The Future of Marketing in an AI Moderated Digital World

16

October

2023

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Currently companies can apply online marketing in various ways. Ads are placed all around. Websites are constructed in ways that humans respond to best, as data informs of how consumers behave and how to improve statistics such as conversion and click-through rates (Fogden, 2023). Search engines form something of a marketplace for webpages where online auctions are used to determine what will be shown. Marketeers use search-engine optimization (SEO) and paid search-engine advertising (SEA) to win auctions and feature amongst the first results (Eology, n.d.). This is how it has been. Now, one development shows potential to change it all. Since February 2023 Bing is powered by Open AI’s GPT-4, an advanced AI that Bing uses to improve its search engine and to act as a copilot and chatbot (Mehdi, 2023). This approach can forever change the way we use search engines and how results are generated. It could even change the way we interact with the internet altogether.

Right now, marketeers target us directly. Their methods are based on getting information directly to their target audience in the most appealing way. The intervention of AI may change this. Granted, an AI like GPT-4 is trained on pre-existing datasets and does not have direct internet access, so its responses cannot be influenced so easily. I asked Bing AI, which connects to Bing’s search engine, whether its response is influenced by paid search advertising, and it still categorically rejects the possibility. According to it, Bing AI and even the search results it might draw on only try to use the most relevant and reliable sources to provide information. Additionally, it says that any ads and sponsored links are filtered out by its internal tools. Perhaps advertising does not influence it, but still search engine optimization can help websites appear more relevant and end higher up the results. In this way internet marketing already focuses on convincing the search algorithm of a website’s value, not the user directly.

Regardless, we might get to a point where we rely on AI assistants to get all our information, or where search engines are run entirely by an AI which browses the internet, filters through information, and presents us with the best results. AI certainly has a promising future in real-time content moderation (Darbinyan, 2022). And, according to Santiago (2023), marketeers can even use it to protect their brand. But when marketeers themselves are the ones who need to get information through an AI gatekeeper, how will they respond? Many current strategies can make content appeal to humans, but what will the AI respond to? If AI is the middle-man, marketing efforts might have to be constructed in such a way that AI filters and retells information in the way marketeers ultimately want to reach consumers. It becomes important to consider what the AI will respond to, what it will need to see the information’s value.

Perhaps AI ushers in the end of traditional online marketing to consumers. Perhaps AI will simply assess an offer at its true value, and recommend it only if there is a good fit with the consumers needs, be it a new chair, information, or entertainment. Think about recommendations on social media platforms such as TikTok, which use algorithms that carefully select content that a user will probably like. This might be a preview of how we will receive all information: moderated by AI, and it could be a win-win situation. Marketeers could rely on AI to do the work of targeting, personalizing, and distributing content to the right audience, while users can rest easy knowing the information is of utmost relevance. AI could moderate content better than either marketeers or consumers themselves ever could.

References

Darbinyan, R. (2022, June 14). The growing role of AI in content moderation. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2022/06/14/the-growing-role-of-ai-in-content-moderation/.

Eology. (n.d.). SEA know-how: How to use search engine advertising unerringly! Eology Magazine. Retrieved October 16, 2023, from https://www.eology.net/magazine/sea-know-how#jump_function.

Fogden, T. (2023, April 14). What makes a good website? 12 must-haves. Tech.co. https://tech.co/website-builders/what-makes-good-website.

Mehdi, Y. (2023, March 14). Confirmed: the new Bing runs on OpenAI’s GPT-4. Microsoft Bing Blogs. https://blogs.bing.com/search/march_2023/Confirmed-the-new-Bing-runs-on-OpenAI%E2%80%99s-GPT-4.

Santiago, E. (2023, April 7). AI content moderation: How AI can moderate content + protect your brand. HubSpot. https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/ai-content-moderation.

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Just for you: location-based advertising in retail

6

October

2022

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Imagine you’re walking in the city center past one of your favorite stores, and right then a notification pops up on your phone saying that there is a discount on the jeans you searched for online last week. This is called proximity marketing (Gartner, n.d.), better known as location-based advertising. It uses user data on previous purchases, preferences, and search queries to offer the customer a personalized discount, at the right time and at the right location. This can be done by making use of different technologies, such as in-store WiFi networks, GPS, QR codes, NFC tags, and BLE beacons (AVSystem, 2022). 

With consumers demanding more personalization in their shopping experience (Epsilon, 2018), location-based advertising can be useful to achieve that. It allows retailers to target their advertisements to specific customers, which results in higher profits for the retailer and in a more personalized experience for the customer. Another benefit that arises from its application is the collection of customer data for retailers. As the technology uses the customers’ location, retailers know exactly where a customer is located in the store and what shelves he or she passes and stops at. 

Successful implementations have been achieved already. McDonalds in Turkey installed beacons in 15 McDonalds cafes, offering customers who were close by a coupon for a free coffee from their new drink line for free (Mittal, 2022). Starbucks also experimented with location-based advertising, already back in 2014. They send app-users advertisements when they were close to one of their stores, offering them a 50% discount on a drink (Simpson, 2016).

However, there are some concerns with regard to the privacy of customers (Inman and Nikolova, 2017). As their exact location is being tracked, retailers have a lot of information on their customers. Therefore it is important to explicitly send a notification to an app user that their location will be tracked to send them personalized advertisements, so they can opt-in first. Despite the possible privacy concerns, several studies showed that customers have a positive attitude toward location-based advertising. Banerjee and Dholakia (2008) found that personalized advertisements are more welcome in public environments than in private environments. This can be explained that customers benefit more from targeted advertisements in public locations, for example in front of the store they are about to enter to buy the item they wanted for a long time already. An advertisement at that moment is logically more welcome than the same offer when that person is making a phone call to his boss. Another study by Gazely et al. (2015) showed that location-based advertisements have a positive effect on purchase intent, adding that it is important that the advertisements are not perceived as intrusive. This shows the potential of location-based marketing. Retailers can better target customers, resulting in a higher conversion rate and higher revenues. Customers are provided with offers at the right time, and at the right location. This will benefit them more, as the offers are personalized and also based on their previous purchases and preferences, and as they are actually able to use the offers right away.

I personally strongly believe in the potential of this type of marketing. Both retailers and customers can greatly benefit from it, in terms of data and personalization. I am definitely willing to share my location to receive hyper-personalized offers on products that I am actually interested in, and I am very curious about what you think of it! Let me know below in the comments 🙂

Note: there are many more applications of location-based advertising than the one I discussed in this post. I hoped this sparked your interest at least!

References

AVSystem (February 3, 2022). 5 proximity marketing technologies you need to know. AVSystem – Shaping The World of Connected Devices. Available at: https://www.avsystem.com/blog/proximity-marketing/ (Accessed: 6 October 2022)

Banerjee, S., & Dholakia, R. R. (2008). Mobile advertising: Does location based advertising work? International Journal of Mobile Marketing.

Epsilon. (2018, January 9). New Epsilon research indicates 80% of consumers are more likely to make
a purchase when brands offer personalized experiences. Retrieved from www.epsilon.com:
https://www.epsilon.com/us/about-us/pressroom/new-epsilon-research-indicates-80-ofconsumers-are-more-likely-to-make-a-purchase-when-brands-offer-personalizedexperiences

Gartner (n.d.). Definition of proximity marketing – Gartner marketing glossary. Gartner. Available at: https://www.gartner.com/en/marketing/glossary/proximity-marketing (Accessed: 6 October 2022)

Gazley, A., Hunt, A., & McLaren, L. (2015). The effects of location-based services on consumer purchase intention at point of purchase. European Journal of Marketing, 1686-1708.

Inman, J., & Nikolova, H. (2017). Shopper-Facing Retail Technology: A Retailer Adoption Decision Framework Incorporating Shopper Attitudes and Privacy Concerns. Journal of Retailing, 7-28.

Mittal, S. (May 10, 2022). Proximity marketing examples: 28 retail companies nailing it with their campaigns. Available at: https://blog.beaconstac.com/2016/02/25-retailers-nailing-it-with-their-proximity-marketing-campaigns/ (Accessed: 6 October 2022).

Simpson, J. (January 18, 2016). What is location-based advertising & why is it the next big thing?. Econsultancy. Available at: https://econsultancy.com/what-is-location-based-advertising-why-is-it-the-next-big-thing/ (Accessed: 6 October 2022).

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Tracking what you watch

19

September

2019

5/5 (1) With current technologies evolving fast, more data is generated. However, data can be generated via channels you did not expect. In this article, I would like to tell you about one of the unknown ways that organisations are already tracking people. The technology that I would like to discuss is called ‘eye-tracking’.

 

What is eye-tracking?

Eye-tracking is the use of an advanced camera that measures our eye movements. It is the process of measuring where one is looking or the motion of the eye relative to the head. An eye-tracking camera is a device for measuring eye positions and eye movement. Eye trackers are used in research on the visual system, in psychology, in psycholinguistics, marketing, as an input device for human-computer interaction, and in product design.

 Image result for eye tracking

Why is eye-tracking on the rise?

One of the reasons that eye-tracking is on the rise, is because the cameras used for this technology are getting cheaper. There are eye-trackers available for 199 dollars. A few years ago, this was still a few thousand dollars. With lower prices, the technology becomes more accessible for use.

Data can be used by data analysts for user insights. Especially in marketing, this can have a big impact. Because companies are always looking for new ways to gather insights about their customers, it is interesting for them to experiment with eye-tracking. However, to really get a grasp of what eye-tracking can do, let us look at some use cases.

 

Use cases

I personally believe eye-tracking can revolutionizing our relationship with mobile devices. In the future, it will be possible to control your mobile device and surf the internet with your eyes. Another example where this might come in handy is healthcare. During operations, surgeons can not touch a computer due to hygiene. With this technology, this would be possible.

Gathering insights can also be revolutionized. Where websites now use Hotjar to create heatmaps of websites based on where you click, these heatmaps can now evolve to heatmaps based on information of your eye movement.

Eye-tracking can be used in mobility, to make sure drivers keep their eyes on the road. This can prevent accidents by alarming drivers to fall asleep behind the wheel.

 

With all these use cases, cheaper eye-trackers and evolving technology, I am curious to see what eye-tracking will bring in the future. How about you?

 

Sources

“Basics |      Eyetribe-Docs.” Theeyetribe.Com, 2014, theeyetribe.com/dev.theeyetribe.com/dev.theeyetribe.com/general/index.html. Accessed 19 Sept. 2019.

Farnsworth, Bryn. “What Is Eye Tracking and How Does It Work? – IMotions.” IMotions, 2 Apr. 2019, imotions.com/blog/eye-tracking-work/.

“Tobii Tech – What Is Eye Tracking?” Tobii.Com, 17 Sept. 2015, www.tobii.com/tech/technology/what-is-eye-tracking/. Accessed 19 Sept. 2019.

“What Is Eye Tracking?” Eyetracking.Com, 2011, www.eyetracking.com/About-Us/What-Is-Eye-Tracking. Accessed 19 Sept. 2019.

“What Is Eye Tracking? How Is Eye Tracking Valuable in Research?” Tobiipro.Com, 6 Mar. 2018, www.tobiipro.com/blog/what-is-eye-tracking/.

Wikipedia Contributors. “Eye Tracking.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 21 Aug. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_tracking. Accessed 19 Sept. 2019.

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GoSpooky! How teenagers disrupt Snapchat marketing

21

October

2016

4.67/5 (3) And again I missed an opportunity to become a millionaire! At the moment millions of people around the world are watching ‘snaps’. For the elderly amongst us (>25): a snap is a photo/video on Snapchat. Snapchat started five years ago as a joke of a few students at Stanford, but today it’s one of the most popular mobile apps among the youth. A unique feature of this app is that snaps are only temporarily available. Snapchat is currently preparing for an IPO that is expected to value the company at $25 billion! That’s even more than for example Facebook ($16 billion) and Twitter ($18 billion).

But how can companies make use of Snapchat? This platform is particularly interesting, because it enables (big) companies to reach teenagers, a target group which barely uses traditional media (e.g. TV, newspapers). But these companies have a problem: they have no idea of how to run a campaign on Snapchat. Two Dutch boys (Tim, 18 and Liam, 19) jumped into this gap and started a company called GoSpooky: the first Snapchat marketing agency in Europe. GoSpooky creates Snapchat campaigns and strategies for advertisers. These lads expect a turnover of €150.000 for 2016 thanks to campaigns for e.g. ABN-Amro, Hema and Albert Heijn.

You might think that their young age is a disadvantage in doing business, but I have some bad news for you guys (BIM/marketing students). According to these chaps, graduates who begin with their job at a big company are chocked up with theories and models. Moreover, they are often not familiar with Snapchat (unless they learned it from their little brother/sister). A mistake that is often made by big companies is that they want to run the exact same campaign on all platforms, but it’s not a bad idea to do it slightly different on Snapchat. It is important to tell a story and to keep it personal.

We can conclude that Snapchat is one of the most interesting platforms of this time. It offers new opportunities for advertisers and the boys of GoSpooky did a great job by taking advantage of this knowledge gap.

Sources:

http://binnenland.eenvandaag.nl/tv-items/69923/waarom_is_snapchat_25_miljard_waard_

http://dewerelddraaitdoor.vara.nl/media/365691

http://leijp.nl/snapchat-bedrijf/

http://gospooky.com/

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Addiction on Instagram: When likers become enablers

6

October

2016

No ratings yet. You see them all over Instagram: happy young #fitgirls. They have a large follower base and over 100 likes on average on each photo they post. In the summer of 2016 another one of these girls started posting on Instagram under the name Louise Delage. Louise is a 25 years old Parisienne. She posts photos of her jet set life: fancy holidays, parties and food. She seems like a happy and healthy girl enjoying her life without any worries. She has more than 12K followers and over 50K likes.

But who is this girl? How did she get so popular in such a short amount of time? The truth behind this account is campaign from a French organisation Addict Aide: Like my addiction. The campaign was launched to raise awareness of alcohol addiction among young people. Together with an agency Addict Aide created Louise. They did research on how to create a popular profile on Instagram, and defined a strategy for the account in terms of hashtags, time of posting and content.

Thousands of people started liking Louise. Her photos had one thing in common: she is having an alcoholic drink on almost every photo. There were a few people who noticed this, and the organisation had hoped a lot of people would. However, the majority of Instagrammers did not see it. They saw a happy young girl and by liking her photos they were actually liking her alcohol addiction without even knowing it. The key message of the campaign is that every one knows a Louise Delage. It can be very hard to spot the addiction of someone very close to you. Moreover, with social media these days people can cover up a lot of things. The people who look overly happy online are often very unhappy in real life.

The clever thing about this campaign is that when they revealed the truth about Louise, she became even more popular. The story went viral in France and was covered in a lot of media. The French version of the video has been viewed over 200.000 times.

In my opinion, Addict Aide has done an amazing job with this campaign. They used the power of social media and its network effects to raise awareness among thousands of people without any media budget. I have not seen the Instagram account before they revealed the truth. Now it is obvious because you know it is there, but I wonder if I would have noticed before I knew the truth.

Sources:
http://www.addictaide.fr/actualite/like-my-addiction-notre-nouvelle-campagne-pour-sensibiliser-aux-consommations-excessives-dalcool/
http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/who-louise-delage-troubling-truth-behind-overnight-instagram-success-173792
http://creativity-online.com/work/addict-aide-like-my-addiction/49179

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Marktplaats and eBay, brace yourselves!

4

October

2016

5/5 (2) Most of you have probably seen the ‘For sale’ pages on Facebook, where people offer and buy second hand items. Believe it or not, these pages are being visited 450 million times each month, so Facebook decided to respond to this demand. ‘Facebook Marketplace’ is a marketplace inside the Facebook app that launched yesterday in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand on mobile devices. In these countries, the ‘Messenger’ icon in the Facebook app will be replaced by the ‘Marketplace’ icon. If it proves to be a success, Facebook will continue to expand their marketplace to other countries and also to the web platform. Should eBay, Marktplaats and other large players brace itself?

Nowadays when people want to sell a second hand item, they do not just place it only on eBay or Marktplaats, they also share it on Facebook. Does Facebook offer more advantages than the existing platforms? There are several advantages to Facebook Marketplace that could make users choose for Facebook Marketplace instead of for example Marktplaats or eBay:

  • Buyers and sellers can easily communicate through the already existing Facebook Messenger.
  • Posting items for sale is free, which is not the case on other platforms for some product categories.
  • Fraud can be reduced, as buyers can check the profiles of the sellers to see whether they are ‘real’ people.
  • Facebook can show their users second hand items based on their interests because Facebook knows these.
  • While on eBay or Marktplaats people search for specific items, Facebook users might go through Marketplace simply because they’re bored and could find something they like (spontaneous shopping). This could increase the range of potential buyers.

Besides aforementioned advantages, Facebook has the advantage of a strong brand name and the large amount of users.  It’s hard to place any predictions about Facebooks new feature, but I believe that Facebook Marketplace has strong advantages and will therefore be a big threat for platforms such as eBay and Marktplaats. However, we will see what future will bring us.

 

Sources:

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/facebook-marketplace-sell-old-junk/

http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2016/10/introducing-marketplace-buy-and-sell-with-your-local-community/

https://www.iphoned.nl/nieuws/facebook-marketplace/

Facebook launches Marketplace, a friendlier Craigslist

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[GONE WRONG] 13 SECRET HEADLINES FACEBOOK WANTS TO STOP. NUMBER 5 WILL BLOW YOUR MIND! 5/5 (1)

1

October

2016

The art of clickbait.

You clicked on the link, didn’t you? How do you attract clicks on your post in a world that is moving so fast that you don’t have time to read everything? Create a title for you article that is too good not to click. Enter clickbait, fishing for your clicks by creating purposely false titles. Clickbait can be described as “web content that is aimed at generating online advertising revenue, […] relying on sensationalist headlines or eye-catching thumbnail pictures to attract click-throughs and to encourage forwarding of the material over online social networks.”¹ Clickbait is probably one of the most hated categories of posts on social media.

Screen Shot 2016-10-01 at 13.41.22BuzzFeed and Upworthy are known to use clickbait titles to drive in views and ad revenue. (Screenshot of BuzzFeed taken on October 1st, 2016)

Facebook recently introduced a new algorithm that aims to stop these kind of ‘headlines’ to appear in your newsfeed. They already tried to limit the amount of clickbait appearing in your newsfeed in 2014², but apparently those clickbait sites still found a way around it. In 2014 Facebook announced that they would start looking at the amount of time spend reading the article, and the amount of likes given, to determine whether the article is clickbait or not. The new algorithm will will weed out misleading and exaggerated headlines the same way that email spam filters weed out fantastic offers to help Nigerian princes recover their lost fortunes. The new algorithm will de-prioritize posts with headlines that “(1) withholds information required to understand what the content of the article is; and (2) exaggerates the article to create misleading expectations for the reader.”³. Facebook employees analysed tens of thousands of headlines, and flagged those that intentionally withhold important information and those that use exaggeration to mislead the reader as “clickbait”. From there, they built a system that looks at the set of clickbait headlines to determine what phrases are commonly used in clickbait headlines that are not used in other headlines. This is how many self learning systems work. You show them a set off correct items and a set of incorrect items and the software itself can figure out if a new item is correct (no clickbait) or incorrect (clickbait).

Facebook wants to get rid of the clickbait articles in order to show people the stories most relevant to them. When your whole timeline is full of clickbait this ruins your user experience and you will probably not return to Facebook very often anymore which is bad for Facebook.

So hopefully no more:

in the future.

 

¹https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clickbait

²https://www.cnet.com/au/news/facebook-nixes-click-bait-headlines-in-users-news-feeds/

³http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2016/08/news-feed-fyi-further-reducing-clickbait-in-feed/

Read also:

FinTech: How to get the best exchange rate when traveling abroad. 5/5 (1)

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Are QR-codes the bridge between offline and online marketing?

27

September

2016

5/5 (3) While preparing our tech of the week project, I have been wondering whether this QR-code technology is actually still useful for marketing purposes. I have myself scanned a QR-code maybe once to retrieve information about a brand but definitely not more. And I certainly do not have a special app on my smartphone to scan such codes. However, when searching the world wide web, people still seem to find the QR-code a useful tool to serve as a bridge between offline and online marketing. Unsuccessful QR-codes are blamed on wrong location, invaluable information or ineffective links (DeMers, 2014). It is most certainly true that a QR-code is not effective when shown in the wrong location (e.g. online or on moving objects). And the same goes for scanning a code that does not provide any valuable information or worse leads you to a non-existing page. But what if the codes are published on the right location and offer valuable content, are they then a highly effective marketing tool at a relatively low cost? There are two main reasons to explain why QR-codes are not thriving. First of all, the way QR-codes need to be scanned has not been widely adopted by consumers. Many mobile users actually still do not know how this technology works and how they could more or less benefit from it (Morris, 2015). To be able to scan a QR-code the consumer needs to be aware of the technology and to install an adequate application with the ability to read the codes, and then he or she needs to feel appealed to actually pull out their phone, scan the code and discover the information behind it. It is quite a complex and time-consuming process.

The second argument, which might be as well the cause of the first is that mobile operating systems have not widely incorporated QR-code scanning technologies in their devices (Williams, 2011). Yes, with Apple’s passbook it is possible to scan the QR-codes of your boarding passes or customer cards. But these operating systems do not facilitate any marketing QR-code scanning to their end-users.

Although creating a QR-code is very cost effective and can be done by anyone, the effectiveness for marketing purposes will lie in a more widely incorporation of the technology within our mobile devices, or the creation of a complete new innovation to tie offline and online together.

 

References

Davis P 2011, How to reach your mobile customer using QR codes [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/how-reach-your-mobile-customer-using-qr-codes [Accessed 26 September 2016]

 

DeMers J 2014, How to use QR codes in your marketing campaign [ONLINE] Available at:

https://www.searchenginejournal.com/use-qr-codes-marketing-campaign/103049/ [Accessed 26 September 2016]

 

Goodin A 2016, Are QR codes making a comeback in 2016? [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.creativeguerrillamarketing.com/mobile-marketing-2/are-qr-codes-making-a-comeback-in-2016/ [Accessed 27 September 2016]

 

Griffith E 2016, Messaging apps are making QR codes a thing again [ONLINE] Available at: http://fortune.com/2016/05/19/kik-snapchat-qr-code/ [Accessed 27 September 2016]

 

Kolowich L 2014, Are QR codes dead? [ONLINE] Available at:

http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/qr-codes-dead#sm.0001j9t3ifwxfecv108enwkqgqhyd [Accessed 26 September 2016]

 

Meunier B 2013, QR codes work (when done well) [ONLINE] Available at: http://marketingland.com/qr-codes-work-when-done-well-56243 [Accessed 27 September 2016]

 

Morris B 2015, Are QR codes thriving or dying? [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.business2community.com/marketing/qr-codes-thriving-dying-01228016#WLpq0YB2y17vjEWS.97 [Accessed 27 September 2016].

 

Williams O 2011, Why isn’t everyone using QR codes? [ONLINE] Available at:

http://www.imediaconnection.com/articles/ported-articles/red-dot-articles/2011/mar/why-isnt-everyone-using-qr-codes/ [Accessed 27 September 2016]

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Data is art

24

September

2016

5/5 (5) Last week I attended the event the Commercial Break organised by the Marketing Association EUR. During this event, four speakers shared their knowledge regarding their own marketing campaigns. As a BIM student, one speaker appealed to me the most and I want to share his story with you.

Daan de Raaf, Executive Strategy Director of J. Walter Thompson, a renowned advertising agency, told us about a campaign they developed for ING. With this campaign, they won several awards at the Cannes Lions Festival 2016.
They worked together with different professionals throughout the field for 18 months on what they called; “The next Rembrandt. Using big data, they wanted to create the next painting that Rembrandt would have painted next. Microsoft, Delft University of Technology, the Mauritshuis and the Museum Het Rembrandthuis also collaborated with JWT on the initiative.

The first step of the process was analyzing all the paintings of Rembrandt. Each painting was scanned using 3D scans and digital files based on an in-depth learning algorithm to determine the painting style of the old master. Secondly, facial recognition software was designed to determine new facial features like the nose, mouth, eyes and ears. These features were based on the geometric proportions that Rembrandt used in his paintings. Next, a height map was designed to determine the thickness of the layers of paint that Rembrandt applied with his brush 347 years earlier Finally,the painting was brought to life using a 3D printer that printed 13 layers of paint based ink. A new Rembrandt, the portrait of a bearded, 17th-century man in a white collar and black hat was created “out of zero’s and ones“.

The opinions upon this campaign varied from “amazing and impressive” to “It still is a fake painting and Rembrandt would never have painted this”. Personally, I think this use of data is incredibly innovative and beautiful and I am curious to see where these types of innovations will take artwork in the future.

What do you think of the next Rembrandt?

https://www.jwt.com/en/amsterdam/work/thenextrembrandt/

 

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Click Here and Earn $1,000!!!

23

October

2015

No ratings yet. http://tsguide.weebly.com/uploads/2/8/6/4/2864874/1344296080.jpg
“Congratulations! You are the millionth visitor! Fill in your data below and get $1,000 for free!”
I guess you’ve all come across these ads on the internet. Some of you may have clicked on them. Lately, these kind of ‘ads’ are disappearing. Those were/are all scams to get your personal and financial data or infiltrate your computer with viruses. Other (real) advertising banners have also become less and less effective, amongst other things thanks to these scams. What can we do to make online advertising effective again?

From a jaw-dropping 50-90% Click Through Rate to a poor 0.1% CTR (MacDonald 2015). You could say banner ads are not an effective way to promote your product, service or company. There’s also a term describing the phenomenon where website visitors consciously or subconsciously ignore banner-like information. This is called banner blindness (Nielsen 2007). Yet, there are some ways to improve your (banner) advertising.
http://tint-blog.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/banner-blindness-examples.jpg
Media rich engagement ads are ‘voluntary’ ads. In other words, they expand and play, once you hover above these interactive ads more than two seconds. Beware, consumers may also develop banner blindness to these engagement ads.
Banner blindness does not extend to audio, thus Podcasts are another effective alternative to traditional banners. For example, Spotify uses audio advertising like this. However, hearing the same voice and text over and over again, can be very annoying for consumers.

The opposite of Sponsored Posts and a very effective kind of advertising posts is User Generated Content. In short, consumers themselves post about you on their social networks creating a ‘buzz’. Be careful though: this ‘buzz’ can also be a negative one.
The idea behind Content Marketing is not creating ads that look like content, but actually creating content. “Don’t sell anything, just be useful.” Take a look at CMO.com, Adobe’s initiative (MacDonald 2015).

Another great way to increase advertising effectiveness is not to improve these banners, but rather on how to replace these ineffective (banner) ads. The answer to this problem is: using apps.
Starbucks does a tremendous job by using their app to involve consumers. ‘For Mobile Devices, Think Apps, Not Ads’ (Gupta 2013) discusses some tips to increase this consumer involvement:
– Add convenience
– Offer unique value
– Provide social value
– Offer incentives
– Entertain
http://www.brighthand.com/assets/29676.png
The Starbucks app does more than just advertise its products. If you’re interested, you can read more about it in the article.

Do you know other new, creative ways to advertise? Let me know in the comment section below!

References:
– Gupta, S. (2013) ‘For mobile devices, think apps, not ads’, Harvard Business Review 91(3) 71-75.
– MacDonald, M. (2015) ‘Better than Banner Ads: Smart ways to spend your ad dollars in 2015’ via http://www.tintup.com/blog/better-than-banner-ads-smart-ways-spend-ad-dollars-2015-muriel-macdonald/ on September 23, 2015.
– Nielsen, J. (2007) ‘Banner Blindness: Old and New Findings’ via http://www.nngroup.com/articles/banner-blindness-old-and-new-findings/ on September 23, 2015.

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