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Major audio investment gap exists for marketers

Consumers spend 31% of their media time with audio, yet brands only allocate 8.8% of their media budget to audio, with 25% of brands missing from audio entirely, a new report from WARC and iHeart Media finds. 

Why it matters 

The Investment Gap: Understanding the Value of Audio highlights a striking divergence between consumption of and investment in audio. Whilst WARC Data forecasts audio advertising spend in the US to reach $13.9bn this year, a double-digit recovery (+10.9%) from the pandemic’s 2020 cuts, there remains a large audio investment gap. 

Consumers of every generation are spending more and more time with audio content across radio, streaming and podcasts, driven by audio’s ease and accessibility: the spread of wireless headphones and smart speakers are all adding to in-car, at home and at work listening. A vast opportunity exists in this mass reach and high engagement audio advertising market.

Advertiser attitudes

In addition to highlighting how audio effective is across every stage of the funnel – with the ability to increase brand awareness, create favorability and spark conversion – the study identifies four key types of advertiser attitudes towards audio: 

• Audio Avoiders: The 25% of advertisers who do not invest in audio at all.
• Broadcast Believers: They have seen the benefits of radio and are beginning to delve into more forms of audio.

• Digital Only: They have started to invest but are missing out on the full suite of audio options, particularly the 90% reach of broadcast radio.

• Cross-Platform Champions: They explore audio’s full potential and continue to test, learn from and optimize their investments across platforms.

Takeaway

Whether brands tap into broadcast radio for its mass reach or its effectiveness or dive deeper into podcasting for its highest conversion rates, ight-sizing audio investment will drive real impact and growth for brands. 

Madewell and ThredUp’s new store chases second-hand wave

Madewell, part of the J.Crew Group, and online thrift store ThredUp are trialling a second-hand only store in Brooklyn which extends the two firms’ used jeans e-commerce, Madewell Forever; the effort follows the rising tide of pre-owned fashion.

Why it matters

Second-hand shopping isn’t new, but the scale offered by new services like ThredUp in the US and Depop in Europe has opened up a new channel for fashion retailers under pressure to clean up their environmental record and become more sustainable.

The offer

• A Circular Store, as the pop up is known, is a marketing and education exercise for the partnership, but where consumers can buy pre-owned Madewell items for between $10 and $40.
• The store also features a repairs desk where people can either have the life of their clothes extended or learn mending skills.

The context

Ahead of the pandemic, the second-hand market was becoming big business for companies like ThredUp and Depop – which was acquired by Etsy this year – and was opening up new opportunities for luxury brands to bring new consumers, often younger, into the brand experience with genuine items. For these young players like ThredUp, the big opportunity now lies in an emerging resale-as-a-service platform business.

The future is bright. Riding a new acceptance of second-hand items among consumers, spurred by a new recognition that they need to buy more sustainably, brands at the higher end of the market, like Patagonia and Levis, are expanding resale. Meanwhile IKEA, the furniture retailer, is testing reselling furniture in the Nordics.

Be smart

While brands are shrewdly following consumer demand, serious questions arise around how the fashion business model needs to change from selling more and more each quarter to selling less without tanking the business.

Sourced from the Wall Street Journal

39% of online publisher traffic is from loyal readers

Two-fifths (39%) of all online publisher traffic comes from loyal readers, making it the largest audience segment, according to digital publishing analytics company Chartbeat. A quarter (26%) of worldwide traffic comes from returning readers, while 15% is from new visitors.

Why it matters

Audience loyalty has become more important for online publishers as many have shifted to subscription models at a time of falling advertising revenue. This has proven successful for some as retention rates have improved since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Takeaways

• Two-fifths (39%) of all online publisher traffic comes from loyal readers, making it the largest audience segment.
• Loyalty is highest for publishers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and lowest in North America and Asia Pacific.

Sourced from Chartbeat, WARC Data

Match brand personality to sonic branding

With the rapid rise in voice interfaces, audio search and podcasting, more and more brands are recognising that audio is an untapped opportunity to build emotional brand connections with consumers.

Why it matters

Genuine product differentiation is rare, so emotion is increasingly important to getting people’s attention. Music is the most potent driver of emotions, yet many brands remain deaf to the opportunities that it unlocks. Some may even have a sonic identity that is fighting the brand personality, making the brand equity less distinct and harder to recall and understand. Getting it right can increase the effectiveness and efficiency of brand communications.

In its new Personality report, SoundOut, the sonic branding and audio marketing testing agency, assesses the sonic branding of 135 leading UK and US brands and comes up with some guidelines for success.

Takeaways 

• Determining the personality of your brand is essential. The closer your sonic personality is to the actual personality of your brand the faster it can become a distinctive brand asset.
• If your sonic logo is to become a distinctive brand asset, as opposed to simply a marketing asset, people need to hear it in isolation and immediately think of your brand – and only your brand.
• Consumers must be positively disposed to your brand before an emotional link can be made, e.g. a strong Net Promoter Score has a material impact on the successful execution of a sonic strategy.
• Don’t ever replace an effective sonic logo. But do start again if your logo remains largely unrecognised after several years.
• If you get a sonic personality right in one territory it will likely work globally, but consider localising the melody through, for example, different instrumentation.

Sourced from SoundOut [Image: SoundOut]

Facebook outlines impact of privacy headwinds

A changing privacy landscape is expected to hit Facebook’s ad business and has presented challenges to campaign measurement, the company has admitted in a blog post.

Why it matters

The takeaway from the news as it has been reported is that the company will take a hit; however, it’s not the only ad company or brand feeling the effects of stricter privacy rules as imposed by popular platform companies.

Instead, the list of recommended actions for advertisers to take shows the need for a broader view of marketing activity, looking at full campaign performance rather than individual creative, and – crucially – to use a mixed measurement methodology beyond just Facebook. Now is not the time to have all your eggs in one basket.

The good news for advertisers, however, is that even with stricter rules and less accurate measurement, it appears that ads on Facebook are still working well.

Key points

The post from Facebook VP, Product Marketing, Graham Mudd begins with an admission of underreporting campaign performance, so while achieving results has become more expensive, many advertisers have found that the impact of their advertising spend on Facebook has been greater than expected. “Our estimate is that in aggregate we are underreporting iOS web conversions by approximately 15%,” he said.

Like much of the online ad industry, Facebook is beginning to feel the effects of stricter privacy measures, especially Apple’s iOS 14 update which will now have been installed on most devices currently in circulation.

“We know many of you are experiencing this greater impact as we are.” It’s important to note here that these are usually small- to medium-sized businesses which rely heavily on Facebook for digital marketing.

What brands need to do

You can find a fuller list on the original post, but here are some key ideas.

• Allow time before analysing performance. From a data perspective, it’s worth waiting a minimum of 72 hours for optimisation to take effect. From a marketing perspective, focusing on the short-term effects can obscure some mid- to long-term effects.
• “Where possible, analyze reporting at the campaign level.”
• Use systems (which are available from Facebook and other providers) to track conversions by linking marketing metrics to Facebook activity.
• “You may also want to consider all measurement solutions available to you, on Facebook and off. During this period of transition, it’s prudent to review all measurement solutions to identify potential underreporting.” Now is a time to test and learn.

More consumers look to brands for stability

The number of global study respondents saying they expect brands to create stability in uncertain times has risen 30% since 2019 – with brands now viewed as important a pillar of society as educators and friend-and-family networks.

Why it matters

That’s the key finding from the latest Brands in Motion report, a worldwide study of how perceptions shift over time, conducted by WE Communications and YouGov. But The Bravery Mandate also highlights the tension between growing expectations of brands to provide stability in a fast-changing, fractured world and heightened skepticism about purpose-washing.

Address the divide

• Half of respondents (52%) believe brand attempts to impact societal issues are anchored in trying to sell more products or services. 
• Two out of three say they are more likely to purchase or recommend products or services from brands that address societal issues that matter to them.
• Two-thirds of survey respondents are open to brands speaking and acting on societal issues, one third are not. 

Rethink comms 

• Stakeholders want frequent communication, with 58% saying brands must act or communicate at least weekly on topics of importance to be a leading voice, supported by sustained action.
• Seventy-two percent of consumers prefer that brands make multi-year investments in one issue rather than invest in a new cause every year.

• Globally, almost 75% of respondents say brands should reassess communications in light of societal issues at least every six months, and half said at least every three months.

Key quote

“A brand’s purpose platform must be consistent enough to ground it, flexible enough to evolve with the times, and clear enough to navigate the inevitable unknowns” – Melissa Waggener Zorkin, Global CEO, WE Communications.

Sourced from WE Communications 

Half of adults always accept website cookies

One-half (48%) of adults say they always click 'accept all' when a website asks about cookies, according to research across 17 markets from YouGov.

Why it matters

Consumer reaction to cookies varies across markets, with Poland, Spain and the UK being more receptive and the United States and China being less. As cookies are set to be phased out, marketers will need to make sure that any replacement has a broad appeal across target audiences.

Takeaways

• One-half (48%) of adults say they always click 'accept all' when a website asks about cookies.
• In comparison, one-quarter (27%) do not always click 'accept all', with this being most common in the United States.

Sourced from YouGov, WARC Data

Facebook’s Project Amplify controversy explained

Testing ideas is the way that Facebook moves forward, but emerging reports that the social network tested a tweak to its system – Project Amplify – that would surface positive messages and news from the social network on users’ pages has brought into question the company’s designation as a tech rather than a media firm with editorial responsibilities. But the real problems run deeper.

Why it matters

The drip drip of negative PR against Facebook is widespread. Less common is a story about what the company is trying to do about it. Algorithmic tweaks are at the core of the business model, but as Wall Street Journal reports last week indicated, they can often have unintended consequences.

This story isn’t that. It’s about a newly combative stance toward oversight – oversight that the company itself acknowledges it cannot provide alone – while casting the founder and chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, as a visionary above the fray.

Still, PR crises are nothing new for Facebook and the business continues to thrive. However, with designs on a metaverse that will reach even deeper into people’s lives, an inability to deal with the problems it already has or to take on board criticism will sit uncomfortably with many.

The story so far

The story, reported by the New York Times, placed the change in the context of a broader shift in its communications strategy. Facebook disputes the algorithmic change was to the newsfeed – a spokesperson explained that it was a small test to surface information labelled with Facebook’s logo in user’s own pages, similar to CSR efforts promoted on a brand’s owned channels – as well as the origin of these changes at a January meeting, which it says never happened.

Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, for his part, has objected vociferously to the story, calling it false on his personal Facebook page, while also correcting the times that he was not riding an “electric surfboard” as originally reported, but a hydrofoil.

What has been independently reported elsewhere by The Information is that the comms strategy around Zuckerberg has shifted in order to move the boss away from high profile policy issues and toward more comfortable ground of new products and the vision for the Metaverse.

The aggressive press dealings will instead sit more firmly with spokespeople and with the former UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who is the company’s VP for Global Affairs and Communications.

The boring but important stuff

Other reported problems are less high profile but probably more important. CrowdTangle, a Facebook-owned platform for tracking the engagement metrics of Facebook posts and widely used by researchers and reporters to track posts, is being decommissioned and its team broken up. The read here is that stories using CrowdTangle data were fuelling the negative PR against the company.

As Clegg wrote in his rebuttal of Wall Street Journal reporting last week, “none of these issues can be solved by technology companies alone, which is why we work in close partnership with researchers, regulators, policymakers and others”. By the company’s own estimation, external help is needed. Platforms this big and influential need to be better understood, especially if they have designs on a deeper engagement in our lives.

Sourced from The New York Times, Facebook, The Information

A spoonful of local content helps the message go in

More than a third of UK consumers ignore most ads they see on social media due to content being irrelevant to them, but the more local that content is the more likely they are to pay attention. 

Why it matters

That’s the, not entirely unsurprising, finding of research from online neighbourhood network Nextdoor. But it adds weight to the idea that the localism trend will stick around post-pandemic, with all that implies for how brands go about their marketing. National campaigns by themselves may not be as effective as before.

Key findings 

A study of 2,000 adults found consumers across the UK are now engaging with their local communities as part of their purchase consideration: 

• 28% of consumers are more likely to shop locally following the pandemic
• 26% are more likely to pay attention to an ad if the information relates specifically to them and their local area
• 17% are more likely to pay attention to an ad which highlights the positive work a business does for their local community
• 23% are more likely to shop with businesses which support their local community
• 17% prefer to shop with brands that they consider to be adding value to their life and community. 

Key quote 

“Meeting consumers where they are and highlighting the positive impact of a national brand on a local level is all the more crucial for advertisers’’ – Emma Mondolino, Head of Business Marketing & Strategy at Nextdoor. 

Sourced from Nextdoor

Nearly half of Australians will view ads for streaming discounts: survey

Almost half of Australians (47%) say they would be willing to view advertising on their streaming services in exchange for a 30% discount on their subscription, according to the 10^th edition of Deloitte’s Media Consumer Survey, which investigates how Australian audiences across the generations are currently consuming all types of media.

Why it matters

Demand for subscription entertainment shows no sign of slowing amid lockdowns but, as content fragments across multiple existing services, managing and consuming those services is becoming complex. The race is on to solve audience experience, with pay TV providers, telcos and the digital giants seeking potential third-party aggregation solutions.

Key insights

• 56% of millennials and 54% of Gen Z are willing to expose themselves to commercial messages, compared to only 18% of those aged 66 or older.
• But as free-to-air viewing shifts from live television to Broadcast Video on Demand on devices, “willingness to engage with advertisements may be a challenge”.
  
• The report found that respondents were not enthusiastic about engaging with advertisements on smartphones (20%) or laptops (12%).
• The younger generations are said to be more responsive, which is likely due to their being digital natives, with Gen Z most likely to engage with ads on smartphones (40%), compared to laptops (20%).
• Advertising revenue will continue to be a critical revenue stream for both individual services and entertainment ecosystems, providing a valuable supplement to subscriptions.
• However, striking the right balance in the use of personal data and targeting the right demographics on the right devices will be critical.

Quote

“Advertisers must not forget the power of ad-avoidance in driving audiences towards lucrative subscription revenue; for some particularly intolerant audiences, an ad-free alternative to an advertising-heavy offering may be the best subscription acquisition tool” – Deloitte.

Sourced from Deloitte

B2B marketers use broader range of channels than B2C

B2B companies use a broader range of marketing channels and data sources than B2C companies, according to a survey of marketers worldwide by Salesforce.

Why it matters

Overall, 19% of B2B marketing budgets go towards advertising and there are growing opportunities in new channels like digital video and audio. However, as more channels and data sources are used, B2B companies can struggle with marketing attribution and reporting.

Takeaways

• In the 11 marketing channels asked about, B2B companies report a higher usage for ten of them.
• The gap is largest for direct mail/print advertising - 64% of B2C companies use this channel but this rises to three-quarters (73%) for B2B companies.

Sourced from Salesforce, WARC Data

Brands count the cost of selling on Amazon

Brands are finding that the costs of selling through Amazon are rising sharply, as they increasingly need to take out sponsored advertising as well as paying for transaction fees and fulfillment services.

Context

Given the importance of Amazon as both a search engine for consumers looking for products and a platform to buy those products, the idea of adding sponsored search items was an obvious step for the e-commerce giant to bring in more revenue. Ads were the fastest-growing part of Amazon’s business in Q2, almost doubling to $7.9bn.

What’s happening now, says CNBC, is that the number of sponsored ads is increasing and there may be as many as six in response to a search where there were previously only two or three. 

Why it matters

With fewer organic search results on the first page, brands are having to pay to maintain visibility and as demand grows that is becoming more expensive: the cost per click for Amazon search advertising has increased almost 50% in the past year, according to the Canopy Management agency.

Background 

• Keyword-based Sponsored Product ads account for around three quarters of Amazon’s ad revenue but their share is declining as formats like Sponsored Brands advertising grow quicker.
• The growth of Amazon aggregators, which are acquiring independent sellers, is adding to the upwards pressure on advertising costs.
• Amazon says the number of ads shown will depend on search terms and the device used.

Sourced from CNBC, WARC Data