The group’s new offer type – Green Offers – is powered by a partnership with environmental organisation Ecologi, which has offset over 2.2 million tonnes of CO2e by supporting reforestation projects in countries like Madagascar, Mozambique and Uganda.  

In a typical campaign, brands will pledge to plant ten mangrove trees in return for the customer completing their purchase. Green Offers are delivered by RevLifter’s RevConvert technology, which uses real-time signals like the customer’s exit intent, their current spend, and cart contents, to inform the delivery of personalised incentives through native overlays. 

RevLifter believes Green Offers can help to close the ‘intention-action gap’ that prevents the majority of customers from making positive contributions to the environment. Research from Harvard Business Review shows that 65% of shoppers want to buy from purpose-driven brands with strong sustainability credentials, but only 26% find a way to do so. 

Simon Bird, RevLifter’s Co-Founder and CEO, says: “As RevLifter is the link between the brand and the consumer, we knew we could devise something that helped each side bring positive change to the world. 

“Green Offers provide a way for the consumer to turn everyday actions into something that has a measurable impact on the planet. On the retailer’s side, it’s an opportunity to facilitate that contribution, but also drive sales through a totally discount-free method, and resonate with audiences that value more than just price.” 

PerformanceIN spoke to Simon to understand more about Green Offers and what they can do.

How exactly do green offers work?

Green Offers is RevLifter’s way of helping e-commerce brands drive more sales while making a positive impact on the environment. 

In a typical scenario, a brand will use our RevConvert technology to display a Green Offer via a native overlay. Most retailers pledge to plant ten trees in exchange for a sale (e.g. ‘Buy now and we’ll plant ten trees in your name’), but customers can also be rewarded for increasing their spend, subscribing to a mailing list, or another brand goal. 

Once the customer redeems the offer, the baton is handed over to RevLifter’s sustainability partner Ecologi to action the tree-planting process. This involves making a contribution to a reforestation project to deliver on the original pledge. Meanwhile, the consumer is made aware of their contribution through a link to the brand’s very own ‘virtual forest’, where they can see their trees the moment a purchase is made.

Obviously, we think Green Offers are a positive move in the long term, but they’re also an ideal consideration for brands that want to become greener while making the necessary changes to their supply chains and packaging. It shows an instant intent to the customer and something they can implement right away. 

Why is this something that is important to RevLifter?

Like most companies, we felt that it was important to reevaluate our own impact on the environment to see whether we could become more sustainable. We were already looking into ways of reducing our carbon footprint before the discussion turned to creating positive change through our day-to-day actions. 

The seeds for Green Offers were sown after one of Team RevLifter pointed to a study from Harvard Business Review, stating that 65% of consumers want to shop with green-minded brands but only 26% find a way to do so. As RevLifter is the connection between brands and consumers, we felt it was important to make better use of this position. We wanted to do more for the planet while giving brands and consumers the chance to do the same, all through a simple action. 

How do you expect consumers will react to Green Offers versus a regular discount?

It’s an interesting scenario and one we’re currently testing. Among a certain segment of shoppers, a Green Offer might be even more effective than a conventional offer. Research shows that two-thirds of consumers will pay more for sustainable products. We expect Green Offers to resonate highly with this audience. 

It’s also worth noting that Green Offers tend to be well-received by brands that aren’t looking to discount – either due to brand policy or to safeguard their margin. It means there isn’t always a decision to be made regarding whether to run a ‘10% off’ or a Green Offer. Pledging to plant trees is a great way to drive a full-price sale.

Why did you choose to partner with Ecologi?

When assessing our options for sustainability partners, one of the biggest factors was the scale required to power Green Offers. Ecologi has already planted over 39 million trees through its partnerships with over 12,000 companies, equating to 2.2 million tonnes of CO2e. We want brands to be ambitious when setting their tree-planting goals and Ecologi definitely has the operation to support this.   

We also placed great focus on transparency and measurability – two qualities that are absolutely vital for any sustainability initiative. Ecologi only purchases carbon credits from the most reputable standards, such as Gold Standard and Verified Carbon Standard. We also learned about its locations, land ownership, and biodiversity policies, which are essential for responsible reforestation.

As for measurement, there was a requirement to show the consumer’s impact in real time. Thanks to Ecologi, when someone redeems a Green Offer they can see their contribution within the brand’s very own virtual forest. 

What has the reaction from brands been like so far? Can you give us an example of a positive outcome?

It’s early days but the reception has been as expected – that is, incredible! So many of our brands either had ambitions for a system like Green Offers or had experimented with something on a smaller scale. They all have plans to become more sustainable and reforestation is a great addition to their roadmap.

One of the first users is a major insurance brand, which has launched Green Offers as part of a campaign to drive app downloads and engagement. We can’t wait to share the case study, as the early results show the impact of being able to incentivise in a totally different way. 

What is RevLifter as a company doing to become more sustainable?

While brands launch their first Green Offers, RevLifter will be working hard to bring down our own carbon footprint after gaining the Planet Mark Certification. This is an internationally recognised accreditation used by businesses like ours to report their carbon footprint and demonstrate continuous progress. We’ll be looking to reduce our footprint year on year while keeping the wide industry updated on all the tree-planting goals of our brands. To stay in the loop, be sure to follow RevLifter on Linkedin and sign-up to our newsletter.

While that’s happening, our team will also be working on the next offer type for driving conversions. We’re always keen to hear from brands that want to try new things in order to incentivise in a smarter way. If you’ve got a specific challenge in mind, get in touch.

The post RevLifter Looks to Reduce Carbon Emissions by Launching Green Offers as an Eco-Friendly Offer Type appeared first on PerformanceIN.

‘The death of the third party cookie’ has become a phrase that we’re all used to, and the idea of third party cookies disappearing did not necessarily come as a surprise to marketers. Whilst we wait for the phaseout to be complete, all that can be done is to figure out solutions and make apt preparations.

Attribution is an essential tool for analysing the touchpoints which drive conversions and within performance marketing, being able to determine attribution is key. Marketers need to ask the question of what will happen to attribution, and what methodologies can replace it?

Focus on customer relationship management

First-party data that is still accessible is something that should seriously be taken advantage of.

Brands should make customer relationships a key focus, as some of the information which will be key for developing future strategies will be most easily accessible from the horse’s mouth, if you will.

Customers are more likely to be willing to share their data with you if you have a trusting relationship, meaning their satisfaction should be a key focus.

Whilst access to information about customer activity on your site will not give you insight into what they’re doing elsewhere on the web, it should be helpful, and should allow you to bridge the gaps between data from addressable channels if properly analysed.

If you’re not already doing so, consider focusing on identity resolution. It’s privacy friendly, and can help you get to grips with customers behaviour.

Contextual targeting

It may seem an obvious statement, but contextual targeting could become more useful than ever. It doesn’t require third-party cookies, as customers are not being targeted directly.

Putting a considerable amount of time and effort into ensuring your ads are placed on the most suitable sites will enable you to reach customers in useful ways.

Instead of them feeling interrupted and invaded, they should feel as if ads are helpful. This, in turn, will aid in improving and establishing customer relationships.

There will most likely be patterns that emerge about specific groups of consumers and their behaviour on specific sites, leading you to information which could be valuable when tracking attribution.

A sophisticated measurement strategy

We are dealing with data loss here, so what it comes down to is a need to utilise the data we have, whilst we have it. Choosing a holistic and effective way of measurement through experimentation is essential.

It is the time to experiment with and validate various measurement strategies. It is also the time to future-proof these strategies to reduce the need for cookies, considering future privacy laws that may come into light. Think about looking beyond the cookie.

There are various softwares being developed and released which are being designed to measure the data you already have in order to determine strategies for the future. It’s worth having a look around at these, as well as making a real effort to decide on a data collection and analysis strategy for the future.

Whichever solution you favour, it’s no secret that the death of the third party cookie is going to have a huge knock-on effect. What the issue comes down to, at the core, is how can marketers effectively interact with consumers whilst safeguarding their privacy. And there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution – which is why planning ahead is key, and truthfully the only thing that can be done right now.

It could be looked upon as an exciting step-forward towards better relationships and privacy, which could work wonders in the long run.

Want to have your say on what you think the death of third party cookies means, and how to deal with it? We welcome your thoughts, opinions and updates on the industry. Please submit via our Typeform.

The post 3 Ways to Plan Ahead for the Impact the ‘Death of Third-Party Cookies’ Will Have on Attribution appeared first on PerformanceIN.

Affiliate programs provide marketers with the opportunity to reach consumers at every stage of the buyer’s funnel. However, as many affiliate marketers know, in order to achieve and maintain a successful affiliate program, consistent program analysis and optimisations are required.

Affiliate marketing is often misconceived for solely being made up of coupon and loyalty sites, however, well-strategised affiliate programs invest in placements and partnerships throughout the buyer’s funnel; these partnerships can range from content placements and retargeting, to sponsored emails, listicles, and consumer review sites.

Here’s a few top tips for launching and scaling affiliate programmes in 2021:

Onboarding Experience

While it’s common to think the more the merrier when onboarding partners in the affiliate channel, quantity does not equal quality traffic. When onboarding publishers, it’s critical for marketers to focus on identifying and recruiting vertical-specific affiliate partners. In doing so, marketers can ensure the traffic that’s being driven to their placements is targeted and aligned with their consumer base.

For example, a beauty brand is looking to onboard new productive partners to their program, so affiliates such as Cosmopolitan, beauty vloggers, or makeup review sites could be great partners to target and recruit. Above all, focusing on affiliate partners who drive high-quality content that is aligned with the marketer’s positioning and acquisition goals is crucial to ensuring partnerships remain productive and provide ROI.

Ongoing evaluation and auditing of a program’s active partner base are crucial to the health of any growing affiliate program. If publishers become dormant or are showing a lack of growth, communication is key; actively engaging with partners to ensure messaging, branding, new product launches, or upcoming seasonality will allow affiliates to remain productive and active.

The partner onboarding process should be continually developing and evolving as any brand does. As marketers shift KPIs, product lines, or audience focus, their affiliate base should also shift to make sure their ad spend consistently reaches the right consumers and that those consumers are converting.

Investing in Paid Partnerships

When it comes to investing in paid placements, marketers often wonder where they should be allocating their ad spend, and, more generally, whether or not paid placements are right for their brand. Recent studies have shown an increase in brands investing in paid media placements worldwide, as many marketers aim to increase brand awareness in the global marketplace. Experts predict that over the next two years, paid media investments will increase globally by a staggering $75 billion.

Paid ads can range from content features and dedicated newsletters, to utilising niche bloggers, content aggregators, or sponsored mobile campaigns. Content partnerships, specifically, are a common way to raise brand awareness, and they can take various forms such as white papers, articles, videos, podcasts, and infographics. All forms of content are valuable and often utilised as a tool to draw in potential customers, and when suitable, gated content is specifically a staple for lead generation.

Paid placements also allow opportunity to avail the powerful marketing rule of seven, which implies that displaying the brand more frequently, seven times or more, can and allow consumers to “hear” of the brand before making a purchase. This way, consumers feel more confident when they’ve reached the decision stage of the buyer’s journey.

Similar to general affiliate recruitment, marketers who are interested in content partnerships need to identify content partners that align with their customer acquisition goals, as well as their target demographic. Upper-funnel content partnerships with big industry brands such as Buzzfeed, Conde Nast, and GQ can assist in boosting the number of consumer touchpoints in the buyer’s journey, while mid-and lower-funnel content partnerships with industries such as RetailMeNot and Ebates allow cash back options to solidify a sale after exposure.

Strategic Promotional Planning

When planning for the new fiscal year, there are several factors that marketers must consider. First, brands should acknowledge their customer base and the potential for expansion; if marketers are looking to expand into foreign or international markets, an Agency partner who is familiar with the region can be an invaluable resource during the planning process. Seasonality and new product launches should also be top of mind when strategising and allocating ad spend for various distribution channels in the new year.

International Expansion & Distribution

Expanding into foreign markets may seem daunting, but if increasing international consumer acquisition is among marketers’ primary goals for the year, there are a few simple steps to make the process more easily addressed.

As 2021 looks to be the year of e-commerce, marketers may consider expanding their reach to international markets to aid distribution in key regions that are consistent with the marketers’ target audiences. In 2019, e-commerce sales worldwide amounted to $3.53 trillion, with e-commerce revenue projected to grow to $6.54 trillion by 2022.

Online shopping has quickly become one of the most popular digital activities worldwide, and the pandemic has only acted as an accelerant for this growth. As studies project an increase of more than 100% in e-commerce sales over the next three years, online shopping could soon overtake social networking as the most popular digital activity Globally.

However, international expansion without prior knowledge or experience can require extensive research and conceptualisation of a region. Generally, consumer behaviour will vary from region to region with countless foreign holidays and traditions to bear in mind. For marketers who are not familiar with international distribution, but are interested in learning more, an agency partner can be a great resource.

Agencies with experience in international distribution will have the knowledge and industry relationships to make expansion into these new markets seamless. Existing affiliate relationships make agency partners invaluable, as marketers will not have to start partner recruitment and onboarding from scratch. As most agency partners work as an extension of marketers’ internal teams, the transition from in-house to external affiliate program management should be a smooth transition. Learn more about which questions to ask and what qualities to look for in an affiliate agency.

Planning Around New Product Launches & High Seasonality

For marketers whose brands have demonstrated annual high seasonality, promotional planning should begin at least a quarter prior. For example, if a fashion brand knows their highest seasonality falls during the week of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, that marketer will need to begin planning and purchasing placements toward the end of Q2 or early Q3.

By planning a quarter or more in advance, marketers have the ability to reserve premium placements with a reasonable price tag. The same goes for marketers with new products launching on a monthly or quarterly basis. Providing affiliate partners with a content calendar at the start of the year or quarterly can ease the burden of planning for both high seasonality and new product launches.

Summary

Although the new year always brings about uncertainty for what may come, marketers can get ahead of the curve by recruiting and onboarding productive partners early on. Marketers looking to make the most of their affiliate programs in 2021 should strongly consider promotional planning far in advance of any high seasonality or new product launches to increase ROI. Those marketers who are looking to expand into international markets in 2021 should plan to research the region, or consult an agency partner prior to investing in international distribution. 2020 was a year of uncertainties, but 2021 doesn’t have to be that way – learn more about this year’s forecasted digital marketing trends here. The affiliate channel is full of opportunity, and by following the recommendations above, marketers can achieve incremental growth and increased ROI within their affiliate programs.

Looking to grow your affiliate program in 2021 but not sure where to start? Reach out now to Perform [cb] Agency’s team of affiliate marketing experts to learn how our team of affiliate experts can optimise and scale your program today.

The post How to Optimise Your Affiliate Programme in 2021 appeared first on PerformanceIN.

Ignoring customer needs and solely concentrating on outdated norms and ideas means one thing and one thing only – stereotypes do not sit well with today’s consumers, so they will take their business elsewhere.

There is a rise in gender-neutral pronouns being used, with 35% of Gen-Zers saying they know somebody who uses them, according to Pew research.

If company longevity and consumer loyalty is something a company focuses on, and if a business is attempting to focus on new customer acquisition, it is of paramount importance that they think towards the future and the needs of those customers.

With non-binary people already tackling poor understanding on a daily basis, marketers should not add to this, and supporting their customers in this way is incredible – but only if it comes from a place of authenticity.

How can Marketers change strategies to suit their consumers?

Marketers should ask themselves if they can do better than they are doing, and if so, they should come up with a plan.

According to marketing experts Dali Tembo and Jess Jorgensen, these are a few words that marketers should be incorporating into their strategies, for instance: non-binary, gender-neutral, gender-queer and non-conforming.

Marketer and LGBTQ+ advocate Mia Weston put together a helpful list of terms which can be used in general speak – it is making small adaptations like this which will allow your business to become more widely accepting and accommodating.

Mattell have not only been changing their marketing strategy to suit the terminology, but have also brought out gender-neutral dolls to cater to all customers interests. 

No matter the history or current stance of a business, it is essential that they stay up to date and adhere to what is standard and what will progress to be the norm, if they hope to continue to please present customers, as well as acquire new ones.

The post The Importance of Gender-Neutral Marketing appeared first on PerformanceIN.

With him, Lehne brings more than 30 years of industry experience. Previously, Lehne spent seven years at Google as Country Director Agency DACH, paving the way for the tech giant to quadruple revenues in Germany. He then went onto spend four years as Global CEO at SYZYGY, a publicly listed WPP company.

As Group CEO, Lehne will be leading company positioning and growth, including its operations in North America, driving the business strategy and further uniting the group across the globe. In addition to his new role, Lehne is a member of the advisory board of Yext, and betterplace.org, a Berlin based NGO. He’s also an Angel Investor in CLAIMINI GmbH.

Incubeta

Incubeta operates across 14 countries with offices in cities including London, New York, Los Angeles, Madrid, Sydney and Cape Town. In 2013 the highly successful Net Media Planet (NMPi) was acquired, which established significant growth for Incubeta as it boosted its advertising offerings.

The company then went onto acquire DQ&A in 2016, extending the company’s geographical and product growth. This was followed by the acquisition of market leading creative specialist, Joystick, in 2018. Through these acquisitions, Incubeta offers clients a full suite of unrivalled services connecting Media, Technology and Creative.

Incubeta has launched several new innovative platforms over the last twelve months. This has included the award-winning proprietary Seamless technology, including Seamless Search – which measures the incrementality of paid and organic SEO keywords – and Seamless Creative – which unifies media activity and creative assembly at scale. The company has also made a series of new appointments including senior hire John Cawdery as US CEO. 

Alan Lipschitz, Founder and Chairperson of the Board, said: “Having started a small South African business many years ago, I am so very proud of how far the company has come. By building a fantastic team around me and adding inspirational businesses from around the world, Incubeta has grown into a leading player in digital marketing services. The company is in a great place, yet I believe in order to accelerate pace and to meet the challenges of the future we need a different type of leader. 

“I have the utmost faith Lars is the leader the company needs to take Incubeta forward.”

Lars Lehne, Group CEO of Incubeta, commented: “I’m thrilled and honoured to be joining such a forward-thinking and innovative company. Incubeta has continued to grow during one of the most challenging years for the industry which is a testament to the quality and hard work of every team member across the globe. The company has flourished under Alan’s leadership and it’s a great privilege that he’s trusting me to take his dream forward. 

“I can’t wait to see what the next chapter for Incubeta looks like.”

The post Lars Lehne appointed as Group CEO of Incubeta appeared first on PerformanceIN.

The growth in data is across multiple geos and verticals to support the global user base. The developments have also provided for an improvement in app response to improve performance.

Partner Discovery Platform

Publisher Discovery, the leading affiliate discovery and recruiting platform is now available to advertisers via a number of network and SaaS platform partners, as an add-on to their toolsets,  for affiliate and partner discovery. These include partners such as Affiliate Future, TUNE, LinkConnector and Everflow, to help clients expand their relationships with affiliates, influencers and broader media partnerships.

“It’s exciting to see the rapid evolution of affiliate marketing into the broader inclusive category of Partner Marketing. This evolution, plus platform advancements, has opened up the amount of partnership opportunities available for brands while unlocking new opportunities for affiliates themselves to expand their reach and promotion methods”

Michael Cole, VP of Marketing, Everflow

Huge Increase in Data

The increase in affiliate numbers has been driven by advances in the identification and curation of the affiliate link data. The rise to over three million publisher websites is from analysis of over 2.7 billion affiliate links, referring through to over 460,000 advertisers worldwide.

The initial raw data is processed to eliminate dead links and websites to deliver the most relevant and valuable new potential affiliate partners, across over 80 market Verticals. The algorithm now also includes Trust Flow and Citation Flow scores for each of the affiliate websites, to further improve the relevance of results.

Michael Cole adds, “This rapid expansion in the number of affiliates and types of performance partners makes it increasingly important to build out processes for discovering and recruiting partners beyond traditional affiliate websites.”

Global Reach

The Publisher Discovery tools cover over 80 market verticals in all geos, so advertisers are able to search within markets. For instance looking at just FR or then DACH, or more widely again, SE Asia. 

As a global advertiser with teams in most geos, we value the ability to identify strong local partnership opportunities in each region and these tools make the identification of the most relevant and useful a lot simpler”.

Simon Stanley, Head of Affiliates, Kaspersky

See How it Works

The platform is designed to be simple to use and very quick to arrive at really actionable results. Users report a saving of several hours a week in the searching and assessing new potential affiliates. The AI behind this platform achieves not only this but accurately assesses the relevance of each publisher.

“Publisher Discovery has perfected my way of working when recruiting affiliates. They’ve managed to make account managers’ lives easier to determine which are the best results for a brand/advertiser.”

Stephon Anthony, Affiliate Executive, Master of Malt

For affiliate managers interested in trying Publisher Discovery, there is a free 7-day trial available on the website.

The post Tapping into Three Million Partner Opportunities appeared first on PerformanceIN.

Announcing the news in a blog post, Google CEO Sundar Pichai stated that the company will collectively pay some $1 billion to news publishers in licensing fees “to create and curate high-quality content” for new story panels that will appear on Google News. Initially, these will appear on Android devices and eventually also on Google News on iOS.

“This financial commitment — our biggest to date — will pay publishers to create and curate high-quality content for a different kind of online news experience. Google News Showcase is a new product that will benefit both publishers and readers: It features the editorial curation of award-winning newsrooms to give readers more insight on the stories that matter, and in the process, helps publishers develop deeper relationships with their audiences,” Pichai said.

Google News Showcase is rolling out first in Germany and Brazil before expanding to other markets. including India, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The company has already confirmed deals with 200 publications in Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Canada, the U.K. and Australia. The first publications to launch will be Der Spiegel, Stern, Die Zeit, Folha de S.Paulo, Band, Infobae, El Litoral, GZH, WAZ and SooToday.

This isn’t the first time Google has done a big push to support news publishers. Back in April, the tech giant waived ad serving fees for eligible publishers on its Ad Manager platform for five months, in addition to launching an emergency relief fund for small or local newsrooms in an attempt to support publishers financially during the Coronavirus pandemic.

Concluding in his blog post on Google’s commitment, Pichai added: “The business model for newspapers—based on ads and subscription revenue—has been evolving for more than a century as audiences have turned to other sources for news, including radio, television and later, the proliferation of cable television and satellite radio. The internet has been the latest shift, and it certainly won’t be the last. Alongside other companies, governments and civic societies, we want to play our part by helping journalism in the 21st century not just survive, but thrive.”

The post Google Launches Google News Showcase as it Sets to Pay Out $1 Billion to News Publishers appeared first on PerformanceIN.

With discussions ongoing, we’ve collated some thoughts from companies within the performance and digital advertising industry as brands ramp up their stance against Facebook.

Owen Hancock, marketing director, EMEA, Impact: “I think behind the central issue, which relates to powerful organisations’ responsibility to stem misinformation, there is another point here that we wouldn’t want to miss, and that is the kind of power Facebook wields. If Facebook and Google represent more than half of digital ad spend then we probably can’t expect them to put the wishes of advertisers first unless there is collective action to make the pain felt.

Whereas in the partnerships industry, where we have built a diverse ecosystem with hundreds of thousands of different partners, each has to be responsive to different advertisers’ needs. That seems to be a healthier, more harmonious model than two gigantic media owners whom brands need to boycott if they want their voices to be heard.”

Patrick Johnson, CEO and chairman, Hybrid Theory: “Marketers, quite rightly, want to ensure that their advertising appears within brand safe environments. Consumers expect brands to adhere to their values and how and where advertising is seen is no different. It’s therefore understandable that brands have taken a much stronger position regarding the context around their advertising.”

“Brand safety has always been of paramount importance to brands, so it’s not surprising brands like Starbucks are boycotting Facebook. Other programmatic media has maintained stringent brand safety measures in place, while social media platforms brands often provide little to no control over what their advertising will appear next to. Social media platforms need to adopt the best capabilities of more open channels to assuage the fear of brands, or marketers will find other channels to invest in.”

Craig Tuck, chief revenue Officer, The Ozone Project: “Yet, while the current boycott is a very real issue for both social platforms and advertisers, it appears that today’s climate has accelerated a move by marketers which has long been in the offing. The major societal shifts we’ve seen as a result of the pandemic and the need to tackle rising hate speech have been met head on with some major challenges in digital advertising around brand safety, compliance and accountability. In many ways it’s created the perfect storm for advertiser reappraisal,”

“There’s no denying that platforms like Facebook can offer advertisers a very powerful growth channel when used in the right way, but there have long been questions over the impact of the company’s dominance, particularly when combined with that of Google, on the wider advertising ecosystem. Even before we went into lockdown, advertisers and their agencies were acknowledging the part they had to play in creating a sustainable media industry that provides quality, trusted environments for brand advertising to appear in. It appears now more than ever that advertisers are realising the responsibility – and power – they have to instigate the change they want to see.”

Ben Segal, VP of Americas, MainAd: “Brand safety and addressability are two fundamental concerns that Facebook has repeatedly refused to address. This underlies a root problem in the lack of transparency of a walled garden. The company should take a hard look at its methods from a tactical perspective or this brand boycott will have lasting effects. There is a big imbalance between time in walled gardens at 34% vs. ad spend of 64%. Brands should seriously consider both the value of the supply and their ability to control their first-party data, track measurement, and optimise performance. Google supports it; Facebook can too.”

Matthew Goldhill, CEO, Picnic: “This boycott will be a flash in the pan, generating lots of headlines but ultimately having a negligible effect on Facebook’s revenue and profits. With it’s great formats, slick apps and the highest quality audience targeting, Facebook has built undoubtedly the best advertising platform in the world – brands can take a temporary stand against Facebook’s feed of UGC, click-bait hate speech posts but at one point they will understandably need to prioritise media effectiveness again. For the boycott to last, media owners will need to replicate what makes Facebook so effective (the formats, slick inventory and high quality targeting etc) and provide opportunities that are as effective as Facebook but don’t fund hate.”

The post Industry Comments on The Facebook Ad Boycott appeared first on PerformanceIN.

The announcements and boycott movement follows weeks of increasing tensions between advertisers and Facebook over its content-moderation policies since the killing of George Floyd while in police custody spurred global calls to end racism and police brutality.

However, generally speaking, misinformation or viral “fake news” on the social media network has been a persistent issue for quite some time and this has flared up even more since COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter global protests following the events last month in the US.

“The increased momentum of the global Black Lives Matter movement during the last month has rightly drawn attention to the responsibility of media owners and publishers to protect and accurately inform readers and users,” said David Bedford, head of digital strategy at Cheil UK.

“As a result of its policing of hate speech, Facebook is now confronted with its largest-ever advertiser boycott. It’s not the first time we’ve seen advertising spend pulled momentarily – and it certainly won’t be the last.”

Too little too late?

As reported via the BBC this morning, Facebook has taken steps amid growing pressure from brands and civil rights groups around misinformation and hate speech by launching a campaign to help people spot fake news.

Steve Hatch, Facebook’s vice president for Northern Europe, said to the BBC, the media literacy campaign launched with fact-checkers FullFact is evidence that the company is “listening and adapting”.

But some have argued Facebook’s effort to tackle this ongoing issue is “too little, too late“.

“In line with the other great strides many brands are taking to address their own messaging and products in the context of a world fixated on important societal issues, brands are also reviewing where they advertise with equal importance,” added Bedford.

“This boycott is indicative of an increasing need for advertisers to not only push back on and try to instigate change from the media publishers and social media owners themselves, but to also self-reflect as an industry and think about how to improve the ways they communicate with consumers,” Bedford concluded.

The post Over 100 Brands Join Facebook Ad Boycott as Growing Pressure Continues appeared first on PerformanceIN.

According to data from the Association of Online Publishers (AOP) and Deloitte’s quarterly report, based on 21 UK digital publishers comprising 15 B2C publishers and six B2B publishers, digital publishing revenues declined to £131.1m in Q4 2019, a 6.2% fall in comparison to Q4 2018.

Meanwhile, revenue from subscriptions and sponsorship rose by 24% and 10% respectively in the last quarter of 2019 compared to the same quarter in 2018. However, growth in these areas failed to offset significant declines in display advertising and recruitment, which were down by 22% and 20% respectively.

Just over half (53%) of publishers reported revenue increases in Q4 2019, down from 58% who said the same in Q4 2018.

The proportion of publishers reporting high growth, however, grew year-on-year, with 24% reporting growth in excess of 25%, a rise from 16% who reported the same in Q4 2018.

Total digital revenue was down by 6.3% in 2019 compared to 2018, primarily driven by a significant downturn in advertising display formats of almost 18%, and a smaller decline in online video at just under 7%.

However, there was positive news with subscriptions seeing a near 16% increase, partially offsetting the impact of the decline in advertising revenue.

“As households and business leaders remain cautious of discretionary spending during COVID-19, communicating the value of subscriptions will be fundamental in ensuring revenue growth in the year ahead. In the longer term, subscription revenue will grow in importance as a solid bedrock for publishers looking to diversify their business models,” commented Dan Ison, lead partner for Telecommunications, Media and Entertainment at Deloitte.

According to a survey of AOP board members on the year ahead, taken as the implications of COVID-19 were becoming clear, the proportion of AOP board members confident in the financial prospects of the digital publishing industry dropped by 80 percentage-points from the previous quarter, reflecting the uncertainty across the industry.

Similarly, the proportion of participants confident about the financial prospects of their organisation’s digital business fell by 93%.

The survey also found significant shifts in digital publishing strategies. 60% now cite advertising revenue growth, non-advertising revenue growth and cost reduction as a high priority for their business over the next 12-months. 

In comparison in Q1 2019, 100% cited non-advertising revenue growth as a high priority, while 67% were prioritising cost reduction and the introduction of new products, services or expansion. Just 40% cited the introduction of new products, services or expansion as a priority in the latest member survey.

“Publisher plans in 2019 looked primed on diversifying revenue sources in 2020, but a difficult Q4 2019, and tougher times ahead indicate this is to be stifled as publishers retract to their core services,” said Richard Reeves, managing director at AOP.

“While digital publishers have been seeing great audience figures during the global pandemic, this has not been matched with advertising revenue coming in and so we expect to see publishers place a greater emphasis on alternative revenue streams such as e-commerce to compensate. Collaboration has always been to key to addressing industry challenges, and in difficult times we often see true innovation. With seismic change on the cards, digital publishing could well reshape for the better over the next 12-months,” he added.

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