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M&M’s Blog goes behind the headlines to offer a running commentary on the business dynamics within the international media and marketing industry. The M&M editorial team joins forces with industry experts and local market heroes to balance a bird’s eye view of global trends with the importance of local insight.

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• Why emotions are the key to a brand's social video success

  18 April 2013

  What makes a video become a YouTube sensation? What is it that makes people share some videos but not others? Unruly EMEA MD Phil Townend and leading academic Dr Karen Nelson-Field will answer these questions and many more about the secrets of social video success at the Festival of Media conference in Switzerland at the end of the month. Here is a sneak peek at what they will be talking about...

  The idea of predicting the success of a YouTube video before it is even launched may seem as far-fetched as guessing which new pop song will become the next No.1 hit.

  But new academic and scientific research into the psychology of video sharing has found that there is a formula to social video success.
  
  Studies into the emotions which drive people to share branded videos on the web have identified key, myth-busting trends for agencies and brands hoping to create contagious content on the web.
  
  At a time when content marketing is becoming a core part of the media mix, it means advertisers no longer need to possess Darth Vader’s skills to be able to foresee which ad will become the next The Force.
  
  But what are these consumer trends? And what are some of the common content myths around creating the next YouTube hit for brands?
  
  

  All will be revealed at the Festival of Media Global conference in Montreux on April 30.

  Unruly EMEA MD Phil Townend and leading academic Dr Karen Nelson-Field will take audience members in Switzerland through some of the latest key findings from recent academic research and brand case studies.

  These include:

  - The emotions which are most likely to inspire people to share a branded video;
  - Whether negative emotions (shock, disgust) can be just as powerful as positive emotions (humour, exhilaration) at driving people to share;
  - Why certain emotions are effective in one vertical but not another;
  - Whether the level of branding in a video has any effect on sharing;
  - Which emotions are most likely to lead to brand recall.

  Nelson-Field will even give a tantalising glimpse at some of the key points from her new book, Viral Marketing: The Science of Sharing, due to be released later this year.

  Phil's and Karen's 25-minute presentation 'What Makes Good Content?' is due to start at 12.15pm on April 30. To add the event to your calendar, click here. Book your place here.
  
  By David Waterhouse (this post was spotted on the Unruly Media blog)
  

  Comments (0) | Permalink

  Posted by: Bloggers' Gallery

  Tags: Online, Social, Video, Festival of Media Global

• What does the future hold for TV?

  08 April 2013

  There has been a real buzz about online video advertising as TV moves into a digitally connected world. I caught up with some of the leading experts on the convergence between TV and online video and discussed the changing landscape of AV advertising and asked how programmatic trading is revolutionising how media is bought and sold.

  Daniel Knapp, Director of Advertising Research at IHS, points out that while there has been two crises in the advertising industry in the last three years, the TV industry has had no such crisis and has remained stable. This has been coupled with the seismic shift in audience consumption away from linear content to DVR and across multiple devise - 15% across tablets and mobiles. Online video for broadcasters has been a good way for broadcasters to diversify, and the majority of online video has been ad funded. There has also been a shift from the way advertising has been traded towards programmatic trading, and he predicted that by 2016 all online display advertising including online would be traded programmatically across the board.

  Anthony Rhind, former co-CEO of Havas Digital, makes the point that technology's role is getting beyond the constraints of human capacity. He implored the industry to let technology manage volume and speed, but also take into account human instinct. He points out that brands are built through awareness, reputation and consideration and notes that there has been a lot of chat about whether RTB delivers higher CPMs. In TV we have a huge opportunity, but the question is just how quickly will the take up be?

  Chris Locke, UK Trading Director of Starcom Mediavest Group, says that we will get to a model that combines targeted online advertising at scale with fame spots on TV. Other media can do scalability in RTB better. Ad sales is all about long term relationships and RTB is traded on short term relationships. We also need to take into account the social aspects of TV. RTB could be used on second devices rather than second screen, where there is no real data. Advertisers are not moving fast into the video space as they want to sell it at a premium. Chris points out that as a medium, advertisers would want to monetise their off peak.

  David Fisher, Head of Futures at Sky feels that targeted audiences will mirror planned audiences in programmatic TV advertising. Adsmart, launching in August, will be bringing targeted advertising to linear TV. It is supply side and has technical capabilities and encompasses the long journey to programmatically trade linear TV. David feels that in the VOD world it will happen sooner.

  Richard Wheaton, Managing Director of Neo@Ogilvy, says that it is agencies that are bringing in innovation and capabilities to the debate - brands are not asking for this. "Programmatic" should be called "insight" as it delivers layers of information. Richard feels that the term undervalues the value of agencies. He also points out that all media is digital these days and all the lessons we learned from digital are now applicable to TV.

  What we need to ask ourselves is the time right for TV and online to converge?

  By Andrew Moore, EMEA managing director, SpotXchange

  Comments (0) | Permalink

  Posted by: Bloggers' Gallery

  Tags: Online, real time bidding, TV, Video

• Harlem Shake vs Gangnam Style: the ultimate Twitter showdown

  20 March 2013

  Harlem Shake and Gangnam Style – if I’ve lost you already then I’ve only got one thing to say: Where have you been hiding for the last year?! Both have taken the world of online video and social media by storm, and if you’re anything like me you can’t help but start bopping your head as soon as you hear either tune start playing.

  It’s great that these YouTube phenomenons have seen massive global success in such a short space of time and this new, interesting infographic from Ghergich & Co used Twitter data to compare how both were picked up in social media in the first 30 days after launch.

  After comparing the total number of tweets, positive and negative reactions, tweets by country, total exposure and the peak performance, the team at Ghergich managed to pull together this pretty cool infographic comparing the two. Can you guess who came out on top? Scroll to the bottom for the winner – you might be surprised!

  
  Infographic by Ghergich & Co.

  And for those who still have no idea what I'm on about, check out the videos below:

  Comments (0) | Permalink

  Posted by: Jenni Baker

  Tags: Twitter, Social Media, Online, Social, Video

• Where next for online video advertising?

  12 December 2012

  The rapid growth of the online video sector continued in 2012, with more campaigns undertaken and clients seeing the medium offer real value. However, Adap.tv believes the industry must continue to push for further significant changes in 2013.

  Research carried out by Adap.tv indicates that there are three areas that need to be addressed in 2013 before companies begin to move their brand budget online. These reflect that ‘watching TV’ is being re-defined as more media is consumed on mobile phones, tablets and smart TVs, but brand budgets are still firmly rooted in traditional TV:

  Measurement: The way in which TV and online media is bought is currently very different, so online measurement needs to become more like traditional TV’s gross rating points.

  Quality: Advertisers and agencies will need assurance that the ads for their brands appear in the right environment and on websites that match the advertiser’s brand values.

  Price: The cost of buying TV advertising is traditionally lower than that for online. This issue needs to be balanced through significantly larger budgets being made available for quality publishers.

  As the online video advertising sector moves to achieve these changes, Adap.tv predicts the following for 2013:

  1. Viewable ads will become one of the key metrics
  2. The rise of smart TVs will see real interactive commercials appear
  3. TV and digital planning will become more standard
  4. Digital ads will begin to prove as effective as traditional TV ads
  5. There will be a greater collaboration between broadcast and digital teams
  6. The number of mobile video campaigns will increase as people watch more TV on their smartphones
  7. Verified viewability will become standard
  8. The number of YouTube and customised web-based channels will increase
  9. Brands will start to move more TV budget online to check its effectiveness
  10. There will be a rise in automated trading of online video

  This year we have seen a critical blurring of the lines between television and digital as the combination of catch up TV and new handheld devices continue to transform the way in which consumers watch television. The predictions for 2013 reflect these changes, and outline ways that the industry can tackle the challenges of the rapidly changing environment in which they operate.

  By Brian Fitzpatrick, managing director, Adap.tv Europe

  Comments (0) | Permalink

  Posted by: Bloggers' Gallery

  Tags: Online, Advertising, Online advertising, Video

• Maurice Lévy stars in ‘superhuman’ YouTube show

  11 December 2012

  If there’s one thing I love about Publicis Groupe, it’s Maurice Lévy. I’ve never met the guy but there’s something endearing about him. And today, I found another reason to like him.

  Just as in any other year, the Publicis Groupe chief executive gave his annual end of year greeting via YouTube (which has become somewhat of a tradition, having done so since 2010). But as it turns out, this year was a little bit different and a little more digital than before.

  Kudos to the team at Digitas.

  Known for his speeches to drag on a little in the past, this year Lévy made a “superhuman” effort to keep things short and sweet, so this time around the video can be watched on the viewer’s terms.

  Whether you want to skip forward, pause, turn up the volume or change the quality of the video, Lévy reacts – be it by shuffling through his notes to find the point in the speech that you want to skip to or by keeping himself busy with a range of activities including playing Pacman, polishing Cannes Lions and watching the laughing baby on YouTube while on pause.

  No matter what you try, Lévy has a response to all the different functionalities. The question is, which are you going to try first? Check out the video below. (I personally recommend the skip)!

  Comments (0) | Permalink

  Posted by: Jenni Baker

  Tags: Online, Video

• Bodyform: the best response ever to a Facebook rant?

  17 October 2012

  A lady’s ‘time of the month’ is quite the taboo subject and for men in particular, a topic that should be avoided at all costs when they are around.

  Richard Neill is an exception.

  Richard Neill became an overnight viral sensation when he decided to take to Facebook to vent his anger towards Bodyform for using the slogan ‘Have a Happy Period’ in its advertising. That one post has racked up more than 86,743 likes and more than 3,735 comments. And it’s absolutely hilarious:

  

  But what’s even better is that Bodyform has been quick off the mark with a direct response to the post via a personalised spoof video on YouTube – which has also gone viral, so far having notched up more than 135,000 views on YouTube and more than 2,200 Facebook likes.

  Conceived by Carat, the short film features Caroline Williams, the “CEO of Bodyform” (Bodyform doesn’t have a CEO!), sitting at her desk with a jug of blue water apologising for lying to men for all these years about periods:

  “Hello Richard. We read your Facebook post with interest, but also a sense of foreboding – and I think it’s time we came clean. We lied to you, Richard. And I want to say sorry.”

  She talks humorously through the history of Bodyform’s advertising and the maintenance of the ‘period myth’, explaining how the depictions of women rollerblading and having pillow fights during their periods are in fact metaphors.

  This is a perfect example of how Bodyform has used social media and online video to engage and create conversation with its audience (not its target audience as it turns out!) But it has certainly got everyone talking about the not-so-sexy brand in a positive way. Absolutely genius!

  Comments (0) | Permalink

  Posted by: Jenni Baker

  Tags: Online, Social, Video

• Rise of the video ad: an infographic

  23 April 2012

  You know how fond we are of an infographic on the M&M Global team, and when the good people over at Adform [display marketing specialists] sent across this infographic mapping the rise of video ads in Europe, I just had to share it...

  

  Comments (0) | Permalink

  Posted by: Jenni Baker

  Tags: Online, Video

• Yahoo, Mofilm and RTL Interactive battle it out to impress Nestlé at FOMG

  17 April 2012

  Outgoing Yahoo EMEA senior vice-president and managing director Rich Riley managed to impress Nestlé head of digital and social media Pete Blackshaw, following a head-to-head battle against RTL Interactive managing director Marc Schröder and Mofilm president and co-founder Andy Baker to ‘woo’ him with their advertising solutions.

  In a unique session on the second day of the Festival of Media Global, the three media owners were pitted against each other as they took part in a session entitled ‘What happens when TV isn’t the only screen?’ The aim of the game was to each take it in turns to convince Nestlé that their platform was the future of the TV advertising budget.

  Yahoo emerged victorious after Riley presented Yahoo’s offering to the client. Blackshaw said he was particularly impressed with Yahoo’s TV companion service ‘Into_Now’, that creates a content and social community around TV shows, in addition to its full-page takeover option that ran in Brazil.

  During his pitch, Riley said that “TV is huge and may stay huge” but “the tablet changes the game”. He continued: “Multiscreen and second screen will be big and advertisers have a huge opportunity to leverage the second screen.”

  RTL Interactive’s Schröder argued the case that traditional TV wins in the digital world. He recognised that “digitisation is a challenge, but also an opportunity” to extend the reach of traditional television.

  “Television is the most evolving and most social as it is often consumed with more than one person,” says Schröder. “Digitisation means more messages in more channels but it’s still about three things: objective, message and medium. It’s all about combining the strengths.”

  Mofilm’s Baker pitched his case around “quality, price and speed”. He alluded to the Guardian’s ‘Three Little Pigs’ campaign, and posed the question, “Why can’t we do this with content?”

  When making his final decision, Blackshaw spoke about a brand building framework where there are meaningful cross-platform synergies. “All advertising buying needs to be thoughtful of the paid, owned and earned model,” he says. “Would Nestlé pay for premium relevance? Absolutely!"

  You can keep up-to-date with all the action from the Festival of Media Global 2012 by following #FOMG12 or check out our dedicated Festival page.

  Comments (0) | Permalink

  Posted by: Jenni Baker

  Tags: Connected TV, TV, Video, Festival of Media Global

• Yet another misstep for Netflix?

  16 January 2012

  Here is my prediction for 2012: Netflix is going to find itself in serious financial trouble. The predicted problem will have little to do with existing customer’s appreciation of the company’s service, and a lot to do with its continued strategic missteps. This time the misstep is to launch the service into the UK.

  Launching your brand into a market where an established incumbent already owns your existing positioning is one of the biggest gaffs you can make in global marketing. Time after time, companies have fallen into the same trap. Just because you made it to leadership position in one country does not mean you can repeat the same success in another, particularly when a well-funded competitor is already making a name for itself providing the same service. So going up against Amazon’s LOVEFiLM and British Sky Broadcasting sounds like a familiar mistake to me.

  Need convincing? Well how about Walmart’s foray into the German market which saw the brand admit defeat in 2006 after eight years of trying and at the cost of $1bn? Why? Because Germany’s value retailers like Aldi and Lidl were already well established. Limited inventory, not just aggressive buying and economies of scale, meant the German retailers were more than happy to compete on price and win.

  Ah, but this is the internet. Everyone knows you can’t apply the same rules to the internet as you can bricks and mortar stores. Netflix is not launching its Blockbuster-killing DVD service in the UK, rather it is going straight to streaming, no doubt hoping to take advantage of the high broadband penetration in that country. Think again. Even the mighty Google has struggled to make headway in China, where domestic brand Baidu owns the same position that Google does in North America and much of Europe.

  They say that pride comes before a fall, but I thought we had already seen Netflix trip over its own success in the ill-fated Qwickster episode. One of the most telling signs that hubris still rules at Netflix is that the company’s chief executive, Reed Hastings, said that Netflix would rely predominantly on word-of-mouth recommendations to drive uptake in the UK. Can someone tell me why anyone would recommend Netflix versus the other incumbents? My bet is that LOVEFiLM, which now has 2 million subscribers in the UK, is going to give Netflix a run for its money, as signaled by announcing a price cut and a planned new TV campaign.

  I love the Netflix service and would not want to be without it here in the U.S., but at this rate, I seriously fear for the company’s continued well-being. What do you think?

  This blog post was spotted on Straight Talk with Nigel Hollis

  Comments (0) | Permalink

  Posted by: Nigel Hollis

  Tags: Online, Video

• Netflix: proof that the consumer is boss after all?

  13 December 2011

   

  Back in July, I wrote a post that questioned Netflix’s decision to increase prices, “Is Netflix courting disaster with its latest price hike?” As I have noted elsewhere, sometimes it is worth losing price sensitive customers in order to boost margins.

  However, I would have expected the company to research its pricing decision ahead of time, rather than relying on feedback from irate customers and closed accounts. And if it had carried out the research, maybe its share price would look a lot better than it does now.

  Back in July, Netflix introduced a new pricing plan: $7.99 a month for Netflix Instant Streaming, $7.99 to receive discs in the mail but $15.98 for the combo. The latter price represented a 60% hike over the previous fee of $9.99.

  Customers weren’t happy with the surprise price hike, and Netflix responded publicly by positioning the pricing move as a mistake. But in an email apologising for having “messed up” by announcing the new price scheme, Netflix chief executive Reed Hastings, added fuel to the fire and promptly compounded the mess. His e-mail introduced to users that Netflix was to be split in two. The DVD service was to be rebadged as Qwikster and separated from the streaming service.

  If the pricing announcement was a big mistake, then this one was a monster.

  How on earth anyone believed that the announcement that Netflix was to split into two separate services would be well received, I have no idea. Instead of one account, they were asking you to manage two and pay for the privilege? Get real!

  Qwickster proved quick to stir customer’s anger. After angry complaints and an epidemic of defections, Netflix announced that Qwikster would not become a reality and the DVD and streaming services would not be split after all. The announcement did little to stem the bleeding. In the last quarter, Netflix has lost 800,000 users and seen its share price plummet.

  Thus ends a quixotic attempt to place business needs over consumer needs. It is a classic example of completely misjudging customer sentiment. In an interview with Andrew Goldman at The New York Times, Hastings refers to the debacle as follows:

  We simply moved too quickly, and that’s where you get those missed execution details.

  The problem is that an execution detail for Netflix is a very big deal for the end user. Rather than researching alternative names for the DVD service (as reported in the article), Hastings and team would have been far better off talking to existing customers about their plans. It could have saved a lot of money and embarrassment. Netflix might then have realized that the affection people have for the service is entirely based on the ease and simplicity of the user experience, not love for the intangible Netflix brand.

  So what do you think? Do you agree with my assessment? Why did Netflix get it so wrong?

  This blog post was spotted on Straight Talk with Nigel Hollis

  Comments (0) | Permalink

  Posted by: Nigel Hollis

  Tags: Online, Reputation, Video

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