Users ‘readily recognise’ importance of advertising – but don’t disable adblockers by default

Consumer expectations remain higher than ever when it comes to advertising – or rather, the lack of it. As a result, publishers have had to resort to stronger tactics.

We notice you’re using an ad blocker, the website says, with varying degrees of politeness. We also know everyone hates ads, it continues, but unfortunately our employees do need to feed and clothe their children so we were wondering if you’d be so kind as to disable your ad blocker just for...

16 April 2019 | Advertising

Five things to consider when planning an app: Usage, UX, and more

The app designing process will be a bumpy road if you don’t take a methodical approach. Your business doesn’t just need an app: it needs a user-friendly app that provides substantial value. If you know you want an app, then break out the whiteboard and start drafting out your plan.

There are some vital considerations you’ll have to make during the formative stages of mobile app development to assure that things stay budget-friendly and none of your efforts are...

11 April 2019 | Advertising Technology

To Google, or not to Google: Why collaboration is vital for the future digital ecosystem

Opinion In a double clampdown, Google has capped the campaign data available to advertisers and the inventory they can buy — thereby severely restricting their flexibility to deliver successful campaigns to consumers.

Its decision to block use of the DoubleClick ID when transferring data between services has left advertisers in the dark — unable to connect the dots between campaign insights held in DoubleClick Bid Manager (DBM), Campaign Manager (DCM) or the Google...

8 April 2019 | Advertising

A guide to digital communications for cockroaches and unicorns alike

As a long-time fan, I was delighted to see that bakery firm Greggs had recently hit £1bn in revenue. As a brand with ballsy comms, solid stunts and tasty baked goods, the recognition is well-earned. Now, over the course of our years in PR, we’ve come across many a high-growth firm and even represented our first travel service unicorn, Klook, last year.

At the same time, many of our firms are born and bred in the grass roots. Workplace advice platform Rungway is a...

29 March 2019 | Branding

A look ahead for marcomms in 2019: The technological advances that will hold the key to success

What a year 2018 was. From the early-year challenges of declining trust in all aspects of life, exacerbated by fake news, to the introduction of GDPR all alongside the ever-shifting marcomms sand, it’s been a wild ride.

The thing which really struck me about 2018 is the demonstration of the martech industry’s value through this year’s big acquisitions and mergers. Adobe’s acquisition of Marketo for $4.75bn, following its $1.7bn of Magento. Marlin Equity...

7 January 2019 | Advertising Technology

Whose fault is it anyway? Why voucher codes have gotten such a bad name

Consumers love them. The feeling of bagging their purchase at a lower price undoubtedly releases the feel-good hormone, oxytocin. Publishers see them as the difference between converting a customer or seeing a sale attributed elsewhere. They’ve become a visceral behaviour associated with online shopping. Yet code usage, particularly in online marketing, still antagonises brands with its influence over the conversion.

When you ask someone who works in digital marketing what...

24 October 2018 | Attribution

Bid caching: An innovation in programmatic or reopening the trust wound?

Last month, there was another brouhaha in the programmatic ad world. It was revealed that was a new ad-buying practice was happening and apparently very few people knew that it is going on.

Devised by the ad marketplace Index Exchange and hailed as the latest innovation in programmatic bidding we discovered a practice called ‘bid caching’. New technology that was designed to reduce latency, thereby creating faster ad serving. It was a supposed master stroke by the company,...

12 October 2018 | Advertising

Common pitfalls in content strategy – relationship marketing

Having a solid content strategy and a customer-centric approach to your marketing is vital to growing your business. Avoiding the three pitfalls below can help you stay on track to building long-term, profitable customer relationships and put you on the path to enhanced ROI.

Pitfall 1: Losing your focus on content

Does your content engage customers, build trust and...

24 September 2018 | Campaigns

Google now allows ad buyers to exclude publishers without ads.txt

Google announced yesterday that customers of its Display & Video 360 services (formerly DoubleClick Bid Manager) can now select to only run campaigns on publishers with ads.txt authorised inventory, excluding those that aren’t compliant.

Ads.txt is a standard introduced by the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s Tech Lab (IAB) to combat ad fraud through domain spoofing. By adding an ads.txt file to their sites, publishers are able to list the exchanges and networks that...

27 July 2018 | Advertising

What’s next for attribution when two-thirds of cookies are rejected?

In the early days of digital advertising, hopes were high that the industry was entering a new era of accountability. And, for a while, it did. When everyone used one browser and one device, tracking tools such as the cookie functioned as a viable approximation of individuals that powered accurate measurement and attribution.

However, times have changed.  

Not only do consumers make their activity harder to trace by using multiple connected devices — at least three...

25 July 2018 | Advertising