Marketing

Why data-inspired creativity is the future of effective marketing

doxigo — Fri, 30 Aug 2019 16:46:42 +0000

Friday, August 30, 2019 - 12:46

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There’s never been a better time to be a creative. In an increasingly cluttered world, there’s more need for big thinking and enormous power in great ideas. Research backs up what we intuitively know to be true: Creative assets are still the most important element in driving sales, according to Nielsen Catalina Solutions.

At the same time, new data, technology, and possibilities with machine learning are emerging every day. There are more platforms, more signals, and more data sources to inform the creative process than ever before. In my work with the best creative agencies in the world, I’ve seen time and time again that those who draw on this data and technology are able to take more creative risks, make better choices, and prove the value of their ideas. Here are three creative challenges they’ve been able to overcome for their clients with the power of data and technology that others can learn from.

1. How well do I know my audience?

Most marketers think they know their customers. But do we know them as well as we could? Maybe not. Recent research has found that 61% of people feel that the brands that should know them simply don’t.

But with the myriad data and tools available to strategists and creatives, it’s never been easier to get a deeper understanding of your audience’s needs and passions — and ensure your marketing aligns with them.

That’s exactly what Olay Skin Care did for a recent campaign. By digging into Google and YouTube data, the team discovered that their audience (perhaps unexpectedly) loves football and horror movies. So its creative agency came up with a YouTube-led #KillerSkin campaign that centered around the Super Bowl and told a unique and gripping story that led to tens of millions of views and a huge uptick in search interest.

2. Am I offering personalization at scale?

New technology and tools can also help you reach the audiences you care about and serve them relevant, compelling stories — which is important, because research tells us that relevant video ads get 3X the attention compared to the average video ad ¹.

A recent campaign for Abreva did just that. Using Director Mix, the brand created 119 versions of one base ad, customizing the copy to match what a YouTube viewer was watching.

Someone knee-deep in celebrity gossip videos might have seen this version of the ad:

Whereas someone about to watch a beauty tutorial might instead have seen this:

All in, the campaign drove a 41% lift in overall ad recall and a 342% lift in search interest among its target audience across Google and YouTube.

3. What does my experiments road map look like?

If I’ve learned one rule from working in the creative space, it’s this: There are no rules. But smart, strategic experimentation can help us get closer to understanding what resonates and what doesn’t.

A great example comes from brands who partnered with our Unskippable Labs team to explore the question: What is the optimal amount of customization in a campaign? The results were varied and fascinating. In a quick summary, Coty’s CoverGirl saw that six-second ads with copy-only customization outperformed or performed on par with the ad that had customized copy and visuals. And Czech auto manufacturer Škoda experimented with long-form ads specifically and saw higher ad recall the more it customized.

You can learn from the experiments of others and also use platforms like YouTube to test and iterate on the go, watch how everything performs, see how engaged viewers respond, and refine your approach based on that immediate feedback.

Using creative intelligence to fuel your work

A lot of people wonder whether technology is coming to take creative jobs. Whenever I get asked this question, I say that there is no machine that can replace a creative thinker with big ideas.

Technology and data are tools that can be used to amplify and fuel your work, but never supplant it.

Explore creative inspiration, tools, and best practices on Google’s creative hubcreate.withgoogle.com.

Source: Think with Google

Digital Marketing

Google

Marketing

Think beyond the buy: Shopping is an omnichannel journey

doxigo — Fri, 30 Aug 2019 16:25:38 +0000

Friday, August 30, 2019 - 12:25

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Marketers understandably tend to obsess over purchases. Even if they know that there is an entire journey leading up to a purchase, the actual sale is the tangible result of all their efforts and the thing that puts money in the coffers. That means many end up focusing on where that purchase gets made, online or in-store.

It’s an important data point. And people historically have preferred to buy certain things online and other things at brick-and-mortar locations. But the truth is, today’s shoppers like to browse and research online even in cases where they intend to buy in-store. In fact, 82% of Canadian shoppers who visited a store in the last week said they used online search prior to going in-store¹. Factor in things like video and apps and 89% of Canadian shoppers say they’ve used online resources to help with their shopping in the past week².

Growth across categories

Not so long ago, buying clothing or shoes online seemed like an odd thing to do. How could you buy something without trying it on? Today, apparel is a truly omnichannel retail category. In fact, 56% of Canadian shoppers say they buy clothing both in-store and online³.

Of course, there are still a wide range of categories that are mostly purchased in-store -- think household items like cleaning supplies or toiletries, cosmetics, or home appliances. When it comes to groceries, 83% of Canadians say they buy them in-store only⁴. But it’s telling that even in these traditionally offline categories, online shopping is on the rise.

Consider this: The percentage of shoppers who have bought personal care and cosmetics online grew to 46%, which was significant growth when comparing Q1 to Q3 2018⁵. Even household items saw online category growth of 17%⁶.

A better experience

Overall, 68% of people say they’re looking to do more of their shopping online in the next year⁷.

The reason why is pretty simple. Many say the online shopping experience is better than in-store when it comes to specific aspects of shopping:

Navigation: 60% of shoppers say they prefer online shopping to find items they’re looking for, compared to 32% who say they prefer offline.
Suggestions & tips: 51% say they prefer to go online to get helpful recommendations or suggestions on what to buy, compared to 34% for offline.
Pricing: 55% say they prefer to shop online to get the best deal possible, which is also the number one thing that people say they enjoy about shopping⁸.

In other words, people feel that online shopping makes it easier for them to find the right item at the right price.

Be omnichannel to win

While it’s true that online shopping continues to grow across categories, it’s also true that people are actively doing both. When it comes to categories such as movies, books, and video games, 66% of Canadian shoppers say they purchase these items both in-store and online. For toys, it’s 65%, and for home electronics, it’s 60%⁹.

Ultimately, people are looking to meet their needs in the most efficient way possible, whether that means shopping online only or researching online before heading to the store. Regardless of category, make sure your in-store and online experiences are

Integrated: Share local store inventory where possible on your site and through search.
Speedy: Desktop and mobile speed are just as important, or maybe more so, than speed at the store.
Helpful: Optimize your search functions so people can find exactly what they’re looking for, and make it easy for returning customers to pick up where they left off.

If you can follow these steps to be truly omnichannel, you’ll be poised to win.

Source: Think with Google

Digital Marketer

Google

Marketing

How to measure what matters most: A measurement model for success

doxigo — Fri, 16 Aug 2019 07:54:42 +0000

Friday, August 16, 2019 - 03:54

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With today’s complex consumer journey, it’s more important to know your customer than ever before. But knowing your customer has never been more difficult — partly due to the fact the customer journey has become fragmented, but also because most marketers organize their data around legacy systems, rather than the customer. It’s time to change that, and embrace the fact that measurement is now as much an art as it is a science.

If you don’t take action on better measurement, your brand could be at a huge disadvantage. Based on a study by Bain & Co, we found that brands with the highest measurement maturity are 4x more likely to exceed business goals, increase market share, and increase revenue when compared to those with the lowest¹.

Measurement should be your top strategic priority

Better measurement is achievable. We created a new framework to help marketers “evolve” their measurement plans, better identify business needs, and create change in their own organizations.

With all of this research around the importance of a strong measurement strategy, it’s time to think about how to ensure that you are effectively supporting business goals and delivering the right insights.

Measurement is now as much an art as it is a science.

To start, ask yourself the following questions about your measurement strategy:

Are you measuring what matters most to your organization?
Are you challenging data systems that don’t allow a whole view of your customer, or for you to act on those insights?
Are you supporting the projects that will drive business for your organization?

Once you’ve asked yourself these important business questions, the below framework will help you evaluate your level of measurement across 3 key domains, and provide key ways to improve it.

The Measurement Maturity Framework

It’s easy to say “we need to make measurement our strategic priority.” It’s harder to actually make that happen. To help teach marketers how to achieve this, Google worked with Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Bain Consulting to develop a roadmap to better measurement. The result is a new maturity framework: a set of structured stages to help marketers understand what continuous improvement can look like in digital marketing broadly.

First, we created a digital maturity scale to help you identify which stage your organization is at.

Nascent businesses work on a campaign-by-campaign basis, using external data and direct buys with limited link to sales.
Emerging businesses are using some owned data in automated buying, with single-channel optimisation and testing.
Connected businesses have integrated and activated data across channels with a demonstrated link to ROI or sales proxies.
Multi-Moment businesses have dynamic execution optimised towards a single-customer view across channels.

Evaluating measurement maturity

Then, we organized these stages across three domains: Media measurement, Client value measurement and Brand measurement. We use this guide as a way to evaluate your organization, determine where the organization sits, and what steps you need to take to move it forward.

Media measurement

Within media measurement, we look at how you measure and optimize your media across the customer journey and how you attribute media and the impact it has on your business.

Begin to improve your media measurement maturity by:

Connecting digital media to in-store purchases with measurement tools
Adopting and/or developing data-driven attribution models
Building data pipelines to optimize media towards business objectives

Client value measurement

To evaluate your client value measurement maturity, we look at how you are measuring your media against the value of the client you bring in. This may be based on how much or how often they buy from you or how long you think they will stay a customer.

Gain client value measurement maturity by:

Building propensity/LTV models to evaluate the value of each client
Connecting 1st and 3rd Party databases for a richer database for prediction.
Connecting data points across the customer journey

If you don’t take action on better measurement, your brand could be at a huge disadvantage.

Brand measurement

Lastly, our brand measurement evaluation considers how you measure the impact TV and video has on your brand metrics.

Start maturing your brand measurement strategy by:

Using incrementality testing methods such as Geo-Experiments or Conversion Lift
Measuring how viewability affects your media spend

The above measurement maturity model offers key lessons and actionable steps that you can take now to improve your measurement capability. With this strategy, you, too, can help your business take steps toward maturity

Here are two takeaways to help you with your marketing measurement journey:	Determine if your brand is asking the right questions around measurement: Ask if you are measuring what matters most, if you are you challenging systems that don’t allow a holistic response, and if you are supporting projects that grow your business.
	Identify which stage your organization is at across the 3 domains: It is key to understand which stage your organization is at in its measurement maturity across media, client value and brand measurement so your brand can begin to make the necessary improvements.

Source: Think with Google

How Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty delivered ‘Beauty for All’ — and a wake-up call to the industry

doxigo — Sat, 10 Aug 2019 09:55:58 +0000

Saturday, August 10, 2019 - 05:55

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The launch of Fenty Beauty highlighted the importance of inclusive marketing, which jolted the industry and shifted the beauty landscape. Sandy Saputo, chief marketing officer at Kendo Brands, which includes Fenty Beauty, shares the inside story.

The first time we showed the Fenty Beauty campaign trailer internally, a room full of business leaders, including myself, got very emotional. It was the first time underrepresented, underserved women and cultures were featured in a global prestige beauty campaign.

We knew the brand would touch women’s hearts around the world, but we had no idea of the greater impact our work would ultimately have. There was no precedent to our radical approach to inclusivity. We had to break and disrupt all the traditional marketing rules and carve a new path.

The results exceeded all of our expectations.

In our first year of business, Fenty Beauty became the biggest beauty brand launch in YouTube history, drove huge success commercially, and was named one of Time Magazine’s best inventions of 2017.

Here’s how we did it — and three lessons we learned along the way.

Exclude no one

From the beginning, our founder Rihanna was very clear that absolutely no one was to be excluded. Her vision of “Beauty for All” became our marketing mission.

Fenty Beauty first launched with 40 beautiful shades of foundation and today we have 50. At the time, there wasn’t a brand that truly reached everyone from the lightest skin to the darkest. Many undertones, such as olive ones like mine, were also underserved in beauty. Inclusion was more than the number of shades; it was the well-crafted nuance of each shade in the range that also served as a proof point. This allowed so many women to find themselves in the brand and feel included.

Let values inform process

Rihanna wanted her brand available to women everywhere around the world at the same time. This was insanely difficult from an operational perspective.

The brand went live in 17 countries on the same day at the same hour (regardless of time zones) with a completely omnichannel marketing strategy. We were also ready to ship directly to 137 countries.

Distributing content around the world in real time required surgical precision. One mistake could derail the entire marketing plan. Press and consumers ultimately saw a fun and flawless execution, but what they didn’t see were the efforts of more than 500 global leaders across brand and merchandising, supply chain, marketing, social, and retailer teams doing synchronized swimming to pull it off.

The consumer and market reactions were phenomenal. We received photos of lines forming outside of our retailers’ stores around the world. Hundreds of people started posting selfies of themselves wearing Fenty Beauty on social media; our first repost was of a beautiful woman wearing a hijab. And direct sales surpassed all of our estimations, crashing our website.

We were so proud to be able to authentically market a beauty brand envisioned by Rihanna to serve all women of all cultures. Our marketing mission was underway to build a beauty brand for the next generation.

Show, don’t tell

Our dream was to create the biggest brand launch in beauty history. What resulted is a movement that shifted the beauty industry. You really don’t know it’s happening until it’s happened.

Our approach to inclusion marketing has always been about “showing, not telling.” Never once did we use the word “inclusive” in our messaging.

After Fenty Beauty launched, we began to see headlines that coined the term “The Fenty Effect.” It was a call to action for all industries to do more and challenge the status quo. In beauty, it caused a chain reaction of brands that responded positively by expanding their makeup lines to be more inclusive.

Our approach to inclusion marketing has always been about “showing, not telling.” In fact, we never once used the word “inclusive” in our messaging. “Inclusive” is how we were defined by the press and consumers. The marketing, social, and creative team prioritizes and engages in this conversation on a daily basis with the Fenty Beauty community.

The best way to break through with inclusive marketing is to share authentic stories that are rooted in culture and are emotionally meaningful to the consumers you serve.

If you haven’t thought about inclusivity in your advertising, I’d encourage you to make the case for it. The best way to break through with inclusive marketing is to share authentic stories that are rooted in culture and are emotionally meaningful to the consumers you serve.

By having Rihanna and her vision as our north star, we were able to nail the execution of the Fenty Beauty launch with integrity. Success also wouldn’t have been possible without my diverse, insanely creative and brave marketing team — each with their unique background and voice. I consider them like spices on a marketing spice rack — cooking up well-seasoned stories that are good for the world and good for business.

Source: Think with Google