At Centro, we know that keeping up with the trade pubs and latest trends can be tough and time-consuming. To make that easier, we’ve compiled all the articles, reports, and other bits of awesomeness you may have missed, but should definitely read. Enjoy our latest list below!
Magna Predicts Faster Than Expected Rebound [:03]
Magna’s latest US ad spend forecast paints an optimistic picture for the ad industry. With a quicker-than-anticipated economic recovery, supported by a new stimulus package, a decline in COVID rates, and the return to normal sporting events, revenues are expected to increase 6.4% YoY to $240 billion. Digital will capture two thirds, or 67%, of total advertising sales.
U.S. Ad Economy Contracts 7.3% in February [:01]
The U.S. ad economy contracted for the second consecutive month in February, dropping 7.3% from February 2020, according to a MediaPost analysis of data from Standard Media Index's U.S. Ad Market Tracker. In terms of media, digital continues to be the most resilient, actually posting an 18% gain over February 2020, while the national TV advertising marketplace declined 26.7% year-over-year.
When Precision Meets Persuasion, It's Time To Rethink Marketing [:03]
Marketers have struggled to think about the combination of brand and performance as unifying the strategic intent of precision and persuasion marketing. For precision and persuasion to come together, the emotional needs, functional needs, and transactional requirements of shoppers/audiences must be addressed simultaneously. This has required agencies to retool their approach, while in-house agencies have moved nimbly in response to the customer lifecycle.
Finally Some Clarity Around Google Ads’ Latest Privacy Announcements {:08]
IAB Tech Lab breaks down the recent Google privacy announcements for Users, Publishers, Advertisers, and Non-Google Ad Tech, as key granular identifiers will soon disappear. Also, be sure to read Centro's official POV on Embracing the Identity Crisis, here.
In 2020, Two-Thirds of Google Searches Ended Without a Click [:05]
In further proof of Google’s dominance, last year the search giant had more than 91% of the global market share worldwide, and over 87% in the US. From January to December 2020, 64.82% of searches on Google (desktop and mobile combined) ended in the search results, without users clicking to another web property. It's also worth noting that Google controls more than 95% of search advertising and over 50% of display ads in the US.
The Infinite Dial 2021 [:04]
Edison Research’s latest report, which acts as a “barometer on digital audio and other digital media consumption,” shows huge strides in podcast listening with approximately eighty million Americans–28% of the U.S. 12+ population–now being weekly podcast listeners, a 17% increase over 2020. Other insights show the increase in smart speakers, with one-third (33%) of Americans 12+ (approximately 94 million people) now owning a smart speaker, an increase of 22% from last year.
Why Advertisers Are Spending More on Podcasts [:02]
Advertisers are increasingly investing in podcasts as the pandemic boosts their audience, according to a report from Advertiser Perceptions. Marketers feel the medium is safe and has strong target audience potential, with a survey showing 56% feeling the pandemic has made podcast advertising more important, and 63% listening to podcasts themselves at least once a week.
The Buzzy, Chatty, Out-of-Control Rise of Clubhouse [:32]
What do you know about Clubhouse, the invitation-only audio social network that's skyrocketed in use since its launch in April 2020? Learn all about the rise of this phenomenon in Wired.
An Open Letter to Targeted Online Advertisers [:03]
With the stress of a cookieless future looming before us, marketers need a dash of humor. This piece of satire is funny because it’s true (or at least we hope it is!).
Leading cannabis vaporizer brand PAX was looking for a partner to help navigate the ever-changing regulations, cannabis ad landscape, and new inventory opportunities.
To meet these needs, PAX teamed up with Basis Technologies as a Media Execution client. As a result, they get the best of both worlds—a full team of world class media experts and access to the Basis platform.
The expected cannabis targeting segments are getting crowded, so it is important for PAX to find and target new audiences.
Additionally, as a new entrant to digital advertising, PAX needed to test and learn ways to communicate (channels, formats, messaging, and more).
While maintaining brand image and equity:
~
Data privacy is the topic on everyone's minds. As a cookieless future looms before us, brands want to know how they'll ensure their media is working without the ability to measure conversions. Similarly, agencies are wondering how they'll reach their targets without the tracking technologies they've used for decades.
No one has all the answers yet, but there are a few things we know for sure:
When consumers think of the advertising industry, its likely that data privacy is one of the first topics that comes to mind. 79% of adults feel concerned about how companies are using the data they collect about them, according to Pew Research.
This likely isn't news to marketers—we've known for years that, by and large, consumers don't approve of the tracking methodologies advertisers use to target them. They've called the data collection status quo into question, and it's our job to listen to their concerns.
Even if advertisers refused to listen to consumers' demands, they wouldn't be able to stop the changes coming to our industry. The UK has implemented GDPR, and California has implemented CCPA, both pieces of legislation that are aimed at enhancing consumer protection for residents.
Even more, Google has announced it will end support for cookies in Chrome as soon as early next year, and promises not to use other invasive ways of tracking as replacements.The writing's on the wall—the status quo is shifting, and advertisers must shift along with it.
There's no silver bullet to "fix" the issue of consumer privacy—at least, not yet. Alex Cone, head of Project Rearc at the IAB Tech Lab, recommends that agencies be prepared to deploy a range of new tactics, rather than just one.
And when you're evaluating which options to include in your portfolio strategy, keep this tip from Cone in mind: "Anything that smells like the status quo is likely to be attacked as vehemently as third-party cookies." In other words, make sure your tactics don't violate consumer privacy in the same ways as third-party cookies.
For more information about the future of data privacy, check out our Centro Institute webinar, Identity Crisis: Embracing the Future of Privacy.
With an onslaught of data privacy updates stemming from legislation and big tech, once-reliable targeting is rapidly diminishing. Marketers must consider the loss of cookies, and find new ways to target audiences.
Staying up-to-date on these developments isn't easy. But for Pedro Pavón, who oversees privacy, data policy, and advertising at Facebook, its a daily task. In this episode, Pavón shares his views on consumer privacy laws and how advertisers should be planning for a cookieless future.
To my industry friends, colleagues, and competitors,
This is not the end. It’s not doomsday. I believe this is an opportunity. We are an industry filled with innovators, optimists, and consumer-centric problem-solvers. Advertising was around long before the cookie and it will be here long after.
There’s no need to panic. Instead, let’s focus on the two sides of the equation, our industry’s main stakeholders: marketers and consumers.
For marketers and advertisers, the deprecation of third-party cookies brings questions, mostly surrounding targeting and performance. How will I reach my target? How will I know my media is working and measure conversions? I address these questions below, and our Embracing the Identity Crisis guide goes even further in depth into your options.
Consumers, on the other hand, are sending a message—they are telling us that privacy matters and they need to be in control. Many solutions being proposed and developed by organizations in the advertising industry are not respecting this—these solutions are just exploiting loopholes and replacing one problem with another. We need to honor the spirit of privacy and find a real solution.
It’s important to note that this challenge is not unique to Basis Technologies. We are a proud active participant in groups working toward a solution, specifically Project Rearc, the IAB’s working group addressing privacy changes (check out our blog post with IAB Tech Lab lead Alex Cone for more!)
I understand that the impending changes to cookies will probably arrive before a true identity solution can be built.
So, what now? What can we do in the near term? We have options for reliable targeting and alternative reporting options:
With improved efforts by brands and publishers to collect customer first-party data in order to create more customized user experiences, the question becomes how can each use that data to make smarter decisions outside the walls of their owned and operated properties. As a partner to both marketers and publishers, Basis Technologies is actively working on solutions that allow for anonymized overlap analysis between both parties. This will provide greater direction and more insight around composition and coverage based on the audience cohort actively being planned against.
Best in breed solutions will leverage machine learning technology that uses artificial intelligence and privacy-approved data across 30 parameters to decide if and how much to bid on an impression. This tactic can improve media performance all without the use of cookies or infringing on the target’s privacy.
Targeting has become synonymous with audiences over the years of programmatic buying, and much of the audience-buying world is cookie-based and deprecating. This doesn’t mean your targeting needs to suffer—you have many other compliant targeting options. Contextual targeting has come a long way over the last decade and now uses Natural Language Processing to understand semantics and tone. We've chosen to partner with semantic data providers such as comScore, DoubleVerify, Grapeshot, and Peer39. And guess what? Semantic data is more affordable than third-party audience data.
Expanding ingestion of anonymized data sources for improved fidelity of local data in aggregate is key to continuing to drive smarter decisioning in a post-cookie world. Utilizing sources of data such as US Census, American Community Survey and North American Industry Classification System provide a robustness to local insights, and allow for smarter decisioning (both machine learning and manual) to improve performance and eliminate wasted impressions.
Individually and as an industry, we are working on revamping our solution for performance tracking, particularly for actions taken on advertisers’ websites. In the short term, we will be updating conversion tracking to use cookieless conversions for click-through-conversions only. However, in the long term, the only reliable way will be through CDP (customer data platform) data, site analytics data, and brand lift studies. This is a shift from conversion tracking but can more fully and thoughtfully illustrate media performance.
And for that long-term vision mentioned earlier, this is an opportunity—an opportunity to address the real problem, an opportunity to tell stories, an opportunity to be better as an industry. Some companies are trying to find loopholes and circumvent the legislation.
Even if they find success, it will be short-lived. They are ignoring what consumers are saying. These players need to address the problem and create solutions that are good for our ecosystem and respect the rising concern for data privacy
With optimism and excitement,
Shawn Riegsecker
Founder & CEO | Basis Technologies
Download our comprehensive guide: Beyond Third-Party Cookies: Your Guide to Privacy-Friendly Advertising
Watch our webinar: Identity Crisis: Embracing the Future of Privacy (Featuring the IAB Tech Lab's Alex Cone and Basis Technologies Founder & CEO Shawn Riegsecker)
Part Four of the Vertical Viewpoint mini-series:
Retail | Healthcare | Finance | Cannabis
Nearly every business was hit hard during the pandemic, and for cannabis brands, this was no exception. How have the most successful of cannabis businesses adapted over the last year, and what can brands in this vertical do to optimize their advertising and business practices?
Centro’s Emily Steele will share how cannabis brands can conquer challenges related not just to their competition, but their industries, evolving consumer behaviors, and the changing media landscape.
Part Three of the Vertical Viewpoint mini-series:
Retail | Healthcare | Finance | Cannabis
Nearly every business was hit hard during the pandemic, and for finance brands, this was no exception. How have the most successful of finance businesses adapted over the last year, and what can brands in this vertical do to optimize their advertising and business practices?
Centro’s April Weeks shares how finance brands can conquer challenges related not just to their competition, but their industries, evolving consumer behaviors, and the changing media landscape.
Part Two of the Vertical Viewpoint mini-series:
Retail | Healthcare | Finance | Cannabis
Nearly every business was hit hard during the pandemic, and for healthcare brands, this was no exception. How have the most successful of healthcare businesses adapted over the last year, and what can brands in this vertical do to optimize their advertising and business practices?
Centro’s Laura Perritte will share how healthcare brands can conquer challenges related not just to their competition, but their industries, evolving consumer behaviors, and the changing media landscape.
Part One of the Vertical Viewpoint mini-series:
Retail | Healthcare | Finance | Cannabis
Nearly every business was hit hard during the pandemic, and for retail brands, this was no exception. How have the most successful of retail businesses adapted over the last year, and what can brands in this vertical do to optimize their advertising and business practices?
Centro’s Page Kelley shares how retail brands can conquer challenges related not just to their competition, but their industries, evolving consumer behaviors, and the changing media landscape.
