Blogbook
A recent report from Distil Networks indicates that even as the world’s digital spend is hit new records – at $27.5 billion for just the first half of 2015 – ad fraud costs the industry an estimated $18.5 billion annually.
“There are different types of mobile fraud happening,” said David Sendroff, CEO of Forensiq. “In some cases, they are faking mobile traffic. And in other cases, they are hijacking devices and filling ads in the background.”
The main problem is nonhuman (bot) traffic vs ‘real’ human traffic:
Rampant ad fraud has led to 37% of advertisers saying they are willing to pay a premium of 11% or more for certified, human traffic, according to the report.
“If advertisers are measuring things only humans can do, like pulling out a credit card and paying for something, then the ad networks are going to have every incentive to kick bot traffic out,” Mr. Epstein added. “But when they are basing their spend on page views, the networks have the perverse incentive to allow that relatively fake, cheap traffic to exist in their network.”
And platforms like Facebook are responding:
Ad fraud may eventually turn into a manageable nuisance like shoplifting, something that companies learn to control without ever eradicating. Advertisers generally see lower levels of fraudulent traffic by dealing directly with publishers rather than using programmatic exchanges. Of course, that also means missing out on the scale that automation provides. Sites such as Facebook, with its billion-plus users, are relatively bot-free, if expensive, places to run an ad. Earlier this year, Facebook said advertisers would have to pay only when their ads are actually seen by humans.
This Shiseido ad titled “High School Girl?” has a great twist. From Adweek:
[T]he ad closes with a shot of Shiseido makeup casually splayed around a piece of binder paper, upon which is written a tagline that’s almost too simple for an ad that’s otherwise so interesting: “Anyone can be cute.”
If you watch the ad again, you can appreciate the quiet subtlety with which it shows its hand: It’s less of a reveal than a call to be more attentive. The opening scene, for example, focuses not on the teacher but on what she is holding: An image of a piece of art depicting a woman. This image is flipped at the end to reflect how easily we can be fooled once we’ve looked at something, decided what it is, and moved on.
Here’s the making of video:
Before Google, there was the New York Public Library – and others. The NYPL recently discovered a box of telephone enquiries from the 1940s to the 1980s, and they’ve been sharing them on their Instagram. Some of our favourites:
Legitimate question.
Trolling predates the Internet.
Art trivia.
Check out their Instagram page for more (and other cool stuff).
About the NYPL
Via their website:
The New York Public Library has been an essential provider of free books, information, ideas, and education for all New Yorkers for more than 100 years. Founded in 1895, NYPL is the nation’s largest public library system, featuring a unique combination of 88 neighborhood branches and four scholarly research centers, bringing together an extraordinary richness of resources and opportunities available to all.
Serving more than 17 million patrons a year, and millions more online, the Library holds more than 51 million items, from books, e-books, and DVDs to renowned research collections used by scholars from around the world. Housed in the iconic 42nd Street library and three other research centers, NYPL’s historical collections hold such treasures as Columbus’s 1493 letter announcing his discovery of the New World, George Washington’s original Farewell Address, and John Coltrane’s handwritten score of “Lover Man.”
The Rick Hansen Foundation is trying to change the conversation on disabilities by changing attitudes, creating accessible spaces and inspiring a more inclusive society. Established in 1988, following the completion of Rick Hansen’s Man In Motion World Tour, the foundation raises funds and awareness to create a world without barriers for people with disabilities. More about the Foundation:
Over nearly 30 years, we have worked diligently to achieve real change through collaboration, partnerships and teamwork, inspired by Rick Hansen’s original dream to liberate the amazing potential of people with disabilities. While we have made great strides towards creating an accessible and inclusive world, our work is not yet done. Join our global movement to ensure that everyone has an equal chance at participating fully in life.
[Our mission is] to inspire leaders, influencers and the public to join Rick Hansen in creating a global movement to remove barriers and liberate the amazing potential of people with disabilities.
Today, there are more than 1.3 billion people living with some form of a disability, and the numbers are growing. Around the world, people with disabilities not only face physical barriers but also attitudinal, social and economic barriers that limit their full participation in life.
The Westin hotel chain has partnered with McSweeney’s to create a hilarious campaign – the Out of Office Generator. The generator creates quirky OOO messages – as well as short videos for you to share on social media. Great satirical left-of-field campaign. It’s part of the hotel chain’s multi-million dollar “You Need Better Vacation Days” campaign launch. Via Reuters:
“Americans are taking fewer and fewer vacation days. So Westin has doubled its investment in the brand’s resorts campaign this year to remind guests that vacation days are only as good as you make them; and at Westin, guests leave feeling better than they did when they arrived,” said Bob Jacobs, Vice President, Brand Management, Westin Hotels & Resorts. “Launching with The Out of Office Generator will hopefully put vacation back in the minds of travelers and be responsible for a few laughs along the way.”
With an investment of more than $4 million in print and digital advertising over the next 12 months, the new campaign captures ski and sun resort destinations and the moments that reconnect guests when they stay at Westin Hotels & Resorts; for instance, paddle boarding near The Westin Maui Resort & Spa, Ka’anapali, skiing slope side at The Westin Snowmass Resort or hiking over beach dunes adjacent to The Westin Hilton Head Island Resort & Spa. These print vignettes will also come to life as 15 second videos on Westin’s social media platforms as well as on Delta flights throughout the country.
Yesterday the second Star Wars Force Awakens trailer was released, and the internet again went into collective convulsions (We did too… in the agency…) The online pre-sales of tickets has been, perhaps unsurprisingly, massive: though whether it’s all part of Disney’s considered marketing strategy or just the massive appeal of the Star Wars franchise itself, who knows.
Disney is the master of promotion, marketing, storytelling—and this is its moment. Nothing is left up to chance. “Everything that we have done to date has been extremely deliberate,” Iger said. “And we have an extremely carefully constructed and deliberate plan going forward.”
“All they do is release a poster and the Internet goes nuts,” Phil Contrino, vice president and chief analyst at BoxOffice.com says. “When they put out a trailer, its pandemonium. They’re releasing toys from a movie no one’s even seen yet.”
Other brands have tapped in, from Target’s Share the Force to Walmart. Recently, Campbell Soup created a minor online controversy for its use of a family with two fathers (Why is this still controversial in 2015?):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rZOMY2sOnE
and Kraft has tapped in too, with two similar ads:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7roF7YNzAgs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ov6-F92TQug
and the Star Wars Battlefront game has also upped the ante:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mByznNYCWTY
No doubt we’ll hit peak saturation around November. But we’re still prebooking our tickets.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVebChGtLlY
Happy Back to the Future Day! Here’s an ad from Toyota. Via Adweek:
In the seminal 1989 film Back to the Future II, Marty McFly and Doc Brown take a trip from the 1980s to the future date of Oct. 21, 2015. They travel in a junky DeLorean that Doc Brown, played by Christopher Lloyd, rigs to be powered by fuel cell technology. Now, Toyota has a variation of the hydrogen fuel cell technology the film predicted. It powers the new Mirai model, and the automaker reunited Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd to promote it.
Toyota wasn’t the only company that tried to capitalise on Back to the Future Day. Product Placement was everywhere, from Nike’s Self Lacing Shoes (reminiscent of Marty’s shoes in the film) which are actually commercially available now to a select few, Ford’s (fictional) flux capacitor, and Pepsi, which came out with a svelte version of its bottle just for the day (costing an incredible $20.15, what even… future inflation?). Universal put out a mock ad about a hoverboard, rubbing salt into the wounds of those people who are still hoping for a functional one that doesn’t explode. And of course, Lyft offered rides to New Yorkers in DeLoreans, in partnership with Verizon.
Google France has launched a mobile-first interactive campaign inviting people to explore Paris during “Les Heures Magiques“, created with 72andSunny Amsterdam. To access the program, check out the link using mobile. Adweek notes:
For 31 nights, the interactive, mobile-first campaign will invite Parisians—and tourists—to rediscover the City of Light with a variety of after-sunset activities.
Activities include a lit-up bike ride through Paris’ darkened streets, insect-based cooking (cleverly dubbed “Crunchy Crickets”!), an underwater music show, and a neon safari, where you can tour the retro neon signs that color Paris’ bars and clubs.
More on the Magic Hours, via News Verite:
The campaign is a charming way to experience the vibrant, creative dynamism of Paris, which is often written off as a dying museum city. It’s also one in a number of recent efforts to reinvigorate interest in city activities; others include last month’s no-car day , initiated by Mayor Anne Hidalgo, and Airbnb’s Halloween sleepover sweepstakes in the Catacombs, dubbed by some as the Empire of Death . To access the program, visit the Magic Hours website via mobile, where you’ll find different activities nested within Google Maps . The mobile positioning is practical for both non-locals and townies; France has among the highest smartphone penetrations in Europe, with 81 percent of people from 18-24 carrying one , and 26 percent of 60-69-year-olds as of last year. Parisians will also see a lot of social coverage, courtesy of WeAreSocial.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KgJuiXpsrM
This hilarious Mercedes-Benz ad gives kids un-crashable toy cars – and films the consequences. The cars had heavy-duty magnets installed, promoting the company’s Brake Assist System PLUS. The kids were… less than pleased with the result (Although we did like the enterprising kid who lifted up the car hood to see what was ‘wrong’), or, as Autoweek put it, ‘Mercedes-Benz Develops New Way to Frustrate Children’, courtesy of the Jung von Matt/Alster ad agency in Germany.
Mercedes-Benz has gone very left of field for ads before, notably with the ‘Magic Body Control’ Chicken ad:
This is Al Gore’s Open Letter to world leaders, calling for action on climate change. The ad is timed to appear ahead of COP21, the United Nations Climate Change conference in Paris next month. Viewers can help amplify the message by signing onto the Climate Reality petition.
“Will our film make a difference? Maybe not,” Bullock says. “But if it’s part of a weight or landslide of requests from people that build pressure on world leaders, then I am happy to throw our symbolic straw on the camel’s back.”
What is COP21 and why is it important? CNBC has a Special Report:
Described by its organisers as “crucial”, COP21 will see the world’s leaders, scientists, pressure groups and United Nations agencies attempt to thrash out, “a new international agreement on the climate, applicable to all countries, with the aim of keeping global warming below 2 degrees Celsius.”
[…]
“With global mean temperature rising above 2 degrees centigrade, the risk for triggering large-scale changes in the Earth system, so-called tipping points, increases disproportionately and with it the very possibility to adapt to a changing environment,” Daniel Klingenfeld, head of director’s staff at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, told CNBC via email.
Other ways you can help:
Donating to transparent organisations like the Rainforest Trust.
Check out other high impact organisations on lists like this and this.