MullenLowe Mediahub, the media arm of Interpublic’s MullenLowe Group, has been appointed Global Media Agency of Record by Western Union, the iconic money transfer service, following a consolidation review that kicked off in May. It has put together a new operation called Team Union to service the account. The firm reported total advertising costs of $166.3 million in 2015. It buys close to $100 million worth of ad time and space each year according to people familiar with the numbers. In the U.S., it spent around $20 million on measured media last year according to Kantar Media. That was down from nearly $40 million in 2014. The scope of work includes online and offline communications planning, media planning and media buying. The win follows a competitive pitch against media planning incumbent Dentsu Aegis’ Vizeum and Publicis Groupe’s ZenithOptimedia. MullenLowe Mediahub selected talent from across the agency and IPG Mediabrands networks to create Team Union – which will service the client across its global footprint. Team Union’s global headquarters will be based in London, with a further 16 regional hubs across APAC, EMEA and the Americas and local media buying in multiple other countries. MullenLowe Profero has been Western Union’s global digital media agency since 2006. Dentsu Aegis’ mcgarrybowen will continue to handle Western Union’s global creative duties alongside BarBar Shop, Western Union’s in-house global creative production unit. Western Union is the first global account win for MullenLowe Mediahub since it absorbed Profero’s performance media capabilities which created an expanded global operation with over 400 people in 12 markets and backed by the buying power of IPG Mediabrands. Other MullenLowe Mediahub clients include Bose, Scotts Miracle-Gro, JetBlue, Royal Caribbean, Patrón, Netflix, Match.com, and Shinola.
A little more than a month ago, telecomm and entertainment giant AT&T re-bundled its agency assignment, selecting Omnicom Group for creative and media duties on its massive $3 billion advertising account. The scope of work also includes digital, data and analytics. Commenting on the appointment during an Advertising Week event today, Fiona Carter, Chief Brand Officer at AT&, said she was looking for a new agency model that would have an “exponential” impact on AT&T’s business. It’s early days, but she thinks she’s found it. “We wanted a model that would fuse media, creativity and data to our best advantage,” Carter told the Advertising Week crowd. Omnicom creative shop BBDO, which has served the client for a decade, will work with sibling media agency Hearts & Science to see that Carter’s vision is carried out. By and large, Carter said, “the agency model is still relatively traditional.” While some agencies have claimed to take a new approach, she doesn’t believe much actual change has occurred. As she sees it, most agencies are still siloed, which inhibits communication and creative output. Getting agencies in different locations to work optimally with each other is difficult. “I wanted people in one location finishing each other’s sentences,” she said. Carter also said that despite all the talk about how data helps marketers better connect with and message to consumers, rarely is data used to full advantage. That's largely due to a traditional agency structure that hasn’t changed much. Hearts & Science, Omnicom Media Group’s newest media shop, positions itself as a “data-driven” agency. Carter said that going forward with Omnicom, data will be “unleashed to the advantage of the creative process and free and accessible to all.” That in turn, will put pressure on brand planners at the agency to step up their game a bit. They’ll have to be adept at media and know how to exploit that unleashed data to the benefit of the client. Asked by MediaLink CEO Michael Kassan what the big difference was for BBDO going forward on the account, Andrew Robertson, president and CEO at the agency, said by combining forces with Hearts & Sciences there would be a lot more data-driven knowledge available about clusters of AT&T customers and prospects and a “lot less superficial groping around.” The creative process overall, he added, will be much more precise from a consumer targeting standpoint. David Lubars BBDO chairman and Chief Creative Officer said in today’s complex world “brands need to navigate with a holistic view, agility and focus.” The Omnicom solution will provide just that to AT&T. That said, he added, “you still need a big honkin idea” that can be developed to communicate with the various consumer clusters that data has shed so much additional light on. How those ideas come to life is hard to explain, he added. Chalk it up to “the magic of humanity.” Daryl Simm, CEO Omnicom Media Group, said that data is at the core of the offering. “Data is the glue,” he said. It provides knowledge about consumers, can help shape strategic direction and even provide inspiration. It also helps assess how effective messaging is or isn’t and how ads might be altered for better “stickiness.”
Yogurt brand Chobani has selected Wieden + Kennedy to serve as its new lead creative agency, to be led out of the agency’s flagship office in Portland, OR. The move comes about a month after the brand selected Horizon Media as its new media agency. The yogurt marketer spent more than $30 million on ads in 2015, according to Kantar Media. Chobani also confirmed Wednesday that it has appointed Lisa Gralnek vice president of emerging platforms, reporting to Chief Marketing and Brand Officer, Peter McGuinness. She previously ran her own brand and strategy consulting business. Additionally, Kwame-Taylor Hayford will join the company next month as managing director to lead creative technology and integrated production for the brand, reporting to Chief Creative Officer Leland Maschmeyer, who joined the company in July. Most recently, Kwame-Taylor was a partner at ad shop Sid Lee. Commenting on the W+ K selection, McGuinness stated: “We’re proud to be evolving our internal team and our tech and creative capabilities, and proud to be partnering with the best agencies in the world to help tell our story.” The brand’s last creative AOR was Droga5. But in March 2015, that AOR relationship ended with the brand indicating at the time that it was taking much of its creative advertising activity in house, albeit while using outside shops on a project-by-project basis. But given the company’s double-digit sales growth and launch of a number of new products since then, the decision was made to bring on W+K to help support and sustain that growth. There was no formal review, but sources familiar with the situation said that McGuinness, a former agency executive, was very familiar with W+K’s work and that after a number of meetings between the two firms the fit seemed to be good one. The first work from the new partnership with W+K is expected to launch in Q1 2017.
It's not easy to be a marketer in today's landscape. Why is it so hard to connect with consumers despite the proliferation of supply? And how can brands thrive when there are now so many ways for consumers to avoid all marketing messages? PopSugar's Anna Fieler, Diageo North America's Venky Balakrishnan, Seventh Generation's Joey Bergstein, AOL's Marta Martinez and Frito-Lay's Pat O'Toole joined moderator PwC Strategy&'s Chris Vollmer for a discussion about the current state of advertising during Advertising Week 2016. "The concept of focus is outdated. We need to think like portfolio managers," says Fieler. "If you are focused on one thing, you can miss the next thing." She notes that it takes .3 seconds to catch attention among mobile consumers, or the rate the hand moves. For all panelists, there are several key priorities to make sure they remain relevant to today's consumer. First, it's important to maintain propriety insights. They need to know more about their consumers and motivations. Then, develop integrated brand experiences. Third, create breakthrough content. This includes making and producing, as well as introduce some experiments. Lastly, enact versification and measurement. There needs to be a right set of practices to see if things are working. "Frito-Lay's challenge is to reach consumers at the right time with the right message," says O'Toole. "It's a crowded environment competing against cat videos." He says his company is constantly looking across different partners and media with a 70-20-10 framework. 70% of its budget goes to tried-and-true tactics, 20% are near-term projects that push the envelope, and the final 10% might fail but are viewed as 'lean in' moments. "We hope they will move up the chain," says O'Toole. One concept that hopes to become part of its 70% is the trick soccer team Los Cheetahs. Because the snack brand is extremely popular with Hispanics, Cheetos introduced this sports team as an "authentic way to bring the brand to life" with "wacky" events. They include players and mascot Chester, an online website, video and social media support. One key concern for Diageo is small brands competing against bigger brands like itself. There have been more than 800 new vodkas introduced last year and there have been over 5,000 new craft beers in the U.S. over the past five years. "The pie is growing at an exponential rate," says Balakrishnan. "For us, [a priority is] investing in new models of discovery." The old way of tapping into bartenders and influencers isn't as effective in today's world. Now, content via partnerships with tastemakers like Thrillist are more popular. Diageo also struggles with optimization across the value channel. "How to close the loop since channel fragmentation is just like media fragmentation," he asks. For Diageo, making sure the object is fully integrated is one solution. Endemic pieces of content is another. "We want to come at consumers with fresh new ways in as many ways at possible." Even though Unilever purchased Seventh Generation earlier this month, Joey Bergstein spoke about the company's scrappy start-up roots. The home cleaning brand microtargets its audience with a clear set of objectives. The brand recently took out a full page ad in TheNew York Times seeking regulation over cleaning product.Then it followed up with a press conference featuring US senators."We know our consumers are interested in those issues, as advocates," he says. "For us, it's about focus knowing and how to tell stories succinctly." There is also a clear path driving consumers to its brand. People typically turn to natural food, then home care and then personal care products. Hence, it's messaging focuses on "why it matters and educating that green isn't clean is a myth."
Talent, adapting to the pace of change and managing content flow across multiple platforms are some of the big issues CEOs in the media and marketing space are grappling with today, according to CEOs who spoke at an Advertising Week event. The pace of change is relentless and will continue to accelerate Susan Gianinno, North America Chairman Publicis Worldwide told attendees at the session. That has forced the agency to change in many ways to remain competitive. “You have to innovate daily and be hyper-responsive,” Gianinno said. “We’ve had to redefine creativity,” using a much broader definition that includes building new companies and helping clients with business transformation objectives. At agencies, Gianinno added that change has to occur on numerous levels including people and the way they work and their general mindset. “We’re broadening and diversifying our talent pool and creating new concepts, tools and methodologies to help people think differently,” she said. Office space at the agency has changed as well. Gianinno described it as “function based work spaces” with no offices and no paper. The result, she said, has been “much more spontaneous conversation which leads to innovative thought.” MDC Partners CEO Scott Kauffman said that the “crush for great talent” is one of the most pressing issues today. Attracting the best talent is much more difficult today given the added choices that candidates have from the technology and startup sectors as well as the client side of the marketing industry, he said. “It’s a constant battle,” he added and the industry remains challenged to come to terms with it. Jacki Kelley, COO Bloomberg Media Group said that a major issue for the industry is managing the huge influx of content and how it flows across the ever-growing number of platforms that are being developed. How content is managed, Kelley added, depends on the marketing objectives of individual companies. She said that Bloomberg is investing in its marketing services operation “in a much bigger way than in the past” because it sees a growth opportunity in bringing its content management expertise to agency and marketing clients. Content management is also a big focus for AT&T Adworks according to its president Rick Welday. With the recent acquisition of DirecTV, AT&T has placed a big bet on the mobile video business, he said. The acquisition, he noted, has driven a 50% increase in the amount of mobile video streams generated by the combined assets. Data also remains an issue—specifically how to make the best use of it. “Nobody is at a loss for data,” said Kelley. “We’re at a loss for intelligence about how to use it effectively. That’s what we’re all striving for.” Kauffman agreed. Gleaning insights from data is essential to creating effective work for clients. “That is one of the skillsets we’re constantly looking for,” he said.
In spite of the success and proliferation of Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, HBO Go and other pay TV services, a new study from Hub Entertainment Research has found that most people (53%) say they actually prefer free TV, where they “pay” by viewing commercials. Though as much as people love their free TV, they hate the ads that make that TV free and will do whatever they can to skip those ads. According to the study: - More than 8 in 10 (83%) DVR users skip ads “most of the time.” That includes 60% who say they skip every ad. - Two-thirds (68%) of DVR users say they will at least “sometimes” pause their DVR at the beginning of a live broadcast, so they can fast-forward through ads. One-quarter (26%) say they do this “every time.” - The majority (52% to 56%) skip ads “most” or “every time” on VOD and online platforms, when fast forward is available. What’s more, when fast forward has been disabled by those nefariously nasty on-demand cable channels, many TV viewers see that as more than just a minor annoyance. Nearly half (45%) say that fast forward disabling is a “major frustration.” None of this is actually news though the study did go a bit further and try to determine what kind of ads -- other than today's standard –might be more engaging. Consumers had the most positive reaction to three strategies: - Lighter ad loads: One ad per ad pod (rated as a 9.3 in terms of likelihood to pay attention to ads) was the highest rated idea tested. - Targeting ads based on relevance or product interest: Ads more relevant to a person's interests (8.1), fewer ads but more targeted (7.1), and ads shown based on product categories chosen in advance (5.9) all scored higher than average. - Gamifying the ad experience: Earn points for watching ads (8.2) and earn promo codes for watching ads (7.3), and include countdown clock for when the show will resume (5.9) also received strongly positive scores. In a brilliant twist of the fact that people simply hate ads no matter what form they arrive, Hub Principal Peter Fondulas said, “Conventional wisdom says that consumers simply don’t like ads on TV. But what our study suggests is that they don’t like the way ads are delivered on TV. Consumers say they’d welcome having ads more targeted to their interests and product needs. And what’s especially interesting is that better targeting of ads based on past purchases doesn’t appear to raise major privacy concerns.” Until those targeted ads are served and then everyone will be like, "Nah, I didn't really mean that. I don't want to see any ads at all!" Anyway, it's a no-win situation. Anyone for some content marketing? Oh wait, that sh*t sucks too.
We have all heard of ad fraud. And we all probably also know that showing ads to bots -- non-human visitors -- is a waste of money. But what is less well is how ad fraud can wreak havoc on analytics and measurement -- to the point that what you see in analytics is not what it seems. What are bots and what can they do? In order to understand how ad fraud can mess up analytics we need to first understand a key ingredient that is common to all ad fraud -- bots. Bots are simply automated browsers that bad guys can create and control by the millions to do exactly what they are programmed to do. For example bots can load Webpages and thus cause fake ad impressions to be created. Bots can fake mouse movements, page scrolling, and clicks and thus defeat most antifraud measurement companies that still think those are indicative of human users. Bots cover their tracks by lying about who they are or where they come from. For example, they just declare a user agent string that mimics popular human browsers like Google Chrome or Microsoft Internet Explorer. And they pass fake variables like utm_source=espn.com, which get faithfully recorded in analytics as if it came from ESPN.com when it clearly didn’t. Anything that is declared can be (easily) faked. So if the bots are actively disguising themselves as Internet Explorer or Chrome, when you see high percentages of these browsers in your analytics, does that actually mean those are your users’ most popular browsers? It may be. But it may also be that you have a lot of bots. If you see referring sources coming from good, mainstream publishers like ESPN, does it actually mean that visitor came from ESPN? It may have. But it may also have come from a bot passing a very simple fake variable. So the key question to ask is what portion of your analytics is subject to bot activity and fraud? Once you find that out then you know how to clean your analytics to make it better. One other technique to use is to corroborate declared variables with detected parameters. For example, if the server side HTTP USER AGENT does not match the client-side detected user agent, something is wrong. Look out for these. Anything too high or too low is suspicious and should be blocked. Now if you understand bots can be tuned to visit Web pages and carry out specific actions on the page, you can easily understand that clicks, click through rates, time on site, pages per visit, bounce rates and most other quantity and quality measures in use today can be faked by bots. For example, bots can be told to stick around on a page just long enough to tune the average bounce rates down to 5%. They can also be told to visit multiple pages during each visit to achieve high pages per visit -- e.g. 44 pages per visit. Bots can sit through three-minute video ads to completion, in order to earn the ad revenue for video ad completions. If you insist on line item details in your analytics and look closely, you will clearly see what is fraudulent. Those 100% click through rates are certainly not real; they just indicate a greedy (and amateur) bad guy programmed the bot to click on everything. Any quantity metric (number of sessions, impressions, pages per visit, etc.) or even quality metrics (time on site, bounce rates, etc.) can be faked by bots. Be suspicious of anything too high or too low. Messed up analytics may cause you to send more money to the bad guys. Hopefully it is clear how bots can create clicks and tune clic-through rates (CTRs). If you are looking at analytics and optimizing for specific variables like CTRs you might actually be sending more money to the bad guys. Fraud sites have higher CTR because bots can tune the CTR to whatever you want to see. Similarly, fraud sites have really high viewability. Why? They cheat, and stack all their ads above the fold, so they all register as 100% viewable, much higher (artificially) than good publisher sites. So again if you are optimizing for just one variable like viewability you may end up sending more dollars to fraud sites. The moral of the story is don’t just optimize using a single variable; and better yet, optimize for business outcomes, not any of these quantity or quality metrics which can be (and are) easily faked by fraud bots. Only good guys deploy measurement tech so what you are seeing is skewed. Finally, many of the published numbers on fraud, viewability, bots, etc. are wrong, or at the very least not actionable. That is because they are skewed based on the sample they are measuring. It boils down to something extremely basic -- good guys are willing to deploy measurement; bad guys won’t install fraud detection SDKs, APIs, etc. because they don’t want to be measured. So when you see a statement that fraud in mobile is low, is that because it is low? Or is it because we’re not able to measure it or because we are only measuring good mobile apps and not measuring any bad apps? When you see low ad blocking, is that because ad blocking is low or because you have a lot of bots (bots don't use ad blocking because they actually want the ads to load). In conclusion, double check the heck out of everything. Be vigilant. It’s a scary world. But it’s less scary when you know what to look for and what to do.
We live in a period of amazing innovation and technological advancement progressing at an unbelievable rate these days. As a result, many of the phrases we grew up with are becoming quaint anachronisms. My personal epiphany on this topic came last week. I was sitting in a coffee shop doing work and overhearing two baristas chatter about the baseball game from the night before. Barista #1 mentioned that he’d “missed the game and taped it to watch later.” I found this to be a completely acceptable statement. However, Barista #2 asked, “What do you mean?” Apparently the concept of taping something is far too old-school for someone who never lived in the age of the VCR and tapes. Here are a few more dated concepts that kids these days will never fully understand: -- Burning a CD has absolutely nothing to do with fire, and this generation will never even touch a CD. It’s all digital all the time, and services like Apple Music and Spotify have literally killed the compact disc. No more jewel boxes — and no more burning them to your computer. -- Will your kids ever use speed dial? Probably not, since there are literally zero items of technology that require a dial, much less a phone. Everything is speedy, so speed dial is obsolete. -- Speaking of phone terminology: When do you ever hang up on someone? Your iPhone and Android phones are not hanging anywhere, so almost all uses of this term don’t make sense. Yet people still say it. I love when people use terms mindlessly and with no background on why! -- Do you roll down the window in your car? I don’t -- and haven’t done so for years -- but people still use that phrase. A few years ago you could still have a hand crank in a rental car, but I haven’t seen one in a long time. -- Is your presentation a carbon copy of one you did previously? Do you even know what a carbon copy is? When was the last time you used carbon paper, and does anyone even make that stuff anymore? -- When you prepare slides for a presentation at work, do you actually run them through a slide projector or an acetate machine, as we did in olden days? Slides are an outdated term, but one that still has meaning in the age of Powerpoint and Keynote, because the term is still baked in. There are probably more of these every day that pop up as we enter into a more digitized, socially enabled world. The terminology of yesterday gets adopted in the form of an analogy to new situations, so people can more easily explain the new ways of doing things. What are some of your favorite outdated phrases? Which ones do you think will become outdated next?