On 25 April 2019, experts from from the agencies and tech providers at the forefront of innovation in the industry and digital marketers at some of the best brands in the business, descended upon the Emirates Stadium for an insightful and informative day at the Figaro Digital Marketing Summit. With 1-2-1 meetings to form and build new business connections and presentations covering current topics ranging from going local to using search to target Generation Z, it was a day of insight and inspiration. Here we take a look at some of the presentations from the day. Stay tuned for part two in the coming weeks.
If you were unable to attend the summit, or would just like to watch the presentations again, you can catch up on all the talks on our website. If you would like any of the slides shown in the presentations, please email slides@figarodigital.co.uk.
Why Winning At The Local Level Is Priority For Big Brands
When consumers search for products or services, they expect to see local results. A staggering 46 per cent of all searches have a local intent (Google), and gone are (should be) the days when consumers have to search, ‘McDonald’s near me’, rather than being automatically served the correct local information and sent to a localised landing page on their website. Google and Facebook are constantly personalising CX more and more depending on WHERE consumers are – giving local brands a louder voice. And with two out of three smartphone users being more likely to purchase from companies whose mobile sites or apps customise information to their location, it seems like a no brainer that brands – no matter the size – need to focus on optimising their online presence for local.
All brands – big and small – need to start bringing their brands down to the local level. When done successfully it delivers outrageous results, from doubling in-store traffic to significantly growing e-commerce sales. During his presentation, Koen Smeets, Strategy Director at DAC Group, showed how you can win at the local level like DAC clients David Lloyed, Vera Bradley, and Bridgestone tyres, and how some big brands are unnecessarily missing out on big opportunities.
View Koen’s presentation here.
Finding Your Moment: Unlocking Audience Mindset Is The Key To Engaging More Customers
Marketers have always understood that effective advertising campaigns – be that the first-ever TV ad delivered in the UK on 22 September 1955, for Gibbs toothpaste or today’s data-driven digital ads – they need to deliver across three dimensions: the right message, to the right audience, at the right time. Whilst this is still absolutely true, today there is a fourth dimension – mindset – that marketers can tap into using artificial intelligence-based technology. Hyper personalisation and micro-targeting are the current marketing gold standard, however in a post-GDPR world it can be tricky to balance how we achieve that whilst also remaining compliant. What a real-time, AI-based analysis of audience mindset allows marketers and brands to do, is gain insight around a particular customer, or potential customer, at a specific time without collecting and retaining personal data. This essentially enables personal data-free personalisation and micro-targeting.
Online content provokes a myriad of different moods that influence when and how people engage with your brand. Using this new and often untapped fourth dimension of audience mindset unlocks a powerful way to engage with audiences. Jacqui Wallis, Managing Director at Illuma, shared insights into how marketers can use AI to capitalise on mindset by reacting to these signals in real-time to quickly scale and target new customers, whilst remaining digitally compliant and brand-safe.
View Jacqui’s presentation here.
How To Create A Winning Video Marketing Strategy
It is without doubt that video is one of the most effective ways for any marketer to meet their marketing objectives. The attention grabbing combination of visuals and sound allows video content to effortlessly raise awareness of your brand and increase engagement with your content. But how do you harness the emotional power of video storytelling? Jon Mowat, Managing Director at Hurricane and one of the UK’s leading video strategy experts, spoke at the Figaro Digital Digital Marketing Summit on this very subject. Having swapped his camera and Kevlar vest (as a producer and director of documentaries for the BBC in some of the world’s most dangerous environments) for video marketing there isn’t much Jon doesn’t know about how video works and the science behind our positive responses to it.
In his presentation, Jon provided delegates with a theoretical and scientific understanding of the power of video, the increased power and “dopamine pump” effect of video on a mobile device which is an extension of self, and the Ganglion cells in human eyes reacting to movement in video as our prehistoric ancestors would have reacted to snakes. (Snakes are a recurring theme that you will just have to watch the presentation to understand, trust me.) Understanding the science behind how video, and especially video on mobile devices, works allows Jon to divulge practical steps for delivering better results with video content. Watch Jon’s presentation to discover how to develop your own brand story to engage your audience emotionally through tactics such as personalised video and get results.
View Jon’s presentation here.
How Marketers Can Bridge The Content Gap To Meet Consumer Needs In The Era Of Visual Content
In preparation for their presentation at the Summit, Stackla surveyed 1590 consumers and 150 marketers across the UK, US and Australia about branded content. They found that both agree on the importance of authenticity and the value of visual content. In this session, Andy Mallinson, Managing Director at Stackla, dove into these survey results, what they mean for modern marketers, and how you can effectively leverage the user-generated visuals that consumers create and crave to bridge the content gap to drive sales and engagement. One of the primary takeaways from Andy’s presentation is that brand audiences crave authenticity, as 90 per cent of respondents said that authenticity is important when deciding which brands they like and support. In addition, 83 per cent of marketers agree, saying authenticity is very important to their brands. When reflecting on these stats and the real life examples showcased by Stackla, it is absolutely evident that the importance of authenticity is at an all-time high.
However, whilst both consumers and marketers agree on the necessity of authenticity their opinions significantly diverge when it comes to which types of content are most authentic and influential. How can marketers bridge that gap and truly deliver the authentic and visually-engaging brand experiences that consumers demand? Andy answers this question and more, so make sure you watch his presentation to find out.
View Andy’s presentation here.
Why Identity Resolution Matters To Every Marketer
Data is becoming more and more mainstream, through a combination of data proliferation, data focus, savvy consumers, and regulation sophistication. We’ve all got that one friend who has deleted their social media accounts and requested their data from the tech giants after becoming a data specialist (reading an article about it once) post-GDPR. We have left the unregulated golden-era of unlimited data retention and dubious use of personal data in marketing. Having said this, whether your marketing is multi-channel, omni-channel, or cross-channel, it is still absolutely paramount that your marketing needs to work wherever your customers are… and they’re everywhere. But what is identity resolution? Why should you care? And how can you use it?
To enable true people-based marketing you need to be able to identify your customers as individuals, so your marketing is as informed and relevant as it can be. In this session, Martin Wallace, the UK Head of Marketing at LiveRamp, explained why identity resolution should matter not just to digital and programmatic leads, but to every single marketer regardless of discipline. Watch Martin’s presentation to find out how identity resolution can help you effectively target customers, measure your omnichannel strategy, and implement true personalisation everywhere.
View Martin’s presentation here.
#TheSearchForGenZ
What’s up with Generation Z? How do we market to a new, divergent generation that is rapidly coming into it’s disposable income? Even more specifically, how can we use search to target and convert the digitally native and savvy Gen Z’s? If a generation was ever going to reject traditional marketing BS it’d be this one. Adthena wanted to find out how to truly engage Gen Z, so drew on advertiser search data and market research. Despite the data and theoretical understanding gained from this data, what’s the best way to find out the difference between marketing to Millennials and Gen Z? Get one of each and let them battle it out on stage.
All joking aside, Lorna Gill, Marketing Manager and absolute Millennial, and Tofunmi Ayodeji, Marketing Intern and certified Gen Z at Adthena, took the Figaro Digital stage to discuss the differences between how these generations interact with, and react to, brand marketing. From memes to social media echo-chambers, the world of the Gen Z is drastically different to those that have been before. So how do we ensure authenticity when advertising to the next generation? Adthena’s Lorna and Tofunmi would argue that effective marketing for today thrives on open, two-way conversations. To truly engage with Generation Z, search advertisers will need to evolve the way they market to this audience.
View Lorna’s presentation here.