Category: Blog

Just hear us out on this one.

What might seem at first to be a random reason for a live streaming event (starting today, lasting the full week), has actually been turned into a rather fantastic marketing niche. Waitrose, with their brand of earnest simplicity and premium rural luxury, are proving how all their cows are given normal, everyday grazing opportunities, how all of their bees are real, free-flying bees, how their crops are grown and livestock flourish. The tranquil idyllic environment is allowed to speak for itself – Waitrose are innovating in a fun and accessible way. (Though, after a half hour watching bees slowly crawl out of a hive, it does get a bit dull)

You can watch the live stream here:

 

 

 

On Thursday 14^th April the IAB released their biannual UK Ad Spend study revealing spend figures for 2015. Last year was an exciting year for digital, seeing a 16.4% increase in overall spend, notably also the highest growth rate since 2008. Overall digital adspend now totals £8.6bn – a consistently growing figure.

This growth has been bolstered by the gains in mobile adspend, which soared by 60.3% over the course of the year to hit £2.65bn– now accounting for 30.5% of all UK digital advertising. Mobile has secured itself as a dominant player in the digital advertising space, and going forward marketers will undoubtedly factor it as an even more significant part of their campaigns and strategies.

Even within mobile, video and display has progressed massively. Over the course of the year, adspend on mobile video rose from £179m to £353m – a 98% increase. 55% of all standard display adspend is now on rich media formats – a growth of 11% since 2014. Marketers are moving towards more sophisticated and exciting ad formats capable of being delivered to devices.

All of this comes during an exciting time for mobile. Smartphones are now the most popular internet device (with an average of 2.1 per household) and a 21 percent increase in smartphone ownership since 2014.

For the first time, programmatic spend was factored into a separate category within the report. What is clear is just how significant programmatic spend is for both mobile and the digital space. By 2019, the IAB expect for programmatic to account for 80-90% of all UK display adspend, and potentially even higher for mobile video. At the moment this figure the total spend is £0.35bn around 71%, with 47% on direct and 24% on indirect.

The stats were an exciting continuation of the existing trend, with Tim Elkington, CSO at the IAB, noting ‘The increasing array of devices people use to go online has helped digital ad spend hit another gear as advertisers look to reach them and time spent online increases. Smartphones are the major driving force behind this, as people increasingly use them for activities they used to do on desktop, from searching and shopping to social and watching video.’

You can read the full adspend report on the IAB website here.

 

 

LoopMe are happy to announce we’ve been nominated 5 times at The Drum’s MoMAs (Marketing on Mobile Awards) – a celebratin of campaigns, brands and agencies at the forefront of the mobile industry.

The award nominations were:

• Interactive Entertainment, Mobile Strategy / Campaign – Paddington with Target Media
• Travel/Leisure/Sports Mobile Strategy / Campaign – Celebrity Cruises with Goodstuff
• Best Use of Video / Rich Media – The Forest with Icon
• Best Use of Video / Rich Media – Legend with Target Media
• Best Use of Video / Rich Media – Paranormal Activity 5 with MEC

Great results for our sales, AdOps and all the agencies involved, and we look forward to celebrating these fantastic results!

Roll on the awards evening on the 18th May!

Published for the Wall Blog on the 13th April. 

Driverless cars, personal assistants and a robot Scarlett Johansson have all made headlines in the past three months. Artificial intelligence is taking the world by storm. But how can AI have an impact on your advertising? Here are five reasons it should be overlaid onto every single campaign.

Only reach relevant users

When running any advertising campaign it’s accepted that the ad will be shown to some people who, while fitting the target audience perfectly, are not interested in your product. By using AI it is possible to dramatically reduce the number of impressions wasted in this manner.

AI analyses information from billions of data points to determine what a user is likely to engage with. If a user has never exhibited any behaviour to suggest they will engage with a car ad, despite fitting the audience profile, they will not be shown this advert, eliminating wasted impressions and saving campaign budget.

On the reverse, there may be users who would be interested in your product, despite not fitting the audience profile. AI can identify users who have exhibited strong engagement patterns with similar content and target them with relevant adverts.

Optimize in real-time

Each time an ad request is logged there are thousands of variables, all of which can impact the results of a campaign. Should one variable in the chain change, the ad which is most likely to generate an engagement could be different.

This data cannot be used by ad ops teams to optimize a campaign, it happens too quickly. AI can process and act on this data in milliseconds, enabling campaigns to be optimized in real-time.

Viewable, brand safe advertising

AI is able to improve brand safety and viewability rates by optimizing delivery towards environments that deliver the best viewability results. It can also identify patterns which could be linked to suspicious behaviour, blocking these impressions and only serving ads in placements, which guarantee human traffic.

As AI optimizes in real-time it is possible to ensure viewable, brand safe advertising 24/7, and not just when ad ops teams are in the office.

Read more: https://wallblog.co.uk/2016/04/13/five-reasons-to-use-artificial-intelligence/#ixzz48FEgj3eV

Steve McQueen is perhaps one of the most vital directors of the last decade – his three greatest successes coming in the form of Hunger, Shame, and, most recently, 12 Years a Slave. His films are melancholic, beautifully crafted pieces of art, laced with pathos and urgent political implication – mostly in Hunger (with its examination of the Irish Hunger Strikes) and 12 Years A Slave (the 2012 Best Picture Winner at the Oscars). The odder of the three is probably Shame – more of a desensitised character study of a sex addict in New York.

All films are united by McQueen’s penchant for beautifully crafted camera work, check out examples from Shame or Hunger to see why. He brings that same craft to his Burberry advert, each shot placed with perfection, framing his subjects within the confines of their hotel rooms, before slipping into handheld for the more sensuous naked shots.

All this considered, something seems almost vacuous and transient about the 3 minute video. The protagonist couple are trapped by their apartment surroundings – doorways, corridors, mirrors confining them. They only finding escape when naked together. The two are surrounded by materialism – bowties, lipsticks, mirrors, and, fundamentally, clothes. The liberation comes in the form of primal nakedness – clothing almost acting instead as an apology for having to conform to social norms.

Given his need for more intrinsic truths in cinema, this was a strange choice for McQueen. Any film he produces is undoubtedly fantastic, but this feels like a strange choice for such a director. His versatility is nevertheless astounding – especially the use of shorter lens for the outdoor shots, before bringing things tight and claustrophobic indoors. It’s both recognisably McQueen, yet always open to innovation and creative flexibility. Check it out here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd5Yuq_qt28

Runner up for the week: Clemence Poesy provides the latest for the VS Magazine

LoopMe held their first Publisher event on Tuesday morning, focusing on the Holy Trinity of Mobile – Video, Data and AI.

The event saw a fantastic range of speakers from a range of backgrounds giving their expert opinions on the best practices for mobile advertising, focusing on video and data. Topics touched upon included 360 video, vertical video and virtual reality, among others.

Rhys Denny, Senior Director BD at LoopMe, gave the opening presentation discussing the highlights and challenges of the mobile publishing industry. He was followed by Dilip Shukla (co-founder of Samba Networks) and Chetan Damani (Managing Director at TVGuide.co.uk).

The IAB’s Jon Mew hosted a fireside chat with Lauren Dick, head of mobile at Mail Online. With 77% of the Mail’s traffic coming from mobile sources, Lauren delved into the strategies and plans for the Mail going forward and how they are adjusting to their new audiences.

We rounded off the morning with a panel featuring our guest speakers and Stephen Upstone, CEO of LoopMe, exploring key topics such as adblocking in even more detail. What was clear was that while key challenges remain, the mobile advertising industry is still innovating and adapting – ready to evolve with exciting new features for audiences and publishers.

You can find the presentations given on the day here.
Also, don’t miss our event video featuring interviews with some of our panelists.

Watch this space for more events from LoopMe!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq9uaRShC2E&feature=youtu.be

As everyone eagerly awaits the arrival of Game of Thrones Season 6 in a few weeks, the biggest question on everyone’s lips is whether or not Jon Snow has popped his clogs or if he will nobly return from the dead. One actor who has mastered the art of returning for more is Thór Björnsson or as he is better known, The Mountain. The Mountain was brought back to life at the end of Season 6 as a pale knight and member of the Kingsguard, but for the actor playing him, it provided a perfect opportunity to promote his new water brand #HeavyBubbles.

This was an April Fool’s video made with panache – flippant, quick and with easy laughs and an element of believably plausible branding.

Check out the runner up too – a rather intense LGBTQ advert showing the difficulties of existence in the form of an obstacle course – shot with intensity and creativity.

But check out the #HeavyBubbles video here!

 

LoopMe is happy to announce a new 360 Video product, the only full-screen 360 solution delivering global scale. 

Reaching 1.5 billion users worldwide, LoopMe has means of finding audiences wherever you want them to be found. With new 360 video experience ready for use, advertisers can create immersive and interactive content to enhance brand experiences and create memorable ad engagements.

Download LoopMe’s 360 app for iOS here.
Download LoopMe’s app for Android here.

Please be aware that if you are using iPhone you may have to change your software settings to implement the install. Do not hesitate to contact us if you need any tips or help to get this done!

Get in touch to learn more about LoopMe’s Full-Screen 360 Video solution.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSwQ_0suPSc

I suppose we do have to check in with the NeverEnding Story every once in a while. It may have become something of a cult classic in a select few circles, but Spotify saw a chance to cash in on the 1984 film’s timeless message with their latest message. The best part is, none of it feels forced – W+K New York have managed to combine two concepts with resounding success. There is a truth in the advert – we’ve all at one stage searched for a classic, cringe-inducing song that endures throughout the generations. Limahl’s Never Ending Story is but one case in point – they could have picked another 80s corker like  Magic Dance from Labyrinth or Ray Parker Jr’s ghoulish movie theme.

The fact that Spotify got the original actor Noah Hathaway gives the ad even more credibility – well played guys! You can check out the ad here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=36&v=zuOiNjpkEFY

And our runner up for the week (as we’re doing runners up now!) goes to Alison Brie and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau for their AppleTV advert, the pair ‘rehearsing’ for a show that looks both terrible and terribly unmissable. Seeing Jaime Lannister get his groove on has to be a highlight of the day!

Published by DazeInfo on March 30th 2016. 

“Some consumers will pay or find other ways to opt out of advertising, but this will not impact this growth of mobile advertising which is set to become the majority of global digital advertising spend and to transform and enhance other global ad markets such as TV brand advertising.” said Stephen Upstone, chairman of the Mobile Marketing Association in the UK and CEO of video ad tech company LoopMe in an interview to the Buisness Insider.

Read the full article here.