Search results for: Month: January 2019

International advertising is dead, long live international advertising

Once upon a time, international advertising could fairly be accused of being unexciting, needing to appeal to a broad target market and so lacking the great ideas that local campaigns were able to implement given a better understanding of the humour or nuance of local audiences.  Some of us are old enough to remember those awful TV ads where you could instantly tell it was an international campaign by the bad dubbing and bland creative, and few truly global campaigns would be lauded at Cannes.  Digital, of course, has changed this – making it ever easier to think global but tweak for local, and enabling international advertisers to target audiences more precisely on an international scale.  The World Media Awards have been set up to recognise the growing creativity and innovation in international advertising, particularly those campaigns which engage with audiences with a content-led idea.  Given that our independent jury represents a broad range of expertise in international communications strategy, we’ve been asking them about the new “global / local” approaches and how you make them work.

 

What do we mean by “personalisation” in international advertising?

Our jurors are excited by the  notion of personalisation – of taking an idea and adapting it across different markets so that it is still recognisable as the same campaign despite the regional variations. Brodie Reid, Global Brand and Content Manager at Tourism New Zealand, says that their international campaigns “take a global view of the macro trends happening in the industry and then apply a local lens to tap into what’s relevant and specific for that market”. Annie Granatstein, Head of WP BrandStudio at Washington Post, supported this idea, explaining that a successful and profitable marketing campaign may involve the creation of multiple versions of the content, “not just translations, but accounting for differences in cultures and interest.”

 

Is there such a thing as an “international” audience?

Richard Stokes, Global Head of Content at Wavemaker questions the notion of an “international“ audience, before suggesting that “we should apply all that we know of an audience group and ensure we personalise content to the greatest extent possible”. Iain Jacob, Director, Advisor and Investor,concurred, explaining that “nobody is ‘international’ or ‘domestic’ in today’s world. This is about targeting a mindset – and it is context that delivers mindset.”

 

Is it all about the data?

Raquel Bubar, Director of T BrandStudio at The New York Times said that “the more we can tap into performance metrics, the more we can predict which types of content will work well with different audiences in different regions around the world.” However, whilst data is increasingly essential to the success of a campaign, including the local expertise is still a crucial component. Caroline Foster-Kenny, CEO of the EMEA region at IPG Mediabrands, stated that “trusting in the knowledge of local teams is key to the development of any successful campaign running across multiple territories” whilst Thibaut Portal, Global Media Hub Leader at Pernod Ricard, explained that “head office enables you to consolidate and bring coherency across many activated markets [whilst] local is fine-tuning and adapting strategies.”

 

Great international advertising needs a great idea

Gordana Buccisano, Head of Business Strategy and Commercial Planning at Publicis, said “at the core of a campaign, you need to have a killer insight that forms the basis for the killer idea on which the campaign is built upon. If both are in sync (insight and idea), then the job of balancing global with local becomes much easier to implement.”

 

An international content-driven marketing strategy must find the right balance between using metrics and local insight to personalise the campaign without losing sight of the human truth that the strategy taps into. It’s a fine line to walk, and the successful culmination of this tight-rope act is a feat worth of celebration.   We have a library of some of the most successful international content-led campaigns at [link to hall fo fame]

 

Enter now!

We would love to see how you are tackling these challenges – enter the World Media Awards atwww.world-media-group.com/awards by 7 February 2019.  There’s not cost to enter – we’re simply looking for the best campaigns that have strategically targeted at least 3 countries.

Interview with Brodie Reid

Brodie Reid, Global Manager for Brand & Content for Tourism New Zealand, will be joining our panel of esteemed jurors for the 2019 World Media Awards. We caught up with her to discuss the top trends in content-driven advertising.

WMA: Why do you think it’s important to benchmark and celebrate great international advertising strategies?

BR: We’re all here for one reason. To create work that really works. Awards like these are the perfect way to celebrate the work and strategies that have been successful to overcome complex business problems in a truly creative way. That’s why it’s so important that we recognise them and celebrate them, giving inspiration to other organisations to do the same. 

WMA: For brands in the travel and tourism sector, what are the particular challenges when targeting an international or cross-border audience?

BR: There’s the obvious challenges like language and comprehension of message, but for me, the very tricky challenge is finding a truth or insight that is relevant globally and making sure it’s something that’s going to really hit the consumer on an emotional level. Those truths are very hard to find on an international level. 

WMA: Why do you think there has been a growth in content-led advertising communications?

BR: I think people have higher expectations and demand to be entertained now more than ever. This has given brands the opportunity to take advantage of the fact that people are carrying a screen around in their hands 24/7, and therefore serve them with content-led entertainment in a way they couldn’t before.

WMA: What do you think are the most important factors to consider when creating content-led advertising? [eg: story, relevance, length of content, type of content, media partner]

BR: It’s ultimately the combination of all of these factors that make a piece of content truly spectacular and engaging (story, relevance, length, media partner etc) but it’s important to be clear that without a compelling insight that drives the story you won’t connect with your audience in the way that you hope to. 

WMA: What do you think is the key to truly engaging content?

BR: For me, it has to be something that creates an emotional connection with the audience. That could be any emotion (not just tears!), but when you make content that makes someone feel something then you automatically set yourself apart from the competition and create a connection with that person. And it’s that desire that ultimately drives someone to act. 

WMA: How do you balance planning and implementation of cross-border campaigns between “local” and “head” office?

BR: We take a global view of the macro trends happening in the industry and then apply a local lens to how to tap into what’s relevant and specific for that market. This then applies to how we produce and implement campaigns, so a global core creative concept that is then adapted locally to meet the local consumer needs and business objective set out by that market. It’s a very collaborative process with a lot of communication along the way to make sure we’re making content that is going to work in each market, but still have global scale. 

Don’t forget to check out the categories for 2019 and how to enter the awards.

Interview with Isabelle Lefebvre

We asked Isabelle Lefebvre, Managing Director Global Clients for Zenith Paris, what she considered to be the key factors for success in an international content-led marketing campaign. Isabelle will join us as a juror for the World Media Awards 2019.

WMA: Why do you think it’s important to benchmark and celebrate great international advertising strategies?

IF: International advertising strategies are much more challenging to develop – the level of expectations is much higher. An international campaign is not allowed to fail, as its impact (and therefore the risk) is much higher.

WMA: As a Judge, what are you hoping to see in the entries to the World Media Awards?

IF: I am hoping to discover entries where my peers  – using media, digital and data – have challenged the status quo and traditional agency roles, to deconstruct and rebuild a whole communication strategy.

WMA: For brands in the luxury, lifestyle and fashion sectors, what are the particular challenges when targeting an international or cross-border audience?

IF: Luxury, by essence, provides a personalised experience for customers. Therefore, the challenge for digital media is the seamless integration into this pre-existing brand experience, being respectful of the privacy of the consumer.

WMA: For entries in this category, are there any particular elements you would expect to see in a winning entry?

IF: I would hope to see quantified ROI and business results, so rarely available in this sector.

WMA: What do you think are the most important factors to consider when creating content-led advertising?

IF: For me, it would be alignment with the brand purpose.

WMA: What do you think is the key to truly engaging content?

IF: Understand what consumer needs first – to be entertained, to be useful or to learn something new?

WMA: How do you measure success when it comes to content-driven advertising?

IF: Time spent with content, engagement, capacity to capture more volatile audiences (Millennials) with a volume sufficient to be retargeted at a later stage.

WMA: What is the killer question an agency/media owner should ask a client to ensure that their content brief is fit for purpose?

IF: What’s your brand purpose?

WMA: What advice would you give a brand about to embark on a branded content campaign that needs to work in multiple countries or regions?

IF: Invest in a content audit in key markets before, and start early.

WMA: What distinguishes the “international” target audience from “domestic” audiences – and how granular can you be in your targeting?

IF: Planning for an international audience requires you to ask yourself three questions: who are we targeting and also where; and where is the budget funding from?

WMA: What do you need to look for in your media partner[s] when planning an international content-driven advertising strategy?

IF: Their capacity to understand the client business challenges and their flexibility.

Don’t forget to check out the categories for 2019 and how to enter the awards.

The World Media Group announces the appointment of its Non-Executive Chair, Alex Altman, President, Global Client Operations at Wavemaker

The World Media Group are pleased to welcome Alex Altman, President, Global Client Operations of Wavemaker as the first Non-Executive Chair, commencing January 2019.

This is an exciting new step for the group which also sees Alexandra Delamain, Senior Vice President, Head of Client Services, EMEA, The Economist as our new World Media Group President, with Damian Douglas, European Sales Director, Bloomberg Media and Kali Palmer, Marketing Director EMEA, Dow Jones as our new Vice Presidents for 2019 (Kali Palmer is currently on maternity leave).

‘The World Media Group (WMG) is a strategic alliance of the world’s leading media brands who are committed to promoting award winning journalism and the role of international media. Over recent years the essential role the group to promote the role of credible trustworthy journalism has never been so important. The WMG has grown and evolved to meet these challenges and the appointment of Alex Altman to this new role is to challenge the group to be more innovative and ambitious in our approach. I am really looking forward to working with Alex over the next year’ Alexandra Delamain, Senior Vice President, Head of Client Services, EMEA, The Economist and President of the World Media Group.

‘I have seen the World Media Group evolve over the last couple of years and what they have achieved has been fantastic. From the regular thought leadership sessions to the annual awards, the group is going from strength to strength. I look forward to working with the entire team to help stretch their horizons so we can make an even greater contribution to the industry we seek to represent’ Alex Altman, President, Global Client Operations of Wavemaker and Chair of the World Media Group.

The World Media Group has an active programme for 2019, the first event on February 26th is a Journalism 2020 Breakfast Briefing which looks at the core issues facing journalism, freedom of speech, fake news and developing a new publishing model. To see the full calendar events and to book a place go to http://sandbox.world-media-group.com/events/.

World Media Awards – This year sees the World Media Group hosting the independent World Media Awards for the fourth time. These are the only awards that celebrate excellence and effectiveness in cross-platform, cross-border, content-driven advertising – and the organisers are particularly keen to receive more entries from around the world this year and so ensure a truly global celebration of international content marketing. Entry to the World Media Awards is free and online at http://sandbox.world-media-group.com/awards/ – with a fast-approaching deadline of 7th February 2019.

For further information about the activities of the World Media Group please go to www.world-media-group.com or email belinda@world-media-group.com

Interview with Alison Tyrrell

We caught up with Alison Tyrrell, Head of Content (Marketing & Media) for Spark Foundry, and one of the jurors for the World Media Awards, to discuss what she was looking for in award entries and challenges facing international content-led advertising strategies.

WMA: Why do you think it’s important to benchmark and celebrate great international advertising strategies?

AT: In all industries, disciplines and philosophies we lean on the great to help accelerate our learning.

Throughout my career awards have helped inspire my thinking and visually show me where the bar is now set.

WMA: As a Judge, what are you hoping to see in the entries to the World Media Awards?

AT: I will be looking for out-of-the-box thinking. Something that demonstrates they found an alternative and different route to solving their challenge – as quite often solutions (whilst possibly effective) can be lazy and lazy doesn’t shift the standard we set.

WMA: For brands in the financial and corporate sectors, what are the particular challenges when targeting an international or cross-border audience?

AT: Common challenges would be illusive and time poor HNWI audiences. There is very little data and insight on this audience which makes partnering with the right publishers key.

Other challenges include, travel patterns – this audience move around a lot.

Additionally, Utilities and banking are not sexy and generally not trusted – this is another major challenge to overcome in a heavily red-taped industry.

WMA: For entries in this category, are there any particular elements you would expect to see in a winning entry?

AT: Intelligent data-led solutions to find the audience and deliver value-led marketing.

WMA: Why do you think there has been a growth in content-led advertising communications?

AT: A number of factors but mainly that content-led is more value driven. Rather than pushing the brands message out (via typical media advertising), content allows the brand to create more relevance to the lives of the audience.

With such a flurry of adverts, relevance is becoming a stronger way to cut through the noise.

WMA: What do you think are the most important factors to consider when creating content-led advertising?

AT: Relevance and value are key – what is the content doing to add to the lives of the audience or to solve a problem/challenge?

If a brand can nail this, it will make their content connect and build trust.

Media formats and types of content depend on the environment and user behaviour within that environment.

WMA: What do you think is the key to truly engaging content?

AT: Relevant content that helps or educates. Again, formats depend on behaviours/environments.

WMA: How do you measure success when it comes to content-driven advertising?

AT: It depends on the media format/content type.

WMA: What is the killer question an agency/media owner should ask a client to ensure that their content brief is fit for purpose?

AT: What problem/challenge does your brand solve for the audience?

WMA: What advice would you give a brand about to embark on a branded content campaign that needs to work in multiple countries or regions?

AT: Consider the differing cultures, behaviours, trends in each market. Ensure your message and formats remain relevant.

WMA: What distinguishes the “international” target audience from “domestic” audiences – and how granular can you be in your targeting?

AT: When targeting internationally you do need to decide how granular you want to go without risking reach.

Generally a consideration for language, visuals and environments are key.

After this, a consideration of behaviours that fit with the brand message, cultures and interests.

WMA: How do you balance planning and implementation of cross-border campaigns between “local” and “head” office?

AT: Generally planning comes from head office, and is adapted via local – local offices will understand the tweaks needed to messaging and they will understand the environments needed more authentically but still leading back to the core strategy.

WMA: What do you need to look for in your media partner[s] when planning an international content-driven advertising strategy?

AT: This depends on the brand objectives but generally;

  • The right reach for your target market.
  • Strong topic authority for your messaging.
  • Flexibility and a solution orientated team (working with ‘no’ people is a bottleneck to progress).
  • Transparency with data.
  • Great project management.

Don’t forget to check out the categories for 2019 and how to enter the awards.

Five success factors for brand-media owner partnerships in content marketing

Choosing the right media owner platform for your content-led advertising campaign is key to success –  respondents to our recent “future of global content marketing” survey cited it as the 4th most important success factor, behind the story, authenticity, and creative execution.  We’ve invited our jurors for the 2019 World Media Awards to outline what they believe every advertiser and agency should look for in a great partnership with your media owner platforms.

In summary, the five key success factors they propose for choosing your media owner partner for global content-led marketing:

  1. A media owner with alignment on brand values
  2. A media owner you trust on brand safety
  3. A media owner with international standing, and local strength
  4. A media owner with a wealth of audience data and insight to inform your strategy
  5. A media owner with the human factor: the team must be flexible and solutions-oriented

And here’s why they say that:

Angela Everitt, Director of Creative Strategy EMEA at the Economist, suggested “brands should look for media partners that align with them on values and goals” in order to partner more effectively and thereby maximise the impact of the campaign. The importance of values was reiterated by several of our judges, with Johanna Krantz, Commercial Director EMEA at Reuters, questioning “Do they align with your brand ethos? Does their content support your brand messaging?” The values of a proposed partner, are undoubtedly an essential aspect to consider, and Jim Piercy, Creative Director for Custom Studios, EMEA/APAC at the Wall Street Journal, took this a step further, saying that beyond anything, what a successful partnership requires is trust: “Brand safety is an increasing concern, and clients need to feel comfortable with their partners and their partner environments.”

Being able to trust your partner also enables you to be confident that your brand image isn’t going to be damaged by the collaboration.

Carine Gailliez, Content and Media Director at the Renault Group, highlighted the importance of the insight that a partner can bring to a campaign, with a strong focus on metrics, saying that above anything it was essential that a partner could provide “data to drive insight, data to understand the mindset of the audience [and] data to think, adapt and activate” the advertising strategy. Richard Stokes concurred with this notion, stating that he was interested in “audience insight, the ability to target discreet and interesting data sets”.

For global content-led marketing, Pierfrancesco Petrosillo, Head of MediaCom Beyond Advertising, valued “the ability to combine an international standing with a local strength,” an idea that Tanya Robinson, Global Brand Director at the National Geographic, echoed when she that one question you should always ask is “what is their footprint in your international campaign and how can you use their distribution to your advantage?”

It is clear that a successful partnership relies on aligned brand values combined with local insight and supported by data, but the human element is also a factor. Alison Tyrell, Head of Content (Marketing and Media) at Spark Foundry, suggested that along with these ideas, you need “flexibility and a solution-orientated team,” before continuing to explain that “working with ‘no’ people is a bottleneck to progress.” Beyond the resources that a partnership can provide, it’s also essential to ensure a conducive working environment where ideas can flow freely.

Brand and media partnerships are an inescapable element of many successful international content-driven campaigns and we aim to celebrate these at the World Media Awards 2019 – with a category specifically for “Best Brand Media Owner Partnership”.   If you think you’ve already cracked it and have a campaign from 2018 that demonstrates how a strong brand-media owner partnership can deliver great results, then we look forward to receiving your entry!

Enter the World Media Awards at www.world-media-group.com/awards by 7 February 2019.

New Survey into Content-driven Marketing Shows Engagement Metrics are Still Viewed as Less Important than Traditional Brand Measures

A new survey from the World Media Group (a strategic alliance of the world’s leading media brands) into content-led marketing shows that, although marketers are most likely to be using content-driven campaigns for brand engagement, they are not using engagement metrics as their primary KPIs. The survey questioned key influencers across advertisers, agencies, media brands and consultants.

It was carried out by the World Media Group (whose members include The Atlantic, Bloomberg Media Group, The Economist, Forbes, Fortune, National Geographic, Reuters, The New York Times, Time, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post) to provide context for its World Media Awards for cross-border, cross-channel content campaigns which close for entry on 7th February 2019. Its findings demonstrate that 49% of all respondents believe ‘brand engagement’ is content’s key strength (rising to 60% for advertisers), significantly higher than ‘changing perceptions’ at 28% and ‘building awareness at 17%’.

Content campaigns are being evaluated using traditional ad measurements: However, despite this it appears that marketers across the board are not yet focused on evaluating content campaigns against engagement metrics and are still favouring more traditional brand measures as KPIs. Twenty-six percent of respondents cite increased brand awareness as the main KPI they used to measure their most recent campaign, followed by measuring shifts in brand perception (25%). The first engagement metric comes in third with ‘time spent with content’ being used by 20% of respondents as their main KPI.

Content-led advertising set for continued growth: The good news is that content-driven marketing will continue its ascendancy, with 78% of respondents(and 85% of agencies) believing it will grow over the next two years, 18% feeling that it will stabilise and only 5% that it will decline. Agencies may have been later to market in developing their own brand studios and so are looking to drive more growth in the area but are going to have to work much harder as the market becomes increasingly cluttered. Overall, a whopping 45% of respondents said that >50% of the campaigns they work on are now content-driven.

Getting the environment/platform right is biggest contributor to a campaign’s success: Seventy-one percent of respondents scored story as the most important factor when creating a content-led campaign, followed by authenticity (62%) and creative execution (38%). However, when drilled further on what factors contribute most to a campaign’s success once the story has been created, 66% of respondents said that matching the environment/platform to the audience is the single biggest contributor. The second highest scoring factor was brand alignment, meaning that the content has to make sense for the brand or product. Third on the list was ‘content with rich legs’, whereby content is ‘evergreen’ and so stays relevant for a long time.

Short form video is biggest trend but VR/AR the most exciting: The strongest trend for content over the next 12 months is the use of short form videos, with 69% of respondents predicting they will be using them more. This is likely to be in a bid to improve completion rates but will be challenging for agencies and media brands tasked with building compelling and engaging stories in under 60 seconds – and some say this tackles consumer engagement the wrong way, with more informative and entertaining content being a better solution.Looking at other trends, 58% predict the use of more editorial style content and 56% expect to increase their use of social media posts.

When asked for the content marketing trend that most excites them, VR (virtual reality)/AR (augmented reality) received the highest number of mentions, followed by audio/podcast/voice-related content and the opportunities afforded by personalisation, strategy and data.

A credible editorial environment is key: However, the excitement around visualisation techniques like VR appears to be ahead of reality. When asked about the factors to look for when selecting a lead media partner, their ability to offer VR came last, only named by just under 3% of respondents. In fact, top of the list at 72% was provision of a credible editorial environment, followed by quality of audience engagement at 65% and audience profile at 63%.

Alex Delamain, newly appointed President of the World Media Group and SVP, Head of Client Sales and Services at The Economist, says,“The fact that advertisers and agencies expect investment in content-driven marketing to grow reflects our own experience at the World Media Awards where we have seen a rise in the number and quality of entries we receive every year. But what is really interesting is that they are recognising the impact of quality journalism on content campaigns. This sentiment matches independent research carried out by Moat last year which confirmed that readers display higher attention levels when viewing content within a trusted editorial environment.”

Who’s to blame when content campaigns go wrong?: While the World Media Awards are looking for entries from campaigns that are at the pinnacle of content-led, cross-border campaigns, at the other end of the scale it is interesting to look at who is seen to be at fault when campaigns fail to deliver. It seems that in this case everyone blames everyone else. For advertisers the blame lies predominantly in failings with the creative (32%). However, agencies blame poor strategy (30%) and lack of media support (22%), while media brands see the fault also lying in poor strategy (37%) or being given a bad brief (21%).

ENDS##
Media contact:
Susan Perolls at Loudmouth PR: T 020 7274 0925, M 07904 236060, E susanp@loudmouthpr.co.uk

About the research: The World Media Group carried out the online survey from 5th November to 5th December. There was a total of 176 responders, with 86% from Europe and the remaining 14% from the USA/Canada, Australasia, Africa and the Middle East. Respondents were key influencers with 48% from agencies, 37% from media brand studios, 13% were advertisers and 3% were consultants.

About the World Media Group: It is a strategic alliance of the world’s leading publications which incorporates The Atlantic, Bloomberg Media Group, The Economist, Forbes, Fortune, National Geographic, Reuters, The New York Times, Time, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and associate members: Moat,Smartology and The Smithsonian. Its aim is to promote award-winning journalism and the role of international media. Visit www.world-media-group.com for further information.

Your new year challenge: how to target corporate influencers

It’s the start of a brand-new year and I’m sure that like me, people are already asking you if you have any resolutions for the coming year. Though I struggle to stick with my own resolutions (oops!), the new year is a perfect time to pause and evaluate how you communicate your public image, for individuals and companies alike. The World Media Awards’ Corporate Influencer category has led our team and our jurors to identify the particular challenges that corporate and B2B brands have when building and communicating their image for an international audience of government and business leaders, investors and influencers.

One of our esteemed jurors, Johanna Krantz, Commercial Director for the EMEA region at Reuters, has said that she’s looking forward to reading through this year’s entries for the Corporate Influencer category as “they’ll be different to the larger, perhaps more money rich, B2C campaigns we regularly see”. Alison Tyrell, Head of Content (Marketing and Media) at Spark Foundry, explained that “there is very little data and insight on this

audience which makes partnering with the right publishers key.” Alison also admitted that “utilities and banking are not sexy and generally not trusted – this is another major

challenge to overcome in a heavily red-taped industry.” Beyond targeting the correct audience in the most productive manner, Raquel Bubar, Director of T Brand Studio at the NY Times, suggested that even identifying the most effective ROI can be challenging in the corporate sector. As the campaigns are often designed to raise awareness, it can be difficult “when measuring the success of a campaign, as it can’t be linked directly to product sales.”

However, the increased challenges often make for the best and most innovative solutions. We’ve had some great winners in this category in previous years [which you can read in our Hall of Fame] which have demonstrated creative solutions on a tight budget, a deep understanding of the targeted audience, and clear success measures. Do you have a campaign from 2018 that can make some of these claims, or more? Perhaps it was a campaign that promotes an organisational focus on sustainability. Or perhaps the campaign was intended to draw in investors to support a new initiative. Maybe it was designed to build the corporate brand behind the products in an entirely different sector. Or perhaps it was a campaign marketing a business product or service. Whatever it is, we want to see the creative solutions to the challenges that are inherent within B2B and influencer marketing as entries for the World Media Awards 2019.

Both Raquel and Alison have suggestions as to what a truly great corporate influencer campaign should include. On the one hand, Raquel says that corporate brands should focus on “raising awareness of their profile, increasing positive sentiment, telling a unique brand story and taking on a thought leadership position – all of which will make the brand truly stand out from the competition.” She also suggests that she would be interested in seeing “entries that tackle challenging but relevant topics in today’s world.” Alison believes that a winning entry would demonstrate “intelligent data-led solutions to find the audience and deliver value-led marketing.”

We look forward to hearing how your own advertising and communication strategies have overcome the challenges and obstacles in front of them to create campaigns of award-winning potential!

 

Enter the World Media Awards at www.world-media-group.com/awards by 7 February 2019.