GumGum CEO Phil Schraeder hosted an intimate panel discussion at the MMA’s CEO & CMO Summit this past month. Phil, along with his co-speaker, Global CMO of General Motors Deborah Wahl, dove deep into the topic, “Personal Data Should Remain Personal: Here’s Why Contextual is Key for the Future of Digital.” This blogpost will outline all the top insights from the session and highlight how marketers can create future success in the changing landscape of our industry.
With over 800 member companies, the MMA is a marketing trade association that comprises a network of advertisers, tech providers and sellers to define, execute and act upon the future success of digital advertising. The MMA CEO CMO Summit brings together the C-suite leaders and executives of our industry to share their wisdom in an intimate two-day event. Held in Napa, California from July 24 to July 26, 2022, this year’s lineup featured speakers from powerhouse companies such as Nike, CVS Health, McKinsey & Company, Meta, Roku, AT&T, Bloomberg Media, GumGum, GM and much much more.
Here are the top line insights from Phil’s session:
1. Consumers are Avoiding Online Ads
While behavioral targeting has been transformative for advertisers, this approach is now failing to meet the simple premise of our industry: To deliver relevant and engaging ads that capture people’s attention and inspire action. This approach has made people feel that digital ads are creepy, invasive and overall ineffective. Today, nearly 50% of all internet users globally go out of their way to avoid online ads. Plus, amid growing privacy concerns, over 35% of US iOS users have the “Limit Ad Tracking” function turned on. This means that it is inevitable that advertising practices must evolve - clearly the future of digital advertising will be about targeting people in the right mindset, instead of relying on tracking data of past behavior.
2. Marketers Must Meet People in the Right Mindset
In order to produce relevant ads that capture people’s attention, inspire and ultimately drive action, marketers must first use context to understand what people are caring about at any specific moment. It’s no surprise that a new study by MAGNA Media Trials revealed that 61% of the impact on search intent is driven by consumer mindset. While research points to the power of leveraging consumer mindset, this is still vastly underutilized in digital advertising right now. Brands must move beyond basic demographics and metadata and tap into what consumers want in order to successfully target their brand messaging and produce future-proof and human-centric ad campaigns.
3. The Mindset Matrix ™ is a Future-Proof Advertising Solution
With cookies going away and alternative ID solutions failing to gain traction & adoption, which marketing tactics will guarantee the future success of our industry? Moreover, cookies are not even applicable to new emerging digital environments such as CTV or In-Game advertising, emphasizing further the need to find a better way to reach consumers where they are. How can we do this? GumGum’s answer is our new framework, The Mindset Matrix ™. The Mindset Matrix ™ is a powerful combination of contextual understanding, dynamic creative and attention metrics working in tandem to empower advertisers to captivate a person’s mindset in current and emerging digital environments - all without the need to use personal data.
Let’s take a closer look at the components:
Contextual: Put the right ad in the right environment by targeting users based on their mindset.
Creative: Deliver outstanding, beautiful and engaging creatives.
Attention: Provide valuable data about which ads draw attention with the right audiences.
Each is individually powerful but together it delivers the most effective future-proof solution for advertising in a post-cookie world.
4. It’s Time to Get Ahead in Emerging Digital Environments
Without a doubt, new and emerging digital environments are attracting large audiences. There are 2.6 million people immersed in the virtual gaming worlds that currently do not see any ads, 82% of US households have at least one Connected TV (CTV) device and 60% of all adults watch video using CTV. This makes it clear that marketers must tap into these audience segments and meet people where they are and where their interests lie.
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