Sean Simon
Published on November 18, 2020
The Power of Learning:
Learning is the theme of the week over here at Cogent. Actually, it’s a constant theme over here. Things change so quickly in our industry, and at Cogent, we prioritize staying on top of those changes for our members. AdWeek is a great source for microlearning. The clip linked here explains how microlearning is a great tool for message retention.
The Surprising Impact Of Retail Advertising Investment For Brands
Published on Forbes
As advertising dollars have shifted from traditional media to digital platforms run by retailers, consumer product brands have speculated that there is a ‘halo effect’ happening – boosting sales far beyond the online retailers where the brand is advertising their products.
It’s the offline sales growth in particular that vindicates eCommerce leaders at retail brands – something that many had suspected, but had not been validated across the industry. For one household cleaning brand, media mix modelling confirmed that for every $1 spent online as a result of Amazon advertising, $7 were spent offline. The analysis also confirmed that for every $1 spent online as a result of Walmart retail media advertising, $10 were spent offline.
A Cogent Thought:
Consumers are shifting their shopping behavior online within non-traditional ecommerce categories (such as groceries). The data noted in this study should give brands hope that they can still control their own destiny via the digital shelf. When brands spend marketing dollars with retailers, they benefit from that exposure across online and offline channels, not just the retailer they advertise with. In fact, the greatest impact of online retail advertising is seen offline across all of their retail channels. The question for brands though will be “What about my 1st party data?” Brands should still try and find ways to capture this data, and use it to build brand loyalty and acquire new customers.
A Cogent Thought:
DOOH is another old channel that’s new again. This industry was quicker than others to adopt digital technologies to help bring it into a new era. If I say OOH and you just think of billboards along the side of the road, you have some catching up to do. It’s true that many static billboards along the side of the road are being digitized for easier updating, targeting, and measurement. However, there are dozens of types of screens that are considered OOH and can now be married with roadside billboards and digital campaigns. DOOH is also giving brands a way to get more mileage out of their video ads in places like restaurants, sporting venues, and shopping centers. To get the most out of your DOOH efforts, you need to think about it like you think about your digital campaigns in general. Mobile location data is the key to targeting and measurement, so make sure you put the right people in charge of these efforts before you fall behind. Don’t be afraid of OOH because of measurement concerns. Lift studies can and should be run to validate the impact on your business’ bottom line.
Digital Out-of-Home: A Re-Emerging Medium for Franchise Brands
written by Franchising.com
Digital out-of-home is what you might call a “re-emerging medium.”
You can’t call it an “emerging medium” because it’s signage, the oldest form of advertising there is.
“Re-emerging,” however, is appropriate because digital out-of-home has caught up to modern ad standards. And it will be a critical way to connect with re-emerging consumers getting out and about in 2021 after the quarantine of 2020.
What is digital out-of-home? Often abbreviated as DOOH, it includes digital billboards of all sizes, as well as specialized placements like office building elevators, gas station pumps, taxis, and doctors’ offices. Industry estimates are that about one-third of all out-of-home inventory is digital.
Podcasts: Understanding Lift Results
written by SoundsProfitable
Determining the success of a campaign is not an easy task. In podcasting, one style of reporting has received the lion’s share of attention: the campaign lift report.
Lift studies and their cousin attribution reporting (which I’ll explain in a later edition) are increasing in popularity and will continue to be a driving factor in bringing in additional ad dollars to podcasting. And while clients always like it when the arrow on their reports goes up and to the right, I need to break down the details of lift reports to make sure you fully understand how they work so you can, in turn, explain them to your client and win another campaign.
A Cogent Thought:
Measurement in every channel is complex. The more channels we add (podcasts, CTV, DOOH, Social) combined with barriers (walled gardens, CCPA, GDPR, cookies, IDFA), the more difficult measurement becomes. Just because it’s difficult doesn’t mean we shouldn’t expand our media plans to include new channels. As we mentioned last week, advertisers need to continue to follow the eyeballs (or ears), wherever they might be. Last year influencer marketing took off, but was also the most difficult channel to measure. Brands proved that they weren’t scared of leveraging a channel where measurement was difficult. In our experience, no matter what an industry tries to push on you, lift is the holy grail. If 1+1 doesn’t = 2, something is wrong with your analysis. Bad math works when your organization is siloed, so don’t let organizational structure get in your way of good math.
A Cogent Thought:
In order to remain competitive, online and offline experiences must “wow” the consumer. In my mind, the “wow” factor is a scalable term, but something every retailer needs to consider when they envision their consumers experiences in the future. It won’t be enough to just create a great product. The purchase experience will be as much a part of your brand as the products themselves. No retailer understands this better than Starbucks. Long before the pandemic, Starbucks understood that their customers didn’t just want a cup of coffee, they wanted a personalized experience. Most people don’t just order a latte. My wife’s order is a Grande Iced Oat Milk Latte with extra oat milk and extra ice. My drink of choice is a Grande Triple Blonde Americano. As other coffee shops caught on to the customization trend, Starbucks needed to continue to innovate. Mobile ordering was ahead of its time, and is now the primary reason we choose Starbucks over other coffee shops, even though we may like the other shop’s coffee better. The point is that brands need to innovate beyond the product, and they have to be unique. You can look to your competition for ideas, but copying them won’t be enough. Your customers are unique (or at least they want to feel that way) so make them feel special, online and off.
Technology saving retail businesses from going under
written by Marketing Land
The pandemic is changing the game for retail, and fast. Not only is the competition fiercer than ever before, but the coronavirus has been the cause of a dramatic decrease in in-store traffic, making it difficult for retailers to stand out from the crowd.
There is considerable pressure on retailers to deliver greater shopping experiences than ever before. The COVID crisis has completely altered the way we shop and what we buy. Consumer shopping habits have shifted away from voluntary items like vacations, clothes and luxury cars to necessities such as groceries and household essentials. In fact, many popular clothing retailers have been forced into closure or bankruptcy since the pandemic hit earlier this year. Inditex, the company behind fashion retailer Zara, made headlines back in June for closing 1200 traditional stores around the world, with the majority concentrated in Asia and Europe, in an attempt to boost online sales.
Cogent Takeaways:
November Retail Sales Aren’t As Ominous As You Think.
Jason’s article in Forbes, recapping the results we’ve seen through November.
Consumer Trends 2021 report – Dan Frommer’s recap of 2020 consumer trends (highly recommended).
- Brick & Mortar Sales up 2.4%
- Online Sales up 47%
- Apparel down 20%
- Dept stores down 10%
- Luxury down 21%
- Furniture / Furnishings up 16%
- DIY up 14%
- Grocery up 7%
Aletheia has a refreshing approach to how an agency should approach solution providers for its brand partners. Chris is focused on finding the best solutions to grow their clients businesses in a transparent way. It’s easy to suggest Google and Facebook in today’s world, but Chris looks beyond the obvious and worries about what matters most to his clients (which is usually growth and ROI). Chris has been the perfect partner since joining the Cogent Collective. He has taken the time to research and evaluate almost every single technology partner Cogent has brought to its members. In his own words, “Working with Cogent has been an enlightening experience. We see plenty of potential in the innovative ad technology they have brought to the table. We will look to 2021 to turn these innovations into solutions that can work for us.”
