The latest guest in our Coffee Qs series is Ben O’Mahoney, account manager at Sociomantic Labs.

How long have you been in your current role at Sociomantic Labs, Ben?

Ben O’Mahoney: I’ve been at Sociomantic Labs for a year now – don’t let the picture fool you, I love it!

Could you describe your role for us in one sentence?

BO: As part of the client services team, I manage the relationship between Sociomantic and dunnhumby, in relation to the shared proposition of connecting in-store purchase data with online behavioural data, and working with the wider commercial team at dunnhumby to activate campaigns and develop the proposition.

How did you get into performance marketing?

BO: Having previously worked in mobile advertising (and being a bit of a tech geek at heart), I was intrigued by programmatic technologies and how ad tech companies were developing cutting edge tech to meet the demands of this rapidly growing market. After taking six months to see the other side of the world, I returned knowing that my next role needed to be within a company that could teach me the most about programmatic in this space; I wanted to learn from the inside, from behind the scenes, and just so happened to find the perfect role within Sociomantic to do so.

What about your job gets you out of bed in the morning?

BO: The unique position I find myself in at Sociomantic means I am privy to the innovative ways Sociomantic and dunnhumby build customised solutions for clients depending on their needs. From segmenting customers based on past in-store purchases to using these audience segments to bid on media and personalise a display ad in real-time, I’m keen to see where else this collaboration is headed and how it’s shaping the industry. I feel I have a real purpose and responsibility within my role, which has provided me with countless opportunities. Plus, I love working with my team, who not only are like-minded and driven in their careers, but also crack me up on a daily basis!  

What’s your biggest career milestone?

BO: I would say landing my first job in media, mainly because it was the first door that opened up the breadth of opportunities for me, in what I consider to be one of the best industries to work in. At the time, I was pretty out of my depth but worked hard and persevered in securing a position which ultimately helped me get where I am today.  

What would be your top tip for newcomers to the industry?

BO: Take your time in learning the ins and outs of this industry, because there is a lot to learn and it’s constantly evolving. Networking and building relationships will be key to your development, not just within your role but also in getting to understand the various aspects of the industry, from supply side to demand side, from online to offline, from publisher to advertiser and ultimately, to the customer – the centre piece of this entire industry.

If you could meet one famous person, dead or alive, who would it be and why?

BO: Sergio Garcia. I’ve been an avid golfer my whole life and he was one of my heroes growing up. On top of being an insanely good golfer, he seems to be a real character and a bit of a joker who doesn’t take the game too seriously. He also recently won his first major after nearly 20 years of trying so would love to talk to him about that!  

The post Coffee Qs: Ben O’Mahoney, Sociomantic Labs appeared first on PerformanceIN.

The UK’s new Data Protection Bill has been launched with the aim of “bringing data protection regime into the twenty first century, giving citizens more sovereignty over their data, and greater penalties for those who break the rules,” according to the minister for digital, Matt Hancock.

Forming part of the National Cyber Security Strategy, the bill is expected to protect the data of individuals and businesses online.

Sharethrough’s regional director EMEA, Ally Stuart, believes with the bill coming into play, “change is already afoot” and this is the time brands looked to change their tactics.

“Those taking an unobtrusive approach are a step ahead when it comes to compliance. Marketers need to spend the next few months auditing their data practices, reacquainting themselves with their customers’ preferred marketing mediums, and finding natural and compelling ways to speak to their audiences without invading their space – all the while gearing up for compliance,” he explained.

The bill comes out less than a year before the launch of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a set of rules coming into force to harmonise data privacy laws across Europe. The new bill will shift GDPR into UK law ahead of Brexit to ensure smooth flow of data across borders.

Chief privacy officer and VP of legal at Evidon, marketing analytics and compliance services, Todd Ruback is in “full support of the bill, which he believes will “give power and privacy back to consumers” as well as provide “much needed reassurance” at a time where privacy is a key issue. Ruback is also confident the new bill will align data protection in Great Britain with GDPR:

“Offering the opportunity for clear transparency between brands and consumers, the bill will allow digital commerce to continue at pace and thrive – once data has been processed accordingly.

“The bill will obviate Brexit-related fears that the data spigot will be turned off because the UK’s data protection law doesn’t offer the same level of protection as the GDPR,” he added.

Stuart commented many brands are already taking action to be ready for GDPR and changed how they handle customer data, with pub chain Wetherspoons deleting its email database and Google putting an end to scanning user emails for targeting insights.

“It will be interesting to see how other brands embrace and adapt to forthcoming legislation, and how they achieve creativity while ensuring compliance,” he added.

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Nearly three quarters (72%) of UK mobile ad buyers are making the most of users’ mobile data when planning their ad campaigns, a new study from ExchangeWire and Verve has revealed.

According to the research, data has had a direct impact on the increase in creative ad formats like ‘tap to map’ and ‘smart-rise’ video. Almost a quarter (22%) of the 204 surveyed media professionals based in the UK maximise mobile data using more than four different ad formats, compared to just 3% of marketers who are not.

Marketers also admitted that incorporating data into mobile campaign creative improved brand awareness (50%) as well as direct response (30%). For some (14%), it also lifted ROI (Return on Investment) and only 6% have not noted any difference.

ExchangeWire’s head of research and analytics, Becca Muir, believes this is great news for mobile ad buyers, and that a more accurate understanding of mobile consumption will help unlock the use of innovative formats which in turn improve user experience.

“The industry is likely to see huge benefits as a result of better creativity and targeting; most significant being a decrease in the use of ad blockers,” she commented.

According to Verve’s general manager international, Ian James, mobile is at the heart of digital marketing and therefore the importance and accessibility of data is now increasingly taken into account.

“Unlocking the value of multiple data sets, online and offline, is the future of mobile storytelling – and this requires continued collaboration from the mobile ad buyers. Data is the pivotal tool for brands to get closer to their customers,” he explained.

Good news for the user?

Despite the study bringing positive news for mobile ad buyers, ads continue to swallow a big chunk of users’ mobile data.

According to 2016 research by services company Enders Analysis, ad content takes up between 18% and 79% of the mobile data transferred, with JavaScript and visual elements such as animations adding an extra 6% to 68%.

While an increasing number of consumers are signed up to unlimited data plans, rich ad formats are regularly responsible for sluggish page loads. Meanwhile, those that aren’t on these data plans might take issue with advertisers playing fast and loose with their bandwidth allowances.

The post UK Mobile Ad Buyers Maximise Data but Users Still Pay for Bloated Ads appeared first on PerformanceIN.

This week, our Coffee Qs guest is Becky Potter, junior display planner/buyer at digital marketing agency Greenlight.

First of all, Becky, how long have you been working at Greenlight?

Becky Potter: In October 2015, I started on the Greenlight Graduate Scheme, so nearly two years! Following completion of the scheme I then moved into a display buyer role in October 2016, which I have been enjoying for the past eleven months.

Could you describe your role in one sentence?

BP: I plan direct and programmatic display plans for clients keen to drive performance and awareness (either or both).  

How did you get into performance marketing?

BP: Before I began working at Greenlight, I was running a branch of an online student newspaper based at my university campus. I was fortunate enough to work with the national site to launch the local site at my university and through this I gained experience measuring web and social traffic and generating and optimising content for readers. During this experience, my interest naturally translated from journalism into digital marketing, this was further cemented by a week-long training course with the Institute of Direct and Digital Marketing (IDM).

My time at IDM resulted in an introduction to Greenlight and the graduate scheme. Their focus on creativity, innovation and measurement is what appealed to me in regards to performance marketing. When it came to choosing an area to specialise in, audience and data focus in display is what interested me the most.

What about your job gets you out of bed in the morning?

BP: Constantly trying something new, every single day. The display space is always moving and innovating, therefore when we get a new brief we always ask ourselves as a team, “Can you do X programmatically?” Or “Wouldn’t it be great if we could show X as part of the user journey?” In most cases what we think we are capable of doing, we can always do and that is always very exciting, especially when it materialises and over-delivers on your initial expectations.

What’s been your biggest career learning curve?

BP: Moving into a completely technology-focused channel. When I worked in content, I had more of a content and analytics-driven view of digital marketing. However with the move into display, I’ve not only had to have a view and knowledge on creative and basic reporting, but also of how the technology stacks up and functions in order to sell it more effectively into the client and take a more transparent approach towards the ad tech industry. That, coupled with the amount of jargon we use, has been the hardest thing to wrap my head around, but there is always so much support from the rest of the team if I need a bit of guidance on the latest buzzword.

And what keeps you awake at night?

BP: Luckily, I sleep very well at night… However, in terms of where my mind wanders when I’m supposed to be switching off, I would probably say it has a tendency to think about my next challenge – professionally or personally. 

What would be your top tip for newcomers to the industry?

BP: Maintain your enthusiasm, inside and outside of the workplace. We are fortunate enough to be at the forefront of our careers in an incredibly fun industry, which involves some of the most cutting-edge technology. It can be easy to get bogged down by what your specific vertical does and not think about the wider picture and the range of possibilities. However, if you remain enthusiastic and do your reading around your channel and the marketing industry in general, you will stay inspired, interested and more importantly engaged with what you do every day.

So I guess what I’m really saying is, find a way to stay inspired, whether that’s reading publications, blogs, listening to podcasts or attending talks and seminars – consume content about your industry wherever you can.

If you didn’t work as a junior display planner/buyer at Greenlight, you’d be…

BP: Probably doing something in publishing – books, magazines or papers.

The post Coffee Qs: Becky Potter, Greenlight appeared first on PerformanceIN.

In light of recent news about Facebook exaggerating its audience reach in most countries, the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) in Australia is encouraging marketers to capture metrics using third-party data source such as Nielsen rather than Facebook’s Ad Manager tool, AdNews has reported.

The social media giant has been under scrutiny for over calculating its estimated reach of 15-39 year-olds in Australia, with numbers exceeding the actual population of this demographic in the region by 1.7 million. An AdNews study also found discrepancies in nine out of 12 markets, including the US.

In response to the issue, Facebook explained its estimates take into account elements such as short-term visitors, and advised advertisers not to compare the numbers to official census data.

“These numbers are designed to provide an idea of your campaign’s potential reach. They are not meant to be an actual accounting of Facebook’s active users and are not designed to match population or census estimates,” an email from the social media platform to buyers read.

However, IAB Australia told AdNews that Nielsen figures represent “the cleanest digital currency” in reflecting reach, as its data considers duplicate accounts and fake user information.

“The investment in both time and money that the industry puts into the IAB-endorsed digital currency via Nielsen gives the market a robust and independent measuring stick to review all media players,” the body stated.

Facebook has long been pressured by the industry to improve the regulation of its advertising under the watch of third parties, following a high profile error in which it miscalculated ad impressions and misvalued conversions.

The post IAB Australia “Strongly Encourages” Marketers Not to Rely on Facebook Reach Data appeared first on PerformanceIN.

Ads that prevent users from immediately seeing content have been found to be the most “annoying” format, a new study from Inskin Media and On Device Research has found.

On the whole, consumers aren’t big fans of mobile display ads, however, it’s pop-ups that are cited as the most irritating by over a quarter (28%) of consumers, closely followed by creatives sat in middle of a page (26%), while ads which slow down page loading closed the top three (15%).

Aside from format, another factor affecting user experience is the ad content itself. Irrelevant ads frustrate 18% of the respondents and the study has found that for ads seen multiple times, irrelevant ones are 33% more likely to “anger people”.

“Not rocket science”

Conversely, formats competing for attention such as ads moving down the page with content are far less frustrating (13%), and so are ads sitting at the top and bottom of a page (8%).

Inskin Media’s CCO, Steve Doyle, believes picking ad formats is “not rocket science” and advertisers simply need to focus on good user experience.

“For example, unskippable ads, ads which obscure content or those that don’t have a close button should be avoided. If a video ad is autoplay, then at least it should be without sound. If content is hidden by interstitial formats, then they should be easy to close,” he explained.

Ad formats sitting alongside content have also been found to be more memorable. According to the study, users are 134% more likely to remember those than the average mobile ad.

For Doyle, this boils down to giving users the right to choose what they look at and it’s “common sense” not to interrupt their experience.

“Letting them [users] decide when they’re ready to interact with your ad increases its chances of success,” he added.

The post Consumers’ Most Annoying Mobile Ad Formats Revealed in New Study appeared first on PerformanceIN.

British shoppers abandon £3.4 billion worth of goods in online carts every year, a new study from Barclays has found.

However, improvements to the mobile shopping process could generate up to £10.5 billion more in online shopping spend in just five years.

With ‘device switching’ to blame for the high rates of basket abandonment, the study of 300 retail managers and 2,000 UK consumers found that investment in online sales such as mobile optimisation, discounts and flexible delivery options could cut basket abandonment by half by 2021.

Barclays’ head of retail, Ian Gilmartin, believes the study highlights the long-term benefits of providing easy options across online platforms, with brands needing to “adapt quickly” to the needs of today’s consumers’ expectations, particularly on mobile, in order to boost sales.

Tech or tradition?

According to Barclays, users’ device switching preferences highlight that a more streamlined process – one avoiding fiddly mobile sites – would make 28% consumers more likely to buy.

The research has found 13% of respondents admit that if they didn’t have to provide registration details at checkout, they would be more likely to go ahead with their purchase. Despite the feedback from customers, only 16% of sellers plan to prioritise mobile sales next year.

Gilmartin understands that investment in mobile optimisation might not be a priority for retailers focused on cost management, but getting the strategy right and responding to customers’ needs could see retailers selling over £80 billion worth of goods online by 2021.

Despite the emphasis on tech improvements, however, the research found that shoppers still respond well to traditional remarketing strategies. Free delivery options would encourage over half (56%) of buyers to finish the purchase and 22% respond to email prompts, while for 27%, schemes such as bonus points would be an added benefit.

Unsurprisingly, price is crucial for browsers to turn into buyers and 43% of those surveyed don’t complete the purchase because they are waiting for a better offer. Over a third (38%) look for discount codes online and wait for sales (35%).

The study also showed that new technologies aren’t top priority for UK buyers just yet – only 6% admit augmented or virtual reality would encourage them to buy, and the same proportion would be encouraged by stylist recommendations – even fewer prefer chatbots.

The post UK Retailers Lose £3.4 Billion in Sales to Cart Abandonment Every Year appeared first on PerformanceIN.

It’s back to school for performance marketing professionals and many are going into autumn with new job titles.

Thomas Verstege has been appointed by shopping community Pepper.com as chief commercial officer (CCO) to work in the firm’s headquarters in Berlin. A former Amazon head of EU online marketing and design, Verstege will support the realignment of the commercial teams across the Pepper network including HotUKDeals.

Meanwhile, mobile marketing measurement and analytics company AppsFlyer hired Himanshu Kulkarni as new India sales director, and telecoms firm Nexstar Media Group appointed Keith P. Hopkins for its newly-created role of senior vice president of distribution.

Network announcements

In a leadership board shake-up at CJ Affiliate, former regional vice president Jules Bazley will be taking over as regional director overseeing the UK, Spanish and South African offices, while former regional vice president Anne Delhon will be moving on to a new role at Oracle. Commercial development director James Maley will be stepping up as European head of business development.

In a flurry of new hires, affiliate marketing agency Webgains appointed former Culture Trip head of affiliate partnerships Daisy-Blue Tinne as new account director, Anjulie Truong as head of learning and development, and Jessi Frey as senior product owner. Tinne will lead international programme strategy across key accounts, while Truong, formerly operations director at Awin UK, will be in charge of the new Webgains Academy. Frey’s responsibilities include building the next generation of performance and affiliate marketing tools and services. Following a decade in various management roles at Webgains, Andreas Sasnovskis has been promoted to the role of managing director to look after the affiliate network’s German-speaking region.

Agency hires

Independent media agency MC&C Media named Priya Datta as director of social media. She previously worked as director of biddable activation at iProspect.

Rian Shah has been picked as Zenith’s new London-based MD to focus on driving brand growth for clients. Shah will support the ROI agency’s new global proposition and brand identity.

Media agency MEC chose Amanda Richman to run the new agency in the States as CEO USA upon the completion of MEC and Maxus merger. Richman previously worked as president of investment at Starcom USA.

Digital marketing company IgnitionOne appointed Seamus Whittingham as senior vice president and managing director of European sales. Whittingham’s responsibilities will include the development and execution of the company’s European growth plan.

Following a $15 million series B funding, the digital media and entertainment cloud CRM & e-commerce platform MPP Global has hired Heath Podvesker as general manager Americas. In addition, Melissa Pegus has been appointed as VP of channel and strategic alliances and Trena De Landro will take over as VP of publishing and media.

Advertising news

Taking on new responsibilities at the IAB are Craig Coleman and Dennis Buchheim. Coleman has been named the body’s new vice president of marketing, while Buchheim, currently serving as senior vice president, data and ad effectiveness at IAB and general manager of the IAB Data Center of Excellence will take up IAB Tech Lab’s new vice president and general manager role.

In a bid to expand its programmatic outreach, Spotify hired Zuzanna Gierlinska as head of programmatic for Europe to work in the company’s London office. Using her 17 years of digital advertising experience, Gierlinska will lead Spotify’s programmatic efforts across Europe as the company moves from direct ad sales to a programmatic-first business.

Ad tech updates

Ad tech provider Marfeel appointed Viktor Nordstrom as vice president of sales. Nordstrom previously served as business development manager for Fluendo and founded editing and publishing tool CL3VER.

Former VE Interactive head of regulated industries & automotive, Russell King is joining the Smarter Click team as senior sales manager, while Impact Radius’ former enterprise account executive, Mark Batchelor, starts as the marketing tech company’s head of agency partnerships.

Selligent, SaaS solutions provider, named John Hernandez as chief executive officer. Former COO and senior VP, service cloud at Salesforce will use his 25 years of experience in B2B and B2C tech management to help drive Selligent through its current phase of growth.

Xaxis’s new vice president of client development for Asia Pacific is Richard Pollin. Based in Singapore, the former sales director at AppNexus will be in charge of the digital media platform’s new business acquisition and development across the region.

Tech company mporium Group plc has announced a number of changes to its board which sees its chairman Nigel Walder leaving the board and dormer finance director Richard Gordon will be exiting the company at the end of the month. Chief executive officer Barry Moat will serve as the executive chairman and Nelius De Groot is joining the board as chief executive officer, following two years working as chief operating officer.

Marketing tech company Amobe snapped up advertising industry veteran Katie Ford who will now act as the company’s chief client officer and Shouvick Mukherjee as chief technology officer.

Finally, location intelligence company Cuebiq appointed Brad Piggott as SVP of sales for the central region. The former Yahoo! head of industry will lead Cuebiq’s sales operations to accelerate the company’s aggressive growth plan and strategy to expand its location data and analytics offerings across the central US region from the Chicago office.

The post Movers & Shakers: August 2017 appeared first on PerformanceIN.

Marketers are increasingly more likely to choose bloggers over ads, and budgets reflect growing popularity of influencer marketing.

A new study from micro influencer platform Takumi has found that most (96%) of PRs and marketers will invest in the channel and 9% will spend over £100,000 on influencers in the next 12 months.

Out of the 600 surveyed in the UK, most (39%) will invest up to £10,000 in influencer campaigns and a fifth between £10,000 and £100,000. Only 4% of those interviewed won’t allocate any funds towards the channel.

The reason behind the significant sums is the confidence that influencer marketing is more effective than traditional advertising (26%), although two-thirds (43%) find this to be true only when targeting millennials.

Takumi’s co-founder and CEO, Mats Stigzelius, believes the research proves influencer marketing isn’t “an overhyped fad” and growing budgets reflect the way brands recognise the value of the channel.

“Of the professionals we surveyed for example, 61% stated they now feel they are able to accurately measure engagement levels and return on investment, and as platforms like Instagram continue to roll out new features to signpost promoted content, that’s only going to increase,” he explained.

The study has also revealed it’s not always top influencers attracting the big bucks – most respondents (56%) prefer accounts with under 250,000 followers. Stigzelius believes brands can reach the same audiences with micro influencers as they would with top social media stars – and engagement tends to be higher.

“For example, working with a celebrity might give you one social media post. Working with micro influencers, you could generate the same reach and 100 pieces of social content with exactly the same budget,” he commented, adding Takumi is seeing more brands choosing micro influencers over celebrities.

“It’s a trend we only expect to continue,” he added.

The post 26% Marketers Claim Influencer Marketing “More Effective” than Traditional Advertising appeared first on PerformanceIN.

This week’s Coffee Qs guest is Jeff Duggan who has spent the past five months as growth marketer at marketing automation platform for airlines Yieldr in Amsterdam.

To kick things off, Jeff, could you describe your role for us in one sentence?

Jeff Duggan: I’m like a masseuse, I need to know all the right touch points.

How did you get into performance marketing?

JD: It’s hard to say exactly. Both my father and my sister are in marketing; maybe it’s something in my blood? At a very early age I understood that advertising was meant to be persuasive so I learned not to be a passive watcher. I remember watching television ads or looking at billboards and consciously trying to think really hard (as hard as a 10-year-old can think) about how these people were trying to trick me! You could say my introduction to marketing and advertising was initially met with a strong dose of scepticism.

As I grew older and started to read more about consumer culture and brand affinity, my scepticism turned into fascination. I majored in media studies at university and did internships at ad agencies during the summer. I would say my first taste of performance marketing was during those agency internships. From that agency experience, I landed at Corus Entertainment working as a marketing project manager for Disney. This is where I really sunk my teeth into all aspects of performance marketing.

What excites you the most about this industry?

JD: I like how every day you are trying to solve a puzzle. You try to learn more and more about what makes your consumers tick and opportunities to speak to them. You don’t stick to a standard playbook, you must adapt to what you learn.

I currently work as a growth marketer in Amsterdam at a scale-up called Yieldr. We are a tech company with a niche product that helps airlines with underperforming flight find interested travellers. Every campaign has to be laser-targeted in order to hit this particular niche. Coming up with unique and creative ways to talk to this market and have the systems in place to measure the results excites me. Try, learn, iterate, repeat.

Do you have a professional role model?

JD: I would say my grandfather. He was an entrepreneur and became successful doing things his own way with an incredible amount of drive. What I respect most about him is his drive to become successful came from a desire to look after his family. He wanted the best for his wife and kids and worked hard every day to do just that. That’s a role model to me, someone who is not driven by ego, but rather works hard so they can make a difference to others.

Do you have any industry “tips” for 2018?

JD: I think being “data-driven” is almost ubiquitous across the industry and is becoming a cliche term. Yes, you are data-driven, but what else? What do you do with that data? How effectively can you turn that data into something useful? It’s easy to drown in all the data. It’s super important to come up for air sometimes and use that right side of the brain that is also so important in marketing. Finding out users behavior or keeping track of every metric possible in your campaigns doesn’t mean anything if you can’t do something creative and new with that data.

I also believe it is super important to try something totally different than what you have traditionally done when it comes to marketing strategies and campaigns. I think some marketers get stuck when they find success in a certain channel, and keep iterating on it. Your campaigns (and your job) can get uninspiring if you are only iterating on what you have done in the past. Every once in a while try something totally different than what is in your marketing “comfort zone”. See what happens! It might fall flat, or you might discover a completely new effective channel that works for your users.

If you could meet one famous person, dead or alive, who would it be and why?

JD: This is tough but I would say Kurt Vonnegut. I find he always has the perfect way of putting things and gives incredibly simple (but powerful) advice. I’d love to have a chat with him about one or two things. If you haven’t read If This Isn’t Nice, What Is? I would highly recommend it.

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