I’m not necessarily the world’s fiercest competitor but, you know, I like to feel like I’m doing my best in any given situation be it in sport or doing a task at work or at home. My husband, a runner, is all about personal bests and beating the people in the surrounding area with his fancy-schmancy running app. I must admit that I’ve always been a little bit sceptical.
We’re only 35 days away from 2013, as you can probably tell by the increasing number of predictions for next year that have taken Twitter by storm. Seems that 2013 will be the year of mobile again (but this time faster thanks to 4G), social influence will move beyond ‘likes’ to incentivise recommendations and media spend will shift from display to paid sponsored content. For me, the most exciting development in 2013 will be the rise of perceptive media.
So what is perceptive media and why am I so excited about it?
Earlier this year it was quite difficult to read any of the 2012 marketing trend predictions without coming across Pinterest. There was a lot of excitement around this new kid on the social media block with its two key fundamentals of social media; sharing and visual content. Pinterest has enjoyed skyrocketing growth and according to Shareaholic’s web traffic statistics, it now refers more traffic than Google, Yahoo and Twitter. However, it still has its share of skeptics among the marketing industry and many brands see Pinterest’s lack of an advertising platform and metrics as a barrier. Earlier this week Rachel Weiss, L’Oreal Social Media Chief, sparked some headlines by saying she was bored with Pinterest and was waiting to see what it could offer brands.
Apparently an ad platform is coming, but some brands are not waiting for that to create commercial opportunities. There is a lot of experimentation going on and we are seeing great examples of brands that have used Pinterest in creative and innovative ways. Read more »
With nearly 3 in 4 people finding online advertising annoying and click-through rates remaining below 1%, the online advertising industry is looking for less intrusive formats that blend with the user online experience and better engage with consumers. ’Native advertising’ is a new model that goes beyond traditional display formats. Native ads integrate branded content such as pictures, videos or articles directly into the site experience, usually in a form that matches the site content, instead of just placing ads framing the content.
I am very excited about native ads and the opportunities they offer for online creative, a refreshing change from annoying pop-up ads, aimed to be more visually appealing and less interruptive. Native ads force us to think outside the banner box, looking for content that fits the site and creative executions that are part of the online experience. In other words, developing branded content that delivers a message and tells a story, without it feeling and looking like an ad. Read more »
After I finished university and started working in research, I remember people asking me what I did for a living and most of the time, my ‘I work in market research’ answer used to be met with ‘oh, so you’re one of those annoying people standing outside the tube with a clipboard’. Fast forward three years, another party (all grownups, not young and fresh grads anymore), same question: so what do you do? ‘Well, I work in digital advertising research’ I say, feeling quite proud and thinking I had managed to sound cool and interesting, Mad Men meets the digital world meets David Rittenhouse. And much to my dismay, I get a similar answer to three years ago: ‘oh, all these annoying pop up ads and rolling banners that invade my screen?’
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