Stepping outside: Exterion Media CEO Shaun Gregory on the future of out-of-home advertising December 21, 2014 You've almost certainly seen an Exterion-owned ad site today – dozens, actually. They’re smattered all over the inside of London’s Tube stations: up and down the escalators, on platforms, inside the carriages, as well as on the sides of the capital’s buses. Social media and content marketing have predictably drawn the bulk of column inches [...]
Content isn’t just for Christmas: Reflections on 2014’s seasonal ads December 21, 2014 One of the wonders of Christmas is the gift of giving, and brand marketers have been wrapping up content in abundance this Christmas. For the major retailers, it’s no longer simply about occupying the most television airtime over the festive period. Content now starts with YouTube and Facebook, becomes amplified through Twitter and is spun [...]
Sky faces its big match in fight with BT for Premier League TV football December 2, 2014 Sometime early next year – and no one knows precisely when such is the secrecy surrounding the process – the Premier League will launch an auction to decide who will broadcast live matches for three seasons from 2016-17. And analysts are divided over whether Sky, which has held most of the broadcast rights since the [...]
Unruly 2014 viral video report: Oliver Smith talks online sharing and viral videos November 30, 2014 Marketing tech firm Unruly has released its 2014 viral video report. Its Europe, Middle East and Africa managing director Oliver Smith talks about the key trends to watch. Activa, Fox and Nike – the three brands with the most-shared video ads of 2014, according to Unruly. And while you might think these firms’ [...]
Customer photos: A huge untapped resource for social media marketers November 30, 2014 It should come as no surprise that 92 per cent of marketers believe social media is an important aspect of their business (as reported by the Social Media Examiner). Where it continues to lag behind other channels, however, is in the ability to measure return on investment (ROI). Only one in three marketers say [...]
WPP agency Mindshare’s UK boss Mark Creighton on wearable technology and collaboration between agencies November 9, 2014 It's no secret that the media business is changing irrevocably because of digital technologies. But while some agency execs yearn for the age of bulk media contracts negotiated over a long, boozy lunch with TV bosses, Mindshare’s Mark Creighton comes across as positively electrified by the new digital frontier. He talks to City [...]
A digital billboard revolution: The top out-of-home advertising sites changing the face of London November 2, 2014 In creative terms, advertising mediums can be split into “hot” and “cool” media. This distinction was first put forward by Canadian media critic Marshall McLuhan 50 years ago. The difference is that hot media grabs you, whereas people actively choose to get involved with cool media – the audience does the grabbing. Print, cinema, [...]
EARN Media’s Jamal Benmiloud on how content marketing can help build brand love October 19, 2014 Marketers have long distinguished between paid-for, owned and earned media. With the explosive growth of content marketing (brands producing their own videos and shows, rather than paying for conventional ad slots), the latter two have attracted ever-greater portions of ad budgets recently, partly with the aim of achieving that Holy Grail of digital marketing [...]
Beware programmatic advertising: Big brand ads are cropping up on illegal websites – here’s how to stop it October 19, 2014 Advertisers have been drawn in like a moth to a flame by programmatic buying’s ability to increase ad spend return on investment and improve targeting. According to the IAB, in 2013, 28 per cent of the £1.86bn spent on display advertising in the UK was traded programmatically, and it has been forecast that the proportion [...]
Going viral: Teads chief Jeremy Arditi on the rise of video advertising October 12, 2014 In the world of online advertising, the video format is still a relative minnow. According to figures released last week by PwC and the Internet Advertising Bureau, it accounted for less than 6 per cent of UK digital ad spend in the first half of 2014, with 55 per cent going to paid-for search ads. [...]