Tag: Advertising

Sydney, Australia – Ad platform Good-Loop and Yahoo have recently announced a global partnership offering carbon neutral private marketplace (PMP) media opportunities to advertisers, in order to help them become more sustainable. 

Through this partnership, advertisers and agencies buying through Yahoo’s DSP will now have access to the PMPs that rank in the top 25%, helping them ensure their ad campaigns are in line with their larger sustainability efforts.

Good-Loop achieves this by ranking domain in supply-side platforms (SSPs) based on their carbon score, allowing advertisers to easily find and buy low carbon emission supply, joining brands who are prioritising climate-friendly media with Good-Loop. 

On the other hand, Yahoo recently introduced its direct-to-publisher platform, ‘Yahoo Backstage,’ which serves as a reliable MFA-free supply source on the open Web with ‘Made for Advertising’ (MFA) sites consuming 21% of all programmatic ad impressions, leading to significant waste and carbon emissions.

Elizabeth Herbst-Brady, chief revenue officer at Yahoo, said, “Good-Loop’s carbon scoring provides advertisers with information about each publisher’s carbon footprint, allowing them to make more informed choices when it comes to the environmental impact of their ad campaigns. This improves the advertiser’s decision process, while also acting as an incentive for publishers to reduce carbon emissions, whether through supply path optimisation or improving infrastructure.”

Meanwhile, Amy Williams, CEO and founder, Good-Loop, commented,  “Now, Yahoo is also driving the industry toward more sustainable advertising habits by expanding advertiser awareness of low-emission PMPs—just one of several reasons we’re thrilled to partner with Yahoo. Together, we’re bringing the industry one step closer to its sustainability goals, giving advertisers around the globe the power to minimise their carbon footprint by evaluating the carbon cost of their campaign when media planning.”

APAC – Global creative agency Amplify, has announced two new key appointments namely, Sabrina Khong as the new associate creative director and Caitlin Todd as a new business lead.

These appointments follow Amplify’s vision of diversifying and strengthening their offering and expertise across multiple fields as an advertising agency. 

Khong joins from Foxtel, where she was an Art Director working on conceptualisation and creative strategy for Foxtel campaigns. Previously, she was an associate creative director at Section in Singapore where she worked with brands such as Uniqlo, PlayStation, Durex, and Nikon.She was also an art director at Publicis Singapore for three years, where she worked on winning pitches for brands including Tiger Crystal, Samsung, HPB and Disney.

On the other hand, Todd comes from three years at integrated social agency, Ground, in Sydney. Prior to that she was with Hill+Knowlton Strategies in London, starting as a junior consultant and working her way up. Throughout her career Todd has worked with a broad range of clients across the entertainment, tech and lifestyle space including Nike, Activision Blizzard, Huawei, Sennheiser, Intel, Oatley, and Team GB.

On these hires, Gareth Davies, managing partner at Amplify, said, “We’re truly excited to welcome Sabrina and Caitlin to the team. Sabrina’s experience delivering quality creative work across multiple mediums, from social campaigns to TVCs and augmented reality experiences along with Caitlin’s experience  across PR, strategy, social and digital makes them both a perfect fit for Amplify.”

Speaking on her appointment, Khong said, “I am thrilled to be collaborating with so many talented individuals in the Amplify team and I look forward to pushing the boundaries of creativity and contributing to the already impressive list of clientele.”

Meanwhile, Todd also commented, “I’m very excited to have joined Amplify and I’m particularly looking forward to working alongside such a talented team as we continue to grow our exceptional client relationships.”

Bangkok, Thailand – A large chunk of consumers in Thailand say that they have a negative perception towards a brand if their online ad appears alongside inappropriate content, with 74% saying they would trust a brand less. This is according to the latest data from Integral Ad Science (IAS).

For context, IAS notes thaat inappropriate content online for Thai consumers includes those depicting violence and human rights violations, spam or malware, piracy, explicit adult content, hate speech, illegul drugs, alcohol, smoking, terrorism, profanity, and debate on sensitive topics.

Data notes that around 71% of the respondents would feel less favourable towards a brand that advertises near inappropriate content, and 67% saying they are likely to stop using a product and/or service of a brand whose ad appears near inappropriate content.

In terms of brand accountability, 71% believe that brands are responsible for the content surrounding their ads, 74% say that the content surrounding a brand’s ads is a reflection of their values, and 72% believe that brands have a responsibility to publicly denounce offensive content online.

Lastly, both 70% of respondents agree that they are likely to recommend the brand to others when their ad appears near appropriate content and that they are likely to purchase a product and/or service from the brand whose ad(s) appear near appropriate content. 

In an exclusive interview with MARKETECH APAC, Megan Reichelt, country manager for SEA at IAS, stressed the importance of placing ads on safe environments, noting that they will be likely to be seen by the right people and have a positive impact on the brand. This in turn can lead to improved campaign performance in terms of reach, engagement, and conversions.

“Brand safety is important to Thai marketers because it helps to protect their brand reputation and avoid negative publicity. In recent years, there have been a number of high-profile incidents of brand safety breaches, such as ads appearing alongside inappropriate or offensive content. These incidents have damaged the reputations of the brands involved and led to calls for stricter regulations in the digital advertising industry,” Reichelt stated.

She also added that when a brand’s ad appears alongside inappropriate or offensive content, it can damage the brand’s reputation and make consumers lose trust in the brand.

“A brand safety breach can lead to negative publicity for the brand, which can damage its reputation and sales. In some cases, brand safety breaches have even led to legal action against the brands involved,” she noted.

Reichelt also added that stakes are high when the industry talk about keeping a brand safe, as a given brand’s image may have been carefully crafted over the years, only to be destroyed for a consumer in the milliseconds it takes for a display ad to render next to the ‘wrong’ content. 

“This damage can spread further in the time it takes to snap a screen grab and post it. So, what happens next? The digital version of guilt by association—your brand now appears to represent something that it probably does not,” she said.

When asked how brands can place their ads at the right place, she advises that aside from working with trusted publishers as well as third-party verification providers, it is also important to understand contextual advertising.

“Contextual targeting is a method of placing ads based on the content of the page where they are being displayed. This means that ads for cars will be more likely to appear on pages about cars, and ads for shoes will be more likely to appear on pages about shoes,” she said.

All of these advices fall under the goal of attaining brand safety, as well as an advertisement appearing in a suitable context.

“There is no shortage of misinformation and social media commentary related to any number of topics right now, so many regional marketers are actively looking to understand the facts associated with brand suitability. The conversation is indeed fast evolving from the binary focus of brand safety to the more nuanced and bespoke brand suitability. In today’s digital landscape, we are scaling successfully through the likes of programmatic—now we need to focus on quality,” she concluded.

Singapore – Marketing and monetisation technologies provider InMobi has announced its strategic partnership with climate action programme Ad Net Zero to strengthen its commitment to developing more sustainable advertising practices. 

The partnership comes as InMobi recognises the growing importance of including sustainability in business decisions. 

The tech company’s resolute commitment to sustainability aligns with Ad Net Zero’s mission to revolutionise the advertising landscape through decarbonisation initiatives spanning ad production, distribution, and publication.

By joining forces, InMobi will align its future actions with Ad Net Zero’s five-step plan designed to minimise the carbon footprint of advertising. The organisation’s five-step plan highlights the need to reduce the carbon emissions coming from media and advertising production and operations. 

This partnership also builds on InMobi’s sustainability commitments to the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi), Givsly, and AdTechCares. It recognises the significance of demonstrating sustainability efforts to both its existing clients and potential partners. 

Further highlighting their commitment to sustainable ad practices, the company is putting the spotlight on their InMobi Exchange. The platform is powered by Microsoft Azure, which boasts complete carbon neutrality.

The data gleaned from the Microsoft Azure Impact Emissions Dashboard showcases InMobi’s impressive emission reduction metrics, ranking them in the top fifth percentile compared to average server emission factors.

The server usage also demonstrated a remarkable 80–90% higher green efficiency compared to alternative on-premise solutions, even high-efficiency ones. And direct SDK integrations, when paired with machine learning, have driven emission reductions of up to 30%.

Kunal Nagpal, chief business officer at InMobi, said, “InMobi’s partnership with Ad Net Zero symbolises our dedication to ushering in a more sustainable era for the advertising industry.”

“We are proud to stand alongside fellow tech companies and agencies, united in the pursuit of a greener, more responsible future. By fully embracing Ad Net Zero’s comprehensive plan, we are steadfast in our commitment to minimising our environmental impact while advancing the power of advertising,” he continued.

Commenting on the partnership, Rishi Bedi, managing director at InMobi Asia Pacific, also said, “Our partnership with Ad Net Zero strengthens and accelerates InMobi’s commitment to creating a more sustainable advertising ecosystem.”

He added, “By embracing Ad Net Zero’s comprehensive five-step plan, InMobi will be able to further reduce carbon emissions, minimising our environmental impact while advancing the power of advertising across the globe.”

Meanwhile, John Osborn, director at Ad Net Zero U.S., said, “Ad Net Zero is thrilled to work with InMobi as they support more sustainable advertising solutions, contributing to our collective global impact. InMobi’s commitment is another significant step towards an eco-friendly future for the industry.”

Singapore – Global unified adtech platform Nexxen has announced that it is expanding the offering of its free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) solutions for advertisers in Asia-Pacific. This will allow clients to run campaigns across this increasingly popular channel, in and beyond the region.

The company is working to ensure advertisers’ campaigns reach their target audiences, no matter the environment through a single destination for CTV inventory – including broadcaster video on demand (BVOD), advertising-based video on demand (AVOD) and FAST channels.

Further, Nexxen is updating its demand-side platform (DSP) to include a new storefront, focused on displaying broadcasters, FAST channels and additional premium publisher inventory. 

The storefront aims to provide brands and agencies with more direct and easier access to premium supply, thus streamlining digital campaigns. It also delivers increased visibility, transparency and control of inventory to publishers and broadcasters, enhancing their monetisation potential. The storefront is set to launch in 2024. 

Adam Hunt, vice president of business development and partnerships for APAC at Nexxen, said, “FAST channels have skyrocketed in popularity worldwide. As they continue to gain traction – particularly in APAC – we want to ensure our partners on both the buy- and sell-sides are empowered to make well-informed decisions regarding their inventory needs and capitalise on the highest yielding opportunities.”

He added, “We believe the storefront will be a welcome solution for agencies, brands and publishers alike, providing all parties with greater visibility and control as they navigate this ever-changing ecosystem.”

New York, USA – Global independent sell-side advertising company Magnite has announced a global partnership with Scope3 to make carbon emissions data available across Magnite’s extensive omnichannel inventory. With this, advertisers will be able to assess their carbon emissions and align their sustainability goals with their campaign performance.

As part of the partnership, Magnite will offer Green Media Products (GMPs) powered by Scope3 data. GMPs enable advertisers and media buyers to easily identify supply paths that inherently block climate risk (high carbon) inventory. 

Scope3 built and uses the industry’s granular and comprehensive emissions data model designed to accurately measure the carbon emissions from digital advertising.

Sean Buckley, chief revenue officer at Magnite, said, “Our partnership with Scope3 is one of the many ways Magnite is incorporating sustainability into our workstreams to help our clients get more insight into their carbon emissions, with the goal of creating a more environmentally-friendly future.”

He added, “Digital advertising is inherently an energy-intensive business given the high level of data processing required. We recognise and seek to minimise our environmental impact as the largest independent SSP and want to help our clients do the same. We are working closely with publishers, marketers and our peers to constantly innovate to create more energy-efficient practices while also improving advertising outcomes.”

Meanwhile, Brenda Tuohig, chief commercial officer at Scope3, commented, “The emissions data that Scope3 provides is most effective when it can be harnessed at scale, and an SSP of Magnite’s magnitude and reputation is well positioned to have significant influence on our collective impact.”

She added, “Our partnership represents yet another key building block in our mission to achieve a decarbonised ad ecosystem where sustainable media and positive marketer outcomes go hand in hand, and we’re glad to have support from Magnite in fulfilling this bold mission.”

Singapore – Advertising company Taboola has recently announced significant AI-powered advancements in its performance advertising-focused bidding technology called ‘Maximize Conversions’.

The new technology allows advertisers using Taboola to evolve beyond manual and time-consuming cost per click bidding strategies by simply specifying a budget and having Taboola’s algorithm automate the bid to drive conversions efficiently. 

Through Maximize Conversions, advertisers are seeing up to 50% boost in conversions while maintaining their cost per acquisition (CPA), as well as some advertisers seeing reduced CPA by nearly 20%.

In addition to making ad campaigns more effective, Maximize Conversions also aims to provide immense benefits in making campaigns more efficient, reducing the time in which advertisers get to their optimal results by half.

Furthermore, it is designed to give advertisers flexibility for their campaigns. The technology can be used without a target CPA, which delivers against an advertiser’s daily budget, driving the most conversions at the lowest cost. When used with a target CPA, it delivers performance at a CPA they control.

Adam Singolda, CEO and founder of Taboola, said, “We’re taking the guesswork out of CPC bidding, making it so that advertisers can simply share their goals, and our AI takes care of the rest. Our AI is trained on first party contextual signals from more than 9,000 publishers and nearly 600 million daily active users, giving advertisers using Maximize Conversions a competitive advantage in reaching customers.”

“We’re seeing incredible results from this technology – delivering large amounts of customers, saving costs, time and more. I expect nearly half of our advertisers will adopt this offering in 2024,” he added. 

Australia –  A majority of Australian advertisers are set to increase their spend on programmatic DOOH by over a third by the next few months, according to a report by VIOOH.

The findings of the research showed that the future of programmatic DOOH (prDOOH) remains strong, with its popularity surging, especially in Australia. 

Over 37%, or a third, of Australian advertisers who have worked across campaigns in the past 12–18 months have included prDOOH, with the average expected to increase to 43% in the next 18 months. 

The survey respondents in Australia stated that they plan to increase spending by over a third, or 34%, over the next 18 months. Nearly a third of advertisers in Australia are taking budgets from other digital or traditional channels (28% and 29%, respectively), and 15% are allocating new budgets for prDOOH.

And while only 7% of main OOH teams are likely to be accessing new budgets for prDOOH,  this increases to 17% for digital or programmatic teams when buying is diversified. 

A majority, or 81% of those surveyed, also felt that prDOOH offers the most innovative opportunities compared to any other media channel, with it delivering highly targeted activations, the ability to buy placements in real-time, optimise campaigns in-flight, and delivering dynamic and contextually relevant creative.

Furthermore, with the steady rise of advertisers in Australia adopting prDOOH, awareness of the distinctive advantages it offers is also gaining recognition, with brand safety at 67%, accurate location targeting at 66%, and establishing trust and credibility with the target audience at 67%.

Oftentimes, OOH teams oversee prDOOH buys (67%), with over half (56%) of buying responsibility sitting within digital teams, suggesting some level of overlap. 

The Australian advertisers take advantage of prDOOH’s flexibility (63%, +8% pts vs. DOOH) and ability to establish credibility with an advertiser’s customer (64%, +8% pts vs. DOOH). 

Another part of the report showed that over a third, or 35%, of Australian advertisers purchase their DOOH campaigns through a programmatic buy only, followed by 32% of Australian advertisers saying they usually or always use a mixture of programmatic and direct buys. 

Additionally, both performance-led and brand-led campaigns are popular options in the market, with a large overlap of participants totaling more than 50% stating that prDOOH is important for both options (81% for performance-led and 78% for brand-led campaigns).

Meanwhile, Australian advertisers also consider social media to be a natural fit to complement prDOOH in both brand (80%) and performance campaigns (80%). Other options considered include the use of display ads (77%), alongside prDOOH in both performance and brand-led campaigns.

Jean-Christophe Conti, chief executive officer at VIOOH, said, “Programmatic DOOH is becoming mainstream and is now a must-have on every media plan. This year’s State of the Nation report shows not only that advertising budgets continue to be reallocated for increased prDOOH spend year-on-year, but the opportunities from highly targeted activations to trigger-based buying are giving advertisers a raft of flexible, high-value tools which complement both brand and performance ad campaigns.”

He added, “With programmatic DOOH becoming more mature, media professionals are also increasingly integrating prDOOH into multi-channel strategies, often using it alongside social media and display advertising.”

Singapore – Criteo has announced the launch of its self-service demand-side platform (DSP) ‘Commerce Max’ as well as its retailer monetisation solution suite. These retail media solutions aim at addressing fragmentation and drive commerce outcomes across the entire advertising ecosystem 

‘Commerce Max’ gives brands and agencies a single point of entry to retail media inventory onsite and across premium publishers offsite. Meanwhile, Criteo’s retailer monetisation solution suite offers retailers the means to tap previously unattainable demand by paving the way for the integration of marketplace and in-store monetisation technologies.

Brands and agencies across the globe can use ‘Commerce Max’ to access data and inventory across multiple retailers and marketplaces, finding valuable audiences on these sites and extending these audiences offsite. This is underpinned by closed-loop measurement, enabling advertisers to quickly and efficiently determine the effectiveness of campaigns and optimise accordingly. 

Moreover, Criteo’s monetisation suite marks the next phase in the development of Criteo’s core monetization technology, ‘Commerce Yield’, which will not only provides retailers and marketplaces with a complete media toolset, but also serves commerce companies such as automakers, movie theaters, transportation services, airlines, amongst others.

Megan Clarken, CEO at Criteo, said, “Our focus is enabling all commerce-driven companies to buy and sell audiences engaged in shopping. The process has to be frictionless, and it has to solve for fragmentation. With today’s launch, we’re equipping our clients with the right tools to cut through and connect in a more unified retail media ecosystem that ultimately creates more unity across the broader advertising marketplace.”

Hong Kong – KFC Hong Kong has unveiled a series of billboards throughout the city to promote the release of their newest product, the “FING FING Cajun Chips,” with the goal of capturing the curiosity of bystanders and causing them to shake their heads in wonderment to discover the product.

The marketing campaign makes engaging reference to the product’s name and defining characteristic (where “FING FING” stands for “shake” in Cantonese). Customers are urged to combine the chips and the Cajun seasoning sachet for an improved version of the Finger Lickin’ Good flavor and overall experience.

The billboards use a creative optical illusion that requires viewers to shake their heads in order to see a hidden message hidden within black lines. The simultaneous publication of other announcements about FING FING Cajun Chips in various press and media outlets throughout the city takes place at the same time as this strategy.

Speaking about the advertisement, Ms. Janet Lau, marketing director of KFC Hong Kong, said, “Our mission for this product is to get the whole of Hong Kong in the FING FING spirit and what better way to get the ball rolling than with the ads.” 

“It’s a simple way to connect the ads with the product incorporating the fun spirit of our brand,” Lau added. 

Meanwhile, John Koay, regional executive creative director of Edelman Hong Kong, said, “We want to get as many eyeballs on the new FING FING Cajun Chips launch as we possibly can – and playing with the product identity felt like the perfect way to do this in a playful and engaging way.”