We live in strange times. Most of you will be reading this from home (and on a weekday no less!) perhaps with children or a significant other, while you ponder just how much toilet roll you’re allowed to buy before it counts as stockpiling.
It’s a strange time, but strange doesn’t have to mean bad, either for you, your business, or your clients. I’d like to share with you some of the key talking points we should all be mentioning on our next video call.
Chatbot WHO?
Before I begin I think it’s worth highlighting some of the critical work advertisers have already been doing to help in the fight against COVID-19.
The sudden need for an effective tool for communicating vital information recently saw the World Health Organisation double down on the use of Chatbot technology.
Just as governments are seeing record traffic to call centres, so too have we seen AdTech step up and provide conversational technologies to ensure citizens are able to get lifesaving information easily and effectively.
I think that’s a great win for our industry and something we should all be proud of.
Consumer behaviour has changed and that’s something we can’t ignore
It goes without saying but people are spending more time online. Let’s quantify that a little.
According to ComScore, the number of visitors to news publications has risen by up to 142% across Germany and France. Use of Instant Messaging like WhatsApp has risen 49% in the UK and a whopping 97% in Spain. According to CloudFlare overall internet traffic increased by 30% across Italy.
So people are spending the vast majority of their time online, but the way they spend their time is changing too. People are reading longer stories and spending more time on the page. Publishers should be accounting for longer engagements by seeking out interactive ad experiences and avoiding simple click-and-done creative.
Finally, video Consumption is way up. According to Kantar, Netflix saw a 29% rise in traffic along with 39% for YouTube. For brands struggling with the crisis this could be the time to shift investment from OOH and into VOD channels to ensure they retain their audiences.
Brick and Mortar Stores have to move fast and it’s AdTech that should be leading
While the economy is slowing down and people are staying indoors, they still have money to spend and time to fill. If you’ve traditionally done business on the high street you need a new way to present yourself to customers.
This is the perfect time to be investing in Virtual Storefronts and conversational technologies. If your customers are online then you should be too, and with consumer behaviour moving towards longer engagements advertisers should be looking for creative that breaks out of the traditional static banner.
I mention conversational technologies because these are the perfect tool for creating both a longer form interactive experience and a storefront all in one. Why simply present a call to action when you can actively engage people with products and services from the comfort of their own home.
Data Makes Budgets Last Longer
When budgets are tight data is key to ensuring success in advertising spend. Get everything you can from that spend, not just performance data but actionable insights you’ll be able to use on the next campaign, and the next, and the one after that.
If you’re lucky enough to have a team of data scientists then they should be busier than they’ve even been right now.
And I don’t just mean looking at how they can optise spend and scrape insights. Look at how behaviour is changing across markets. While online traffic is increasing it’s doing so unevenly across markets. Online retail may have gone up by 29% in Italy but it only saw a 1% increase in France.
This knowledge is crucial when managing a global campaign to ensure that spend isn’t wasted and even a reduced budget gets maximum effectiveness.
Stay Calm and Carry On
While the Coronavirus is having a terrible effect for many in society we should all be doing our part to make things easier. Both for our clients, ourselves and our colleagues. Only by looking for new ideas and new ways of working will come out of this stronger.
Stay safe and I’ll see you on the other side.
George Seed 