Tag: Advertising

Hong Kong – Advertising agency DDB Group Hong Kong has named Izmael Crespo as its new creative director to bolster the agency’s creative firepower.

In his new role, Crespo will work on multi-market projects across DDB’s varied client base. He will report to Alejandro Canciobello, the regional executive creative director.

Crespo is an art-based creative director who has worked with major brands on projects across the globe. His experience brings not only talent and fame but also a multicultural perspective to his new role with DDB Group Hong Kong.

He moved to Hong Kong from Colombia this month and comes into the agency with an extensive list of major accolades to his name, not least of which include an impressive ten Lions. Crespo is notably a part of the team responsible for the Corona Lime campaign that gave China its first-ever Titanium Lion win.

Additionally, being a gaming streamer himself, he is known for creating campaigns that bring brands to gaming environments.

Crespo’s appointment is the second major hire in DDB Group Hong Kong’s creative department this year. He follows the appointment of Alejandro Canciobello last April, to whom he will report directly now.

These hires underscore the agency’s ambition and commitment to significantly elevate its creative offering and the hope of becoming world-class. This is a goal that Andreas Krasser, CEO of DDB Group Hong Kong, has publicly voiced.

Commenting on the new hire, Alejandro Canciobello said, “Recently winning HKMA’s Agency of the Year for the second year in a row, having won Hong Kong’s 2023 Grand Effie, and with a string of notable creative campaigns this year, the agency has some great momentum. Adding someone like Izmael and his immense passion to create campaigns with the power to move people and culture is going to help us propel forward in our pursuit for even better work and greater impact.”

Also in his new role, Crespo shared, “I’m a big believer in an agency environment where everyone has the freedom to express their own creative voice and inspires each other to roll up their sleeves, and I know DDB has created this culture. I am excited to be here in Hong Kong and feel especially excited about going into an agency that is emerging on the global stage. I can’t wait to play a role in the next chapter of that story.”

Singapore – Unified customer experience management platform Sprinklr has announced the integration of TikTok Video Shopping Ads directly into the Sprinklr platform. This enables international brands to optimise ad performance and create a variety of TikTok Video Shopping Ads kinds. 

These advertisements can target and captivate both new and returning audiences, allowing brands to boost engagement, increase TikTok sales, and maximise their return on ad investment.

Any activity that a user or customer performs on their website or app can be recorded using data connections. With more knowledge of the shopper’s user journey, which includes holiday planning, gifting, celebrating, indulging, sharing, and more, the system is able to reach users with holiday messaging and Video Shopping Ads that will resonate with them.

To maximise the benefits of data connections, brands should set up both TikTok Pixel and Events API before the start of Q4 to ensure the ad delivery in preparation for the holiday season. This not only allows for integration between the platform and the user’s systems, but it also improves TikTok Ads Manager’s ability to precisely determine the optimal timing and placement for ad delivery, increasing the potential for the conversions. 

Sprinklr signed on as TikTok’s first advertising partner in 2020, and in 2022 it grew by adding a content marketing specialty. Sprinklr has recently added video shopping ads, to be able to help marketers manage, carry out, and optimise campaigns for both organic and paid content on TikTok.

Sao Paulo, Brazil – Brazilian outdoor media association Central de Outdoor and Adsmovil OOH has tapped Moving Walls to launch ‘ECOSS OOH’, a new platform bringing robust data intelligence, audience measurement, and automation solutions to the out-of-home (OOH) advertising space.

The solution is powered by a customised OOH technology solution deployed by Adsmovil OOH, part of Adsmovil which runs an audience-first platform for programmatic buying for the Latin American market. Moving Walls has developed and customised the software for Latin American markets.

The ECOSS OOH platform consolidates planning, buying, implementation, and measurement tools onto a single platform, streamlining OOH ad management for agencies, planners, advertisers, and exhibitors. The platform provides direct access to the inventory of over 100 Central de Outdoor member companies nationwide.

Through the platform, agencies and advertisers have access to performance and audience data for a given point, such as how many people are impacted per month, audience reach and profile, and information on the point of interest, such as its location, who owns the inventory, the format and size available, operating hours and latest photographs and environment information of the location.

Fabi Soriano, executive director of Central de Outdoor, said, “The members of Central de Outdoor present throughout the country now can integrate the stages of planning, programmatic selling, buying and execution, through a single platform.”

Meanwhile, Marco Muñoz, regional business director at Adsmovil, commented, “With ECOSS OOH, it’s now possible to implement the same quantification and qualification for digital media. Adsmovil OOH’s audience intelligence and OOH software complements Central de Outdoor’s rich inventory and will enable easier access for advertisers.”

Lastly, Srikanth Ramachandran, founder and group CEO at Moving Walls, stated, “The partnership between Central de Outdoor and Adsmovil OOH is significant because it enables digital transformation across all its OOH media owners. This is the most difficult step before automation and measurement can be applied to drive greater efficiency for advertisers investing in the medium.”

Singapore – The advertising arm of Samsung Electronics, Samsung Ads, has expanded into Southeast Asia in an effort to facilitate the wider deployment of native advertising solutions across millions of Samsung-powered smart TVs.

The company claims that native ad formats can now, for the first time, be integrated into the Samsung Smart TV experience, allowing marketers to use Samsung Ads’ first-party device data for improved targeting, measurability, and insights.

Samsung Ads will now be operating in the countries ofIndonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam in Southeast Asia.

Speaking about the expansion in SEA, Alex Spurzem, managing director of Samsung Ads ANZ & SEA, said, “Connected TV penetration is above 50 percent in several key markets across Southeast Asia. By bringing our native advertising solutions to market, brands and advertisers can now reach households as soon as they turn their TV on.”

Singapore – Integral Ad Science has revealed ‘Made for Advertising; (MFA), an AI-powered site detection and avoidance product. The company’s MFA site technology is aimed at increasing transparency about advertiser campaign quality, pinpointing ad expenditure allocation, and providing insights for optimising campaigns to reduce inefficiencies on MFA sites.

When used for advertising purposes, MFA sites, which are web pages designed to display advertisements alongside poor content and frequently tuned for conventional metrics like viewability, frequently fail to deliver significant results, such as conversions or brand enhancement.

IAS’s latest product, which makes use of AI technology, efficiently identifies MFA sites on a large scale, allowing advertisers to regain control over their media quality and reduce inefficient spending. IAS provided extensive campaign analysis during alpha testing, demonstrating exceptional MFA site recognition for some of the global advertisers and agencies.

IAS’s product is in line with the Association of National Advertisers’ (ANA) most recent definition of an MFA site, which uses factors like ad-to-content ratio, ad refresh frequency, and traffic source to identify MFA sites. 21% of all measured advertising impressions were found to be delivered on MFA sites, according to the ANA’s Programmatic Media Supply Chain Transparency Study.

Speaking about the launch, Yannis Dosios, chief commercial officer, Integral Ad Science, said, “Our MFA product was built to deliver unprecedented transparency to advertisers and provide them with the ability to both detect and avoid MFA sites in order to redirect their ad spend to publishers that drive a return. The industry faces a significant challenge in combating MFA sites. By leveraging AI, we have developed a scalable way to identify these low quality sources of inventory and improve overall campaign performance.”

Meanwhile, Bill Duggan, executive vice president of ANA group, commented, “Advertisers should recognize that MFA websites can account for a significant portion of their overall campaign and should determine, independently, if MFA sites fit with their brand suitability standards for content and user experience. We applaud IAS for taking action after we released the findings from our programmatic transparency report and for supporting our definition of MFA.” 

He added, “We have found that awareness of MFA sites among the ANA community of media professionals to be limited – which is surprising. We look forward to further developments from IAS around MFA site identification and ad spend optimization to help better educate and inform buyers.”

Singapore – Yahoo Advertising has announced an integration with the Twilio Segment Customer Data Platform (CDP) to improve ad reach and relevance while avoiding the use of third-party cookies. Advertisers can fortify their businesses and leverage first-party data across multiple screens, even in a cookieless environment, because of Twilio Segment’s integration with Yahoo ConnectID. 

Segment users will be able to synchronise hashed, cookieless data with their real-time customer profiles because of strategic partnership with Yahoo Advertising and seamless integration with Yahoo ConnectID. This integration allows them to expand the scope and relevance of their campaigns.

Yahoo uses a comprehensive identity strategy across all digital landscapes. Their identity solutions, which include Yahoo ConnectID and Next-Gen Solutions, support addressable and non-addressable inventory.

This comprehensive suite of identity tools enables advertisers to safeguard their business’s future within the Yahoo DSP, allowing them to retain control and maximise ROI in a world where identity is restricted. Marketers can leverage a unified customer perspective through this integration to reach the full potential of addressable advertising and ensure personalised consumer experiences, even as support for cookies and other traditional identity methods dwindles.

Dan Richardson, Director, head of data at Yahoo APAC, said, “Data collaboration is

essential to allow brands to get the most value from their first-party data. This integration means delivering better advertising experiences to customers, and gives advertisers what they want most – greater relevance, reach and measurement. In a world with fewer online user identifiers, Yahoo ConnectID offers a differentiated and future-proofed approach to all businesses.”

Speaking about the partnership, Liz Adeniji, regional vice president, Asia-Pacific and Japan at Twilio Segment, said, “A recent Twilio study found that about 7 in 10 businesses in Asia- Pacific have already turned to using first-party data primarily due to the inadequate visibility over third parties’ data safeguards, management of consent and regulatory compliance. Our new integration with Yahoo will make it easier for these businesses to use their valuable first-party data in a much more meaningful way, in real-time, and most importantly, with utmost relevance to their intended audience.” 

She added, “This will enable them to unleash the potential of first-party data across screens to deliver more personalised and engaging campaigns.”

Singapore – Collaborative sustainability platform Scope3 today announced a US$20 million Series B funding round led by GV, which will be used to accelerate the development of Scope3’s collaborative sustainability platform (CSP), a first-of-its-kind platform that visualises the massively interconnected ad ecosystem while powering meaningful carbon reduction.

Aside from the CSP development, Scope3 will also be using the GV led funding to grow its global team of advertising, tech, and sustainability experts and further expand its data and measurement capabilities.

Talking about Scope3’s efforts, Brian O’Kelley, co-Founder and CEO of Scope3, expressed that the climate crisis is an urgent and global problem, and that the world’s largest brands, advertisers, and businesses are starting to embrace sustainability as an opportunity that is both good for the planet and the business, making sustainable advertising inevitable. 

“At Scope3, we’re building a business that will serve as the foundation for the next generation of media and advertising. This investment gives us the resources to put decarbonisation tools into the hands of the industry, while attracting the talent needed to build a more sustainable ad ecosystem and deliver on our mission,” he added. 

Speaking on the investment, Kelley concluded, “I’m grateful for the support of GV and our other investors, as well as the many clients, partners, and industry leaders who have helped us get to this point GV’s climate tech focus and extensive knowledge of the nuances of advertising technology make them the perfect fit.”

Meanwhile, Erik Nordlander, general partner at GV, commented, “Scope3’s focus on measurement and reduction takes the right approach to decarbonisation and we’re confident in their ability to move the entire digital ad ecosystem toward climate progress. We are delighted to support their business expansion.”

Notably, Scope3’s additional investors in this round also include Room40 Ventures and Venrock.

New York, USA – Carbon intelligence platform Cedara has announced the launch of its reduction marketplace which enables companies to use innovative third-party solutions to help reduce corporate and supply chain emissions.

As part of the launch, Cedara has partnered with full-service digital marketing agency, Croud, and adaptive streaming technology platform, SeenThis, to empower Pret to reduce carbon emissions across its video ad delivery. 

Croud, known for its industry-leading expertise in digital marketing and advertising, recognised the importance of measuring and reducing the carbon footprint associated with its clients’ advertising campaigns. In pursuit of this objective, Croud worked with Cedara to measure Pret’s media emissions comprehensively. 

By leveraging SeenThis’ integration into Cedara, marketers can easily estimate the impact of switching to SeenThis’ proprietary streaming technology during the planning stage. They can also measure the overall campaign footprint, and quantify avoided emissions after activating SeenThis’ technology, which significantly reduces the data transfer for video creatives compared to running creatives of corresponding quality using conventional technology. 

Luke Smith, founder and CEO of Croud, said, “We are committed to delivering exceptional results for our clients while minimising the environmental impact of our campaigns. Our collaboration with Cedara and SeenThis has allowed us to achieve both objectives. This partnership exemplifies the power of data-driven insights and innovative technology in achieving sustainable advertising practices.”

He added, “We are delighted to provide access to Pret’s emissions related data to help them in their efforts in becoming more sustainable,” says Jesper Benon, CEO of SeenThis. “With the launch of Cedara’s Reduction Marketplace, which measures a company’s overall emissions, this collaboration fits perfectly into that narrative, as creative delivery is an important part of the puzzle when it comes to reaching a net zero objective.”

Meanwhile, David Shaw, CEO of Cedara, commented, “We are proud to partner with leading companies advancing the industry towards Ad Net Zero. This collaboration underscores the importance of data-driven decision-making in the pursuit of environmental sustainability.”

Singapore – Marketing and monetisation technologies provider InMobi, unveiled InMobi Addressability Gradient, a platform designed to support marketers throughout the transition from identity-centric targeting to new solutions that have limited consumer identity signals.

InMobi’s AI-powered platform aims to mark a significant stride forward in addressing the challenges posed by the ever-evolving landscape of digital advertising through its personalisation and other campaign enhancing features.

Delving into said features, the Gradient enables advertisers to navigate the evolving complexities of data privacy, user consent and personalised targeting. Fueled by InMobi’s ID Graph, the Gradient provides advertisers with an adaptable playbook and visual roadmap for addressability, offering a wide spectrum of options that seamlessly align with changing consumer behaviours.

From precise ID-based targeting to privacy-conscious ID-less approaches, the Gradient also empowers advertisers to personalise content while upholding data privacy and user content. Spanning from personalised 1:1 targeting and household amplification to inventive privacy-compliant techniques like cohort audiences, modelled audiences, contextual targeting and bidstream amplification.

Lastly, the Gradient can enhance campaigns by integrating a variety of identifiers like mobile advertising identifiers (MAIDs) and interoperability with people-based identifiers including LiveRamp’s RampID. By leveraging the ID Graph, this bid augmentation strategy ensures precise targeting, boosted further by the ID Graph’s connections between users with shared interests. For ID-less solutions, InMobi leverages SDK and contextual signals to broaden addressability without compromising consumer privacy.

Todd Rose, senior vice president of addressability at InMobi, said, “In the evolving landscape of ad tech, the ability to understand audience signals and use them to enhance media strategies and creative executions has become increasingly refined; by embracing the Gradient, advertisers can continue to deliver relevant, effective, and privacy-conscious advertising experiences to consumers.”

“The Gradient empowers advertisers to optimise their campaigns, achieve unparalleled precision, and unlock the full potential of addressability in the ever-changing world of digital advertising,” he added. 

Singapore – Multinational computer software company Adobe and global advertising agency Havas has recently announced an expanded partnership, transforming the agency’s end-to-end content workflows and paving the way for a smarter and more responsible content supply chain.

The collaboration will enable all Havas agencies to leverage Adobe generative AI to deliver personalised customer experiences more efficiently. 

Havas agencies will adopt Adobe GenStudio, enabling them to accelerate the content process from ideation to delivery, while also giving them direct access to Adobe Firefly, to generate content that is designed to be safe for commercial use.

Additionally, Havas agencies will be able to choose which content creation techniques and practices they employ, as well as how they prefer to leverage generative AI when activating new and variant content. 

They will also gain access to audience-specific data insights, enabling impact-based content optimization, and Adobe GenStudio’s seamless collaboration features, which empower cross-functional teams to create, edit and deliver customer experiences in real time.

Commenting on the partnership, Yannick Bolloré, chairman and global CEO, Havas and chairman, Vivendi, said, “This partnership will enable us to harness the latest technologies, combining the strength of Adobe’s cutting-edge software with the deep well of Havas’ brand expertise to create a ‘meaningful AI’ that not only meets but exceeds the expectations of our clients.” 

Meanwhile, Anil Chakravarthy, president, digital experience at Adobe, added, “We’re excited to see how Havas redefines content creation and innovates with our solutions to embed sustainability and generative AI with Firefly into their content supply chain.”