For all the Marketers and Brands in Australia, here’s a recap of the highlights and hot topics from APAC ADWEEK 2023.
Measurement is important. But somethings can’t be measured.
The new, the never been done before, or not yet tested. Data is important at the beginning for the strategy and at the end for performance and measurement. Creativity is the middle piece and shouldn’t be data-driven.
Your media investment is only as effective as the creative you use.
Creativity is the difference between good and bad marketing.
We’re moving from opt-out to an opt-in world.
There’s a lot of talk re: deprecation of cookies, new privacy legislation coming in next year and use of first party data are factors that will change our landscape.
Brands will need a first party data strategy.
Brands will have to work a lot harder to create meaningful relationships to get their audience to opt-in. Collaboration and partnerships will be key to share first party data. Will create powerful personalised omni-channel experiences. Data clean room will connect first data points from different brands for one customer view.
Pay greater attention to attention.
When considering attention, consider platform, content, and length of ad. When do we have their attention? When they’re waiting for their Uber Eats delivery or checking on its whereabouts? If so, what other brand opportunities can we serve up? (ie. You’re one Netflix episode of <insert series> from receiving your order).
Not all impressions are created equal.
Again, some may pay more attention to your ad than others for reasons which are hard to measure.
Attribution is key.
Where possible, make sure you can directly attribute which Marketing activity delivers which results.
Big Brands need to act like media businesses to open up more revenue opportunities.
These advertising/revenue opportunities then help to fund other Marketing activities and budget. QANTAS is a great example of how they’re selling media placement to other brands and generating revenue which then provides budget for QANTAS branded activities.
Content should be in your marketing plan.
But it needs to be quality and relevant. Great strategy + great content. Then amplify what’s working. Differentiation is more important than ever as we see a flood of content.
Email marketing still has the greatest ROI
$42 for every $1 spent. Still most powerful when done well.
Different channels have different effectiveness over time.
Youtube has a longer performance tail.
Keep it simple.
Are we targeting the right customer at the right time with the right proposition?
Test & Learn. Exploit and Explore.
This was a common phrase over the 2 days. Things are evolving so quickly, we need to exploit what we know but also feel comfortable experimenting with the new. Test and learn gives us the opportunity to forever innovate and improve.
Where do we point the money for media?
“It’s all about reach, it’s as simple as that. Why do we over-complicate it for ourselves?” Russel Howcroft
No $$?
Own a single medium. Hyper target.(I would also add to this ‘mean more to fewer people ie. your most valuable potential or existing customers’ Long-term brand loyalty provides long-term profits)
We need to think retail media beyond the grocer.
Reach + Frequency + Closed Loop Insights
Think of where and how people shop and move upstream to identify triggers earlier (ie. Visit to the Baby shop may mean they’re potentially in the market for an SUV purchase for expanding family). Retail data is useful for upper and lower funnel.
CX Journey Measures
Different phases of your customers’ CX journey must have different KPIs and objectives to move your customers through.
The value of Fandom.
Fluid Fans have 7.6 passions, their investment is skin deep, and they present long-term brand value. Enter fandom with authenticity and relevance. Show interest in their interest, engage more quickly and they’ll bring you into their tribe. People don’t want to be another number. Create that emotional connection, convey an understanding of them, and they’ll be more receptive, and will build deeper, stronger relationships. Real opportunities exist at real passion points. Another great opportunity for brand collaboration around passion (ie. Fast food + Gaming).
Sport is big business.
More opportunities than ever for athletes to monetise their brand as a media business. What constitutes sport? Kayo’s definition is customer-centric – if customers want to pay for it, then it’s a sport. Hot dog eating competitions included!
Take part. Don’t take over.
When collaborating with influencers, leave flexibility to co-create. They know their audience and what their audience expects of them. Be respectful of that. Ask the questions “what story are you trying to tell?” Remember it’s a social platform. “How do you tell it authentically?” “How can we pull/hook into audience in the first few seconds?” Influencers should be a long-term partner and a great platform/opportunity to help brands experiment.
Marketing is growth.
The business outcome from Marketing is directly correlated to growth. In times of economic uncertainty, it makes no sense for a business to want to intentionally slow or negatively impact its growth by cutting back on the Marketing function.
Pitch process undervalues what we do.
No other industry is expected to give away their work or ideas for free. Why do we continue to undermine our value by giving away our ideas for free?
People don’t want to see ads.
92% people prefer their friends over ads
88% people prefer peer reviews over ads
74% people prefer word of mouth over ads.
Only 11% say ads can be enjoyable.
Learning: Don’t dish up another shit ad.
We are exposed to 10k advertisements per day. Our attention span is 8 seconds.
Whatever you do, it needs to be good.
Half of what we do is magic.
If we’re always going down a data hole, we often miss that.
Experimentation is a big part of what we do. Sometimes we still need to take a creative leap. The best Marketers trust their instincts even if data doesn’t support it.
