Sydney, Australia – Australia-based buy now pay later (BNPL) global fintech platform Afterpay has announced the launch of Afterpay iQ, its new dedicated analytics platform catered to merchants using their services.

With this powerful new tool, brands can gain access to valuable customer-centric analytics to help optimize investment and drive growth.

Entailed within the new analytics platform are AI-powered insights, visualizations, and real-time data are delivered in one, highly accessible self-service user interface. Furthermore, brands can evaluate marketing performance, omnichannel shopping volumes, and demographic summaries down to the store level.

Lastly, there is an embedded recommendation engine in the platform that offers insightful actions to optimize business performance based on analytics.

The launch of the platform coincides with Afterpay’s launch of their quarterly report on millennial and Gen Z spending, where they found that millennial and Gen Z share of spending will increase to 48% by 2030, demonstrating their continued strong influence on the economy as these cohorts reach peak earning years. The report also showed that this generation has an increasing preference for BNPL.

“Gen Z and Millennials are driving change at the intersection of culture and commerce – so it’s no surprise they have been key adopters of Afterpay and BNPL more generally,” said Mark Teperson, chief strategy officer at Afterpay.

Furthermore, they also noted that spending by Gen Z and millennials has recovered faster than older generations, up an average of 13% from pre-pandemic levels. Small-business spending is also increasing among this generation – up an average of 220% since early 2020.

“Having built our business by connecting this next generation of shoppers to the best brands in the world, Afterpay is in a strong position to help its retailers navigate this demographic by providing unparalleled insights into the world’s hardest to reach customer cohorts,” Teperson concluded.

Sydney, Australia – Amid the pandemic, the Australian digital advertising market has dismissed any pandemic advertising woes to record a 24.2% growth, which is the strongest since 2016, reaching US$11.4b online advertising expenditure for the 2021 financial year, new findings by the association for online advertising, IAB Australia.

According to the association’s ‘Online Advertising Expenditure Report’ (OAER), which is prepared by PwC, the data confirms that while the overall advertising market has rebounded, digital advertising is leading the charge and now dominates expenditure. During the 12 months ending 30 June 2021, all sectors of online advertising experienced double-digit growth.

Meanwhile, video advertising also jumped 38.8% year on year to reach US$2.4bn, while the general display grew 29.7% to US$4.4b. For the period, the search and directories grew 22.3% to US$5.1b, with classifieds also seeing an upward trajectory with 17.4% growth to US$1.9b. 

Moreover, the same report revealed that for the financial year 2021, retail was the top advertising category with 16% of all display advertising, up from 11.4% share in the financial year 2020, with expenditure coming from both traditional and e-commerce retailers. Across other categories, FMCG and technology expenditure increased their share for the period to 7.2% and 6.4% respectively while finance share remained flat. On the other hand, both automotive and travel advertising expenditure decreased year on year.

Gai Le Roy, the CEO of IAB Australia, commented that the growth in digital ad investment over the last year has been extraordinary and it’s clear that marketers are confident using it as a key growth engine for their businesses across the broad range of available formats and environments. 

“While the evolution of retailing has become a major driver of investment in digital advertising and we expect some shopping will return to physical stores in the future, the broad reach, deep engagement, and data-rich offerings will ensure retailers continue to place digital at the heart of their advertising and marketing plans,” said Le Roy. 

The study also noted that the changing media consumption patterns, accelerated by COVID lockdowns, have resulted in strong growth for connected TV spend, increasing the share of all video spend from 38% to 47% year-on-year. While the desktop share decreased from 36% to 32% and mobile from 26% to 21% for the financial year 2021.

In addition, the programmatic trading has continued to hold strong with slight growth from 41% to 43% share of expenditure for the financial year 2021, against 41% of inventory purchased via agency and 16% direct.

Sydney, Australia – Switch Digital’s transparent advertising buying network in Australia, EngageTV, has launched a new Internet Streaming TV buying network tailored to regional markets.

EngageTV offers connected TV and broadcaster video-on-demand campaign solutions to brands and agencies. It also provides direction on communicating the change in market dynamics to advertisers and independent voices to explain the benefits of this emerging media channel.

The new regional TV buying platform, which is developed in collaboration with media company Ads on Tap, will be providing local businesses the ability to advertise on TV, targeting TV advertising to specific audiences and individual postcodes. It has already been rolled out across Shepparton, Bendigo, and Ballarat, and will also be launched in other regional markets.

According to EngageTV, the advertising will be sold on the basis of ‘completed views’, with a special introductory offer of 10,000 completed views for US$1500. The platform also provides businesses the option to subscribe to packages.

Switch Digital’s CEO, Lee Stephens, refers to a PWC media forecast that points to CTV having around 30% of the TV advertising pie by 2025, which is a huge transformation in the advertising landscape. Stephens said that the migration to Internet-delivered TV is also a significant driver of regional TV viewing. 

“EngageTV empowers regional businesses to target their own towns and their local customers whether they are farmers, miners, retirees, or work in town. Significantly, in partnership with Ads on Tap, our platform will give regional Australian businesses the opportunity to access TV as an affordable and accountable medium, whereas previously for many, TV has been out of reach,” said Stephens.

Meanwhile, Chris Edis, Ads on Tap’s CEO, said that the launch of the platform comes at a time of significant disruption to linear regional TV with affiliate arrangements chopping and changing.

“The need to provide a simpler, more flexible, and affordable TV buying option for local businesses has never been greater,” said Edis.

Just recently, EngageTV has also announced the appointment of Mark Shaw, former managing director at in-house consultancy firm 88 Degrees and Rising, to assume the role of director of strategy and commercial partnerships.

Melbourne, Australia – Brandvas, a cloud-based marketing technology platform, has announced its official launch in Australia, marking it as well with partnerships with market research firm Roy Morgan and the Australia Post.

The partnerships entails Brandvas utilizing Roy Morgan consumer data and Australia Post parcel insights data embedded in a brand strategy system to ensure strategies target the right markets.

The Brandvas tool kit allows agencies and marketers to increase capabilities, supercharge productivity and streamline projects, launching with seven modules: ‘Creative Brief’, ‘Media Brief’, ‘Script Template’, ‘Creative Competitive Overview’, ‘Competitor Mapping’, ‘Research Data’, including customer personas and their primary module ‘Brand Strategy’.

For Brandvas founder Jodie Catalfamo, who has worked in the advertising industry for more than 22 years, Brandvas not only assists with the process of developing brand strategy, but is backed with access to deep consumer data insights and a suite of tools to streamline the way agencies and marketers work.

“When I worked at BADJAR Oglivy, research played a huge role in understanding a brand’s competitive context with data-driven insights, strategy and creativity. Working with brands, research was not always utilized, which often led to projects being led by assumptions and educated guesses. The team and I built Brandvas to democratize brand planning for agencies and marketers no matter what their size to increase capability and productivity and provide a crucial competitive edge,” Catalfamo said.

She added, “It was really important for the team and I to have reputable data partners for Brandvas to give agencies the opportunity of accessing robust and insightful data. Providing our agency and marketing clients the ability to validate or dismiss any assumptions. The data not only provides category insights which can direct the brand strategy, it also assists in marketing and creative recommendation.”

The Brandvas platform is project-based and built to dovetail so once a brand strategy workshop has been completed, the creative and media briefs are already pre-populated, making the management of projects and creative teams simpler, more efficient and effective.

“We are delighted to be partnering with Brandvas to enable small creative and marketing businesses to develop strategies based on trusted and accurate research data. Given the challenging times we are all in, this will ensure that any decisions are based on the most up-to-date market intelligence,” said John Ellenberger, head of partnerships at Roy Morgan.

Meanwhile, Ben Franzi, general manager for e-commerce platforms and marketplaces at Australia Post, commented, “The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a seismic shift in consumer behavior, and it is more important than ever that businesses of all sizes are able to easily access up-to-date industry data. We look forward to continuing to work with the Brandvas team to expand the range of Australia Post insights available through their platform in the months ahead.”

Catalfamo adds that although they provide the methodology and smart tools along the way, Brandvas is white-labeled and completely customizable, so if an agency has proprietary questions, tools or processes they can easily include these and make it their own. 

“While we know even the smartest software can never replace creative genius, Brandvas amplifies talent and makes the best planners, facilitators and strategists elevate whilst streamlining the leg work,” she concluded.

Australia – Global pharmaceutical company iNova Pharmaceuticals in Australia has partnered with advertising agency Clemenger BBDO Sydney to launch a new campaign for its liquid cough syrup brand DURO-TUSS. 

iNova Pharmaceuticals distributes a wide range of market-leading medicines and consumer healthcare products, with a strong focus on cough, cold, and flu. The DURO-TUSS Lingering Cough Liquid and Immune Support is a new category first product which is targeted to helping consumers find a solution to this common and often irritating problem. 

In a brief comic, BBDO personifies ‘lingering cough’. Titled, ‘Duro-Tuss Lingering Cough Hero’, the campaign is a series of 6-second bumpers where ‘lingering cough’ does things to ‘irritate’ the female protagonist who is trying to keep her ‘peace’ and do yoga.

Andrew Jenkin, iNova’s managing director, shared that in a highly cluttered and seasonal category, it was important that people got the message out in a clear and memorable way. 

“We’d like to thank the team at Clems for creating a campaign we believe will be effective both this year and beyond,” said Jenkin.

Meanwhile, Darren Wright, the executive creative director, commented, “A cough is a pain at the best of times, but a lingering one that hangs around even when you’re feeling better, that’s just annoying. We wanted to bring that feeling to life with a bit of humor.”

In July this year, iNova Pharmaceuticals has also launched a campaign for its brand ‘Difflam’ in Singapore and Malaysia, alongside creative agency The Teeth.

Sydney, Australia – As more and more consumers now resort to their mobile devices to create online purchases, social media has changed consumer spending on discretionary items, as a new study by Australian direct bank UBank estimates that the average Australian consumer spends around AU$500 per month on such items, or the equivalent of AU$6,000 per year.

According to the report, with the current Australian adult population standing at 19.75 million, it is estimated that the discretionary spend is around AU$118.24b, and all of these purchases are only made via our mobile devices. 

For Philippa Watson, CEO at UBank, such behavior can be attributed to existing COVID-19 restrictions, which not only drastically affected our way of living but also how we spend and make purchases online.

“Australians are finding new avenues to part with their cash using apps on their phones and devices,” she said.

By demographic, the report notes that men are spending an average of AU$602 each month compared to women that AU$400 per month on discretionary items. These include clothing and shoes (AU$89.14 men spending per month compared to AU$75.44 women spending per month); dining out (AU$102 compared to AU$62); entertainment (AU$86 compared to AU$56); and tech gadgets (AU$88 compared to AU$38).

“More surprisingly, it’s men who are spending more on average each month in areas like clothing, dining out, entertainment and gadgets,” Watson added.

Meanwhile, in terms of age demographic, millennials are spending the most each month, averaging to AU$773, compared to Gen X who spend AU$528, with Gen Z that spend AU$465 and Baby Boomers spending AU$236. In fact, millennials account for 50% of all discretionary spending on these channels splashing AU$59.1 billion each year.

The report also noted that social media exposure has made a positive impact in online spending among Australians, as one in five or 21% of Australians say social media has had a positive influence on the way they manage their money, with millennials, or about 35% of the respondents, are more likely than all other generations to say social media has had a positive impact on the way they manage their money.

“While we know young people love social media and apps, it’s encouraging to see some positive money management behaviors resulting from these channels,” Watson concluded.

Sydney, Australia – EngageTV, the transparent advertising buying network in Australia, has just announced the appointment of Mark Shaw, former managing director at in-house consultancy firm 88 Degrees and Rising, to be its new director of strategy and commercial partnerships.

EngageTV delivers connected TV (CTV) and broadcaster video-on-demand (BVOD) campaign solutions to brands and agencies. It provides a clear direction on communicating the change in market dynamics to advertisers and provides an independent voice to explain the benefits of this emerging media channel.

Shaw is a business leader with more than 20 years of experience. He has helped various brands and companies, and the people that power them, to grow. Aside from his previous role in 88 Degrees and Rising, Shaw has also held senior leadership roles in Australia with mobile customer experience agency Geronimo, digital music programming firm Digital Music Distribution, and marketing services company Sensis Digital Media, as well as entertainment network Nova Entertainment.

“I’m delighted to be leading this focus for EngageTV in what is an incredibly exciting time for the TV industry. CTV/BVOD is now Australia’s fastest-growing media channel with the internet disrupting the way TV is watched, traded, and delivered,” said Shaw, regarding his appointment.

Meanwhile, Lee Stephens, the CEO of Switch Digital Group, who owns EngageTV, Optimo Design, and Stream, said that Shaw has an incredible knowledge of the local digital, media, and entertainment industries. 

“His appointment will drive EngageTV’s growth, developing deep partnerships with agencies, broadcasters, and technology providers across the evolving TV landscape,” said Stephens.

Sydney, Australia – The global legal software provider based in Australia, LEAP, has added its global performance media business to the existing remit it has for digital marketing agency Tug. According to Tug, the value of the business amounts to US$8m. 

LEAP equips lawyers with cloud-based legal practice management software that lets them take advantage of integrated matter management, document automation, and legal accounting.

LEAP’s paid digital performance strategy and buying in Australia have been in the care of Tug, and with the extended remit, the agency will also now be managing LEAP’s display, social, PPC, SEO, and specialist legal media, as well as software directories, and data and analytics for United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. This will be led by Tug’s Sydney team and will be executed in-market by Tug’s local agency teams in Toronto and London.

Richard Hugo-Hamman, LEAP’s executive chairman, said that they need to grow the global visibility of their brand and drive new firms to the platform, so they can run more efficient law firms, and start making more money. 

“Tug has shown how an effective digital strategy for our business is working in Australia, and we look forward to that being replicated in these key countries,” said Hugo-Hamman.

Meanwhile, Charlie Bacon, Tug’s client service director, commented, “We’re delighted to extend our relationship with LEAP which is a recognition of the capabilities and experience that we have in Australia. The Sydney team will continue to oversee LEAP’s digital strategy with the support of Tug’s global office network.”

Alexandra Steadman, the global chief marketing officer at LEAP, shared that since engaging Tug, the agency has demonstrated a strong understanding of not only their business but their target audience. 

“They have a laser focus on lead generation, so they were the obvious choice for our performance media requirements in our other global markets. I look forward to further building on the excellent working relationship we have already forged,” said Steadman.

Sydney, Australia – As pandemic woes globally are now starting to ease thanks to constant rollout of vaccination campaigns, a large chunk of Australian consumers, around 42% of them, believe that even non-health brands should play their part as well in promoting vaccination campaigns in their respective localities, new data from Kantar shows.

Despite the high percentage of consumers agreeing to heightened brand-centric vaccination campaigns, 74% of Australian consumers still believe that brands should not use the pandemic in exploiting others, while 54% of respondents say that they want brands to talk as they have always done, signaling the balance of brand communications and advocacy.

Such proximate affinity of these consumers to their brands of choice in the mid of the pandemic is rooted in the factor of locality, to which 76% of respondents choose to shop at local stores since it shows importance for the community. This trait has raised 12% since its last reading in April this year. In addition, 35% of respondents strongly suggest that convenience fares better than the price of a brand’s product or service.

Jonathan Sinton, chief commercial officer at Kantar Australia, said, “Homegrown is preferred with 37% continuing to pay attention to product origin, [which is] a marked increase to pre-pandemic preferences when origin was far less of a consideration. Additionally, almost two-thirds (63%) of Australians believe that environmental issues are more critical than ever (+6%) as we become more focused on purchasing sustainable products and brands right now.”

He also added that Australians are only decreasing sustainable behaviors that are against current pandemic rules, such as carpooling and keep cup usage, or where they have hygiene concerns or because it is simply inconvenient.

“Being a strong brand committed to provenance, value and sustainability is key to connecting with pandemic weary Australians in these uncertain times, but this must be communicated with authenticity,” Sinton added.

Adding to the sentiment of Australian consumers for brands engaging in vaccination campaigns is the fact that 66% of Australians want the majority of the population vaccinated to feel safe returning to daily life and 55% believe the country should keep the goal of zero cases of community transmission.

Australia – The global skincare brand based in France, L’Occitane, has appointed media strategy consultancy and technology business Audience Precision to handle its Australian media strategy and offline media buying.

L’Occitane is known for delivering beauty products and cosmetics in marketing that utilize natural and traceable ingredients. Its products are revered for their luxurious scents and textures, and through their environmental and social commitments.

As part of the mandate, Audience Precision will be providing insights, media strategy, and offline media buying to L’Occitane Australia, which has 56 retail boutiques nationwide.

Haydon Bray, the global CEO of Audience Precision, said that the L’Occitane team is well-known for their commitment to sharing their product and brand ethos globally, and their role will be able to help the brand connect with their Australian audiences. 

“Our ability to align insights to actionable media strategies and activate offline media buying for the Australian marketing team were key drawcards for the brand and we’re really looking forward to activating this next phase in the company’s growth here,” said Bray.

Meanwhile, Pam Wilson, L’Occitane’s marketing director, commented, “We’ve been looking for a partner to help us take our media strategy to the next level. We were very excited with Audience Precision’s insights and ideas and we can’t wait to start our collaboration,” said Wilson.