- Sep 20, 2019
Updated: Feb 15, 2021
Shoppable Video - The Fastest Growing Digital Ad Format
Last week, Smartzer took on DMEXCO, Europe’s largest congress trade fair for the digital industry and it was big, really big. With about 40,000 delegates attending, there was a vast amount of stands to see and talks to listen to. We just about managed to fit it all in.
To kick things off, the highlight of our trip was definitely presenting to the tour of WPP Delegates and VIP Clientele on the Unruly stand on Wednesday morning. During our presentation, we were able to demonstrate the true power of shoppable video and illustrate why it is one of the fastest-growing digital ad formats in 2019.
Special thanks to Unruly for hosting us in their amazing stand!
Aside from our own demonstration here are our key take-homes from the talks we managed to slip into:
Video Ads - time to get serious
One of the best talks we attended was definitely the ‘Video Ads - Time To Get Serious’ Panel hosted by David Berkowitz. David was joined by an all-star panel that included:
Norm Johnston, CEO at Unruly
Jannika Bock, Director Client Solutions, Central Europe at Google
Irina Petriceck-Steiner, General Manager Operations EMEA at SpotX @ smartclip
Patrick Fischer, Chief Business Officer at OneFootball
Jim Piercy, Group Creative Director at The Trust
The discussion was really flowing throughout the panel and the audience was met with a few heated debates.
Relevance is Key
Faced with the question of the state of Personalisation, the group collectively redefined the true meaning of Personalisation to the user as Relevance. From the Unruly perspective, delivering relevant ads to relevant people online has become a powerful solution for brands and agencies in order to drive effectiveness online.
However, bring that idea to YouTube and they would argue that not only do brands have to consider relevance to their users but also when adapting creative to formats. They have to be cautious not to force anything into the wrong place. With so many different formats available, it is hard to keep up and each format suits different types of messaging. For example, 6 second YouTube Ads might be effective for an extra piece of brand awareness but they would struggle on their own to drive more down the funnel campaign goals such as evaluation and purchase.
It is necessary for brands to think about where their content would be most relevant in order to achieve a powerful emotional reaction from their audience. However, they also need to think about what format best suits their creative. As a result, platforms and advertisers need to possess a clear understanding of what formats drive which outcomes.
Top 3 Quotes:
“85% of current online video ad consumption with is with sound off”
“Most people ignore ads as ads ignore most people”
“Tools don’t make bad creative good creative”
New Age of Digitisation - Henkel x Numberly
Clyde Araujo, Global Senior Manager Customer Experience and CRM at Henkel at HenkelX
Thibaut Munier, Co-founder and COO at Numberly
Integrating 1st party data with marketing strategies has been a challenge for brands in the past. However, nowadays, data is becoming easier to integrate within the marketing industry. When it comes to CRM, the current challenge lies with converting the value of the CRM data into data onboarding platforms, media platforms and retailers. Through utilising their CRM data with Numberly, Henkel has now made precision marketing a reality.
Data aside, one of the big take-homes from our perspective was Henkel’s fantastic approach to fostering relationships with start-ups and innovations in media. Clyde Araujo, Global Experience and CRM Strategist at HenkelX pointed out their process as follows:
Concept Development - 3 Months
Promising Concept Checkpoints:
Value Creation Plan
Fit for Henkel
Fit for Market
Competitive Pressure
Build MVP - 9 Months
Valid Proposition Checkpoints:
Ability to go to market
Clear monetisation plan
Ability to be integrated with eCRM
Scale Up
Proven Demand Checkpoints:
Growth in revenue contribution
Growth in consumer base
Growth in retention rates
Expand - 2 years
Winning Model Checkpoints:
Expansion Plan
Revenue Growth
Net Profits
Large Customer Base
This process enables Henkel to build, test and learn with organisational rigor and agility. Reflective of Smartzer's ethos, it is great to see tech start ups thrive.
DMEXCO was truly a blast. We met some fantastic companies and scores of talented professionals.
Until next year!
- Jul 25, 2019
Updated: Feb 15, 2021
Did you know that only 1% of UK VC has been invested into all female founding teams?
London, UK – Monday, 22nd July
Girls Just Wanna Have Funds is a 3-part conference that aims to help close the funding gap for female founders.
It was all about connecting with investors, learning from women who have successfully raised and meeting tons of fellow founders (female and male) on the same journey.
Blooming Founders is a female-focused business incubation platform that welcomes everyone who wants to belong to an inclusive and diverse community of founders and innovators. They run London's largest network of female entrepreneurs, a co-working space and events all year round to provide education around entrepreneurship, business growth and personal development as well as networking opportunities.
VISION & MISSION
V: Everyone should be equally empowered and enabled to turn their ideas into reality and build a profitable business, whatever their gender, age, race or societal background.
M: To create a more inclusive and diverse startup ecosystem and foster innovation.
MEET THE FOUNDER
Lu Li, wanted to be more creative and didn't want to leave her career in the hands of corporate politics. Therefore, she made the decision to quit her job and start her own business.
It took her three years and two ventures to find something that resonated with her.
There are some of the challenges she and her team want to help with:
70% of female entrepreneurs are solo founders (her own research).
So, Li created a dedicated networking platform to foster connection, knowledge sharing and collaboration opportunities.
39% of female founders frequently encountered sexism while running their startup (Unilever Foundry).
Lu Li seeks to create a supportive environment where women are taken seriously.
Only 7% of venture capital in Europe was invested in startups that had a woman on its founding team (Atomico).
Consequently, she provides safe environments to practice your pitch and get direct feedback from investors.
Only 1% of global corporate and government procurement goes to women-owned businesses (UN Women)
Lu Li works with corporate companies to bring more female founders in front of them.
A BIG THANK YOU FOR HAVING US!
- Jul 18, 2019
Updated: Feb 15, 2021
Good food, conversations, 1-to-1 meetings, brand challenges, insight, ideas & entertainment
Last week we attended the MAD// Picnic, an exclusive, invite only gathering for the UK's top 500 advertisers, agencies and media owners. Slightly different to lunch on a rug in the park.
We had the chance to meet the best in the UK marketing scene, listening to rock star headline speakers, being part of a live brand challenge, immersive tech experiences and last but not least, fine food and ale!
The Brand Challenges stood out as the most important part of the day.
Four top brands were looking for new innovative solutions to marketing and brand headaches in a series of live challenges.
CAN YOU WOW A BRAND?
CAN YOU FIX BRAND BUSINESS PAIN?
CAN YOU PITCH IT IN 3 MINUTES?
The new format challenged us to think creatively, put us in the spotlight and we had to fix challenges live.
Diageo, Missguided, Schuh and Not On The High Street have provided a series of challenges focusing on brand experience, loyalty, content marketing, data, digital technology and mobile.
The pitches were open to anyone; rising stars at a brand, agency networks, innovation teams, publishing powerhouses, tiny tech start-ups or global madtech players.
From a pool of 120 start-ups, Smartzer was one of 4 who were shortlisted by SCHUH for their live brand challenge.
We had the chance to pitch our ideas to Sean McKee, Schuh’s Marketing and E-commerce Director and the rest of the live audience.
THE CHALLENGES
Everything was about brand experience, content marketing, storytelling, digital technology and data.
The live pitches featured audience interaction with the brands selecting a winner for each challenge. The winner would meet with the brand one-on-one after the show.
OUR CHALLENGE: SCHUH - using technology and data to drive the online brand/retail experience
"How can Schuh better leverage its strengths of live, shoppable local inventory, fluid delivery options, great store staff, and customer location data on its website to give customers the best overall Schuh experience?"
In a 3 minutes pitch we presented Smartzer and our ideas on how to use technology and data to drive the online brand/retail experience.
Although the majority of the live audience voted for us we unfortunately weren‘t chosen by SCHUH afterwards.
We would like to extend our congratulations to our friends at Threedium, the winners of the SCHUH challenge!