Category: Blog

2018 is a big year for sports with the Winter Olympics, the World Cup and Ryder Cup all taking place and set to attract millions of viewers. This in mind, LoopMe hosted ‘Think Fast, Move Faster’ at ping-pong venue Bounce to educate and inform marketers.

For those unable to attend, or who’d like a quick recap – read on! To receive invites to our next event, sign up to our events mailing list.

Authentic Sports Marketing

The morning started off with a  presentation by Misha Sher, Worldwide VP Sports & Entertainment at Mediacom on ‘Creating Sports Excellence’. Misha encouraged marketers to ask, how can we break through the noise and add value to consumers? He gave examples of sports brands who had done this well, such as Heineken with their #ShareTheSofa campaign that made people all over the world feel like they were part of something.

Most importantly, when creating powerful sports marketing you should ask – Is it unstoppable? Would people choose to watch this and is it original?

Mobile and emerging technology

We then moved on to our first fireside chat, where Dee Frew, from the IAB UK interviewed Maggie Oswald , Senior Account Director at UM Worldwide on her experiences on working with FitBit.

Maggie explained how their research found the majority of consumers are researching on their phone and then go on to buy in-store. As a result, their creative is focused on awareness and engagement, as seen in the one LoopMe built.

Creative Director at R/GA, Ciaran McCarthy, then spoke to the audience about his experience working with on the ‘The Game before the Game’ campaign by Beats which first aired in 2014. The campaign went on to win numerous awards including a Gold Lion at Cannes.

He made an interesting point that one of the reasons why the campaign was so successful is because of the use of influencers and also observed that a 4-minute video was unlikely to work now, given that mobile adoption has rocketed in the last few years.

LoopMe’s Alex Hinds expanded on this in his keynote, highlighting that throughout the history of sports marketing, video has remained a constant feature due to its emotive power.

We rounded off the morning with a panel discussion moderated by Nicola Kemp from Campaign. Nicola interviewed Ryan Skeggs, of GiveMeSport, Linsdey Eckhouse of the NFL and Loic Dalle of Two Circles. Data driven marketing was a core focus, with all panellist agreeing that the use of big data effectively can unearth a wide range of possibilities for marketers, such as an increased understanding of the touch points a consumer interacts with the brand.

They warned about the danger of pigeon holing consumers into stereotypes, and said that in this day and age, every brand should know who their audience is and how to reach them but that sports brands have been late to the game in this adoption.

For more data and insights, download your free Sports Marketing one pager here.

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Thanks again to our brilliant speakers for their insights, we hope to see you all at another event soon!

Tell us a bit about yourself.

I was born in New York then moved to Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Madrid, Copenhagen and finally London, but I consider myself a born and bred Londoner. After finishing my degree in languages from at University of Exeter, I went to Canada for a year to ski.

When I came back to London I decided that there was a good career to be had in removals, so decided to try my hand at that for a while. When I realised the career progression was not quite what I thought, I changed to the world of media!

Why did you join LoopMe?

I joined LoopMe as employee number 1 or 2, (there’s some debate as to who started first). Back then LoopMe looked very different; we used to work in Stephen’s garden shed.

The ‘younger me’ regrets not doing something more maths related at University, so finding LoopMe was a bit of a blessing as it was a job which my degree may not have allowed me to do at a larger company.

What’s your job role and day to day responsibilities?

I’ve just celebrated 5 years at LoopMe, after starting as an Account Manager. I gradually transitioned into a Technical Account Manager and now I’m a Product Manager. My main responsibilities are ensuring that LoopMe’s software is continually being developed to keep up to date with the market and client requirements.

What’s been your favorite moment at LoopMe so far?

I’ve had a lot of fantastic memories since I’ve been at LoopMe, but the most memorable is probably LoopMe’s 5^th anniversary where we had a companywide away day. I can’t discuss much more than that.

Tell us a fun fact.

I’m a semi-retired Arsenal fan

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We’re hiring! Check out our open roles and apply here.

We’re excited to launch our first vertical session of 2018, which takes a deep dive into sports marketing on Jan 24^th . RSVP to secure your spot here.

The value of sports marketing                                        

According to Forbes, the most valuable sporting event in the world is the Super Bowl, worth approximately $663 million. This is $244 million more than the Summer Olympics Games, while the Winter Olympics completes the top 3.

Interestingly, the UEFA Champions League is the only specifically European based event that makes the top 10.

‘Moment marketing’, which delivers advertising at a specific time is most common around sports events. 61% of digital brand marketers said that they used sports events to trigger digital campaigns.

But far from sticking to TV and the traditional 30-second spot, sports marketers are turning to different platforms and devices to distribute their video content.

What does this mean?

With the Winter Olympics, the World Cup and the Champions League all taking place in 2018, this event will help you plan ahead.

In this jam-packed agenda we’ll be ‘bouncing’ through the following:

–     Case studies of effective sports marketing

–     How to harness data for targeted & effective marketing

–     What brands can do to stand out in a highly cluttered sports sponsorship environment

RSVP here to be the first to hear about speaker details. ‘Ping’ us a message if you have any further questions. We look forward to seeing you there!

Much has changed in the 4 years since the last Winter Olympics, so why keep your advertising the same? The Sochi Olympics broke records with a total of 3.3 billion streaming minutes; but with mobile streaming on the rise, now is the time to move your advertising efforts to mobile.

Here are five reasons why your advertising efforts for the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics should skew toward mobile:

• Time spent watching TV is on a steady decrease, with a drop of viewership dropping by roughly 30 minutes.
• According to GeoMarketing, in 2014 average time spent on mobile per day by US adults rose from 2 hours and 37 minutes to a projected 3 hours and 23 minutes in 2018.
• 56% of viewers choose streaming because it allows them to watch the events live while they happen, while 50% choose streaming due to the convenience of on demand.
• Even when a viewer isn’t streaming on mobile, they’re still using their mobile devices. While viewing, 59% are using their smartphone and 47% are using their tablet.
• Approximately 30 million Americans watched NBC’s coverage of the Olympics opening event. Many viewers choose to watch the event at the bar but still, 81% of Americans spend time looking at their phones while dining out.

These stats will also be useful when considering your advertising strategy for the upcoming World Cup and other major sporting events.

Sources: GeoMarketing, eMarketer, NBCSportsGroup and Deloitte via Time

 

This is our last instalment of our ‘Data Champions’ series which looks at those championing ‘big-data’ and using it to achieve their business objectives. Read our earlier blogs which look at Under Armour and Morrisons.

Starbucks is approaching its 50^th anniversary, but have recently adopted AI to improve their offering.

Dubbed the ‘digital flywheel’ strategy, it looks to improve their store sales through their Starbucks Rewards programme, which currently accounts for 36% of US company-operated sales.

It’s designed to boost customer acquisition and spend-based rewards, offering personalised consumer offers.

Using algorithms Starbucks can look at numerous factors and data sets (including order history, time of day, current weather conditions, location and more!) to make suggestions via push notifications from their app.

Crucially, Starbucks have recognised that their mobile customers are receptive to these schemes. With this in mind, they’ve designed an app with the sole purpose of driving customer loyalty.

Starbucks have really grasped the idea of ‘value exchange’ with consumers giving their personal data to Starbucks regularly in return for discounted products.

Not only is the programme a way in keeping up with a mobile-first world, it also shows how companies can create personalised experiences to encourage loyalty.

A recent report by KMPG said that ‘customized promotions’ helped to influence customer loyalty. Millennials are the most receptive to personalised promotions with 29% of respondents saying that it creates loyalty between them and a brand. Gen X and baby boomers were 28% and 25% respectively.

Matthew Ryan, Global Chief Strategy Officer at Starbucks commented on how this strategy had benefited them:

“The data is clear that when we acquire a new customer, the act of signing up for a digital relationship results in a sudden and sustained lift in spend as measured by careful pre-post tracking.”

“That’s how we’re able to drive so much value from a relatively small portion of customers, 13.3 million active reward customers compared to a total of approximately 75 unique customer visits to our stores each month. We know that even modest increases in the total universe of active customers drive tremendous long-term value.”

Under Armour, Morrisons and Starbucks are three of thousands of companies using data to enhance their business.

Find out how you can use data and AI to support your marketing goals: contact@loopme.com 

In 1939, David Sarnoff, a pioneer of TV and radio described the TV as “A new art and new industry which will eventually provide entertainment and information for millions”. He was right. Over 75 years later, it’s now a feature in many homes and influence on popular culture.

November 21^st marks World TV Day, first established in 1996 by the UN’s General Assembly in recognition of the increasing impact television has on society. Since its inception, the way we consume TV has drastically changed, especially as new devices have risen in popularity.

In recent years connected TV, (also known as a hybrid or smart TV) is the latest trend to impact advertising. As marketers, we look for what captures consumer attention and so connected TV should now be respected as part of the marketing mix.

Mass adoption

According to a report conducted by eMarketer, the US are leading the way in mass adoption for connected TV, with over 202 million users. This is a 51 million increase in just under 5 years.

Currently 69.5% of US internet users own a connected TV, an 18% increase in two years.

The UK is also adopting smart TVs rapidly, with 59% of households owning one. This figure is just behind Denmark and Norway whose smart TV adoption is 60% and 63% respectively. 

 

 

Attractive benchmarks

Another telling stat for marketers is around increased engagement levels. The ‘Extreme Reach’ report looked at digital video ad benchmarks worldwide which indicated that VCR on connected TV is 94%, due to their non-skip format and full-screen experience.

Co-Viewing

Connected TV fits in well with other devices. According to the IAB’s recent research, consumers are more likely to discuss brands and products they see on over-the-top (OTT) advertising compared to linear TV. 45% of respondents even went as far to say they would ‘change someone else’s mind about a product/brand they see’ when co-viewing a OTT platform. This is compared to just 36% of respondents asked the same for linear TV.

In recent years there’s also been a huge rise in multi-screen viewing, with consumers using their phone while watching TV. 22.6% of UK consumers watch TV on multiple devices and this is expected to rise. This means that marketers are looking to spread their ad budget between different platforms, understanding consumers have multiple touch points throughout the day.

Get in touch with your local account rep or contact us here to learn more about LoopMe’s cross-screen solutions.