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Europe AdWeek Day 3: #AWEurope

My morning was spent working (I owe, I owe, it's off to work I go) but I was grateful to make it for the afternoon sessions for Day 3 of Adweek.

Despite arriving late, I got great value from a session titled Postcard from Texas - Making Sense of SXSW - Ben Bilboul (CEO Karmarama). Since I really would have liked to have gone to SXSW, I found this summary extremely useful (and much for affordable than a trip to the US).

• The killer app is that there is no app this year
• 3d printing or creation is big, turning consumers into producers or creators. Examples:
  • A boy in South Africa who had prosthetic mechanical fingers printed (lord only knows how?!)
  • Makerbot has a website allowing you to get ideas
  • One dad made lifts for his short daughter to get on Space mountain ride Disney
• 8D projector (4x4D)  e.g. in a product form: imagine a projection on your child's wall of a word you say. This is similar to something demo'd by Dave Coplan the previous day, from Microsoft Xbox.
• Huge recurring theme was taking virtual world into real world
• Google glasses at $1500 showing information, all pulled information that you want e.g. Offers from Starbucks. A video was then shown with Go-Pro style footage of activities and usage for Google Goggles e.g skiing, skating and upside down flying though personally I think the glasses would have fallen off in any of these activities but you get the idea. ;-)
  • Leap motion device ($80) shown turning your computer into a wii. Despite all the buzz about glass this is the device everyone came home and wanted to order (probably due to the low price point) 
• The other overriding theme is that you have to offer something special and more human
• Hallmark are doing amazing work given that everyone thought they would go out of business. The younger the audience the more they crave authentic experiences and Silicon Valley VC's want to invest in e.g. A device which can turn a mp3 back into vinyl. These companies are being heralded as Web 3.0 experiences, e.g. Airbnb, Etsy, relayRides, and are poster children for more authentic web. 
• It's early days for brands in this world and he didn't see a lot of brand applications. One example is VW and Google Labs with an app called Smileage which integrates a social network into a drive. Also allows you to give fist pumps to other VW driver. Not very safe though …
• Mark Zuckerberg said every year people with share 2x more information but not necessarily true as people actually want to share less. Snapchat allows you to sext a photo and then have it deleted (though it didn't realise you can just do a screenshot of the pic and then keep it forever). Path is a social network just for families with max 50. There is also a couples network, but I missed the name.
• If iTunes is a graveyard for branded apps, YouTube is a graveyard for branded video. It's not enough any more to create a funny video and expect people to share it. At best you'll get 45,000 views e.g. Fiat boob job
• Recommended book: Spreadable media by Prof Jenkins 
• Check out "Meeku", a Japanese performing Avatar with an English language version about to be reached. All of her outfits, dance routines and songs are generated by the community and if you create it, you get royalties. Millions are going back to consumers and there are loads of Youtube views as people are personally invested. This is a totally new model for brands as it requires a relaxation of authorship
• Grumpy cat is an Internet meme and had the biggest queue at SXSW. Why? Because it acknowledges that people are emotional and irrational.
• We are entering a new phase for the Internet which understands that people are far less geeky than we expect. It acknowledges that people make decisions on emotional experience.The new emotional phase will also have lots of possibilities for co-creation of content.

Then it was time for a mega panel at the Guardian session on Masters of Monetisation moderated by David Pensell who justifiably commented on the poor representation on the panel (here, here!!). The attendees were Chris Bennett (Tapjoy), Andrew Bibby (SponsorPay), Josh Graff (LinkedIn), Christian Hernandez (Facebook), Piers North (Yahoo), Christian Peck (Axiom), Rupert Staines (RadiumOne), Michael Steckler (Criteo), Phil Stokes (PwC)

After a hilarious introduction round which was basically a glorified 'pissing contest' solidified by a Facebook showing up the other panellists with a humorously introducing them as having a billion users (after other panellists revealed smaller numbers). This would not have happened with women on the panel! The undercurrent of the introductions is "we are bigger, we are better" says David Pensell

What is big data?

• (Rupert) Big data is more about big insights and now the technology is available to process in a millisecond 
• (Josh) is FB better than LI? Most members want to separate professional context from personal "you don't want your Saturday night turning it to your Monday morning"
• (Andrew) We think about data in terms of what the client is trying to achieve and on the back end verify the results in terms of what the client is trying to achieve
• (Michael) Relied on external data, specifically Google, but now seeing ability to fuse other data to get them to purchase a product when they haven't been to a company's website. Working with other partners now e.g. Datalogix
• (Christian) It will take people skill to connect all the different silos of data in an organisation to get a customer view

How do we work with content and engagement given that data gives insight into human behaviour?

• (Josh) Creativity is key despite just focussing on data. It's not enough to focus on content.
• (Rupert) Our job is to ensure that engagement is being tracked to enable a meaningful conversation with brands (which results in engagement)
• (Piers) Oscar Wild said "we know the price of everything and the value of nothing" - data is not the answer in itself
• (Michael) Data sits with creative
• (Andrew) Data can be used to drive efficiency, no waste through getter targeting and audience verification. More organisations are using data to drive insight for creativity especially as effectiveness of display is dropping (CTR dropping and not very engaging) That's where we like to work with creative agencies.
• Michael disagrees about the decline of display as Criteo is built on display and he obviously needs to defend their stance. The stuff that doesn't work is dropping and Michael see's display as one of the fastest growing sectors
• (Rupert) It's about understanding the consumer journey (cue attribution argument). This is an area we need to bring more value. Facebook exchange is a fantastic converter.
• PwC working on total audience measure for print and looking at total engagement on tablet and mobile, then de-duplicate for total audience measure. Ironically, those you took out are the most valuable as they are totally engaged (I.e. the de-duplicated people)! Until data is pure it will still be guesswork. 

What is mobile doing in terms of impacting your businesses?

• (Chris) Claudine Collins of MediaCom referred to advertising which creates demand or harvests demand and mobile today is incredibly good at the latter. Revenue is created by driving engagement with consumers for Tapjoy's customers. How do we do brand advertising on mobile? Bob Greenberg confirmed that we don't know how to do brand advertising on mobile. No-one has cracked it.
• (Christian) You can't track it - no Cookie. Only FB and Google can do that. Fab have 30-50% of sales on mobile. 
• (Josh) 30% of visits from mobile (up from 9%) 2 years ago. The way to monetize is the delivery of relevant content for an additive experience and not necessarily through display.
• (Rupert) Tapjoy and SponsorPay have a model. A lot of money thrown into downloading apps which then don't get used. In-app advertising experience is useless. We have social sharing and link shorteners for engagement. 
• (Michael) Mobile reminds me of where we were a few years ago: different formats and advertiser demand low. Biggest opportunity in tablets. What do you do about native apps? There will be standardisation of formats. 
• (Josh) You have to think about consumer experience on the different devices before you think about how it monetize it

What is next for your businesses?

• (Michael) We are all about managing risks and the more demand we get the more we can do this. We would like to go to performance-driven model where we pay per category. There are 2 misperceptions: we drive the middle of the funnel (display) where affiliates and Google drive bottom (click). Most of what we do is post-click. 
• (Rupert) Social signals are one of the great informers of people's intent. This is the data collected on behalf of clients and publishers which we sell (though we are not a DMP). This first party data is used in real-time as the social signal is a real time signal which we intend to capture and then use a programmatic system to show an ad (as it generates engagement or intent). We don't have to rely on Third party data or buy data in. We monetize by selling the ads. The RTB or programmatic piece is the most interesting as we want to see the value proven in an attribution model instead if prices being driven down. 
• (Christian - Axiom) We are building an operating platform on 3 levels to allow marketeers through a manageable platform to speak a common language. Cater for publishers, advertisers and partners. We supply a framework for marketeers to get closer to customers and have no competitors - we are not a threat.
• (Christian - FB) How do we actually grow businesses? How do we start solving business issues rather than just dealing with advertising briefs. We will get a dense graph about advertisers and users. Monetize rough micro transactions and advertising. It will all be about conversation and about the user.
• (Josh) Just launched Sales Navigator eliminating the need for a cold call through your network. The marketing solutions team provides support for this. Focus on economic graph not just social graph.
• (Andrew) We understand about ad blindness and pre-rolls getting in the way so our focus is on the consumer. We will focus on brand consumer engagement and then build the model in a balanced way. 
• (Chris) That's all 5 years too far, we focus on the next quarter. We are in an in-app marketing solution. We have partnerships with the biggest developers and have rev-share deals. Will any of it change? The most engaging product or format will change and most people trying to figure that out. That's where the evolution will be. 
• (Phil) PwC are very interested in data mining and analytics companies. Data allows you to also track consumption post-sale data which gives a lifestyle insight. PwC having conversations with different companies on this. 

What are some interesting companies to watch?

• (Michael) Gaming: Ooja (?) games console for $100 with free games. Change.org socially responsible business which consumers are gravitating towards. 
• (Christian - fb) Shape wave 

Other comments:

• (Rupert) 50% planners and buyers don't understand RTB so need educate amongst agencies and marketers. We need more scientists. 
• The RTB industry has made it so complex 
• (Phil) You can be additive if you associate yourself with the outcome
• (Michael) Publishers are going into e-commerce and e-commerce companies becoming publishers e.g. Net-a-porter
• (Josh) Webble is a good example
• The Guardian gets asked about paywalls daily but the focus is on building reach

My final session for the day was entitled the Massive Round table (rather cryptic?) moderated by Buzzfeed's Jonathan Perelman with Lucien Boyer (Havas Sports and Entertainment), Moz Dee (contented digital media), Noel Penzer (AOL), Nick Cohen (MediaCom Beyond), Kelly Williams (ITV) presented by Variety. Another all male panel (and disappointment all round that Kelly is a 'he' and not a 'she').

• (Kelly) Technology means people are watching MORE TV with global audience of 8 million and featured on 10 o'clock news. Work with Compare-the-market doing genius work with creative.
• An example was mentioned of a clip with 900k hits which went to 60 million after promotion on the today show
• Is the 30 sec spot dead? The upsell and conversation is key.
• 5% of US households don't have a TV and next year 10%. How do we get consumers to engage with us? (AOL) We need to see where they are whether on Huff post or elsewhere
• (Nick) Brands using content is about connecting with passions and interests. We look at how behaviour is shifting, what are their interests and building platform agnostic content (then build big audience) 
• (Kelly) It's hard to produce quality ad-funded content.
• (Moz) TOWIE lives and breathes every day. That's what you want to create
• (Nick) technology throws up an additive nature to advertising
• (Moz) Brands are now broadcasters. The value of talent is changing as talent now realise how popular they are. Mark wright from TOWIE has 2m followers. We need to change language I.e. not followers but audience and if you change the language the way you engage then changes!

What are we going to be talking about 12 months from now? 

• Wearable technology e.g. google glasses and will need content for brands
• (Matt) The value of creativity
• (Noel) Mobile finally caught up with audiences, more brands engaging with content 
• (Lucien) Will see more micro small communities and entrepreneurial co-production 
• (Jonathan) The social networks will resolve into niche sites 

Sorry I didn't attend more sessions but I hope you enjoyed reading the summaries and have taken away some valuable nuggets, like I have!

 

Europe Adweek Day 2: #aweurope

After racing from the tube at lightning speed for a coffee at Costa, the first dilemma of the day was this: how does one consume a boiling coffee in record time as no external food & drink allowed in the venue?  

Matt Shepherd, MD AdWeek introduced the first session, the Evening standard CEO summit. Moderated by Gideon Spanier.

Stewart Esterbrook, MD Starcom Mediavest

• We talk about ourselves as a human experience company and that's the value we bring to the table in understanding consumers
  • Agencies have allowed transaction to be the centre of gravity in the past but Starcom are shifting that to more added value conversation by building rounded engaging experience for consumers 
  • We are not device led but rather look at seamless experiences marrying content and context
  • Key to keeping talent is to develop people, show progress and create winning culture (as everyone wants to be on a winning team)

Arnaud de Puyfontaine, CEO Hearst UK

• What keeps me awake at night?

1. Leadership and people keeps me awake at night
2. Agility and pace of change is a concern but opportunity
3. Absolute obsession with customer knowledge and data

• There is no demise of print but a complete overhaul. They recently launched a new publication achieving 100,000 circulation.
  • Keep talent by helping people believe they are building the future

Dave Gwozdz, CEO Mojiva

Biggest concern is looking for talent but also retaining talent is key. Constantly looking to nurture talent pool as people often picked up by Facebook and Google. 

• Mobile ads don't make you cry and its a challenge to figure it out
  • If you don't think you are doing the most exciting thing possible, you should leave 

Matthew Dearden, CEO Clearchannel

• Core leadership responsibility is to create possibility of potential in a flatline economy
  • Shift from a real estate business to audience business
  • I believe the future of the Internet is mobile and we have NFC enabled sites
  • We even had ads with realtime data feeds
  • When digital adds value you can justify charging a premium
  • For extra £1 spent on advertising you get £6 GDP growth so would encourage more spending on advertising to grow the economy
  • Keep people by giving people jobs they love

Dan Clays, MD OMD

• Culture is so important that they have just appointment director of culture. Need a culture of innovation running through r whole business and also emphasis on knowledge share. 

Next up is the Wired Global Conversation with an impressive line-up. This was definitely the best presentation of the day for me, personally. The panel included Rupert Turnbull, publisher of Wired, Bob Greenberg (R/GA), Sir John Hegarty (BBH), Jon Kamen (CEO Radical Media), Steve King (CEO Zenith) and Simon Rees (CEO DCM - Digital Cinema Media).

75% of Europe in 2015 will have smartphones. What are the challenges?

• Marketing on mobile is in its infancy (Bob Greenberg) and refers to Jeff Bezos (Amazon) saying the Internet is in its infancy! The desktop and laptop are shifting to mobile and, combined with GPS, larger screen and voice activation will create tremendous growth though we still don't know what advertising and marketing look like on mobile
• Sir John says the product we produce is getting worse (or at least people seem to think so) - the elephant in the room! There is always a creative deficit with new technology though we are only beginning to work out a roadmap which will take longer. We don't know where advertising fits.
• Jon also says we are in an interesting point of disruption which will change our business forever 
• Steve says that mobile and multi-screen consumption is NOT the biggest change. There is a multiple of 20 in the disconnect between time spent on mobile and advertising (because the format hasn't been worked out yet). Definitely have not yet worked out how to make engaging relationships with consumers. 
• Simon informs us of the stat that Facebook more consumed via mobile than pc. 
• Bob: you can't separate mobile from social 

How are going to foster the next gen of creative talent? 

• Sir John says we have a dysfunctional government with a disaster education minister who wants to remove a creative education (giving ability to cv don't the future). Real problem in teaching kids about creativity. Governments are run by words!
• Steve King has 5 kids and sees technology as an innate social accelerator as his kids all are producing amazing creativity 
• Bob and Sir John sit on the board at Brand Centre where there is a creative technology track. New role: Creative Technologist

What about data?

Steve King talks about the terabytes of data which advertisers have. What do you do with all this data? We can improve the efficiency and efficacy of our communication. But 2/3 of consumers are concerned about privacy though a different 2/3 want relevant ads. Zenith are working with clients at how to use this data. Simon (DCM) worried about data and specifically, how data is interpreted. Cautious about a completely data led solution. 

Can advertising change behaviour?

Bob: Nike have seen they can change behaviour e.g. fuelband (I've done that!). Nike working on data visualisation - this is a creative way developing when applied to a live event with sports. Sir John objects and doesn't want people to know all this. He expects a huge backlash as this involves taking away freedom. "I don't understand myself sometimes - why are these companies saying we understand you?!?"

Other points:

• 400 M actively blogging in China showing desire for self-expression and we should do whatever we can to protect freedom of speech and editors. 
• Advertising must have trust and authenticity. We've lost trust in banks and supermarkets. A different approach is needed and Facebook says only 3% of advertisers "get it" - content needs to be rich, engaging, truthful and honest (Steve King). 

Next up was Microsoft, my old employer, handing out "cookies" (or shall we say 'biscuits' as this is a European conference) to attendees just as the session kicked off as a tongue-in-cheek salute to the whole internet explorer cookie controversy (which remained the elephant in the room). Andy Hart (newly promoted VP Europe) and Dave Coplin (Chief Envisioning officer) took to the stage for the MSFT Advertising session on Re-imagining Digital Advertising. This was an abstract session telling us how the world is changing and then giving us a peak in the kitchen of Microsoft Research with some super cool innovative products for the near future.

• Our attention spans are getting shorter as we look to our phones, phablets, tablets etc. to cut through 
• We get shown 1009 messages a day (PWC/IAB study, Eye blaster/Mediamind)
• Technology is about enabling humans to be better at what they do
• Qwerty design is 142 years old designed to slow typing to avoid keys jamming- behind the core of these devices
• A video was then shown of Microsoft Research (who design technology 10 years out). In the future every single surface will be able to display 2-way transmission. We saw Xbox technology showing the entire room illuminating and making the room part of the game.
• Smart glass connects Xbox to your mobile device – essentially making 2 devices aware of each other, e.g. phone showing map through the supermarket with special offers
• Smart phones are rather stupid given that they know what you are doing next (calendar), who your friends are etc. and yet relying on you to push a button 
• Context is everything: emotional, social, environmental, external
• Big data will change humanity (nah, that hyperbole isn't big enough!)
• Consumers feel violated in Creepy Valley: there was company who knew a man's teenage daughter was pregnant before he did
• We need to launch "Invitational Marketing" i.e. consumers inviting your brands into their lives to share experiences and messages which will enhance their lives (though you must understand their context, lean in or lean back). Ads should be beautiful, useful and relevant. 

Despite being early, the room was already jam-packed for Programmatic Buying: A win-win for Agencies, Advertisers & Publishers. One angry attendee who was refused entry proclaimed "How could they have such a small venue for such an important topic?!" This session was presented by Powerlinks Media (Mike Harty, Co-founder & COO).

Topic 1: What is driving prices down?

Dan Shaw (ITG)

• Very difficult justifying advertisers paying a premium for data. 90-95% data is questionable which creates question mark about the 5% which is good. Premium doesn't justify the cost. 
  • Seeing more clients asking to be on white list of 1000, 50 or 10 sites because context is so important. Want to be more insightful or targeted and willing to pay a premium.

Harvey Sariant (RadiumOne)

• First party data is so important and publishers sitting on so much. How can they build segments for reading?
  • White lists are only about trust and brand safety 

Topic 2: Audience vs, Context ... Where is the scale? How can we standardise, achieve scale while reaching in niche environments (500 ads seen by each user every day)?

• Good progress in getting publishers to stop competing and start collaborating 
• Clients and planners still want larger formats - data is a hot topic but it's not where the money is being spent currently. Need measurement (the right measurement) and KPI's for it to mature. 
• MWhat is digital these days? We need a cross-platform metric (eg. viewability) across all devices

Is the age of below-the-fold dead? Yes

Seeing more clients talking about viewability from a DR perspective instead of chasing the last click to help the industry move forward. We need trade bodies to start taking the lead to help publishers. We need a way to only render an ad on the page when the page is viewed.

Topic 3: Complete Data; a pipe dream? Valuing an impression the moment of the cookie drop

• WPP changed their terms allowing them to collect data as they seem fit (IDG)
• Can we overtarget through programmatic buying? There is a temptation. 

Topic 4: Delivering for Brand Advertising 

• We need a new set of metrics which is standardised
• 55% of marketers interviewed by Digiday said that online metrics should be aligned to offline
• Clients know that TV performs well and they are comfortable with it

Topic 5: High Impact Ad Delivery and Creativity: Click-through rates are decreasing and creative agencies are becoming disassociated with the digital space. What do we think? 

• Skyscrapers and MPU's are our bread and butter
• We need to find ways at bringing creative agencies back to the table
• Can we loop back to the creative agencies? 
• Need for collaboration and measurement 
• Viewability would involve serving ads in real time (IAB guideline says 50% of an ad should be viewable for at least 1 second) 
• It's not just the agencies - clients are starting to ask questions 
• There are free tools for publishers to show what is and isn't viewable and it's not so scary
• Nobody wants the conversation "have u been serving non viewable ads?"

The final session of the day for me was a panel titled The consumer has changed but has marketing? I unfortunately had to go to other meetings so missed other sessions I would have liked but luckily the conference is streamed and on video This panel consisted of Rupert Staines (MD RadiumOne) , Mark Creighton (CEO Mindshare), Kelaine Blades (7digital), Jennifer Roebuck (French Connection) and Nick Ellsom (founder Fast Thinking)

• Kelaine: your smartphone is your remote control to life, it's timely, relevant and personal but how do we integrate it across everything?
• Nick: marketing is reactive and requires infrastructure
• Jennifer: it's operationally almost impossible to keep up – "digifrenia" is about consumers feeling overwhelmed even at the current pace (so it's not just marketers feeling overwhelmed)
  • Kelaine: you can't even use the same message across the big 3
  • Rupert: Brands don't lag behind, it's the people behind the brands who lag. Simply not enough attention at high levels in the company to address the changes consumers are going through. Companies are suffering inertia and we are still operating around an antiquated structure. Every company without data at its core will not understand its customer base. 
  • Mark: disagrees with Rupert - it's about structure (moving deck chairs on the Titanic). It's always going to be disruptive. We are just about to create seamless transfer between devices and get connected TV's!
  • Rupert: It's a real challenge as there are a lot of companies (see Lumascape) doing a piece of the puzzle
  • Mark: Many aspects are really difficult to articulate to clients e.g. Appnexus and RTB
  • Nick: Lots of DR spend and not brand spend because its measurable
  • Rupert: Nonsense that all value still attributed to last click
  • Digital gives smaller brands a chance to rise to the top
  • Nike have commercialised "I Am Player" by selling virtual boots so there is a huge opportunity for brands
  • Mark: Developed a game for Kleenex called sneeze man. Brands can step in and help small developers who cannot afford the App Store 

So after 5 hours of listening and typing furiously on my Ipad Mini, that was the end of the day for me. Lots of common themes and issues have emerged and I'll be publishing these after Adweek has ended. In the meantime, enjoy the little summaries with nuggets I'm providing. All feedback welcome. Let me know if there are sessions over the next 2 days you think I should attend. I have meetings tomorrow but should get a good chunk of sessions again in the afternoon.

 

Europe Adweek Day 1: #aweurope

With curiosity combined with eager anticipation, I arrived at 195 Picadilly for the start of Adweek Europe. I've only been able to attend a smattering of events, but overall the quality of the sessions has been very high. I overheard folks asking one another about other sessions they had been too and overall the responses I heard ranged from "good" to "very good".

The attendance was significant and all sessions were overcrowded (except surprisingly the one with Sebastian Coe). The central location was obviously chosen over a more distant and larger venue which has its plusses and minuses. It allowed for folks to nip back to the office between sessions, kept everyone in one central venue (rather than spread out all over the city) and was central to transportation lines. The downside was I felt the "vibe" was missing with very little display area for companies and jam-packed stairwells preceding sessions (plus disappointment at not being allowed in sessions). Tweeting and blogging while standing is challenging indeed!

The first session was the ThinkBox Content Innovation roundtable attended by Mark Read (WPP), Mark Howe (Google), Fru Hazlitt (ITV) and Trevor Beattie (BMB) moderated by Tess Alps (Thinkbox). This entertaining session was infused with lots of video and attendees defending their ground i.e. Fru Hazlitt emphasised that the "Fenton" viral dog clip on YouTube only achieved success from broadcast coverage. Mark Read received a subtle Google dig from Mark Howe who mentioned that Google and ITV are friends not frenemies which he acknowledged by referring back to the ITV and Google "love up". Fru was also exceptionally entertaining when she forgot the "f***ing" last line of her shpiel. Hilarious. Lots of videos were shown to support each stance.

At a time when I just finished the final episode on Netflix of House of Cards and Amazon have just announced to run pilots via Lovefilm which viewers can then vote on, the content space has never been more exciting and disruptive at the same time.

Tess:

• £5 billion pounds invested in content in the UK - more so than anywhere else in the world. 
• New models without advertising like Netflix and Lovefilm 
• Red bull applauded for support for Felix Baumgartner space jump with online and tv views (chance that someone may die!)
• Also fab tv ads like dancing ponies and lovelorn ponies
• How will people find content or will it find u?

Mark Howe:

• How do u navigate content with 70,000 channels on YouTube?
  • Talked about new a Youtube shows (see previous Blog Post on Google Think Branding event)

Fru:

• Technology makes us this we can be good at singing, photography etc. but we are boring! Creating content requires great skill, as is required in getting people to watch it
  • There are great examples of a mixture of advertising and content. For example Compare the Market TV ad with Coronation Street 
  • Let's get rid of ad funded programming but rather look for innovative partnerships e.g. The Big Reunion final show jointly funded by Live Nation as it then went on tour

Mark Read:

• Combine content with commerce e.g. Net-a-Porter hiring Harper's Bazaar editor and therefore has the edge over Vogue
  • Examples: Vice (Canadian magazine company acquired) for Intel "the Creators Project" run for 3 years already with events
  • Nike: AKQA with women's training app "training club" 80 customised workouts 5.7 m downloads 100 M minutes, daily relationship with brand
  • Old gatekeeper: ITV and new gatekeeper: Apple and Google

Trevor (who reminds me of Brian May):

• Declared the death of the 30 second spot (didn't this happen several years ago?) and the replacement by the new 5 second spot. He showed some great examples of storytelling in 5 seconds e.g. Persil and a Attenborough clip of a baby turtle being snatched probably on it's first walk to the water.
  • There are lots of opportunities e.g. you could divide a commercial into 5 second chunks 
  • I think this is a natural consequence of short attention spans as the opening introductions of so many tv shows are also shorter

Final comments….

• Great content has changed but the discovery is still the large TV broadcasters (shop windows) e.g. Fenton on YouTube 
  • ITV is good at content, Google good at technology, both invest billions (Fru)
  • The current disruption is a threat if you don't adapt, otherwise its an opportunity (mark read)

The next session I attended was an interview of Lord Sebastian Coe by Linda Grant (Managing Editor, Metro UK). I took less notes as it was just a great session to sit and listen to the story behind the Olympic bid and consequent planning.

• The key was to put the athlete at the centre & give them the best possible experience. Figure out what "good" looks like.
• The first 2 years spent building an org coming out of a bid & doubling in numbers every year
• Lloyds TSB, EDF & BA good examples of partnership not sponsorship. Partnership is 5 years with no advertising in stadium!
• IOC more interested in the Why & not the How i.e. what legacy will left behind.

I then coerced myself into an overly full RadiumOne sponsored session on Turning Social Engagement into Purchase Intent with Abeed Janmohamed (RadiumOne) and Martyn Jobber (Tagman).

• 69% parents are friends with their children on social media 
• There is an abundance of content and social media but how do we leverage it?
• Twitter knows my interests, FB my likes, iTunes my music, Amazon my purchases and Google my searches (Scary!!)
• Virgin have 20 M consumers accessible via touch points but how do u harness and engage with them?
• There are 385 social sharing widgets but email most used sharing tool : copy and paste makes up 60% of sharing 
• 14% of people trust ads and 80% trust peer recommendation 
• Brands must have a strategy around link shorteners e.g Mr Porter with mr-p.o vanity shorteners  
• You should also have a hashtag strategy

 
 

• Coke has 51 million fans 

Next us was Tagman talkig about sequence and attribution (a topic we were talking about more than 5 years ago when MSFT acquired aQuantive)

 

• Attribution looks at 3 stages: introductions, assists, conversions 
• There are different channels e.g. urls, SEO that contribute at each phase
• Social media should not be measured on last click
• When a TV commercial goes out with hash tag you can immediately monitor effect and attribution
• Takeaways: control and harness earned and owned, link and leverage in paid media - join the dots, attribute and measure correctly 
• Last click analysis is the bad guy: look at the best click 

After that I scuttled to the jam-packed Microsoft Advertising session moderated by Andy Hart on Redefining Multiplatform. Andy kicked off by commenting on the unrepresentative panel (full of white males) of which I noted that 5 out of the 8 wore socks with stripes. Apologies for my attention to detail.

• Julian Lloyd-Evans (Dennis Publishing) explained how we don't have any downtime now - different platforms suit different times of day and screen size is also important (2 critical things). Tom Roberts (TribalDDB) added that the third one is context 
• Steve Hatch (MEC) half-joked that digital was all so overwhelming for clients that they put budgets to TV 9
  • Coke were first to adopt 70-20-10 budget rule – 70% (what u know will work), 20% (ramping up previous experiments) and 10% gamble
  •  We have to make gamble about what next big things will be. 
• Tom Roberts (MD Tribalddb)
  • We should create a central hub for content that can be distributed out to different channels without having to replicate different platforms 
  • Having some success convincing clients that digital, e.g. smaller screen, can add to the whole experience by drilling down deeper or giving deeper content particularly as multiple screens used at same time
  • Now noticed that habits are changing (bigger screen?) and consumers are using it more for browsing and not just task-oriented activities (so already need to change sites) 
  • We need to understand when we get it wrong and make amends quickly with clients
  • There doesn't seem to be a big correlation between time and output as we don't really get great creative ideas back (from publishers)
• Jonathan Allen (Channel4) commented how they are now in the same area as MSFT and Facebook 
• Chris Pelekanou (Clear Channel) explained how we never thought content would be consumed on mobile but now teens can happily watch an entire movie online 
• Examples from the panel:
  • Guardian campaign with ford for cougar launch - 50 people worked on one project and multi-platform really all about delivering across different platforms
  • ClearChannel: Samsung, apple or MSFT take simple idea which translates 
  • MEC: Stoptober for stopping smoking
  • Metro: Expedia with special tablet editions x 4 with 600k views and 300k downloads 
  • Channel 4: BT and Parolympics with short films
  • Tribal: Chrome (don't mention that browser in a MSFT session, please!) 

Finally, before I left for the day, I bolted to the next session to be one of the last allowed in for an interview by Sir Martin Sorrell (my mentor) of Sir David Brailsford on Winning. What a fascinating session gaining insight into the parallels between sport and business and the importance of psychology and understanding how the brain processes emotion to achieve winning performance.

• Sir David talked about his childhood in Wales, feeling very alone and the isolation of being a middle child (I'm also a middle child, so I eagerly listened to this)
• Cycling was a special bonding experience with his father from age of 16 (Sir David)
• Sir Martin mentioned the parallel between sport and advertising. Both are art and science: mad men and maths men
• Lots of parallels between sports psychology & business regarding "chimp" brain (governing emotions) & intellectual frontal lobe
• You can calm your chimp down by focussing on achieving your personal best & generally doing the best you can
• Truly successful sportsmen (& women!) learn how to switch both these off when they need to perform & win! e.g. taking penalties
• You have to understand what drives someone intrinsically - his goal is to understand what motivates them
• Behaviours is all about avoiding something bad or chasing something good - triangle of change somewhere between suffering and reward 
• Everyone is driven by something but if reward good they will do something (money, satisfaction, recognition) 
• If you want to win, you must have a vision and clarity, en need 3-4 key priorities to achieve your vision
• Provide clarity over role and responsibility and give positive feedback. Be ambassadors of clarity! Ask t give vision and 3-4 things that will achieve that. 
• To get the best out of other people always use a carrot & not a stick. Don't undermine. Useful for everyone managing people
• Tips for success:
  • Incentivise with a carrot and not a stick.  Don't threaten when you use the stick. 
  • Feedback: Give feedback by not threatening security and undermining as you agitate the chimp. Feedback meant to help and not scare

 

Google Think Branding 2013 Event

At the Royal Opera House on a freezing Tuesday (today), Google held their annual Think Branding event #thinkbranding2013. This conference was almost entirely focussed on YouTube with several interesting speakers and examples. Below is a short summary of the seminar. Apologies where the summary is thin – I was listening more than typing. The full seminar will be available online, on YouTube of course!

After a welcome by Shuvo Saha (Industry Director Branding), Matt Brittin (VP Northern and Central Europe) kicked off on the topic of Remastering Marketing talking about the T-Mobile flash mob at Liverpool street station which was then also shown on TV in the form of an ad directing everyone to YouTube (and generating 18 M YouTube views and started 18 Facebook pages). This was 4 years ago so the big question was "how much has changed 4 years later?"

The 3 themes for this event were:

1. Reframing Brands (e.g. Band-Aid think bigger using an app that recognises Muppet character on a plaster and makes a dancing character)
2. Reimagining  Media (e.g. Pizza delivery giving physical app for fridge, GoPro cameras marketed by customers on YouTube 240 M times sharing their videos, Oreos at Superbowl tweeting " you can still dunk in the dark" with 14 M retweets)
3. Rebooting Organisations 

PART 1: Reframing Brands

Connie Kalcher, VP Marketing & Consumer Experiences, Lego

• Lego means play well (2 Danish words)
• There are also interesting partnerships e.g. with Star Wars 
• Lego facilitates conversations and segments customers according to affinity with brand. They see the power to get advocates to flip content and be brand ambassadors. 
• Launched Mindstorms "robotic invention" for adults which was hacked. What do you do when your customers hack your products?
• Fans share a lot on social media - see Star Wars cantina on YouTube. I searched and found a range of clips – this is the one with lego.
• Created a site called "We Brick" tagging all the content on fan sites to be a platform for them to shine. Adult Fans of Lego (AFOLS) have events attended by 9 M people a year. 
• An architect's idea formed a new Lego product for adults. They have Lego Certified professionals who are licensed to do business off the back of the Lego brand. 
• What about the kids? 40 M views on Lego channel on YouTube as part of 360 degree approach. Lego has become an experience brand! 

James Hilton, Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer, AKQA

• James introduced some key principles in the digital world. For starters, take the pain away! Make it simple! E.g. "Silver car" only have 1 car - silver Audi a4, Disney created the magic band so parents aren't continually opening up their wallets every few minutes at the Theme park.
• Disrupt or be disrupted. 
• Democratise what is for the elite and give power to the people. E.g. NHS, Google democratised data, Nike personal trainer in their pocket
• Help people be better e.g. Building Lego
• How? Start with vision.
• James gave some great examples of how brands reframe themselves. 
  • Nike Kinect training making it a habitual part of people's lives
  • Delta with bag scanning, airport navigation. It's not just about getting people on planes but helping them. The future of in flight entertainment (IFO) on iPhones and tablets. Went not just from pre-flight to inflight giving access to inboard wifi e.g. Glass bottom aircraft allows you to see where you are flying over, which friends of yours have been there, interesting facts etc.

PART 2: Reimagining Media

Dan Cobley, MD UK & Ireland, Google

• Dan introduced this part by talking more about video. 45% of online video watched on smartphone sand tables.
• The distinction between content and advertising Is blurred.

• There are 3 implications:

1. Type of context is changing
2. Measure for success is changing
3. Consumer insights and media planning is changing

Derek Scobie: Head of Propositions, YouTube

• An entertaining speaker, Derek talked about the content you currently get from YouTube vs. what you expect vs. what you will get to see
• YouTube's unpredictability is a challenge with lots of UGC (what you currently get) whereas YouTube wants to be more broadcast, professional and controlled (Note: BBC has more views on YouTube than on iPlayer!)
• Very interesting to learn that new original for YouTube content being made. E.g. Fast and furious, earth unplugged, fas#tag, Jamie's Food Tube. This leverages content from professionals with YouTube super users! E.g. The Daily mix made by 9 top beauty stars in YouTube (> 1 million views) with professional production company. This is the new YouTube. 

Bernardo Correia: Industry Head, Google UK

• How can you use data for brands to make successful content?
• I was interested to learn that the ideal content strategy should contain both "Hero" content and "Hygiene" content (see below)
• Content metrics should look at how much a video is loved and therefore create huge sharing social multiplier. 

Stuart Sullivan-Martin: Chief Strategy Office, MEC

• The magic for brands lies in the intersection between technology, media and psychology
• Data can sometimes be the currency of the marketing idea. E.g. Nike Auction site and Nike Zombie Run fitness app
• Searches for healthcare words gives insights
  

Part 3: Re-booting organisations

Andy Bird, Co-Founder and Exec. Director, Brand Learning

• There are barriers to digital are there and we need to shift the mindset - we need to embrace the new mindset and play to win! 
• We need to move from the relatively stable position to an agile position used to constant change

Paul Randle, Global Head of Digital, Akzo Nobel

• World's largest paint company, owner of Dulux, is on a corporate journey to go from being a chemicals company to being a paint company to being a decorative company
• There is a phenomenal amount of decorative conversation going on in the online world
• They started by conducting an audit: where are our customers, what are the conversations etc. and found that things were not good
• Paul found that he spent more in a year at Starbucks than the company spent on search!
• He also learnt that 0.9 FTE doing work with 2.5 agencies so he realised they had no control and decided to bring more in-house
• How do you make a vision come alive? Put the right organisation structure in place, get key teams on the bandwagon. Biggest challenge is doing this with limited budget

J&J, Juan-Jose Gonzales, MD Northern Europe. Johnson &Johnson

• J&J are an old client of mine from my time at Microsoft and I have fond memories of presenting at their global country managers meeting in Marbella to over 300 folks several years ago. Their portfolio includes several iconic brands like Neutrogena, Listerine and Acuvue
• Their story starts in 2008 when they lost 10% gross profit due to a depreciating £
• This gave them a strict cost-focus and emphasis on digital
• Then asked how many websites they had, the answer was unclear!
• Juan-Jose outlines the key elements for the digital journey: (These are exceptional good to hear advocated as JaffeBlend specialises in helping with points 1-5)

1. Training (!!): 24 mandatory training a year and 36 best practice sharing activities email, video. You build a very sophisticated level of IQ if you do this over 4 years
2. Infrastructure: there has to be a team looking at next gen technology, implications of social and mobile e.g. they realised that the legal team was not sufficient to deal with volume of contracts
3. Processes: the way they deal with communications briefs etc.
4. External Partners: they were not convinced that existing partners were in a position to support with new IQ
5. Targets: get idea to start spending up to 30% - they also looked at metrics, analytics, ROI to actually calculate the value of the move into digital
6. Leadership: very little can be achieved without this. Leadership= personal commitment. This is done by asking the right questions e.g. asking a particular question that can only be answered with Google Analytics or giving the order to reduce all media spend except digital. How do you personally embrace this as a leader? Do you sit together in a training?

• J&J have a global digital centre of excellence doing a yearly audit. 
• Current digital spend has gone from 4% to 22%.
• In 2011 they asked moms to share videos for Calpol which generated 100k likes and 24,000 submissions, Mouth vs. Life campaign for Listerine received 2.5 M channel views (300% more views in less time than Pepto Bismol).
• 2013 will see more relationships and e commerce development. 

Andy Bird then wrapped up the final part with 3 imperatives:

1. Integrate all drivers of capability

  

2. Inspire and enable behaviour change

3. Provide customer-focussed leadership 

Last, but not least, was a profound and moving session by Eric Whitacre on the Virtual Choir. This is a global choir to a piece of music composed and conducted by him, incorporated submissions via YouTube. The latest choir as more than 4,000 participants from all over the world. This is a moving example of social media collaboration producing not just beautiful music, but also helping talented music lovers to connect across the world giving them a sense of fulfilment and intimacy. I strongly urge you to watch some of these videos

I hope you've found some value in this post with highlights of the session. Thanks to Google for being such a fabulous host and for helping to educate marketers (albeit about their own products)! Next week I'm off to some cherry-picked sessions at Adweek so watch this space!

 

Why Is Facebook's Social Graph So Important?

I've always been wary of tactics by companies to simply amass as many likes as possible on Facebook. In fact, the phrase "Like Us On Facebook" as become extremely commonplace and borderline annoying.

However, since 92% of people trust recommendations from their friends, compared to below 50% for other forms of advertising or endorsements (Nielsen Global Trust in Advertising Survey, Q3 2011), if you have indicated you 'like' something, your friends will be more likely to favour and buy from the company in question.

Think about the process you go through to see a movie: you see the ads and read the reviews, however ultimately you probably canvass your friends and rely heavily on opinions before making the choice. I know the movie "Lincoln" has had a multitude of Oscar nominations, however a friend saying on Facebook today "Don't go see it, it's boring and I walked out the cinema" has literally nailed it for me. That one comment singlehandedly destroyed all the millions of marketing spend when it came to me and how many others reading negative tweets and posts?

Facebook social graph means that you will be able to search for companies and services from within your group of friends - the most "liked" companies will appear highest in the search results. Now the value of a like is more important than ever as Facebook goes head-to-head with Google. While Google may offer the plethora of what is available across the web, Facebook will offer what is a) local and b) what your friends like. The latter being way more important in the purchase funnel than the former.

Of course, the presence on Facebook and whole "liking process" has a long way to go. Companies need to ensure that they are in fact present on Facebook with valuable content, engagement and offerings and not simply create a page and ask for a like. The "like" will do only the part of the job that involves getting noticed.

More on this topic can be found on this blog post on Adage.com by Clara Shih.

Experience the Google Web Lab

Very cool morning at the #googleWebLab at #londonScienceMuseum! The sketchbot takes your photo then sketches it real-time in sand.

All creations are also viewable online at www.chromeweblab.com accessible via a unique tag you retrieve on arrival.

A lot of fun for both adults and kids alike on a rainy London Sunday. Highly recommended! Oh, and entrance is free.

JaffeBlend Wins Business Person of the Year 2013 Award!

Hot off the press, yesterday I was honoured and privileged to attend the TrainE-TrainE Business Awards lunch, attended by 350-400 people in the magnificent ballroom of the Grosvener Hotel on Park Lane. Let me start by saying that I find it hard to do any form of self-promotion, but am so overjoyed with this award, I do intend to put that aside and shout the news from the rooftops (so please bear with me and share in my jubilation!).

And the winner is .... JaffeBlend! In true social media style, the clip was up on YouTube before I even got back to my table. http://bit.ly/ULzviG

The event began with a drinks reception, at which I had an exhibition table.

This was the debut also of the new JaffeBlend branding, the launch of the brochure and the free "99 Social Media Facts You Need to Know About" booklet.
Please email Sharon for copies as well as the JaffeBlend original jelly beans! I will be making a digital version available via the site very soon.

Then off we headed to the ballroom where the magnificent reception began. Check out the stylish starter which awaited us.

Finally it was Awards time, thank heavens completed before the main course since my stomach was doing somersaults and backflips from nerves. The Business Person of the Year Award 2013 was up first and massive thanks to Jonathan Sumberg for the professionally edited clip of me. Some folks told me they thought I should win based on the video alone (!). I highly recommend Jonathan's video services!

More pictures will be available soon, but in the meantime, here is what the ballroom looked like and the moment I took the stage.

A big thank you to all my friends, clients and colleagues for the support over years across multiple companies and multiple markets. I'm glad to have had you all along with me for the fast-paced bullet-train digital ride. We have had a blast being part of changing the world.

Looking forward to bigger and better things from JaffeBlend.

The best is yet to come!

JaffeBlend shortlisted for Business Person of the Year Awards 2013

Life *IS* just like a box of chocolates!

After my last horrendous customer service experience (The Kooples), I had a fabulous experience with Charbonnel et Walker this week.

This is a premium chocolate brand and I purchased a box of chocs for my husband. To our dismay, there were 2 chocolates missing (see picture).

I called the store a few days later at 4 pm and here's what happened:
- I was trusted immediately. This is huge as I almost didn't call expecting to have to reproduce a receipt which I no longer had. What a relief to actually experience "the customer is always right"!
- I was apologised to with an explanation
- I was offered a replacement box which was posted the same day and arrived 8 am the next morning.

The best part of this experience is that my expectations were exceeded turning me from a good customer to a disappointed customer (missing chocolates) to a fan (and now via this blog post, an advocate!)

This is how marketing should be done, folks. Amen.

I’m Divorcing The Kooples

Today is a sad day for clothing e-tailers and customer service. I have often decided not to publicly vent my frustration with some stores and brands, however today I experienced an incident that deserves for the company in question, The Kooples, to be named and shamed. I hope you agree. Read on …

I purchased a Parka for £495 online. When it arrived, it didn’t suit me so I decided to return it. I completed the online instructions, which involved sending it back. TO FRANCE. WHAT???? At that point, I also read that I could bring it back to a store, so obviously figured this would be cheaper (although it also involved time, petrol and parking costs).

Crime no. 1
Today I schlepped to the store in Hampstead to be told that I could not get a refund and only a credit. So if I wanted a refund I would have to mail it. Here’s the overview of those costs due to the size and weight of the package:
1. £19 basic postage (no tracking, no signature, no insurance)
2. £40 (tracking, signature and £100 insurance)
3. £52 (tracking, signature and £500 insurance)

So basically a customer has to incur £19-£52 own costs for a clothing return in order to get a refund. Utter insanity! Furthermore, which of these postage options would you chose? If you do 1 or 2, you incur a risk of loss of part or all of the value if the item goes missing.

Why-oh-why can’t their central HQ just coordinate to do refunds for web purchases when they can do exchanges? Sure, I get that there is an extra element of admin involved, but just make it happen, people! Don’t lose your customers.

Crime no. 2
While still in the store, the assistant called another store to confirm that a customer is responsible for postage costs and then basically told me. SORRY! I then demanded to talk to someone in customer services and the phone number was written down for me. The sales assistant said she would not use her landline as this needs to be “kept open for customer calls”. Excuse me, am I not a customer?

I then noticed that the phone number was … yes, you guessed it, in FRANCE. That’s a mighty expensive phonecall, but I was determined not to schlepp the big box home with me so I made the call. More costs.

Crime no. 3
This situation now went from bad to worse as I’m put through to “Sandy” in customer service who tells me that it is their sales policy for customers to be responsible for postage costs. Fair enough for companies to define their own sales policies, however here’s where I feel decent customer service is not taking place:
1. Customers Don’t Pay Postage
It’s not very commonplace for e-commerce clothing shops to make customers pay as there is always a high probability of something being returned (as you can’t try something when you’re at a computer screen, of course). Banana Republic provide you with free returns labels. The Kooples is a high end brand with items around £200 upwards so one would expect an equivalent or better service even, not worse!

2. Postage to FRANCE?
If you have to force customers to pay, have it send local, but making them send back to France means exorbitant costs. Once again, make it easy for customers to do business, with you so get them to send to a local store and fund the shipment abroad yourself or introduce the stock back to your local stores.

3. Misinformation
Their website does not display this sales policy clearly or the fact that refunds are not available via the store, thereby causing inconvenience and costs for customers like myself hoping to get a refund in store.

When I point all of this out to Sandy, I ask her to either provide me with a refund in store or cover part/all of my postage costs but Sandy is not interested. I also ask to speak to her manager or a superior and she outright refuses. She says she is in the head of customer service. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Finally, when I ask for her last name she replies “it’s none of your business”. Nice!! Even if she doesn’t want to give it, she could say “I’m not able to provide you with that information”. What a way to talk to a paying customer.

In Conclusion
So off I went to the post office in defeat to send this item back for a refund. I had
to add £3 in packaging tape as icing on the cake!

All in all, a sad day for clothing retailers doing e-commerce online and a sad day for customer service.

All I can do is:
- Boycott the store (I can vote with my feet at least)
- Warn all other potential customers (via this blog post)
- Attempt to escalate to the company (send a complaint letter which will probably be ignored)
- Escalate to other customer bodies in the UK (from the perspective of misinformation)

What else can I do? What should I do or what should I have done? Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please let me know your thoughts.