This guest post on the topic of Do Not Track is written by Tim Stoute, Co-CEO & CTO of Toronto-based eyeReturn.
Online advertising is appealing because it is effective and measurable. The "Ad Tech" industry is a competitive and innovative space, where disruptive new techniques are frequently introduced to provide advertisers new tools, reports, and efficiencies for their advertising dollars. One of these new technologies is behavioral advertising. Behavioral advertising allows online systems to classify web-surfing habits and target specific advertisements based on the classification - this, as you know, makes the advertising more efficient for the advertiser, and more relevant to the end user.
While behavioral advertising is both anonymous and a benefit to all parties, some people perceive the practice as intrusive and infringing on user privacy. Recognizing these concerns, the online advertising industry has worked together to form standards, regulations and opt-out systems. One of these standards is called Do Not Track (DNT).
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Consumers are bombarded with more commercial messaging than ever before from countless sources, but it's also easier than ever to tune ads out. People fast-forward past multimillion-dollar commercials or subscribe to web-based, commercial-free TV platforms like Netflix. They view more content on the web than ever, but online ads have become virtually invisible to them.
New advertising concepts like native monetization are revitalizing online advertising. Connections between brands and potential customers are more effectively fostered when they add value to the user experience, rather than distract or interrupt. While traditional contextual targeting looks at the entire page (an increasingly noisy signal), native monetization can be relevant to the micro-context: the section, the paragraph, even the sentence. This is native monetization at its most effective - and often it's just a humble link.
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Hmm. Never saw this coming. Memac Ogilvy in Dubai has latched onto the the now dead Harlem Shake trend and incorporated it into an ad for the Volkswagen Passat. The ad begins as you would expect and follows the format. The ending, however, is a little bit different and not half bad...if we weren't all ready to pull out hair out the next time we see/hear a Harlem Shake video.
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We could rail on endlessly about yet another usage of Harlem Shake to sell something but we think you'll feel a bit differently after watching this one from a Netherlands-based Parkinson's Desease foundation. In the video, we see the foundation's founder (who has Parkinson's) do his best to Harlem Shake.
The video, created by Saatchi & Saatchi Amsterdam, ends not as you would expect and with the tagline, "Shaking. Fun For Some...Daily Struggle For Others."
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We absolutely love the approach Cake New York took when creating this Volvo XC60 and XC90 ad. The agency recruited some of the automotive world's toughest critics, kids. They placed the kids, not child actors, in the back seat and had them talk about the vehicle.
Of course the kids were prompted to highlight certain things but the presentation is very natural and who doesn't love a few cute kids talking about stuff? Not you? If you don't you're not ready. And you're not ready for this vehicle. Which, of course, is perfectly fine because Volvo doesn't want you. Yet.
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Here's an interesting approach that calls attention to skin cancer prevention. Of course, it's flawed because the sun can reach you even when you are in the water. Anyway, in this Peruvian ad, we see a bikini-clad lady make her way into the water. She is accompanied by the theme from Jaws. We here the theme song until she dips under water signaling the danger is over. That, of course, is the flaw but we get what the creators intended. Cover up. Keep yourself shielded from the sun's harmful rays.
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Yes, fellow ad geeks. Your favorite TV show is coming back. On April 7, AMC will debut season 6 of Mad Men, the Matthew Winer show that chronicles the advertising business in the 1960's.
The promo is very quick and consist of black and white stills. Don does not look happy.
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Touting its U.S. edition, UK-based newspaper The Guardian has launched its first U.S. ad campaign. The paper is well known for its Three Little Pigs and Own the Weekend ads.
The Guardian partnered with BBH New York to launch #VoiceYourView, a campaign that merges the Guardian's editorial voice with its strategy of open journalism.
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Describing its new work for UK mobile network Three, Wieden + Kennedy London said, "Shot against the dramatic backdrop of the Shetland Islands, the :60 spot follows the story of a stocky little pony. But this is no ordinary Shetland pony. With the scrape of a hoof, and a flick of his Tina Turner-esque mane, he effortlessly moonwalks along to the sound of 'Everywhere' by Fleetwood Mac."
Which is all that really needs to be said about this new commercial that touts a "pony mixer" that lets people remix the pony to dance any way they choose. Except, of course, that it already has over 1.4 million YouTube views since being released February 28.
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There is an article over on the HubSpot blog written by your truly that you really should read. It's well understood that most, if not all, of us who have toiled in the world of marketing and advertising understand that what we do is supposed to sell stuff, not win awards. Alas, sitting on the Carlton Terrace in Cannes sipping rose is hard to pass up if one is lucky enough to have that experience.
Winning awards is all well and good and can greatly benefit one's career and an agency's ability to win new business. We won't dispute that but too much emphasis is placed on the glamour of advertising rather than its intended purpose; to create a smooth, gentle pathway that moves people along to a point at which they decide to open their wallets and hand over their hard earned cash for your (or your client's) products or services.
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