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As digital experts, we know that the best recipe for building brand awareness is to turn the heat up on media presence. Recently, an international hot sauce brand came to us with a social media campaign that needed some kick. The brand was looking to build a stronger social following amongst U.S. consumers, creating an audience to build and promote content to.
More specifically, this client wanted to improve their Twitter following. However, they wanted to increase their followers at a rate and Cost per Follower (CPF) that exceeded social benchmarks for Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) industry. Having never leveraged the potential of paid advertising through Twitter, this hot sauce brand reached out to Centro as a partner with both social expertise and the tactical knowledge necessary to help them achieve their goals.
Turn it up:
With over 500 advertisers and almost 600 campaigns’ worth of knowledge to reference, our Centro social team rolled up their sleeves and got to work. In order to ensure the brand appeared in front of the proper audiences, Centro leveraged social screen space with the Promoted Accounts tool, which is known for its direct connection with follower acquisition.
To drive further engagement, Centro showcased sample tweets from the brand’s account to encourage users to follow the brand on Twitter. Our team watched diligently as the performance numbers came in, optimizing in real time to increase engagement and acquisition; pausing tactics that weren’t working, changing out appended tweets, and adjusting bids to maximize efficiency.
Feel the heat:
Centro’s strategy gave this social campaign the zest it needed. Not only did the results exceed the hot sauce client’s expectations, they also significantly outperformed their KPI’s. In just one month, the campaign drove nearly 8,500 new Twitter followers to the brand’s account – a rate that’s over 5x the CPG benchmark. Our team’s strategic optimizations improved the Cost per Follower by 45% from campaign start to finish. At campaign end, the client had a final result was a CPF 3x more efficient than benchmark and the new and engaged social audience they were seeking.
The Centro Solution
What makes Centro stories like this different from the competition? Our teams believe in a holistic buying approach. By bringing together years of expertise with modern media tactics and technology, Centro creates and executes campaigns that are both innovative and intuitive – powering brands to new benchmarks time and again. It’s what we believe in and what we’ll deliver in every #CentroInAction story.
With the end of July marking the halfway point of summer, what better time to bring you a new edition of Working at Centro: A Day in the Life, featuring another one of our inspiring Centrons.
These accounts give us the opportunity to introduce you to the diverse job titles here at Centro, as well as the incredible employees who hold these positions. From account supervisors to media planners, event coordinators and more, we’ll offer an exclusive look at what it’s really like to work at Centro.
While you take in what’s left of sunny beach days and backyard barbeques, we’d like to introduce you to Pamela Dye, a project manager on the technology portfolio team. Take a look below to learn more about Pamela, why she was interested in Centro, and what she enjoys most about working here.
What is your current role at Centro? Give us a snapshot of what this role entails. I am a project manager on the technology portfolio team. We focus on overall technology portfolio planning and Centro software. I work closely with the technology leadership team and executives, planning tech’s programs and projects across all offices. Most of my time is spent making sure Centro software development stays on track while providing support for cross-departmental goals and initiatives. Lots of planning, organizing, and monitoring!
What interested you in Centro and your particular position? My background is in ancient, medieval and art history – not exactly something that applies to everyday working life. However, I always enjoyed going to school and learning. The skills I took with me – time management, organization, communication and problem solving – all translate into the working world. I basically fell into software development and have never looked back. I can’t write code, but I can help drive the building of a product and deliver it to the market!
Centro offers a wide spectrum of perks and benefits. Which one is your favorite/what have you found to be the most useful perk? Weight Watchers! I joined the at-work program when I first started at Centro. I love it so much that I ended up becoming the at-work Weight Watchers liaison.
What did you do on your ‘Change the World’ day? Admittedly, I have not yet taken advantage of my Change the World Day. But the tech team plans on doing a group event soon!
What is your favorite hobby outside of work? How has Centro encouraged you to pursue your goals outside of the office? Centro’s Dream Empowerment Program is a fantastic group that helps folks realize and achieve their lifetime goals. I love photography and travel. I am grateful Centro encourages a work/life balance, so I’ve been able to actively pursue both.
If you could add one new thing to the office, what would it be? A rooftop. Let’s pretend ignorance in regards to insurance/safety concerns!
If you were trying to convince someone to work in your group at Centro, what you would say to them? I love working at Centro and I actually look forward to going to work. The people that work here become not only your friends but your family as well. We’re making some really great advancements in advertising technology and it’s amazing to be a part of the team.
Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram? Instagram
E-reader or old-fashioned paperback? I prefer an e-reader on the train while commuting, but I have an entire room lined with bookcases at home. I even have an entire bookcase devoted to Jack the Ripper. But no, I do not write love letters to prison inmates!
Apple or Android? Android – although my husband is convinced I haven’t “seen the light” and need an iPhone.
Would you rather have a personal chef or a personal trainer? Personal chef. I don’t run – ever. If there is ever a zombie apocalypse, I’m banking on their sluggish movements to buy me some time.
Do you prefer to text or call? Text, don’t even bother leaving a voicemail (I won’t check it!)
Favorite candy? Hmm… favorites would be Milk Duds and Twizzlers. I also have an affinity for “old people” candy – spice drops, wintergreen mints, root beer barrels, and butterscotch.
When it comes to the digital experience, customer expectations have skyrocketed. We now have more access to screens than ever before – an average 4.4 devices per household, according to Nielsen. From mobile to tablet to desktop, consumers are constantly engaging on a multitude of devices – and with high expectations as they hop from channel to channel. Now more than ever is the time for retailers to connect with consumers on a cohesive, cross-channel level.
Over the past year or two, omnichannel has been one of the most used terms in retail strategy. And it doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon. There will always be the need to provide consumers with a consistent brand experience across every channel. Why? Because an inconsistent experience is a foolproof way to lose customers.
In fact, according to a global study conducted by SDL, 90% of consumers said they expect the customer experience to be seamless across channels and devices. That same report also found that 47% of shoppers reported being frustrated that in-store impressions are different from online impressions, and 40% have reported a disconnect between the information available online versus in stores. The icing on the cake? The top two reasons shoppers say they are loyal to their favorite brands are consistent, predictable service and a dependable, reliable experience across all the devices they use to engage with the brand.
Based on those statistics alone, it is critical for brands to nail down digital initiatives that sync with traditional at both the national and local level. Marketers need to create a more seamless shopping experience across physical stores, Web, and mobile – or otherwise run the risk of losing the bread and butter of their business – the customer. To keep up with consumer demands, all departments within the organization should be familiar with what each division is doing, meaning digital needs to match both traditional and store level efforts. But that’s not enough. Consistent messaging needs to be conveyed throughout – from the local divisions all the way up to the brick and mortar businesses.
To learn more about targeting the omnichannel consumer, check out a few of our recent blog posts:
Generation X is an audience segment not to be ignored. With financially dependent children and aging parents, they are a highly influential and impressive generation. Having survived the great recession at the prime of their careers, they have suffered the most adversity and more financial difficulty than any other generation.
Additionally, as the first generation to exist with concerns unheard of until the digital age, Gen Xers are struggling to get all of their estate planning in order. On top of that, retirement is on their horizon – making it nearly impossible for Gen Xers to feel financially secure. In fact, members of this generation require a nest egg of $1 million, in comparison to Boomers and Millennials, who feel $800,000 would suffice.
Learn more about how this small but resilient generation has learned to overcome their struggles by checking out our commentaries below.
Are Gen Xers Financially Insecure?
Millennials play a crucial role in the future of consumer spending. With 200B in direct purchasing power and an additional 500B in indirect spending through influencing their Baby Boomer parents – they’re a force to be reckoned with. They’ve got significant spending power, but they’re also significantly stressing. Could it be that the student loan debt this well-educated generation racked up is causing this anxiety or maybe it’s their passion for traveling that has left them feeling financially tense?
Despite their adversities, this generation is still spending more today than they were just one year ago, which is why it is necessary to focus on the Millennial audience in your upcoming media plans. Marketers will have to adapt to the Millennial mindset and understand them on a personal level as they move through major stages of life.
Learn how marketers are reaching this unique generation by checking out our commentary below on this key generation.
Yesterday we talked about the always addressable consumer and the terms associated with building a cross-channel strategy. So now what? How do you actually execute this type of strategy? Where are the pitfalls and windfalls? For starters, find a programmatic partner with true cross-channel capabilities. Then consider these four strategies to gain a real competitive advantage.
With digital ads delivered at high speeds and volume, data about customers and audiences plays a key role in determining campaign effectiveness. In the era of programmatic media, mastery of data will define success. It’s not only about the customer you know (the ones already stored in your database) but also about acquiring new customers. This means deploying the data you have to identify the people most likely to respond to your brand offers.
What now? Use a mix of technology to track your own data on customers and prospects, access third-party data about different audiences, and link audience targets to the sites and apps they visit, no matter the device they use. Time and time again, first-party data has proven to be the most valuable and effective. For marketers, this means having a system that stores, analyzes, and refreshes what you know about customers and prospects. Most importantly, if you don’t have a comprehensive data strategy for your brand, it’s time to start developing one.
Watch out! Teams aren’t the only ones sitting in silos. Oftentimes data is stored that way, too. Your most valuable first-party data may be managed by another part of your organization with different expectations about who can use this precious resource and in what ways. Delivering a consistent experience across devices will prove extremely challenging when your own data isn’t shared across teams.
Ad tech vendors have long focused on the algorithm and the science behind programmatic technology, asserting that efficiency and scale will drive conversions and results. But advertising is as much art as it is science, and technology should augment the effectiveness of this art form, not subjugate it. Brand managers and creative directors must own the brand story as it moves across devices, screens, channels, and ad sizes. Constrained by time and resources, many businesses settle for repurposing creative (cutting 30 second into 15 or even seven second spots, or merely cutting the number of pixels in a banner to squeeze it onto a smaller screen).
What now? Think of campaigns holistically to understand the sequence of events as a person transitions from a target to an interested prospect to a customer. What messages drive the person down the funnel, and how effective are different offers in achieving your goals? Programmatic buying platforms can help you easily target your audiences across all major channels. Paired with dynamic creative optimization technology, it’s possible to deliver customized creative based on specific criteria like location, language, user behavior, and – even in some cases – external triggers like weather and time of day.
Watch out! The technology exists to serve up unique creative but the heavy lifting comes in mapping out customized messages across the customer journey and developing a robust portfolio of creative assets.
The first banner ad was served in 1994. More than two decades later, measures like delivery (whether the ad was served) and click-through (an early attempt at measuring engagement) are still prevalent. Digital may be the most measurable medium, but the KPIs obviously vary by format and channel. Plus, emerging concerns like viewability make measurement even more complex. Don’t let these challenges distract you from the need to define media metrics that align with real business outcomes such as growing your market share with a specific audience year-over-year.
What now? If you are primarily measuring ad delivery and click-throughs, it’s time to reimagine how your campaigns are helping drive specific business outcomes. Let’s measure how much was sold, how an ad view drove a customer down the purchase funnel, how the brand perception improved, how much it costs to acquire a customer, and how long it takes for a prospect to convert or engage. The clearer the organization is about KPIs, the smarter its choices will be for adopting technology to measure them.
Watch out! In order to measure efficacy of a campaign, first determine how you’re going to collect data. Media planning today is as much about planning collection as it is the buying of media. Is your ultimate KPI online or offline? What challenges does this pose? What are your options for measuring performance across numerous platforms? Identifying appropriate KPIs for each campaign is still something that troubles the industry but aligning KPIs around business outcomes is the right start.
No matter how meteoric the rise of programmatic advertising, humans still play a vital role amongst all the machines. In fact, talent is more important than ever before. In part, because marketers are trying to fill new roles that didn’t even exist three to five years ago, including data scientists, programmatic buyers, privacy officers, video specialists, and more. It’s even harder to execute cross-channel marketing when your experts are organized in silos with work being done by different teams and – among larger brands – often supported by different agencies. It takes a lot of people with specialized knowledge of all aspects of digital working together to achieve goals in a cross-channel world.
What now? If you’re committed to delivering a cross-channel experience to your customers, identify talent gaps, eliminate silos, and encourage collaboration. Is your team staffed with left-brain thinkers to analyze and act on data? Are your brand and creative teams ready to take on the challenge of cross-channel storytelling? Do you have media strategists who can craft campaigns that successfully link media metrics with business outcomes? Have you researched external partnerships, whether a team of consultants, an ad tech vendor, or industry analysts?
Watch out! It’s hard to hire for functions you’ve never performed and assessing for skillsets you don’t possess yourself. When evaluating talent, there is one trait that’s mandatory for the cross-channel marketer: intellectual curiosity. You need inquiring minds that are hardwired to seek and question, as it’s imperative to keeping pace with the rapidly changing digital landscape.
Connecting these moments along your customers’ journey is how brand affinity is created and sustained in the digital age and the programmatic technology exists to realize this vision. But buyers be warned: very few vendors have all of these capabilities. The best advice? Find a partner who has the technology, talent, and right suite of solutions to help you build a true cross-channel strategy — one that targets real buyers and drives real business results.
With the record number of AOR media agency pitches taking place this year, one has to wonder if our industry is experiencing the typical cycle for agency turnover and new business wins, or is this the harbinger of a more fundamental shift in the media landscape?
Cross-channel: The experience you create for each individual customer as they journey through life and across devices.
Multi-channel: The buying of inventory across any channel (web, mobile, social, email, etc.) and any format (banners, rich media, video, etc.).
Cross-device: The ability to target the same consumer, from one connected device to another.
Probabilistic Matching: By algorithmically analyzing thousands of different anonymous data points — device type, operating system, location data associated with bid requests, time of day, and a host of others — it’s possible to create statistical matches between devices. Think “best guess.” (Source: 2015 AdExchanger, “A Marketer’s Guide to Cross-Device Identity”)
Deterministic Matching: Personally identifiable information is used to make device matches when a person uses the same email address to login to an app and a website, creating cross-device linkage. As long as a user is logged in across devices, advertisers and publishers can use this unique identifier to target those users on multiple screens with near-perfect precision. (Source: 2015 AdExchanger, “A Marketer’s Guide to Cross-Device Identity”)
Cookie: A string of text sent from a web server to a user’s browser that the browser is expected to send back to the web server in subsequent interactions. In online advertising, cookies generally store a unique identifier, and may contain information like what ads were recently seen (for frequency capping), when the cookie was created (to discover short duration identities), and other simple attributes. Only applicable to desktops, cookies do not translate to mobile devices. (Source: 2013 Internet Advertising Bureau)
Device ID: A distinctive number associated with a smartphone or similar handheld device.
Check out the rest of our Programmatic Advertising Glossary here.
As we forge ahead into Q3, it’s abundantly clear that digital ad spend will likely exceed the already bullish predictions for 2015. Television dollars are shifting to online video. The mobile movement is well underway with spending expected to surpass desktop this year. People of every generation and in every phase of the purchase funnel are spending more time on more screens than ever before — and where people go, brands must follow.
Today’s consumers continuously move from one screen to the next. In fact, if you’ve been in digital for any duration, chances are you’ve heard these numbers before, but they’re worth repeating: the average household has 4.4 devices, according to a 2014 YuMe and Nielsen study, while the average U.S. consumer spends 60 hours a week consuming content across devices (according to a separate 2014 Nielsen report). Start doing the math and suddenly your potential digital audience has swelled to record-breaking numbers.
But as a digital marketer, is the glass half empty or half full? The customer journey has become increasingly fragmented – that much is true. However, it is possible to leverage this reality and grow an audience in ways never before possible. No matter the product or service, the goal is to establish and grow brand affinity. The good news? When digital is done right, the possibilities are truly endless.
The New Path to Purchase
The proliferation of media and devices doesn’t make marketing any easier. Today it’s about planning programs and messages to be consumed across every point of interaction from in-store to print, TV, desktop, and mobile — seamlessly. It’s not about throwing the same message from the same creative across every channel and hoping it works. Today’s customer journey is a web of interactions that’s more intricate and nuanced than before. This path-to-purchase has marketers and agencies talking, as they try to figure out the right strategy and the best set of tools.
With this new thinking comes new vocabulary. There are three terms that need clarification: cross-channel, multi-channel, and cross-device.
Here’s a real-world example to put the above terms into perspective:
Right now, marketers can reach moms with banners and video, on mobile web and apps, on Facebook, and more. That’s a simple example of a multi-channel campaign and the technology to do this is readily available. A more sophisticated level of targeting can identify a particular female and (if she belongs in the mom segment) then reach her wherever she is in her day, whether checking social feeds on her phone, shopping for cars on her tablet, or watching a video on her laptop. This is a cross-device campaign. Together, these two scenarios make up a cross-channel strategy.
Cross-channel is about the customer experience. Multi-channel is about the inventory. Cross-device is about the individual. This holistic approach is about reaching and engaging prospects no matter where they are in the customer journey, with a view into which channels are performing. That way, you can turn insights into action and optimize your mix accordingly. To follow your customers on these journeys with consistent and relevant messages, programmatic technology is essential – more on that tomorrow.