PeakBiety

Branding Advertising Agency Tampa, FL

Opinion: There’s a Limit to AI’s Ad Potential

By Leave a Comment

From the 4A’s SmartBrief, article by Ed Chambliss

Advertisers shouldn’t get carried away with artificial intelligence’s potential in advertising, as great creative relies on a human and emotional connection with consumers, writes Phelps’ Ed Chambliss. “AI has no soul. And it’s soul that sells,” he writes. AI offers us the ability to interact with customers on their terms 24/7, but can it really create rich, relevant advertising on a customized basis?

While marketing scientists seem to think AI will solve the escalating demand for relevant content without breaking the bank, I’m concerned we’re overstepping the limits of what a computer can really do by having it create ads – and in the process risking the credibility and reputation of brands with the very people they aim to engage.

This is part of a larger problem in marketing. We keep looking for answers in technology that we should be looking for in human connection.

I’m guessing most advertising people, like me, get fascinated with AI and want to test everything it can possibly do. After all, creating new means and methods of communication is fundamental to our business. We’re paid to take platforms as far as they can go. But our charge is also to create ideas beyond the available data and logic that computers are limited to, and write them into great advertising that plays on human senses and emotions.

That’s where AI reaches its limit. AI is not an ideal creative engine, because computers can’t be people. They can think, but they can’t feel and sense, or make emotional connections between impulses. They don’t know the feeling of sinking your toes into wet sand as waves roll over your feet; or the sensation of the wind pushing your hand up and down when you hold it out the window of a speeding car. Without this kind of shared emotional reference, a message about human experience will feel hollow.

In other words, AI has no soul. And it’s soul that sells. The emotional response we seek as marketers isn’t a chain of logic; it’s the triggering of a feeling rooted in a sensation. That’s why ‘Got milk?’ swayed a generation where ‘Milk, it does a body good’ fell flat. And it’s why ‘You’re not yourself when you’re hungry” resonates three levels higher than ‘Snickers satisfies’ ever could.

Great advertising has exponential impact and efficiency because it’s created from this kind of instinctive connection, not the instantaneous organization of data points. We create from impulses and senses a computer can’t feel. We can automate message delivery on a media platform; but we can’t automate creation. When AI creates, we’ll be horribly wrong sometimes. That’s a chance brands can’t afford to take in an era where consumers don’t give out second chances.

More than ever, advertising is an ideas business and marketers need breakthrough ideas. As we deepen our reliance on technology to develop platforms and disseminate advertising, we have to protect the primary of true source – people sensing human truths that will resonate in the human experience. That’s where creative breakthroughs live. Let’s keep the computer’s role to finding connections and aggregating information that can fuel insights by people who can feel whether ideas will resonate with others.

Ed Chambliss is president of Phelps

The Short Form Video Ad Experience: Engagement, Expectations and Impact

By Leave a Comment

Through our membership in the 4A’s (American Association of Advertising Agencies), an article from their weekly “SmartBrief” newsletter inspires this blog post. We find the research, results and conclusions helpful as we counsel clients in this medium.

How was the research conducted? The FreeWheel Council for Premium Video with 11 offices around the globe, in partnership with leading emotion measurement platform, RealEyes, exposed almost 3000 adults 18 – 49 to a set of 9 different scenarios of content and ads to measure emotional reactions through facial recognition technology. By gaining a better understanding of a viewer’s expectations of the ad experience, publishers and advertisers can effectively work together on driving better and more engaging advertising.

Additionally, when FreeWheel surveyed 243 brand and ad agency executives in late 2016, the advertising experience was rated as the most significant challenge facing the video industry today. As anyone who is part of the advertising value chain will tell you, there are many variables and responsible parties involved in ensuring the right ad shows up in the right place at the right time, and in the right way.

Fragmentation of viewing options for consumers has compounded the challenge, but it’s not just the screen that impacts the type of ad experience. The content type, whether long-form full episodes or short-form clips, create different viewer expectations of appropriate lengths and frequency of ads supporting that premium content.

Surveying consumers after viewing the clips and advertising, the Council sought to understand expectations of the ad experience so that both publishers and advertisers can work together on driving better and more engaging advertising.

Here Are The Key Research Takeaways:

  • Not surprisingly, engagement levels on advertising increase as ad loads decrease.
  • There is a halo effect on engagement levels for both content and ads when combined.
  • Expectations of the number of ads while viewing clips are relatively high (3 ads for 4 clips).
  • Expectations of ad loads across screens are relatively consistent: a majority of viewers would expect the same on over-the-top (OTT) as desktop but 3 in 10 expect less ads on a mobile device. By the way, OTT is a term used in broadcasting to refer to video transmitted via the Internet as a standalone product without cable or broadcast operators.
  • The impact of choice is important: half of users would choose a longer ad at the start of their viewing to watch ad-free afterwards.

The unique study also took a closer look at the engagement, expectations and impact of different short-form video ad experiences, and shed light on how, as an industry, we can continue to create better experiences and business outcomes.

Short-form content is an important part of the premium video ecosystem and fuels significant advertising opportunities for marketers. Finding the right balance, and ultimately the right choreography of clips and ads to maximize engagement and business outcomes, is key to help foster those opportunities. Premium video providers are proactively testing to find this balance, as they look to improve the ad experience no matter the content, audience or screen.

To View Video Ad Experience (Click Here)

Bigger Isn’t Always Better

By Leave a Comment

As we started our agency in 1990, we clearly remember some agency business prognosticators proclaiming, “The small agency is dead.” Merger mania among agencies was in full swing and today’s big agency conglomerates were in their formative stages.

Fast-forward 27 years; fueled by people of passion, the small agency is alive and well. Case in point: read the excellent summation by Joe Parrish that appears below. Like many agency people, he had a taste of the big ones but prefers the size wherein he can develop relationships. Clients increasingly talk about establishing relationships with their customers for the same reasons agencies function optimally when they have relationships with their clients. Concurrently, clients want a relationship with their agency partners, i.e. the people that drive the agency and care deeply about its service to clients. Small agency does not mean small ideas. Small agencies thrive on project work…it’s how they prove their value every day. It’s their growth engine. The small agency is a permanent fixture.

Why big brands are increasingly putting small agencies on their radar Article By Joe Parrish

Straight out of portfolio school, I went to a 30-person shop in Atlanta, GA and fell in love with advertising. The agency where I worked has since been sold, but at the time, it was amazing. We won tons of awards, did lots of great work and had a great time doing it. But because I was young and naive, I felt like I needed to move on. And so I did…too soon; moving all around the country to work at bigger shops on bigger brands. And I fell out of love with advertising.

Six years ago, I took a long hard look at what made me happy, and I decided that I wanted to try to re-create the experience of that first job. So my family and I moved back to our hometown and I started my own agency. I wanted to get back to making a real difference for clients. I wanted to be nimble and take chances and have fun. And while I am incredibly biased, I think we have achieved all that and more.

Small is the new big.

I think there is a global sea change in the way clients want to deal with advertisers. And I think small agencies are poised to reap the rewards. Clients are looking for real relationships with their agency partners. They want to personally know the name on the door and know that their successes are mutually aligned. Small shops are generally more motivated to see their clients succeed because they are more invested in their business (and because failure is crippling.)

Big ideas from small places.

We’ve all heard about how technology has democratized the creative process. About how one person in a bedroom can make the movie that a huge studio used to create. I think that’s all a little overblown, but the reality (that has always been true) is that brilliant ideas come from small teams. Look at your own career. I guarantee you that your best work came from fewer people, not more. Big ideas come from small teams for a few reasons. The first is that ideas are fragile. They can easily be trampled on by too many feet. Great ideas need intimacy to get off the ground, before they are strong enough to survive the potshots of the public.

The second reason is really an economic principle — accountability. If you assign a project to everyone, no one will do it. The more people involved, the less likely anyone is to own it. To get great thinking, people need to sign their work. They need to know that they will be the ones standing up and presenting it. So they’re motivated to make it amazing.

From Droga5 to 72andSunny to Anomaly, the adscape is full of businesses that, when they were small, completely transformed our business with brilliant thinking. (note: While those particular agencies have gotten big, they still operate “small” and continue to make us all jealous.)

Spend smaller, think bigger.

We’ve all worked at places where we threw money at problems. It sometimes worked. But it often didn’t. Clients are catching on. They are looking for optimization and cost-cutting. They are demanding that we measure twice and cut once. In advertising terms, that really means that we need to get our brand house in order before we spend a dime. We need to think hard, then spend smart. Smaller agencies can undeniably do this better than larger agencies. Many times, this is simply due to the Sunk Cost Fallacy: Because large shops have invested heavily in certain disciplines, they are predisposed to want to use them. Have a huge broadcast production department? Recommend broadcast. A huge search team? Recommend SEM. You get the point.

Small agencies can generally be more execution agnostic in the beginning. Because their business models are built on coming up with the idea and the plan and partnering with best-in-class vendors for execution.

Smaller assignments, bigger ROI.

Clients are moving from AOR to ROI. That’s a reality we all must face. Projects, while damaging to larger agencies, are a boon to small agencies. There is a low barrier to entry for larger clients to try projects with smaller agencies. And generally speaking, the results are a win-win for all involved. Big clients see great ROI when they go outside of their AOR relationships to try projects with smaller shops. They get fresh, divergent thinking that institutional AOR’s would have never imagined. And the opportunity is for small agencies to grow those small test cases into larger, more meaningful engagements.

The reason is that small shops are highly motivated to take on smaller projects. And they treat them with the importance clients think they should be assigned. If a big name client gave a retail POS assignment to their large agency, it would go directly to the C-team, and be pushed out as unceremoniously as possible. If that same POS assignment went to a 10 person shop, it would be celebrated and anguished over and delivered with passion, conviction and great thinking.

Our industry is constantly changing. That is the one thing we can always know for certain. And there will likely always be room in the food chain for success at the holding company level, at the large independent level and at the small agency level. But I was recently at a gathering with a bunch of small agency owners, and realized we are a pretty like-minded bunch. So much is written about the big agencies making big noise. I just wanted to write a little bit about the role of the small agencies in the larger agency eco-system. Remember: all of those big shops started small and grew by doing great work for appreciative clients. Cheers to those agencies out there who are small in size but big in ambition.

4A’s Celebrates 100 Years of Advertising.

By Leave a Comment

100YearsAd2

100 years ago, the 4A’s (American Association of Advertising Agencies) was founded as a national trade association to represent U.S. ad agencies. These days, they give counsel to members on everything from new business to best practices to media transparency. As the leading authority representing the marketing communications agency business, the 4A’s provides leadership advocacy, research, database information and training that empowers agencies to innovate, evolve and grow. That’s exactly what the 4A’s has afforded us during our 27 years as members. And, we are one of only two 4A’s shops in Tampa.

From famous ad campaigns to cultural movements, the association has put together a robust and wonderful trip through nostalgia in the form of a timeline capturing moments that stand out over the last 100 years. The overview is nicely divided into sections starting with “Behind The Scenes.” For this segment, the 4A’s interviewed industry thought leaders to showcase more than twenty stories behind some of the biggest moments on their timeline. The “Cameos” page pays tribute to popular figures that have been popping up in advertising since it started. Some of the best cameos from famous people over the last 100 years are captured.

The “Characters” portion includes some of the most memorable characters in advertising history, from the hilarious swagger of the Old Spice Man’s Man to the awkward charm of PC vs. Mac. We were pleased to see an entire area devoted to “Design” to help mark the moments that made design a lasting influence in advertising as far back as Uncle Sam. When pivotal historical and cultural moments collide with brilliant creative minds, we get advertising that better reflects our society. The “Diversity” section captures some of those moments. Groundbreaking milestones are documented in “Firsts” that helped make advertising what it is today. From laugh-out-loud lines to totally “out there” characters, “Laughs” includes some of the funniest moments in advertising that still resonate today.

Great copywriting is showcased in “Lines.” From “Just Do It” to “Where’s the beef?,” some lines just stick. This section tells the stories behind a few of the greatest lines in advertising. Love them or hate them, jingles have been a staple of the ad industry, cementing favorite brands in our collective memories. The “Music” part lists some of advertising’s greatest hits. From the launch of the World Wide Web to the very first use of “bullet-time” (it wasn’t in that famous sci-fi movie you’re thinking of), these are the moments in “Tech” that changed us forever. Finally, we’ve come a long way in 100 years. The “Women” segment celebrates the evolution of how women have been portrayed in advertising, as well as key female figures who’ve shaped the ad industry.

To explore the 4A’s 100th Anniversary Timeline, click here: http://www.aaaa.org/timeline/

Brands Can Get Type Cast Too

By Leave a Comment

Occasionally, clients come to us feeling that their brands have been type cast. Perceptions are powerful and stick. Hence, our brand promise, “The Power of Perception.” So, we found this article on brand perception, written by Paul Friederichsen on “Branding Strategy Insider,” and wanted to share it. Although we’re not exactly big followers of WWE, the example is a good one. Clients large and small may relate to the challenges described here. 

Brands-Can-Get-Type-Cast-Too
Brands Can Get Type Cast Too Article by Paul Friederichsen

Often we will read about a Hollywood star that will avoid a role in a sequel for fear of being type cast. Or a star that will struggle to find a “breakout” role simply because the perception of the star’s work doesn’t match with the star’s desired change.

Brands will have the same challenges. Many years ago, Rolling Stone magazine launched its iconic “Perception–Reality” campaign that intended to destroy the bad-boy rock and roll type cast image advertisers mistakenly had regarding its appeal and readership. As Rolling Stone understood at the time, its typecasting was hurting its ability to attract new advertisers; and so the campaign took on the dilemma head on in side by side comparisons of “perception” and “reality.”

It could be said that typecasting is really the result of a brand exercising sound brand discipline; so strong and so successful, in fact, that to alter, embellish or enhance the understanding of brand may be difficult. This can happen even in industries populated with “knowledgeable”insiders such as writers, editors, bloggers, or, as in the case of the Rolling Stone example, expert media strategists and buyers.

WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) is contending with type casting … not with their wrestling stars, but with the brand itself. Ironically, in a business that relies on type casting good guys and villains for staged wrestling bouts to enthrall fans, the brand is attempting to shed the notion that it stands for more than “wrestling” but that it’s a powerful entertainment media vehicle for advertisers.

Of course, typecasting can be desirable, as in the case of “Mac vs. PC.” Mac relishes being type cast as the fresh, creative and friendly alternative to the “PC.” Or Subway’s type casting as the healthy fast food alternative to heavy, greasy fast food options. Or Gold’s Gym as the no nonsense strength training alternative to the glitzy, sophisticated LA Fitness locations.

There are two fundamentals that brand marketers must recognize with regard to this issue. Firstly, as consumers of brands in a world saturated with them, we consciously (and subconsciously) categorize them for easy mental reference. This “filing system” is formed by our earliest memory with the brand and is not easily altered. We are resistant to changing a perception that gets hardened like cement over time. Secondly, many reporters, editors, and bloggers are either over-worked or just lazy, and may not dig deeper about your brand when including it in their story.

For example, a very large and successful flooring company began making quality, but affordable products when it started out, but later began adding a wider range of designs, warranty levels and price points. In spite of a considerable amount of marketing efforts to introduce its new lines, it is still often type cast as that company that produces inexpensive flooring by the writers and editors in the industry. Typecasting is difficult to change, indeed.

In her book “Impossible to Ignore. Creating memorable content to influence decisions” Carmen Simon writes,“It is critical for us to help audiences keep in mind valuable information” to prevent “accidental forgetting.” As she observes, “We may forget what we experienced, but we won’t forget what we understood.” Properly understanding brands requires effort, of course, and that’s where marketing must step in.

If the typecasting is unwarranted or undesirable, there are three areas to consider in addressing this:

  1. Bold action. Just as a comedic actor would take on a dramatic role to alter audience and critical perceptions, so should brands take on their new role with strategic timing. Appreciating the resistance to change, the marketing may need to be suitably jarring to challenge the type casting and reposition the brand.
  2. Often brands become lax in telling their own story and then wonder why others are not following them. As in the case of WWE, the brand’s executives are taking their story directly to ad agencies and advertisers emphasizing that they are more and capable of more by means of tie-ins and promotions than the limited view media execs may have.
  3. Brands, just as the markets they do business in, must adapt to a constantly fluid and evolving space. Depending on the category, change can be either at a snail’s pace or almost daily. Brand marketers must carefully consider the pros and cons of such a move in order to eliminate the drag of typecasting can have on sales performance and growth.

Essentially, for brands to have the chance to break free from typecasting their actions must create new memories, based on an altered understanding of the brand. Communicated and received successfully old meanings can be pushed aside to make a new role for the brand.