Category: Latest thinking

Brixton Finishing School’s 2021 Cohort to Judge WMA Social Good Category

The World Media Group has partnered with Brixton Finishing School (BFS) to judge the ‘Social Good’ category at this year’s World Media Awards. BFS’s purpose is to disrupt how the Creative, Advertising and Marketing industries recruit talent. It supports diversity in the advertising community by offering training and placement to underrepresented groups (multi-cultural, working class, neuro diverse, female) in the industry.

Encouraging 18 – 25-year-olds with raw talent and untapped potential to apply for a place on its free 10-week programme, the BFS delivers a mixture of lessons and real-world advertising experience to prepare students for an entry level role in the communications industry.

This year’s cohort of BFS students will participate in the judging of the World Media Award’s new Social Good category. They will be immersed in a Masterclass led by Shula Sinclair, Global Head of Strategy at Spark Foundry and Co-Head Judge for the awards, and Belinda Barker, Chief Executive of the World Media Group.

The students will join the World Media Awards jury on Judging Day, where they’ll to listen to the shortlisted pitches and can pick the brains of the judges before casting their own vote to select the category winner. At the awards ceremony, one member of the cohort will join BFS Founder Ally Owen on stage to present the Social Good award.

“The BFS provides a brilliant platform to uncover and develop fresh talent,” said Belinda Barker, Chief Executive of the World Media Group. “We’re delighted to be partnering with them on the World Media Award for Social Good and hope the experience of being on the judging panel gives students a valuable insight into the industry.”

The introduction of the new Awards category reflects an increased focus on Social Good amongst brands following the pandemic, a key theme in the World Media Group’s annual Content Survey. The Social Good award recognises the potential for brands to combine storytelling with corporate action to influence social change around issues such as sustainability, the environment, poverty, and diversity and inclusion.

World Media Awards Shortlist Announced!

Strong showing of international entries despite a turbulent year for advertising

London, Tuesday 29th June: The World Media Group has announced the shortlist for the 2021 World Media Awards (WMAs), which showcase the best in international content-driven, cross-border advertising. Despite the disruption of the pandemic, the awards drove strong international interest across APAC, EMEA and the Americas attracting entries from Chile, Denmark, Germany, Japan, Spain, UK and the USA to highlight a few.

The shortlist, which includes a wide variety of renowned brands, was determined by an international team of more than 30 heavyweight jurors from leading advertisers, agencies and publishers. The jury’s make up reflects the vital importance of collaboration between all three parties when creating effective content-driven marketing campaigns. This year’s Co-Chairs were Fabio Mancone, Chief Branding Officer and Partner at Lombard Odier Group and Shula Sinclair Global Head of Strategy, Spark Foundry. The full list of judges can be seen here.

Damian Douglas, President of the World Media Group and Managing Director EMEA, TIME said, “Last year was challenging in many ways and the media and marketing industries weren’t exempt from this so we are both surprised and delighted to see such strong contributions from all over the world – in terms of the quality and quantity of entries. It’s inspiring to see so many brands using storytelling to stay connected with their audiences, even in the midst of a pandemic. The campaigns demonstrate how content-driven advertising in the right media environment plays such an important role in bringing stories to life.”

World Media Awards Event: The final category winners will be announced during an exclusive live ceremony at the Ham Yard Hotel in London on Thursday 9th September 2021 (Covid restrictions permitting). The winner of this year’s prestigious Grand Prix Award will also be announced on the night, joining previous Grand Prix winners, Sonos, Tata Motors, Shell, Fox and London & Partners as the ‘best of the best’.

Winners’ Perks: The Awards are unique in that all winners not only walk away with a trophy and kudos on the night, but will also see their work celebrated in an exclusive worldwide advertising campaign valued at €650K+ which will run across the World Media Group’s leading international media brands comprising The Atlantic, BBC Global News, Bloomberg Media Group, Business Insider, The Economist, The Financial Times, Forbes, Fortune, National Geographic, Reuters, Politico Europe, The New York Times, TIME, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post.

The 2021 shortlist is as follows:

Automotive

Brand / CampaignEntered by
Can-Am On-Road – Ladies, rule the roadTouché!
Toyota – Scoring the ‘Perfect 10’ for Toyota’s biggest sales modelm/SIX
Polestar – The under 30 driveForbes
Hyundai Motor Company: H2 economyBloomberg Media Studios

Brand / Media Partnership

Brand/ CampaignEntered by
Samsung: The human touchThe Trust: The Wall Street Journal | Barron’s Group
EPOS – Bad audio is bad business The Trust: The Wall Street Journal | Barron’s Group
REWE Markt GmbH – A(I)ttack of the killer tomatoes OMD Germany GmbH
Iberdrola – Power to change  The Trust: The Wall Street Journal | Barron’s Group
Samsung Galaxy A Series phone – Samsung #danceAwesomeStarcom (US & UK) 

Corporate Influencer

Brand/ CampaignEntered by
Shell – Pitch the future Mediacom
Maersk – Setting a new course for growthHavas International
EPOS – Bad audio is bad business The Trust: The Wall Street Journal | Barron’s Group
NTT – Building the future The Trust: The Wall Street Journal | Barron’s Group
Veolia – A new vision for plastic The New York Times

Financial Services

Brand/ CampaignEntered by
Wells Fargo – The way ahead Bloomberg Media Studios
ING Wholesale Banking – Transforming business Insider
UBS – Illuminate, educate, reciprocate media strategy Spark Foundry Worldwide 
UBS – Serious about sustainable investing The Trust: The Wall Street Journal | Barron’s Group
Lombard Odier – Transitioning to a CLIC economy Lombard Odier 
Refinitiv – Trade secrets Financial Times

Lifestyle, Luxury & Fashion

Brand/ CampaignEntered by
The North Face – Power further, together – Launching a trail running shoe during a pandemic PHD Global Business 
Samsung Galaxy Fold 2 – Look again at the Galaxy FoldStarcom Worldwide
Bumble – Building brand buzz in lockdownHavas International
Meetic – Re-humanizing digital relationshipsHavas Media Group
Triumph – A triumph for TriumphWavemaker 

Media & Entertainment

Brand/ CampaignEntered by
beIN SPORTS – Love it like the first time VMLY&R Miami 
Sony Pictures Entertainment – Bad Boys for Life – Re-energising the franchise OMD EMEA
Electronic Arts – FIFA win as one m/SIX
PlayStation – PS5: 2020’s biggest entertainment launch MediaCom

Social Good

Brand/ CampaignEntered by
Malaria No More UK – Drawing the line against malaria to help end it for good Dentsu
Can-Am On-Road – Ladies, rule the roadTouché!
Corteva Agriscience – Follow the Food season 2BBC Global News
Samsung—Samsung out of the box Starcom
WWF Chile – Footprints of extinction Inbrax

Technology & Telecoms

Brand/ CampaignEntered by
Deutsche Telekom – “What we do next”: Celebrating Gen Z’s online activism Mindshare Germany
Samsung Galaxy A Series phone – Samsung #danceAwesomeStarcom (US & UK) 
Kaspersky – Leading in enterprise cybersecurity with Kaspersky Gyro
Microsoft – Microsoft Teams for today, Teams for tomorrow, Teams for allCarat

Travel & Tourism

Brand/ CampaignEntered by
Tourism Australia – LIVE from AusUM Sydney
Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi – Abu Dhabi unwrappedBBC Global News
Marriott Bonvoy International – Trigger the escapeSpark Foundry
Kaunastic routes – Kaunas IN Kaunastic routes 

For full details of shortlisted entries go to https://world-media-group.com/finalists-2021/

Key Take Outs – Media Innovation

Harnessing Media Innovation to Drive Businesses Growth

The media industry has talked about innovating for years but it took a global crisis to teach us an important lesson: urgency spurs innovation. So how can we keep the flames of innovation burning as we return to ‘normal’? The World Media Group invited a panel of experts to share their experiences around how innovation has shaped their businesses.

The panel was chaired by Gordana Buccisano, EVP, Managing Director, Global Clients Transformation, Havas Media Group, who began by asking whether some of the biggest technology trends of the pandemic are here to stay.

Don’t predict the future based on the past

Liam Brennan, Global Director of Innovation, MediaCom, is concerned that brands will blindly latch on to the successful trends of last year without thinking about their own business focus. “So much innovation is just fluffy. It gets you lots of PR, but if you’re not improving the business bottom line, then it’s a waste of time,” he said.

While trends like streaming, e-commerce and gaming certainly grew during the pandemic, Brennan pointed out they were not new technologies, and became a digitalisation of existing behaviours. Rather than brands jumping on these trends, Brennan hopes it will be a wakeup call, forcing them to pay more attention to what’s bubbling under the surface. “The brands that succeeded in 2020 and in the first half of 2021 weren’t necessarily brands that threw everything out the window in mid-March and then pivoted into these three areas. They were brands that were prepared for this because they’d been trialling things beforehand and learning how they worked.”

Survival, speed and solidarity

When the FT had to reinvent its Live events business as a virtual offering almost overnight, Leyla Boulton, Development Editor, FT Live, and Senior Editor, Financial Times, said “the three S’s” were key: survival, speed, and solidarity. Showing the world that FT Live was still a valid business required a speedy response. The solidarity came from the FT’s culture of pulling together in an emergency and thinking entrepreneurially. They quickly procured a digital platform and invited the FT’s chief economics commentator, Martin Wolf, to host a test event, which generated a respectable 6,000 registrations.

Six week’s later, the FT Live’s Global Boardroom launched with 120 speakers over three days, generating 52,000 registrations – double the total number of attendees at FT events for the whole of 2019! The FT plans to hold its first hybrid event on September 4th, with the return of the FT Weekend Festival to Kenwood House in London and online, allowing it to retain the global audience it attracted during the pandemic.

From zero to hero

For Kevin Young, Head of Audience at The Economist, innovation has centred around transforming The Economist’s “traditional” media approach to a digital-first strategy. Following a complete overhaul of The Economist’s social media platforms, Young initiated a new focus on Instagram, which has become a “shop window” for the visual journalism previously only accessible to readers of The Economist’s print magazine.

The Economist’s Instagram account now has 5.5 million users, with two thirds aged between 18 to 34. Of all the media brand’s social channels, Instagram is the biggest generator of subscriptions, having gone from delivering zero website referrals per month two years ago to delivering one million today.

During the pandemic, Young standardised the way the global social media team worked, democratising processes to ensure that if someone fell ill, the team could still operate without compromising its outputs. They began crowdsourcing content from all over The Economist encouraging picture editors, data journalists and video producers to showcase their work to this vast new audience.

The strategy clearly worked: The Economist won ‘Best Use of Social Media’ at the International News Media Association awards.

Recognising which trends are important

According to Jean Ellen Cowgill, GM of Bloomberg QuickTake and Global Head of Strategy and Business Development, innovation stems from identifying the trends that are happening around your business. QuickTake, Bloomberg’s streaming news channel, began in 2017 in response to audiences going to Twitter first when news broke. With the initial wave of concern around fake news on Twitter, Bloomberg recognised it could offer trusted quality content in those moments.

More recently, Bloomberg recognised the shift away from cable and traditional broadcast towards streaming, and saw QuickTake as an opportunity to address the needs of a new generation of business leaders. QuickTake launched as a full 24/7 streaming channel during the pandemic, producing longer form video content, including documentary series, and available across various streaming platforms.

“Once you recognise the trends happening under your feet, you can start to talk about how, as a business, you’re going to address them,” said Cowgill, but it’s important to make sure you have staff responsible for “tackling those trends and marshalling the traditional divisions within the business to go after those new opportunities.”

And they have to be the right opportunities for your business. Young said he was initially questioned about why The Economist wasn’t on Clubhouse. “It’s easy to be swayed by the latest thing – to try to innovate and adapt to everything, but it’s really important to stick to business goals. Our business goals are to drive referrals and to drive subscriptions, and on some platforms that’s difficult because the platforms don’t want you to leave.”

Experimentation drives innovation

For Jarrod Dicker, VP Commercial, The Washington Post, experimentation is essential to innovation. “When Jeff Bezos bought The Washington Post back in 2013, we started to think about how we could leverage the reputation of such a strong technology founder to build more opportunities outside of traditional revenue streams for journalism,” he said. They started experimenting with ways to better equip the newsroom and soon realised it made sense to build their own technology.

What started as an experimental project has become Arc Publishing, a massive SAAS business which enables 1500+ brands and publishers globally to tell better stories and reach broader audiences without investing in software teams themselves. More recently, the Washington Post has built commercial tools to help publishers drive more revenue, including a model that will compete with Facebook and other programmatic marketplaces.

Dicker sees The Washington Post as the beta lab for innovation. “It’s an amazing breeding ground to test new concepts, whether that’s products, new ways to make money, or new tools and services. Everything happens in that sandbox. We’ll test products out and often they will continue to exist and drive The Washington Post business, but sometimes they’ll be more effective being licenced out to marketers or local news organisations. The Washington Post is the core; we rapidly innovate there, and then we fly it out.”

Setting innovation KPIs

So how do you measure innovation? According to Dicker, innovation KPIs should be based on how many ideas went live. “You should set goals for that, whether that’s two a month or four a month, or six a month. Being able to actually put these things out there in the market should be the number one goal that innovation teams are measured against.”

Wrapping up the webinar, Damian Douglas, MD EMEA, TIME and President of the World Media Group echoed the panel’s sentiments around the importance of innovation in understanding and preparing for the future. He signed off with a warning: “Unless you have a culture that steps into innovation and looks for signals in data that allow your brand to go to certain area, you will stay routed in the past while audiences shift dynamically around you.”

Five obvious-not-obvious lessons for more effective content marketing – from the world’s experts

Over the past five years, the World Media Awards have gathered and celebrated the very best international, content-led marketing campaigns – benchmarking the best work by global brands and tracking the increasing levels of creativity and effectiveness. As we head towards the deadline [20 May] for this year’s Awards and prepare for the judging, we’ve been asking our 2021 Jury what they believe are the essential ingredients for great content marketing.

1. Start with the consumer insight

This might seem to be obvious, but as Katharine Swarney, head of marketing communications for Nissan France says, “Start from a customer insight or truth to make sure you connect with your audience. Knowing your audience will also guide all media decisions”. Our Jury co-chair, Fabio Mancone, chief branding officer for Lombard Odier Group, adds that insights need to be about more than the consumer to be of real value – it’s also about where the brand can connect. As he says, “Successful content strategy connects customer value with business value. It starts with deep audience understanding, in having empathy, and connecting with passion points and interests”.

2. Develop a meaningful narrative

What do we mean by a “meaningful narrative”? Ruby Wight, creative lead for campaigns and partnerships at Burberry defines this as “An underlying story that resonates with the audience and the world they live in today”. Matthew Wellington, global investment director for The Financial Times agrees that it’s all about connections – and he’s also clear on what it’s not, “Advertising cannot be dictatorial; shouting at people doesn’t work. Content advertising offers a space for companies to showcase what makes them special – what unique benefits and advantages they bring to the audiences they intend to reach”. Our jury’s advice is to focus on this narrative first, and the content medium second. Denise Burrell Stinson, head of Brand Studio for The Washington Post says, “Sometimes people get stuck on using cutting-edge creative formats like 360 visuals or video just for the sake of using them, when another approach would have worked. But if you stick to a story-first approach, I believe you increase your chance at success”.

3. Get the right balance between the unexpected and the “on brand”

79% of those who responded to The World Media Group’s Future of Content Marketing survey in 2020 believed that investment in content marketing would continue to grow – and despite all the challenges of the past year, 23% of the advertisers who responded to our 2021 survey were increasing investment. So even if you have a meaningful narrative, how do you ensure it stands out from the crowd? Ruby Wight believes that to achieve that cut-through, you need “An execution that feels different from what is conventional in the category, something that feels unexpected and new.” Katharine Swarney urges advertisers and their creative teams to approach the brief with an open mind, adding that, “Some of the best content I have ever done came from creative proposals that seemed completely crazy at first but through development went on to become outstanding campaigns”. But just as Denise emphasised story over format, our jury would stress that crazy-for-crazy’s sake is not going to give you that cut-through on its own – Katharine added that, “you need to be authentic about your brand values and not try to act like a brand you are not”.

4. Add value for your audience

It’s all about making those connections between the audience’s interests and needs and where your brand can add value. “Adding value to a consumer’s life is key; treating your audience with respect; surrounding them but not in a way that feels forced; being clear what problem you are solving” all add up to the right approach, according to Elliot Moss, partner and director for business development at Mishcon de Reya. A number of our jury stressed the value of context – as Fabio Mancone put it, your storytelling should “seamlessly fit into the spaces the audience comes into contact with it”. If you can get the balance right between delivering the unexpected, embedding this in authenticity, and offering real value, then you should achieve your ultimate objective which should be, according to Ruby Wight, to start a conversation, “When your audience sees this content they should want to forward it to a friend, immediately!”

5. Ensure the whole team understand the objectives!

Being clear on your objectives before you start is our final tip – content marketing can raise brand awareness, change brand perceptions, stimulate purchase, reinforce brand loyalty…. And each objective requires a different approach. Denise Burrell stresses that the whole team [client, agency, media owner] need to be on the same page, “All people on a creative team should embark on their projects with a clear understanding of KPIs and what their piece is meant to achieve. Is it shifting audience sentiment, or raising awareness of an important event?”.

I’ll leave the last words to our Jury co-chair, “Successful content strategy connects customer value with business value. It starts with deep audience understanding, in having empathy, and connecting with passion points and interests. It then finds a credible role for the brand that adds genuine value to your audience’s life whilst at the same time, tells the brand story in a way that drives outcomes for the business.”

If you feel you have achieved that over the past year, then we’d love to hear from you! Find out more about how to enter the World Media Awards HERE.

Cookie-Pocalypse: Will the death of third-party cookies kill digital advertising?

With Google Chrome set to pull the plug on third-party cookies in January 2022, marketers will soon lose the primary tech system that tracks identity across the web, opening up huge questions about the future of digital advertising. The World Media Group invited a panel of experts to discuss what losing access to third-party data means to the industry, and how marketers and publishers can prepare themselves to benefit from this significant shift in how we use personal data.

The panel was chaired by Emily Roberts, Programmatic Trading Manager, BBC Global News, who set the scene by reminding the audience about the difference between first-party cookies – those that only share data back to the owners of the website you’re visiting at the time – and third-party cookies, which track your browsing habits to create a profile that is then used to target you with advertising based on your interests.

While other browsers have already undergone similar policy changes, Google Chrome’s 70% market share means the impact of third-party cookie removal will be far greater. While Roberts described it as “privacy milestone” for website users, she warned that if the industry doesn’t have a working alternative in place, publishers are likely to see huge drops in revenue.

Paul Coffey, Director of Platforms, Partnerships & Privacy, Google EMEA, said the changes are part of a long-term evolution of the online advertising ecosystem in response to consumer expectations. He said that 70% of users feel they are being tracked by advertisers, technology providers or other companies almost all the time, and over 80% feel that the potential risks they face from data collection outweigh the benefits.

Chrome’s commitment to phase out third-party cookies is a reflection of this and the broader changes happening in the industry, but Coffey explained there are plans in place to support advertisers, agencies, publishers and marketers, such as Google’s ‘Privacy Sandbox,” an industry-supported initiative to create privacy-led advertising solutions. Google is also pioneering an initiative called ‘Floc’ – Federation learning of cohorts, which anonymises individual data to create large groups of audience cohorts for advertisers.

Find the right partnerships

Elizabeth Brennan is Head of Advertiser Strategy at Permutive, an audience platform that enables premium advertisers and publishers to plan, build and activate cohorts while keeping everyone’s data safe. Brennan referenced a Permutive-commissioned study by Forrester Consulting, which shows that, as of March 2021, 41% of advertisers rely exclusively on third-party data for targeting and measurement. With potentially just nine months left to find a new solution, Brennan says brands must “wean themselves off third-party data” and future-proof their strategies. She suggested one way to do this is to form strategic alliances with publishers to take advantage of their audience insights and wealth of actionable first-party data.

Jay Glogovsky, Executive Director, Revenue Analytics and Operations, at The New York Times, agrees. The media brand has embraced the change, meeting its goal of removing all third-party cookies by the end of FY 2021, and, according to Glogovsky, without sacrificing any insights in their move to a purely first-party strategy. He stresses that advertisers need to have close relationships with their trusted premium publishers, who can be part of the solution. “We’re brilliant technologists and we’re going to solve this and be able to create products and experiences for our readers that embrace this first-party model,” he said.

Respect your consumers

It is those readers, and consumers in general, who stand to benefit from the changes to data regulations in the long run. As Ratul Shah, Head of Product Marketing, SAP Customer Data Solutions, pointed out, privacy regulations such as GDPR came as a result of what consumers have been asking for, for a long time. He believes brands need to respect consumers and allow them to feel in control of the relationship. “It all comes down to the customer experience, knowing who your customer is and how they want to be treated. And the only way to do that is through a trusted relationship, giving them transparency over why you’re collecting their data and why you need it. And, of course, control over how you’re using it.”

Shah believes that marketers who adopt that point and have the technology base to help them to create that relationship – to turn people from anonymous to known – will drive advocacy amongst customers by giving them what they want: “a trusted relationship with the brands they’re doing business with, ads that mean something to them, and experiences that keep them coming back for more.”

Balance contextual targeting

It’s estimated that the third-party data market is currently worth $19 billion a year. A poll during the webinar suggested that 56% of the audience expects that money to be reinvested into first party data strategies, while 31% said it would go to contextual targeting and 13% to direct partnerships.

Roberts asked the panel if the changes to third party data would mean more people would focus on contextual targeting. Erin Laughlin, Director of AdTech Products and Services at Dow Jones, (parent company of The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s MarketWatch, Mansion Global and Financial News) said that brands still want to target people, not just on the content they consume, but who they are. Dow Jones isn’t reliant on contextual targeting, but it has leveraged its digital community of three million members to create its own unique contextual product called DJ Thematic that is performing up to three times better than the average industry benchmark.

The product is able to target people based on their job title, their job industry and their job function because of the value exchange Dow Jones delivers: “Our readers are providing that information to us today because they know that they’re getting access to this premium content that’s helping them make really important business and financial decisions,” Laughlin said. When publishers can provide that sort of value exchange, they can go beyond typical contextual targeting to provide a far more sophisticated solution.

For publishers who don’t have high subscriptions or login rates, however, Permutive’s Brennan points out that contextual targeting offers an opportunity to reach beyond the known portions of the web. It allows advertisers to drive scale through their digital marketing strategies while respecting the data that they have access to, and, as such, it’s still a valid element of a diversified advertising strategy.

Commenting on the results of the audience poll and the redistribution of funds to first-party data, Brennan agreed with the majority of the audience, saying that “advertisers and publishers who really want to thrive, in the short term and long into the future, need to move towards privacy and make investment in world-class data, privacy collection analysis and activation infrastructure.”

Embrace the opportunity for positive change

As the discussion came to a close, Roberts asked each panellist to offer one piece of advice for the audience to take away.

For Glogovsky, it comes down to respect: “Privacy is an opportunity and it doesn’t sacrifice performance or insights – it actually enables innovation. My recommendation around that would be to communicate and experiment. Have conversations with your partners; have them internally with your stakeholders, and don’t be afraid to experiment. Lot of publishers are going about this differently, as are advertisers and agencies; I’m not saying any one of them is right. The only thing that I will say is respecting privacy is the right solution. So, however you go about doing that, I encourage you to experiment and communicate, so we can get this right as an industry as a whole.”

Brennan’s advice is all about preparation: “Really review how much first-party data you have now, what collection practices you have in place, understand the gaps that are there, and build strategies in order to address them. That could be through partnerships or better internal ways of working.” She views this as an “incredible opportunity” to maximise the value of first-party data but says that “understanding where the pockets of value are, and how you should be activating” against them is key.

Coffey’s advice is similar: “Whether you’re an advertiser or a publisher you need to think about what your value exchange is, and, once you’ve got that consented data, think about how you’re going to leverage it; how are you going to use the platforms? Don’t think of this as an imposition by platforms; this is really an industry-wide dialogue and discussion about how we work in lockstep to reflect user and regulator expectations.”

Laughlin views this as an opportunity to embrace change: “The death of third-party cookies does not mean the death of your digital advertising strategy. What it’s doing is essentially accelerating the first-party roadmaps of publishers and platforms in a way that we’ve never seen before. It’s providing insights and solutions that we would have never seen if we were still reliant on third-party cookies. So, get excited about this change, embrace it.”

Finally, Shah says, “A marketer’s job is to know who the customer is, to help drive the experiences that they want, and this new opportunity allows us to connect the dots inside of our organisations; to have new conversations. Marketers can sit across the table from privacy professionals to redefine what it really means to build a customer-first experience, not just within your organisation but across the ecosystem.”

It may be the death of the third-party cookie, but Shah would like re-name it “the rebirth of new customer experiences.” Whether you’re an advertiser, a publisher or platform, that’s something we can all get excited about.

Survey shows increased focus on ‘Social Good’ amongst brands after the pandemic

80% of advertisers are committed to an ESG strategy or UN Sustainable Development Goals 

The World Media Group, a strategic alliance of the world’s leading media brands, today released its annual report: What’s Next for Content-Led Marketing? The survey, which questioned key influencers across advertisers, agencies, media brands and consultancies, explored the impact of the pandemic on advertising and how brands will adapt their storytelling after a particularly challenging year.

Increased focus on Social Good

It appears the crises of 2020 have led brands to reconsider their approach to Social Good and how it fits into their creative strategy and content-led communication. Eighty four percent of all respondents believe that it is now more important and more effective for brands to align themselves with social issues and messaging. This is reflected in the fact that 80% of advertisers said their organisation is committed to working towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals and / or actively pursuing an ESG [Environmental-Social-Governance] focused strategy.

Almost two thirds (63%) of media owner, agency, and consultant respondents said they were seeing an increase in demand for creative solutions that communicate the client’s approach to meeting ESG goals. Fifty three percent of advertisers are leading with their ESG strategy in marketing communications to consumers, whilst 24% plan to. Seventy one percent of advertisers believe that brands which are able to lead with credible and authentic storytelling related to ESG issues have a competitive advantage.

However, respondents were quick to caveat that brand authenticity was essential when communicating around ESG issues, and that simply jumping on a hot topic or trend was no longer acceptable. Instead, ‘proof points of real-world actions’ are required to demonstrate that it is not just a marketing tactic.  

An authoritative and trusted environment for storytelling

When sharing their opinions on how brands, media owners and agency teams can add impact and effectiveness to storytelling around these issues, two thirds of all respondents (67%) believe that using the voice of experts is an important factor. Sixty two percent believe that storytelling should be positioned within an authoritative journalistic environment, and this number increases to 71% amongst media owners, agencies, and consultants.

When asked about the best platforms to invest in when sharing or amplifying brand storytelling in 2021, all respondents agreed that the three key areas for investment would be the brand’s own channels, trusted digital media channels and paid social media channels. 

Commenting on the survey, Damian Douglas, President of the World Media Group and Managing Director, EMEA at TIME, said, “The pandemic has given us all the opportunity to consider what’s important and consumers are looking for brands that are aligned with their own values. When an organisation has a credible ESG story to tell, content-led communications in the right media environment can help influence genuine social change – but it has to be authentic. Consumers are no longer willing to accept empty gestures.”    

Audio predicted to be a key content trend

When asked to predict the most exciting trends in content-led marketing over the next two years, the most frequently cited response was the continued growth of podcasts and audio formats. Respondents also expected the legacy of the pandemic to drive an increase in online brand activations. Finally, there was a divergence of opinion around “humanifying” marketing, with some respondents suggesting a need to make it more personal, while others favoured a trend towards AI-generated content.

The research was carried out by the World Media Group, whose members include The Atlantic, BBC Global News, Bloomberg Media Group, Business Insider, The Economist, The Financial Times, Forbes, Fortune, National Geographic, Reuters, The New York Times Company, Time, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, to provide context for the World Media Awards for cross-border, cross-channel content campaigns, which close for entry on 20th May 2021. The full report can be downloaded here.

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Media contact:

Charlotte Panther
07834431206
charlottepantherpr@gmail.com

About the research: The World Media Group carried out the online survey between 11 January and 19 February 2021 to advertisers, media owners, and agencies with international communication remits. 325 responses were received, with 80% of delegates having worked on content-led campaigns designed to target multiple countries and with global responsibility.

About The World Media Group
The World Media Group is a strategic alliance of leading international media organisations that connects brands with highly engaged, influential audiences in the context of trusted and renowned journalism. Its members include The Atlantic, BBC Global News, Bloomberg Media Group, Business Insider, The Economist, The Financial Times, Forbes, Fortune, National Geographic, Reuters, The New York Times Company, Time, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and associate members: Moat and Smithsonian.

 

What is the currency of truth? by Gordana Buccisano, EVP Global Client Transformation, Havas Media Group and Non-Executive Chair of the World Media Group

Gordana Buccisano, EVP global client transformation, Havas Media Group and Chair of the World Media Group explains the importance of trust in the relationship between publisher, brand and consumer

In a world where we’re constantly bombarded by communication, sifting through the millions of data points to decipher what’s true and meaningful would be practically impossible without the interventions of reputable media sources. But having a free press is a luxury that we’ve taken for granted – that is, until recently.

To read the full article published by Mediatel, click HERE

 

Sustainability: From Pledges to Progress – Key Take Outs

With sustainability high on the agenda for many businesses, particularly in light of COP26, the United Nations Climate Change Conference in November, the World Media Group invited a panel of sustainability transformation experts to discuss how businesses make the move from talking about sustainability to undertaking concrete action. The panel was chaired by Katya Ionova, Creative Director, Business Insider, who began by asking each representative to explain the role of sustainability communications in their business.

Sofia Lotto Persio, Assistant Editor at Forbes explained that although Forbes has been covering sustainability issues for a while, it has been siloed across different channels such as business, finance or lifestyle, which hasn’t necessarily presented the whole picture. “It’s something that needs a holistic approach and needs players from all industries to get involved in, to share knowledge, share awareness and best practices,” she said. To this end, Forbes is launching a sustainability channel next month, with a more intersectional approach to coverage.

Enabling change throughout the supply chain

For Santosh Sethumadhavan, Interim Global Head of Communications, B2B, at HSBC, communications play a role in dismissing the growing narrative that businesses are part of the problem. Describing HSBC’s “Business plan for the planet”, an initiative that promotes the idea that business can be part of the sustainability solution rather than the problem, Sethumadhavan said most businesses “want to make the change, but they just don’t know how to get started and they need help.” HSBC is committing between 750 billion and $1 trillion over the next nine years to drive sustainable transitions, supporting its clients, and, importantly, their supply chains, to thrive in a low carbon economy.

Turning to Devapriyo Das, Senior Communications Advisor, Market Communications and Sustainability at Ørsted, Ionova asked him how the company came to be one of the most interesting examples of sustainability transformation. Ørsted has reduced its carbon emissions by 87 percent over the past 14 years. In 2020, the company generated 90 percent of its energy from renewable offshore, onshore wind and solar sources. They are on their way to being carbon neutral by 2025 and net zero by 2040. “Becoming sustainable is not just about changing your own business, but about changing the partners you work with and the impact you have on the globe,” he said. This means tackling the difficult challenge of decarbonising heavy industries like steel and fuel for transportation, but he believes that increasing demand will put pressure on innovators to come up with the right, low carbon solutions.

The same applies to a business such as Capgemini, which works with companies across many different sectors, including finance and energy. In the race for net zero, Emmanuel Lochon, Chief Marketing Officer, Capgemini Invent, said having a very clear action plan and measurable steps towards the next objective was essential. Research and insight into the evolution of sustainability, from energy to mobility to the circular economy, forms the basis of Capgemini’s communications strategy. Lochon cited a recent example of an actionable project that Capgemini Invent developed for the Gates Foundation, which identified 55 high-impact, climate technology projects that can help Europe meet the 2025 net zero emission targets. He said they are continuously researching how sustainability is evolving so that they can offer clients implementation support to put their own sustainability strategies in place.

Avoiding greenwashing

Ionova’s next question to the panel was how to avoid the label of “greenwashing.” According to Sethumadhavan, the problem arises when companies stand up and shout about how sustainable they are without any real transition. It can’t just be the marketing team pushing a company’s sustainability merits. “It needs a strong leadership commitment and collaboration across the organisation to make this a reality. It truly happens when the organisation comes together and recognises sustainability as a priority, then the whole organisation mobilises in that direction,” he said. “Without that, it becomes a hollow promise and maybe just another nice marketing campaign.”

According to Ørsted’s Das, maintaining credible consistent communication, sticking to the facts and putting it into context is key. “We take great pains to show how much we have actually reduced in terms of emissions, but also how we are contributing to an accelerated build out of green energy. And I think as much as numbers can be tedious and facts can be very heavy, we need them to support our story.”

Lotto Persio said that one of the biggest issues she comes up against when covering sustainability initiatives for Forbes is a lack of actionable evidence. “The press release will say, we’ve decided to create this goal and we’ll be carbon neutral by 2030. But it’s always lacking in the details as to how they’re doing it. Explaining the mechanism as to how these actions happens is very important in our coverage.” She also warns against developing initiatives that may create a catchy headline but don’t actually align with what the business is about, or its goals.

Expectations for COP26

As the topic turned to COP26, Lochon pointed out that this too should not be viewed as a marketing opportunity but as a chance to make a difference. “It’s not about sponsoring the event,” he said. For Capgemini Invent “it’s about taking part in it, taking the floor and sharing, insights in front of a panel of decision makers. It’s a very concrete and very direct way of involving ourselves.”

Continuing with the theme of concrete action, Das said the one message he would like people to take away from COP26, and particularly for some of the emerging economies, is “that green energy is now cheaper than fossil fuels in two thirds of the world’s countries. There is simply no economic reason not to act on the climate crisis,” he said. He felt that there was a lot of momentum to make sure COP26 was a success, and, with the new administration in the US, there was the potential to really kickstart the action needed for change.

Lotto Persio agreed that President Biden’s decision to re-join the Paris Agreement was not only hugely symbolic but also opens up the sustainability conversation in the US again, putting decarbonisation at the top of the agenda. “With some leadership in this topic again, I think the message will be more powerful and will echo to normal people,” she said. However, she urged companies to think about the context, framework and relevancy of any communication they were planning for COP26, as it was unlikely to filter down to the general public.

The celebration of transition

Ending with a question from the audience, Ionova asked Sethumadhavan how the media and marketing industry could credibly focus on messaging around sustainability when also faced with the physical carbon cost of the internet, which if it were a country, would be the sixth largest carbon emitter on a planet. Sethumadhavan replied that the internet is no different from steel or any other resource and “needs to be held to equally high standards as any other company.” However, with the goalposts constantly moving, Sethumadhavan believes we need to be mindful about the “celebration of transition”. If a company, or sectors like the internet, start making transitions towards being more sustainable, if we as marketers and advertisers try and find even small steps that can quantify and make some kind of meaningful impact, I think we should celebrate those things,” he said.

Wrapping up the discussion on a positive note, Sethumadhavan said that HSBC was seeing interesting ideas coming out of really small businesses around the world that showed real hope for the future. “I might be one of the few optimistic people about this but the kind of changes we’re seeing bode well for the future. People are making real change happen and really, there’s a lot to look forward to.”

Profile on Damian Douglas, Managing Director EMEA, Time and President of The World Media Group

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Social Media Portal (SMP) interviewed Damian Douglas, Managing Director, EMEA at Time and newly elected President of The World Media Group about publishing, marketing, digital transformation and more.  Please click on the link HERE to read the full article.  It makes for a very interesting read![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]