Relevancy is the new commodity.

Active vs. passive audiences

One of the main battlegrounds of the future of advertising is how brands adapt their message between active and passive audiences. This is a split between the live audiences that proactively interact with the content as it is released and everyone else. Active audiences, whilst smaller in comparison, tend to be both highly influenced by any calls to action present in the content1 and influential to passive audiences. In contrast, passive audiences tend to have a significantly greater reach. Together they make a community of interest: they are both very valuable to brands and require nuanced and integrated approaches.

Once upon a time all audiences were passive i.e. brands would put an advertisement on the television or in a newspaper and wait to see whether sales improved. Internet and search advertising gave customers the ability to immediately click through to a site. But beyond a click or a purchase there was no clear indication of engagement of the advert itself and the feedback loop was extremely limited. This all changed with social media platforms – suddenly brands were messaging loosely associated groups that could answer back immediately or take the message and run with it. Viral campaigns such as the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge saw mass mobilization of online audiences resulting in over $220m in donations for the charity. This has evolved again into community style advertising.

Community advertising through emerging media works on a much richer model than the CPM / CPT one of old. Not only do streaming platforms, influencers, and gaming sponsorships look at the overall number of impressions, reach and frequency of any message; but they crucially take into account concurrent viewership (CCV) and the content it is associated with. Even podcasts which have less direct interaction with audiences have a clear understanding of when audiences drop off (e.g. we have found that up to 89% of listeners go up to 90% of the podcast and then there can be an audience drop off). They have accordingly adjusted offerings to provide brand messaging options that are more interwoven into the content and are subtly framed by the brand to maximise fan engagement / enjoyment. Fundamentally, audiences are fully immersed in the content, and advertising which is not relevant to that content is given short shrift by the audience.

Brand messaging is now a two-way street

We have learnt through these metrics that audiences are far more discerning with what they watch than previously because of the choice available to them. This has been exacerbated by audiences reaching content saturation point nearly 10 years ago (even with dual screening). This has resulted in audiences going into niche areas which mirror their interests, and with social media functionality being the standard for most applications this has built strong communities with clear identities and interests. They are highly engaged in the content they consume, can be deeply affected by it and they proactively give feedback and mobilize accordingly.

We have learnt through these metrics that audiences are far more discerning with what they watch than previously because of the choice available to them. This has been exacerbated by audiences reaching content saturation point nearly 10 years ago (even with dual screening). This has resulted in audiences going into niche areas which mirror their interests, and with social media functionality being the standard for most applications this has built strong communities with clear identities and interests. They are highly engaged in the content they consume, can be deeply affected by it and they proactively give feedback and mobilize accordingly.

This vocal feedback from audiences can be a double-edged sword for advertisers as they must relinquish complete control over the messaging of their brands. On the one hand the success of Prime, the soft drink by KSI and Logan Paul, stemmed from huge community mobilization which meant at one point they could charge $120 per bottle – an outrageous margin. On the other, Bud Light suffered a 30% drop in sales following a boycotting of the product by their core audience in response to a post by Dylan Mulvaney (something that was not Mulvaney’s fault).

There is a way of maximizing upside whilst minimizing risk. Community analysis combined with a clear plan to integrate into the content will drive relevancy and sales. It’s all about approach.

False economies, test budgets and timelines

Part of that approach is down to a brand’s perceived commitment to these communities. Audiences have become somewhat immune to brands that appear to “support” their communities for a month or two only to be never seen again. In contrast, they are far more responsive to brands that are there for the long haul. Realistically six months is the minimum period that brands should testing to fully hone their routes to resonating with the audience.

This is at odds with some approaches in the marketplace around AB testing. There is a common misconception that a successful AB test gives a positive ROI in the first month or two. These response times would never be accepted for traditional campaigns, and whilst emerging media can give extremely quick results, success tends to crescendo rather than spike instantly. We have found from campaigns on our marketplace that positive results can occasionally come within a month with significant shifts in performance occurring within 3 months (half the time of many traditional ongoing campaigns).

Equally, audiences can give proactive qualitative feedback via this media, something that is not available by most other means. Audiences will tell brands directly, or via their platform / sponsored influencer, if there are problems with the product – something again we have found with clients exploring new markets. In one instance we found that the cost for a transaction on the brand’s product was often more than 100% of the value of the transaction itself when it started operating in a new LATAM market. The brand’s marketing teams were not aware of this prior to the event, and was invaluable feedback on a product that appeared to be “working” just fine beforehand. The great aspect of this is that problems can be quickly fixed and audiences feel listened to.

Where one-way advertising

Community audiences are receptive to one-way advertising from brands if the positioning of this is clearly supporting their communities of niche interests. This translates into brands giving long-term support for: live events which are streamed; sponsored teams; influencers; podcast series; provision for exclusive cobranded products for communities; and rewards specific to those audiences which watch the content. A startling example of this is the ESL One esports tournament in Birmingham 2019 where the stadium full of fans were chanting “DHL” (the tournament sponsor) to streaming audiences of millions worldwide.5 DHL had committed a longer term deal, and simply sponsored the tournament whilst providing a number of fun activations which resonated with the crowd.

Simply aligning values and creating new content for audiences to enjoy can be extremely powerful. Martell, the cognac brand, set up a four-part podcast series with The Guys Next Door to celebrate black history month in 2022 by inviting guests from music, comedy, fashion and entrepreneurial backgrounds in support of it. This combined with sponsored reads across selected shows across the community resulted in a 130% purchase uplift of the product.6 Martell didn’t need to be the center of attention – facilitating a stage for voices in the community was enough for audiences to consider and buy Martell’s products.

It’s not all about you…but it could be

Brands and the marketing teams around them have two purposes in society: to drive economic growth and to be the patrons of culture. Branding’s contribution to consumerism has been analyzed thoroughly for decades; however, the positive impact that advertising dollars have on the arts, cinema, theatre, sport, TV series, video games etc. is seldom considered. We simply wouldn’t have as rich a culture without advertisers footing the bill.

Yet, there is a key difference between a patron and a parasite in advertising terms: the former supports the interest and helps it to develop whilst the latter simply covets the audience. The choice of media available to audiences has made them more discerning about which brands are facilitating their interests and those which are not engaged in the underlying content and simply want to sell. The irony is that a true brand association with the content can far outlast the specifics of the sports fixture / film / performance that the audience went to see, whilst the attention-grabbing advert can be forgotten before the end of the ad break.