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(Blog cover image: What DALL-E 2 produced when given the prompt, “A beagle celebrating the New Year while reading its favorite stories on an iPad”.)
With 2023 fast approaching and 2022 slowly fading in the rearview, we wanted to take a look back at some of our favorite blog posts from the year that was! Read on to see just a taste of our advertising and marketing industry coverage from 2022—and check out the Basis blog to see all the rest!
Advertising Opportunities in the Metaverse
If we are to believe the hype (and the billions upon billions of investor dollars that are fueling the phenomenon) it appears the metaverse is well-positioned to become the “next big thing” in marketing and entertainment—even if, at this moment, it does not fully exist. For many brands, the sensible approach to the metaverse right now is to learn, observe, and wait for the concept to become more tangible, as it is still far too soon to know which investments will be viable in the long term. But for those looking to be early adopters in the space, there are a few initial metaverse solutions that indicate potential use cases for advertisers. Check out this post to learn all about how digital marketers can start tapping into them.
Climate Change and Sustainability Advertising: Tips, Dos, and Don’ts for Digital Marketers
Reports on the trajectory of climate change are growing ever more dire, with targeted carbon emissions goals looking increasingly out of reach barring swift and major regulatory and/or corporate changes. In the face of this, organizations continue to tout their climate pledges and roll out marketing campaigns—or, depending upon who you ask, PR stunts—demonstrating their commitment to environmentally-friendly values and practices. But many sustainability-minded consumers are making it clear that they aren’t buying what your brand is selling. And with consumers increasingly looking to corporations for leadership on the climate crisis, the old methods of green marketing just aren’t good enough. To help brands navigate this sensitive territory, this piece lays out some of the dos and don’ts of climate- and sustainability-focused advertising.
Why Contextual Targeting is Having a Moment in Digital Advertising
The forthcoming “cookie-pocalypse” threatens to wreak havoc across the advertising industry, and many marketers are responding like birds: either running around in panic like chickens, or pretending the crisis doesn’t exist and burying their heads in the sand, ostrich-style. Clearly, neither is sustainable, but are there any solutions out there that can help marketers get back to acting like humans? Oddly enough, the most practical one may be staring us right in the face: contextual targeting. And look, we get it: a lot of people are (quite understandably!) uninterested in hearing more about contextual targeting. It’s been around for a while and, candidly, it’s kind of boring. But in rare and exceptional instances such as this, old + boring doesn’t necessarily have to = bad. Just ask baseball fans, or anyone in the middle of a riveting game of Monopoly! Read this to learn all about contextual targeting, how it works, and why it’s a surprisingly great solution for today’s digital advertiser.
Everything You Need to Know About Programmatic In-Housing
Throughout programmatic advertising history, brands have largely entrusted its execution to agencies and trading desks. But today, in a world of unforgiving consumers and constantly shifting market dynamics, many brands are searching for an alternative to the traditional brand-agency model as they look to gain greater transparency into their media buys, more holistic control over their data, and greater assurance of compliance with privacy regulations. The result: programmatic in-housing. So, just how has the in-housing trend evolved to date? What forms can programmatic in-housing take? What are the benefits and challenges for brands? And what does the process really entail? This piece answers all these questions and more.
Listen Up! Here’s What the Podcast Boom Means for Digital Advertisers
People listen to podcasts everywhere. No, really: Recent data shows that most listening happens on smartphones, which means that listening can occur virtually anywhere: in the car, on a walk, at home, at work, on the way to a first date, hiding in the bathroom to avoid a terrible first date, in the 24-hour donut shop you always go to after a bad date...you get it. As such, podcast ads provide marketers with a captive audience—ripe for high engagement—at any time, and in any place. But despite the growing popularity of podcasts, podcast advertising is still an underutilized and undervalued opportunity. This piece examines how (and why) podcast advertising can help marketers cut through the noise—pun very much intended!
It’s been a rough couple of years, to say the least. As a leader at Basis Technologies, Lois Castillo, our Head of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, is constantly thinking about how to support our people in the context of global stress, trauma, and burnout. And she’s not the only one: Many leaders today are wondering how to support their workforces through times of turbulence, and how to broaden their leadership skills to support their employees who have experienced a tremendous amount of harm and hurt during these unprecedented times. It’s a journey we’re all on together, and there are no one-size-fits-all solutions. However, this piece is a great starting place, featuring few useful strategies Lois has learned in her time as a DEI leader.
Going Deep on Live Sports Advertising Opportunities
Tuning in to live sports used to be so simple—and we’re not even talking about 50+ years ago, when that meant “going to the game” or “turning on the radio.” As recently as the 2000s, when it came to sports broadcasts, there were the major networks, ESPN, an occasional game on one of the Turner channels, and that pretty much was it. Today, sports leagues are scattering their broadcast rights around like digital Johnny Appleseeds, adding to an already-complex CTV and streaming video environment and creating new challenges for advertisers and consumers alike. In light of these dramatic shifts, how can digital advertisers effectively reach and connect with sports fans? Read this to learn all about it.
The Weird, Wonderful World of Geotargeting and Location Targeting
What’s the weirdest museum you’ve ever been to? How about the National Mustard Museum in Middleton, Wisconsin? Or maybe you’re hoping to visit the Museum of Bad Art in Dedham, Massachusetts? And don’t forget the British Lawnmower Museum in Southport, England (not to be confused with the Reel Mower Museum in Bluff Point, New York). While quirky destinations like these are fun for townies and tourists alike, creative marketers can also benefit from understanding the significance of such local attractions—especially in today’s industry, which is slowly but surely transitioning toward more privacy-friendly methods of serving tailored messages to consumers. This post explores some of the different geo-based targeting strategies that can help advertisers connect with their audiences wherever they are.
How Advertisers Can Succeed During Uncertain Times
From interest rate hikes, to an impending recession, to supply chain shortages, new economic complexities are impacting consumers’ daily lives and shifting their behaviors. And when consumer behaviors change because of what’s happening in the world, so too must marketers. Advertisers who quickly lean into an altered marketplace set themselves apart from those who see themselves as victims of unmanageable change. This piece evaluates the ever-changing economic landscape, its implications for marketers, and tactics advertisers can use to adapt to all the new complexity.
4 Adtech Horrors to Avoid This Halloween (and Year-Round)
Horror movie fans, this one’s for you. Inspired by classic tropes from fright flicks, this post highlights four horrors that can jump scare marketers during the digital campaign process and provides some helpful tips on how to steer clear of them altogether. Just think of us as the friendly neighbors who, upon hearing that you’re thinking of purchasing a certain decrepit mansion that goes on the market every few years, refer you to a different realtor.
Media Complexity in the Marketing Landscape
Speaking of complexity: As if recruiting wasn’t enough of a problem on its own, complexity in digital marketing and media presents additional crises for brands, agencies, and publishers alike. Transparency, speed, and cost-efficiency are all hindered by a rapidly expanding list of channels, formats, technologies, and solutions—all of which require new skill sets, guidelines, rules, and standards for marketers to learn. To solve these colliding dilemmas of staffing, transparency, speed, and cost-efficiency, the advertising industry must better understand their underlying causes. This post dives into the factors causing this complexity, and explores some of the solutions poised to usher in a better future for everyone working in the marketing space.
TikTok by the Numbers: Stats and Facts for Digital Advertisers
The TikTok era of social advertising has arrived. The short-form video app has blown up the model of what a social network can be, and it is increasingly a must-buy for a growing number of advertisers. In this post, we explore the evolution of TikTok through a collection of stats and facts that we’ve curated just For You. We cover the good and the not so good as we try to paint a picture of how (and why) the platform has become social media’s golden child.
Four Pro Wrestlers Whose Day Jobs Needed Digital Advertising
In the mid-1990s, professional wrestling was filled with wrestlers whose characters were defined by their day jobs: a garbage man, a circus clown, and even a federal tax agent. Today, marketers in these real-life industries use digital advertising, not dropkicks, to improve their bottom lines and meet their business objectives. Kind of makes you wonder: If these wrestlers were around today, would this era of digital advertising help them to attract and earn enough business to stay out of the ring? Check out this one-of-a-kind post to learn about four former professional wrestlers whose “day jobs” would have benefited from today’s digital advertising ecosystem.
Connected TV: Fact and Fiction
With more and more people using connected TVs each year, it’s no surprise that ad spend has exploded in kind. Of course, as marketers strive to make the most of the connected TV advertising opportunity, it’s likely they’ll encounter an overwhelming amount of information and recommendations. But as the adage goes, you can’t trust everything you read—especially on the internet. So for all the advertisers who want to separate fact from fiction when it comes to connected TV: This (delightfully GIF-filled) piece is for you.
Brand Safety and Avoiding Controversy in Digital Advertising
Brand safety is, unsurprisingly, increasingly top-of-mind for advertisers everywhere, but it’s of particular importance to programmatic advertisers. The automated nature of programmatic media buying lends itself to situations where, if you aren’t careful, your brand could end up placing an ad next to some very, very controversial or undesired content. Want to steer clear of negative headlines? The post examines some of the ways digital marketers can protect their brands and avoid controversy.
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Be sure to bookmark the Basis blog to enjoy even more great adtech coverage in 2023! And while you’re getting ready for the new year, check out all of our 2023 trends content so you can stay ahead of the curve.