Bridging the Data Gap Between Television and the Internet

Transcription

1 CASE STUDY Bridging the Data Gap Between Television and the Internet Turn used its own industry-leading digital marketing platform to drive an innovative multi-channel campaign. January 2013

2 Bridging the Data Gap Between Television and the Internet On the surface, television and the Internet couldn t appear any more different. One is almost 70 years old, the other is a relative teenager. One is primarily analog, the other is digital. One is a lean back experience, the other is a highly engaging, lean forward experience. Building successful advertising campaigns for these disparate worlds requires very different marketing skill sets. In the digital world, Internet marketers and their agencies design campaigns based on a foundation of advanced data-driven techniques. Billions of individual online ad impressions are analyzed in real time by hyper-intelligent audience targeting and bidding software tied to massive, high-performance computer networks. The real-time nature of the Internet provides marketers with a clear picture of how strategies are working, which segments are engaging, and what is driving the response. In the medium of television, brand managers carefully consider their creative message in order to educate and activate key audiences. Data is a snapshot in time: Demographic data from the network informs the media buy, and customer research after the airing provides recall data. Real-time metrics are virtually nonexistent. But what if we could apply the power of big data to television advertising? As marketers deliver integrated campaigns that cut across both television and the Internet, they will look to integrate television and digital advertising metrics to get a holistic view of total campaign performance. What if we could apply the power of big data to television advertising? Turn, a leading cloud marketing platform provider, recently used its revolutionary services to take a unified approach to the company s own offline/online advertising campaign. The campaign integrated data from all available media channels, while engaging customers with innovative creative across television and the Internet. This case study outlines our campaign strategy, execution details, data analysis, and the discoveries we made during the project. We also take a look at the upshot of this cross-channel experiment for the future of advertising. Bridging the Data Gap Between Television and the Internet 2

3 The Challenge The industry-leading Turn marketing plaform helps advertisers around the world achieve exceptional results. As the disparate realms of TV and digital advertising collide, Turn saw an opportunity to launch our brand and to showcase how our technology can empower marketers to manage all their online activities from one dashboard. We started by asking ourselves two questions: 1. Could we use the customer data we have from online sources to get a better picture of our prospects and brand loyalists across any advertising medium? 2. Could we track television campaign results in the same manner that we track our online results? Fueled by these questions, Turn launched its first-ever integrated offline/online marketing campaign, called Confidence at the Moment of Decision. Our objective was to demonstrate an effective integration of television and Internet advertising that would leverage Turn s advanced digital technologies for audience targeting, video optimization, and cross-channel analytics. The campaign included: television airings of the commercial exclusively on the AMC network, split between the day of and the day after the last episode of Mad Men. AMC site, along with direct buys on websites that index high with our target audience: Forbes, Ad Age, Adweek, and MediaPost. marketing professions with online ad bids. keywords associated with the Turn commercial and related to the content of the microsite. and exelate, as well as analytics from Omniture. front page of The New York Times Business section. your best split-second decision? The centerpiece of the campaign was a 30-second spot airing on the Season 5 finale of Mad Men, essentially the Super Bowl for marketing professionals. Surrounding elements an integrated microsite, influencer outreach, social media buzz, online video and display advertising worked together to extend reach, increase frequency, and deepen audience engagement. Advertising Plan Strategy Confidence at the Moment of Decision was designed to build awareness and lift preference among enterprise marketing executives and senior agency-side media decision-makers. We invested $500,000 in a multichannel effort that would establish Turn as a leading marketing technology provider. Starting with a dramatic 30-second commercial, we would extend the creative across TV, standard display, and rich-media ads; pre-roll video spots; keyword search sponsorships; and newsletter ads. Creative Strategy All the targeting and audience analysis information in the world means nothing if your creative doesn t inspire. Our strategy was to take creative risks that would emphasize to Turn customers that it pays to be bold. Besides, we were advertising to advertisers on a show about advertising, so we had to stand out in a big way. We asked our advertising agency, gyro, to think outside the box, and they delivered the perfect concept. It had all the required elements drama, emotion, anger, and suspense and told the story of decisions made by the Turn platform with a beautiful visual design. Bridging the Data Gap Between Television and the Internet 3

4 Creative Approach The creative played with the idea that many online advertising decisions are made in a split second. Our 20-second spot was inspired by the visual style of the popular Mad Men series, which we expected would draw heavily from our target audience. Depicting a confrontational scene from a love triangle, the ad focused on the split-second decision the shooter had to make when deciding who to target. The spot never showed who the shooter chose, as the creative message for the viewer was to pull the trigger on something bold using Turn technology as the guide. This provocative scene was intended to generate an emotional connection while articulating the benefits of our technology to our desired demographic. Knowing we were addressing a sophisticated audience, we paid meticulous attention to the commercial s production details. We carefully selected the wording of the voice-over to ensure it paid off the message of confidence at your moment of decision. We invested in a world-class director and crew from a renowned HBO TV series, to ensure that all set details were perfect. In an ideal cross-channel campaign, television and digital advertising should complement one another, each targeting consumers from a different angle and reinforcing a clear message through repeat impressions. The commercial had a cliffhanger ending, along with a call to action that directed viewers to a campaign microsite, where they could view alternative endings and explore information about Turn solutions and the campaign approach. In an ideal cross-channel campaign, television and digital advertising should complement one another, each targeting consumers from a different angle and reinforcing a clear message through repeat impressions. On the microsite, we repurposed the creative assets for display ads, video spots (web and mobile), keyword sponsorships, and newsletter ads. All creative elements functioned as standalone pieces, outside of the Mad Men context, so they could be reused in other venues. Website and media assets were served by our content delivery network and online video platform. TV Flight Online Flight n and T season finales 9 spots over 2 days 3.5MM estimated viewers per spot Professional/Managerial audience composition online content alignment 10MM impressions Pre-roll video online 3.8MM impressions Display (all sizes) 25.7MM impressions Rich-media banners online 5.1MM impressions Paid search 57K impressions microsite Bridging the Data Gap Between Television and the Internet 4

5 Data-Driven Execution As Confidence ran, we imported campaign data into Turn Audience Suite and Turn Campaign Suite, where we tracked behavioral patterns and formed conclusions about performance. Audience Suite, our data management platform, is a customer intelligence hub for aggregating and analyzing channel and audience data. Campaign Suite, our demand-side platform, is a digital marketing hub for executing and analyzing campaign actions. To capture online campaign data, we placed a user ID pixel on the Confidence microsite that would identify visitors and determine how they came to the site. We also used third-party Omniture data to develop audience profiles and further analyze campaign interaction. For television data, we worked with AT&T to import U-verse television data into Turn audience. Turn s technology was able to determine which microsite visitors arrived after they d seen only the television ad, and which visitors landed on the site having also seen at least one online campaign asset. Operational Process and Data Sets intelligence hub that performs analysis of channel and audience data. (except TV and search), including direct buys. audience data. Third-party data TURN AUDIENCE SUITE DESIGN ANALYZE ACTIVATE Bid Management TURN CAMPAIGN SUITE PLAN LEARN EXECUTE Automation CRM TURN.com Analytics Turn user profiles The key to our data strategy was the ability to combine online and offline data in one place. By managing our entire campaign through a single interface, we were able to match anonymous user IDs to determine exposure by channel, sequencing, and response. This approach enabled us to perform multi-dimensional audience analysis, and delivered remarkable insights about individual marketing channels and the impact of cross-channel outreach. The key to our data strategy was the ability to combine online and offline data in one place. Bridging the Data Gap Between Television and the Internet 5

6 PR and Social Media Elements secure an exclusive opportunity with The New York Times. Reporter Andrew Adam Newman treated to a behind-the-scenes look into the making of the commercial, including storyboards, stills, and blog posts. As a result, The New York Times ran a feature profile on the front page of their Business section, just three days before the first airing of the commercial perfect timing to generate even more interest. In the days leading up to the campaign, we also encouraged Turn employees, their friends, and their family to post links or tweet about the campaign, further promoting engagement with the commercial and its surrounding elements. Results Turn increased brand preference by 163 percent and improved unaided branded search queries by 137 percent. Before, during, and after the run of the campaign, we observed several variables in our detailed sequencing analysis. Leveraging data sets new to the digital marketplace, we analyzed actual television viewership based on data from individual household set-tops no broad inferences were made based on Nielsen ratings. We matched television data with online social conversations, and we looked at the impact of multiple media channels on search engine activity. The key result was a 163 percent increase in brand preference. The campaign drove high levels of traffic to the microsite, which saw increased traffic levels when users were exposed to standard display ads, high-impact takeovers, or rich-media ads. In addition to 56,000 paid search impressions, we saw a 137 percent lift in unaided branded search queries. We saw that microsite traffic also spiked when visitors were referred from online social conversations. In fact, social referrals were high the day after the first airing of the commercial and also after most of the repeat airings. Using verified viewer information across AT&T s U-verse TV subscriber base, we correlated social referrals with people who saw our commercial. We were able to prove the effectiveness of ad sequencing by combining information from online user IDs with those same set-top analytics. This is the first time we ve been able to track user behavior across online and offline channels. Microsite Traffic Turn Social Influencers Turn social referrals spiked during Turn ad air times. Social referrals were highest on June 12 (the day after the ad aired the first four times), and for most of the repeat telecasts as well. Campaign Cross-Channel Impact Exposure to digital and social channels drives faster response than offline only. 350 Non Ad Days Max June 10 June 11 June 12 June 13 June 17 6 Turn site traffic driven by TV, digital, and social campaigns Unique Users Scaled Unique Visitors/Day Hour 0 Hour 2 Hour 4 Hour 6 Hour 8 Hour 10 Hour 12 Hour 14 Hour 16 Hour 18 Hour 20 Hour /10 6/11 6/12 6/13 6/14 6/15 6/16 6/17 6/18 6/19 6/20 6/21 6/22 6/23 6/24 6/25 6/26 6/27 6/28 6/29 6/30 Digital + Social + Offline Offline only Digital + No Social + Offline No digital + Social + Offline Bridging the Data Gap Between Television and the Internet 6

7 Another major benefit of combining online and offline data was the ability to examine audience characteristics. Because all data was trackable to a user ID, we could run deep audience analytics using Audience Suite and an overlay of third-party data. Looking specifically at responders from the TV ad to the microsite, we characterized users according to job seniority, job function, job industry, and social activity. Campaign Audience Impact Analysis by Functional Area Key functional areas, especially Marketing and Engineering, showed strong post-broadcast growth. Category Functional Area->Creative Functional Area->Engineering Functional Area->Finance Functional Area->Marketing Functional Area->Marketing->PR Functional Area->Marketing->Product Pre-broadcast Time Period Post-broadcast Functional Area->Sales Analysis by Industry As intended, Advertising and Marketing industries skewed Indexed very Skew high post-broadcast. Analysis by Seniority Confidence microsite were significantly more likely to be executives or middle management than the Internet average. Category Industry->Business Services Industry->Business Services ->Advertising & Marketing Industry->Consumer Services Industry->Media & Internet Industry->Retail Industry->Transportation/Travel Pre-broadcast Time Period Post-broadcast Analysis by Social Influencers exelate s Social Influencers segment responded well to the campaign. Category Seniority->Executives Seniority->Mid-Management Seniority->Non-Management Time Period Pre-broadcast Post-broadcast Time Period Category Pre-broadcast Post-broadcast Smart Segments->Female Executives Smart Segments->Social Influencers Smart Segments->Young Entrepreneurs Confidence microsite was spread fairly evenly across these audience characteristics. However, after the ads ran, visitors skewed toward higher management positions, marketing and engineering job functions, and marketing and advertising industries. We also found our ads played well with the Social Influencers segment, as defined by exelate data, suggesting that our creative was well-crafted to appeal to the target Turn audience. More importantly, it illustrates how marketers can use combined online and offline data to develop advanced audience profiles. By using integrated analytics, digital marketers can gain greater insight into the consumers they need to reach. Because all data was trackable to a user ID, we could run deep audience analytics using Audience Suite and an overlay of third-party data. Bridging the Data Gap Between Television and the Internet 7

8 The Future Opportunity Confidence at the Moment of Decision was a demonstration of cross-channel data integration. In addition to supporting Turn s own marketing objectives, our campaign strategy revealed important learnings for the marketing industry as a whole: 1. Using TV as a channel in an integrated digital campaign increases overall campaign effectiveness. 2. Matching TV viewership/exposure data with third-party databases provides valuable and previously unavailable audience insights. 3. Integrating TV viewership/exposure data into the Turn cloud marketing platform can unlock unique opportunities for sequencing, audience extension, and multi-touch attribution analysis. As much as we learned and accomplished with the Confidence campaign, this effort is an early example of an integrated, data-driven approach to cross-channel advertising. At Turn, we look forward to running more innovative programs that combine online and offline data and watching as our customers do the same. We re confident that we ll be seeing increasing sophistication and creativity in campaign design and analytics in the years and months ahead. This is only the beginning. Stay tuned as the industry evolves. About Turn Turn delivers real-time insights that transform the way leading advertising agencies and marketers make decisions. Our cloud applications and Internet-scale architecture work together to provide a complete picture of customers, execute cross-channel campaigns, and connect with a worldwide ecosystem of more than 100 partners. Turn is headquartered in Silicon Valley and provides its platform, products, and services worldwide. turn.com Contact us We re eager to talk with you about your business requirements. Contact a Turn sales representative today to learn how we can solve your digital marketing challenges Turn Inc. All rights reserved. Turn and the Turn logo are registered trademarks of Turn Inc. Other trademarks are trademarks of their respective companies. All services are subject to change or discontinuance without notice. January 2013 Bridging the Data Gap Between Television and the Internet 8