The South Korean law that curbs in-app payment commissions

Google and Apple make a lot of money from the commissions they take from developers who must use those companies in-app billing systems when using these companies app stores – now a South Korean law will attempt to stop market-dominating firms forcing developers to use their systems.

Why it matters

With increased scrutiny from regulators around the world concerned that certain large tech firms are abusing their market power, this first legislative step will be closely followed by policymakers and developers to see if app store owners’ grip on developers can be loosened.

What’s going on

• The law, an amendment to South Korea’s Telecommunications Business Act, stops app markets from stipulating the use of their proprietary in-app payment systems.
• A potentially more complicated aspect of the law is a restriction on platforms’ ability to delay approval or even delete apps that do not comply to its system.
• Fines can go up to 3% of firms’ South Korean revenues.
• The amendment follows a blockbuster antitrust lawsuit between Fortnite-maker Epic Games and Apple/Google, after the developer was booted off both app stores for circumventing these systems.

What the platforms say

This opens users to the risk of fraud, Apple told the Wall Street Journal.

Google says the commissions keep its Android OS free to use, and that access to scale is more important.

Sourced from the Wall Street Journal

Five key priorities for delivering effective advertising

WARC today releases ‘Anatomy of Effectiveness: 2022 Edition’, a white paper giving brand marketers, advertising agencies and media owners a fresh perspective on the five key building blocks of effectiveness.

Why it matters

Much has changed since WARC published the first Anatomy of Effectiveness in 2019, David Tiltman, SVP Content, WARC, observes: “We’ve had a pandemic that saw budgets switch out of brand investment into performance marketing; we’ve seen the rise of ‘retail media’ platforms that are reshaping the media landscape; and with the impending death of the cookie we see a growing lack of confidence in advertising and media measurement.

“This updated edition of our white paper draws on new thinking and the latest evidence to present the key building blocks required to deliver commercial impact today.”

Five priorities

• Invest for growth

Understanding how factors such as brand size, campaign investment and category dynamics will determine effectiveness are key first steps when it comes to setting budgets and agreeing on objectives. Getting the right framework for investment is crucial if a campaign is to meet its potential.

• Balance your spend

Set the right framework for investment to ensure sustainable success. Whether it is long-term effects vs short-term sales impact, brand-building vs performance marketing, broad reach vs active in-market buyers or upper funnel vs lower-funnel, plan for effectiveness across different timeframes, messaging, audience types and buyer journeys to deliver maximum growth.

• Plan for reach

Campaign reach is becoming harder to achieve as media consumption fragments. This is forcing marketers to reconsider long-held assumptions about reach and frequency management. Factors to be considered include brand objectives, media selection and consumer purchase habits.

• Be creative

Creativity makes a difference and is the most powerful weapon under the marketer’s control. There is widespread evidence that creativity delivers increased effectiveness when it is distinctive, engaging, emotional and has some longevity. Recent research cited in LIONS’ State of Creativity 2022 study claims only 8% of agencies feel confident in convincing clients to invest in high-quality creativity and 12% of clients feel confident in convincing the CFO to invest in high quality creative.

• Plan for recognition

Advertising must be associated with the brand behind it, if it is to work. Planning for recognition involves creating shortcuts in consumers’ minds that make brands more memorable, impactful and easy to recall. Failure to brand communications properly is a common pitfall. Investing in and nurturing distinctive assets will enable quick recognition.

The white paper, launched in conjunction with WARC's Anatomy of Effectiveness hub, features new case studies, expert opinions and over 20 'Evidence' decks. WARC clients can read the full report here. A sample edition is available for all.

Highlights from the white paper will be presented to Cannes Lions attendees today as part of a full week’s worth of content curated by WARC, together with the world’s leading effectiveness experts, covering strategy, media, creative and digital commerce. For more details on WARC x Cannes Lions, click here. 

Is it time to appoint a chief media officer?

Three quarters of advertisers and agencies think large advertisers would enhance their media management capabilities with the appointment of a chief media officer, according to a new report from ID Comms.

Why it matters

The figure of 73% is based on a small sample (45 responses from Media, Marketing, and Procurement professionals with a range of global, regional and local market responsibilities) but it is significantly up on 2019’s 57%. As the media space becomes increasingly complex, a specialist position makes sense. 

It is also evident that an important function of a chief media officer will be to improve media capabilities. The 2022 Global Media Training Report notes a long-standing failure to upgrade investment in training despite unanimous agreement that investing in media training programmes can improve media decision making and deliver better business outcomes for advertisers.

Takeaways

• Advertisers with a chief media officer (either with or without the job title) are far more likely to hold media to higher levels of accountability by raising internal media capabilities within marketing teams.
• Seventy-nine percent of respondents rated their ability to ‘make media more accountable’ as unsatisfactory.
• Eighty-five percent of media and marketing professionals – though only 50% of advertiser procurement respondents – considered investment levels to be unsatisfactory and expressed clear concerns with current levels of investment in media capability building, both within their own organisation and across the industry as a whole. 
• The main reason identified for under-investment in media capability building was lack of budget, followed by an inability to find the right training opportunities and commit time to media training.
• Training in KPI setting is most likely to help resolve gaps in advertiser capability, cited by 57% of respondents. Media ROI (46%) and briefing and evaluating agency work (46%) also remain important areas for capability building. 
• The fastest-growing area of training is the demand for addressing capability gaps in Ad Tech and Mar Tech (42% in 2022 vs 26% in 2019). 
• Advertiser respondents highlighted a need for training in how media agencies work; in turn, half of agency respondents highlighted a need for improved advertiser capabilities in running media pitches. 

Key quote

“[There is] a clear opportunity for progressive advertisers to invest in robust media capability building programmes and boost the accountability of media as a significant driver of business growth” – Matt Gill, Senior Consultant at ID Comms.

Sourced from ID Comms

‘Lunch-flation’ shifts Korean purchasing habits

Korean convenience stores are seeing a sharp upturn in sales as Korean office-workers react to rapidly rising restaurant prices.

Context

Korean government figures show the price of restaurant dishes grew 7.4% in May, with prices for some of the most popular dishes growing even faster – galbitang (beef stew with rice) was up 12.2%, for example, while nengmyun (cold noodles) was up 8.1%, breaking a psychological barrier of 10,000 won in the process. 

Why it matters

Koreans take their lunch hour seriously and have generally resisted western ‘al desko’ eating habits, preferring to patronise local restaurants. But a recent survey found 96% of 1,004 office workers saying they now find lunch prices onerous; almost half of those said they were looking for ways to cut their lunch spending. There are opportunities that can be exploited by food brands and retailers. 

What’s happening

An option for those seeking to cut costs has been to turn to convenience stores which offer instant noodles, sandwiches, and gimbap (rice rolls) for around 6,000 won or less.

One convenience shop chain, GS25, posted more than 30% increases in sales of instant meals in January-May versus a year ago, according to Reuters, and has now launched a meal subscription service that offers price discounts and deliveries to offices.

Rivals have seen similar surges in demand, with one, Emart24, reporting a 50% jump in lunch-box sales in areas with a large number of office blocks. 

Key quote

“Real purchasing power is shrinking amid fierce inflation pressures, but people don’t want to cut down evening gatherings they just started, while on lunches they can” – Lee Seung-hoon, chief economist at Meritz Securities.

Sourced from Rappler

In-house and external agencies: The CMO view

Marketing leaders embraced more flexibility and open communication with their agencies as COVID forced a shake-up of business as usual; now, they are looking to continue the successful changes, especially as in-house agencies become more commonplace.

Why it matters

The COVID -19 pandemic forced a rethink of client-agency relationships, especially with regards to internal processes, approvals and quick creative turnarounds. Now, marketing leaders are looking to translate those lessons into how in-house and external agencies can work together.

As many large brands are setting up their own in-house agencies, the relationship with external partners will need to evolve again. With the amount of touchpoints that now need addressing 24/7, many brands simply need more headcount to hit the mark at the speed required.

Definition and collaboration

“I think that, when we’re working our best, the [internal and external] agencies are collaborating and making the ideas better,” said Michelle St Jacques, Chief Marketing Officer at brewer Molson Coors, at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

“It allows us to get to more scale and more personalisation from a brand perspective. I see [the agencies] as being part of the same team, but just having different roles in that,” she said.

For David Rubin, Chief Marketing Officer at the New York Times, which only relatively recently hired external agency partners, it’s crucial that internal and agency partners have smooth communication to ensure everything gets done.

“There’s just so many assets and so many channels [that] it’s just not possible for one place to do it. Also, the planning of how you do that has become so short … for agencies to be able to make all those assets in that timeframe, there’s got to be help,” Rubin said.

How to avoid in-house vs external agency turf wars

1. Minimise competition: ensure both internal and external agencies have a clear area of work. For example, one develops the idea and one creates the content.
2. Don’t be afraid to offer open briefs to agency partners for different ideas that can tackle a similar problem.
3. Test and learn in the real world to start seeing what’s resonating with consumers.
   
4. Open communication and collaboration is essential for success.

Right product, right time: Ugg goes viral on TikTok

With the creator economy booming on the platforms that matter to Gen Z, more brands are looking to create a ‘viral moment’ or – even better – be part of an organic one.

According to Carole Diarra, Global VP Marketing at apparel brand Ugg, the alchemy of a viral moment is born from clearly communicating the brand’s values, being relevant with the right product at the right time … and a big dose of luck.

Why it matters

Organic viral moments on TikTok, Snapchat or Instagram are like gold dust for brands looking to connect with Gen Z consumers, who are immersed in social platforms but more cynical about direct advertising.

Right product, right time

“It’s [about] leaning into our consumers and our community of people that love the brand, and really being able to showcase the creativity that comes with the confidence of wearing Ugg,” Diarra said at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

“There’s many ways to style the product and to enjoy the product. We saw this during COVID on TikTok. We introduced these fluffy slippers called ‘Fluff Yeah’. The pair of slippers became huge on TikTok and a cultural phenomenon,” she explained.

“People were at home and they wanted a way to express their creativity. They wanted a way to show that even though they’re on lockdown, they still have flavour … organically, we just saw so much interest and resurgence,” Diarra said.

Putting the product at the heart of a TikTok trend

The viral Ugg slippers helped to drive the ‘two mile’ trend on Tiktok, i.e., comfortable but fun fashion for trips within a two-mile radius of your house during COVID, Diarra explained.

“You want to be casual, you want to be comfortable. But you also want to look interesting enough for people to pay attention. The fact that we have products that you can easily flow from inside to outside really created a huge resurgence of brand and product interest.”

Strategic lessons from Cannes LIONS 2022

Beyond viewability and through to attention, a renewed focus on growth, and an adjustment to a difficult economy – a new report distils the insights and trends that WARC’s editorial team picked up during Cannes LIONS 2022.

Why it matters

The 10 strategic lessons cover a mix of what we were told, what was said on the WARC stage and what we heard on other stages. In this report, we look at what mattered and why it mattered.

Key points

• Sophistication: the industry is moving beyond viewability and top of mind awareness with more nuanced understandings of attention and memory formation.
• Growth: from the digital giants growing through alternative models, to sustainability as a systematic element of business performance, the industry is back to talking growth.
• Measurement: with recession on the horizon, marketers were focused on the platforms and techniques that could deliver results as retail media and ultra-premium streaming entered the advertising conversation.

Alibaba targets DaaS market with Lingyang

China tech giant Alibaba is eyeing up the data-as-a-service (DaaS) market with the creation of a new subsidiary, Lingyang Intelligent Service Company, which it says will offer “enterprise digital intelligence services”.

Why it matters

Lingyang, which will offer solutions to enterprises that were initially developed for Alibaba, could potentially compete with the likes of Microsoft, Oracle, SAP and others in the business intelligence space, TechRadar reports.

It’s a growing market: as the amount of data held by businesses expands, so too does the need for services to manage and analyse it. A recent report says the DaaS sector grew 47% last year and will grow at a CAGR of 39% between 2020 and 2025, bringing incremental growth of almost $30bn over that period.

What it will do

• Alibaba CEO Zhang Yong explained that Lingyang will undertake “the important task of transforming the digital capabilities accumulated by Alibaba Group in the fields of consumption into intelligent products and services”.
• That includes a focus on the customer perspective and help for enterprises in driving efficient decision-making and promoting growth through data intelligence in multi-platform operations.
• Peng Xinyu, CEO of the new entity, stressed that it is “not software-as-a-service (SaaS), but data-as-a-service (DaaS)” – most SaaS solutions are aimed at solving “single point problems” and “are limited to workflow transformation”, he said. 
• Lingyang’s five major product lines include Analysis Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Production and Sales Cloud, Customer Service Cloud and Development Cloud. 

Final thought 

Alibaba has more than one billion customers around the world, so already has plenty of data ready to leverage.

Sourced from TechRadar, Technavio

What next for China’s livestreaming sector?

When the Beijing government last week published a new code of conduct for livestreamers in China, it was the latest in a lengthening list of interventions in the digital ecosystem and one that will reshape a livestreaming sector that now accounts for around 15% of all internet retailing. 

The code includes a list of things livestreamers should and should not do and imposes a requirement for professional qualifications if they broadcast content of a specialist nature, such as medicine, law, education or financial advice.

Context 

The pandemic and lockdowns boosted what was an already growing sector. There are now millions of livestreamers and almost half the country’s online users have bought from them. 

The most popular livestreamers command huge followings and can shift mountains of product. Brands of all sorts have noted that reach and sales ability and have partnered with these livestreamers, who have earned huge sums of money in the process.

Why it matters

Being able to talk to a camera for hours on end is a particular skill, but these livestreamers generally lack sector or product knowledge which carries risks for brands – and consumers. Additionally, they have demanded commissions and discounts at a level that now makes little financial sense for brands. 

“These retail gatekeepers wielded too much power, hurting brands, consumers, e-commerce platforms and smaller influencers,” consultant Jacob Cooke wrote in the South China Morning Post. 

What may happen next

"One effect of the new guidelines will be healthier competition within the industry,” retired law professor Jason Yao told Shanghai Daily. “The law-abiding sites with good-quality content will prevail."

Cooke, meanwhile, expects live-streaming content to diversify over the coming year, not least as brands bypass influencers and invest more in self-produced live streams. “More consumers will buy more from these live streams, and live-stream sales as a portion of overall retail in China should continue to grow.” 

Sourced from South China Morning Post, Shanghai Daily, Global Times

Brand in action: How Zero Waste Malaysia champions climate literacy

Consumers and corporations need to increase climate literacy and brands need to take up opportunities to work with advocacy groups, Zero Waste Malaysia’s Sue Yee Khor tells WARC.

Key insights

• Overcoming the language barrier and translating technical terms are the biggest challenge in a multiracial country like Malaysia with a diverse group of people.
• The aim is not total zero waste, a concept that alarms businesses and consumers alike: humans are bound to consume, so zero is just the goal.
• Equip employees with basic sustainability knowledge so that when they become managers, they know how to make decisions not just for profit but also for the environment.

Key quote

“Things that really scare people seem to be what works for our crowd, probably because a lot of them want a reality check. So we try and come in from a perspective where we also tell them how they can do better” – Sue Yee Khor, co-founder of non-profit organisation Zero Waste Malaysia.

Wellbeing sentiment shifts towards 'betterment'

Ongoing research from Horizon Media’s WHY Group has uncovered an evolution in wellness to the concept of betterment, which concerns how people actively approach all aspects of wellbeing.

Why it matters

For brands, understanding how consumers approach their wellbeing is central to being able to respond to this core part of how people go about their lives.

Takeaways

• People’s betterment needs shift constantly based on how they manage their natural energy rhythms, and feelings of control over those rhythms affect the choices people make, with some people feeling In-Sync and others feeling Out-of-Sync.
• Constant fluctuations in bandwidth for taking on life’s challenges have been exacerbated during the pandemic.
• How much control people feel over their energy state dictates their betterment behaviors; when brands understand this, they can connect with consumers in ways that can lead to adoption and a stronger, more emotionally-based connection.

The big idea

Brands can benefit from knowing the relevant complexities and nuances of their audiences’ energy states by understanding how they are, how in control they are feeling, and by offering ways to help.

Rainbow Shops is using SMS for effective brand personalization

SMS (short message service) can serve as effective personalization with customers while remaining in accordance with digital privacy laws, according to a presentation by women’s retail brand Rainbow Shops at CommerceNext 2022.

Why it matters

In an increasingly privacy-focused online advertising sphere, SMS has emerged as a viable channel for communicating with customers directly, building brand loyalty, and serving as a space to further understand customers’ individual needs.

Tone is essential

• SMS messages should comply with the more conversational tone associated with texting, according to David Cost, vp/e-commerce and marketing at Rainbow Shops, in a presentation titled “Preparing Your Tech Stack for the Era of Conversational Commerce”.
• Cost says consumers often respond to automated SMS messages as if they are speaking with a live sales representative. As such, brands should endeavor to meet consumers at their level, by adopting a more conversational tone in their messaging, and straying away from generic promotional scripts.
• For example, using customers’ first names and avoiding long expository paragraphs is key.

Takeaways

• In 2022, roughly 70% of marketers are using SMS for “retention and re-engagement,” a ten percentage point increase from 2021, said Elizabeth Ray, vp/client strategy at SMS platform Attentive. Ray also reported that customers spend, on average, 50% more when directed from SMS.
• SMS should be used as a tool for precise personalization – not, as Cost phrases it, “false personalization,” or messaging that gets customers’ individual attributes wrong, thus targeting them ineffectively. “If we have a plus-sized customer and we send her junior-sized messaging, that’s a loss,” he said. “We’re gonna lose her.”
• Brands can acquire first-person data by asking consumers direct questions over SMS about the products and services they are looking for. This will ensure targeting accuracy later in the sales journey.
• SMS messaging can also be used to guide customers along the purchase funnel – if they have items waiting in checkout, a message might be the difference between inertia and action.

The big idea

“Clearly we need to pick up on those daily touchpoints that are happening,” said Cost of the everyday occurrence of SMS messaging among consumers.

The video market will end in tiers

As the video market enters a new period of hybrid models, many SVOD and BVOD services are moving to both ad-free and ad-supported tiers, a development that brings a fresh set of challenges for both broadcasters and advertisers, says a new report from Kantar.

The Future Viewing Experience appraises the near-term future of the TV and video landscape in which the smart TV set has become the primary driver of increased usage of connected streaming services.

Why it matters

For media owners, the era of set-top boxes is coming to an end and the battle is now on for control of the main video delivery gateway into the home: the connected TV screen itself.  

Brands, meanwhile, are facing the prospect of a two-tier advertising ecosystem in which those who can afford ad-free environments may become ever harder to reach.  

Takeaways 

• Significant steps towards vertical integration will define the long-term as global media owners seek to control the entire chain, from production of content to delivery into the home. The trend could signify a slowdown in content availability.  
• Media companies are seeking a return on their significant investments in intellectual property by promoting franchises and capitalising on global and local fanbases. The internationalisation of culture and younger audiences’ love of sub-titles is ushering in an era in which local content can go global.  

• Critical mass for a global service will be beyond all but a handful of players with valuable and extensive intellectual property. Independent production will remain significant with smaller and niche players finding value in collaborating with others to compete effectively.   
• Streaming services are taking a more broadcaster-inspired sequential release approach to flagship originals, so helping drive buzz and prolong subscriptions. There will be less box-set bingeing in future.  
• If the complexity of the video distribution ecosystem can be effectively tackled, Smart TVs can enable true addressability, offering transformative opportunities and facilitating new forms of advertising.  

  Sourced from Kantar   

CMOs look for the ‘why’ on Web3.0

The opportunity of the metaverse and Web3.0 requires careful consideration, according to a panel of leading CMOs, and brands shouldn’t jump on the bandwagon for the sake of it.

Why it matters

While the metaverse and Web3.0 is getting a lot of hype in the marketing industry, brands are doing themselves a disservice by not examining their motivations for entering the space and whether it is truly the right fit for the brand. Missteps can be costly. 

What to consider 

“When you talk about Web3.0 … you need to ask yourself a few questions,” said Mathilde Delhoume, Chief Brand Officer at LVMH, speaking at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. 

In Delhoume’s view, brands need to consider:

• the longer term benefits of being in the metaverse or Web3.0;
• who exactly they are targeting, and what type of customers they want to attract to the brand;
• the added value that Web3.0 will offer to customers, if at all;
• how any activation improves the desirability of the brand, or not;
• whether an additional touchpoint will benefit or dilute the brand.

Wait and see

Tamara Rogers, Global Chief Marketing Officer at GSK agrees that brands need to make sure they have a thoughtful strategy when it comes to the metaverse and Web3.0. As a consumer health company, the metaverse isn’t in their current plans, although Rogers is looking to see how Web3.0 develops in the near future. 

“We do think there’s a big opportunity because Web3.0 offers so many possibilities around connection and community,” Rogers said. “We want to find ways to help people take better care of themselves,” 

Dara Treseder, Head of Global Marketing and Communications at fitness company Peloton, is resistant to the hype for now, although she is optimistic about the future: “I don’t feel any pressure… what I’m trying to do is understand what I think is the next iteration of the meshing the physical world and the virtual world.”

A.H.

Unilever’s plastic problem in Asia

Unilever has long trumpeted its environmental and social agenda, but a Reuters report highlights how the FMCG giant has been working to undermine laws aimed at ending the use of single-serve plastic sachets in at least three Asian countries.

Context 

Not so long ago, shops across Asia would measure out small amounts of products like sugar or coffee into containers people brought with them. But that began to change back in the 1980s with the advent of plastic sachets, which big brands were able to use to develop and build brand loyalty.

855 billion plastic sachets are now sold every year industry-wide, but their multilayered design of plastic and aluminium means they can’t be recycled and they have no real value. Meanwhile, they are a major source of environmental pollution, killing everything from fish to elephants. Back in 2020, CEO Alan Jope was clear: “We have to get rid of them,” he told an online plastic sustainability event.

What’s happened?

When, in 2020, Sri Lanka proposed ending the use of plastic sachets, Unilever first sought to dissuade officials, arguing that “sachets are a poor man’s commodity”, according to Anil Jasinghe, secretary of Sri Lanka’s Environment Ministry. And when a ban on sachets sized 20 ml or smaller was implemented, Unilever continued to sell 6 ml single-portion sachets of shampoo and hair conditioner, using a labelling sleight of hand that attempted to retail them in four-packs as one 24 ml unit.

“Unilever tried to deceive us,” Jasinghe told Reuters, although he added that, following a threat of legal action, Unilever subsequently stopped selling 6 ml sachets.

Reuters further reports that the company lobbied against proposed bans on plastic sachets in India and the Philippines. These have been dropped, but Reuters adds that it “could not determine if Unilever’s lobbying influenced the outcome”. The cleanup efforts that have replaced possible bans include the option of burning sachets as fuel, so releasing carbon dioxide and toxins into the air. 

Unilever says 

Ending the use of multilayered plastic sachets is “a complex technical challenge, with no quick fixes”, according to Unilever. A spokesperson says the firm is “phasing out” such sachets by using a variety of potential fixes, including product refill systems, new recycling technology and packaging material that’s easier to recycle.

Sourced from Reuters