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WPP To Slash 3,500 Jobs And Consolidate More Agencies In Massive Restructure Agencies Laud Unilever's Retiring CMO Keith Weed Tencent: WeChat Is More Than A Product, It’s ‘An Ecosystem’ Multimillion-Dollar Oops! Google Will Pay Publishers For ‘The Night Of The Yellow Ad’ Advertisers Will Spend More Than Ever On Third-Party Data, Despite Privacy Concerns CEO George Colony On Forrester’s Acquisition Streak And Plans For Mar Tech It’s Official: S4 Grabs MightyHive For $150 Million In-Housing Is Accelerating, But Brands Will Never Completely Quit Their Agencies S4 Confirms It Wants MightyHive As Its Second Agency Acquisition

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How Programmatic Is Reshaping J&J’s Shopper Marketing – Even For Non-Ecom Brands

by James Hercher // Posted on Wednesday, December 12th, 2018 at 12:32 am.

Data and analytics are breaking down the walls between Johnson & Johnson’s shopper marketing and national marketing plans.

Danielle Price manages shopper marketing and consumer promotions for J&J’s Aveeno brand after working as a J&J shopper marketing rep to Walmart. Her new job spans shopper marketing and national promotions, which used to be two roles, but analytics now helps bridge the worlds of shopper marketers, who must move inventory off specific retail shelves, with national marketers, who are concerned about media and audiences.

“At Walmart I had every number you could ever need, and I came to this role and realized shopper marketers weren’t getting the metrics they need,” Price said.

It’s easy to measure coupons and deals promoted in a grocery store aisle because they’re redeemed at a cash register, but they don’t connect to media metrics or the brand’s audience.

Are coupons bringing new customers to the brand or just teaching loyalists to load up on deals? Do customers buy across the Aveeno portfolio of skin, hair and beauty products or is their interest product-specific?

Those are the kinds of questions shopper marketers haven’t been able to answer but are figuring out by incorporating more data-driven channels into their marketing mix, Price said.

Aveeno products are sold almost entirely in stores – its website doesn’t even support direct ecommerce – but investing more online helps to better understand its brick-and-mortar customers, Price said.

For instance, Aveeno has worked with the ecommerce marketing company Quotient to distribute deals on its coupons.com property, but in the past year it began testing Quotient’s media buying and analytics to connect coupon redeemers to online audiences.

The Real Impact Of Data Breaches

by AdExchanger // Posted on Wednesday, December 12th, 2018 at 12:05 am.

“Data-Driven Thinking” is written by members of the media community and contains fresh ideas on the digital revolution in media.

Today’s column is written by Maja Milicevic, co-founder and principal at Sparrow Advisers.

Seemingly every few weeks news breaks of a new hacking scandal or high profile data breach. No industry is immune: Among the recently breached are a global hotel chain, a Q&A platform, fitness apps, global social platforms, big-box retailers and data companies that routinely handle vast amounts of sensitive, personal informationdata. There are likely many more that have yet to be uncovered.

Lukewarm responses to the breaches have also become quite common. It’s often difficult to quantify real-life impact and damage, especially since the types of data types compromised can vary. The legal and regulatory frameworks to ensure some accountability and punishment severely lag behind the complexity and prevalence of routine data collection and retention practices – and not just in marketing. With no enforcement, companies have little incentive to devote real resources to preemptive and ongoing data protection.

It’s not just limited to nefarious actors. Today’s data economy is generally opaque and doesn’t allow for visibility nor structured input and control from consumers. Data innocuously collected by a publisher today – while a reader researches a health condition, for example – can be repackaged, resold and surface years later as input into an important decision, such as whether to grant someone life insurance. This may sound like a nightmare scenario but it is unfortunately similar to what is already happening today.

There are several steps that marketing and advertising industry professionals can take to ensure we’re better custodians of our customers’ data.

NFL Rights Help The Yahoo Sports App Score Millions Of Users

by Sarah Sluis // Posted on Wednesday, December 12th, 2018 at 12:04 am.

In February, you can watch the Super Bowl on your phone with the Yahoo Sports app.

Last year, Yahoo Sports purchased the mobile and tablet rights to NFL games. Live NFL coverage attracted 4.3 million people to download the Yahoo Sports app this season, in addition to 1.1 million people who downloaded the app during the playoffs last year, when Yahoo Sports piloted the mobile draw.

The average user checks on a game a handful of times and watches for 44 minutes.

“On a Sunday at 3:27 p.m., I would know that any game that started at 1 p.m. is in the fourth quarter,” said Geoff Reiss, GM and VP of Yahoo Sports, which is part of Verizon-owned Oath.

So users check in – and while they’re there, they watch a few ads, with an average 90% completion rate, according to Yahoo Sports.

Under the terms of the deal, Yahoo pipes in national advertisers’ commercials and sells the remaining portion of ad space itself, attracting advertisers like Honda and Snickers. Advertisers can’t buy an individual game, but those who buy a strip of mobile ads to run during the playoffs will also have their ads shown in the app during the Super Bowl, TV’s most prestigious programming event.

Headwinds On The Horizon For Netflix; Hulu Switches On New PMP

by AdExchanger // Posted on Wednesday, December 12th, 2018 at 12:03 am.

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here.

No More Safety Net

Netflix shares are down more than a third over the past six months as investors worry about its debt and high costs. Netflix built its position in OTT with few competitors (HBO and Amazon Prime were pretty much it) – but competition is heating up. Amazon, now one of the three largest companies in the world, can spend on programming at a different level and has a monster ad business. Disney’s planned streaming service can harness content from Pixar, Star Wars, Marvel, ABC, ESPN and Disney studios. AT&T, meanwhile, bought HBO with the rest of Time Warner’s media empire and is launching a streaming service, too, with its ambitions also supported by a growing ad business in Xandr. As telco-broadcasters introduce proprietary subscriptions, they pull content from Netflix, putting the cash-strapped (and debt-strapped) category leader in an untenable position, writes financial analyst Stephen McBride at Forbes. More. McBride considers three solutions for Netflix – raise subscription prices, cut back on content or raise more debt – but each is a poison pill. The other remedy is for Netflix to introduce ads or ramp up marketing with sponsorships or product placement.

Hulu’s New Views

Hulu will expand its programmatic business beginning in January with a new private marketplace to buy on-demand or live TV inventory. The idea is for more data-driven bidding to be done without going through Hulu’s ad sales teams. The marketplace will be invite-only to start and won’t interfere with upfront buys or other sponsorships and product placement deals, Ad Age reports, so it’s unlikely to be a major swing for Hulu’s programmatic sales. But, unlike previous PMPs Hulu has introduced such as one with Oracle and Facebook in 2015, this product will allow marketers to bid in real time based on audience data instead of targeting specific audiences at a preset price. More.

A Masterclass In Political Grandstanding As Google CEO Sundar Pichai Testifies In DC

by Allison Schiff // Posted on Tuesday, December 11th, 2018 at 3:07 pm.

After around a year of avoiding the spotlight, Google CEO Sundar Pichai spent nearly four hours fielding a grab bag of questions from members of the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, discussing everything from the scope of Google’s data collection practices to alleged political bias in search results.

The problem, as is often the case with congressional hearings, is that lawmakers spent most of their time grandstanding, harping on partisan issues and asking misinformed questions.

For example, Rep. Ted Poe (R–TX) held his iPhone aloft and repeatedly demanded whether Google would be able to use his phone to track him if he moved across the room. In response, Pichai began to explain that it depends what apps and services he has on his phone and what permissions he gave them.

Poe sharply cut him off: “This is a yes or no question.”

Pichai tried again … it depends. “I genuinely don’t know without knowing what services – ”

“It’s not a trick question – you make $100 million a year, you ought to be able to answer that question!” Poe yelled. “I’m shocked you don’t know … most Americans don’t know what this phone can do.”

Including, apparently, lawmakers. Poe and many of his colleagues were confused about how technology works. At one point, Rep. Steve Cohen (D–TN) asked why a Google search for his name displays links from conservative websites like The Daily Caller and Breitbart despite the fact that he appeared on MSNBC multiple times over the weekend.

Incrementality: Why Pay For What’s Already Yours?

by AdExchanger // Posted on Tuesday, December 11th, 2018 at 2:42 pm.

“Data-Driven Thinking” is written by members of the media community and contains fresh ideas on the digital revolution in media.

Today’s column is written by Michael Paxman, product research manager at Adjust.

Mobile marketing is firing on all cylinders, with mobile ad spend pegged to hit $232.34 billion in 2019. This marks the first time that more than one-third of ad dollars worldwide will go to mobile.

The not-so-good news: App marketers are spending money without knowing if their new users represent a win for their strategy or a drain on their budget. This might be because they’re paying for users they might have gotten for free. Or did they?

It’s a tough question, but critical to answer if app companies and marketers want to see dividends from the increased effort and budget they invest in mobile marketing. To avoid paying for users that they already owned, marketers must be relentless in how they examine the data.

Verizon Takes $4.6 Billion Pinch After Oath Underperforms

by Rae Paoletta // Posted on Tuesday, December 11th, 2018 at 1:54 pm.

Verizon will take a $4.6 billion goodwill impairment charge in the fourth quarter, acknowledging that its Oath business unit has underperformed, the company said Tuesday. The hit nearly eliminates the $4.8 billion goodwill balance Verizon carried after it acquired and merged Yahoo and AOL and assorted technology holdings into its Oath business unit back in 2015 and 2016.

The future looked bright in those early years, but reality got in the way. Among the challenges: Oath did not enjoy the hoped for access to Verizon’s powerful data, Verizon's refocus on 5G (and away from media) and organizational friction appeared to restrain Oath CEO Tim Armstrong from executing on his vision to take on the Facebook-Google advertising duopoly.

Then came a string of executive exits at all levels of the company, culminating in the departures of Armstrong and Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam.

Incoming Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg made the decision to write down Oath’s value after conducting a five-year strategic planning review.

“Verizon’s media business, branded Oath, has experienced increased competitive and market pressures throughout 2018 that have resulted in lower than expected revenues and earnings,” Verizon said in a SEC 8-K filing dated Dec. 11. “These pressures are expected to continue and have resulted in a loss of market positioning to our competitors in the digital advertising business.”

Oath, and more broadly, Verizon, has had a tumultuous year. Oath reported in October its Q3 revenue was down 6.9% YOY to $1.8 billion. Verizon also sunsetted its content app, go90, back in June.

Verizon added in the SEC filing that 10,400 of its employees have accepted a voluntary buyout. These employees have until June 2019 to formally exit the company, with about half of them leaving this month.

WPP To Slash 3,500 Jobs And Consolidate More Agencies In Massive Restructure

by Alison Weissbrot // Posted on Tuesday, December 11th, 2018 at 10:17 am.

The new WPP, as CEO Mark Read called it during a Tuesday morning investor call in London, will return to organic growth by reducing headcount by about 2.5%, consolidating agencies and investing strategically in technology.

WPP expects to deliver annual savings of $346 million by the end of 2021 thanks to this strategy. Restructuring costs will total roughly $377 million.

Consolidation

WPP will shed legacy assets and consolidate its most storied agencies.

WPP has already begun this journey, merging VML and Young & Rubicam in September to create VMLY&R, and Wunderman and J. Walter Thompson in November to launch Wunderman Thompson. In addition to absorbing its healthcare group into other agencies, this represents 23% of the group’s revenue. And WPP expects a transaction to close in Q2 2019 on Kantar, from which it said on its Q3 earnings call it will divest its majority stake.

So far, WPP has disposed of 16 non-core assets and saved $886 million – but there’s more to do, Read said.

“We need to have that balance between revenue and cost reduction,” Read said.

Read hopes that having fewer companies and investing in regional development will help clients easily access resources across WPP. That will involve bringing creative and media closer together and creating a common tech stack so agencies can share data.

AppOnboard Raises Another $15 Million To Bring App Demos Into The Mainstream

by Allison Schiff // Posted on Tuesday, December 11th, 2018 at 9:00 am.

AppOnboard is onboarding VC cash hand over fist.

On Wednesday, the mobile app demo and analytics startup with a platform allows users to try an application before downloading it, announced its second funding round – $15 million – in less than eight months. AppOnboard’s Series A round in April totaled $15 million.

That’s $30 million for the year and $50 million in total funding since 2016.

Although the latest infusion, led by The Breakaway Group, is officially AppOnboard’s Series B, the company considers it almost an extension of its recent Series A, which took place four months before it announced a partnership with Google to integrate its try-before-you-download technology directly into the Play Store.

The Google relationship created unexpected inbound interest from backers looking to invest in AppOnboard at a higher valuation than during its first funding round, and raising again so soon is all about keeping the momentum going, said Jonathan Zweig, AppOnboard’s CEO and co-founder.

AppNexus Reworks Publisher Contracts To Enable Fee Transparency For Buyers

by Sarah Sluis // Posted on Tuesday, December 11th, 2018 at 9:00 am.

AppNexus has been wanting to make its fees transparent, even before it was acquired by AT&T’s ad unit Xandr, but it couldn’t because of how contracts are written and structured.

But now, buyers can find out how much of their media budgets went to tech fees when they buy publisher inventory through AppNexus, a level of transparency not offered by anyone else.

AppNexus first needed to get each publishers’ agreement in order to disclose its tech fees. After months of work renegotiating contracts with sellers, buyers will see fees disclosed for 82% of transactions in North America and 58% of transactions globally. AppNexus’ biggest partner, Microsoft, is among those disclosing its fees.

“We’ve felt for a long time, both at AppNexus and now at Xandr that marketers should be able to maximize their working media dollar,” said Ryan Christensen, SVP of product at Xandr. “There has been a lot of friction in the ecosystem preventing them from doing that.”