Moneycontrol

The changes to digital advertising can only be survived by a willingness to change, unlearn and relearn. Fundamental changes are on in the world of digital marketing due to regulatory as well as customer expectation-driven changes in privacy in all its facets. These new privacy regulations, the rise of ad blockers and the decrease in the availability of data used for measurement and targeting taken together will fundamentally alter standard operating procedures (SoPs) in digital advertising. [siteorigin_widget class=”SiteOrigin_Widget_Image_Widget”][/siteorigin_widget] Major transitions in advertising modality in every era have led to big opportunities for advertisers, provided they adapt successfully. For those who fail to do so, it is a highway to oblivion. The necessary action streams are in three parts: Creating a durable infrastructure; finessing the measurement strategy; automation and broadening of advertising deployment. One has to concede that third-party cookies and non-consented device IDs are going to see their sunset. This would mean advertisers need to begin rebuilding their advertising infrastructure so they can perform without these tools in the coming near future. One way to create a more durable data infrastructure is by investing in building better, longer-lasting relationships with customers, or eventually spending much more to target and capture intenders on third party websites and social media platforms. The era of a focus on first party data capture and owned data collection is upon us. Next, it would be wise to invest in customer engagement platforms which enable us to communicate with customers without cookies across multiple channels (e.g. email, SMS, push notifications, chat, social CRM). These platforms can help increase conversion rates and customer lifetime value (CLV), boosting the profitability of paid marketing investment. Privacy issues should also be a catalyst to improve the overall customer data infrastructure right now. It is best to partner with a cloud provider to build a data lake, create unique customer identifiers across products, channels, and customer service touchpoints, and begin building a more robust customer insights platform. Learnings from leading retail players indicate that customers who shop both online and in store are 10X more valuable than customers who shop online exclusively, and one can only understand this with a full view of customer interactions. This puts direct-to-customer players with authentic first-party customer data at a distinct advantage as they move omni-channel. It is imperative to invest in technologies that will help to improve conversion tracking without third-party cookies. Loss of measurement data such as 24-hour conversion windows, loss of view-through conversion data on Safari, and the loss of some user-level conversions in iOS apps is already making it harder to precisely measure the business impact of paid advertising. This data loss is likely to accelerate further. Hence, actionability as well as return will be impacted by the above-mentioned changes. So, what can be done? It is important to sharpen the attribution model by leveraging machine learning (ML) and conversion modelling. This approach will help us have more complete data for attribution, in a privacy-safe way, even as actual conversion data erodes. ML is geared to give us a better understanding of conversion paths across platforms and devices, in a privacy-friendly way. Next, it is wise to complement the attribution model with a Media Mix Model, modernized for the digital age. Constant experimentation that complements measurement will be the future of advertising impact assessment. Lastly, it is good to reconcile to the fact that impact measurement of paid advertising will become less robust. Decision making under ambiguity will be a necessary attitude. There is a massive tsunami of privacy related changes which can be only survived by a willingness to change, unlearn and relearn. Like it or not, it is going to be a massive deluge and one does not have the option of wetting one’s toes when that happens.   https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/trends/features/storyboard-a-privacy-led-tsunami-of-change-that-cmos-need-to-survive-7634781.html

Almost every other week I get some invitation or the other to speak about some horrifically imagined ‘technology meets creativity’ type seminar. Marketing is becoming part data engineering and part surveillance. It is referred to as ‘technology-enabled storytelling’! Metrics rule the world of brand building. I am all for harnessing the power of technology and data, but the mule cannot ride the man. The most precious thing in brand building is an idea. Creative imagination has unmatched power to build iconic brands. But this truth is being ignored perhaps because there are not enough creative ideas. Creative agencies are large corporations. [siteorigin_widget class=”SiteOrigin_Widget_Image_Widget”][/siteorigin_widget] They look at creative work in terms of revenue and cost. Doing culture building creative work is the most interesting thing to do in marketing. There is a lot of false pride in the creation of legendary creative personas. That said, it is beyond dispute that creative gold dust develops brand appeal. Consumers don’t read your annual plan, vision documents, emails, excel sheets or even the much hyped ‘briefs’. They only see the advertising. Consumers listen to other consumers. They experience the product. If the mix does not work, it does not work. Your ‘brief’ or ‘5-year plan’ will not convince them. I am shocked when I hear marketing folks, rhetorically or for real, questioning the need for advertising. The question walks on two legs – Firstly, ‘is advertising effective?’ If so, ‘how do we know that more creatively appealing advertising is more effective?’ Sacrilege! If marketers discard and trash creativity and content-led communication, what hope do we have of anyone else carrying a torch for it? Here is my take – data, digital experience, optimisation, etc., all of this can be done by non-marketers. A program can do better in some cases. It is as if analysts, ad-tech specialists, and data scientists are falling from the sky for free. A lot of the froth is about what’s ‘being trended’. The symptoms are being shown in place of the diagnosis The reason why advertising is ineffective is because poor advertisements are on air. There are poor advertisements on air because creative ideas are rare and clients who appreciate them are rarer still. Secondly, the lack of creativity is being covered up by some abracadabra about an “idea whose time has come” and “purpose” and so on. Craft is rendered meaningless. If you make chicken biryani, you need chicken. Making it with soya bean nuggets is not about the craft of cooking biryani. This truism is quite clearly and rampantly violated. The pipe does not quench the thirst, the water does. The guitar will not play itself. The road will not move the car. This emphasis on technical preparedness and digital advantage whilst ignoring creative appeal and craft is suicidal. Remember marketing – advertising has no need to be in this world. It is an act of creative smarts to begin with. We owe our existence to the primacy of ideas. We have data, machines, methods, metrics, and measurements galore. What we do not have enough of is talented creativity. Let us put ideas at the heart of the marketing profession or a data driven robotic program will generate your ‘acceptably creative’ obituary! Appeared Brand Storyboard https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/trends/advertising-trends/neglect-of-creativity-is-the-data-driven-marketers-biggest-mistake-shubhranshu-singh-6935591.html