Whether in-house, outsource, or anything in between, agencies can – and do – help

Programmatic is now mainstream – expected to account for almost 90% of digital display ad spend in the UK next year – so brands naturally want to understand it better and gain more control over how their advertising budgets are spent.

To achieve this greater level of understanding and control, many brands are taking steps towards in-housing programmatic. An IAB study conducted across multiple European markets revealed that 86% of programmatically active brands already...

30 August 2019 | Advertising Technology

Wikipedia co-founder calls for social media strike to fight ‘long train’ of abuses

One of the co-founders of Wikipedia has called for a two-day strike of social media to protest against ‘serious grievances’ and a ‘long train of abuses’ by the platform arbiters.

Larry Sanger had posted a ‘declaration of digital independence’ on his blog at the start of June in which signatories – numbering just over 300 at time of writing – can advocate for decentralised social networks. The primary principles of decentralised...

1 July 2019 | Campaigns

Who’s taking it to the next level in customer experience? Well, nobody, says Forrester

Amazon may have stolen the crown as the world’s most valuable brand, but who are the companies pushing the boundaries with regards to customer experience?

According to the latest analysis from Forrester, Lexus, Regions Bank and USAA are among the best performing US brands – but nobody is taking things to the next level.

The 2019 US Customer Experience Index ranked brands out of 100, with 75% or above being designated as ‘good’, and 85% or better as...

12 June 2019 | Best Practice

How Sage is using employee advocacy to create a strong voice on social

Last week, Kim Kardashian West - perhaps the ultimate influencer - put digital ink to silicon and tweeted forth. Yet this wasn't quite a case of affirmation-brought-to-you-by-X. The socialite had visited Jack in the Box and wished for a discussion about the experience "pronto." Underneath, rival fast food brands, from Burger King, to Wendy's, to Steak-umm, were queuing up to throw shade.

For some, this may be seen as light relief on the increasingly divisive social...

24 May 2019 | Campaigns

A guide to campaign tracking for simple and stress-free analytics

Any business that wants to be successful needs to know which marketing techniques are effective to their customers, members and target audience. Without this knowledge, it’s impossible to know whether your marketing campaigns are effective or if they are simply wasting your time and money.

Which means that campaign tracking is a fundamental part of digital marketing reporting, and if you’re not doing it, or doing it incorrectly, then you may end up using your budgets for...

22 May 2019 | Campaigns

Why the future agency model needs to be fast and fluid

Is there such a concept as ‘doing things the traditional way’ anymore? In everything from digital advertising to crowdsourcing and mobile marketing, the standard model doesn’t exist.

Equally, the speed of evolution in marketing has meant that brands have had to take a great deal more control over their process. If you want to be agile, responsive, real-time – there’s no space for multiple layers of iteration and approval before you act. 

Of...

13 May 2019 | Advertising

Grad Conn, CXMO, Sprinklr: On changing CMO strategy and the Copernicus effect for customer experience

Grad Conn, chief experience and marketing officer (CXMO) at Sprinklr, is something of a rare breed: a CMO who has been in it for the long haul.

Prior to joining the customer experience management platform last year, Conn spent almost seven years as Microsoft’s US chief marketing officer. Indeed, Conn laughs as he relates the tale of an interview feature he did which riffed on this: “Basically the premise was ‘how did this guy last for seven years?’ What kind...

30 April 2019 | Automation

The age of engagement: Why brands need to interact with customers as individuals

Last month, McDonald’s announced its $300m acquisition of artificial intelligence company Dynamic Yield – a machine learning specialist founded seven years ago - in a rare move for the company. For years the burger giant has avoided acquisitions.

The technology will allow McDonald’s to customise its menu displays based on variables such as weather and the time of day — milkshakes in the summer or McMuffins before 11am.

Dynamic Yield’s technology...

29 April 2019 | Advertising Technology

Is tone of voice being diluted in digital communications today?

There’s no doubt tone of voice is a powerful tool and absolutely vital when engaging with customers – it could be pivotal when attracting prospects.

A strong tone of voice is central to successful brand building. It is the backbone of all written communication and helps to boost recognition and perception when creating engaging, digital messages that resonate with an organisation’s target audience.

With online conversations happening in real-time and at a...

21 February 2019 | Branding

Agencies practice what they preach with ‘mature’ content marketing strategies

Every agency out there has got an opinion – at least, one that you probably have to pay for – about how you need to do content marketing.

It’s gone beyond mere choice. More often it’s become a question of: quality or quantity? Naturally, some believe they can offer the content equivalent of the moon on a stick. Peter Bell, senior director at Marketo, wrote for this publication in November about what he called ‘Frankenblogging’; where off-cuts and...

14 February 2019 | Branding