Digital Guru

Every January, team digital get together to discuss the previous year in the world of digital media. We look at campaigns that we loved creating, inspirations, our 2015 highlights and where we want to go in 2016.

The team and I, the #DigitalGuru have decided to share what we are excited about for 2016 and what lies on our #DigitalGoals vision board.

After long debate, we settled on three things that underpin all trends for 2016: Data, Personalisation and the shift from desktop to mobile.

We are excited about the innovations and new thinking that 2016 will bring, and our cogs are already in motion!

IT’S A SMART WORLD The internet of things came into its own in 2015. From apps that monitor our fitness, sleep, and even our mental health to the cars and systems that navigate our heating. The much talked about “smart world” finally exists.

So what does this technology bring for marketers? It brings data. And lots of it. The data collected from smart devices allows us to know your interests, your geo-location, even the time you get up in the morning. This will allow us to serve relevant personalised messages to you, and more importantly when you are most likely to have a moment of intent.

We will see an increase in push notification communications, just as a move away from the scaled text message and banner ads begins. The smart world is a direct avenue for a more relevant and personalised message.

The shift of buying behaviour from desktop to mobile has allowed social media platforms become key players in digital commerce.

Social Commerce

All the major players are taking advantage of this opportunity. There are now buyable pins on Pinterest, targeted shopping ads on Youtube, link ads on Instagram and ‘Buy Now’ buttons on Facebook. We are also seeing the rise of social platforms that cater exclusively for social commerce, with the likes of DePop taking the fashion world by storm.

2016 will also see the introduction of Facebook shopping (released in June). Business pages will have a shop section on their Facebook page. A brand can either choose to link this section to their website or build out their own Facebook microsite for online shopping.

However there is still work to do. Marketers should map out the role of social in their communications, where social commerce is relevant and of value to the user . Barriers in tracking and attribution must also be addressed.

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT VIDEOVizeum towers are “buzzing” with excitement at innovations in the world of video for 2016. Vertical video is now becoming commonplace. 360 degree and spherical video, which was introduced by Youtube in early 2015 is now being adopted across Facebook and Snapchat platforms. But what we are most excited about is the investment in Augmented and Virtual reality technologies.

Recent news tells us that apple has assembled a large team of experts with a view to one day rival Facebook’s Oculus Rift. We are expecting more of the same with the announcement of Google Cardboard.

But what really sparked our interest is reports from this year’s Sundance film festival, where content innovators have started using virtual reality for their visual storytelling. While it’s not available for public consumption, reports of a 30min movie called Allumenate is shaking up the movie world and how we view video. It’s making us consider the purchase of a VR headset for Vizeum HQ.

The Sharing economy simply refers to peer-to-peer sharing of goods and services, and it has steadily become a mainstay in our lives, consciously or not. The majority of people have taken part in the sharing economy, from use of Dublin bikes, car sharing with go-car, booking accommodation through airbnb, or even knowledge sharing on Wikipedia.

THE SHARING ECONOMY

The shift to a sharing economy will see a rise in sharing initiatives in 2016. This trend is already fuelling digital debate in Vizeum HQ with the push of VizEats, (Airbnb’s answer to meals), to HitRecord (the social community started by Joseph Gordon Levitt based on the ideal of collaboration of creativity and talent) and it’s got us investigating; how can brands utilise this new mindset and behaviour, and will it be the start of UGC 2.0?

PEOPLE KEEP TALKING ABOUT DMP’SLets be clear, the use of DMP’s is exciting. Both advertisers and media owners are starting to use DMP’s alongside their DSP’s and RTB strategies.

A DMP is for all intents and purposes a data warehouse. DMP’s allow advertisers and media owners alike to truly understand and harness the power of their audience data. Essentially a DMP will collect, unify and activate on your data. A DMP can provide much greater audience insights. It can unify data from all first party data points and it can allow for data portability. Beyond that, it allows the marketer to learn and have insight before investing in a new campaign and allows for content personalisation.

So… what’s stopping us?

Investment and scale. A huge amount of investment is needed to implement a DMP both financially, analytically and mostly in time. When it comes to scale, marketers must ensure that they have the scale to actually warrant a DMP. The size of audience lists should be examined to quantify the incremental benefit a DMP will bring and if the investment meets the end result.

Deep breath, ad-blocking exists! It’s a trend that is being driven by a younger age category and it’s use has doubled in Ireland in the past year. It’s no surprise that the rise of technology and connectivity brings with it a more data driven and privacy conscious consumer.

THE RISE OF AD-BLOCKING

The introduction of ad-blockers to mobile has disrupted the revenue model of many publishers who worked off the value exchange of advertising space for content. The Irish independent stated that Irish publishers lost out on approx. €100m in advertising revenue in 2015 alone due to ad-blocking.

Publishers will have to re-evaluate this value exchange and how they will charge for the content provided. Advertisers will need to pay more attention to 1st party data and become far more savvy in adopting native content and moment-of-intent led strategies in order to gain the traction that the “disruptive” pop-up used to deliver.

SMART CONTENT WILL WIN IN 2016In 2015 over 27million pieces of content were produced and shared every day. This is a huge amount of content which makes it more difficult than ever for brands to stand out amongst their competitors .

Content will play a huge role in digital strategies for 2016, with 25%-30% of budget being allocated to content strategies.

In order to win at content in 2016, brands must focus on creating good or intelligent content. This kind of content is consumer-led and incorporates data at every stage from insight to measurement.

Brands will need to go under the hood and bridge the gap between creativity and science.

Huge focus should be paid to content distribution, understanding that not every piece of content is right for every channel and not every channel is right for your audience. Marketers should not forget to amplify content, as only 0.01% of content goes Viral. Use of social, native, influencer engagement and PPC will all aid here.

Finally, investment in measurement is key. Without measurement we limit data which is the building block to our content strategy. Use of GA, Doubleclick and social listening will all produce key insights on reach, resonance and relevance to your audience along with the role content plays in attribution and delivering on key business objectives.

BRANDS MUST BE BRAVEWe know that 2016 is going to bring huge opportunity to digital advertising, from insight to measurement to the most exciting…innovation.

Users are spending more time then ever before consuming media and we know more than we ever have about our consumer. This means that it’s one of the most exciting times to work in digital advertising, and this should be taken advantage of!

One barrier that can exist is being scared to take risks. DON’T!

To innovate, brands need to experiment and take risks. We are now in the beautiful position where these risks can still be data-informed and measured.

It’s the brands that take risks and constantly innovate that will be the brands that stand out and win. They are the ones that will create envy amongst competitors and fill the pages of our #DigitalGuru. #Digital Goals!

THANK YOU @vizeumireland

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