Let’s add the following into the mix; a survey done by video company Unruly showed that 92 percent of 3,200 internet users surveyed said that they would consider using an ad blocker and 62 percent of people said that they are annoyed by pre-roll ads. This study was done before the current increase in outstream video ads we have today.

This format is fairly new and at least at this moment the execution is far from great. The ad will definitely be seen but brands and publishers have to think twice before using it as it has a high potential to bring a negative brand perception for the advertiser and also result in loss of traffic for the publisher.

What is Blockchain

According to Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) “Blockchain for Video Advertising” whitepaper, blockchain provides a way for two parties to make a secure transaction on a decentralized network. It is an immutable, distributed and transparent ledger that cannot be altered in any way. This means that once the data is stored on the blockchain’s distributed peer-to-peer network, its authenticity cannot be brought into question and its value can be verified at any point throughout the network.

The Advantages

Transparency: The problem with digital advertising is that it’s become less transparent – and in the eyes of many clients – increasingly untrustworthy; the very opposite of what was supposed to happen. A fully transparent and trustworthy ledger would mean that, for the first time, brands could see where all their digital media dollars end up, and be sure that if they thought they had purchased ads from a given publisher, it really happened. Having this information will allow to make inform decisions that were not able to do before.

Cheaper: As fraud and automation increased, more and more middlemen were introduced into the advertising supply chain in order to fix the problems. Third-parties within the process chain can lead to cost inefficiencies for all parties involves including content publishers. The introduction of Blockchain will eliminate the middleman cost as it does not suffer the transparency/fraud issue.

Faster: Programmatic removed insertion orders and the haggling between human parties that used to slow down the ad buying process. However, this process still requires invoices, accounts payable and receivable, and a delay between the placement and reception of funds. Using blockchain-based cryptocurrencies could remove these barriers and make the process significantly faster.

Blockcahin does have some challenges in the future including concerns on slow processing based on the storage size and from an environmental perspective the high energy consumption the technology needs and how it affects global warming. As of now, the technology is helping on one of the biggest challenges the ad industry has suffered, fraud and transparency.

The Advantage

Placement: Consumers are now used to ad placements and banner size and the brain quickly develops a habit to expect them and ignore them. Native place the ad in the content itself that is being consumed. Because the ad is integrated with the content the customer is not able to ignore the ad.

Effectiveness: Based on a recent study by the Mobile Marketing Association the ad placement Native has proven to be ten times more effective than traditional banners. It also shows the consumer interaction and time with the ad is 3 times higher and receives 23 percent higher quality score than display ads.

Concerns

Price: Native advertising is significantly more expensive. Even if it does perform better than display, brands have to be sure they are not paying exponentially more than the increase in performance.

Perception: Native ads heavily depend on how it’s being executed, like any piece of content, however because of the flawless placement if the ad is not perfectly executed not only the consumer won’t like it but they will feel the brand is being sneaky and cheated.

The Future

Native advertising is the future. For the past years the advertising industry has been focus in making sure the brands have the right placement at the right time. Now that we are almost there the focus will shift on making sure the content itself is not being ignored. IHS Markit projects that by 2020, 63.2% of mobile display advertising will be native.

We believe that technology and brands will also find a way to avoid the high-cost publishers charge for Native. Agencies will also improve their expertise on execution to guarantee that the user experience and content works harmoniously. With these problems being solve there is no doubt that Native is the future.

How it works

Basically, it’s a Google mobile framework build in order to accelerate the loading process on mobile sites. You will have to build your mobile site through this framework and follow the restrictions and guidelines of Google AMP.

The promise

Faster: The AMP framework improves the loading process of a mobile site, according to Google “often to a point where the load appears to be instant”. Understanding that 40 percent of users drop off after 3 seconds, a fast loading site is critical. The average loading time of an AMP site is less than one second.

Higher Rankings: Google will be taking into consideration if your mobile site is AMP when providing a site rank, meaning if you do not comply, your site might lose some ranking points and be placed under other sites that do.

Placement: Those sites who adopt AMP can be featured on the carousel format on Google first page. This format has proven to be one of the best performers in the Google platform in terms of click’s and engagement.

However, there is a reason why not everyone is jumping on the Google AMP wagon. For some brands Google’s AMP framework restriction goes against some functionalities important for the brand. Also “conveniently” AMP It is not flexible in allowing other analytics platforms other than Google Analytics. There is also a limitation of widgets available, for example it does not support Facebook like box.

In conclusion Google is trying to standardize mobile optimization. The promise of a better mobile experience is a great one to have, however, those who don’t want to follow the framework shouldn’t be punished. Google has the power to make sites and brands obey their mandate because if they refuse they can say goodbye to Google’s first page which is something those sites who have that privilege to be on, can’t afford.

APM is still at an early stage and Google hasn’t given out too many clues as to the influence of the AMP on rankings but as a brand you might want to consider making the move if you haven’t done so. God knows you don’t want to be on Google’s bad side.

John Lewis and Partners –

We can’t talk about magical Christmas advertising without talking about John Lewis. In fact, the annual release of their new Christmas commercial is one of the most anticipated commercial releases of the year. Their creative always tell a heartfelt story; they invoke deep emotions we didn’t know we had! Here are is one of our favorites:

https://youtu.be/iccscUFY860

Spotify –

Spotify has chosen Christmas as the season to showcase their vast and robust data in a brilliant way. From their “Thanks, 2016. It’s been weird” to their “2018 Goals” their campaign focus on unusual customized playlists and unique customer’s habits while listening to music. This is the perfect way to remind people that for every moment there is a song and for every song there is Spotify.

Coca Cola –

Not only do brand ads have to be contextually relevant, but the product integration has to be perfectly executed. Advertising also needs to be consistent. They say a person needs to see an advertisement at least seven times before they will buy. When it comes to Christmas ads nobody is as consistent as Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola has been doing their Christmas ads for almost 100 years so it’s no wonder why some people actually think that the brand invented Santa Claus. Is it any coincidence that the Jolly man is wearing the brand colors? Exactly. From penguins and polar bears celebrating together, to their magical red Coca-Cola trucks coming to town; when it comes to brands associated with Christmas, Coca-Cola is in the hall of fame.

During this time of year customers are more susceptible to deep emotions such as nostalgia, happiness, friendship, family and love. Adequately tapping into them will propel a brand forward and send brand awareness and brand loyalty soaring.