This week, we have a guest blog post from one of our members, Skai™. The Intelligent Marketing Platform's Senior Director of Marketing Research, Chris Costello unpacks Prime Day, Amazon's annual deal event exclusively for Prime members. The 48-hour e-commerce event delivers non-stop deals on products from small businesses to big brands. But, how did Prime Day ad spend and sales compare between Europe and the US? Check out these hot-off-the-press numbers as Skai investigates performance on both sides of the pond.
Did you know that, in Europe, Amazon Prime Day is called Prime with Cheese? Probably not, because it’s not true, and now you want to watch Pulp Fiction again.
It does exist, though, and with the biggest-ever iteration of the two-day online shopping event having just concluded, it’s worth investigating the performance on both sides of the pond.
Earlier this week, Skai™ reported overall findings for Prime Day that highlighted a 4X increase in average daily spend and a 4.5X increase in daily ad-supported sales revenue. As it turns out, we’ve tracked enough latent conversions since first publishing those results that we can now say that sale revenue increased 4.7X over the average for the prior thirty days. Return on Ad Spend, in turn, actually increased 18% compared to the previous period, six percentage points higher than what was originally reported.
When we look at Amazon markets in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), we see that the impact of Prime Day is even greater in those markets than in North America. Average daily spend increased by over 6X (+528%), and sales revenue by almost 7X (+592%). While these markets are smaller than the combined size of the United States and Canada, and small things tend to grow faster, these numbers demonstrate both the global impact of retail media advertising and that of the Prime Day event itself.
Those increases in spend and revenue led to an overall increase in ROAS of 10% for the EMEA region, compared to a 17% increase for North America and, as stated earlier, 18% overall.
In terms of individual countries, similar results were seen in the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, and Italy. France was the only country where the increases were not quite as pronounced, even if they were up by at least 3X.
As rumours of a second Prime Day this year continue to circulate, one thing we do know for sure is that the Amazon sales event has a footprint that is quickly spreading across the globe, helping propel sales (and advertising) to new heights every time.
The world of commerce is changing at high speed. Accelerated by shifting consumer habits during the pandemic, a nuclear explosion has sparked for the digital commerce landscape.
As habits changed, a rapid uptake of commerce solutions emerged. Faced with not being able to leave home, consumers increasingly adopted eCommerce to facilitate their shopping needs and more and more brands started to turn to and tap into this valuable channel. The once distinct worlds of brick and mortar and online merged allowing consumers to seamlessly change environments and shop with ease.
There is now a vast frictionlessness in the way people can buy things, with new technology removing the obstacles of exploring goods, buying and enquiring about them, without having to be in a physical store.
Social commerce is a rapid expansion of this already booming eCommerce landscape. Where the content and products now travel with the consumer, the social aspect, in this environment, has the ability to manifest conversations around the product and the transaction, in a fun and engaging way. And all in one place.
To further explore commerce, the rise of social commerce, and the opportunities it presents for brands, we’ve partnered with TikTok along with GroupM and Shopify to discuss commerce in more detail and to look at where this growing trend is headed.
In a series of short videos, produced by TikTok, you can hear from key stakeholders including:
Keen to learn more?
If you want to dive into commerce deeper, why not join IAB Europe and TikTok 15:00 CET on 28th September for an exclusive Industry Insider webinar as thought leaders from across the industry will join a panel to discuss their thoughts on the past, present, and future of commerce, and the opportunities this presents for marketers.
Find out more and register here to secure your free space.
According to the recently released AdEx 2021 study, the European digital ad market is now programmatic first with 57% of all non-social display spend now being transacted programmatically.
Programmatic is and continues to be a big deal. But to really understand the status of programmatic adoption across Europe on both the buy and the sell side of the digital advertising industry, we need your help.
IAB Europe is inviting all stakeholders, from advertisers and agencies to ad tech and publishers, to answer the 2022 Programmatic Survey! Take part here.
Now in its eight year, this survey aims to illustrate the current adoption of and attitudes towards programmatic advertising. The results will help inform the IAB Europe Programmatic Trading Committee that provide guidance on developing a programmatic advertising strategy for publishers, agencies, and advertisers.
The deadline to complete the survey is Friday 5th August and it takes just 10 minutes to complete. Plus your response will be treated in the strictest confidence and all respondents will be sent a copy of the 2022 report with full results.
Help us uncover how programmatic advertising attitudes, adoption, and strategies are evolving. Take the survey today!
Check out last year’s report to see what the findings provide so much value and insight.
98% of buyers agree that buying inventory in a quality media environment is important
92% prefer to spend their advertising budget with suppliers that adhere to industry standards
Brussels, Belgium, 14 July 2022 – IAB Europe, the leading European-level industry association for the digital advertising and marketing ecosystem, today released results of a new survey, which surveyed buyers to identify their digital advertising quality concerns and understand their attitudes towards industry standards, and different types of inventory.
The survey, developed by national IABs within IAB Europe’s European Quality Working Group, found that the role of industry standards, such as the IAB UK Gold Standard, Digital Ad Trust in France or IAB Poland QUALID, is paramount. 84% of all buyers said that they are willing to pay a premium price for higher quality, trusted inventory whilst 92% said that they prefer to spend their advertising budget with suppliers that adhere to industry standards. Additionally 73% said that they check if a media owner or supplier adheres to industry standards before spending budget with them. Only 19% of buyers that responded to the survey said that they don’t mind about industry standards at all.This decreased to 6% if the buyer was in a market with a national quality standard.
A vast amount of work is being undertaken in Europe to improve and uphold quality standards in digital advertising as outlined in the IAB Europe Quality Initiatives Navigator. In 2017, IAB UK created the Gold Standard in order to tackle quality concerns. Fast forward to today, there are now seven markets with a national quality standard or scheme in place. The results suggest these standards help raise awareness of quality concerns, such as brand safety and ad fraud; buyers in markets with a national standard vs. those in a market without were more likely to be aware of those concerns.
In terms of the key quality concerns, the survey found that when buying digital advertising, viewability and brand safety are considered the biggest issues for advertisers and agencies. 89% said they were concerned or very concerned about viewability and 79% said the same about brand safety.
The survey also asked buyers about the areas most in need of the development of standards and CTV came out on top closely followed by Audio and DOOH.
Marie-Clare Puffett, Senior Manager, Marketing & Industry Programmes at IAB Europe said: “The results of the study we are releasing today, provides reassurance, for the national IABs that already have a quality standard in place and those that are in the process of creating one, that buyers value those standards when spending their budgets within our ecosystem. The work of our European Quality Working Group is important to ensure harmonisation so that International businesses don’t have to adhere to a multitude of different standards across Europe.”
Tim Elkington, Chief Digital Officer, IAB UK commented: “The fact that 92% of advertisers and agencies prefer to spend their budget with suppliers that adhere to industry standards underscores the vital importance of creating shared standards at a national level - such as the Gold Standard in the UK - as well as building consistency of standards between different markets. Increasing collaboration between IABs can play an essential role here, making it easier for our members to navigate and adhere to digital advertising best practice at both a national and international level.”
Wlodek Schmidt, President, IAB Poland and Chair, IAB Europe Board of Directors commented on the importance of a national quality standard in a fast growing market: “In 2021, digital advertising accounted for half of all ad spend in Poland, meaning Poland was on par with the more mature markets in terms of digital ad spend. With this in mind, we as an industry need to focus our efforts to combat cybercrime and advertising fraud more than ever. Following the example of the most advanced markets in Western Europe and the USA, IAB Poland established the QUALID Programme which aims to develop, collect, and promote positive and effective solutions that will contribute to improving the quality of digital advertising in Poland.”
Access the results here
Notes:
Markets with a national quality scheme - UK, France, Poland, Germany, Sweden, Ireland, Italy
Markets without a scheme - Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Macedonia, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine
For more information, please contact:
Lauren Wakefield, IAB Europe (wakefield@iabeurope.eu / +44 7828 514 193)
Marie-Clare Puffett, IAB Europe (puffett@iabeurope.eu / +44 7973 836 917)
IAB Europe’s widely-anticipated 2021 AdEx Benchmark Report is now live!
Released on 2nd July 2022, the report is the definitive guide to advertising expenditure in Europe covering 28 markets. It details the formats and channels that contributed to digital advertising’s annual growth of 30.5 per cent in 2021, culminating in a total market value of €92bn.
You can read the full report here.
If you’re looking for key facts, stats, and highlights, then check out these short videos, featuring our very own Chief Economist, Daniel Knapp:
As part of IAB Europe’s key focus on topics of corporate responsibility in the digital advertising industry, The Programmatic Trading Committee has set up a mini-series to discuss diversity and inclusion in 2022, with the latest blog post diving into the theme of marketing in digital advertising. In this blog, our contributors explore D&I in media planning and buying, talk about what companies can do to embrace more diversity in marketing campaigns, and assess what can be done to make media more inclusive and culturally relevant.
A Q&A with:
Amina Begum, Solutions Consulting Director Xandr
Michael Shmarak, Senior Director of Communications, Verve Group
Clare Ritchie, Global Head of Programmatic, Mediacom
Alanna Tyminsk, Strategic Alliances Director, EMEA, IAS
Q1. In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges when you think about diversity and inclusion in marketing?
Amina - “A recent report from Media for All, showed that there is still a perception gap around diversity and inclusion in marketing and I think this is a constant challenge. According to the report ‘those who are not directly impacted by it are more positive across the board on outcomes and progress on diversity, equity and inclusion than those from minoritised backgrounds.
Part of the issue is that when there is an event that brings diversity and minoritised groups to focus, there is a quick reaction of support both from consumers and brands. However, the follow-through and action plan tend to be a lot slower and this lack of action creates a perception gap.
Thinking that we as a marketing industry are doing ‘enough’ is idle, we as an industry should do more to understand why this gap exists and ensure we have an action plan to address the outcomes.”
Michael - “The biggest challenge is making sure marketers look beyond D&I as "corporate social responsibility." It is as intertwined with the fabric of an organisation as anything that appears in financial statements. Ultimately, having the right and best people matters more than ever. At Verve Group, we have colleagues from more than 30 countries across the globe, so it is imperative that we practice what we preach. Marketers need to move beyond “checking off a box" and prove to their stakeholders that having diverse populations and ideas matter in a global economy.”
Clare - “The biggest challenges we face are authentication & intelligence. Diversity & Inclusion are more than buzzwords. Inclusive marketing for diverse audiences should come from diverse marketers with the aim of speaking to everyone and avoiding stereotyping. It is not just the change of a strapline or representative, but cultural awareness and appreciation which extends through planning, creative, and media placement. Messages should be tested and honed within the audience that they are trying to reach to ensure relevancy and reaction.”
Alanna - “Having a clear definition of what diversity, equity & inclusion (DE&I) actually encapsulates is really important, and there is more progress to be made. Ethnicity, race, LGBTQ+, gender equality, people with disabilities, and more, all come under this umbrella. This is the first step to ensuring diverse groups in marketing and advertising are represented and have a voice that can be championed. There have been good steps made, but there is still a way to go.”
Q2. What are the biggest opportunities available today for more diversity in marketing?
Amina “When it comes to diversity in marketing there are huge opportunities available for the advertising industry, both from an advertising and publishing perspective. For brands, this is an opportunity to reach audiences they haven’t engaged with before and a chance to build up new target markets.
From a publisher perspective, support for smaller and minority-owned publishers who have historically been overlooked because they haven’t had the budgets from advertisers before, now get the opportunity to be able to scale up their businesses.”
Michael - “Marketers should do a better job of listening to those who don't typically sit in their comfort zone to learn more about how their decisions impact others, especially in advertising. Here at Verve Group, we often find that the best ideas come when "worlds collide," literally and figuratively speaking, because we are listening to vantage points of others. Imagine the possibilities if we listened more than we spoke!”
Clare - “Consumers, especially younger generations expect more from marketing than ever before. They look for brands who are supporting important issues and showing diversity. The engagement and opportunity for resonant marketing to be shared within the right audience groups allows these messages to travel beyond the confines of paid media, bringing incremental value to any communication.
Thinking specifically about programmatic, we are in the age of addressability. We have the option to engage with our audience with relevance not previously attainable.
One size does not fit all, one message is not relevant to all. Using the technology available to us, and bringing together more precise and intelligent data about a brand's audience, should allow for a more equitable conversation.”
Alanna - “Have a diverse voice from the very beginning to drive inclusivity from within the business.
That means especially involving individuals from all groups with different backgrounds to the conversations and projects to ensure everyone is heard and represented.
Businesses should create these opportunities for everyone. There are already positive steps that are being taken within the industry. Clients and agencies are forming working teams within the business that are focussed on DE&I and starting to build out policies that support diversity on marketing plans.”
Q3. How do you think we can advance D&I in the media planning and buying process?
Amina “To put D, E&I at the forefront, it should be engrained in every part of the process. For example, if as a company you’ve historically never had diverse media plans before you should take the approach of equity. Meaning, this is something you’ve neglected so you are going to take actionable measures to put extra focus on this topic until it naturally becomes embedded in everything you do.”
Michael - “The industry needs to think about what "diversity" really means in this day and age, and to make it a part of one's strategy. There is so much opportunity to fuse diversity into operations and strategies, and in doing so, create great media plans. For example, I find it counterintuitive when I hear LGBTQ+ content is being blocked from ad plans because it is perceived as "different content." The LGBTQ+ community is vibrant, with people, ideas, and thinking that can influence brands. We often talk about walled gardens in our business, but we also need to break down some of these walls to achieve more.”
Clare - “We have a responsibility to hire with diversity, creating fluid talent pools across organisations, who are reflective of the market being reached. Creating approaches founded in insight-driven planning, allowing room for variation, feedback and change will advance thinking. Coupling this with clearly measurable outcomes will create accountability in advancing D&I throughout the media planning & buying process.”
Alanna - “First of all, education on effective tools that are already available in the market. They can really support media planning and buying when it comes to DE&I. The heavy reliance on existing tools, such as keyword lists, means that there is not only blocking of good content but also underprotection against unfavorable content for clients.
Technology vendors such as IAS need to also collaborate with clients to help them deliver against goals around DE&I in this process. We have worked with the Brand Safety team at GroupM to deliver a solution using our avoidance technology to help ensure that their clients do not appear against any negative content that is perceived as discriminatory.”
Q4. How can brands build more diversity and inclusion into their marketing plans?
Amina “Brands need to look internally at the make-up of their organisations – consumers can see through those that exhibit authenticity and those that are jumping on the latest bandwagon.
Companies need to ask the right questions, for example, are their staff diverse and representative of the local population? What about those in leadership positions? It is important that their employees feel empowered to put their voices forward and do not feel forced to change themselves in order to fit in and feel included. For brands to build more diversity and inclusion, they need to start by making sure their organisation is able to offer the right perspective in this area.”
Michael - “My father once said that we human beings have two ears and one mouth, and we need to remember that proportion. Brands would be wise to listen to my Dad’s advice–they should become active listeners to what diversity and inclusion mean to their customers as opposed to what THEY think D&I means to them. It also means that leadership teams need to become more deeply acclimated with the channels and networks where audiences reside and recognise the power that these channels hold in the marketplace.”
Clare - “We all need to take the time to really know our audience and understand how and where they are receptive. Listen to the data available, be that sales, focus groups, feedback, or social media, and create tailored approaches to speak to the complexities of real people that are a key representation of our brands. Accepting that what works today may not work tomorrow or next time and that we are in a fluid environment will aid success.”
Alanna - “Brands need to be conscious about where the advertising is being placed at the start of the media planning process. We advise to look at forming partnerships with publishers of under represented groups, as well as a diverse group of publishers during the planning process.”
Q5. What more can be done by the industry to make media more inclusive and culturally relevant?
Amina “Media has shifted and content creation has changed. It is now a lot easier to become a content creator as all you need is a camera phone. This means content creation has been opened up to a much more diverse pool of creators and brands should be taking note of this. By choosing to support a varied selection of creators and small businesses they can make their offering more inclusive and culturally relevant.
Formats are also evolving and some work better than others with diverse audiences. Brands should continue to experiment with formats to truly understand which platforms speak to broader audiences and invest in those spaces. Consumers will choose a platform that speaks to who they are, what represents them and they will take their spending power along with them.”
Michael - “I recall reading an article in CAMPAIGN that highlighted this issue to a tee–I highly recommend reviewing it, as it opened my eyes to where opportunities lie for all of us marketers. In it, the author cited a disconnect between the right/best data that is collected about audiences for specific campaigns. The author cited the methods that many marketers define audiences as inefficient because of racial, gender, and ethnic bias. If a media plan can be shaped with diversity and inclusion as a goal, some of those biases come off the table.”
Clare - “Ultimately we need to ensure that diversity and inclusion are given appropriate focus and space, through all stages of creative and media planning and buying. It's not a retrospective fit or a last-minute buying tweak. Audience and the approach to engage meaningfully should be in every conversation, but to enable this, we need to properly fund the time, thought and creativity needed.”
Alanna - “Policy can only succeed if culture drives it. What does this mean exactly? Everybody has the responsibility to play their role when it comes to diversity & inclusion - so does Ad Tech. Over the past years, we developed tools that can support our mutual goal for more inclusivity and deliver effective campaigns. So Tech providers have a responsibility to educate brands on how more sophisticated technologies can be used to achieve goals.
We want to make sure that we balance much-needed Brand Safety with a sensitive diversity level by consciously managing brand suitability and safety alongside inclusion.”
