Facebook Presents‌
Ad Week Europe 2015
Last week, Facebook joined over 23,000 attendees for Advertising Week Europe. Ad Week sees the industry’s best and brightest gather in London to swap insights, share successes and discuss the future of advertising in a rapidly changing world. But with over 200 events and more than 185 hours of thought leadership content, keeping track of all the topics raised at Ad Week is a challenge. So this year, we’ve decided to do something about it. Welcome to Facebook Presents… Ad Week Europe 2015, our handy digest of the key themes that emerged from the keynotes and conversations at this year’s event. If there’s five lessons worth taking away from Ad Week, these would be ours. I hope it stimulates some more conversation. Here’s to Ad Week 2016.
Steve Hatch Managing Director, Facebook UK & Ireland
All the images in Facebook Presents… Ad Week Europe 2015 were taken during Ad Week by Kevin Abosch using an Apple iPhone 6 and Instagram. Check out more of Kevin’s photography at instagram.com/kevinabosch
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The small screen is the first screen Mobile is growing fast. Is advertising keeping up or lagging behind?
If there’s one thing to be learned from Ad Week Europe, it’s that mobile is growing and brands are struggling to keep up. “Every industry’s seen big changes from mobile,” said Simon Andrews, Director at mobile agency Addictive, at the Facebook panel ‘Mobile Matters’. “Marketing has to follow but it’s happening more slowly than we might have expected.” Why is this? On the same panel, Jon Mew, Chief Operating Officer at IAB, attributed it to industrial inertia. Companies become a little too comfortable, and thus become unresponsive to change. “Why is it that the whole motor industry is in Oxford?” he asked. “Why is the media industry in Soho? People get ingrained with the way they work. It’s quite difficult to get companies to do something different with advertising and media.” One of the major barriers is the age-old problem of attribution, and the difficulty in properly understanding the influence of mobile ad impressions on consumers. “It’s a tricky one to
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Simon Andrews Director, Addictive
“Every industry has seen big changes from mobile. Marketing has to follow but it’s happening more slowly than we might have expected.”
Liam Brennan
Digital Strategic Director, Starcom
“Because mobile is such a personal space, there is an opportunity for brands to be more personalised and fit into the user experience.”
due to fat, clumsy thumbs,” Andrews concluded. This is set to change. Facebook released crossdevice reporting for Facebook ads in August of last year. Brands are now able to track movement between devices, and pinpoint the effect of an ad on the consumer with much greater accuracy. In order to succeed on mobile, advertisers must be aware that, with mobile, they are inviting themselves into the audience’s personal space, and tailor their content accordingly. “When you move away from seeing mobile as just another screen, you begin to see how advertising could be more effective,” said Brennan. “Because it’s such a personal space, there is an opportunity for brands to be more personalised and fit into the user experience.” However, brands are beginning to respond. “There are the green shoots of promising creativity,” Andrews remarked, “but we still have a long way to go.”
measure because cookies don’t work with mobile,” explained panellist Liam Brennan, Digital Strategic Further reading on Facebook for Business Director at Starcom. “We also have the problem of the single consumer view, because everyone is using
The Mobile Revolution
so many different screens. It’s a huge challenge.”
How mobile became the most popular screen in the UK
Andrews summed up the current place that mobile enjoys in the pecking order when he declared that, “The average cost of a mobile campaign is the catering cost for TV.” And even when brands acknowledge the massive reach and cost-effectiveness of mobile, they’re still struggling to come up with creative, engaging content. “When someone clicks on a banner on a mobile, it’s usually
Six Tips to Go Mobile Great advice from the Marketing Director of Coca-Cola France
Why Mobile Marketing Matters to Brands A whitepaper on the mobile opportunity
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The challenge is how to connect with this group
Authenticity is currency
in a way that feels authentic and valuable. Vice has built up an unparalleled reputation for authenticity by refusing to patronise its audience. As Vice Managing Director Matt Elek explained at a Creative Talk session with Facebook’s Rob Newlan, if brands are to succeed
Connected, well-educated digital natives not only value craft and integrity, they are highly averse to any hint of inauthenticity.
they must not be afraid of embracing integrity in all its forms. “The frustration comes when brands say, ‘We want to be edgy but we don’t want any swear words.’ That immediately makes an ad seem disingenuous. There’s a level of caution that is applied to things that makes them banal and redundant. But if you take no risks you won’t end up with many rewards.”
This year Millennials will become the dominant generation in the UK workforce. By 2017, they will have the most spending power. In order to
Matt Elek
Managing Director, Vice EMEA
thrive, it is vital that brands are able to connect with these digital natives, and create content that
“The frustration comes when brands say, ‘We want to be edgy but we don’t want any swear words.’ That immediately makes an ad seem disingenuous.”
engages them in a meaningful way. But first, we need to understand them. “The stereotypes and misconceptions that have characterised the conversation about Millennials – that they’re lazy, apathetic and entitled – clearly Global Managing Director of Client Strategy at the Economist, whilst chairing ‘The Future of Media:
contains
arguably
the
most
sophisticated
consumers of media we’ve ever seen. “Millennials don’t look for banality. They’re looking for content that tells great stories, that’s meaningful and that
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Kicking off a global study of young people and technology
The Three Phases of Growing Up
The World in their Hands
Boom or Bust?’. “We can definitely park that Rather, this young, tech-savvy demographic
Coming of Age on Screens
A smarter look at segmenting Millennials
do not apply to the majority,” said Nick Blunden,
stereotype.”
Further reading on Facebook for Business
Rob Newlan
Director, Facebook Creative Shop EMEA
“Millenials don’t look for banality. They’re looking for content that tells great stories, that’s meaningful and that connects in a great way.”
Understanding what mobile means to Millennials
connects in a great way,” explained Rob Newlan, EMEA Director of Facebook’s Creative Shop, at the ‘Boom or Bust’ session. “Ultimately it’s about craft, and that’s where we’re seeing brands
Why Relevance Matters What do young people think of social media and brands?
step up.”
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campaigns where women are not commodified, but
The emergence of new voices
respected and empowered. “Advertising is discovering women,” concluded Hayek. “Women are saying, ‘This is who we are and what we want.’ We’re empowering ourselves and changing the advertising world.”
Traditional advertising was slow to adopt the cause of women’s rights. All this has changed with social media, which is giving a voice to those who were once voiceless.
Advertising for Good Salma Hayek and Avon Salma Hayek has always believed in the power of advertising to bring about positive change. “I’m most proud of the campaign I did with
The struggle for women’s rights is one of the most
Avon,” she told Nicola Mendelsohn during the
pressing challenges facing society but what role does
Salma Hayek
pair’s Facebook Creative Talk.
one hand, it might seem that social media has simply
Director, Actor, Producer, Activist
offered a new platform to old prejudices. But social
“Advertising is discovering women. Women are saying, ‘This is who we are and what we want.’ We’re empowering ourselves and changing the advertising world”.
against domestic violence, a highly taboo
technology and social media play in this issue? On the
media has the potential to be not just empowering, but liberating. “The strength of technology is that everyone gets to have a voice,” said Salma Hayek, who was in conversation with Facebook executive Nicola Mendelsohn at St James’ Church, Piccadilly. “People have
Hayek used Avon to launch a campaign issue in Mexico. “In the end they raised more than $90m. I used advertising to create social consciousness. “Avon have millions of brochures, and because we put the domestic violence hotline number on it, women had a way to escape. ”
regained some power. It’s like a peaceful revolution.” Social media has given a voice to the voiceless, and given women across the world a forum to cooperate and share their experiences.
Further reading on Facebook for Business
This will have an enormous impact on advertising. Female consumers are ready to buy products and connect with brands. The implications of this go beyond healthier profit margins. By listening to voices that would once have been marginalised, the advertising industry can engage in highly relevant
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Salma Hayek
Director, Actor, Producer, Activist
“The strength of technology is that everyone gets to have a voice. People have regained some power. It’s like a peaceful revolution”.
conversations with an audience that has been all too often overlooked. Advertising’s cultural power is undeniable. By listening to women across the world, the industry
Move Fast and Lead Well Nicola Mendelsohn on what it takes to be a great leader in the digital world
can adapt and grow, but also lead the way in running
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The rise of visual communications The days of old text-based advertising may be numbered, as consumers and advertisers move towards video and photography to communicate brand messages.
The world is undergoing a profound and unprecedented shift from text to visual communications. Not only is video continuing to rise in prominence – with over 3bn video views every day on Facebook around the world – but we’re also seeing stickers displacing the written word in personal and text messages. “We’re seeing stickers emerge on Facebook as a core communications piece,” explained Rob Newlan, Director of Facebook’s Creative Shop, at ‘The Future of Media: Boom or Bust’. “We’re going back to hieroglyphics. It’s a big switch.”
Mel Exon
Managing Director, BBH
“The beauty of digital is that backlit tablets can make images look better than on paper. The text-based advertising of old obviously still exists, but I think we’ll see people moving away from it.”
think we’ll see people moving away from it.” Video is a central part of this. “The shift is not just in views, but in what people are posting,” Hatch responded, “On Facebook in the UK, we’re seeing an 88% increase in the amount of video people are posting themselves.” Advertisers now have a host of new ways to present their brand to the public. Not only are they adopting new visual techniques, such as the cinemagraph, but the huge rise in video content posted by users enables brands to engage with consumers in new, more authentic ways. Exon, in the same session, recalled a BBH KFC ad campaign that tapped into the YouTube community. “We found a YouTuber who had a funny piece where he imagined what it would be like if KFC shut down. We contacted this guy and asked him if he was interested in partnering with us. We didn’t tell him what to say, he did it completely in his own way, and we achieved 2 million views. He was just a great guy with a natural connection to the brand.”
Mel Exon, Managing Director at BBH, argued that this is due to the emergence of new platforms Further reading on Facebook for Business
Tracy Yaverbaun, Head of Brand Development for Instagram EMEA, echoed this view in ‘The
that allow users to create their own art. “Instagram
Guardian Leadership Breakfast: Influence in a
was a real watershed moment”, she said. “That was
Video on Facebook
when people saw the beauty that was involved. I
What does the growth of video on Facebook mean for brands?
Fragmented Age’: “There’s a shift in how people are communicating, there’s a shift from text communication to image and pictures. We have to collaborate and adapt to that.” What is behind this shift to images? In conversation with Facebook Director Steve Hatch,
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Rob Newlan
Director, Facebook Creative Shop EMEA
“We’re seeing stickers emerge on Facebook as a core communications piece. We’re going back to hieroglyphics. It’s a big switch.”
don’t know any creative person that isn’t moved by something that looks extraordinary. “The beauty of digital is that backlit tablets can make images look better than on paper. The text-
McDonald’s FryFutbol A look at video creative on Facebook with this award-winning campaign
based advertising of old obviously still exists, but I
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The future of advertising The last two decades have witnessed technological change on an unprecedented scale. What challenges might the advertising industry have to adapt to in the near future?
Anticipating longer-term developments in any field is difficult, but Ad Week Europe provided an ideal forum for some of the industry’s leading figures to speculate on market trends, and how the industry might adapt to them. One serious development is the continuing public loss of faith in the advertising industry. Whilst in conversation with BBH Managing Director Mel Exon, Facebook MD Steve Hatch showed the audience a graph taken from a
Mark Creighton CEO, Mindshare.
“If you’re going to influence people in the new landscape, you’ll need a lot more collaboration. That’s how the fragmentation in the current situation is going to be brought together.”
seeing this data for a while, it’s serious. But I suspect that when people are asked what they think about advertising, they’re probably thinking in quite conventional terms.” Programmatic advertising, the purchasing of digital advertising by software was another key trend and is revolutionising ad buying, particularly on mobile platforms. In 2014, 37% of all display ads on mobile were programmatic, compared to 28% overall. Although it’s difficult to tell how quickly programmatic advertising will evolve, what is certain is that it is more cost-effective, more efficient and will expand even more in years to come. There may also be a profound structural change in advertising, with relationships between agencies and firms becoming more collaborative. “If you’re going to influence people in the new landscape you’ll need a lot more collaboration,” said Mark Creighton, CEO of Mindshare at the Guardian Leadership Breakfast. “That’s how the fragmentation in the current situation is going
presentation at the Ad Association’s Lead 2015
Director at Centaur Marketing, in ‘The Guardian to be brought together, and we can begin to
summit. The graph tracked positive and negative
Leadership Breakfast: Influence in a Fragmented deliver.”
sentiments around advertising from 1994-2014,
Age’. “I think it’s brilliant. People want to contribute
Hatch explained that, “Last year, for the first time,
to something significant and interesting. Great
the nays outnumbered the yays.” One solution to this is the increasing fusion of advertising with other forms of content as brands adapt to people’s demands. “We’re seeing a big change: people want less straight advertising and more interaction,” said Ruth Mortimer, Content
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Ruth Mortimer
Content Director, Centaur Marketing
“People want less straight advertising and more interaction. I think it’s brilliant. People want to contribute to something significant and interesting. Great content is just great content.”
content is just great content.”
Further reading on Facebook for Business
There is cause for optimism, as this content driven approach does not have the same negative
Creativity Now
association as clumsy, intrusive banner ads. Exon,
What does great work look like on Facebook?
responding to Hatch, believed that the industry was moving in the right direction. “We’ve been
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“When you’re in the midst of the white heat at midnight, you have to keep holding on to your integrity and ask: Is what we’re doing useful to people, is it entertaining, is it adding value to someone’s life?” Mel Exon
Managing Director, BBH