. But it’s worth keeping in mind.

#facebook

 

SNAPCHAT BILLBOARDS

The hot social platform that’s about as digital and evanescent as they come recognizes the power of an old-school, well-placed billboard in real space. A new Snapchat billboard campaign manages to go both mass and hyper-local at the same time. Well played.

#snapchat #billboards

 

SPOTIFY UPS ITS MOBILE AD GAME

The music streaming service is popular with listeners but has under-performed Pandora for Verso clients. We’re glad to see they’re paying more attention to their mobile ad product, and look forward to trying it out:

“Starting today, the music streaming service is bringing Billboard—one of its most popular desktop ad formats—to mobile. The feature, dubbed Overlay Mobile, lets advertisers buy display ads for both iOS and Android mobile devices. It serves as the “Welcome Back” ad, and only plays when a user has the screen open, which Spotify says provides 100 percent viewability.”

#spotify #music #mobile

 

INSTAGRAM TOPS FOR MUSIC FANS

In a new Instagram-commissioned study (worth noting, not neutral), Nielsen found that Instagram was the buzziest social network for the most avid music fans:

“According to a new Instagram-commissioned study by Nielsen of more than 3,000 self-described Instagram users, the photo- and video-sharing platform is the most-used social network for music fans, festival attendees and artists during live events. The study also provides insight into what fans like, listen to and buy.”

Worth thinking about for the next music book.

#music #instagram

 

TEENS VOTE UP WISHBONE

Ad Age reports on the new tap-to-vote app, Wishbone, that’s proving a hit with teens, and inspiring creative engagement from brands who want to reach them–in both content and paid advertising plays.

#teens #wishbone

 

THE NEXT BIG THING

Salesforce CEO Scott McCorkle makes the case for “layered marketing”—marketing across different platforms and media, playing to each one’s strength—with an essay in Ad Age that points out how the wonders of the next big thing do not necessarily mean the death of what came before.

#layeredmarketing