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In recent years digital advertisers have been focused on brand safety; the act of preventing ad delivery in unsuitable environments. When running programmatic campaigns, inventory filtering is highly recommended to ensure brand suitability, but let’s not kid ourselves – inventory that’s “not brand unsafe” doesn’t exactly mean it’s an optimal placement.

So what can we do differently? How can advertisers maximize the relevance and impact of their advertising? Here are a few tactics that advertisers are currently using:

Page Sentiment

Page sentiment is the classification of pages into one of three signals: positive, neutral, and negative. A recent study from IAS found that 80% of ad viewers were more receptive to ads near positive sentiment content, 93% were more favourable to ads near positive sentiment content, and 24% were more likely to remember ads near positive sentiment content.

As the world navigates yet another new phase of partial reopenings and potential lockdowns, we’re at a crossroads. It’s natural that marketers are trying to meet the next moment. But here’s what our latest research says: if your marketing message focuses only on the changes in front of us, you’re missing an important part of the picture.

During the pandemic–as people stayed inside–they went inward. They adopted new routines and rituals. They redefined their values and reprioritized their time. In other words: people did the work. They really like who they became and they want to keep that up.

Last year millions of new users in Canada turned to Pinterest to navigate their “new normal” and to stay engaged and inspired during the lockdowns. These are the five different personas that emerged during the pandemic:

In this blog article, Arundati Dandapani of the Canadian Research Insights Council (CRIC), discusses some of the challenges and opportunities of cross-platform audience measurement. On September 21, 2021 the CRIC is hosting a free webinar called The Future of Cross-Platform Audience Analytics, at which the ACA’s VP, Media Policy and Marketing Capabilities, Judy Davey, will be speaking, alongside other thought-leaders.

A Fragmenting Media Insights Landscape

Researchers and brands grappling with “audience measurement” are often struck by the methodological differences between self-report diaries (where consumers reported their radio listening and television viewing habits in diary entries) and the passive measurement of media consumption behaviour with devices installed in people’s homes. While the medium might be the message for most brands or insight marketers, consumers don’t really care about the make and shape of content so long as it gives them what they need.

You may have already noticed that digital marketing strategies have become more diverse these past few years. The focus has shifted toward social media, SEO, content marketing, visual marketing, and, more recently, AI or artificial intelligence. It is therefore critical for marketers to consider the role AI can play in their marketing strategies and business plans. Here are four areas in which AI can have a positive influence on your marketing plans:

1. It helps you better understand your customers

You already have tons of data, thanks to a variety of digital marketing touchpoints. You know a lot about your customers, their characteristics, what they like, and the types of content in which they engage. However, AI can take that data one step further, allowing you to process the information to improve your understanding of customers.

I recently attended a ‘global digital summit’ for marketers that was an eye-opener. Aside from the usual tech glitches, the artificial environment of having “roundtables” with no tables and trying to meet other professionals without being able to break bread together – there was a theme that ran through the conference that excited and inspired me: Purpose.

All through the three days, the “P” word was used again and again, by agency leaders, senior marketers and consultants. As though they had all caught the bug, as it were, and were spreading it around. Why? Because many at the conference recognized that today, consumers and employees alike (especially those in Gen Y and Z) expect brands to be purposeful. It is now the requirement to remain relevant in this era of social change and heightened consciousness.

Marketing experts understand that influencing is as much art as it is science; what many do not know is that there is a process to persuade others successfully. Whether you are writing persuasive copy or influencing someone internally for more support on a marketing initiative, the four steps outlined in my forthcoming book Persuade will make you more successful.

The process is as follows: Build Credibility, Engage Emotion, Demonstrate Logic, and Facilitate Action. Let’s take a closer look at each step.