Written by Caitlin Kennedy | Associate Media Director at Periscope
It’s a chaotic time in the media industry, but brands are finding ways to charge ahead. I recently attended Digiday's Video Conference where brands, agencies and media sellers shared cutting-edge learnings and discussed the challenges facing the media with respect to all things digital video.
While industry trends and familiar buzzwords like “harnessing data,” “viewer fragmentation,” “measurement roadblocks” and “content” were discussed, perhaps the most interesting takeaways were the ways in which brands are fending for themselves amidst the chaos. Below are a few examples of brands that are doing it well:
● Marriott: The hospitality brand has their own basecamp monitoring the social landscape for mentions of any of their 6,700 global locations daily, so that they can connect with consumers at their properties in real-time. This drives compelling brand connection.
● Soul Cycle: The cult-favorite cycle bar’s marketing team sees themselves as a content studio. By leveraging Instagram and exclusive Apple partnerships, the brand has built out a following in places where there isn’t even a brick and mortar location nearby. They develop content around their instructors and the deep-cut music scene, to captivate their audience and grow the brand. It’s their startup mindset and experimentation that is leading to more and more touchpoints, including plans to make the name a retail brand.
● Sony: Their Digital Imaging division is harnessing the power of their “tribe” to capture user-generated content that is fueling their advertising campaign on a modest budget. The tribe is a coalition of professional photographers and videographers that Sony has formed into a strong community. By holding experiential events in unique locations, a remote canyon for example, the tribe can test equipment and shoot content that Sony in turn can use in their marketing campaigns. Sony has seen the power of connecting with the tribe yield results beyond the standard “ROI” many advertisers are focused on.
During a presentation about building the right connected TV plan, Charlie Fiordalis, a Managing Partner at MediaCom, made a poignant statement that “consistency is the antidote to change” in our rapidly-evolving industry. Though his comment was referring to using a single video inventory source to test different media performance theories, it can be applied to the rewards that Marriott, Soul Cycle and Sony are reaping from their pursuits as well. As we all know, marketers have a tendency to change direction, objectives, even CMOs, in response to the latest trend. But these brands are being “consistent” and focusing on what’s working — content — to yield powerful business results.
