THE GREAT CAR CHASE HOW MANUFACTURERS CAN ACCELERATE ADVERTISING ROI - Comcast Technology Solutions
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
THE GREAT CAR CHASE
HOW MANUFACTURERS CAN
ACCELERATE ADVERTISING ROI
1
ADVERTISING PROFESSIONALS ARE LEARNING NEW WAYS TO
THRIVE IN AN ACCELERATING, CONSTANTLY SHIFTING MARKET.
There are more ways than ever to place video ads and more screens for ads to be seen on. Even to a seasoned industry pro, it seriously boggles the mind
just how many ways ad spots can meet eyeballs. And that’s going to get even more exciting as the “internet of things” moves from nascence into second
nature. So let’s dig in to ways that auto manufacturers can control and capitalize on their advertising opportunities, using the automobile industry as our
vehicle. Why the automotive industry?
“Auto manufacturers represent the full spectrum of advertising media,” explains Richard Nunn, VP and General Manager of Advertising Solutions at Comcast
Technology Solutions, "As an auto manufacturer, you’re first spending top dollar on creative content, and then you’ve got all the challenges of launching a
huge campaign to screens everywhere." If you’re a global automotive brand, every advertising effort has layers of complexity to solve for:
No matter what device that ad is being viewed on, you’ve You’ve got to make sure that content and talent rights
got to make sure that each spot is transcoded properly are being adhered to and that every combination of ad/
and delivered at the precise time, in the highest quality. destination/device is accurate.
You’ve also got to manage a complex buying Finally, you have to manage the unique needs of ads at
and selling environment where some spots are the global, national, regional, and dealer levels.
negotiated and purchased in advance and others are
programmatically bought, and ads get placed in real time.
1
SO, IT’S ALREADY A LOT TO WRAP YOUR GLOBAL
WORKFLOW(S) AROUND.
“Layered on top of campaign objectives, a car maker — like other manufacturers —
has thousands of dealer partners representing their brand around the world, all
of whom have advertising priorities of their own,” continues Nunn. “Things like
financing offers, service specials, community outreach. So every consumer out
there is not only going to see wide-release ads about the cars, they’ll also get local
ads inviting them to the places where they’re going to buy and service that car.
There has got to be a system in place to keep these two efforts on the same page,
because together they really lay the foundation of a consistent experience for every
buyer, whether they’re a repeat customer or someone entirely new to the brand.”
That foundational alignment needs to be in place in order to begin working to
understand where all your ads are being played, how well they’re performing, and
how to improve. Right around the corner, you’ve also got to be ready to incorporate
technology that will customize the actual ad creative itself to make it even more
inviting to buyers on a more individual, personal level.
2
NOT JUST SUVS, BUT ALSO QSRS
AND ALL FRANCHISEES…
Lots of other businesses need to manage similar advertising complexities at the largest scale.
Quick service restaurant (QSR) chains, consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies, and other
manufacturers all need to develop a way for all these internal and external processes to coalesce
into one well-coordinated and high-performing global marketing presence.
“Comcast itself is a good example of this,” explains Justin Morgan, Senior Director of Business
Development, Advertising Solutions, for Comcast Technology Solutions. “We’re advertisers
and media buyers, too, but we’re also on the supply side, so we know what needs to be in
place from the seller’s perspective in order to get ads out to linear programming, on-demand
content, wherever. We also have affiliate broadcasters and other media destinations that need
to stay plugged into the larger advertising apparatus. They need to easily locate and access the
creative components they need to build localized ads of their own. Really, a lot of the tools we’ve
developed for the auto industry can be tailored for other industries, and they can trace their roots
back to the tools we developed to manage our own media and delivery.”
3
THREE KEYS 1. CENTRALIZED AD MANAGEMENT: KEEPING PACE
WITH TRAFFIC
TO THE AD
PERFORMANCE Most auto manufacturers have been in the advertising business for a long, long time. Crack the
hood on an advertising workflow and, just like a car with a lot of miles under its tires, you’ll see some
MODEL shiny new parts bolted onto older components that are either outdated or unable to keep up with
the pace of today’s business. Today’s real-time ad traffic is just not compatible with processes and
architectures that were viable a decade ago. According to Zenith, a part of Publicis Groupe,
programmatic (data-automated) media spend exceeded $100 billion last year and is projected to
surpass $125 billion in 2020. To truly sync up the gears of a company’s advertising workflow with the
mechanisms of today’s multi-platform world, the entire engine needs an overhaul.
4
“It’s like that old TV game show, ‘The Weakest Link,’” explains Luis Sourdis, Head of Product for Advertising Solutions at
Comcast Technology Solutions. “You might have certain parts of your ad business that were updated independently of others
that have been done the same way for years. Ads are still getting delivered; but if there’s a manual or otherwise outdated
process in there, the entire chain suffers. It compounds the time, effort, and resources needed to get work done. It impacts
your ability to move fast enough for some markets and makes it really difficult for demand-side advertisers to track campaigns
regionally, nationally, or globally. With an architecture that centralizes and unifies, people who spent all their time just keeping
ads on track can now turn their focus to making advertising more effective.”
The Demand-Side Performance Model
ia Activation
M ed
MEDIA
AGENCY
AD MANAGEMENT
PLATFORM
ALL
Creative
BRAND SCREENS
fic
Traf
DYNAMIC CREATIVE
OPTIMIZATION
CREATIVE
AGENCY
D is t ri b u ti o n
A more dynamic, centralized ad management approach can serve the needs of today’s auto industry, while also
incorporating systematic flexibility to incorporate new technologies and capitalize on emerging advertising opportunities.
It unifies media, creative, versioning, traffic, talent, and distribution within a single, streamlined interface. A complete
solution for auto makers, as well as other industries with a dealer/franchise component, needs to also address a couple
of other things: The first is the internal management of media within a complex organization. The other is dynamic creative
optimization, or DCO — which fundamentally changes the way that ads get customized for specific car buyers.
5
2. AN “INTERNAL COLLABORATION ENGINE”
FOR ADVERTISERS
A plan to create a better way for manufacturers to share ad creative with their dealer network
started with one of our partners — a major European auto manufacturer with worldwide presence.
As is likely the case with most car makers, this client has a global advertising operation that
produces content used by dealers around the world. Big-budget creative is filmed and created for
a wide variety of vehicles, from sports cars to sport utility vehicles (SUVs). Dealers need this footage
as the foundation for creating regional, dealer-specific ads. Like every advertising effort, every piece
of video creative is unique and must be transcoded into a multitude of formats. Multiplied across
products, and across several campaigns active simultaneously at any given time, it gets really
complicated for dealers to find and access the media files they need.
“As we explored how to improve this internal relationship, we recognized this fantastic synergy
between a problem our partner needed solving and a similar problem we had already solved for in
a completely different area,” explains Simon Morris, Senior Director of Product Sales, Advertising
Solutions, at Comcast Technology Solutions. “We had built a platform that made it easy for our
broadcast partners to find our ad creative easily through a secure cloud-based tool, and then grab
the right version with the correct aspect ratio and coding. So, to create something for automotive
dealers, the foundation was already there, and that meant it was easy to organize and display
content in a way that worked for our automotive partners. We continue to focus on building tools
that solve wider industry needs, and in particular ones that are focused on driving operational
efficiencies, speed and transparency.”
6
The portal isn’t just a static “box in the sky,” but also a vehicle to improve communication within a manufacturer’s internal ad ecosystem. No one
wants to use creative that might be outdated, and all content needs to be in accordance with talent and other contractual rights associated with it.
Integrated with the Ad Management Platform, the new portal accomplishes this, giving dealers a straightforward way to get automatic updates and
notifications of newly available creative.
73. DYNAMIC CREATIVE OPTIMIZATION (DCO):
A CUSTOM SHOP FOR CREATIVE
Today, programmatic and addressable advertising work to identify target audiences with increasing
focus, to better connect brands with the right buyers. The logical next step is for the ads themselves
to shift into something that’s tailored to be more relevant and attractive to each consumer they’re
being served (or re-served) to. Logical, from a business process standpoint; but from a technology
standpoint, it’s a quantum leap forward.
DCO is transforming advertising creative content to elevate campaign performance in ways that
advertisers and agencies can measure and improve upon. DCO fundamentally changes the way
that global advertising business is conducted: how ads are produced, how retargeting attempts are
improved, how the media is stored, and how this new breed of tailored ad gets compiled on the fly
and delivered. DCO will also change the way campaign performance is expected and measured,
as brands develop better ways to find and attract the buyers who will make more of the purchase
responses that ads are trying to elicit.
Here’s a scenario: You’re a big auto maker, and in less than a second you’re about to serve ads to
two different consumers, both watching the same program on their own device. One is a parent
of three active kids and has been shopping for a roomy SUV with all-wheel drive. The other owns
a nursery and needs a new truck that’s job-rated to move a lot of heavy loads. DCO leverages
audience information in order to compose, in real time, a customized ad with visuals, words, and
offers that are more relevant to the contexts that users operate within. Both SUV and truck shopper
watch an ad that’s more closely aligned with their interests, which influences more buyer behavior —
getting more out of every ad dollar.
8DCO doesn’t operate in a bubble, however, and it only works at scale. Companies looking to capitalize on these new creative opportunities
will need a technology foundation that can support split-second decision design-delivery models, and the extensive media/infrastructure
footprints to deliver on the promise.
THERE ARE THEORETICALLY AN INFINITE NUMBER OF UNIQUE EQUATIONS OF
+ + + + + + +
SCREEN CONTENT PLAYBACK DYNAMIC
USER DEVICE REGION TIME
SIZE SOURCE RIGHTS AD
Comcast Technology Solutions helps companies that want to capitalize on the potential of DCO by achieving four top-level objectives:
• Media buys from across the global ecosystem are funneled into one unified Ad Management Platform.
• Workflows are automated, with an emphasis on self-service, so that the focus can remain on creative development and multivariate testing.
• Clear visibility and reporting across the delivery footprint so that DCO decisions can be better informed and less speculative.
• Ads live in a cloud-based library that’s designed to be easily accessible by both buy-side and sell-side constituents, simplifying media sharing
and accelerating time to market.
9BRINGING CONTROL BACK TO THE BRAND
Brand management is tougher and more complicated than ever before. It’s also overflowing with potential. It might sound farfetched to talk about
“personal relationships at a global scale,” but it’s not that far off. A centralized architecture and dynamic content capabilities are important — and
inevitable — next steps. The benefits are obvious:
Maximize ROI by optimizing through a unified solution that promotes collaboration and informs
better decisions across the entire workflow to elicit stronger, positive buyer responses.
Optimize on the fly to meet tight deadlines, handle versioning needs automatically, and respond
quickly to changing opportunities.
Simplify access and management of creative assets for local dealerships.
Deliver campaigns worldwide using one centralized platform.
Take back control and become the conductor of your brand across any market, any screen.
10AD TECHNOLOGY FOR
A NEW GLOBAL MARKET
Domestic and international advertising have reached a convergence point.
The CTSuite for Advertisers serves the needs of today’s auto industry —
optimizing advertising creative and workflows, while retaining the flexibility
to incorporate new technologies and emerging advertising opportunities.
It unifies media, creative, versioning, traffic, talent, and distribution within
a single, streamlined interface. It gives brands and agencies alike some
crucial competitive advantages:
1. A centralized command hub for global advertising operations, with
the transparency needed to understand where ads are going and how
they’re performing.
2. A way to reduce complexity, cost, and confusion, while
accelerating time to market — no matter where that market lies.
3. The ability to capitalize on new technologies and creative
possibilities at scale.
4. Flexibility to spend more resources on what matters most —
creating fantastic content that builds stronger, longer consumer
relationships around the world.
11ABOUT COMCAST TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS Comcast Technology Solutions offers a portfolio of technology solutions, the CTSuite, that provides the industry with the technology, scale, and expertise to expand and navigate the rapidly-changing media and entertainment technology landscape. We invent technology that solves industry challenges, reimagines what is possible, and transforms businesses for an ever-changing world. Built on Comcast’s know-how, proven facilities, scalable platforms, and infrastructure, Comcast Technology Solutions offers more than 20 years of reliable real-world broadcast and digital experience. We partner with customers to redefine expectations and deliver the future to global audiences. FIND OUT MORE www.comcasttechnologysolutions.com © 2020 COMCAST TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS
You can also read
