Reach, Engage and Respect: How to Win the Consumer Now
Cella Irvine
Cologne, July 31th, 2012 —(dmexco)— In an always-on, always-connected world, marketers need an abundance of options for reaching consumers. The same technologies that bring content to audiences anywhere and any time allow those same audiences to skip and opt-out of the advertising that pays their freight. Learned behaviors evolve too as users get better at blocking out our messages. This leaves brands pushing harder to measure and improve ad viewability and work around still-pervasive banner blindness.
What's a smart marketer to do? Produce advertising that reaches, engages, and respects consumers: advertising in the interest of the consumer. Here are three ways that marketers can leverage the opportunities of our evolving world to engage people:
Reach Consumers: We live in a complicated media universe, but complexity equals opportunity. Brands need to meet the users on platforms that matter to them – that might mean rolling out a new product on television (still a great partner for digital), using display innovations to meet users in their area of interest (in-image and video are great options), and exploring branded content. It also means being "in content" and viewable, relevant and contextual in the edit well where attention is focused. Don't expect one solution to reach all audiences, but a mix that makes sense for your brand, and audience, will deliver results.
Engage Consumers: We've seen time and again that consumers don't actually mind advertising that's useful to them. Brands need to focus on creating advertising that informs, entertains and delights. Jeep did this last year when it served real-time, dynamic local weather reports inside its display-ad units. And Warner Bros. forged a new path for entertainment marketing with Machinima's incredible Mortal Kombat series. These weren't ad messages; they were value-add messages, and that's what today's consumers expect.
Respect Consumers: Emphasis on user experience comes in and out of vogue, and one place we need to revisit it is video. Video is on the rise as content and ad plays are skyrocketing. But video ad delivery needs to put the consumer back in the picture. Pre-roll and mid-roll aren't doing the trick. Users want to see video advertising that's relevant to the content they're viewing, puts them in control with user initiation, and enables choice (about when and how to engage). Ads that do this will deliver on the true promise of digital advertising: accountability and engagement.
Reach, engage, respect. Campaigns that can accomplish these three tasks – a tall order to be sure – will break through the noise and be best at what our industry is capable of delivering, advertising in the interest of the consumer.
On 12th September at 4.15 pm Cella Irvine discusses the future of display advertising on the panel "The Science of Display Advertising: Taking Display further with the most groundbreaking technology" in Congress Hall.
What's a smart marketer to do? Produce advertising that reaches, engages, and respects consumers: advertising in the interest of the consumer. Here are three ways that marketers can leverage the opportunities of our evolving world to engage people:
Reach Consumers: We live in a complicated media universe, but complexity equals opportunity. Brands need to meet the users on platforms that matter to them – that might mean rolling out a new product on television (still a great partner for digital), using display innovations to meet users in their area of interest (in-image and video are great options), and exploring branded content. It also means being "in content" and viewable, relevant and contextual in the edit well where attention is focused. Don't expect one solution to reach all audiences, but a mix that makes sense for your brand, and audience, will deliver results.
Engage Consumers: We've seen time and again that consumers don't actually mind advertising that's useful to them. Brands need to focus on creating advertising that informs, entertains and delights. Jeep did this last year when it served real-time, dynamic local weather reports inside its display-ad units. And Warner Bros. forged a new path for entertainment marketing with Machinima's incredible Mortal Kombat series. These weren't ad messages; they were value-add messages, and that's what today's consumers expect.
Respect Consumers: Emphasis on user experience comes in and out of vogue, and one place we need to revisit it is video. Video is on the rise as content and ad plays are skyrocketing. But video ad delivery needs to put the consumer back in the picture. Pre-roll and mid-roll aren't doing the trick. Users want to see video advertising that's relevant to the content they're viewing, puts them in control with user initiation, and enables choice (about when and how to engage). Ads that do this will deliver on the true promise of digital advertising: accountability and engagement.
Reach, engage, respect. Campaigns that can accomplish these three tasks – a tall order to be sure – will break through the noise and be best at what our industry is capable of delivering, advertising in the interest of the consumer.
On 12th September at 4.15 pm Cella Irvine discusses the future of display advertising on the panel "The Science of Display Advertising: Taking Display further with the most groundbreaking technology" in Congress Hall.
About Vibrant
Vibrant (www.vibrantmedia.com) is a world leader in contextual technology aligning billions of words across the Internet with relevant video, information, tools, and advertising. With over 6,500 premium publishers, reaching more than 250 million unique users per month (comScore, 2011), Vibrant gives top brand marketers the opportunity to deliver highly targeted advertisements within premium Web content and offers publishers premium editorial tools to re-circulate users throughout their websites. Vibrant works with top brand advertisers such as Microsoft, Unilever, Chrysler and AT&T. The company was founded in 2000 and has offices in London, New York, Boston, Detroit, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Paris, Hamburg, Munich and Dusseldorf. For more information, visit www.vibrantmedia.com or www.facebook.com/vibrantmedia or http://twitter.com/vibrantmedia.
