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Daily effectiveness insights, curated by WARC's editors.
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Future of Strategy 2021: strategy is in demand – and changing
Future of Strategy 2021: strategy is in demand – and changing
While it was encouraging to observe the growing importance of the strategist in 2020, this year’s Future of Strategy report from WARC notes how, in 2021, that prominence has led to some introspection among the strategy community about the best place to learn and practice.
Why it matters
WARC’s annual report on strategy is based on a global survey of practitioners gives a helicopter view of what the discipline is thinking. You can read a sample here; subscribers have full access.
Takeaways
- Strategists are busier than ever as economies open up. The emphasis on strategy has continued from the first year of the pandemic, with workloads and productivity remaining high. However, mid-level strategists are increasingly looking beyond agencies for new challenges.
- Training is a problem. Few strategists have formal training and few receive the funds or opportunities to pursue such training – the report identifies this as a potential weakness for agencies looking to retain strategic talent.
- Strategists are increasingly looking upstream – to client-side, consultancy, or freelance opportunities – as the day-to-day business of project-based downstream planning is frustrating to many.
- On diversity, equity, and inclusion, the industry continues to talk a good game but tangible action is less apparent.
Three new performance models for sports sponsorship
Marketers seeking greater performance from sponsorship outlays can adopt a trio of new models, as shown by brand owners as diverse as brewer Anheuser-Busch and social investment platform eToro.
Three models
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Effectiveness roadmaps give 26% boost to marketing effectiveness cultures
Effectiveness roadmaps give 26% boost to marketing effectiveness cultures
The marketing effectiveness culture of the industry is generally healthy, but a new report says there is significant work that can be done at a deeper level to boost business performance, most significantly through agencies and brands creating effectiveness roadmaps.
What is an effectiveness roadmap?
The IPA explains it as having a coherent strategy and plan for continual improvement to business value across four quadrants – Focus / Process / People / Data Tools & Measurement – which is understood by the organisation as a whole. By analysing organisations’ performance across these quadrants, it is possible to identify ways to improve the industry’s marketing effectiveness culture.
What difference does it make?
The inaugural IPA Effectiveness Culture Monitor finds that having an effectiveness roadmap positively increases marketing effectiveness culture scores by 26%. There are increases across all of the four quadrants with the most sizeable in Focus – having that clear vision which understands the levers to impact and value – from 5.4 to 7.8 out of 10.
Brands with an effectiveness roadmap are also more likely to balance long and short-term value and consider long-term value crucial.
What should I do?
- If you don’t have a roadmap, create one. The marketing effectiveness culture score of organisations increases from 3.7 among those who have yet to start, to 7.0 out of 10 once they have begun.
- Get buy-in from senior leaders. The Effectiveness Monitor Culture scores increase from 5.7 when there is no senior buy-in to 7.4 when those values are shared by the leadership.
- For agencies with a roadmap in place, there is an opportunity to become a stronger partner with their clients to show them the road to value.
Sourced from IPA [Image: IPA]
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Lessons and reflections: TBWA’s local talent development journey
Lessons and reflections: TBWA’s local talent development journey
TBWA’s Sean Donovan, Hui Tsin Yee and Jan Cho view diversity not as a journey with an end but a journey of commitment.
Why it matters
A successful DEI strategy is a movement, not a mandate, with all hands on deck and led from the very top.
Takeaways
- DEI cannot be left to chance – if it can’t be measured, it can’t be managed.
- TBWA’s Take the Lead goal increased female leadership globally for a more balanced, inclusive and successful company.
- Changing the makeup of the workforce and ultimately the industry requires long-term commitment.
Quote
“Our vision for diversity, equity and inclusion means relentlessly assessing, disrupting and addressing inequities for marginalised communities to achieve equitable and actionable outcomes” – TBWA’s Sean Donovan, Hui Tsin Yee and Jan Cho.
This is part of WARC’s Purpose Incorporated: A primer for brands in APAC series tackling the complexities and nuances of how brands can go beyond profit to do good and do better in the Asia-Pacific region.
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Advertisers have a critical role to play in combating climate change denial
The largely unchecked digital platforms, the advertisers that fund the internet, and regulators must all work together to delegitimise dangerous climate denial narratives, argues David Puttnam, Chair of the House of Lords Select Committee on Democracy and Digital Technologies.
Why it matters
Tackling the existential risks caused by climate change is even harder when disinformation is disseminated online. Adverts that appear next to misinformation can legitimise it and have the effect of undermining a brand’s own sustainability goals and reputation.
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Three in four APAC marketers have adopted a mobile first approach
Increased opportunities to reach consumers by social and m-commerce are driving APAC marketers to step-up their mobile-first approach, says a new report from WARC and the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA).
Why it matters
Mobile was one of the most resilient channels during the pandemic and growing use of social media, combined with increased e-commerce, has driven further innovations in m-commerce, particularly through mobile payments and shoppable media. Both pose significant opportunity for marketers to monetise their mobile audiences.
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APAC is physically healthier but mentally struggling: study
APAC is physically healthier but mentally struggling: study
Almost half of the Asia Pacific region say they are physically healthier than before the pandemic, yet a quarter also say they are anxious and/or depressed, reveals a four-country study by Wunderman Thompson that examines health behaviours, attitudes and triggers across physical, mental, relational and financial health, and how each impacts the other.
Why it matters
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to surge and dip, insights into APAC’s post-pandemic health landscape will help governments, businesses, healthcare providers and health brands to better understand consumers at a time when health is top of mind and under threat.
Key insights
- The APAC region scores 6.6 on a scale of 1–10 for overall health; respondents from India report feeling the healthiest at 7.6, followed by China (7.2), Singapore (6.1) and Japan (5.3).
- 45% of respondents say they are physically healthier than before the pandemic and 71% declare physical health “very much” a priority, but their mental health has taken a beating.
- A quarter of the region is struggling with anxiety and/or depression; 45% of respondents say being mentally down makes them less productive and 40% say they exercise less.
- To cope with life in a pandemic, 19% of respondents are smoking more, 21% are drinking more alcohol and 73% are spending more time on screens as these activities make them feel good and/or are a social lubricant.
- Indians report feeling the most financial stress and Japanese the least. However, Japanese lead in depression.
- China and India are the biggest app adopters; Indians are also most likely to use blood pressure apps at 39% (versus 24.4% overall) and fitness apps at 40.4% (versus 27.9% overall).
- The Chinese are ahead in using sleep apps with 40.3% of Chinese respondents saying they use them versus 21.7% overall.
Background
The findings are based on an online survey of 4,000 people aged 18–70+ in China, India, Japan and Singapore conducted between February and April 2021.
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DIY vs. DIFM: Different mindsets for empathy and sales
Deep human understanding and empathy will be the biggest competitive advantage for marketers in a COVID world, maintains Anna Cherry of Spark Foundry.
Why it matters
In a world with new needs, priorities and new habits, DIY (do it yourself) and DIFM (do it for me) are two behaviours that have become habitual and these two distinct mindsets – one stemming from a need for control and the other from loss – make it important for brands to understand the values and beliefs that sit behind an individual or group’s behaviour.
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44% of adults say they are not fully represented in advertising
44% of adults say they are not fully represented in advertising
Brands are failing to achieve diverse representation in their advertising, as more than two-fifths of consumers (44%) say they are not fully represented by the people they see in adverts, according to research across 17 markets from YouGov. Just 19% feel fully represented, with 31% in the middle (neither agreeing nor disagreeing).
Why it matters
Evidence shows that deliberately choosing to reach diverse audiences in more contextual, more targeted and more representative spaces can have a bigger impact for brands.
WARC's latest research explores conscious media investment and how this can support diversity and inclusion, with Diageo and GSK providing examples of this in practice.
Takeaways
- Over two-fifths of consumers (44%) say they are not fully represented by the people they see in adverts.
- This is true across the world - in 14 of the 17 markets surveyed, a greater share of people say they do not feel represented.
Sourced from YouGov, WARC Data
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Back to the future with email
Almost two-thirds (63%) of US advertisers are invested in growing email lists via newsletters, seeing these as a valuable way to reach, target and personalize communication in the absence of third-party data.
That’s according to a survey by martech platform LiveIntent and Advertiser Perceptions that polled more than 150 US senior brand and agency marketers across verticals.
Why it matters
Email has long been a leading marketing tool that is essential to building trusted relationships between consumers and publishers. As advertisers look to replace third-party cookies while continuing to be committed to trust and privacy in their solutions, email identifiers have emerged as a top alternative.
A majority of respondents (80%) believe that email identifiers offer the most direct path to consumer opt-in and consent. Many already rely on encrypted email identifiers, and advertisers are largely optimistic that IDs tied to email identifiers can provide a universal alternative that will be widely accepted by buyers and sellers.
Key findings
- More than three-quarters of advertisers report high levels of satisfaction with the measurement and targeting capabilities of their newsletter advertising strategies.
- More than four in five advertisers plan to use email to strengthen lookalike targeting, dynamic creative offerings and measurement.
- Within the next six months, 49% of marketers plan to use industry-backed ID graphs/consortia to address privacy changes while 48% plan to focus on building second-party data relationships.
- A majority of advertisers consider the ability to drive ROI, the ability to achieve scale and reach, and the transparency and accuracy of the solution as the most important criteria when choosing an identity solution partner.
Sourced from LiveIntent
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Findings from the Facebook document pile
Findings from the Facebook document pile
Facebook, the world’s most significant and scrutinised social media company, knows a lot about its internal problems, according to a trove of documents uncovered by the Wall Street Journal – here’s what we know.
Why it matters
Is Facebook a bad place to advertise? Still no. While it has since 2019 tried to implement more of a master brand ‘by Facebook’ strategy, one of its key strengths is that Instagram and WhatsApp enjoy an important separation from the mothership, at least in people’s minds. The other factor is that most of Facebook’s users now don’t live in the United States where this is major news.
However, the pressure is on, between reports of secret preferential treatment for VIPs and company knowledge of the mental health impact the company was having on its users , and the promise of more revelations to come. Those that are currently public have already drawn Senate attention.
It boils down to the fact that rules, laws, and even people are not prepared for a company, driven by potent and clearly effective recommendation algorithms, that is this consequential. Should an advertising destination – which is, ultimately, what Facebook Inc. is – touch this many people, be this opaque, and continue to be so successful despite ignoring problems that have been brought to its attention?
The documents
The Wall Street Journal’s reporting shows that Facebook’s own researchers have identified major problems with the service, not limited to policy exceptions and adverse effects on users, but that the platform has not fixed them. There are reasons both technical and commercial for some of these oversights.
- The Journal’s first revelation surrounds XCheck – pron: Cross-Check – which was a technical solution to whitelisting some 5.8 million of the platform’s VIP users from rules around bullying, hate speech, sexual content that apply to everybody else automatically. XCheck is a review system that blocks automatic moderation of content posted by VIPs while it passes to a human moderator in order to avoid negative media attention from incorrect policy enforcement against influential celebrities and politicians.
- One of the most egregious examples was when the footballer Neymar Jr. posted the name and nude images of a woman who had accused him of rape. In his counteraccusation of extortion on Instagram he posted images and content that clearly contravened the site’s policies, but XCheck allowed these to stand. Worse still, despite a one strike policy against posters of revenge porn, Neymar was allowed to keep his account.
- The second story surrounds several reports, reviewed by senior leadership, that outlined the effect of Facebook platforms – especially Instagram – on young women and girls. Driven by the understanding that the platform is more geared to social comparison than its competition, many young women in the US and UK report feelings of unattractiveness, anxiety, and – among a minority – suicidal thoughts.
Key quote
“We are not actually doing what we say we do publicly,” said a 2019 internal Facebook review of XCheck, adding that the policy was a “breach of trust”.
Sourced from the Wall Street Journal
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Ireland’s National Lottery focuses on attention
Ireland’s National Lottery focuses on attention
Social campaigns for Ireland’s National Lottery are now focused on attention rather than engagement and reach.
Why it matters
Likes, clicks and view duration are the wrong tools for the job of ensuring that the National Lottery is the first brand Irish consumers think of when feeling optimistic and dreaming of changing their lives, explains social media manager Stephen Cleary in Marketing.ie.
With the switch to attention, the brand has rethought its approach to media planning and buying, including buying advertising for the first time on a social media platform with lower reach but greater active attention than its usual choice.
Takeaways
- The use of attention data to plan media has streamlined planning processes, reduced reliance on vanity metrics and driven clearer brand objectives.
- There is a more structured approach to the use of distinctive brand assets so that social ads can be largely visual (with little text and no reliance on sound) yet instantly recognisable.
- The campaign saw a 35% increase in attention seconds and a nine point uplift in distinctive brand asset score.
Key quote
“Across the digital landscape, including TV and VOD, the cost of attention must be appreciated to plan media properly” – Stephen Cleary, social media manager at Ireland’s National Lottery.
Sourced from Marketing.ie [Image: lottery.ie]
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TikTok user activity overtakes YouTube
TikTok user activity overtakes YouTube
TikTok's user activity has overtaken YouTube's in the United States and UK, though the app still lags behind in South Korea and Japan, according to an analysis of Android devices by App Annie.
Why it matters
Both platforms are expected to benefit from a shift in marketing budgets, with online video, influencer content and social media seeing the greatest planned increase in 2022.
For YouTube, the quickest growth is coming from connected TV devices, while TikTok is expanding its user base to older audiences. Additional research shows most TikTok users are female and younger, while YouTube is more popular with male and older audiences.
Takeaways
- TikTok user activity is higher than YouTube's in the United States and UK, though it still lags behind in South Korea and Japan.
- The short-form video app has seen quicker growth since 2019 than YouTube in all four markets.
Sourced from App Annie, WARC Data
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Technology: The game changer for rural India
Wunderman Thompson’s Amit Rangra examines how the pandemic, the agri-economy, the FMCG sector and, most importantly, technology, are demonstrating the potential of rural markets.
Why it matters
The rural market’s size and importance have been boosted by technology, and greater access to entertainment and information has led to changing aspirations, making a predictable model for success more challenging to achieve for marketers.
Takeaways
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Investing in quality journalistic environments boosts reach, efficiency
Advertisers can combat the rise of, and nefarious effects of, mis/disinformation by redirecting media budget to support quality journalism, says Veena McCoole, Director of Partnerships at NewsGuard.
Why it matters
Misinformation can harm companies both directly and indirectly: directly, if the misinformation spreading involves negative or misleading information on the company’s products or services itself; indirectly if the company becomes associated with sources of misinformation online, such as through programmatic advertising on health hoax websites.
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What Microsoft, creator of Teams, learned from lockdown
What Microsoft, creator of Teams, learned from lockdown
Teams collaborate and communicate less in a remote workplace, according to new Microsoft research published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour.
Why it matters
Even in societies with wide availability of vaccinations and high take-up, plans to return to offices are being put on hold. While recreating virtually what makes an office socially interesting is extremely difficult, information on how to react can equip organisations with some tools about how to counteract WFH’s limitations.
The research
Using rich data on the emails, calendars, instant messages, video/audio calls and workweek hours of 61,182 US Microsoft employees over the first six months of 2020 the study estimates the causal effects of firm-wide remote work on collaboration and communication.
Findings
- Collaboration networks between workers and departments become more static and siloed with fewer bridges between disparate parts.
- Synchronous communication (through voice or video calls) has decreased, meaning people are using messaging software more with the potential to diminish the communication of complex technical or social information.
- Even under a hybrid system, with some workers in the office and others at home, the effects remain.
Key quote
“Without intervention, the effects we discovered have the potential to impact workers’ ability to acquire and share new information across groups, and as a result, affect productivity and innovation. In light of these findings, companies should be thoughtful about if and how they choose to adopt long-term work-from-home policies” – Microsoft.
Sourced from Nature
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HSBC gets data and insights working together
Interpreting data and fusing this information with insights is the “special responsibility” of marketing teams, according to the global CMO of HSBC, the banking giant.
Why it matters
Data may tell you what customers are doing, but not why. The ability to bring data analysis together with customer insights can not only help brand custodians design and develop products and services that customers really need, but also inform the creative process and marketing mix to good effect.
Takeaways
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Jay Chiat 2021 award winners announced
The 4A’s Jay Chiat Awards last night announced the winners of the 24th edition of the global strategy prize, with Unilever picking up three golds and Trans Lifeline, UN Women, and Hallmark a gold each; the Grand Prix goes to Home Centre for A Dad’s Job.
The top gong
Furniture retailer Home Centre’s A dad’s job by FP7 McCann Dubai addressed the cultural taboo of single mothers across the Middle East and North Africa, despite an eighth of homes regionally that are sustained by a mother alone.
On Father’s Day, an ad aired with children sharing tributes to the main presence in their homes, with a reveal that they were talking about their mothers. While this kicked off a strong backlash among conservatives, the ad spoke to the 80% of its potential buyers who were women. Its commercial impact was huge, bringing Home Centre level with IKEA on brand consideration and growing revenues 120% in the quarter.
The list of 2021 winners
WARC subscribers can read a selection of the winning case studies here.
Grand Prix
- Home Centre: A Dad's job
Gold
- Healthcare Strategy - Lifebuoy: H is for handwashing
- PR Strategy - Good Humor: A new jingle for a new era
- Connection Strategy - Trans Lifeline: We see us
- National Strategy - MELĒ: A scientific breakthrough – the science of melanin-rich skin
- Nonprofit Strategy - UN Women Australia: When will she be right?
- Product/Service Creation Strategy, 2021 - Crayola: Colors of the world
Silver
- Brand Pivot Strategy - Old Forester: Turning lemons into derby mint juleps
- Healthcare Strategy - Obie: A problem too big to ignore, an opportunity too big to resist
- Connection Strategy - Frida Mom: From baby-centric storytelling to Mom-centric truth telling
- Global Strategy - Pedigree: A force for good
- National Strategy - Beam Suntory: 6ourbon 7ime
- Product/Service Creation Strategy - Degree: Degree inclusive
- Regional Strategy - YMCA of Greater Houston: How to turn a membership into a mindset
Bronze
- Brand Pivot Strategy - United Way: A closer look at poverty
- Brand Pivot Strategy - Michelob Ultra: Courtside
- PR Strategy - Taco Bell: Restless creativity
- Connection Strategy - Donner Sang Compter: Blood unity
- Global Strategy - Netflix: The power of story
- National Strategy - NBC News: Plan your vote
- National Strategy - The U.S. Census Bureau: Bringing the US together for our future
- Nonprofit Strategy - FCB Health Network: The trial for #ClinicalEquality
- Regional Strategy - Reddit: Up the vote
Sourced from the 4A’s via WARC
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APAC online retail to add US$1 trillion by 2025: Forrester
APAC online retail to add US$1 trillion by 2025: Forrester
As Asia Pacific (APAC) countries became the first to be affected by the pandemic, and also the first to impose stay-at-home restrictions – leading to store closures that pushed buyers online – e-commerce grew by 16% in APAC in 2020, according to Forrester Research.
Why it matters
Online retail growth varies significantly across APAC, and the prevailing macroeconomic conditions and the agility to frame policies tackling the pandemic are two key factors.
Key insights
- In 2020, APAC’s year-over-year e-commerce growth was lower than in other regions but still added US$230 billion, with China accounting for one third of the additional global sales.
- Online retail in APAC grew faster in 2020 than in 2019, and by 2025, it will reach US$2.8 trillion, up from US$1.7 trillion in 2020.
- Among retail categories, grocery grew the fastest at 46% in the region in 2020 – a trend seen continuing in 2021.
- Grocery alone will maintain 2020’s growth momentum to reach US$473 billion by 2025, overtaking consumer electronics – the top category in dollar terms – for the first time in 2024.
- The most notable factors that influenced the e-commerce market in 2020 in Asia Pacific are country growth, category growth and buyer growth.
- Online retail in Asia Pacific is set to reach about one third of total retail sales by 2025.
Advertisers need to do due diligence, says United Nations
The advertising community should understand the human rights impact of the stories it supports and build due diligence inquiry into the impact of digital advertising and programmatic buying, says a leading figure at the United Nations.
“Advertisers are often society’s most eloquent story-tellers, and the decisions they make about which media outlets they fund, and which narratives to boost and nurture are important in creating a vision of the world that we want to see,” says Pia Oberoi, senior advisor on migration and human rights at the UN.
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