Business partnerships gaining momentum.....


Last week’s face to face meetings & in-person conferences raised the value of business partnerships, in all guises. Businesses are revisiting collaborations & partnerships which bring a fresh dynamic & renewed energy.

The right collaborations can open up new audiences, new markets & potentially wider distribution capabilities adding value to customers, whether in digital signage/DOOH, brand to brand partnership or as creative partners

Identifying the right partner requires an honest analysis of shortfalls/strengths, where all stakeholders benefit & share responsibility, it takes dedicated resources, perseverance, creative thinking & time, but well worth the effort.

At Diversiffi Media we own that challenge, as an independent marketing strategy & commercial development agency, we build revenue growth through assets, brokering commercial partnerships, delivering from initial exploration through to implementation.

Contact us for an initial chat

Consciously recoupling….

Consciously recoupling….

There is a flurry of noise & action in bringing creative & media planning back together. This isn’t new & nor should they ever have separated

In a previous life, I created Cheil Media, Samsung’s in-house agency, specifically to bring media planning & creative together. Media planning was both physically, & in processed, immersed in the creative dept. & vice versa. Working with the creative teams to show the different cultural locations, site elevations, visual lead-ins, AdTech/network capabilities etc allowed them to create bespoke executions &/or adapt global assets to optimise the canvas/screen & boosts campaign effectiveness

The best creative executions maximise effectiveness when there’s context, working with the location & architecture, content & environment. I’m fortunate to work with the best creative teams who instinctively set out to understand audience behaviours & channel consumption.

It’s good to see the two getting back together, though I’m still mystified why they got divorced in the first place.

Delivering on creative relevance....

Creative relevance....

Across all media channels,, working with channel uniqueness sees a significant uplift in receptiveness, recall, actions & works to with your audience mindset.

To do this, media planning needs to be a much closer partner to the creative industries. Keeping creative teams in the loop with technological advancements so, if applicable, these can be incorporated in their creative thinking. Key is to brief well, present the marketing strategy, & then let the creative teams do their thing

As programmatic allows the delivery of advertising in near real time,  to relevant, interested audiences, so should the creative served be relevant. As programmatic capabilities incorporate more channels, bringing the creative teams into the process before a plan is bought can make a world of difference. In the case of programmatic DOOH, demonstrating how it is consumed, as in visual lead-in, elevation, content contextual to locations etc network capabilities– how creative can move with audiences.

Diversiffi Media is an independent strategic business development agency, supporting brands to deliver their ambitions. 

Looking at programmatic OOH from both sides of the budget

From the client/buyer’s perspective

For buyers, or clients in-housing, programmatic OOH gives access to the full ecosystem of inventory; 000's of screens, multiple media owners, environments & formats, all through a single gateway. This removes the need for manual RFPs & individually transactions. Through this process, buyers can get a consolidated process, better transparency into optimising budgets & campaign performance/pacing.
Key is the use & benefits of customer/consumer data.

Programmatic OOH allows data to inform buying decisions for display placement at impression/spot level.
The priority here is in identifying a meaningful target audience based on known customer/consumer behaviours, then layering key environments, locations, formats through to day-parts, & ad serving triggers etc, then bidding for impressions based on where your audience criteria.
We are well versed on the flexibility Programmatic OOH brings but it’s more than just turning on & off. That flexibility allows for optimisation of impression delivery, pausing campaigns for optimising customer engagement or for example brand stock distributions etc

 

From the media owner/vendor perspective

Following on from yesterday, programmatic OOH from the seller’s viewpoint can open media owners’ inventory/digital estate to more potential customers, & a larger pool of buying opportunities, Providing an aggregate point of access to digital buyers, past the standard channels, such as trading desks & programmatic teams, immediately.
Though be mindful programmatic doesn't mitigate against poor inventory. The displays, location, audience, & network capabilities still need to be value & quality

Programmatic can help maximise revenues by effectively monetising all/or some available inventory via additional sales channels, allowing media owners to segment target audiences, aligned to client’s media objection through data sets delivers greater effectiveness & supports increased advertiser spend

For media owners, it is important to find the right platform partners which suits their customers, inventory, audiences, markets & their business model so appraise accordingly. Each has a slightly different focus or ingredient, therefore undertaking a proper appraisal is worth the effort, Get neutral advice

Do we need to integrate with all platforms?

I frequent question, so what are the consideration for integrating with single or multiple platforms all - again, do I need to integrate with all in order to be successful? & the straight answer is no

However, hear them all out, listen to their pitches, each has a slightly different focus or ingredient, therefore undertaking a proper appraisal is worth the effort.
Every media owner/vendor will come to automation or programmatic trading with their own set of constraints, their own set of circumstances & their own strategy & goals.
I would encourage either side of the budgets to hear out all the platforms, listen to their pitch & see how it marries with your expectations. Ultimately, you want to evaluate a few/couple of them aligned to your customer base, audience & screen environments & locations, & business model, & then make your decision, if required you can make additions at a later date

Other considerations are the day to day management, for some they may feel they need to integrate with a couple/few, & for others 1 is great, as they may not want to, nor have the resources, to manage multiple platforms

 

Contact Fiona at Diversiffi Media for more information or to assist in your DOOH/Adtech/Programmatic OOH needs

How to unwrap resilience for business

Those of us who run our own businesses, never expected to be having the type of conversations we're having now. Not only coping with our individual lockdown experience but watching business disappeared overnight, clients retracted, companies slashed budgets, personal plans abandoned, holidays a distant memory. We did see a return to a more basic living, maybe an appreciation for the simpler things, reconnecting with your local communities, checking up with neighbours, so maybe that was a plus side.

But it is these uncertain times where we have to really dig deep & find strengths we never knew we had. Firstly, don’t beat yourself up for how you're coming out of lockdown. I for one haven’t landscaped the garden nor redecorated the house, nor created a sourdough culture...

However, I do recognise, for many of us, whether individually or in our businesses, the need to reboot our motivation, our creative thinking & unwrap our resilience. In this 2 part blog, my thoughts on rebuilding resilience for business, then in the 2nd. adapting communications for saliency

So Resilience

Business resilience is the ability an organization has to quickly adapt to disruptions while maintaining continuous business operations, protecting your people and safeguarding assets and overall brand equity.

Before you can make those business changes you need to reset yourself, your business partners/co-workers. There are some fundamental changes you can make, many of which you will know, but acting upon them is a very different matter  

Switch the way you think about adversity/difficulties. ... Don’t see it as an end to all you knew before and instead try to look for the opportunity to refresh.  Many have taken time to reset, to look at themselves (and their business) through a different lens, have they gone off track, are they doing what they love, has the energy evaporated in the business.  Previous generations said, “Look on the bright side,” well there is truth in that, simply put keep your vision in front of you. But this is a conscious action, when you see yourself going down that negative path you need to actively park that thought and look for the of the upside

Change your attitude - Looking for the doom can so easily become a habit, so nip it in the bud now, recognise any negative outlook and see how you can flip it. If you are stuck, demotivated, try to do 2/3 positive things for yourself a day, just to create a change in habit. Another tip is to change your stance, stand/sit tall, shoulders back, walk with a bit of determination even if the living room, you’ll be surprised how much changing your physical, changes your outlook

As Maya Angelou said   “If you don’t like something change it, if you can’t change it, change your attitude – Don’t Complain

Flip your focus – look at a self-strategy in the same way as you do in your business strategy. ... Focus on your strengths. What ignites the spark in you, how do you come alive? Instead of concentrating on the things that make you feel empty, look to the things that make you happy, laugh & build those into your every day

Modify your vocabulary. ... Listen to yourself. Do you typically whine and murmur about what you have to do? Are you voicing your critical viewpoint to someone else or business connections? This all can just compound the pain. Your inner critique can be so damaging and you start to believe it, which leads to ……

Stop your self-defeating behaviours such is your self-talk, I bet you would never talk to you best friend, partner, children as you do yourself   Much of our self-defeat actions come from how we talk to ourselves and then those thoughts reflect in our behaviours. Practice trusting yourself instead of doubting yourself. Again, this is a conscious decision to stop and think ‘Actually I was pretty good at….’

Reflect on how you view yourself –. ... Self-doubt is essentially the fear of being wrong. A duel perspective view can be really valuable here. How you see yourself is not how others see you. Ask your closest friends to describe you…You’ll be really surprised by their perspective, it's really interesting.  

Never be limited to what you can become & accomplish.