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Daily effectiveness insights, curated by WARC's editors.
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How brands can adapt to a new era of identity
The ways in which brands identify consumers online is being upended; a new WARC Guide advises advertisers on how they can ensure marketing relevancy in a privacy-first data landscape.
The WARC Guide to the Future of Identity
Increased data privacy regulation, Google’s deprecation of third-party cookies, and the decision by Apple to require users to opt-in to tracking by mobile apps heralds the end an era of easy access to consumer data.
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Alphabet advertising revenue reaches new high of $50bn
The parent company of YouTube and Google smashed its previous record, earning $50.4bn from advertising in the second quarter of 2021, according to the latest company reports.
Why it matters
Google Search had a notable decline in advertising revenue last year but it has recovered strongly, rising 68.1% to reach $35.8bn in Q2 2021. YouTube is growing rapidly and has doubled its advertising revenue in the past two years, showing the continued importance of online video for audiences and advertisers.
Takeaways
- Following an 8.1% decline in Q2 2020 during the initial impact of the coronavirus pandemic, Alphabet advertising revenue has risen by more than two-thirds (68.9%) to top $50bn for the first time ever.
- YouTube saw the largest increase, rising by more than 80% (83.7%) to $7.0bn.
Sourced from Alphabet, WARC Data
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The forgotten ingredient of innovation
A capacity for divergent or lateral thinking, non-conformity, extreme motivation are the typical psychological traits of people who come up with new ideas – but innovation, understood as getting them over the line in complex bureaucracies, requires something extra.
The business world and press tend to lionise individuals as innovators that single-handedly push the world forward, but the reality is far more social.
Those who push ideas forward are good at changing people’s behaviour by building informal relationships.
The key idea
While this idea won’t be surprising to marketers, its foundations – as outlined in a new piece in Psychology Today – are interesting.
Notably, the creation of psychological safety: allowing spaces in which the other members of an organisation don’t fear embarrassment when trying new ideas.
An equation
One co-author, Dr. Eric Haseltine, describes it as:
“Innovation = (Talent + Relationships) / Formality”.
In essence: maximum trust and minimum process will let good ideas rise. Those informal ties will pay dividends when you need to navigate the idea through the organisation.
Sourced from Psychology Today
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Marketing sustainability, a new report
As organisations continue to rebuild and restructure, now more than ever is the time for marketers to embrace sustainability, according to The Sustainable Marketer, a new report by Flock Associates.
Why it matters
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Six steps to more useful first-party data
First-party data is now the flavour of the month as brands realise that they can no longer rely on third parties to collect data for them and provide the information and insights to run their business or inform their decisions.
According to Dr Shorful Islam, Chief Data Scientist and Practice Lead at Tribal Worldwide, brands need to either create a first-party data strategy or brush up the one they had but never implemented to succeed in an omnichannel future.
Why it matters
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How brands can cultivate the shoots of veganism in dairy-loving India
Amid the rise of veganism in India, a report by brand consultancy Wolfzhowl examines the factors leading to this growing trend and how brands across various categories can analyse the consumption pattern to align their product launches and SKUs.
Why it matters
With veganism seen as the next big wave shaping categories such as food and beverages, fashion and accessories, beauty, health and pharma, and tourism, among others, brands in India can benefit from this trend by planning their positioning strategy accordingly.
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Facebook strengthens metaverse capability
The social media giant is bringing together a high level product group to work on its metaverse product – a collision of its social networking and virtual/augmented reality interests.
Why it matters
The success of ostensible gaming platforms like Fortnite and Roblox outside of pure-play gaming, when users began looking for virtual spaces in which to hang out with friends as well as games to play, has supercharged the opportunity Facebook to bring together two of its capabilities in this new set of technologies known as the metaverse.
As ever, it plans to establish a leadership position in the space, seeing an opportunity to go beyond leisure and into a new set of spaces that could revolutionise the way organisations work. Additionally, it's worth remembering that where Facebook is interested a media opportunity for partners is rarely far away.
What’s happening
- Following an interview with Mark Zuckerberg in the Verge that outlined Facebook's vision for the virtual world future, the company’s VP of AR/VR, Andrew ‘Boz’ Bosworth, announced in a post that the firm was creating a dedicated team to build metaverse technologies.
- In addition to bringing together top-level talent from within the organisation, Facebook is advertising for more than 700 positions in the AR/VR department.
Key quote
“The defining quality of the metaverse will be presence -- the feeling of really being there with people -- and [Facebook Reality Labs] has been focused on building products that deliver presence across digital spaces for years. […] But to achieve our full vision of the Metaverse, we also need to build the connective tissue between these spaces -- so you can remove the limitations of physics and move between them with the same ease as moving from one room in your home to the next” – Andrew ‘Boz’ Bosworth, VP of AR/VR, Facebook.
Sourced from The Verge, Facebook
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How kids spend their pocket money and what influences them
How kids spend their pocket money and what influences them
Beano Brain, the kids and family insight consultancy that grew out of the long-standing British comic, surveyed 8000 kids age 7-14 to understand how they are planning to spend the £38m they saved over lockdown.
Million Pound Kids explores the influences on spending choices, with friends’ recommendations the biggest influence (according to 46% of respondents). The next most important influences are browsing Amazon (43%), TV (34%), and TikTok (33%).
Why it matters
Financial habits develop early, and pocket money is typically the way in which children will establish their behaviour as consumers and financial agents. Understanding where this spending is happening paints a useful picture of young people’s brand preferences and perceptions. The picture that emerges is that a mix of the modern and the tested has a key impact.
Takeaways
The top five outlets for physical spending:
- McDonald’s/KFC – 51%
- Smyths – 42%
- GAME – 36%
- Primark – 34%
- Tesco – 33%
Top five online shops for spending:
- Amazon – 52%
- GAME – 35%
- Smyths – 34%
- Nintendo – 31%
- eBay – 27%/ Argos – 27%
The context
It’s particularly interesting that the top outlets for physical spending are the QSRs McDonald’s and KFC. Especially in light of the proposed legislation banning ads featuring products high in fats sugar and salt (HFSS) online and on TV until after 9pm that is due to pass through parliament later this year.
Sourced from the Beano, PBS. Image: Beano Brain
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Snapchat approaches 300m daily active users worldwide
Snapchat approaches 300m daily active users worldwide
Snapchat has added 13m daily users and is approaching 300m in total, according to the latest company reports.
Why it matters
Snapchat has one of the youngest audiences among social platforms, second only to Twitch, and has been steadily expanding its userbase over the past two years. This is particularly true outside of North America and Europe – the 'Rest of World' segment saw the largest user growth, up nine million.
Takeaways
- Snapchat has added 13m daily users and is approaching 300m in total.
- All three regions saw user growth in Q2 2021, though the quickest growth was outside of North America and Europe.
Sourced from Snapchat, WARC Data
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“Whole” brands don’t distinguish between brand and performance marketing
Analysis from Barkley, evaluating more than 150 brands in 25 categories, finds that the strongest brands don’t distinguish between brand and performance marketing, instead operating as full systems that focus equally across different spheres.
Why it matters
Particularly as digital commerce helps erase existing marketing barriers, the concept of “the whole brand” looks at brands from a full system level that incorporates everything from experience to communications.
Takeaways
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Beijing announces six-month campaign to bring internet industry to heel
Beijing announces six-month campaign to bring internet industry to heel
Following a sustained campaign from across the Chinese government which has clipped the wings of some of its largest companies, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the technology regulator, has announced a six-month rectification campaign of the country’s online industry designed to stop anticompetitive practices and enhance security.
Why it matters
First, the pressure went onto the biggest companies, Alibaba and Tencent who in early July began working on opening up their services. Now, these precepts will apply across the board. Interoperability of different systems should, theoretically, be good for users and good for marketers as the new rules force tech firms to open themselves up.
What’s happening?
In a statement issued online, (in Chinese) and reported by the business magazine Caixin, among others, the Ministry has outlined four main areas that it intends to control:
- Disrupting market order
This effort centres on the blocking of competitors’ websites, which has become common practice in some ‘walled-garden’ services that operate across different categories, such as gaming and payments.
- Infringing on users’ rights
The Ministry points to misleading pop-ups, such as false close buttons, and not allowing users to opt-out of personalised services.
- Threats to data security
These range from failing to adequately protect user data through techniques like encryption to ensuring that users have given consent before their data is passed onto a third party.
- Violating other regulations (resource and qualification management)
Mostly using non-registered network access resources or missing website filing deadlines.
Background
The announcement follows major interventions against Ant Financial, for which the Chinese government called a halt to its IPO, before fining parent company Alibaba for antitrust offences.
Many observers have seen these measures as a way to curb the consumer tech sector’s mounting political and financial power. To this end, a more stable, interoperable market could prove a key step.
Sourced from The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Caixin, Wall Street Journal
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Consistency is the pillar of influencer campaigns that marketers miss
Three pillars make up a successful influencer campaign – authenticity, optimisation, and consistency – but many marketers forget the significance of consistency.
Why it matters
As influencer marketing grows – it is expected to be a US$13.8 billion market by year- end 2021 – brands need to treat it with the same attention to metrics and measurement as other channels.
Takeaways
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Bilibili moves from ACG platform to key advertising destination
Bilibili moves from ACG platform to key advertising destination
Chinese long-form vlogging and livestream platform Bilibili is in the ascendant with young people and is fast approaching the mainstream – as it does so, it becomes a target for brands like Louis Vuitton and Nike.
Why it matters
Bilibili's platform offers something quite different from the other Gen-Z super app, TikTok.
Despite a young following, Bilibili’s users come for longer engagement shows – videos tend to be around 20 minutes long – compared to Douyin’s (TikTok in China) bursts of 20 second content.
While the current advice is that this is mainly a brand/community building channel where successful brands tend to show give-and-take with users, it is possible to link directly to a handful of different e-commerce stores, in contrast to other apps in a similar vein.
What’s happening
The company tells the Business of Fashion, which profiles the platform, that half of China’s population between 10 and 29 are active users. In Q1 2021, the platform boasted 223.3 million MAUs (monthly active users). It is, reportedly, extremely sticky: users are known to spend around 82 minutes a day on Bilibili.
Part of its appeal to the core audience was its strength among anime, comic, and game (ACG) culture. To preserve the authenticity of the community, new users must pass an ‘entrance exam’ based on this nerdy trivia in order to post or upload.
Brands on the move
- Luxury players like Louis Vuitton and Fendi have used the platform for direct-buy advertising on the platform, BoF reports.
- Other brands, like Dior, Nike and Shiseido have tried to build their own communities through accounts that upload content directly.
- The most popular way to use the platform is with KOLs (influencers), especially if you aim to carve out an audience in the ACG community specifically, like skincare brand L’Occitane. Others, like Kraft-Heinz, have worked with influencers across Bilibili and TikTok.
Sourced from Business of Fashion, WARC
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Twitter ad revenue tops $1bn as userbase reaches new high
Twitter ad revenue tops $1bn as userbase reaches new high
Twitter's advertising revenue has topped $1bn for only the second time as the platform's daily userbase reached a new high, according to the latest company reports.
Why it matters
Twitter's advertising revenue fell into decline during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic in Q2 2020 but the company has recovered and has seen advertising revenue grow 87.4%. While Apple's launch of iOS 14.5 in April posed a potential challenge, Twitter said the impact was "more muted than we expected".
Takeaways
- Twitter earned $1,053m from advertising in the second quarter of 2021, an increase of 87.4% from the previous year.
- Advertising revenue from the United States doubled (+98.4% to reach $562m) while international ad revenue rose 76.3% to $491m.
- Daily active users also saw strong growth in Q2 2021, rising by seven million to top 200 million for the first time.
Sourced from Twitter, WARC Data
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E-commerce, online videos send 2021 ad spending recovery to pre-pandemic levels
E-commerce, online videos send 2021 ad spending recovery to pre-pandemic levels
A new adspend forecast from media agency Zenith estimates a global adspend recovery of 11.2% in 2021 – surpassing the pre-pandemic peak by 6%. With a similar picture to WARC’s own forecasts, the advertising industry is returning but with some changes.
Why it matters
Performance-led, e-commerce advertising and brand advertising through online video are the engines of this growth, Zenith suggests.
The e-commerce shift manifests through particular gains in social media (up 25%) and paid search (up 19%), but it is important to note that a lot of this is down to an influx of new small and medium sized companies who began advertising in the pandemic.
Takeaways
- Online video is set to grow by 26%, reaching £49 billion in worldwide spend.
- Overall, Zenith expects digital advertising to grow by 19% in 2021, and increase its share of total adspend to 58%, up from 48% in 2019 and 54% in 2020.
- Cinema and out-of-home were the worst affected by COVID-related restrictions, shrinking by 72% and 28% respectively, and will enjoy the fastest recovery in 2021, with respective growth rates of 116% and 16%.
- Recovery is causing some inflation. The cost of TV advertising is up on average by 5% on 2021, way beyond its adspend growth rate of 1%.
Key quote
“The online video landscape continues to transform, fuelled by the growth of streaming services and connected TVs. Its continued evolution requires a radical rethink of how to build the optimal screen-neutral reach model. The ingestion of new data sources into TV planning also creates further opportunities to further sync TV and video planning” - Benoit Cacheux, Global Chief Digital Officer at Zenith.
Sourced from Zenith, WARC
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Olay’s inclusive, intersectional view of beauty
Olay, the skincare brand owned by Procter & Gamble, has put intersectional stories at the heart of its “Maximize, Don’t Minimize Me” campaign, which is focused on driving women’s empowerment.
Why it matters
Advertising has long helped perpetuate stereotypes around what constitutes “beauty”. But with more consumers, and the brands that serve them, pushing back against the imagery that previously dominated communications, marketers that do not adapt risk falling into irrelevance.
Olay’s approach
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Brand in action: How Garena gets its game on with Southeast Asia’s brands
Brand in action: How Garena gets its game on with Southeast Asia’s brands
The mobile gaming scene in Southeast Asia is growing exponentially due largely to COVID-19 and Singapore-headquartered game publisher Garena’s vice president of strategic partners Jason Ng discusses the importance of localising engagement efforts with gamers and how brand partnerships with games are evolving.
Key insights
- Garena’s efforts to engage new and existing users with fresh, creative and highly localised content have contributed to Free Fire being the most downloaded mobile game globally in 2020.
- The relationship between brands and games is becoming increasingly symbiotic as advertisers recognise how effective games can be as a platform for providing unique exposure.
Quote
“We have observed the relationship between brands and games becoming increasingly symbiotic. Over the past few years, advertisers have started to recognise how effective games can be as a platform for providing exposure that is not only very large and growing but, more importantly, is unique in being able to offer interactive engagement for their brands over an extended period of time.” – Jason Ng, VP strategic partners, Garena
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APAC and CX: Digitising to improve customer service
As the COVID-19 pandemic becomes endemic, customer experience has become more important than ever for companies. Infobip’s Vivien Ang reveals the customer experience solutions that some of them have deployed.
Why it matters
To innovate, ensure business continuity and deal with the new normal, some APAC companies have digitised customer service and customer experience to turn customer engagement touchpoints into business-critical opportunities, thereby improving brand health and net promoter scores.
Takeaways
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Preference management the ‘gold standard’ approach to data privacy
The future of personalised marketing is predicated on the articulation and delivery of a value exchange that is not only apparent, but also compelling from the consumer’s perspective, according to a new WARC Exclusive.
Why it matters
Given the ever-expanding patchwork of local and regional data privacy regulation, it’s more important than ever to have a people-centric approach to data and privacy that prioritises choice and respects preference.
What that means in practice
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Data pipeline drying up? Try ‘engagement loyalty’
Marketers concerned about a shortfall in quality customer data in a post-cookie environment should reframe loyalty programmes to reward consumers for their engagement with a brand.
Loyalty for engagement
Most loyalty schemes are quite transactional in nature. This risks training customers to “go through the motions” in the expectation of discounts, according to a new WARC Exclusive. It also offers little insight into how customers actually engage with products and services.
Exploiting owned media channels
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