“Millennials and Post-Millennials do not hate advertising — but they do hate experiences that slow them down.”
- Shahar Erez, SVP, Chief Product Officer of marketing tech company Kenshoo, explains how advertising will soon become contextual, more appropriate — and more effective.
- “If advertising is part of an experience the consumer wants, then they are open to advertising!”
- Where does your audience live? And how can you talk to them in a way that they don’t want to ignore?
You don’t need to like, or know much, about something for it to be a key part of your life.
You may not know much about art, but you know what you like. And advertising is something you can try to ignore, but you’ll absorb it anyway. Whatever your opinion on online advertising — teeth-gnashing annoyance, easily ignorable fluff, or pragmatically-acceptable things that enable media you enjoy — you can’t fully wash your hands of it.
If you have ever wondered: “wait, if ads were actually enjoyable, I would mind them a lot less — so why don’t they make them like that?” then you might be interested to know that one of the biggest advertising tech companies wants that, too.
Shahar Erez is SVP, Chief Product Officer at Kenshoo, a marketing technology company that powers $350 billion in sales. Even if you don’t know Kenshoo, you will have seen online advertising delivered by their technology.
We recently spoke to Ayelet Noff, Founder of Blonde 2.0 about the intricacies of smartups marketing themselves to the media; in this exclusive interview, Shahar describes the other part of marketing: into the seeming void of the internet, to a huge number of people at once.
Shahar gave a fascinating talk at TOA 2016 (below), connecting his own experience as a MTV-watching teenager with today’s post-post millennials, and then later expanded on this in a one-on-one Q&A.
At TOA, Shahar mentioned an old advertising truism: “50% of my marketing works, and 50% doesn’t — but I don’t know which 50% is which.” He hopes that AI, big data, and the increased sophistication with which platforms shuffle advertising and content together will nibble away at this old uncertainty — and mean that the marketing you see might always make you happy…
TOA.life: “Big Data” is both an essential tool and a catch-all buzzword. Despite the usefulness of Big Data, is there one datapoint that can be used to make vital decisions when marketing to post-millennials?
Shahar Erez, Kenshoo: Behaviour is not driven by a single piece of data: in fact, the promise of big data is that we can build a more accurate understanding of the interests and needs of our audience by correlating more pieces of data over time.
But one type of data — of undeniable usefulness — is understanding how our audiences prefer to be messaged on mobile devices. Traditional digital one-to-one channels like email are on the decline as more of our messaging becomes faster and contextual; to segmented digital tribes.
Our different ways of engaging with Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, and Slack speak volumes about our variety of interests, and the complex range of needs and personas we are all adopting on a daily basis.
Marketers can understand and collect data in-store and online, but the majority of our digital personas are in messaging systems that are firewalled — for good reason — from the e-commerce storefronts.
In the future, assuming that the many issues of data security and privacy are in place, these messaging personas will likely provide the most insightful understanding of the mental environment, social needs, and the digital interests of our core customers.
Everything that you do is a signal — how quickly you swipe through shopping ads on Google, for example, is an expression of your interest.
TOA.life: What is the holy grail of Big Data from a marketing perspective? If you could have access to any data point to add to the mix, what would it be?
SE: Don’t think about this in terms of Big Data, but in terms of signals. Everything that you do is a signal — how quickly you swipe through shopping ads on Google, for example, is an expression of your interest.
The Holy Grail is the signal of need. Search marketing has been so effective because it places ads close to a probable moment of digital conversion. As more of our interactions become digital and mobile, it is desirable to understand this signal of need earlier in the consumer’s journey.
TOA.life: So do you see any technology on the horizon that may be a source of exciting new “signals”?
SE: Social advertising has made headway in developing direct-response advertising that targets earlier stages of consideration through signals of interest.
Voice recognition devices like Amazon Echo can take these signals and market to people based on what they are asking Alexa to do for them.
New experiments in blending search and social signals together by companies like Facebook and Pinterest are indicating that attenuating these signals may deliver even more relevant and appreciated advertising.
Publishers are tuning the ad load to levels that retain audience, and ad formats are increasingly becoming “layered” to reduce negative impact of uninteresting ads.
TOA.life: While it’s possible to advertise on Snapchat and Instagram, plenty of “normal” posts are essentially adverts too, in the form of sponsored posts via influencers.
Is this savvy younger audience hyper-aware of advertising? How does a marketer broadcast a message to an audience who assume that much of what they see is “advertising” in one way or another?
SE: Essentially, if advertising is part of an experience the consumer wants, then they are open to advertising!
Millennials and Post-Millennials are indeed hyper aware — hence the growth of native advertising forms (where search and paid in-stream social ads receive the majority of ad spend). Publishers are tuning the ad load to levels that retain audience, and ad formats are increasingly becoming “layered” to reduce negative impact of uninteresting ads (e.g. Snap Ads that have an optional short video on front, but can also reveal post-play swipe-initiated CTAs if there is interest).
As more and more time is spent in-app, publishers learn more about which brands and ad types are preferred by their audience, and optimise the delivery to maximise interest.
TOA.life: This same younger audience seeks authenticity, relatability and behind-the-scenes intimacy — whether from a celebrity, friend or brand.
A recent Kenshoo survey indicated that Millennials are comfortable chatting to brands via messaging services. How does traditional, “overt”, message-driven advertising fit with this audience?
SE: Millennials and Post-Millennials have grown up with more digital ad impressions from free software than any other audience segment. They do not hate advertising — but they do hate experiences that slow them down, or are not relevant to their context.
Authenticity is related to “appropriateness”. Today’s native ads are driven by clear signals from the consumer about their interests or intents, and these are shifting the ad impression to a more authentic and relevant timing.
Coupled with this is an increasing adoption of rich visual product imagery and optional video content that’s focused on brand storytelling. Together, relevant timing and content is continuing to grow the effectiveness of this form of advertising.
The best agencies in the world have not been able to figure out a repeatable formula for virality, but it could strike for a talented 20 year old and make him or her the latest “30 second” sensation.
TOA.life: Can a creative 20 year old with a small budget still create a “campaign” on Snapchat (and other platforms) to rival a big-budget campaign, or is this no longer the case? Snapchat, for instance, now has multiple options to weave intriguing advertising content in with snaps.
SE: Social ads spread as far as the advertising budget allows…but “viral” organic shares can increase the effective reach when ads are particularly compelling or entertaining to their core audience.
The best agencies in the world have not been able to figure out a repeatable formula for virality, but it could strike for a talented 20 year old and make him or her the latest “30 second” sensation.
TOA.life: Finally — if this younger audience prefers to experience a long-term, slow-burn, relationship-building approach, does this affect measurement of a marketing message’s impact?
SE: Long term relationship building through social listening, content marketing, customer service and loyalty programs are still vital… but increasingly social messaging is pay-to-play.
Ad budgets to drive leads, amplify brand values, and promote hot products are not going away, and with multiple in-app experiences engaging customers for longer chunks of time, the need for integrated consistent cross-publisher advertising is becoming more important.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.
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