Luke Hills

Amazon's copy-paste approach to launching its ad-supported tier in Australia feels tone-deaf. Unlike the US, with its Prime-obsessed market, Prime Video is still a niche player here in Australia. This looks more like a price hike with forced ads than a new option. Unless they address the lower market share and viewer expectations, competitors with better deals will have a good head start on their ad-supported tier.

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Retail Media seems like the new buzzword but the reality is that brand owners have sought placement of their brands through media at different points around the store and in different formats long before the internet ever became the thing and websites/apps were the norm. There were costs to secure end aisle displays, aisle fins, floor stickers and shop windows. And to help launch a new brand, drive visibility and awareness, create interest for shoppers and ultimate convert them from browsers to buyers, brands paid these costs. Fast forward to today and there’s more toys to play with. The purchase journey has more touchpoints, more opportunities to help guide shoppers in certain directions, more ways to bring brand messages in front of targeted customers with more dynamic content. We’re traveling a purchase path online, on apps and in stores. All sounds perfect as long as we can measure its cause and effect and understand ROI. That’s the key and critical thing. Thank you Jeffrey Bustos for sharing this simple measurement tool. Take a look and share it onwards. Sometime the one pager reminders are the best. Vinny O'Brien Lisa Goller, MBA

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The Financial Times, Wall Street Journal or Australian Financial Review rarely talk about the advertising industry. However, they ARE talking about Retail Media. Today in the FT, they did a deep dive on Walmart's advertising business. Its behind a paywall, so here is the TL:DR: => "Walmart profits rose faster thanks to advertising in the last quarter: "Now, it is selling airtime to other advertisers, competing with traditional media companies for marketing dollars." => Walmart's US advertising business had grown 30% in the past year, rocketing past the growth rate of the company as a whole." => "Walmart Connect, is part of an emerging industry known as “retail media”, in which big retailers flex their muscles as gatekeepers between vendors and consumers to sell ads to brands seeking an edge. => "Advertising is far more profitable than the 4% operating margin Walmart earns from selling merchandise and groceries" =>" The prospects for higher-margin businesses such as advertising have excited investors, helping propel Walmart’s shares up 38% this year" => "Walmart is now the 16th largest ad seller by revenue outside China." => "After you click on an ad at a general-purpose search engine, they don’t know what you did after that,” said Ryan Mayward, VP of Retail Media sales at Walmart US. “We capture the click and we also know that you checked out and bought those specific things after you were exposed [to] or interacted with the ads. That’s the core value [proposition] of retail media versus other types of media.” => "Walmart is doubling down on advertising with its deal for Vizio. The connected TV maker has been losing money on device sales but earned $356.3mn in gross profit last year thanks to technology that tracks what people watch and serves them targeted ads. => "Unlike Amazon, Walmart has 4,600 big-box stores around the US, plus hundreds more Sam’s Club warehouse outlets. That’s where Walmart has scale that Amazon can’t compete with". => Walmart can connect customers’ purchases to ads they viewed days before using bank card and electronic payments data. “A week goes by, you decide to buy that item in a store, we know that there was attribution related to that ad" => "Walmart is not able to identify store customers who pay in cash" => "Walmart is also increasing advertising inside its stores to complement campaigns running online - stores can help counter the effects of media fragmentation. Mayward said “140mn people a week shop here. That’s a huge audience. About 110mn people tune in to the Super Bowl. That’s a greater than Super Bowl-sized audience every week coming through our stores.” Suppliers views: => Wins for retailers “can be losses for advertisers” as they struggle to compare the performance of competing retail media networks" => "The potential for new flashpoints in the relationship between big retailers and big brands - quote from a supplier " buying advertising from Walmart feels like tithing to the church."

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Not sure about collapsing but evolving is probably a better way to put it. Key take out - retail media as we know has quickly become another major channel for effective measurement of outcomes due to the data imbedded in their businesses and proximity to POS. If you are in performance marketing - adjust If you are in omnichannel planning - adopt #communicationstrategy #digitalstrategy #marketinginsights #CMO #Marketing #SEO #SEM

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Retail Media Networks (RMNs) are on the rise in Australia, with PwC forecasting a surge in value to $2.14 billion within 5 years. See my thoughts on how Europe’s RMNs compare and why Australian marketers need to stay ahead with RMN leaders. Link below 👇

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Great to reconnect with peers, both old and new at the IAB Australia Affiliate & Partnership Marketing Summit in Sydney yesterday. Featuring several excellent panellists: Natalie Stanbury, Director of Research, IAB Australia Jane Huxley CEO of ARE MEDIA Lauren Leisk Head of Affiliate Partnerships, Are Media Interviewer: Gai Le Roy, CEO, IAB Australia Mark Baartse, Marketing Consultant Kate Eringa, Client Strategy Manager, Commission Factory Dominic Ferguson Ferguson,  Manager Client Success, Cashrewards Rainer Schmid, Global Head of Marketing, Bikes Online And MVP MC Neguin Farhangmehr, MD of GrowthOps I wanted to share a few key things that took from the session: 💰 Commercial budgets are shifting: 63% of surveyed brands looking to increase investment in affiliates and partnerships in 2024 🧠 It’s time to re-think digital strategy: A critical lens needs to be applied to ineffective spending across traditional digital channels - are they delivering effective rates for customer acquisition and ROI? Where could my marketing budget be better spent? 📚 Channel Perception is changing: brands are seeking to target, track and attribute customers along the whole purchase funnel. 🗝 The key to success with Content Campaigns: clarify outcomes & metrics, understand funnel attribution and effective cost models, set expectations from the outset when planning campaigns.

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Getting the right education and resources are critical, especially in such a fast moving space like Retail Media. To help us all, IAB Australia is running research to assess the current state of Retail Media in Australia. If you work for an Agency or Brand take 5 minutes out of your day 🙏 to help provide details on your experience and give valuable feedback. You will also have the chance to win a $250 gift card. 🏆 🎊 #retailmedia #commercemedia #yahoo #iab

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Excited to be joining industry leaders Colin Barnard, Andy Ford and Roger Dunn at IAB MeasureUp this Wednesday in Sydney. We'll be diving into the 'ROAS Trap' and uncovering the hidden value in retail media campaigns. Looking forward to sharing insights and learning from the best in the business. Don't miss out on this opportunity to reshape your perspective on ROI and marketing effectiveness! #IABMeasureUp #MarketingROI #RetailMedia

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Part 4 of PODEAN's Australian Consumer survey insights has landed. This time we're taking a deep dive on live streaming and live commerce. 🎥 The world of live streaming continues to expand at a rapid pace. In recent years, live streaming has reshaped how consumers interact with content, media, and even shop. This growth has also opened up new opportunities for brands to engage with their audience and promote their products in innovative ways. In our survey we looked to understand the state of live streaming in Australia and its growth over the years, including its profound impact on the rise of live-stream shopping 🛍️ Click through the slides below to learn about the latest trends and how your brands can leverage these insights in an increasingly competitive and evolving sector. 👇 #podean #AUconsumerinsights #livestreaming #livecommerce #amazon

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IAB Australia's new retail media state of the nation report makes for some compelling reading. What I found particularly interesting is that while retail media in Australia is still arguably in its early stages, the pace of adoption is really ramping up. Respondents who have retail media as a significant part of their marketing mix have grown to 37% in mid-2024 from 26% in early 2023. #Retailmedia is allowing many of these advertisers and agencies to increase sales and to reach customers right at the point of sale. I expect that by this time next year, we’ll be seeing this figure pushing well north of 50%. 

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Maybe brands should remember the iconic song ‘Ironic’ (thank you Alanis Morissette.) She said, “Well life has a funny way of sneaking up on you—when you think everything’s okay and going right.” Isn't it ironic? That seems to be the case with some of the world’s biggest brands of late, particularly at this year’s Olympics.   Making emotionally relevant and resonant creative today must start with the basics of rich customer understanding. No longer can outdated means of customer insight that paints a broad brush of different segments be used when every interaction must be both personalized and emotionally enriched. We need to use the best of tech married with human input to proactively measure and quantify true customer feeling, or emotional connectivity will not be achieved, and brands will continue to miss the mark. Check out what we are doing at BRANDthrō to solve for this.

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47% of marketers drive towards performance marketing because it is "easier to communicate the returns". Marketers are in a rough spot. The pressure to prove ROI with limited budget in unrealistically short timeframes is immense. Unfortunately, brands that continue to descend into the pit short-termism, the more fragile and unlikely they become to ever emerge from their reliance on performance tactics. On the flip side, marketers who are brave enough to fight the good fight, invest in brand and long-term growth will, I believe, come out on top. Communicating the power of brand is hard, but it's worth it. #brandmarketing #advertising https://lnkd.in/gKap3AXc

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🎁 APAC and Aussie #marketing, #advertising & #media types, I have *another* present for you. A couple of weeks ago, I built a thing that collects all the media & marketing headlines from across the Australian trade press, on the basis that everyone *should* read the trade press, but it’s the sort of good habit that’s too easy to let slip. This hopefully makes it a bit easier (I’m definitely reading more!) to quickly dip in and out of what’s going on across the industry. Since a whole bunch of you seemed to enjoy it, I’ve gone and built an Asia version too. Like the Australian version, it shows the latest headlines from across the Asia media & marketing trade press that I could find. It’s here if you want to use it: https://bit.ly/pitstopAsia On both versions, I’ve made some upgrades - it looks prettier for a start, and the links now take you straight to the article instead of the wider site section. You can also switch between the Asia and Australia editions using the nav tabs at the top. UK and US versions are on the way, plus a desktop version too. Let me know if you like it (or, more likely, if there are any bits I’ve messed up!)

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Short term success is ripe and driven by the big guys, they have a stock exchange to report to - agency principal trading has existed forever in one form or another - the trick would be to share the spoils with clients but who wants to do that? Some do but most don't. The media can say no but ultimately there is one that will bend because of profit pressure. If nothing changes then lets call this a correction or adjustment..... #Marketing #Media #CMO #MarketingDirector #Programmatic

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Which channels are losing out due to the rise of #retailmedia? The IAB Australia Retail Media State of the Nation 2024 report does a great job of breaking down how retail media campaigns are being funded. While 40% of agencies and advertisers have secured new budgets for retail media campaigns, 60% of spend is still being taken from other channels. The two biggest buckets where ad spend is being shifted out of are traditional advertising channels (50%), and social media (48%). This echoes a growing frustration with social media campaigns, and data which shows much of the audience on social media is disengaged, and does not necessarily trust ads they are served on these platforms. While social media still has a place for brand building, when it comes to a direct impact on sales, my read is that many advertisers are finding retail media a more effective option. There are more interesting insights in the report shared in the comments. 

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Thanks, Chris Pash and AdNews Australia, for featuring my insights on the evolving media landscape. While some might see gloom, I see a shift towards strategic investment. Advertisers recognise the power of building trust in their brand alongside performance marketing for sustainable growth. Budgets are moving from traditional TV to BVOD, AVOD, and digital video, and first-party data is becoming king. It's a dynamic time for marketing. #MediaLandscape #MarketingStrategy #FutureofMarketing https://lnkd.in/g75swYsm

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I've done as Matt Lawton requests, and added to the UK and US list in the comments - please join me and add your own. I put down only what sprang to mind immediately. There are many, many more. 'What my initial research efforts have revealed is that neither the US or UK can boast the same number of industry led, collective, volunteer initiatives designed to address today’s important societal issues as the Australian advertising sector. Surely, this can’t be the case? I’ve found 16 Australian initiatives vs 7 in the US and 5 in the UK. Although some initiatives (eg Ad Net Zero) are global. Please add to each list in the comments to ensure each country’s efforts are properly represented.' Mumbrella https://lnkd.in/eVtr6ajD

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