We’re lucky to work in such an innovative and fast-paced industry. However, because the pace of change can seem relentless, we need to make time to rejuvenate and re-inspire ourselves.

There is perhaps no other industry more deadline-driven and tied to the clock than digital advertising. If you have served on the front lines (particularly on the planning and buying side), it’s safe to say you are regularly asked to deliver the impossible: “…by COB.”

“No actually, I’m presenting that to the client COB. I’ll need it by lunch.”

Turnaround times are always speeding up, while the endless options of everything from publishers, to tactics, targeting abilities and terms & conditions keeps expanding.

A 1997 landmark study on stress and heart disease surveyed over 7,400 employees. Their findings were shocking. Employees who felt they had little control over deadlines imposed by other people had a 50% higher risk of coronary heart disease than their counterparts. The bottom line: feeling a lack of control over pressure at work ranks right alongside high blood pressure as a risk factor for heart disease.

How do we slow down this crazy train enough to create the type of (happy, relaxed) environment that drives innovation?

Centro’s wellness team recently launched a company-wide meditation program called The Pause.

The Pause is extremely simple, but when factored into our gadget-obsessed and lightning-fast industry, it may be considered downright radical! Here’s how it works:

1. At the same time each day, all employees are encouraged to take 15 minutes of “company-sanctioned silence” to Pause. During this time it is recommended to power-down, sit in silence and just breathe.

2. Since our work requires us to be connected via numerous channels and inputs throughout the day, there is a calming benefit to unplugging. Even 15 minutes can create a calm, steady focus for the rest of the afternoon.

3. As our company continually upgrades our work space, planning will also include rooms solely dedicated to expanding our meditation and mindfulness practice.

4. We’re committed to providing ongoing support for all employees in deepening their meditation or mindfulness practice. Centro worked with New York Times Bestselling author and Buddhist meditation teacher Susan Piver to produce this 2-minute getting started tutorial. Each day, Susan mobilizes over 10,000 meditation practitioners worldwide through her site, The Open Heart Project.

Click here to view the video.

About Meditation and Mindfulness

Mindfulness and meditation have been practiced across many cultures for thousands of years. Psychological and physical benefits include: stress reduction, better sleep, decreases in depression, increased creativity, improved working memory, better focus, less emotional reactivity and increased satisfaction in interpersonal relationships.

A 2009 study examined how meditation affected participant’s ability to focus attention and resist distracting information. Experienced meditation practitioners were found to have significantly better performance on all measures of attention. Meditation practice and self-reported mindfulness are directly correlated to cognitive flexibility and attentive functioning.  Both of these factors greatly reduce stress, as well as increase creativity and innovation.

At Centro, we believe in the wellness of our employees and we encourage meditation because we feel it will help them become better versions of themselves at work and outside of it. What works for you? How do you maintain a sense of calm and balance in this fast-paced industry? We’d love to hear from you.

Analyst firm eMarketer recently interviewed Centro’s EVP of media services, Scott Neslund. Here’s an excerpt:

eMarketer: What are some of the overarching trends you’re seeing in the way of display ad pricing – specifically, as it relates to the CPM pricing model?

Neslund: When we look at our database going back to 2007 to today, we see overall CPMs down in the digital marketplace by more than 30%. That drop might seem dramatic, but there are three factors that we’ve seen driving down CPMs.

The first is the recession – we never saw a large recovery coming out of the recession because by that time, there was more inventory and more choice for media buyers, particularly in the long tail.

The rise of real-time bidding (RTB) is the next factor. Its influence started in 2010 and 2011. We’ve seen a good 10% to 15% drop in CPMs as a result of RTB.

The third factor is we’re seeing digital buyers utilizing a more efficient mix of digital properties than in the past. They’re using more lower-priced inventory.

To read more Scott Neslund’s views on CPMs and the online ad industry, log into www.emarketer.com (subscription required) and download the report, “Reasons for the Rise in CPM Prices.” Stay tuned for eMarketer’s full analysis on CPM trends later in October.

Mobile devices are everywhere. According to networking company Cisco, by the end of 2013, there will be more mobile devices than people on earth! In fact, there are 1.5 million android devices activated each day. This doesn’t even account for the iPhone. On average, people check on their phones 150+ each day and this growth isn’t slowing down. Smartphone penetration is already north of 60%, and 81% of us use our mobile devices while we watch TV. Regarding tablets, the fastest growing consumer electronics product in history, U.S. penetration is already 40%. To put this in perspective, there were zero tablets in the market four years ago. Consumers now rely on their mobile devices throughout the day, making what brands call “online” a mix between all three devices – mobile, tablet and desktop.

Where’s the Budget?
However, as consumers continue to increase their media time spent on mobile devices (12%), advertisers are still slow to respond, using only 3% of ad budgets. This gap indicates a massive opportunity for brands to catch up to consumer behavior. According to ZenithOptimedia, ads that run on smartphones and tablets are expected to grow 77% in 2013, 56% in 2014 and 38% in 2015. This will increase worldwide mobile spend from $14.3 billion this year to $33.1 billion by 2015. The report states that mobile will account for 37% of all growth in ad spending this year.

What’s holding advertisers back? The speed at which consumers move to mobile makes it hard for marketers and publishers to keep up. There are multiple elements to factor in when running mobile campaigns. Brands often lack mobile-optimized assets. Additionally, mobile targeting, measurement and tracking can be wildly different from the desktop. Brands must also think about context and how to reach consumers on the right device, at the right time, with the right message. Brands, and the agencies who serve them, who want to engage in mobile need to execute multi-screen campaigns, leverage mobile’s unique targeting capabilities and/or deliver unique creative experiences at scale. To do this, they need a deep understanding of the complexities in the environment.

Mobile Media Planning
As brands ramp up their multi-screen efforts, brands should prioritize transparency of publishers and placements on their media plans. While it sounds easy to scale a buy using a mobile network partner to place ads on “blind” lists of sites that the brand may or may not be interested in, brands should expect more from their partners to deliver plans that have the publishers they want. Furthermore, the plan needs to match the advertiser’s spec sheets and creative sizes with the available inventory.

Targeting
Perhaps the most important targeting parameter in mobile advertising is the specific location. Location is key and can be used to limit waste by pin-pointing the right consumer. Through geo-fencing, brands can use location to target unique audiences or even use dynamic mobile creative that delivers a localized message to core consumers.

Unleash Creative Ideas
Mobile rich media provides the unique ability to measure campaign performance and track user actions. Brands can measure swipes, calls generated, business visits, video views and multiple other custom actions. This allows brands tie these actions back to brand objectives, optimizing each step of the way.

Yet, mobile creative can be a challenge because of unique screen sizes, formats and standards. This makes technology driven skill sets and partnerships essential for any brand or agency running mobile. Furthermore, campaigns should not be limited to running mobile rich media on just a handful of specific sites. Marketers need access to a wide range of publishers or applications with complete information on which ones can run the brand’s creative.

Brands know there is an opportunity in mobile, but are looking for guidance. This is why the potential for fast growth in mobile ad spending is enormous, and we expect it to happen very soon. To discuss mobile opportunities, Centro is hosting a free webinar with the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) and technology provider Thinknear on Tuesday, October 8. To register, visit: www3.gotomeeting.com/register/331094222.

Despite bearing a resemblance to television and a historical placement in the out-of-home category, digital place-based media (DPB) should also be recognized as an extension of digital advertising campaigns. Armed with the capability to run digital video messages, similar to desktop and mobile, DPB serves as a point of contextual reminder, engagement, and/or content delivery throughout the purchase cycle and is growing in sophistication as a cross-platform digital medium.

Consider how you spend your day: waking up and going for a quick workout at the gym, then off to work – but not before you get gas – then a lunch meeting in the middle of the day, and a run to the grocery store after work. There within your journey lies five touch points for marketers to reach you — gym, gas station, office, lunch, and grocery store. DPB is the digital thread for nearly 50% of U.S. adults (according to an Arbitron report) who consume media while in action mode. It is a distinctive opportunity for marketers to connect with the hard-to-reach, mind-changing, decision-maker.

Unlike out-of-home, DPB uses contextually relevant content to capture the consumer at moments of natural dwell time, such as an office elevator or taxi cab. The opportunity to reach consumers on-the-go and at the point-of-purchase takes it beyond just television. The ability to target audiences at specific times with dynamic video throughout their daily journey is inherently like desktop advertising. Combining audience data (where they live, work, and play) with inventory evaluation allows for smart selection against the desired target, similar to a mobile buy.

Location-based delivery to the IP addresses of digital screens allow pairing of ad messages with geo-targeting. Messages can be tailored to the time of day or the block. For example, an auto advertiser displays a message as a consumer researches a new car on the web and then sends a reminder of that message during a visit to the dealership. They can connect that to a story about the drivers of that type of vehicle in the middle of lunch or while en route to a meeting by extending that message to digital place-based media screens. The consumer can take more information with them using their mobile device to receive a special content video from the brand. Technologies like near-field communication (NFC) and QR codes extend the DPB experience, allowing a distracted consumer to take the information with them.

When we take a step back and consider the larger picture – how and when consumers are using multi-screens, as well as what kind of decisions they are making while in action mode – DPB fits in quite nicely as a strong vehicle to increase connections with a desired and elusive audience. It is a powerful tool with proven results against driving awareness and recall as a branding layer of advertising campaigns. A closer look at the flexibility of the medium gives a clear view of an opportunity for marketers to have their brand stand apart from the clutter and break through the noise. The consumer journey is a digital one, and so is DPB.

Today, we stand at a pivotal time for the insurance industry. As the Affordable Care Act begins to take effect, 12 million Americans are expected to buy insurance through the healthcare exchanges in 2014. This will drive millions of dollars worth of transactions in a commoditized environment where price and brand play a huge role in the decision making process. Insurers understand that there are large challenges for their customers as well. Now is the time for insurance advertisers to instill confidence, trust and loyalty with consumers.

Increasing Complexity in Multiple Ways

With the onset of reform laws and onslaught of insurance products being pushed to the market, the everyday consumer needs clarification. A PwC study, “2013 Insurance Industry Annual Report,” indicates the variety of factors that make it difficult to secure customers and instill brand loyalty. Generally, policy shopping and switching behavior is on the rise. Consumers have concerns about rising premiums, the increasing complexity of coverage options and job security. On top of the challenges in finding new customers, insurers are faced with the fact that the “At Risk” market (people looking to leave their current provider) is increasing, forcing vendors to focus on retention of policyholders.

Growing Interest and Need for Insurance

The market is open because insurance is more than just an interest for many people – it is a need. According to a CNN Money report, 50% of consumers obtain insurance from their employer. For those who don’t have employer-based insurance, 73% say they “definitely” or “probably” will shop for coverage using a state exchange. Furthermore, almost half of the employer and individual markets say they are interested in using an exchange.

It is clear why there is growing interest: 45 million U.S. residents did not have health insurance during the first nine months of 2012. Among these are young adults who are Internet savvy, yet who have low motivation to enroll. Others are older (A49+) and are okay with the insurance they have or with having none at all. There is also the GenX and Baby boomer generation who make up nearly 30% of the uninsured and who cite cost as a major issue. Nevertheless, many in all of these groups say that they are interested in shopping for insurance in new marketplaces.

However, for in-market customers, the window to make an impact is tight. To influence these types of consumers, it’s important for insurers to understand how and where they spend their time, so that advertising campaigns properly reach their target consumer and budgets are maximized. According to a Google Think Insights report, 69% of consumers complete their research in less than two weeks, making this a relatively fast purchase cycle. Private insurance shoppers are reportedly consuming 30 pages of content within 20 days. For Medicare shoppers, it is 39 pages in 17 days.

Additionally, here are other ways consumers are involving technology with research:

• 75% of health insurance shoppers use a search engine for research; 64% comparison shop online
• By the end of 2013, 30% of all insurance search queries will be carried out on a cell phone
• 66% of online social media posts about health insurance occur before people select a provider

The Importance of Online

Consumers are actively searching for information because they are concerned. There is a lot of uncertainty and many people don’t know how health reform will affect them. They may not even know that they are mandated to have health insurance. One thing is certain – consumers will not rely on television for answers. They will tap online tools and resources and look to brands that they trust. Health insurance providers need to have a robust presence online. Providers will be valued by the education they bring, and digital media (whether it’s desktop, mobile, video, etc) is the channel to deliver it.

Insurance brands are looking to emerge as guides for their customers in order to provide a clear path of what people should do to obtain insurance. As consumers looking for a policy increasingly turn to digital formats such as video, search, social and mobile, insurance advertisers need to align themselves with a partner who can help them navigate this space to position themselves as the trusted resource for customers.

For more information on how Centro powers campaigns in the insurance industry, please visit: http://medialogistics.centro.net/industry-solutions-insurance.

The typical automotive customer is fickle and savvy… and older (I will address that latter point in a bit). Research firm Polk states that brand loyalty in the auto industry is about 48%, meaning that more than half of any OEM’s consumer base will defect to another brand. Furthermore, according to software firm idio, car consumers now use 18+ digital sources to research automotive content before they even step foot onto a dealership’s lot. A wealth of information is easily accessible from any device, and it’s no wonder that consumers can switch brand loyalty quickly and easily. With 41 new vehicle launches set for 2014, it’s important that automotive advertisers understand how to capture consumer interest through these channels and differentiate their products.

What to Do

Given that 60% of consumers will abandon a brand because of a poor online experience (according to eMarketer), it’s important to have strong digital presence and experience. For example, 63% of consumers have watched an online video as part of their automotive purchase process. With 81% of consumers deciding on a vehicle within three months, dealerships must quickly build and execute campaigns that drive more foot traffic and increase sales of new vehicles. Additionally, with new digital formats and executions being rolled out, brands have an opportunity to differentiate their experiences with customers. Using technology, automakers can understand who is in-market. The question then becomes, how do you most effectively reach and engage the market?

Marketing Fundamentals

Successful automotive advertising has always been driven by local and contextual content. While the media environment has changed, where the Internet and technology now play a larger role in a consumer’s media consumption, the fundamentals have stayed the same. Local and contextual media reaches enthusiasts, and people near dealerships, which generate sales. However, local and contextual marketing has become more difficult. What was cheap and easy to do in traditional media has become challenging and more costly. Auto brands still need local and contextual solutions that come with the four key ingredients fundamental to successful advertising – scale, impactful creative, guaranteed placement and transparency. It is worth mentioning that a new tech-driven advertising tactic such as real-time bidding (RTB) has sprouted to offer scale and pricing leverage for automakers and the agencies that serve them, yet it is missing guaranteed placement and transparency.

The Opportunity

New auto sales are expected to jump 6.6% this year. Dealers are likely feeling this impact directly, where they are averaging $38.4MM in annual sales. Furthermore, a KPMG study stated that 83% of U.S. auto executives predict that online activity for dealerships and intermediaries will increase. Much of this is a result from the behavior of older consumers. Analyst firm eMarketer pointed out that 62% of new vehicle registrations are from folks 50 or older, and 24% are from people from 35 to 49 years of age.

How do smart auto marketers capture (more than) their fair share? To differentiate their campaigns, marketers need a deep understanding of consumer behaviors and lifestyle interests that drive their brand’s perception. By using this insight to define consumer segments, marketers can map out where they need an impactful digital presence. Plus, this needs deep customization based on each OEM, with each brand, in each region of the country.

Digital advertising in the automotive industry is filled with competitors and noise. To stand out to key audiences, OEMs must approach digital with a strategic and differentiated strategy.

For more information on how Centro powers campaigns in the automotive industry, please visit: http://medialogistics.centro.net/industry-solutions-automotive.