New WARC Awards for Effectiveness, North America Edition launched

WARC, in association with LIONS, is today launching the WARC Awards for Effectiveness, North America Edition, built on the best-in-class effectiveness framework, which will award the best in North American marketing across six categories – here’s what you need to know.

How the awards work

The Awards are built around the benchmarks of the WARC/LIONS Creative Effectiveness Ladder and B2B Effectiveness Ladder, which provide universal frameworks of the six main approaches for using strategy and creativity to drive specific B2C and B2B marketing outcomes. Find out how to enter here.

Six categories

• B2B
• Customer Experience
• Cultural Impact
• Instant Impact
• Sustained Growth
• Brand Purpose

The judges and how they will examine the work

Cheryl Guerin, EVP, Global Brand Strategy & Innovation at MasterCard will chair three categories: B2B, Customer Experience and Cultural Impact.

Pam Forbus, SVP, Chief Marketing Officer of Pernod Ricard, USA, has been appointed Jury Chair of the Instant Impact, Sustained Growth and Brand Purpose categories.

The juries will score papers according to campaign objectives, insight and strategic thinking, implementation, business effects and lessons learned.

They will then be benchmarked against the Creative Effectiveness or B2B Effectiveness Ladders providing entrants with a clear idea about where their work fits on the six rungs of the relevant ladder.

For each category, the juries will award a Grand Prix as well as Gold, Silver and Bronze accolades. 

How to enter

The Awards are free to enter and open to all agencies and brands from the North America region. Papers will be accepted until 21 September. 

More information on the new WARC Awards for Effectiveness, North America Edition, and how to enter is available here. 

The newly launched WARC Awards for Effectiveness North America are part of a suite of WARC Awards, which also include the global WARC Awards for Effectiveness, and two other regional competitions – the WARC Awards for Asian Strategy and the WARC Awards for MENA Strategy.

Faced with crises, consumers are cautious

The initial response of consumers to the various crises the world faces has been one of prudence, according to global research by Kantar.

Why it matters

After two years of COVID-induced disruption, war in Ukraine is accelerating supply problems and helping fuel a cost-of-living crisis – all this as the climate crisis continues to loom. These are alarming times, where a minority already describe difficulty in affording food. While most people around the world report they are coping now and expect to adapt as necessary in the months ahead, the situation could yet develop in unexpected ways depending on how governments and businesses react to ongoing events.

What brands can do

• The associations marketers have built for a brand remain its anchor: don’t change character but do reassess activation.
• Look for opportunity in the disruption and consider how to deliver more value to hard-pressed customers.
• Maintain investment, or prepare for permanent loss of equity.
• Think differently about the changing needs – functional, social, emotional – of customers and find ways to reduce their sense of risk.
• Work on the brand’s ESG position to find a sweet spot between what matters to customers and what the brand has a right to do.

Key quote

“Consumers are becoming more prudent, but not yet shopping with aggressive parsimony, as their decision making is not led by price only” – Karine Trinquetel, Global Innovation Director & Strategy Lead for the Sustainable Transformation Practice, Kantar.

Digital audio revenues rocket in Q1

UK digital publishing revenues are growing, with digital audio the star performer, up 500% in Q1 2022 compared to a year earlier.

That’s according to the latest Digital Publishers’ Revenue Index from the Association of Online Publishers and Deloitte which shows total annual digital revenue among its members grew 18% to reach £610.3m for the year to March 2022.

Why it matters

Admittedly the actual sums involved in digital audio remain small at just £4.2m for the quarter, but the direction of travel is clear. During pandemic lockdowns, many digital publishers launched radio offerings and podcasts to attract new audiences. “There are as many daily podcast listeners as there are online radio listeners, with one in ten UK adults under the age of 25 now having access to a paid-for podcast subscription,” notes Dan Ison, lead partner for telecommunications, media and entertainment at Deloitte.

Key stats

• Total digital publishing revenue in Q1 2022 was £151.6m, with 50% of respondents reporting positive growth.
• Subscriptions were up 14.7% year on year in Q1 2022 to £38.2m – indicating that people are still prepared to pay quality journalism.
• Display advertising remains the largest category reaching £66.4m in Q1, a 23.9% year-on-year increase. 

• Multi-platform revenue was up 21.7% while mobile devices and desktop saw revenue declines of 16.1% and 35.2% respectively in Q1 2022. This indicates advertising campaigns are being run across at least two different devices, reflecting the way consumers access content across platforms.

• B2C revenue grew by 24.3%, driven by a significant expansion in sponsorship and digital audio; B2B revenue growth was more muted at 8.7%. 

The challenge

At a time when the cost-of-living crisis is squeezing household finances, many will be questioning the necessity of their media subscriptions.

Sourced from Association of Online Publishers

Alibaba looks forward to 618

After growing 19% in the financial year to end-March, revenues at Alibaba have declined in recent weeks as cities across China locked down, but the tech giant is hoping to recover lost ground during the upcoming 618 shopping festival. 

Lockdown impact

Compared to the previous year, there was “a low single-digit decline in revenue growth in April” while GMV declined in the “low teens”, CEO Daniel Zhang told an earnings call, adding that “cities with new COVID cases in April represented more than half of our China retail marketplaces’ GMV”. Those cities included merchant hubs like Shanghai and Shenzhen and their hinterlands, with all that entailed for supply chains and logistics. 

During this time, user traffic and engagement on Alibaba platforms have remained resilient, he said, but patterns of consumption across categories have shifted: less demand for fashion and electronics (and more price sensitivity), increased demand for essential supplies, such as food and FMCG products (and less price sensitivity). 

Average order values in location-based commerce businesses have increased significantly as consumers in COVID-hit areas stocked up. Diversified retail formats and fulfilment networks will be needed in future. 

Key numbers  

• The China commerce segment of Alibaba’s business claimed 903 million annual active customers for the year ended March 31. Domestic commerce was up 18% year-over-year to RMB592,705 million, or US$93,497 million.
• Value-for-money platform Taobao Deals helped drive more first-time shoppers into Alibaba’s e-commerce ecosystem; there are now 300 million consumers using it. 
• Sales and marketing expenses increased from 11% of revenue in FY 2021 to 14% in FY 2022.

618

Alibaba reports “a lot of enthusiasm” and a strong trend this year compared to last in terms of merchant enrollment and product offering. Taobao is reported to be launching a metaverse shopping experience in time for the 618 festival.

Sourced from Alibaba, Pandaily [Image: 2021 618 festival from Alibaba]