Making Content-Driven Marketing that People care About

Alex Delamain of The Economist and World Media Group explains how partnering with respected journalistic brands can deliver engagement, not just reach.

As SVP, global client partner at The Economist and president of the World Media Group, Alex Delamain’s role sits at the point of convergence between clients with marketing goals and a suite of respected media brands. As a result, she’s used to the balancing act required to create content-driven campaigns that audiences engage with meaningful ideas.
 
To dig into how she views best practice in this area, click on the link below:

US Elections webinar – Key Take Outs: The implications of a Biden presidency for businesses around the world

Across the globe, people have been on tenterhooks watching the US election play out. While Joe Biden was finally declared winner on Saturday, his battle for power may just be beginning. We invited a panel of leading international journalists, chaired by Robin Bew, Managing Director, The Economist Intelligence Unit, to discuss how the change in presidency will impact the domestic business environment, and what it will mean for international trade and investment.

Georgia is going to be key to the Senate

Bew’s first question to the panel was how challenging it would be for Biden to implement his policy agenda with the Democrats unlikely to carry the Senate. According to Jacqueline Alemany, Politics Reporter and author of the ‘Power Up’ Newsletter at The Washington Post, there’s still a chance for the Senate to tilt in the Democrats’ favour: “I think the runoffs in Georgia could give Democrats the majority they need to be productive members of the federal government,” she said, having been on the ground in Georgia in the week leading up to the election. She described a “burgeoning blue wave” in the state that had been building since 2016. If the Senate didn’t flip, however, it would be difficult for Biden to get anything other than a relief bill through in the first few months.

Derek Thompson, Staff Writer at The Atlantic, pointed out that Georgia was a 50:50 state and the runoffs were likely to be split equally between Democrat and Republican candidates. With the Republicans still controlling the Senate, it would be very difficult for Biden to push through anything productive, he said, and agreed with Alemany that Biden’s first bill would be some sort of Covid stimulus package.

Bew asked Jennifer Cunningham, Executive Editor, Business Insider and Insider News whether she felt Biden could use his “charm” to reach out and bridge some of the partisan divide. Cunningham felt Biden would leverage “what little goodwill there may be and try to turn that into actionable policy.” She also agreed that Biden would work on a stimulus package but stressed that it would be difficult to find one that both sides agreed on.

Courts may not favour executive orders

The panel’s outlook was pessimistic when Bew asked them whether they thought that the courts’ steady shift to the right would also make life more difficult for Biden. Thompson said it was going to be hard for Biden to do anything legislatively after he passed the Covid stimulus bill. “As result you’re going to have Biden leaning more on executive orders and those are more likely to be challenged in court.”

He said the Republicans’ game plan had been to establish themselves in the judiciary over the last four years, so that “when Democrats started to pass progressive legislation or do anything progressive from executive order, Republicans were already aligned like chess pieces on a board.” This was one of the reasons Biden was trying to cultivate individual relationships with Republicans to get things done, he said.

Stimulus package to help kickstart the economy

With the panel largely agreeing that it will be difficult for Biden to make much progress, Bew asked what this means for business leaders in America or those running a foreign business invested in the US economy.

According to Alemany, “The landscape will certainly be far more stable, which I think any business would welcome.” With the Coronavirus and other domestic issues a priority, a stimulus package would keep everyone afloat until there’s a vaccine, she said.

Charlie Campbell, East Asia Correspondent at Time, agreed that getting a handle on the coronavirus was key: “The world’s biggest economy is hobbled at the moment, so even if Biden is hamstrung or deadlocked by the Senate, if he can enact an aggressive policy to get a handle on the virus, this will be fantastic for any business which has to deal with the US, because at the moment it’s very hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

Foreign policy an easier win for Biden

Bew asked Campbell what the change in presidency would mean from a South East Asian perspective. Campbell said there was a chance that if Biden was completely gridlocked in domestic policy, he may well look for some early successes with foreign policy. When it came to the trade war with China, however, Campbell questioned how much Biden would want to undo Trump’s attempts to impose tariffs. Thompson agreed that while Biden’s rhetoric may be more polite than Trump’s, not much would change underneath.

Likewise, with technology companies such as Huawei, TikTok and WeChat, Campbell said it seemed unlikely that Biden would rollback Trump’s agenda, which had strong bipartisan support for being cautious around national security.

Moving on to the UK, Bew asked Campbell whether Biden affected the chances of the UK and the US reaching a trade deal. Campbell said that Boris Johnson and the Conservative government were not in a strong position; as an anti-Brexiter with concerns about the Irish border, Biden was unlikely to give Johnson, ‘an easy win’ without some kind of concession.

A peaceful transition of power?

Next, Bew asked the panel if they had concerns about the about the legal challenges to the presidency.

”I’m not particularly worried about the legal challenges,” said Campbell, “but I do think that the next few months might be extremely dangerous times and the impulse to distract and cause a crisis to try and buy some time, or just deflect, or sew some discord might be too tempting.”

Cunningham agreed: “I think that the legal challenges are flimsy at best. Another concern is that he’s going to adopt sort of a scorched earth policy in these last two months at the helm of this country and I’m worried about what that’s going to mean for the American people.”

Alemany referred to a recent news story reporting that the General Services Administration Administrator had refused to sign off a letter that would provide the Biden transition team the office space, equipment and access to documents required to facilitate the transfer of power gracefully and quickly.

“The danger is not that Trump does anything,’ said Thompson. “The danger is that he does nothing. Presidential transitions are really hard; it’s very important that outgoing administrations help incoming administrations deal with ongoing crises. That’s more important than ever at a time when a thousand people are dying in the US every single day of Coronavirus.”

Is this the end of the Trump era?

So will Trump run again in 2024? “Trump has a tremendous following in the United States. I was really surprised that 70 million people voted for him and that the race was as close as it was,” said Cunningham. “But I don’t know how much appetite the public is going to have for Trump going forward, in light of the last six months or so.”

According to Alemany, “Don, Jr. definitely has a political future. He has become the top fundraiser for the party. And Ivanka Trump has seemingly moved to the right.” But there are lots of other people on the Hill preparing for a 2024 run, she said.

Will Biden take on the big tech companies?

Bew’s final question was whether Biden would contemplate breaking up the big tech firms.

Thompson believed the reason that so many liberals were concerned was because of the role they thought Facebook played in electing Trump. With a Biden administration, a growing economy and a vaccine, he felt they wouldn’t care as much about antitrust policy and would start focusing on other things. “I would be surprised if Biden prioritised big tech antitrust policy over some of the sort of meat and potatoes domestic economic policy,” he said.

Campbell agreed: “I just don’t think it’s going to be a priority. There’s so much going on at the moment. These are very powerful companies, and they can make it look like it’s a very bad thing for the economy, even if, in the broader scheme of things, it’s a net positive. In the short term, there may be economic harm. And that’s the last thing Biden needs.”

Final Thoughts

As the discussion came to a close, the World Media Group VP, Damian Douglas, thanked the participants, and presented his own 30 second takeout of the discussion:

“There will be an internal focus first; a return to consistency, stability and predictability – words that businesses like; but we’re not likely to get progressive international policy until Covid is under control.”

 

Gordana Buccisano – My vision as new Chair of the World Media Group: plan for the future but prepare for the now

As I take over the reins as Chair of the World Media Group, an alliance of leading international media organisations, my first task is a challenging one: to help formulate our three-year strategy to promote the values of trusted and renowned journalism and celebrate excellence in international advertising. In the current climate with the effect Covid-19 is having on the marketing, media and publishing worlds, planning for next month is difficult enough, so how can we possibly anticipate what the next three years have in store?

Setting the goal to create a three-year strategy is ambitious but it’s important to have a long-term vision. When I work with clients in my agency role, there’s naturally a tendency to first fix the short-term challenges they’re facing, and that analysis of what is not working today is critical input into what we need to focus on next. However, it’s essential to project further and to understand what we need to achieve long-term, beyond Covid.

The key to doing that effectively is to continuously review the relevancy of the strategy and ask ourselves whether it’s in sync with the market and consumer realities. That’s dependent on so many factors – what’s happening around the world with the pandemic, with politics, how that affects consumers and how it affects World Media Group members. Our purpose is to create a platform that gives our members a voice to address the challenges they face. That requires a visionary strategy, but one that also has flexibility and adaptability at its heart, so that we stay relevant and accurate in these ever-changing times.

Whichever side of the marketing ecosystem we belong to, agencies, publishers and clients are all facing the same challenge: how do we add value and create meaningful and true connections with consumers? People are craving truthful, relevant content – and that’s a real opportunity for reputable media brands. The World Media Group can make a difference by reimagining our agenda and aligning it with what we stand for – truthful and trusted media – connecting journalistic integrity with what’s happening in the world and showing it through the lens of the consumer.

Part of my role will be to help the World Media Group connect with more agencies, clients and ultimately more consumers through our calendar of knowledge-sharing and thought leadership activities. This year has taught us some invaluable lessons: as an organisation we’ve moved away from in-person events (via workshops, live briefings, our annual WMA awards) to a one hundred percent virtual calendar.

Lockdown forced us to move our live Smart Briefings series, which brings together industry leaders to discuss the hottest topics impacting the media, advertising and marketing sectors, to a virtual format. It turned out to be a great success with more than a thousand people signing up for the webinars. When you compare that to an in-person event, which might have capacity for say 100 people, you can immediately see the benefit in terms of both reach and awareness.

It’s also forced us to think smarter. Like all brands, one of our biggest challenges has been staying front of mind during Covid, so we’ve had to think about different ways to share the World Media Group’s collective knowledge and keep connected with our audience. We recently launched our own podcast, ‘The Media Navigators’, a platform for key industry influencers to talk about the burning issues impacting their sector. We’ve covered topics such as AI, Sustainability, Events, Brand Safety, Audience Engagement, Diversity, Audio, 5G and Newsroom Development.

As part of the strategic planning, we’re evaluating all of the World Media Group’s efforts this year to identify where we’ve found new and better ways of doing things. I don’t believe any of us will go back to working in the same way we did pre-Covid; even when restrictions are lifted, the World Media Group is likely to continue with a mix of live and virtual events, for example, as it allows us to engage with larger audiences.

Having an agile mindset and the ability to adjust to the threat of a global pandemic has opened us up to experimentation, which in turn has driven innovation. It’s with this pioneering spirit that I embrace the role of Chair and approach our three-year strategy with the knowledge that it must also include flexibility, scenario planning and the opportunity to pivot in response to whatever 2021 and beyond decides to throw at us.

Interview taken from: https://newdigitalage.co/2020/11/05/plan-for-the-future-but-prepare-for-the-now/

Gordana Buccisano Appointed as Chair of the World Media Group

Gordana Buccisano Appointed as Chair of the World Media Group

Havas Media EVP Picks Up the Baton from Wavermaker’s Alex Altman

 The World Media Group has announced the appointment of Gordana Buccisano, EVP Global Client Transformation, Havas Media Group, as Non-Executive Chair of the World Media Group for 2021. Buccisano takes over the role from Alex Altman, President, Global Client Operations, Wavemaker, effective immediately.

Buccisano’s first task in her role as Chair is to work with the World Media Group Board to formulate a three year strategy that promotes the values of trusted and renowned journalism and celebrates excellence in international advertising, whilst tackling the industry challenges that are affecting the marketing, media and publishing worlds.

“I’ve been following the work of the World Media Group over recent years and I’m a strong supporter of what it stands for,” said Buccisano. “From its inspiring and informative event series, to its thought leadership, research and insights, the World Media Group provides knowledge that is essential for agencies, brands and media partners alike as they navigate the constantly evolving international media landscape.”

 “We are delighted that Gordana has accepted the position of Chair,” said Belinda Barker, Chief Executive of the World Media Group. “None of us knows what 2021 will throw at us, but we do know that Gordana’s experience of helping global clients to navigate change and drive digital and business transformation is going to be invaluable. We look forward to tapping into her expertise as we continue to provide guidance and best practice both to our members and to the broader media industry.”

Buccisano’s appointment will be followed by the election of two new VPs and a new World Media Group President for 2021, due to be announced in the new year.

Experts Share Top Tips for Creating an Award-Winning Campaign

Yesterday, members of the World Media Awards judging panel and the creators of this year’s Grand Prix winning entry for Sonos came together for our Awards Masterclass to discuss what it takes to create an award-winning content campaign. Here are 10 top tips from our expert panel to ensure your content campaign rises above the fray and makes its mark on the judges.

1. Outline your challenge with laser focus

“Make sure the challenge is absolutely precisely outline before leading on to the creative solution and the media partner or channel choice. Clearly articulate the challenge, because that lays the foundation of everything that follows.” –  Christoph Woermann, CMO, Corporate Bank, Deutsche Bank.

According to Christoph, two entries that demonstrated this perfectly were Volkswagen: For the Many,Not the Few – The ID.3, winner of the Automobile category, and Levi’s: What Does Performance Mean to You, winner of the Luxury, Lifestyle & Fashion category.

2. Deliver your pitch with passion

“Make us believe it’s a winner from the minute you start speaking. First, tell us what the challenge was and how you solved it. Secondly, talk about the power of media and message, and how the entire campaign becomes an interesting experience for the consumer. Thirdly, prove it’s a credible solution with relevant KPIs. Lastly, tell us why it mattered. Why would a consumer genuinely enjoy experiencing what you’ve created?” – Kate Ivory, Group Managing Partner, Head of Strategy, OMD EMEA

Kate described Tourism Australia’s pitch for ‘From Country. To Company’ as one that was delivered with passion and power, creating a story that was really compelling to listen to.

Brooke Steinberg Global Planning Director, Vizeum, who is part of the award-winning Sonos pitch team agreed:

“Have fun. You’re showcasing work that you’re proud of, so express that, whether it’s verbally, in written form or in a video.Find ways to showcase your passion and the great times you’ve experienced working on the project.” 

3. Put the judges in your shoes

“It’s all about storytelling,” said Jamie Credland, SVP, Client Strategy & Marketing, The Economist. “And to tell a good story, you need to take us on a journey of here’s this insurmountable challenge, this difficult, terrible adversity you’re facing, and the smart ideas and hard work you came up with to overcome it.”

Jamie gave the example of Astana International Finance Centre’s winning entry for ‘My Kazakhstan’, which starts by asking, “What do you know about doing business in Kazakhstan?” immediately putting the judges into the shoes of the agency and the media owners who were working on this huge challenge.

4. Less is more

All the judges agreed that the Sonos team, represented by Brooke Steinberg, Global Planning Director at Vizeum and Gabriella Manzini, Global Account Director, Vizeum, had absolutely nailed their three-minute video pitch for Sonos’s ‘Brilliant Sound at the Intersections of Culture and Cool campaign. Gabriella’s advice:

“Be concise; you can’t tell the whole story. You can’t talk about every single execution. So really draw out the key steps that helped you to tackle the challenge – the insight, the execution. And the results really have to reflect what the challenge was.”

Christoph Woermann’s advice is to strip away anything you don’t need. “Always think, less is often more. Less text, less variety, less goals to achieve. Less is more. Focus, and you will be a winner.”

5. Brand, agency and media partner relationship must be seamless

Our experts were impressed by the completely seamless, integrated team of brand, agency and media partners on the Sonos campaign .According to Johan Jervoe, Chief Marketing Office, UBS, that doesn’t happen overnight. Creating a well-oiled content marketing machines takes time:

“It takes for your own brand team to understand what works, where you get content, who the expert is. It takes time to understand what the insights are and how that translates into aesthetics. And then measurement – finding the right media partner, the right channels and the right format on those channels.”

Jamila Saidi, Head of e-Commerce Marketing, DIT UK Gov, cited another seamless example in Samsung’s campaign “TV is Making History Again’:

“A combination of three things really made the award stand out above and beyond the others: the brand synergies with CNN and astronaut Scott Kelly; the integration of the message, the messenger and the channel delivering it; and the timing – the 15th anniversary of the moon landings.

6. Use audience insights to solve human problems

According to Jamie Credland, the human element of audience insight is often overlooked. “When it comes to an audience insight, these are people with business problems, personal problems, family problems, all kinds of challenges in their lives. And the best campaigns were the ones that tried to bring that challenge to life.”

He gave the example of Tech Mahindra’s winning Corporate Influencer campaign, ‘In the Future’ which talked about the number of people who believe analytics is absolutely key to their business, yet only 10% felt their company currently did it. “That talks to a certain anxiety among senior executives – treating the audience like human beings is really, really important.”

Kate Ivory agreed that Tech Mahindra had cleverly used the insights to develop a real solution, an efficiency index that allows executives to test the organisation’s performance against industry leaders. “They identified a problem, and they created a tool that was of genuine value back to the consumer. That’s the power of insights – to genuinely develop solutions.”

7. Be authentic.

Jamila Saidi reiterated the important of being authentic:“People see through the fluff, when you’re doing something for the sake of it or when you’re jumping on the bandwagon.”

It ties in with having your pulse on your customer base and really understanding your audience. She used Electronic Arts’ FIFA20 ‘Play Wrong’campaign, winner of the Media & Entertainment, category as an example”

“They did a fantastic job with their segmentation, really tapping into their audiences to understand them (it was a very different audience than they’re used to), which made everything so much more authentic, locally relevant and really believable. This made the storytelling even more compelling.”

8. Remember, judges are people too!

An important tip from Jamie Credland: ‘Tactically, when you’re writing your entry, remember, judges are people too and they respond to stories in the same way that your consumers do. So,get the judges emotionally engaged with your entry, and you’ll go a long way.”

9. Be prepared to throw it all away

Kate Ivory’s advice to ensure you’ve created an award-winning campaign:

“When you’ve gone through the process of creating your campaign, you’re about to hit go on buying the media, creating the content, just step back. Put yourself in your consumer’s shoes, the person that’s going to experience every element of this, and ask yourself, if you’re them, is it of any value? And if it isn’t, be prepared to put it in the bin and start again, because there’s too much clutter out there.”

 When the judges are going through the award entries, it’s the ones that offer real value that float to the top.

10. Be brave

As winner of this year’s Content and Leadership Award, it’s fitting Johan Jervoe gets the last word on how to create exemplary content-driven campaigns. Johan’s advice: “Be brave!”

VIEW WEBINAR

Interview with Johan Jervoe, CMO, UBS, the winner of this year’s World Media Award for Content Leadership & Innovation

Now lockdown measures have been loosened and consumers are hungry to return to ‘normal’ life, is this the right time to invest more heavily in marketing? And if so, are there any pitfalls brands need to consider before doing so?

I strongly believe, that investing in your brand awareness now is an opportunity you should not miss. Let’s all remember what brands are for: brands are holding devices of prior experiences for the user. Brands that are communicating during a crisis give stability and visibility and a certain comfort to their users – and that’s what consumers have been looking for here.

As a financial services brand – UBS is a wealth manager, the number one retail bank in Switzerland, and we have an investment bank and asset manager – we have seen markets going up and down in parallel with the pandemic and have had movements that have been almost unheard of. We’ve seen clients across the entire world seeking advice in these uncertain times.

In addition, you also owe it to your advertising partners, both the ones that are selling your space as well as the ones that are creating your creatives. We are part of an ecosystem. So, yes, this is the time you keep spending if you can.

 How do you feel the advertising industry will bounce back after the crisis?

I think some of it will bounce back identically. But it’s clear to me that the new normal will be quite different to what we perceived being normal in the past. Nothing will be the same but particularly high-quality brands will stay and adapt.

Change usually comes with opportunities. Just to give you one example: to stay in contact with our clients, virtually, in some markets almost daily, we have used our relationship with The Economist to promote our content library of 50 years of Nobel Prize winners. Now what’s interesting is that we asked Stiglitz, the Nobel Prize winner, to come in and give his opinion to a group of asset manager clients, and one-third of our global clients dialled in. This is a tremendous increase in terms of efficiency and effectiveness in how we bring thought leadership to our clients.

The financial services sector is not one known for brand bravery or innovation – how have you ensured that extra spark of creativity to ensure your brand stands out?

 Banking is actually a very innovative business, and very forward looking, picking up on shifting client demands. People may come in with a business case: “You buy a pair of shoes and I’ll donate another pair to someone somewhere else in the world who is in need of a pair of shoes.”

A banker who supports this idea, has an innovative client focus. And if you keep that same positive spirit in marketing teams, it is driving innovation. Seeing a virtual client event with strong client demand working, empowers the team to drive creative ideas even if other ideas might fail.

It’s also making sure you have the best people on all sides of your business –in your marketing team, with your agency partner, and your media organisations and media owners, and making sure that creativity feeds off each other all the time.

 What are the specific challenges in for the Finance Sector?

We are highly regulated. Disclaimers are often bigger than the ad itself. That limits what you can say, what you can do, the way you can say it, and in what way you can offer up a service, which is very different from other industries.

How does that level of regulation affect content marketing campaigns?

Churchill said, “If you’re going through hell, keep going.” And that’s how it feels. What you have to do is optimise the content so that it’s relevant and uniquely interesting – that stickiness is first and foremost. A couple of film studios have analysed that over the years, and if the movie is really great, you’re willing to look at it in black and white, or with a somewhat snowy picture, because you really like the content. This is very similar. If you think the content is worth it – take the example of interacting with Stiglitz– I’m willing to click that I’m aware that this is a bank in order to access that content.

Why do you think there’s been a growth in content-led advertising campaigns?

It goes back to relevance.When we relaunched the UBS brand in September 2015. We saw across all our media partners, a huge amount of click through. I remember we thought the click through formula was maybe misleading; that it was capturing a too long and too large engagement –it was many-foldmore than the average click through rate. What we discovered is that when people take a magazine or website like The Economist, Forbes or Fortune in their hands, they want to be in that moment and have some “me time” for a half an hour, an hour. The same was true for our campaign. It’s deep diving knowledge, reading, and exchange. If you see content that fits into that, you’re in the right mindset and therefore more people will click through. If content is king, context is queen.

You need to find the DNA of what is your uniqueness for your user base, what are they looking for, and how to serve that up in such a way that is understandable and digestible – I think that’s the difficult part for many banks and financial services.

The advertising headline that has worked the best over the last six months or so is: “Is the world always going to be as unpredictable as now?” And you can see why that’s relevant. You can see when it comes to our wealth managers that they might know more than I do, and I want to know about that for my portfolio. So, get the content right; get the level of excitement into a headline, and then people should be interested in what you have to tell them. Whether that’s a video or piece of copy, they won’t click away.

What are the biggest changes that you’ve noticed in content over the last five years and what sort of trends do you expect to see in the coming years?

Shorter formats, I would say is probably the biggest surprise. Because if you really believe in content then 7, 8, 9, 10 minutes gives you a good angle to a story – but that’s not necessarily true anymore. Then you look at podcasts which are about 20 minutes. It really depends on the situation you’re consuming in, and I think it’s safe to say it’s now predominantly a mobile world, so we’re seeing shorter formats and more informative content.

There’s a universal appetite to consume what you want to consume, however you want to consume it. If I’m on a mobile phone watching something and I want to ask questions, I want to be able to type if I’m in a public area, because I don’t want to speak, for example, about finances. If I’m at home, however, I might want to speak to the bot and want the bot to speak back to me. So, I think the world will move to a “type, a touch and a talk” format, regardless of the device in the next five years.

Part of the reason you were nominated for the award was to do with what you’re doing with best practice in terms of measurement – viewability, metrics, accuracy and audience targeting. How does that apply to content-driven advertising?

When you’re targeting wealth managers – perhaps only 1% of the world’s population, there’s a 99% chance that your advertising will go somewhere else. You get really good, along with your media partners and your agency, at optimising. This is not a short conversation; it’s an ongoing opportunity. And actually, it was always there – I remember when I worked for McDonald’s around the world, you would optimise your billboard campaigns for example, if there was a construction site in front of your ad so you couldn’t see it. You would optimise from flight to flight because things would change in the streets. This is similar; it’s constantly being on top of your numbers.

It’s first and foremost about your content. Think about social media: I might share something with you if it’s hilariously stupid, or if it is sensationally insightful. Anything in between, I probably won’t. The context is as important: where you place your advertising, as well as the people you reach. And the timing needs to be right. There are times when people are not looking at banking advertising – there’s a reason why most banks have quarters that are differently sized. When fitness clubs’ campaigns are being signed off, it’s normally January when people have made that New Year’s resolution to get fit again. You need to know when it’s the right time. You see it with some of the newsletters we’re all getting from various publishers – they know that you do something on a Thursday night or Saturday morning. There’s a mechanic that humans like to consume, and you have to take that on as well.

Then there are softer metrics – how much content is shared, how far are people watching into it? And there is the “like” although I still don’t know if we can actually calculate what a “like” or “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” on social actually means. Engagement also sounds so nice but what does it mean? We know that some of the social channels are fantastic at serving up your target group, but the people clicking the trigger all the time are the ones that you pay for. So, you want to filter those out; you want to get to the ones that are ready for consideration.

Tell us about you #TOGETHERBAND initiative and why you decided to develop that campaign?

At UBS, sustainable finance has been a critical component of our client offering and a strategic growth opportunity for over 20 years, and that’s why we are a clear market leader today.

#Togetherband was a great opportunity for us to raise the awareness on the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The more people that get involved, the more you can do good, and that means you need to get to a popular, mass audience. We’ve had a billion and a half engagements since April last year. You can see the number of celebrities that have joined the initiative.

What we do is led by our partner, BOTTLETOP: they pull ocean plastic out, they give people in very poor communities a job opportunity as craftsmen, creating the bands in a sustainable way and the entire funding of these will be returned into that cycle for the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. It was very clear to us that we wanted to be a part of that; it’s part of our DNA but it’s the right thing to do. It also felt like the right thing to do for our employee base – I’ve never seen anything internally kick so much off. We’ve had 40%+ of the employee base of 60,000 people on a global level building #TOGETHERBAND, and that’s not something we normally hear.

It has been very rewarding and it’s difficult because it’s a real start-up mentality – and if there’s one thing a Swiss 150+ year old bank maybe doesn’t always have, it’s a start-up mentality! But it’s been, and continues to be, a great opportunity.

 

Judges Like the Sound of Sonos’s Campaign at the 2020 World Media Awards

‘Brilliant Sound at Intersections of Culture and Cool’ Wins this Year’s Grand Prix

London, Thursday 10th September 2020 – The World Media Group is pleased to announce the winners of the 2020 World Media Awards.Top brands including Astana International Financial Centre, Electronic Arts, Levi’s, Samsung, Shell, Sonos, Tech Mahindra, Tourism Australia and Volkswagen were amongst those receiving accolades for their impressive entries this year. Hosted by the World Media Group*, the World Media Awards, now in their fifth year, are the only global awards to recognise brands, agencies and media partners who, together, create the most effective cross platform, cross border, content-driven advertising campaigns.

Sonos was the biggest winner this year taking away the WMA Grand Prix, as well as scooping up the Technology & Telecommunications prize for its innovative multiplatform campaign, ‘Brilliant Sound at Intersections of Culture and Cool’. In a currently over-crowded smart speaker market, Sonos’s challenge was to cut through the noise of its competitors to deliver a brand message about greater sound quality to an audience who may never have even heard of them before.

“Sonos edged out the competition with an entry that succeeded on every level – they outlined a clear challenge, addressed it with a multiplatform, wide-reaching creative approach and backed it up with fantastic results that demonstrated brand lift and revenue growth,” said Christoph Woermann, WMA Judge and CMO Corporate Bank, Deutsche Bank. “Brilliant Sound demonstrates all the attributes of an award-winning content campaign and is well-deserving of this year’s Grand Prix award.”

Alex Delamain, President of the World Media Group and SVP Global Client Partner at The Economist said, “As the World Media Awards celebrates its fifth year, the bar has been raised yet again. Not only did we have a record number of entries from all over the world – up by 100 percent on last year – the quality of the shortlisted campaigns was exceptionally high. Creating authentic content through creative storytelling that crosses multiple platforms and borders is at the heart of what the World Media Group does. In my second year as President, I have been surprised and delighted by the fresh perspectives and new approaches in content marketing; I’m excited that the WMG is able to highlight and celebrate this great work.”

A panel of 30 senior jurors from leading international advertisers, agencies and publishers co-chaired by Woermann and Josh Krichefski, CEO, EMEA at Mediacom, were tasked with selecting the eight category winners and the Grand Prix winner from the many global submissions. The full list of judges can be seen here.

For more information on the World Media Awards and to see the winning entries in fullvisit: http://sandbox.world-media-group.com/2020-winners/

 The winners of the World Media Awards 2020, along with comments from the judges, are as follows: 

Automotive

Winner –Volkswagen: For the Many, Not the Few – The ID.3
Entered by: PHD Global Business
Credits: DDB Berlin

“This campaign provided a great solution around the democratisation of new electronic vehicle technology to make the Volkswagen ID.3 synonymous with e-mobility.”

Brand & Media Owner Partnership

Winner – Samsung: TV is Making History Again
Entered by: Starcom
Credits: CNN, Leo Burnett, Adam & Eve/DDB

“If you’re going to do a media partnership, this is the way you do it! This immersive experience into space showed how you could bring out the product benefits of technology by using a really visual entity.”

Highly Commended – Astana International Financial Centre: My Kazakhstan
Entered by: Astana International Financial Centre
Credits: Bloomberg Media, Bloomberg Media Studios

“A well-considered media partnership that made fantastic use of Bloomberg’s content bringing to life the entrepreneurial spirit of Kazakhstan through storytelling.”

Corporate Influencer

Winner –Tech Mahindra: In the Future
Entered by: The Trust: The Wall Street Journal | Barron’s Group

“A well-adapted, creative and focused campaign that drove real business results.”

Highly Commended – Shell: The Great Travel Hack
Entered by: Mediacom
Credits: Vayner Media, Wunderman Thompson, Edelman, UEG Worldwide

“A very engaging campaign with a brave creative approach.”

Financial Services

Winner – Astana International Financial Centre: My Kazakhstan
Entered by: Astana International Financial Centre
Credits: Bloomberg Media, Bloomberg Media Studios

“This ambitious ‘country rebrand’ demonstrated some beautiful character profiles that brought to life the entrepreneurial spirit of Kazakhstan. It successfully presented a country that, as an investor, you’d want to back, and achieved impressive business results.”

Highly Commended – UBS: Are You Investing in What Matters to You?
Entered by: Spark Foundry
Credits: The New York Times, T Brand Studio

“This excellent multimedia story with a personalised CTA challenged readers to think about sustainable investments and learn more about how they could make a difference with their portfolio.”

Luxury, lifestyle &Fashion

Winner – Levi’s: What Does Performance Mean to You?
Entered by:OMD EMEA
Credits: TCO London (Huck Mag)

“This partnership redefined masculinity for a brand that’s synonymous with dusty pick-ups and ruggedness, prioritised storytelling over product and delivered significant bottom line uplift.”

Highly Commended – Essity: Viva La Vulva
Entered by: Zenith
Credits: Poke, AMV BBDO, Ketchum

“One of those campaigns that is likely to be written into media folklore for many years to come. It tackled a very delicate topic with respect and humour to effect real cultural change.” 

Media & Entertainment

Winner –Electronic Arts: FIFA20 Play Wrong
Entered by:m/SIX
Credits: Copa90

“A brave and fresh approach to the category. Strong storytelling with authentic content that also had local resonance, and a partnership that played out well across all of the creative concept.”

Technology & Telecommunications

Winner& Grand Prix Winner –Sonos: Brilliant Sound at Intersections of Culture and Cool
Entered by: Vizeum & 360i, Dentsu Group
Credits: ACAST, Amazon, WeTransfer, Anomaly

“The campaign leveraged smart insights into the audience and their passion for their subjects. It combined OOH in cities around the world with great digital, podcasts and innovative Amazon placements, resulting in a really well-integrated campaign.”

Travel & Tourism

Winner –Tourism Australia: From Country to Company
Entered by: UM Australia

“This campaign was developed from having genuine empathy for the needs of their target audience and demonstrated a fantastic use of partnerships.”

Highly Commended – Narok County Government: Moments of Wonder
Entered by: Reuters Plus

“A stunning campaign that really brought the beauty of the country to life.”

CONTENT LEADERSHIP & INNOVATION

This award is for the individual recognised by peers for their talent in creating exemplary content-driven campaigns with brand bravery, creativity and innovation.

Winner – Johan Jervoe, Chief Marketing Officer, UBS

 #ENDS#

Media contact: Charlotte Panther, M: 07834431206, E: charlottepantherpr@gmail.com

*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 The Smithsonian.

 

Jurors Come Together on Zoom for the WMA2020 Virtual Judging Day

Yesterday was the Judging Day for the fifth annual World Media Awards and, as you might expect, 2020 was unlike any other year. Our team of international judges, led by Josh Krichefski, CEO, EMEA at Mediacom and Cristoph Woermann, Global Head, Marketing Corporate Bank, Deutsche Bank, came together on Zoom for the day to review the shortlisted entries and determine the winners for the WMA2020.

Not only did we have a record number of entries this year (up by 100% on 2019), according to the judging panel, the quality of all the shortlisted campaigns was exceptionally high, making their job tougher than ever.

Shortlisted entrants were invited to join the Zoom call live for a 3-minute pitch in front of the panel or could submit a pre-recorded video of the same length. At the end of each category, the judges entered a lively debate to discuss the strengths of each campaign. This was followed by a knock-out vote until they reached a clear decision.

Surprising departures from type

The panel was particularly surprised by the innovation demonstrated in what one judge described as “the more difficult categories, with a limited toolbox”. The campaigns that stood out showed a clear departure from the norm for their sector, pushing boundaries, taking risks and allowing storytelling to uncover another side of their business.

Results are everything

Shortlisted entrants had already impressed the judges with their creative approach to storytelling and media strategy, so when it came to choosing the final winners for each category, it was invariably the campaign results that determined success.

The judges’ discussions often centred around the following criteria when considering a campaign’s achievements:

  • Was the campaign based on strong insights to ensure they were hitting the right audiences?
  • Was there a clear strategy and did every element feel part of one cohesive whole?
  • Did the campaign set clear KPIs and then demonstrate positive business results to back them up?

 

In a year of outstanding content campaigns, it was those entries that demonstrated the strongest tangible results that edged out the competition.

After an intense but successful day of Zooming, the judges’ final task was to choose the Grand Prix recipient. The competition was fierce, and it took a few rounds of discussion before a clear winner emerged. Who could it be? All will be revealed next week. Sadly, we can’t host a live event this year, but we’ll be announcing the winners through the World Media Group social media channels on Thursday 10th September from 1pm BST onwards.

Moat Analysis shows Trusted Media continues to deliver increased engagement and viewability for advertisers during Covid-19

New analysis released today by the World Media Group (WMG), a strategic alliance of the world’s premium media brands, confirms that advertising campaigns viewed within a trusted editorial environment are yielding significantly better results for attention and viewability than the industry standard.

Analysis from Moat by Oracle Data Cloud shows that premium digital inventory running across WMG’s brands in Q1 2020 outperformed Moat’s benchmarks for that same period by up to 73%, as further detailed below.

The analysis measured the quality of engagement delivered by WMG brands across Display Desktop, Mobile Web and Video Desktop during 1st January 2020 – 31st March 2020.

Display Desktop: Display ads viewed on desktop across WMG inventory achieved an Active Page Dwell Time of 68 seconds, 35% higher than the industry average according to Moat’s benchmark for Q1 2020. Engagement exceeded Moat’s benchmark for the same period by 73% with an average In-View Time of 50 seconds.

Mobile Display: WMG inventory also performed well on mobile encouraging 10% more interactions (Universal Touch Rate) than Moat’s benchmark. Active Page Dwell Time was 47 seconds, 13% higher than the benchmark for mobile. Engagement exceeded Moat’s benchmarks for the same period by 56%, with an average In-View Time of 26 seconds.

Video Desktop*: Desktop videos viewed across WMG inventory achieved 15% above Moat’s benchmarks for engagement based on In-View Time. Consumer attention to videos was also strong, with Audible and Visible Complete Rates coming in 56% higher than the Moat Q1 2020 benchmarks, and the Human Audible & Fully On-Screen for Half of Duration Rate (with a 15 second cap) 35% higher than the Moat benchmarks for the same period.

“The Moat data covers the first quarter of the year when we were starting to learn more about the global impact of COVID-19,” said Damian Douglas, Managing Director EMEA, Time and Vice President of the World Media Group. “We know that titles in the World Media Group’s portfolio experienced an increase in both user numbers and engagement during this time as consumers looked for content from trusted editorial sources. Moat’s analysis confirms that high levels of engagement were also attained in advertising across WMG titles, demonstrating once again that audiences are more responsive to advertising when it’s presented within a high quality editorial environment.”

The Moat data is based on analysing desktop, mobile and video advertising campaigns running in Q1 2020 across the following WMG brands: The Atlantic, Bloomberg Media Group, The Economist, Forbes, Fortune, National Geographic, Reuters, TIME, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post.

The results from the Moat analysis are as follows:

 

Measure/Benchmark World Media Group Lift compared to Moat Q1 2020 Benchmarks
Display Desktop Active Page Dwell Time (secs) 68s +35%
Display Desktop In-view Time (secs) 50s +73%
Mobile Web Universal Touch Rate 13% +10%
Mobile Web Active Page Dwell Time (secs) 47s +13%
Mobile Web In-View Time (secs) 26s +56%
Video Desktop In-View Time 19s +15%*
Video Desktop Audible and Visible Complete Rate 36% +56%*
Human Audible and Fully On-screen for Half of Duration Rate 37% +35%*


*Desktop video numbers are based on nine WMG publishers that had video inventory monitored by Moat during Q1 2020 and therefore represent a smaller sample than on the other platforms.

About Oracle Data Cloud
Oracle Data Cloud helps marketers use data to capture consumer attention and drive results. Used by 199 of AdAge’s 200 largest advertisers, our Audience, Context and Measurement solutions extend across the top media platforms and a global footprint of more than 100 countries. We give marketers the data and tools needed to help them in every stage of the marketing journey, from audience planning to pre-bid brand safety, contextual relevance, viewability confirmation, fraud protection, and ROI measurement. Oracle Data Cloud combines the leading technologies and talent from Oracle’s acquisitions of AddThis, BlueKai, Crosswise, Datalogix, Grapeshot, and Moat.

About Oracle
The Oracle Cloud offers a complete suite of integrated applications for Sales, Service, Marketing, Human Resources, Finance, Supply Chain and Manufacturing, plus Highly Automated and Secure Generation 2 Infrastructure featuring the Oracle Autonomous Database. For more information about Oracle (NYSE: ORCL), please visit us at www.oracle.com.

Trademarks
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Why content marketers must look beyond traditional KPIs

When audiences are likely to judge a campaign based on factors such as interest, tone, integrity, accuracy, relevance and credibility when deciding whether to engage or not, are traditional KPIs such as ‘engagement’ and ‘time spent with content’ still relevant?  Alex Delamain, President of the World Media Group and SVP, Head of Client Services, EMEA at The Economist highlights this important subject.

To read this article published in MediaSector please click HERE