Blog
03 April

Smart advertising

This piece is by guest writer Simon Andrews, Founder of Addictive
Simon is also author of Mobile Fix, a leading advertising and marketing newsletter

 

The rapid growth of mobile has made digital a key part of everyone’s life.

Always On. Full attention. What would we do without it?

For advertisers it’s a similar story. Over half of all ad spend now goes on digital. And over half of that is mobile.

But has the quality of ads lost out to the quantity? Every web page seems to be full of ads with pop ups and takeovers getting in the way. And you see the same ads again and again. 

Whilst TV gives us the John Lewis Christmas ads, the Meerkats and more… mobile gives us small annoying ads for the flights we booked last week.

But things are changing. GDPR and the California Privacy legislation have made every company take its customers’ privacy seriously. Really seriously. 

This is being fuelled by consumers wanting better control over their data – in research from Britepool 46% of US Citizens strongly agree and 79% strongly or somewhat agree that they are unhappy that companies are profiting from their data.

And as web browsers remove cookie tracking, some of the more questionable tactics are disappearing. Brands will have to stop stalking you around the internet – showing you again and again, ads for products you have looked at before. It’s the beginning of the end for bad ads.

It’s the start of Smart Advertising. Brands recognise they should talk with you, rather than at you.

Brands will only use the data they have clear permission to use and with that, endeavour to make the ads you see more of a service; relevant, helpful, useful perhaps. Even interesting and perhaps entertaining.

No longer will brands treat their customers as strangers.

The permission led data means a car company will show you the model that suits your lifestyle. A sports car for the Silver Surfer and a SUV for a Mum – maybe featuring a baby seat if your kids are young or a bike rack if they are older. If you have completed a car configuration we might even show the car in the colour you chose on our website.

This is smart personalisation. We don’t use your name. That’s pointless and a little spooky. But like a good shop assistant we will use what we know about you and what we can learn from your digital body language to share products we think you’ll like.

We’ll make more of an effort to inform and entertain, rather than annoy .

We’ll have bigger ads that you don’t see all the time, every day.

We’ll use video in the smartest ways as it’s the richest way of telling stories.

We’re going to do better. Because that’s better for you and better for us too.

 

Spirable can help you deliver smart video advertising that is more relevant, engaging and increases ROI, get in touch or view our case studies to get started.