Exploring Instagram Reels for marketers: Not just a TikTok clone?

Introducing Instagram Reels; a new way of creating fun and engaging video content from Instagram Stories, distributed directly to your feed. So, what’s all the fuss about? Is it just a TikTok clone? Is it another example of owner Facebook aiming to take out the competition in the same way it introduced Stories as an alternative to Snapchat?

Well, yes and no. Instagram Reels has been in development for some time (since being trialled in Brazil late last year) and launched earlier...

26 August 2020 | Social Media Marketing

TikTok has a ton of potential – and brands are only scratching the surface

Not everyone loves it when the new kid shows up and starts turning heads, but sometimes there is a reason to pay attention. On the social media playground, that new kid is TikTok — and it is time for brands to take notice.

ByteDance’s addictive video app, now barely three years old, was downloaded 315 million times in the first quarter of 2020 — more than any other app has been downloaded in a single quarter, according to analytics firm Sensor Tower. Advertisers are rushing...

22 July 2020 | Branding

Has social distancing helped usher through the age of immersive digital?

As brands around the world respond to the ongoing disruptive trends and scrabble to re-shape the way they engage with their customers, what we are witnessing is an explosion of immersive digital experiences.

It might seem that up until a few months ago immersive digital interactions were more of a cherry on the top rather than the actual bun. Has the recent enforced social distancing changed our daily habits for good?

On the one hand we have seen a surge of digital...

1 June 2020 | Commerce

Has it taken a crisis for us to embrace the power of broadcast communications?

For many years, technology has had the power to radically alter the live communications landscape. From virtual, augmented and mixed reality to AI, technology that is readily available to us has been in a position to dramatically change the way we engage with live events through broadcast. Often this type of communication has been pushed to the side as facilitating it has not been viewed as “business critical”. Of course, communication is now and always will be business critical but,...

20 May 2020 | Video & Audio Marketing

Personalisation, video and VR: How digital is bringing the luxury experience everywhere

Once upon a time, the luxury experience was inherently tactile. The awe factor of walking through a multimillion-dollar vacation home or sitting behind the wheel of a custom luxury vehicle was only possible in the physical realm. But ever-advancing technology has changed the luxury game.

It’s not a question of whether or not digital works in luxury. You can pick the finishings for your Audi in digital showrooms, try on designer clothes in virtual fitting rooms, or take home...

20 April 2020 | Advertising

Will Eagle, Read This If You Want To Be YouTube Famous author: On authenticity, attitude and audience

“Video is an acquired skill,” explains Will Eagle, author of Read This If You Want To Be YouTube Famous. “It’s not the same as Instagram – anyone can take a picture and apply a filter.”

Eagle, who spent four years as a brand strategist at Google working primarily on the video platform, put together his new book based on a survey which found three quarters of young people interviewed wanted to become YouTubers. Yet long gone are the days when...

24 January 2020 | Best Practice

As influencers increasingly create video content, what does this mean for brands?

If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video must equate to millions. At least, that’s what social media users are banking on. The number of videos being created and shared across social platforms has soared in recent years.

Photo sharing platform Instagram has shifted its focus to video recently, with the Instagram Stories feature - and over on YouTube, 400 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every single minute.

Platforms have been telling us for a while...

24 January 2020 | Branding

Using emojis for business communications and boosting customer engagement: A guide

Using images to communicate is not a new phenomenon. After all, images actually pre-date the written word – just think of cave people who painted murals on their walls to tell stories  of their battles and culture. The fact is, images can convey so much more than words; a single image can communicate a tone and emotion that is personal to the recipient.

For marketers, images and iconography have always been a fundamental component of the company’s brand, but this...

12 November 2019 | Branding

How Mastercard is leveraging its sonic identity – and evolving brand security in the process

In February, Mastercard issued a press release which announced the launch of what the company called its ‘sonic brand identity.’ The result was touted as ‘a distinct and memorable melody with adaptations across genres and cultures.’

Naturally, there was also an audio press release sent out where the tone was played (1:04) and further described as the ‘sound equivalent’ of the company’s red and yellow circles. “What you just heard was...

30 October 2019 | Advertising

The BBC’s Beeb shows why AI voice assistants are not yet ready for enterprise prime time

Opinion Last week, the BBC announced that it has begun work on a voice-enabled virtual assistant scheduled for 2020. Codenamed Beeb, the new virtual assistant is being seen as an alternative to Amazon’s Alexa and Google Home, with a focus on helping users find content on the British broadcaster’s services and being able to understand British regional accents.

This last part is important, because it indicates that even as far as we have come with voice technology,...

2 September 2019 | Automation