Employer branding remains top priority for companies in 2021 and beyond

According to Universum’s Employer Branding NOW 2020 survey, the share of large companies that say they are “very concerned” about growing competition for key talent from the startup sector dropped by half in 24 months. In 2018, 38 percent had said they were very concerned; in 2020, only 17 percent felt the same. The stability of large companies (and their large balance sheets) now appears to be a much more attractive factor for job seekers.

By Romanita Oprea

According to the same study, even in an economic downturn, employer branding represents table stakes for competitive talent brands. Only 3 percent of the World’s Most Attractive Employers say it’s not a top priority. Recruiters have unwittingly been preparing for the “new normal” of covid-19 for a few years: in 2020, 82 percent said they had adopted video recruiting, up from 59 percent in 2019. At the same time, “people analytics” (using technology and AI to drive smarter decisions at scale) has jumped from 28 to 43 percent.

In Romania, foreseeing the acceleration of the field, the GMP PR agency created an internal division dedicated to Employer Branding in January 2018. This happened in the context of Romania’s labour market being more dynamic than ever, with more and more employers developing communication campaigns in order to inspire, generate loyalty, and retain their employees. The division provides consultancy on internal and external employer branding, recruitment and loyalty campaigns, internal communication, as well as tactical actions that can support HR objectives.

Indeed, when the pandemic hit, employer branding was in full bloom, with a large number of companies requesting these types of services from PR and advertising agencies. According to Raluca Marinescu, head of the employer branding & integrated communication division at GMP PR, we are living in a time when everything is being reinvented. Companies, people, teams – all seeking evolution and improvement as they adapting to present challenges. “As clients’ needs keep evolving, our agency keeps growing in order to meet their expectations. And as their demands are diversifying, we are expanding our teams and widening our areas of expertise, so this year our Employer Branding Division is evolving and becoming an Employer Branding & Integrated Communication Division. We launched it in 2018, as an obvious reaction to market demand,” Marinescu said. Some things have changed in the meantime though,

including the fact that employers are placing an increased focus on staying close to their teams, which the GMP PR representative considers to be a change for the better. In pandemic times, we all felt the need to have people close to us, to receive support from our “tribes,” to feel that someone was taking care of our personal needs and protecting us, and employers were often the ones to provide that kind of support.

Ena Karabelas, executive director at Chapter 4 Romania, agrees that attracting and retaining talent has been a colossal challenge for companies operating on the local

market for the past couple of years. “Even if it was not the main focus of our communications activities, many of our corporate accounts have also included engagements in this area. In fact, as we have grown our corporate communications department in the past years, employer branding and building brand awareness for B2B companies have been the most in-demand services, especially for companies in highly competitive sectors like IT&C. The underlying issues – the highly competitive market, labour migrating abroad, and the need to differentiate from competitors based on values, not money – have not changed during the pandemic. If anything, they have been joined by a host of new challenges,” said Chapter 4 Romania’s executive director. She also noted that over the past 18 months, many of our values and habits, on both a personal and professional level, have been challenged and transformed. When it comes to the ways in which we evaluate our jobs and working environments, people all across the world are paying closer attention to peer-to-peer relationships. “They are looking at how management teams have cared for and supported their employees throughout the pandemic and how their mental health and emotional support needs have been met. Coupled with the shift in the way we work (with remote or hybrid modes in many companies) and the greater focus on flexible working, this new worldview pushes companies towards reevaluating their

EVPs (Employee Value Propositions),”

Karabelas explained. According to Roxana Diba, managing director at Golin, the increase has been seen especially in economic sectors where financial benefits are extremely competitive – such as IT/software development, banking, and so on. Employer branding turned into a very important brand differentiator, as companies knew that money alone would no longer make enough of a difference. “In order to attract the best talents, companies started to think of other benefits they could offer prospects in order to seal the recruitment deal. This emphasis on employee experience translated into increased presence at job fairs, business events, higher education institutions, and leisure time areas, where brands could present their offering directly or indirectly to potential employees. Communicating about company culture and values was also prioritised, as brands knew how important it was for their ethos to resonate with their recruits,” said Roxana Diba, adding that the biggest spike in employer branding occurred during the pandemic.

RECENT CHANGES

The most consequential recent change, in GMP’s Raluca Marinescu’s view, was the need to communicate with remote teams using new channels. As a result, external communication platforms have been integrated with companies' existing tools, internal platforms have been prioritised, and new internal platforms and programmes have been launched. “The first step was to ensure that normal operations could carry on, so as employees moved to remote working, we saw higher usage of digital platforms created to keep people connected and offer them the best tools to continue working as teams. Employers moved their focus to employee health, both physical and mental, by developing wellbeing programmes and teaming up with sports trainers, mindfulness experts, and psychologists,” she said.

Many companies took it a step further, getting even more involved in their employees’ lives through programmes that also included their families, whether we’re talking about medical services and assistance or about ways to entertain them while they were spending all that time at home.

“As a communication agency, we have been involved in creating these kinds of programmes and making sure that the information reached all our clients’ employees. Right now, we are talking about ways to find that optimal new way of working, whether it’s remote, hybrid or fully going back to the office. There is a huge challenge in terms of communication, as people consume information in different ways. And while some are already getting used to the hybrid work model, companies must make sure that employees who are still fully remote don't miss a thing. And that’s where we jump in to find the best solutions,” Raluca Marinescu added.

Golin’s managing director confirms the trend of companies having started to provide extra support by tailoring benefits to the needs of both employees and their families. “We have had more companies asking us to develop solutions that would enhance dialogue with employees, keep them informed about what is happening at all times, and raise awareness about company wellbeing initiatives. Employee mental health has also risen on the list of priorities, as workers felt isolated, disconnected, and uncertain about the future. Companies have introduced lighter working hours, mental health hotlines, and online check-ins with team members and management in order to build deeper connections and strengthen bonds inside the

company,” Roxana Diba explained, adding that after March 2020, an overwhelming majority of companies introduced at least one new wellbeing benefit for their employees and thus faced the challenge of implementing it and communicating about it.

WHAT COMPANIES WANT

From a company’s perspective, Daniela Bacaoanu, HR manager at dcs plus, says that the best and strongest employer branding strategy is created, implemented, and maintained through team collaboration, because teams are living proof of a company’s values and organisational culture. “If a person identifies themselves with the company’s values and goals, our perception is that they will contrib-

ute to the growth of our employer brand. Priorities have not changed for dcs plus, but we have a more focused approach when reaching out to different types of candidates, meaning that we are using different employer branding actions based on the types of workers we are looking for at any given time. We have built strong relationships with our colleagues throughout all these amazing years. The pandemic has proven to us once again that we can count on these relationships,” said the dcs plus HR manager.

A top employer brand starts with a strong recruitment process. dcs plus is a highly selective company and its representatives think that profiling the right candidate during the recruiting process gives them a better chance to attract the right talent, which can bring energy, good vibes, and a fresh way of thinking. And of course, “once you find the right people, it’s a matter of how you structure the integration and onboarding process, as this is a natural step in shaping the company as a community based on strong connections and a solid structure of knowledge transfer. We believe that these two elements are at the core of the strategy to continuously boost our employer brand,” Daniela Bacaoanu argued.

But what do companies want when they contract a PR agency’s services? “We’re seeing a lot more emphasis on internal communication and on projects that are very employeecentric among our clients. I believe that, with all the trials and tribulations of the past year and a half, employers now fully and truly understand the value of their employees. They are acknowledging the fact that you cannot build a pretty façade on top of a dysfunctional internal working environment. They have also come to realise that beauty does come from the inside, even in professional contexts. We are having more conversations which start from meaningful insights and look at how we can build a strong EVP that is appropriate for the present day, yet flexible enough to withstand more changes in the future. Only then do companies look to external communication. And when they do, we look closely at how to bring real added value to the recruitment process through various communication tools,” Ena Karabelas noted. In turn, Raluca Marinescu believes that all companies want to become best employer in their class, and reaching this goal takes more than a few employer branding campaigns. A key element to a company’s popularity as an employer is its employee value proposition. An effective EVP integrates employee engagement with branding in order to support an efficient candidate attraction and retention approach. Marinescu argues that it all starts from the inside, from the organisational culture and from HR and communication teams that stay in close touch with all current and potential employees, and it continues with each and every employee’s actions, as it is all about company values and the way employees adopt and implement them. “Agencies come next, as we support clients in becoming even better and communicating about their position on the employment market, both internally and externally. It takes a solid team to create an employer branding strategy that starts with the customer and extends to the agency, and a relationship that’s based on honesty, trust, and experience. In terms of time, it takes years to build the background for a good employer branding campaign, years of growing a healthy organisational culture that can afterwards be communicated through such a campaign. The campaign itself can take about 2-3 weeks to conceive, about 2-3 months to plan and implement, and it may be carried over a period of about 6 months,” explained the head of GMP PR’s employer branding & integrated communication division. After all, she points out, a good employer brand is the decisive factor in strong candidates joining one company or another. And once hired, employees expect a lot from their organisations: besides career growth opportunities, they want to know that they’re working for a company they can be proud of.

“Employer branding is not something that should be done as a one-off, meaning that it’s not enough to just put out a nice campaign with great copy and nice visuals. It is instead a constant effort that always begins from the inside and then branches out to external audiences, sometimes requiring more communications efforts (and a solid budget), and other times just being a part of a standard comms approach,” added Ena Karabelas.

Moreover, according to Roxana Diba, a good employer branding strategy assumes that a company will constantly and consistently develop related activities. However, if a brand wants to draw up a strategy and implement it, Golin can help with all of its needs. “What we need is to understand the brand’s objectives while also researching company culture and values. As each organisation is unique and has a specific ethos, this process helps us craft a tailor-made solution for each client. Once a comprehensive strategy is created, criteria such as urgency, budget, and complexity dictate what the timeline should look like.”

Hagag Development Europe brings a new vibe to the local market

Anna COHEN, Head of Marketing at Hagag Development Europe tells about the importance of creating an excellent customer experience in building a strong brand loyalty.

HAGAG DEVELOPMENT EUROPE IS ONE OF THE TOP PLAYERS ON THE LOCAL MARKET. WHICH ARE YOUR KEY DIFFERENTIATORS IN SUCH A DYNAMIC MARKET?

The local real estate market is very competitive, and with technology advancing fast and automating services popping up everywhere you turn, one needs to be as innovative and to stay as up to date as possible. How do we manage to stand out from the crowd? Well, as a first we have been very careful when choosing our niche. Likewise, we have been concentrating our efforts on offering more than just a space to live or work in, and the services we provide are the key element to generating a lasting impression. Buyers and tenants alike base their buying behaviour and brand loyalty on the level of service and engagement they receive, and for us, creating an excellent customer experience for our clients is what makes our brand’s reputation. As I see it, amazing experiences have the capability to lay the foundation for a long-lasting, thriving business – and this is what we deliver. HOW IMPORTANT ARE TRUST AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION IN YOUR LINE OF WORK?

We work in an industry that was built on trusting relationships. When nurtured, these relationships lead to customer satisfaction, high retention levels, solid company reputation and year-on-year business growth. The way we articulate our value proposition by delivering projects of great value not only for the residential market but also for the city as a whole, together with the services we offer is what helped us gain the trust of our clients. A content client will be more loyal to our brand and will share his experience with friends and family.

Furthermore, we are constantly trying to anticipate our clients’ needs. We understand what it is like to be in their shoes and we care about providing them with everything they need, hence we are working on meeting these needs before they even mention them to us.

Either thought our in-house sales teams, our collaborators, or with the help of technology, we are constantly surveying our clients on what they feel is lacking in the products now available on the market. As a result, we have managed to develop premium services available for all our residential projects, such as the 24/7 virtual concierge, full property management, direct rentals and landlord representation, and added a developer instalments facility for our resi-scheme in Pipera. We even digitized part of our sales processes, helping our clients save time and resources. All of these actions combined helped us boost sales performance.

IT IS OFTEN SAID THAT IF YOU GIVE CUSTOMERS A GREAT EXPERIENCE, THEY WILL BUY MORE. CAN YOU RELATE?

We bring to the local market a new vibe and extraordinary projects. In terms of marketing and customer experience, this is translated into providing our clients with privileged locations, unique types of architecture and prime facilities and services.

As peculiar as this sounds, when you’re performing on a niche segment, you are the puppeteer. You have the answers that clients are searching for and you just need to get your communication game strong and the people that resonate with your work, values and mission will come to you, in depth knowledge of their actions.

At the end of the day, clients are more prone to sign with a developer who builds with passion and attention to details and has the know-how, experience and expertise to deliver a project that exceeds their expectations.

So yes, we can relate to the fact that a pleasant customer experience boosts sales and business performance as a whole, but we also find that the customer experience journey should not end when the sale process is completed. The after sales part is, too, a highly valuable marketing component.

As we see it, our clients are our best ambassadors and we want to make sure that they are comfortable and satisfied with their decision.

Circular economy just starting out in Romania

Around 50 million tonnes of electrical and electronic waste (e-waste) is generated worldwide each year, a figure expected to more than double by 2050 to 120 million tonnes, according to a 2019 report from the World Economic Forum (WEF). As reported by Reuters, half of all e-waste is made up of personal devices such as computers, monitors, smartphones, tablets, and TVs, with the remainder comprising larger household appliances as well as heating and cooling equipment.

By Romanita Oprea

A call for responsibility

Globally, around 20 percent of e-waste is recycled. Even in the EU, the top region by recycling rates, this rises to only 35 percent. Illegal or unregulated ewaste can end up being pulled apart manually by poor workers in developing countries, who are then exposed to health problems from toxic materials. Metals like gold, copper, and nickel in products such as mobile phones, laptops, and TVs are worth around USD 62.5 billion, three times more than the annual output of the world’s silver mines. There is 100 times more gold in a tonne of mobile phones than in a tonne of gold ore, the WEF report notes.

Finding ways to reuse materials contained in unwanted electronic products would also remove the need to extract more, cutting carbon emissions, environmental damage, and human rights problems often associated with mining.

The WEF report demonstrates the importance of a more circular economy-based approach to e-waste, where products or the materials they contain are kept in use for longer. But what is the circular economy? It’s an economic system that tackles global challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution. Most linear economy businesses take a natural resource and turn it into a product which is ultimately destined to become waste because of the way it has been designed and made. The circular economy is a model of production and consumption that involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing, and recycling existing materials and products and keep them in use for as long as possible. This way, the life cycle of products is extended. In practice, it implies reducing waste to a minimum. When a product reaches the end of its life, its materials are kept within the economy wherever possible. These can be productively used again and again, thereby creating further value.

This is a departure from the traditional, linear economic model, which is based on a take-make-consume-throw away pattern. This model relies on large quantities of cheap, easily accessible materials and energy. Still, according to the European Parliament, part of this model is also planned obsolescence, when a product is designed to have a limited lifespan in order to encourage consumers to buy it again. The European Parliament has called for measures to tackle this practice.

Measures such as waste prevention, ecodesign and re-use could save EU companies money while also reducing total annual greenhouse gas emissions. Currently, the production of materials we use every day account for 45 percent of CO2 emissions. Moving towards a more circular economy could deliver benefits such as reducing pressure on the environment, improving the security of the supply of raw materials, increasing competitiveness, stimulating innovation, boosting economic growth (an additional 0.5 percent of gross domestic product), creating jobs (700,000 jobs in the EU alone by 2030). Consumers will also be provided with more durable and innovative products that will increase their quality of life and save them money in the long term.

LAWS AND ORGANISATIONS

On January 1, 2021, a new law in France asked companies that produced electronics to publish repairability indices and repair manuals. France is the only country in Europe with such a law in place, its purpose being to ensure a longer period of life for electronics and to reduce e-waste levels. The criteria behind repairability indices were chosen after intensive research and now consumers can easily find out whether a product they are thinking of buying can be easily repaired or not if the need arises.

“There was a time when people would keep their electronics or appliances for a long time, even more than ten years. Now, after two years on average, most people buy new products, either out of a desire to own the latest model, because they believe that older models won’t be able to support new operating systems or because they won’t bother trying to repair them when they malfunction. Most of the time, the products they already have would continue to work for a longer period of time, but instead they end up sitting unused in the house or get thrown in the garbage, polluting the environment, and not being properly recycled,” said Cristian Pocol, president of the Respo DEEE Association.

In Romania, there is an organisation called The Coalition for Circular Economy, whose main purpose is stimulating the development of new business models and markets. The association wants to promote the EU’s recommendations regarding green acquisitions (Buying Green Handbook), carry out studies and research regarding the handling of waste and tracking the results, sign partnerships with national and international organisations with the purpose of implementing programmes regarding the circular economy, organise and take part in industry events in order to gather know-how and present best practices; communicate with local and central authorities and with special commissions in the Romanian Parliament, take the lead in creating a legal environment in which the circular economy can develop and grow, etc.

According to Cristian Pocol, the notion of the circular economy is difficult to define and translate into legislation. It is a natural follow-up to the concept of Extended Producer Responsibility, a national policy that was transposed by Romania in 2011 and was recently revised entirely. “The mechanisms involved in implementing the concepts and the roles of each player in such systems are in the process of being adapted to market realities. The main benefit we should get from using these concepts – waste collected separately and directed to sorting plants to be converted into secondary raw materials, quantified by the volumes of these resulting materials – indicates the degree of implementation of these concepts in Romania,” said Cristian Pocol. Moreover, he says that even though there are functioning intermediary bodies between the manufacturing industry and the recycling industry, the dialogue between the two seems very difficult. Talks regarding treatment capacities, treatment costs versus revenues from resulting materials and requirements for secondary raw materials for the manufacturing industry are not being held at a level that would allow both sides to grow. All stakeholders must work on this aspect in order to develop a circular economy in Romania. When it comes to education, figures show a lack of knowledge regarding waste collection among the population. “Everyone is talking about it, but very few people actually understand the underlying issues and act responsibly. The environmental impact of waste that is not treated properly can be difficult to assess and show to the public. And the fact that this approach leads to a loss of raw materials that are no longer found in nature remains undiscussed. We are aware of the figures used in various EU countries, but we have to adapt them to the Romanian reality, to our population’s education level, and to their access to the waste collection network,” Pocol said.

The Respo WEEE Association is only active in the field of waste of electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). Throughout the organisation’s two years of operation, it has managed to make itself well-known through targeted messages delivered via audio-visual media at a national and local level. “Each year we organise waste collection campaigns in various places across the country, in partnership with local public authorities and local waste operators. In order to deliver the messages targeting each population group, we have built partnerships with opinion leaders who helped us reach our objectives. And to improve waste sorting at the point of waste generation, we have developed our own collection containers that we provide to the public for free,” Pocol added.

And, even though some companies are adopting good initiatives, it is still not enough. As Cristian Pocol pointed out,

manufacturers should be more aware of the waste implications and adapt their operations in order to facilitate the work of all stakeholders once the products have reached the end of their shelf life, by developing their products in a more sustainable manner, designing products in such a way as to allow repairs, manufacturing products in a way that facilitates the separation of materials (secondary raw materials) in the treatment/ recycling plant, etc. “Producers need to track their own products after they are released and sold on the market, and make sure they end up in a collection site and later in a treatment/ recycling facility. Given the fact that only 20 percent of the products in the WEEE sector are declared as waste and end up in the waste stream, I think there is still a lot of work to be done before this figure improves,” the RESPO DEEE Association president concluded.

The road to unconventional advertising in 2021

The myriad of adverts bombarding consumers every day has made people virtually immune to commercial messaging. This is why advertisers are trying to find new, alternative, and creative ways to reach customers.

By Romanita Oprea

Adrian Diac, Ogilvy Romania to be unexpected and catch people off guard, in places and situations where they aren’t expecting to be targeted by ads. Furthermore, unlike traditional ads, unconventional ones don’t use persuasive messages designed to convince the audience to buy, but rather address the customer’s subconscious by building memorable images that stick in the consumer’s mind for a long time.

According to Web Market Media, unconventional advertising means that any space with a certain level of visibility, whether static or mobile, can become the carrier of an advertising message. What makes it unconventional? It’s either the space being used to promote the message or simply its form of production. Anything that departs from traditional communication media and anything that surprises us due to its location, format or idea can represent unconventional advertising.

Throughout the years, the idea of an unconventional marketing or advertising campaign has evolved, especially around the amount of technology that was being used to reach a campaign’s target. From guerrilla marketing and flash mobs to geofilters or from using the environment as the unconventional element (sky/coffee cups/ lifts/escalators, etc.) to today’s TikToks and NFTs, unconventional has been evolving in terms of both the messaging and the means of expression and interaction. And if we were to take a look at the field’s specific literature, we would find that Kaikati and Kaikati (2004) identified six main types of unconventional advertising techniques: viral marketing, brand pushers, celebrity marketing, bait-andtease marketing, marketing in video games, and marketing in pop and rap music. However, they consider these strategies to be part of the larger category of stealth marketing. For Pavel and Catoiu (2009), the unconventional advertising category includes the following: elevator advertising, taxi advertising, bathroom stall advertising, mirror advertising, aerial advertising, ambient advertising, body advertising, and graffiti advertising. This area changes constantly in the pursuit of new ways to break through the advertising clutter. Technology and the digital realm are playing huge roles in changing it and allowing it to keep up with reality.

In a world where every consumer is suffocated by commercials that all sound and look alike, unconventional advertising is a breath of fresh air, delivering messages in unexpected forms that usually entertain viewers. In fact, unconventional advertising is supposed DIGITAL AND TECHNOLOGY DRIVEN

Adrian Diac, creative director at Ogilvy Romania, says that unconventional has become interlinked with technology. It is a game of spotting the right technology in order to deliver a powerful message. “Each tech hit immediately turns into a platform for creativity and, of course, our industry is at the forefront of exploring these platforms. We did it with the Sound Codes of Romania project for Globalworth, where we linked Spotify to traditional carpet design, delivering a surprising experience. People could practically listen to traditional sound codes of Romania by simply accessing a QR code placed on these carpets,” Diac explained.

In Andreea Timofte’s view, unconventional advertising is mostly digital nowadays, due to the important role mobile phones play in our

lives and the easy access to mobile internet. Brands that are looking to approach customers in a special way today will almost always think about reaching them through their phones. “From this point onwards, the power of IoT (internet of things) in our lives will add to the advantages of taking a digital approach for most projects. Ten or fifteen years ago, it was enough to put a special 3D production in the centre of Bucharest to get a wow effect. These days, such a project requires an internet connection in order to interact with customers via their mobile phones and offer them something more, even if it’s just information,” the general manager of Motion Vision Communication explained. How much have digital and technology changed unconventional advertising and offered new ways of exposure/creativity/innovation? “Technology and the internet are always in customers’ pockets, so there are plenty of touch points where advertising can interfere in customers lives. As such, brands are choosing to have a higher number of less intensive touch points with their prospects. Nonetheless, innovation will bring new ways of connecting things around us. A few years ago, we couldn’t think that the fridge door could be used as a digital ad display,” Andreea Timofte said.

Anything seems to be possible in the digital world – just take a look at the Snickers AdWords Campaign, which was based on misspelled keywords. The ad copy based on the same concept helped the brand connect with their audience in a humorous way. As pointed out by Social Media Today, upon clicking the banner ad, web users were taken to a branded website built solely around a hunger/typo message. The campaign didn't sell the candy bars directly, but it had 558,589 impressions on various misspellings in just two days.

“Advertising has become dependent on technology, as all of us have. As we spend several hours a day on our smartphones, it is obvious that we have to be there, offering experiences and entertainment, taking advantage of new tech, and interacting with audiences more and more,” Ogilvy’s creative director added.

EXPERIENTIAL AND ENTERTAINING

attention and stay true to its name? For Adrian Diac, the entertainment factor has to be the focal point of audience engagement. And he may have a point, as consumers are asking to be entertained every step of the way. “Consumers are numb to digital advertising. We sat in front of screens, locked

in our homes, for most of 2020. Brands need to think beyond this go-to media format to re-engage with their customers in unique ways. Out-of-home advertising will be a very effective format to achieve this once the vaccine is available, as people will be rushing outside and will be more aware of their surroundings,” said Skye Suttenfield, managing director of Seen Media Group, for Forbes back in 2020.

“An unconventional campaign must have a strong experiential approach, with at least a minimal digital component,” Andreea Timofte argued. Experiential marketing means involving the audience in the event or campaign and it produces great results, because it creates something that’s immersive and interactive. On the other hand, are clients willing to invest budgets in unconventional techniques, in innovative and surprising campaigns? Or has the pandemic changed their priorities? Timofte says that during the pandemic, a lot of brands decided to put their communication efforts on hold. And that is

why the two categories of ads that did well in this period were retail and telecom, and they were mainly focused on financial results and less on the wow effects. It’s true though that some new categories, being uplifted by the context, are more interested in surprising customers.

Ogilvy’s creative director agrees that clients are not investing large budgets in unconventional. “Most of the time, innovation comes up as a creative idea that needs to be explained, sold to the client, and implemented. It is a difficult process that requires lots of meetings, persuasion, and trust. In the best and most successful cases, the client and the agency come together to make these projects happen,” Adrian Diac argued.

5G adoption: Over 580 million subscriptions expected by end-2021

For more than 18 months now, the world has faced a crisis on a scale that defies belief. As countries around the world deal with different phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is clear that technology, and more specifically connectivity, increasingly supports many aspects of our everyday lives.

By Aurel Constantin

5G subscription uptake is expected to be faster than that of 4G following its launch in 2009

The speed of 5G uptake is far higher than it was for 4G, let alone 3G, and it is one more sign of an industry that tirelessly continues to drive innovation and bring new technology to the market. So far, more than 160 communications service providers have launched 5G services and over 300 5G smartphone models have been announced or launched commercially, according to the most recent Ericsson Mobility Report.

Before the end of this year, the world will have surpassed half a billion 5G users. However, the picture is more nuanced when we look at development on a regional level, where it is clear that it will take longer for 5G to be deployed and ready for mass adoption in some regions of the world. Nevertheless, whether it’s 4G or 5G, the need for good, high-speed connectivity is virtually limitless.

The fact that more than 70 percent of all service providers are now offering fixed wireless access (FWA) services speaks to this need. As societies plan a return to a more normal situation after the pandemic, the need to secure and invest in high-quality digital infrastructure should be on everyone’s agenda as a key component of economic recovery. It’s a good thing, then, that the industry able to deliver on that need is already on its way to doing so.

SERVICE PROVIDERS SWITCH TO 5G

Despite the uncertainty caused by COVID-19, service providers are continuing to switch to 5G, with more than 160 having launched commercial 5G services. 5G subscriptions with a 5G-capable device grew by 70 million during the first quarter, to reach about 290 million.

It is estimated that there will be close to 580 million 5G subscriptions by the end of 2021. Currently, northeast Asia has the highest 5G subscription penetration, followed by North America, Gulf Cooperation Council countries, and western Europe. In 2026, it is projected that North America will have the highest share of 5G subscriptions of all regions, at 84 percent. 5G subscription uptake is expected to be faster than that of 4G following its launch in 2009. 5G subscriptions are estimated to reach 1 billion two years earlier than 4G subscriptions did. Key factors include China’s earlier

engagement with 5G as well as the timely availability of devices from several vendors.

By the end of 2026, Ericsson forecasts 3.5 billion 5G subscriptions globally, accounting for around 40 percent of all mobile subscriptions at that time. 4G will remain the dominant mobile access technology by subscription over the forecast period. During Q1 2021, 4G subscriptions increased by approximately 100 million, exceeding 4.6 billion, accounting for 58 percent of all mobile subscriptions. It is projected to peak during the year at 4.8 billion subscriptions before declining to around 3.9 billion by the end of 2026 as more subscribers migrate to 5G.

The net addition of mobile subscriptions was quite low in Q1 2021, at 59 million. This is likely due to the pandemic and its associated restrictions. India had the most net additions (+26 million), followed by China (+6 million) and South Africa (+2 million).

SERVICE PACKAGE TRENDS

Service providers are continuously adapting their service packaging towards consumers. In addition to offering significantly higher speeds, 5G subscriptions often contain larger buckets or even unlimited data. As this drives up usage, providers are also including limitations, albeit soft ones, as a means to improve monetisation. Daily allowances for unlimited packages are appearing, with an option to increase the allowance in increments of a few GB at no cost, through a simple text message.

Many service providers are also introducing terms and conditions against the use of various IoT devices together with these packages, as well as capping usage within family and share plans. Service-based packages, such as music and video passes, have been steadily growing in number over the past few years.

A new addition to this segment are gaming passes. These packages, sold as add-ons to regular buckets, are appealing to gamers by promoting 5G and low-latency experiences. Either the traffic is zero-rated or a certain number of usage hours or GBs are set aside for the packages.

Mobile subscriptions are also on the rise than doubled since the first measurements in December 2018.

The 5G device ecosystem continues to evolve rapidly and outpace historical developments in previous cellular technology generations. 5G adoption is growing in momentum for both the network and device segments: over 300 5G smartphone models

have been announced or launched commercially and global smartphone shipments are expected to grow 7 percent year-on-year in 2021, despite a temporary shortage of semiconductors.

Furthermore, 5G device pricing continues to decline, with retail prices supporting low and medium frequency bands under USD 250 outside China and USD 400 for devices with mmWave support in the US, while 5G standalone (SA) continues to evolve as more markets enable it with 5G-native voice over NR (VoNR) services, support for network slicing, and dual connectivity using an NR anchor carrier (NR-DC), allowing use of mmWave spectrum in SA networks.

today, with a total of around 8 billion. The report estimates that this figure will increase to 8.8 billion by the end of 2026, of which 91 percent will be for mobile broadband. The number of unique mobile subscribers is projected to grow from 5.9 billion in Q1 2021 to 6.5 billion by the end of the forecast period. Smartphone penetration continues

to rise, and subscriptions associated with smartphones account for about 76 percent of all mobile phone subscriptions.

At the end of 2020, there were 6 billion smartphone subscriptions. This number is forecast to reach 7.7 billion in 2026, which will account for around 88 percent of all mobile subscriptions at that time. Subscriptions for fixed broadband are expected to grow by around 4 percent annually through to 2026. FWA connections are anticipated to show strong growth of about 20 percent annually. Subscriptions for mobile PCs and tablets are expected to show moderate growth, reaching about 450 million in 2026.

OVER 70 PERCENT OF SERVICE PROVIDERS NOW OFFERING FWA

The COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating digitalization as well as increasing the importance of, and need for, fast and reliable home broadband connectivity. In many cases, FWA is the quickest alternative to meet this demand.

In April 2021, for the fifth time, Ericsson updated its study of retail packages offered by service providers worldwide. Out of the 311 service providers studied, 224 had an FWA offering, which represents an average of 72 percent globally. Providers’ adoption of FWA offerings has increased by 12 percentage points over the last six months and more SEMICONDUCTOR CRUNCH

The device industry has navigated the effects of COVID-19 on semiconductor availability quite well so far, despite worries due to the significant impact the shortage had on the automotive industry in 2020. Most vendors have been able to secure their share of baseband and radio frequency (RF) components, indicating that any impact on the device industry will be limited and the projection of approximately 500 million 5G-capable devices could be delivered in 2021. This is equivalent to 35-45 percent of all devices shipped globally being 5G-capable, albeit with strong regional differences.

Gaming industry already bigger than film and music

The gaming industry is poised for another round of exceptional results, even though lockdowns and other restrictions have been lifted in much of the western world. Last year, pandemic boredom nudged older generations to rediscover games, while younger people spent even more time on their consoles.

By Aurel Constantin

The consoles segment is essentially a three-way competition, but the market is much more diverse on the games side

Already bigger than film and music combined, the global gaming industry has been growing rapidly for decades and is on track to hit USD 200 billion in sales in 2023. While the industry did benefit from the extended lockdowns, its expansion preceded the pandemic and the high growth trend is likely to continue for many years.

In the first seven months of 2021, Americans spent USD 33.5 billion on video game content, hardware, and accessories, a 14 percent increase compared to the same period of 2020, according to a survey by NPD Group.

While the Xbox was the best sold console in terms of dollars in June, Sony’s PlayStation 5 came on top in July. Nintendo was again number one in terms of the number of units sold.

The consoles segment is essentially a three-way competition, but the market is much more diverse on the games side, whether we’re talking about console, PC or mobile games. Even Netflix is adding gaming now, opening yet another revenue stream.

“Looking at the games that have grossed the most so far this year, Activision’s Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War comes out on top. Activision Blizzard, which is also the home of World of Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch, and Candy Crush, had a good earnings call this month, with strong revenues of USD 2.3 billion and EPS (earnings per share) of USD 1.2, which was USD 0.29 above expectations and increased guidance for next quarter. But the company is in the middle of a labour scandal and it has been sued by California authorities, which are accusing the company of fostering a ‘sexist culture.’ As a result, several top officials were let go, including Diablo 4 game director Luis Barriga and lead designer Jesse McCree, raising some concerns about this highly expected game’s release path,” says Bogdan Maioreanu, eToro analyst and market commentator.

AAA TITLES

Electronic Arts is the home of very wellknown franchises like FIFA and Madden NFL, Apex Legends, Sims, Battlefield, and F1- Formula one racing. The company, which has over 1,500 employees in its Romania studios, posted very good Q1 2022 earnings, with bookings of over USD 1.34 billion – 4 percent less than last year, but beating consensus, with EPS (earnings per share) of USD 0.71, beating guidance by USD 0.32. EA also announced new sports games, with Madden 22 to be launched later this month and FIFA 22 expected at the end of September. The new Battlefield 2042 (release date 22.10) raised great interest from players, with trailers generating more than 210 million views across multiple channels.

But gaming is not always about exclusivities and AAA titles. A new trend is emerging, namely the metaverse that can be defined as a persistent collective 3D virtual shared space. We are still far from the Ready Player One type of metaverse, but there are several applications bringing such experiences to

players. The best known is probably Minecraft, but also Dreams on PlayStation, RecRoom, GTA Online, Second Life, and Roblox. the important metrics is the rise in the number of users over 13 years old, by 29 percent y/y. Roblox is planning to show premieres on its platform in the fall, starting with the Bakugan anime franchise. It has already hosted music releases, with hip-hop artist KSI's recent virtual launch party.

KIDS PLAYING ROBLOX

Over half of US kids under 16 played Roblox in 2020. Roblox is a metaverse that’s different from anything else in the gaming industry because users are not only playing games; they are also making games and earning money from sales of in-game items, transforming some creative kids into early tech entrepreneurs. Currently, the official website boasts that its users have published over 20 million games on the platform and that Roblox paid USD 329 million to the creators at the end of 2020.

Roblox Corporation went public in March this year and posted its second quarter results recently, falling short of expectations on bookings and profitability. The company showed bookings having risen by 35 percent y/y to USD 665.6 million, as losses widened to USD 140.1 million, worse than analysts were expecting. Revenue increased by 127 percent over Q2 2020 to USD 454.1 million. However, user numbers and engagement reached record levels, with average daily active users (DAU) jumping by 29 percent to 43.2 million. Users spent a combined 9.7 billion hours on the platform, a 13 percent increase y/y. One of

According to the eToro Investor Beat survey, 45 percent of surveyed Romanian investors were planning to invest in companies involved in the digital transformation of our lives. Investors who are interested in the gaming industry can invest in the diversified InTheGame portfolio on eToro, a fully allocated themed investment portfolio that includes 30 large gaming companies.

OVER 700 MILLION GAMERS IN CHINA

Mainland China is the world’s most robust gaming market and it will further solidify this position in 2021 as it approaches an important milestone. The country’s video game market is expected to generate USD 49.3 billion in 2021, reaching the USD 50 billion mark sometime in 2022, when revenue is projected to grow to almost USD 56 billion. China’s gaming market is projected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 9.63 percent in the four-year period from 2021-2025, reaching USD 71.2 billion by the end of the forecast period.

Mobile gaming accounts for the largest share of revenue generated by the Chinese gaming market, amounting to USD 35 billion in 2020 after growing by an estimated 26 percent from 2019’s USD 27.6 billion revenue. In the 2021-2025 period, mobile gaming revenue is projected to grow at a CAGR of 10.1 percent, reaching USD 61 billion by the end of the forecast period. In 2021, mobile gaming revenue is projected to increase a further 17.6 percent to reach USD 41.5 billion. This gives mobile gaming an 84 percent share of China’s total gaming market. By comparison, the segment with the next largest share, online games, will only amount to USD 5.6 billion in 2020.

In terms of revenue growth, gaming networks overtook mobile games for the first time in 2020 when the gaming network segment grew by 28.3 percent. In 2021, the gaming network segment is projected to grow a further 18.3 percent, the highest of all segments. China had 737.7 million video game users in 2020, after increasing by 13.8 percent from 2019. In 2021, the number of video game users is projected to increase by a further 5.7 percent to reach almost 780 million. Mobile game users are expected to account for 72.3 percent of total video game users (563.7 million in 2021). “China’s position as the world’s leading gaming market has been well-established for some time now, and it has been consolidated by the pandemic. The growth of the mobile gaming and gaming networks segments will only continue alongside advances in cloud gaming, ensuring that they will continue to be primary growth drivers for the entire Chinese video game industry for years to come,” said Rex Pascual, eSports editor at Safe Betting Sites.