TV reaches 85% of the

population each week.

BVOD consumption is booming.

Australians trust TV,

which halos onto TV advertising.

Ads shown on TV receive greater

attention, which is maintained for longer.

Ads shown on TV are

remembered for 9x longer.

TV + BVOD has 2.4x the sales impact

of TV combined with YouTube.

TV is the king of ROI.

BE TV CERTAIN.

thinktv.com.au
 &"&)&& ³!)%(%+!+³$")!%""³!$)+$&""!
I MOGEN H EW ITT • SN E A K LOOK AT M A R K ETI NG PU LSE • TH E TV A D BOOM

Thinki
k ng. Insights. Id
deas.
adnews.com.au

51F59D6?B
D85B?1385C
Print post approved: 100005345

Third-party cookies won’t survive as

long as the insects. So what next? AdNews – Since 1928
May / June 2021
 AUSTRALIA’S
MOST EFFECTIVE
CAMPAIGNS
CAN’T BE
WRONG
ThinkTV is a proud sponsor of the What’s more, between 2018 % of campaigns stating v. large effect
on long term market share growth
Australian Effie Awards and for very and 2019, campaigns that included
26% +6pp
good reason. TV experienced a step-change
in effectiveness. In 2019, TV-led 14% No diff
Like the Effies, we’re all about 14% +3pp 20%
campaigns saw a significant increase
advertising that shifts the dial on 14% 11%
in brand profit growth.
genuine business results.
2017 2018 2019
For the past two years, we have % of campaigns stating v. large effect
All campaigns Campaigns with TV
partnered with the Advertising on brand profit growth

Council Australia to dig through the 26% And the gap in effectiveness between
24% +1pp 31% +8pp
Effie award entries and find out what +1pp
campaigns that include TV versus all
makes Australia’s top campaigns so campaigns is widening.
effective. 23% 25% 23%
But, of course, I would say that.
The original godfathers of
effectiveness, Peter Field and Les 2017 2018 2019 Rather than have me labour the
Binet, created a paradigm shift in All campaigns Campaigns with TV point, I asked a genuine advertising
2016 with their analysis of UK expert what he makes of these
campaign effectiveness based on findings. Mark Green is the Chair of
For the same period, TV-fuelled
the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising Council Australia, Lead
campaigns also saw an uptick in
Advertising (IPA) databank. And so, Accenture Interactive ANZ Group
customer acquisition.
in 2019, ThinkTV joined forces with CEO & Co-Founder of The Monkeys.
the Advertising Council Australia to He said: “The Australian Effie’s
% of campaigns stating v. large effect
follow in Field and Binet’s footsteps. on new customer acquisition
database is a game-changer.
28% It provides irrefutable evidence
Through analysis of Australia’s most +2pp 28% +6pp
effective campaigns, as judged by for creating advertising that
the rigorous Effie Awards entry 18% +4pp makes a real impact on brands
process, one medium stands head 14% 26% 22% and businesses. And it confirms
and shoulders above all others something I long suspected: TV is a
when it comes to building effective 2017 2018 2019 true workhorse that powers effective
campaigns. That medium is TV. All campaigns Campaigns with TV campaigns of all shapes and sizes.”

From 2017 to 2019, 65% of Australia’s I don’t know about you but I’m
most effective campaigns had TV at These same campaigns, with TV at inclined to take Mark’s word for it.
their heart. their core, also saw an increase in
long-term market share growth.
By using a TV-first approach,
campaigns delivered stronger The trifecta of increased brand
short-term sales, better long-term profit, customer acquisition, and
market share gains, and faster long-term market share growth is Kim Portrate
customer acquisition. hard to beat. CEO, ThinkTV
 Editor Executive Publisher
Ŧū !
&5<5F9C9?>14C@5>4
5>:?I541B5>19CC1>359>
Chris Pash James Yaffa
(02) 9213 8284 (02) 9213 8293
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chrispash@yaffa.com.au jamesyaffa@yaffa.com.au 7B9@@542ID85@1>45=93

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Copy Editor Publisher B5CE=9>7
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Gavin Dennett Assia Benmedjdoub
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assia@yaffa.com.au
Senior Journalist
Paige Murphy
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National sales manager

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Business development D1B75D9>7
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Contents
MAY/JUNE 2021

43CREATIVE
SIDES
From performing Regulars
onstage and working
with superstar
international music
08 BEHIND THE COVER: The theme of this issue is the demise of third-
party cookies, and we enlisted the creative minds from Innocean
artists, to life as
Australia to design an attention-grabbing cover.
a communications
professional,
Bec Brown has
12 INVESTIGATION: Third-party cookies have been critical to online
advertising but, with their end in sight, the industry is preparing
written a book about
for the biggest shake-up since the advent of the internet.
her experiences.
27 AGENDA: When the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in 2020, tele-
vision ad spend boomed as people were bunkered in lockdown.
With things still looking up, how long will the good times last?

38 MARKETING PULSE: We get the thoughts of Australian CMOs on

how brands have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic and are
surging towards a bright future.

52 MEET THE TEAM: Amazon-owned livestreaming company Twitch

exploded in 2020 and the AUNZ team that was established a little
more than a year ago is riding the wave of success.

Creative

56 CREATIVE REVIEW: We ask three adland creatives to cast judge-

ment on a quartet of motor vehicle ads to see whether they meet
the lofty standards the car industry has historically set.
38
Online

adnews.com.au
Go online to get the latest news and
analysis every day. www.adnews.com.au

twitter.com/AdNews
facebook.com/AdNewsAustralia
AdNewsAustralia
youtube.com/adnewsaust
AdNewsAustralia
 Your Audience.
No Gaps.
No Overlaps.

363 % lift in tune-in.

Amobee puts butts in
seats for a new TV show.

Are you unifying TV, CTV, digital, and social yet?

Our clients are.

www.amobee.com
Editor’s Letter
Is daydreaming in a virtual office real?
I f no-one sees you being smart, does it count?
Visibility is a critical issue in a career. Demonstrating
your worth and making sure someone notices is all
part of the game of getting ahead, getting a pay rise,
more responsibility and a new title.
How then does this work
when remote working?
Many people embraced
working from home, but com-
ing out of the COVID-19
pandemic some very senior
managers in the industry are
quietly questioning its worth.
A fine move during lock-
down (as the only way to keep
the business af loat and to
maintain a bank of talent) but
we should march back to the
now safe-ish office where we
can be more effective.
But do we work better in an
office? The remote experiment
was a success. Virtual teams of
employees in Australia adapted
remarkably well, according to
research at Curtin University.
Over time, they got better
at it. Teams refined collabora- C H R I S
tion processes following lock-
down and improved their
ability to function and manage issues.
But are careers made in the office, and are we
more efficient there?
Dr Florian Klonek, from the Centre for
Transformative Work Design based at Curtin’s Future
of Work Institute, says many people see advantages
of being in the same physical space as colleagues.
He says that being in the same room with team mem-
bers has socio-motivational gains, which means it is fun
and motivating to brainstorm collectively about ideas
However, some research shows that remote
www.adnews.com.au | May/June 2021 7
working means more unique ideas compared with
face-to-face teams.
“The reason is that when brainstorming in the
same office with other team members, we are more
susceptible to a phenomenon called ‘production
blocking’ - that is, team mem-
bers with potentially creative/
unique ideas cannot share
them because they are ‘blocked’
by those team members who
are speaking (taking space
away from the others),” says
Dr Klonek.
“Overall, I think both ‘ingre-
dients’ (being motivated to
work creatively and contribut-
ing unique ideas) are necessary
for teams to function well.”
Certainly remote working
makes it harder to coordinate
activities between different
team members.
When multiple people work
on the same task, it can be eas-
ier to meet in the same space,
discuss the task at hand, share
E D I T O R materials and methods.
P A S H
Remember the feeling of
waiting for a response to your
last email? “In a ‘virtual space’,
these coordinated actions are much harder, and they
can be even worse when there are differences in time
zones, and extensive response lags,” says Dr Klonek.
Research suggests the upside, when stripping
away the COVID-19 hassles of having to deal with
flatmates or run homeschooling, is that working
remotely gives people more autonomy and control.
“That is, remote working allows more control
about how to schedule and plan our tasks, which also
explains why remotely working employees often have
higher job satisfaction,” says Dr Klonek.
 #FIJOE
UIF
$PWFS www.adnews.com.au | May/June 2021 8

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2 5 C @ ? ;5 54 9D 9? >
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adnews com au

The creative contingent of adland is

the beating heart of the industry. To
fully embrace this, and with a mission
to create awesome and inspiring
covers, each month AdNews hand-
picks an agency to work its magic.
51F59D6?B

&85=?E<4I 3??;951>4B?1385C D85B?1385C

Third-party cookies won’t survive as
long as the insects. So what next? AdNews – Since 1928
May / June 2021

it h t hird-pa r t y cook ies solve the problem, but it affects everyone in the agency so each of the
W finally on their way out,
AdNe ws c a l led on I n nocea n
W O R D S

P A I G E
B Y

M U R P H Y team brought insights and direction to the solution.

Au st ra l ia to come up w it h
a cover that perfectly depicted
t hei r c r u mble. The resu lt?
Mould, cockroaches and a very
unappetising cookie.
What were your initial
thoughts on the third-party
cookie deprecation brief at
hand?
Google it. There are so many arti-
cles trying to explain it. So we
decided our approach should be
to get attention for this issue of
AdNews, and let the specialists
give their point of view.
Post first brief chat, what
went through your mind(s)
and what were the next
steps you took as a team?
Imag ining this decomposing
dig ital cook ie needed to be
brought to life in the most real
way. So casting the roaches was
top of the list. And then decom-
posing a pretty tasty cookie.
The following responses are best heard from our photographic
partner, Michael Corridore:
What were the biggest hurdles to making this a reality?
Any challenges?
Time was the main challenge. We were working to a deadline which
didn’t allow for nature to take its course on this project. Good mould
takes time. Sprouting luscious plump f lorets of furry green and white
Rhizopus or Penicillium mould is at least a 10-day process. We didn’t
have that time.
Tell us about the actual creation techniques.
How did it come together?
My first thought was to attempt to grow mould, though I couldn’t find
a technique that would accelerate mould cultivation. Deep research and
following many stomach-turning links online and on scientific YouTube
channels lead nowhere. I had already set up many cookie tests around
our kitchen with different mould generating devices, but nothing really
happened. The preservatives in the commercially bought cookies kept
the mould at bay. With the looming deadline fast approaching, I turned
to modelmakers Yippee Ki-Yay, to create a model cookie garnished with
mould. They were able to turn the cookie around quite quickly as they
Credits had just wrapped a big job and were about to start another. Timing
couldn’t have been better. The base model they supplied looked so
75>3I>>?351>ECDB1<91 convincing. I shot multiple versions of the model and degenerated their
B51D9F5&51= great work by adding organic matter such as flour, egg whites, dry yeast
and some food dyes to enhance that extra 3% of natural realism.
)5J1G5C

How did you know you’d
landed on the best concept?
When we left a printed version of
the cover on a desk and people
screamed.
Who from the team was
largely involved and what
were their roles?
Everyone. It’s one of those topics
where you need to get a diverse
point of view. We’re not trying to
%81E>"?>>?B
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>>?351>#B?4E35B)1BB93;!938?<C?>
Biggest challenges with the whole process?
Did anything keep you up at night?
Cockroaches were the things that kept me up at night. A few weeks ago,
during the hot spell we had in Sydney, you had to dodge the roaches on
the footpaths. Cockroaches were nowhere to be seen in the lead
up to the shoot. Murphy’s law. I managed to catch one that our cat had
chased into the house, but it escaped when I attempted to transfer it into
a container. I searched cockroach sales online and found them. It is a
thing — live bait supplies. They arrived the next day from interstate.
Best bit about the process?
Getting it done and not having to wrangle cockroaches anymore.
 Picture This
Squeak E. Clean first impressions
We look at our furry
friends across the
advertising, adtech,
marketing and media
sector, shedding
a light on these stars
and how they help
adland get results.
This month, we speak
to Squeak E. Clean
Studios’ director of
first impressions: Bella. P A I G E
Picture This
www.adnews.com.au | May/June 2021
Time in current role/time at the
company? Two years.
How would you describe what
the company does? They recruit
new people to pat me every day.
What do you do day to day?
A lot of woofin’ around.
Define your job in one word:
Ruff.
I got into advertising because?
W O R D S B Y
I’m great with words.
M U R P H Y Who is your right-hand person/
who guides you day to day?
The one they call ‘James’.
9
Whose job have you set your
sights on in the future? That box
everyone throws all their food in
after they’ve finished their lunch.
Where do you turn for inspiration?
I like to take inspiration from the
SubWOOFer in Studio 2.
My best trick is?
Swatting anything at knee height
with my tail, including glasses full
of water, laptops, and especially
glasses full of water next to laptops.
Tell us one thing people
at work don’t know about you?
What I had in my mouth before
I licked your face.
 Agency
of the Year Awards
2021
PRESENTING PARTNER
 A. Creative Agency of the Year
B. Media Agency of the Year
C. Independent Agency of the Year
D. Small Agency of the
Year (Headcount under 25)

Long lunch, E. Digital Agency of the Year

F. PR Agency of the Year
28 October, G. Content Agency of the Year
H. Branding and Design
The Ivy, Sydney Agency of the Year NEW
I. Ad Campaign of the Year

A day dedicated J. Media Campaign of the Year

K. Small Budget Media Campaign
to the best-of- of the Year (Less than $500,000)

the-best in adland L. Social Media Campaign

ENTRIES CLOSE
FRIDAY 30 JULY 2021
View entry criteria
and categories at:
of the Year
M. Best Use of Data in
Campaign Planning
N. Best Use of Content
O. Brand Partnership Award
P. Social Responsibility/
Pro Bono Award
Q. Diversity Award NEW
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V. Marketing Team of the Year
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X. The AdNews Effectiveness Award

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PARTNER
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 *OWFTUJHBUJPO

&85B135D?3?>D9>E5DB13;9>7
The way advertisers track and target consumers
is about to get a lot more complicated without
third-party cookies. AdNews looks at why they
are disappearing and what comes next.

hird-party cookies have been critical to online

T advertising, credited with fueling its growth over
the years, so their demise has been described as the
most significant shakeup the industry has seen. “The
online industry has
been operating and W O R D S B Y
relying on cookies M A R I A M C H E I K - H U S S E I N
and now all of a sud-
den after two dec-
ades it’s all about to go away,” says MediaCom head of
digital Minsun Collier.
“It’s one of those things that we all need to get to. It’s
also an opportunity to get best practices into the digital
advertising world because some things have been ques-
tionable so it’s a great time to pivot and be able to do
some really good marketing.”
Third-party cookies, which track users for targeted
advertising, are to be phased out by Google in 2022
in the name of user privacy. To keep digital adver-
tising, which is estimated to be worth US$400
billion globally, tracking along there’s been
a long list of alternatives from industry
players, i nc lud i ng G oog le, Orac le,
Liveramp, and more.
The beginning of the end of third-
party cookies began in 2017 when Apple
blocked the cross-site tracking of con-
sumers on Safari with its Intelligent
Tracking Prevention (ITP) tool. Apple
is set to turn on its ITP tool by default
in late April, with consumers having
to opt in to cross-site tracking. Other
companies made similar moves, with
Mozilla Firefox also turning on its
Enhanced Tracking Protection by
default on its browser for all users in
2020. In January 2020, Microsoft released
a new version of its browser Microsoft Edge
with new privacy tools, including a choice
for users to choose between three levels of
third-party cookie blocking.
Given that Google Chrome has a significant
share of the supply of web browsers globally, including
an estimated market share of 63% of desktop devices in
Australia according to the Australian Competition and
Consumer Commission (ACCC), its announcement early
last year that it is phasing out third-party cookies by 2022
spun the industry into a frenzy. And unlike the other big
players, Chrome wasn’t giving users the ability to opt in
www.adnews.com.au | May/June 2021 13
 Casey
Donovan.
Host of “The Space”

/XFLQGD3ULFH
Host of “Where Are
All The Baby Pigeons”

5DFKHO&RUEHWW
Head of Podcasts,
NOVA Entertainment

Discover how our network of extraordinary voices can transform

the way you connect and converse with your audience.
www.novaentertainment.com.au/NEPN
Courtney Act & Vanity.
Hosts of “Brenda, Call Me!”

$EELH&KDWȍHOG
Host of “It’s A Lot”
 *OWFTUJHBUJPO www.adnews.com.au | May/June 2021 16

to third-party cookies, instead it As a result of their demise, there’s been a ‘Space Race’ to find effective
was phasing them out completely. solutions to working without third-party cookies from industry players,
“It’s ultimately a change for particularly adtech companies whose data gathering abilities will be
good,” says IAB Australia technology impacted by the changes.
lead Jonas Jaanimagi on the plans to According to analysis by marketing trade group MMA Global and
phase out third-party cookies. Prohaska Consulting, there are 80 identity solutions alone in market as
“We had pushed cookies out of April this year. But while there are plenty of solutions being put for-
too far, they are too ubiquitous and ward, experts agree it could take years before the market reaches a con-
actually quite amazing in their sensus on the balance between marketers’ and consumers’ needs.
own way in terms of the ability and “I think we’re seeing a Space Race,” says Ryan Boh, Oracle product
the fluidity of them - but they are strategy lead, activation and identity. “Now that cookies are gone, what
not secure enough. They are little are the customer-centric identity solutions that are going to persist?
text files that sit on machines, they “We should expect a smaller scale with those newer identity solutions
were quite leaky, it was not a clean because it takes a long time for publishers to adopt them. Therefore,
match all the time.” alternative targeting methodologies, such as contextual advertising or
“So, it’s time for a change. It is
-??7<5C/ combinations of audience solutions and contextual techniques, will prob-
good for the industry and it’s obvi- 1>>?E>35=5>D ably be leveraged post-cookies being deprecated and in between now
ously good for consumers because 45=?>CDB1D5C and then, there’s going to be a lot of stakeholders trying to test all the
there’s almost a version of what D85B5C13BE391< different options on the table today while there’s cookies available to
feels like surveillance that takes 9=@?BD1>35?669BCD help ensure that the proposed solutions are working or not working.”
place to do really well-run adver- Google added more disorder to the end of third-party cookies when it
tising and it shouldn’t. That whole
@1BDI41D1 doubled down in March this year that once third-party cookies are done with,
thing needs rethinking - as benev- 9F5B1=@'!, it would not build or support alternate identifiers to track individuals.
olent as it might be - and that’s 49B53D?B?6
what’s happening.” 144B5CC129<9DI
First-party cookies, which are
placed by the domain a user is
visiting, often collect information
such as login details and language
settings and are used to improve
the user’s experience. These
won’t be disappearing under
Google’s changes.
Third-party cookies, on the
other hand, are placed by domains
to track users as they browse other
sites, gathering information for
targeted advertising. These cook-
ies have been under heavy criti-
cism over the years because of
their invasive nature, with many
users often unaware of how ubiq-
uitous they are.
Many experts argue that regu-
latory bodies around the world
would have pushed big tech in the
direction of phasing out third-
party cookies anyway, noting
Europe’s GDRP laws which meant
users have to give consent to which
cookies they want activated.
“You could say that ultimately
the legislative pressure that we
have seen globally and the drive to
put consumer privacy at the core
of everything has led to them [tech
companies] making these deci-
sions,” Jaanimagi says.
“And they have made it early
enough so that everyone can test
it and get their hands dirty with it.
And it just reiterates that priva-
cy-first position.”
:LWK$EELH&KDWȍHOG

:LWK&DVH\'RQRYDQ

:LWK&RXUWQH\$FW 9DQLW\

Hear the :LWK/XFLQGD3ULFH

difference.
The NOVA Entertainment Podcast Network is
home to an exciting new generation of voices
that are shaping culture and driving conversation.
Listen for yourself on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you get your podcasts.
www.novaentertainment.com.au/NEPN
 Investigation

Google claims that they aren’t

a sustainable long-term invest-
“There’s talk about
ment because they don’t meet
consumer privacy expectations the return of
or stand up to evolving regula- contextual
tory restrictions. targeting as being
Instead, Google has proposed one consequence
a handful of alternatives, through
of these changes
its Privacy Sandbox initiative, that
will individually do the different and people are
jobs of third-party cookies. quite welcoming
“Cookies were fantastic and of that. It’s almost
they served a great purpose with like a return to
the industry for a long time,”
simpler times,”
Google APAC head of privacy Jess
Martin tells AdNews.
“But because they had so
many use-cases, you couldn’t iso-
late what you needed them to just
Frontier Australia
do and then we were using them head of digital Paul
for methods beyond their origi- Freeman-Sanderson.
nal purpose, such as opaque
tracking or fingerprinting.
“So now the intention with
Sandbox is for the industry to work
together and say, ‘Okay, what spe-
cific use-cases do we need, and
what do we develop to solve for
that instead once cookies have
been deprecated?”
Within the Privacy Sandbox
are proposed solutions for func-
tions such as remarketing, fraud
detection, measurements, as
well as tracking,which will be
done through a proposal Google
i s c a l l i n g F L o C ( Fe de r ate d
Learning Cohorts).
FLoC groups individuals in
large cohorts based on a similar
browsing history. The users are
anonymised so that advertisers Google claims that advertisers can expect to see at least 95% of the con-
will be able to show ads to the versions per dollar spent when compared to cookie-based advertising.
cohorts without accessing any So far, media buyers are confident in Google’s ability to perform and
data that will lead to the individ- protect user privacy but some still have questions over how transparent
uals being identified. Google will be with users.
According to the current pro- “There are a number of question marks right now on whether it’s truly
posal, a person would be in one privacy-compliant based on what the industry and what the government
cohort at a time which resets are trying to do,” says MediaCom’s Collier.
every seven days. So while it’s still “And from my personal opinion, if we look at the iOS 14 update, it’s to
ad targeted based on users’ online give control back to the users, letting them know what is going to be
activity, now the data will be kept captured and what data is going to be protected.
on users’ devices and only infor- “While Google, I’m not sure how much choice users are going to be
mation about the cohorts will be given. Whether they can choose to opt in or opt out when it comes to
shared with advertisers. their data being used for advertising purposes.”
FLoC is still in the initial test- Martin says that new alternatives within Privacy Sandbox will be
ing phase on a small number of giving users more control.
u s e r s i n Au s t r a l i a , Br a z i l, “This is being held at a browser level that is resettable, which means
Canada, India, Indonesia, Japan, user information is not being shared with advertisers, or publishers, or
Mex ico, Tel Av iv, a nd New others,” Martin at Google says.
Zealand. Martin says the general “So we’re seeing less information being collected and we’re seeing
number of people in a group that people can reset and have control over that. When I think about the
would be in the thousands. erosion we’ve seen in user trust, we know that it’s essential to meet
 www.adnews.com.au | May/June 2021 19

people’s expectations in terms of how digital advertising works, so from Australia, to warn that any moves
a privacy point of view, things have changed. to improve privacy for users should
“We need to enable people to have that choice and transparency and not risk reinforcing a dominant
reassurance around security. So I think these proposals are doing that.” data collecting position for Google.
Google’s plan to phase out cookies has caught the attention of the Free TV argued the blocking of
ACCC because of its potential impact on competition, particularly on third-party cookies will “lessen
adtech firms whose access to user data will be restricted. competition” in the supply of ad
In its interim report for its Digital Advertising Services Inquiry, the tech services by foreclosing rival
ACCC found that while Google blocking cookies and limiting access to adtech providers’ access to data.
unique identifiers may be motivated by privacy and data protection The industry body also warned that
goals but may also “impede rivals’ ability to compete effectively in the the move to block third-party cook-
supply of ad tech services”. ies risks cementing Google’s posi-
“Google recently announced that it would phase out support for third- tion as the “data gatekeeper”.
party cookies on its Chrome browser within two years,” the report says. Concerns aren’t just being
“This is likely to significantly impact the ad targeting functions of ad raised in Australia. Last
tech providers, and may increase barriers to entry and expansion as it November, a group of online
could become more difficult for new entrant DSPs and smaller existing advertisers made a complaint to
DSPs to collect data for targeted advertising. the UK’s Competition and Market
“Similarly, data providers, that would otherwise sell data to DSPs for Authority (CMA) requesting a
ad targeting, would also be impacted (to the extent that they use third delay to the launch of Google’s
party cookies to collect data).” Privacy Sandbox proposals, argu-
Other players also weighted into the inquiry, including News Corp ing it will reduce competition and
 in partnership with 21

ũ=9>ED5CG9D8Ů
Xandr senior account director Mark Serhan shares
his thoughts on some of the big changes at both
Xandr and across the broader advertising industry.

T he last year has accelerated change in consumer

viewing habits, with CTV taking up more share than
ever. How has the advertising industry responded?
It’s safe to say that BVOD has been a star performer for television in
Australia at 52.7% growth in the second half of 2020, with much of the
consumption taking place on Connected TV devices. While COVID has
accelerated many industry changes, increasing cross-screen consump-
tion of premium content was already well underway. We are starting
to see greater collaboration between advertisers and broadcasters
particularly when it comes to developing a unified audience identifier.
In parallel with improved user experience, thanks to technologies such
as server-side ad insertion and broadcasters embracing live streaming,
there are now more opportunities than ever for advertisers to lean
into CTV. Conceptually, the industry is moving away from the catch-up
TV model to on-demand (premium libraries and live streaming),
contained in compelling BVOD apps.

Can you tell us about Xandr’s biggest achievements

over the past 12 months?
We’ve had an incredible 12 months largely driven by ongoing product
and engineering investments and a consultative approach to solving
some of the industry’s key challenges. As a result, we’ve made
significant headway with long-form video header bidding, we’ve
expanded our video marketplace to include all premium BVOD
operators via our SSP, Xandr Monetize, and we’ve developed tools
which allow broadcasters to safely surface their audience data in a
privacy-safe manner.
In terms of progress
Why are you so passionate about this space? )51B5CD1BD9>7D?C55 in CTV and streaming
I started my career at Nine helping to build Australia’s first premium 7B51D5B3?<<12?B1D9?> more broadly, how does
video marketplace. This exposed me to the power of great content Australia compare to a
matched with great technology, all activated by talented people. I’m
25DG55>14F5BD9C5BC more advanced market
fortunate to work in an industry where there are so many interesting 1>42B?1431CD5BC such as the US?
challenges to solve, particularly when it comes to building a TV-first @1BD93E<1B<IG85>9D I think there’s this great miscon-
experience in digital. I’m also a big believer in the role that relevant 3?=5CD?45F5<?@9>7 ception that the US is far ahead
advertising plays in underwriting the world-class content we enjoy 1E>969541E495>35 of us. That may be true when it
on a daily basis. comes to Advanced TV but we’re
945>D9695B really leading the pack when you
Where do you see the industry heading in the next look at BVOD consumption, CTV
12-24 months? dev ice penet rat ion a nd t he
We’ll continue to see premium publishers and broadcasters adopt availability of premium video
Prebid-based solutions to better monetise their inventory while also inventor y prog ra m mat ica lly.
improving the user experience. Broadcasters will continue to bolster When you also consider the
their own/industry addressable offerings and surface these to buyers status of measurement via VOZ
in meaningful, privacy-safe ways. Lastly, we’ll see a huge increase in and also the great leap made in
content made available for live streaming, particularly in the gaming, CTV identity graphs locally, we
music and entertainment space. can be proud of our progress.
 Investigation

entrench Google’s market power based off of what I know with what Google has said publicly, we intend
in online advertising. to work with them on that.”
In January this year, the CMA Boh says being unable to leverage traditional third-party data with
announced it would launch an FLoC will be a setback for players across the industry.
investigation to assess whether “This isn’t just a setback for Oracle, I think this is a setback for a lot of
the proposals to remove third- organisations,” he says.
party cookies, and other tools, “For us, we still have our contextual intelligence, which is the contextual
from Google’s browser could advertising suite that we can rely on. We still intend to leverage third-party
c au se adver t isi ng spend to data that’s not based on cookies, and we’re exploring partnerships across the
become even more concentrated industry to help with the identity connections that are going to be required
on Google’s ecosystem at the to work with other DSPs that will support third-party data activation.
expense of its competitors. “I think we’re moving into a season where if you’re a data company
Meanwhile, adtech companies and your business was built on third-party cookies, there’s a good chance
who say they have seen the end of that going to have a tough time.”
third-party cookies coming, have “Data is being The Trade Desk has its identity solution Unified ID 2.0 as another contender
been pushing out their alternatives. to help replace third-party cookies, and InMobi has launched its UnifID.
Livera mp has had its
exchanged, not Meanwhile, Verizon Media has launched its unified identity solu-
Authenticated Traffic Solution captured. Effectiveness tion, Verizon Media ConnectID, to help advertisers buy, measure, and
(ATS) out since May 2019. The iden- is becoming more optimise ads while enabling publishers to manage, monetise and nav-
tity solution has rolled out to more probabilistically igate audiences without third-party cookies.
than 340 publishers worldwide, up modeled and less
from about 30 just over a year ago,
across the US, UK, France, Italy,
directly tracked.”
Spain, Germany, Japan, and MediaCom head of
Australia. Liveramp also says that digital Minsun Collier.
more t h a n 2 5 Supply-Side
Platforms and 45 Demand-Side
Platforms have adopted its ATS.
“[Google’s] announcement
demonstrates that there’s a crucial
importance of first-party data and
developing strong direct-to-con-
sumer relationships is important,”
says Liveramp AUNZ director of
addressability Louise Exton.
“And that’s something that
LiveRamp has long been talking
about. So, Google are already
using the people-based identity for
the most valuable inventory, which
is Search and YouTube. And to
remain competitive, other publish-
ers should do the same and max-
imise their authentications. So,
LiveRamp’s focus remains the
same, which is putting consumer
privacy first and foremost.”
Meanwhile, Boh at Oracle says
the business is still working out
how it will be able to work with
Google’s updates.
“We’re merging our martech
and adtech suite and I think that’s
important because we’ve been
developing our customer data plat-
form, and it appears, based off of
Google’s announcements with
FloC, is that they will still support
first-party data workflows.
“So hopefully, as we try to test
the integrations with FloC, we’ll
be able to understand how those
workflows will transpire and then
 www.adnews.com.au | May/June 2021 23

“In its current state, the internet is broken and it is a multi-billion Ad-funded apps, including big
dollar problem,” says Verizon Media AUNZ head of data Dan Richardson. players such as Facebook, will be
“It’s broken for brands who invest in digital ads but can’t identify impacted by this move given
their customers across devices, or which media placement is actually Apple’s dominance in the market.
driving their online conversions. It’s broken for consumers who con- Facebook initially publicly criti-
tinue to receive the same ad, or the wrong ad over and over again, cised Apple for the move, taking on
despite handing over their personal information or browsing behaviour. full-page newspaper ads in the US
It breaks trust for the consumer who fails to see value for their data, last year hitting back. The social
and devalues the brands reputation and investment.” media giant accused the update from
Another big shakeup that’s coming to tracking is Apple’s App Apple would force websites and blogs
Tracking Transparency feature. This will force apps to ask for permis- “to start charging you subscription
sion before tracking users across apps and websites and is set to be fees” or add in-app purchases due to
rolled out in late April after being delayed from last year. a lack of personalized ads.
If users opt out, Apple won’t share their Identifier for Advertisers More recently, Facebook has
(IDFA). This move has many concerned with surveys indicating the opt said it acknowledges that the way
out rate could be as high as 60%. digital advertising collects and
Other functions, such as measurement, that IDFA has allowed before uses data will evolve.
could be threatened by the update. “While we have expressed
Some media buyers are predicting that Apple’s opt-in requirement concerns about Apple’s approach,
will likely impact performance around 10-15%. we support giving people more
control over how their data is
used to improve advertising rele-
vance,” the company said in a
statement on April 21.
“Toward this end, we are invest-
ing in new approaches to privacy-en-
hancing technology and building a
personalized advertising ecosystem
that relies on less data, while helping
to ensure a level playing field for both
large and small businesses.”
With all the changes around how
users will be tracked, the lasting
impact this will have on digital adver-
tising isn’t clear. However, media
buyers agree that brands need to get
their first-party data in order.
“It will be years until the market
reaches consensus on the technol-
ogy, and methodology, to achieve
balance between marketers and con-
sumers from a tracking perspective,”
says MightyHive Asia Pacific director
of data analytics Jakub Otrzasek.
“It is an iterative process with
some marketing tactics lost or
becoming no longer viable.
“Many marketers have built out a
strong practice in direct data track-
ing by leveraging personalized iden-
tifiers, but the overall digital adver-
tising ecosystem is shifting and
requires brands to play a more active
role in fostering engagement and
connection with their consumers.
“Data is being exchanged, not
captured. Effectiveness is becom-
ing more probabilistically modeled
and less directly tracked.”
Meanwhile MediaCom’s Collier
says that the changes will affect
different advertisers in different
ways and that there won’t be a one
 *OWFTUJHBUJPO
size fits all solution for the mar-
keters to replace cookies.
“There are many things that are
being sorted out but while that’s
happening it presents an opportu-
nity for us to also look at what we
have been doing,” she says.
“Should we be continuing to try
to do the same thing with a differ-
ent solution, or is it an opportunity
to reassess how we manage the
budgets and how we manage our
focus and marketing goals.
“I think it’s time to consider
how we might do it differently,
how we can start to help brands
tell better stories. So that means
that conceptual targeting and
being contextually relevant with
the right message can be power-
ful. There could be ways to test
whether the data targeting is
more ef fec t ive for bu si ness
results versus more broader
www.adnews.com.au | May/June 2021 24
targeting, which actually might work better. So I think it’s time to test
that and see what happens.”
Other media buyers are also signaling a rise in contextual targeting
as a result of the demise of third-party cookies.
“Contextual advertising will rise, by how much I can’t say,” Collier says.
“Big scale advertisers have been constantly focusing on contextual as
well as audience targeting in the first place. I think what’s going to be impor-
tant is to think about what message you’re putting in, I think it’s time to also
look at how you’re going to build your brand amongst those contextual
environments because media alone can’t achieve the best results.
“There are a lot of stats going around with 50, 60% of marketing
effectiveness is about the message. So, I think it’s time to also assess how
the marketers are considering how they allocate their resources to
brand-building and creative as well as media.”
As a sign of the boom that’s expected to come, Goldman Sachs
invested a reported US$75 million in contextual advertising technology
company GumGum.
“There’s talk about the return of contextual targeting as being one
consequence of these changes and people are quite welcoming of that.
It’s almost like a return to simpler times,” says Frontier Australia head
of digital Paul Freeman-Sanderson.
“I think that will be a growing consideration but in a more sophisticated
way, so using other more context-specific creative and taking into account
factors like device, time of day, and what have you.
“I think certainly contextual targeting will have a bigger role to play.
As an agency, we have a wide range of clients, but we do work with
a lot of advertisers who are on the smaller side and they might
not necessarily have a significant scale of their own first-
party data so we’ll certainly need to look at aligning
more so than we have with publishers that have
scaled solutions in that area where we can take a
client’s database and match it to that publisher’s
user base and extrapolate that across their users.
“So there will definitely be changes in the
way that we go about executing campaigns but
with a lot of these changes and evolutions in the
industry it’s hard to know the full impact until
you’re in the weeds of it and testing things and
seeing what’s effective and what isn’t.”
Google’s move to block third-party cookies could
also have significant implications for publishers,
which is why the tech giant says it’s working with the
industry to prepare them for the changes.
According to analysis by the Competition and
Markets Authority in the UK, blocking cookie information
reduced average publisher revenue by around 70%. The decline
is a result of advertisers’ decreased ability to engage in effective targeted
advertising without access to information from cookies.
Google’s own research in 2019 showed that the average revenue from
programmatic advertising decreased by 52% for publishers when third-
party cookies were disabled.
The ACCC says that submissions from publishers to its inquiry showed
similar concerns, with publishers noting that the availability of data for
ad targeting significantly affects their ad revenues.
“For example, The Daily Mail submits that the restriction of third-party
cookies that are used in ad targeting on web browsers Mozilla Firefox
and Safari decreases advertiser spend by 45 to 65%,” the ACCC says.
IAB’s Jaanimagi says that publishers, along with all industry platers,
need to actively work together on a solution that suits them.
“Everyone needs to step back and work out what their strategy is for
this,” he says.
“Who do they need to work with on it in terms of technology vendors
and partners.”
2022:
LIFE AFTER
COOKIES

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 Agenda www.adnews.com.au | May/June 2021 27

Television’s T elevision is shining white hot in the media agency playbook as adver-
tisers scramble to get their brands airtime, pushing ad spend growth
numbers into positive territory for the first time in years.
The restrictions and regulations of COVID-19 increased consumer

irresistible
time with television in all its forms, including free-to-air and the various
catchup and BVOD.
Brands joined the flow, following a hungry audience — attracted by
the content and the safety of familiarity — to leverage the power of moving
pictures and sound.

post-pandemic
Media agency booking numbers, after a long slide starting in 2008,
have been growing since September 2020. TV’s total ad spend was 3.4%
higher in January/February 2021 than in the same two months last year,
according to Standard Media Index (SMI).
“Fortunately, TV has benefitted from record levels of January/

appeal
February ad spend from the food/produce/dairy, restaurants, commu-
nications and in-home entertainment categories, while the insurance
category’s TV investment for this period is at its highest point since 2018,”
says Jane Ractliffe, SMI managing director, Australia and New Zealand.
Key product categories such as automotive brand, travel, live enter-
tainment and movies/cinema — still reporting significant declines in ad
spend — will add to momentum when they return.
Advertisers emerged from the pandemic The June quarter in 2020 was the trough, the lowest point of the
chasing the power of the small screen, but how economic fallout from the pandemic, for ad spend. When overall ad spend
dropped a record 40.4% in May, television was down more than a third.
long will the television ad spend boom last? Since then there has been a steady improvement, apart from a blip in
January caused by a shift in the Australian Open tennis to February.
W O R D S B Y And advertisers are shifting to a greater emphasis on brand.
C H R I S P A S H Analysts at investment bank Jefferies: “The ad market is showing green
shoots of growth, with television benefitting from advertisers shifting

SAS Australia: Nick Cummins,

Sabrina Frederick, Merrick Watts.
 Agenda

back to brand building, as opposed independent media agency Frontier Australia, says TV sits in a strong
to shorter-term sales boosts position heading into the second half of 2021.
through digital advertising.” “Advertiser demand has never been stronger, with no signs of slowing
Ben Willee, GM and media down — yet,” he says. “What remains to be seen is how long increased
director, Spinach, says the pan- demand can be sustained alongside increased fragmentation of viewership.
demic gave marketers an opportu- We’ve seen huge growth in the consumption of on-demand platforms
nity to reassess their activity. during the past year. Total TV strategies can no longer be avoided.”
“There is a lot of evidence to O’Brien says the economy is unquestionably doing well, with the
suggest that video formats are very exception of some categories such as travel.
powerful because they include “That breeds confidence, and confidence leads to spending, first, by
sight, sound and movement,” he consumers, and, second, by business,” he says.
told AdNews. “Therefore it’s no “Brands that have recognised this have invested funds back into adver-
surprise that TV and digital video tising to capitalise on it. And TV, being a platform that can very effectively
formats are performing well.” reach audiences at scale, has been the beneficiary of this investment.”
One of the main effects of the Frontier Australia is predicting a restabilising of both audiences and
pandemic, from a media consump-
“Brands have moved advertiser demand post-Olympics.
tion perspective, was to accelerate back to television “No doubt linear TV audiences will continue to see some decline given
the digitisation of viewership. and invested more the increasing availability of on-demand content,” says O’Brien.
“As such, it has never been more into TV.” “This is where we need smarter measurement approaches to ensure
important, both from an agency Rod Prosser, we are activating against ‘Total TV’ audiences, not just linear. I look forward
and marketer perspective, to take to when we don’t use the terms linear or BVOD. Isn’t it all just TV? That is
a holistic view of consumers’
Viacom CBS a while off, but it is on the TV networks to attract viewers with compelling
engagement with, and experience content running across all platforms, and it’s on all of us to make sure we
of, advertising,” says Anthony Ellis, are planning, activating and measuring effectiveness properly.”
MD of Publicis Media Exchange. O’Brien says the growth of TV, from a viewership perspective, relies
Publicis Groupe has been at the heavily on content itself. “This is a significant challenge for the networks,
vanguard of the “screen” approach. however this is nothing new,” he says. “With the quality of content acces-
Linear TV and online video adver- sible via a growing number of on-demand platforms, getting this right
tising should not be planned, consistently is crucial for TV publishers in Australia to make sure we have
bought or measured in silos. audiences to activate against, regardless of the platform.
“Recognition of the importance
of this joined-up approach has accel-
erated significantly over past years
and is strongly reflected in the initi-
atives being driven by the Australian
television networks,” says Ellis.
Publicis Media Exchange has
been tracking TV ad revenue
growth numbers against a 2019
baseline. “From this point of view,
growth across linear TV doesn’t
look as strong — it is currently level
with 2019 — and looks unlikely to
reverse the trend away from ter-
restrial advertising over the longer
term,” says Ellis.
“What OzTAM’s Video Player
Measurement (VPM) numbers tell
us though is that TV content is
absolutely not dead. Broadcaster
VoD viewership continues to soar
[still tracking at +35% year on year,
at time of writing].
“This is clearly reflected in the
networks’ revenue performances,
too. In their last financial results,
Seven’s digital revenue had grown
73% year on year. Meanwhile, dig-
ital now accounts for 41% of Nine’s
group EBITDA, which is hugely
encouraging.”
Da n O’Br ien, com mercia l
director and head of strategy at
 www.adnews.com.au | May/June 2021 29

“From an advertiser invest-

ment perspective, growth will con-
tinue to come from improved tar-
geting and measurement capabili-
ties attached to BVOD/CTV plat-
forms. It’s certainly shaping up to
be an exciting year in this space.”
Kim Portrate, CEO of industry
body ThinkTV Australia, says linear
TV audiences swelled during COVID-
19 as Australians turned to TV as a
trusted source of information as well
as respite from the challenges of lock-
down — from homeschooling to
working from the dining room table.
“Understandably, audiences
have come back a little now that we
can head out to see family and
friends, but what we’re noticing is
the growth in audiences has led to
advertisers shifting their perception
of TV advertising from a simplistic
cost view to a much more sensible
assessment of effectiveness and
value,” she says. “Research shows
TV’s value is incredibly strong in
the short- and long-term with TV the
greatest driver of incremental
sales, further highlighting its
value.”
After a challenging year in 2020,
Portrate says marketers are looking
to make up for lost sales or get a fast
start this year. Either way, delivery
of results off the back of media
investment is a key for advertisers.
TV can, and does, support this.
Recent ThinkTV Payback Series
research examined campaigns for 60
Australian brands across nine media
channels and found, across catego-
ries, that investing $1 in Total TV
returns an average of $4.30 in three
months. For longer-term campaigns,
the return is $18.30.
And content works. Portrate
says all the top 50 shows during
2020 were locally made, a trend
continuing now that broadcasters
have returned to pre-COVID-19
production levels.
Production is back with shiny
floor shows leading the charge,
from MasterChef Australia to The
Amazing Race Australia, LEGO
Masters, Big Brother, The Masked
Singer, Beauty and the Geek, The
Bachelor, Celebrity Apprentice,
Australian Survivor, Married at
First Sight, Dancing With the Stars
From top: and Big Brother.
The Bachelor,
MasterChef Australia, And growth is ahead. Portrate
The Masked Singer. points to two key areas.
 Agenda
“BVOD, Australia’s fastest
growing advertising medium, is
thriving in audience and advertis-
ing revenue growth,” she says.
“More than 1.6 million hours of
BVOD content is consumed every
week Australians embrace the
platform. And in the second half
of 2020, BVOD revenue increased
a healthy 52.7% to $133 million.
“In many ways BVOD is the
ideal companion for linear TV.
Linear delivers high-velocit y
reach while BVOD offers targeted
precision — it’s the perfect combi-
nation to capture, captivate and
convert customers.”
The second area of growth for
TV will come from VOZ, the new
OzTAM database coming in late
2020 that will allow targeted
advertising in ways not previ-
ously possible.
The pandemic had a large
impact on the world of media.
Rising advertising spend on linear
TV can largely be attributed to
Australia’s handling of COVID-19,
according to Will Chapman, sen-
ior industry analyst at IBISWorld.
“With international borders closed, and economic activity household
incomes supported through the JobKeeper program, a significant amount
of discretionary spending that would otherwise be spent on domestic
and international holidays is being redirected to other markets,” he says.
“This spending has supported a range of retail and other industries,
with ABS data showing strong growth in household goods retail spending
during the past year compared with levels recorded pre-COVID-19.
“In particular, as consumers have spent more time at home, they have
spent more on home renovation projects and furnishings.
“This trend has also been partly driven by rising house prices in
capital cities, which have produced a ‘wealth effect’ that has bolstered
consumer sentiment and spending.
“Advertisers have consequently increased their spending to reach
these consumers and attract a share of this expenditure.”
Steve Allen, director of strategy and research at independent media
agency Pearman, sees growth and recovery for the next two years.
“The marketing/effectiveness/ROI effort by ThinkTV should go to
stemming the structural decline beyond that,” he says. “However, we do
not see TV going back to any meaningful growth long-term.
“Very modest revenue growth, through the work by ThinkTV in the
past couple of years, should boost growth as they use both research and
CMO advocates, demonstrating TV’s effectiveness, plus ROI, to bring TV
brand performance into focus, and marketers back to the medium.
“In addition, like all media, travel and tourism is yet to truly return
and was worth more than $100 million for TV.”
And BVOD is huge, with growth up 52.7% in the last half year to $133
Clockwise top left: million, and will hit around $325 million by year’s end.
Nine's Richard Hunwick, Most marketers who use TV have sales captured in ABS Retail Sales
The Block, LEGO Masters,
Love Island and series. This has run hot for a year now, at twice the rate of growth of
The Weakest Link. the previous decade.
 www.adnews.com.au | May/June 2021 31

“Thus, many achieved sales growth without the same marketing effort,” “I know there's certainly been
says Allen. “So many are playing catch up now, and using what they have “We’ve seen huge some noise, I think, from some other
captured in sales and margin to boost effort before the June 30 balance date.” competing media sectors, saying,
At Ten, Rod Prosser, chief sales officer at ViacomCBS, was pleased
growth in the ‘Television's full, advertise on us.’
from a business perspective, despite everything, at the end of last year. consumption of “That’s not the case.”
“We had some nice momentum going into those really terrible months, on-demand Is there a feeling of a renaissance
around May, June and July,” he says. “We just continued to deliver a fairly platforms during around television at the moment?
solid plate. Our audiences went up and our revenue share went up during the past year. Total Prosser: “That's an interesting
that period. Not our revenue, but our share of the pie went up. word to use, but if you think about
“And then for us, throughout the whole of the second half, that momen-
TV strategies can no all the parts of TV that are now
tum just continued. I don't know how many businesses can say that, but longer be avoided.” coming together… you’ve got VOZ
we certainly felt like we weathered the storm, so to speak, fairly well.” coming, you've got broadcast vid-
In uncertain times, people tend to turn to things they trust. eo-on-demand platforms really
“And television is no different,” he says. “We saw brands leaning on forging forward at a rapid pace.
TV during those difficult COVID-19 months in the middle of the year. Dan O’Brien, Whether that be from the adver-
“And of course people weren't moving around as much as they nor- Frontier Australia tising revenue point of view, or
mally would. I think we were able to capitalise on that as a medium. just sheer eyeballs watching on
“Brands have moved back to television and invested more into TV. that platform. And indeed, the
It's actually really worked for them. Their advertising campaigns on linear broadcast channels are
TV have been validated. A lot of marketers are saying it's done better holding their own fairly well.”
than they've seen for many years. And they've consolidated their Kurt Burnette, chief revenue
expense rather than having it all fragmented into various online chan- officer at Seven: “It was a watershed
nels. Those advertisers are sticking around and staying on TV.” year that's for sure and it changed
Lead times for bookings have stretched everything. But what's been inter-
“If you're not booking 12 weeks in advance, you're not necessarily esting is how we came out.
getting the exact schedule you want,” says Prosser. “The questions being asked
“But the notion that TV networks are just running full, month after around this time last year was
month, is not factual. We can accommodate most bookings and clients, how long would this last? What
it's just the selection or environment they're after gets more challenging would the recovery be? Would
as we get closer to on-air dates. there be a recovery?
 Agenda

“And as it turns out, thankfully, “We're really sort of doubling down on the cultural moments that
things began to get better and “The ad market matter and across the year. Has there ever been a more important
recover a lot faster than what is showing green Olympic Games for bringing the world together? It's going to be a very
anyone had expected or hoped. significant moment in time as the world comes together for all the right
“We had been thinking the TV
shoots of growth, reasons around the Olympics.
market would possibly be going with television “And of course we've got home Ashes as well, the AFL grand final, the
back 25%-30% July to December, benefitting from Supercars, the Bathurst 1000 back on Seven.
and BVOD would be marginally up. advertisers “The BVOD marketplace in December was up 77% year-on-year,
“But the market ended up being shifting back to which is the largest month in the history of BVOD. It goes from strength
slightly ahead year-on-year of 2019 to strength.
and the BVOD market grew by 47%.
brand building.” “Seven Plus is a powerhouse now with a majority of the content, not
So we got that dramatically wrong just catch-up — it's standalone content. And that's growing our data
in the most positive of ways. capabilities. Real IQ is just accelerating that growth.
And the same for the start of “A lot of new brands are coming into BVOD as they see the benefit
2021. The market is tracking investment bank because it's proven to add incremental reach to television. So when
higher than forecasts. Jefferies you combine the two, it's definitely a reach growth opportunity. And
“It's been a hockey stick,” he connect televisions continue to represent, for us, close to 70% of the
says. “It's certainly creating a lot of entire streaming video on demand. So there's a couple of massive
demand for television and a lot growth areas in there and a huge opportunity.
of brands are coming through it. “The connected television is the most underutilised marketing
For the last half of last year, televi- weapon in the country right now. It's huge growth. While the other
sion was the fastest growing sector devices are still getting a lot of support through the brands, I think
and I don't recall when that's been the connect television still has a big opportunity to have more brands
in the past. It was a very good investing in it. So that's going to be the big story of 2021.”
result for television.” Richard Hunwick, Nine’s director of sales for television, lives in
In July to December, the growth Brisbane and works in Sydney so during the pandemic he spent more
categories were healthcare food, time with his family.
FMCG, retail, technology, in-home Normally, he is a fly-in, fly-out worker. Being at home more was
entertainment, streaming, house- a personal positive.
hold supplies and alcohol. “But it was very difficult not being able to see the teams,” he says.
“There were some big shifts, “People are the most important thing, and managing them through that
especially into Q4, as people process was a really big part of what we had to do.
started to see there were opportu- “We've got a young workforce, and for many of them, making sure they
nities to come out of lockdown,” were OK was a really important part to me. Many of them live alone, many
says Burnette. in apartments. Guys in Melbourne were locked up for 127 days. Trying to
The strong demand for televi- make sure we looked after our people was a really big part of last year.
sion spots is putting a strain on “It was challenging but I think everybody rose to it. We're very proud
resources across the board for
media agencies and clients.
“What we're seeing is that the
pace picked up through the latter
part of COVID-19 last year and it
has continued this year,” he says.
“And we've had to find new
ways of working and processes and
systems. It's never an exact sci-
ence, but yeah. It's a champagne
problem in that there's lots of
activity, but the teams are becom-
ing very adept at working at that
pace and with the changes.
“It's a two-speed economy as it
relates to TV because we're talking
around brands and into the
Olympics coming in July, and sport
into the latter half of the year with
the Ashes, and even the Winter
Olympics next February.
“We're encouraging people to
go longer because the market is
running hot. And we’re having
good long-term strategic conversa-
tions, and that's a positive sign.
 www.adnews.com.au | May/June 2021 33

of the way everyone's come through

in the past 12 months and bounced
back. So we're in good shape.”
Hunwick says the growing
resurgence in branding isn't slow-
ing down.
“People have been moving
towards investing in brand, and I
don't think COVID-19 stops that,”
he says. “And television does it
best. There's very few places that
you can still reach those massive
audiences in one place.
“The audience has been strong,
and broadly speaking, pretty resil-
ient right the way through.
“Sport now is really strong.
And AFL has been good. And I
think there's going to be more of
that to come through the back
end of the year.
“What we're looking forward to
is growth and recovery of the mar-
ket, ongoing. And a remarkably
healthy total television ad econ-
omy, all things considered.
“And it's hot right now. What
we're hearing from investment
directors is they see it running
through to the end of the year.”
And good content. “We've got
some good stuff coming back,” he
says. “LEGO Masters, Australian
Ninja Warrior and The Block off the
back of Married at First Sight. Add
to that the return of Celebrity
Apprentice, launch of Parent Jury,
and picking up Beauty and the Geek
from Seven, that provides us with
a really powerful stretch of mate-
rial right across the year.”
On high demand and finding a
spot on the network, he says: “I can
assure you that people can get adver-
tising on Channel Nine. They just
need to give us a call. We'll find a way.
“Demand will drive availabil-
ity issues. We're recommending
to clients at the moment they
don't try to book two weeks — try
12 weeks out. And it's just a
change in the cycle, but it's
changed quite quickly.
“The bounce back's been really
marked, and the change in behav-
ior is something we're talking to
agencies and clients about.”
On TV audiences, Hunwick
Opposite page: Dancing describes an evolution rather than
With the Stars. This page a structural decline.
(clockwise from top): “Brands are looking to drive
Big Brother, Seven's Kurt
Burnette, and Natalie Barr sales and the brand, which TV
from Sunrise. obviously does well,” he says.
 Agenda www.adnews.com.au | May/June 2021 34

“And from a linear-versus-BVOD

perspective, we're seeing an evo-
lution there rather than a struc-
tural decline.
“We're talking about total tele-
vision, that’s where we're going to.”
Mark Frain, CEO of Foxtel
Media, says 2021 is proving that, in
times of uncertainty and turbu-
lence, TV is the most trusted
advertising medium.
“Demand is also coming from
the fact that Australians have a
higher disposable income at their
hands to spend locally due to the
lack of international travel,” he says.
“Marketers are looking to tried
and tested brand environments like
TV. Flexible work arrangements
also mean that viewers have more
time to engage with content. This,
coupled with the quality content
that is currently available makes for
a great TV advertising environ-
ment. The viewing customer has
never had it so good when it comes
to availability of content choices.” the massive growth across BVOD and streaming audiences is more than
Food, gaming, and health and “What we’re noticing making up for this.
beauty have been some of strongest “We are also seeing a ratings bump across marquee events,
sectors to bounce back, says Frain.
is the growth in such as sport,” says Frain. “2020 gave us the highest ratings season
“Given the challenges of lock- audiences has led to for live AFL and live NRL and the highest ratings cricket Test series
down and travel restrictions, it has advertisers shifting and one-day international series on STV. This, in turn, gave our brand
not been surprising to see a spend- their perception of partners fantastic ways of engaging with fans, through the use of QR
ing decline from travel, and loca- TV advertising from codes, for example.”
tion-based hospitality and enter- Juliette Stead, SVP, for independent sell-side advertising platform
tainment sectors,” he says. “But
a simplistic cost Magnite, says TV is excellent for brand exposure and awareness.
when these sectors come back, view to a much more “Last year, the industry saw a significant increase in OTT and CTV
and we’re already seeing positive sensible assessment viewing across catch-up, catalogue and live linear, and we expect to see
signs in domestic tourism, they of effectiveness that growth continue this year,” she says.
will further propel the growth we and value.” “On the content side, live sports will be a big driver of TV viewing with
have seen across the board.” the Olympics slated for later in the year.
Frain says brands are looking “On the business side, there’s also been a shift from IO to program-
for effective advertising. They matic buying so brands can have greater flexibility.”
want to reach the right audience, According to the IAB, 61% of video was bought programmatically in
create awareness, change behav- Kim Portrate, Q4 2020, and Magnite expects to see that trend towards programmatic
iour and ultimately drive sales. ThinkTV carry on through 2021 and into the future.
But they are increasingly Gai Le Roy, CEO of IAB Australia, says investment in digital video
becoming more sophisticated in advertising more than tripled between 2015 and 2020 with the total
their briefs, demanding personal- Australian digital video market worth $1.9 billion in 2020.
isation and addressability to make Early revenue reporting in 2021 shows continued strong growth in
those moments of impact and digital video investment, with content publishers seeing a 31% year-on-
attention even more engaging. year increase in January and 45% year-on-year increase in February (IAB
“For Foxtel Media, it’s about pro- Australia Online Advertising Expenditure Report).
viding the media platforms that offer “Although there was strong growth in linear TV into early 2021, we’ll
brands and their agencies smart see this shift with serious growth in audiences via digital channels,
options for securing audiences, one including SVOD, BVOD, YouTube, gaming and other digital offerings on
that marries mass appeal with the TV screen,” says Le Roy.
quality content and an enhanced “Advertisers and brands will follow this growth in audience reach and
viewing experience,” he says. time. There are already signs of this, with video investment on CTV
“As an industry, we know there increasing from 35% to 45% between 2019 and 2020.
is a slowly trending decline in “For the convergence of traditional and TV worlds to become a reality
overall linear audiences as a result Milo and Nic from and deliver on the promise of CTV at scale, the industry will need tech-
of how we view content. However, Gogglebox Australia. nical standards that enable interoperability and efficiency.”
Indigenous media
receives less than
0.3% of media spend

BEYOND
3 PER CENT

Go Beyond 3%
Visit: beyondthreepercent.com.au
DDB92ED9?>=ECD5=2B135
D85<?>7D5B=F1<E5?6&(
Measurement
divides the industry
H E A D O F P R O D U C T ,
TV is consistently regarded as the
most effective advertising chan-
nel bar none, whether you look
at brand building, sales revenue
or profitability.
The evidence of TV’s strength
has been well-documented in driv-
ing both short and long term busi-
ness objectives (The Long and Short
of it, Les Binet and Peter Field), or
when regarding the catalytic effect
of cross channel performance
(New Insights into Multiplatform
TV, Accenture). Bottom line: TV
works and works brilliantly.
But when it comes to the reality
of day-to-day performance manage-
ment and measurement, the indus-
try starts to divide around two very
different perspectives: 1) invest and
manage only in what you can meas-
ure – a position aligned to short-
term conversion or response met-
rics, or 2) plan towards the promise
of proven longer-term brand build-
ing and revenue generation benefit.
Every CMO knows there is
value in both approaches and that
they are not mutually exclusive,
but ultimately what gets meas-
ured gets done. Unfortunately,
many TV attribution vendors have
amplified this division, focusing
only on short-term data and short-
term value.
Although TV advertising needs
to become more accountable to
cause and effect, the prolific use
of short-term response data will
inevitably exclude the impact of
relevant factors and performance
that fall outside a limited window
of time. This means that brands
are seeing less than half of the
full effectiveness story.
W O R D S B Y The reality is that advertisers
I S A A C S T E F A N I W , place more than 60% of their TV
investment against objectives, ad
A D G I L E creative, planning and buying that
has been designed specifically
to generate long-term business
growth and value. To the contrary,
attribution has remained firmly on
the side of short-term measure-
ment, and we feel that this needs
to urgently change.
Brands need holistic
TV measurement
Much of our advertising world is
pulled into binary components.
It’s either “this” or “that”. Left
or right. Digital or traditional.
Display or video. Long or short.
But invariably, the answer is
never “or”, it’s always “and”.
Short-term accountability has
led the way at the expense of long
term measurement, distorting the
performance truth. All Connected
TV, VOD, or Streamed advertising
carries a native bias of over-report-
ing and over-credit of their short-
term effect, reducing complex
media planning and customer
journey choices down to a simplis-
tic view or post-impression metric.
Measuring short-term effects is the
easy, binary choice to make.
As the econometrician Grace
Kite has recently published, “Peter
Field and Les Binet have shown us a
model for how short – and long-term
marketing can and should work
together, but the reality of achiev-
ing this in practice is much harder.”
This highlights the need for all
brands to benefit from holistic TV
attribution – bringing real-time con-
trol and visibility into the hands of
marketers, that can deliver a more
balanced intelligence that accounts
for both short and long-term per-
formance together.
Seeing the bigger picture
Adgile’s research indicates that less
than 5% of brands spending +$1m
AUD per year on TV advertising are
using attribution to understand the
effectiveness of their campaign
investment, leaving a significant
amount of spend on screen that
could potentially be wasted.
Not only does this highlight a
major performance management
issue for advertisers, it also points
towards a clear capability gap of
the TV measurement industry.
When effectiveness is everything,
bringing accountability to adver-
tising holistically requires an
attribution solution that can go
beyond short term performance,
and reflect the bigger picture and
power that TV can deliver.
Working with a set of exist-
ing customer partners, Adgile
has developed a ground-breaking
Long Term Effects Attribution
product – managed and delivered
through our cloud-based perfor-
mance management platform,
Catalyst – and sitting in comple-
ment to our existing industry-lead-
ing Short Term Effects solution,
fuelled by Adgile’s 1st party, real-
time TV advertising content data.
Having a common performance
management platform by which to
access both Short and Long Term
attribution side-by-side, allows
users to seamlessly understand
and optimise their TV advertis-
ing. But the real difference goes
beyond operational efficacy – it’s
with the use of different data sets
that reflect different objectives and
campaign planning variables.

Harnessing data
and dimensions
Adgile recognises that advertiser
objectives must come first with
any attribution capability. To illus-
trate, let’s look at these very dif-
ferent TV measurement use cases:
What content and messaging
1 strategy is most effective at
driving long-term consideration?
Which combination of station
2 and daypart has the strongest
connection to short-term revenue?
What creative strategy should I
3 take when building brand bias
vs driving retail sales?
in partnership with
Which station in which period
4 was the strongest driver of new
users on site?
From these examples, it’s clear
that digital metrics have a valuable
role to play, but they will not help
brands optimise TV to address key
longer-term performance ques-
tions that consider consumer atti-
tude, behaviour, awareness, intent
and sales data – whether online or
offline. Attribution must embrace
new data and multiple dimensions
of analysis to do this.
Adgile’s Long Term Effects
Attribution product can ingest
any relevant data set ag nos-
t ic a l ly, a nd conduc t mu lt i-
ple experiments and A/B tests
37
via machine learning, across
extended periods of time, e.g.
daily, weekly, monthly. This
analysis introduces discrete
combinations of planning var-
iables, such as advertising cre-
ative, context, programming,
channel, dayparts, regions and
demographics – revealing pre-
viously undiscoverable sources
of growth and in-channel opti-
misation opportunities.
Ad g i le i s re a l i si n g t he
value of Total TV Attribution –
ref lecting how TV really works,
and enabling brands to holis-
tically measure and manage
their short and long term busi-
ness performance – all at the
touch of a button.
Taking the pulse I n this article, we speak to CMOs and
take an early peek at top line results
from the inaugural AdNews Marketing
Pulse with Hearts & Science, a look at

of CMOs
how brands large and small are
responding to COVID-19 and an
increasingly complex, yet fragile and
constantly changing, environment.
Catch CMO Ryan Gracie thinks
himself fortunate he doesn’t live
too far from the office.
At first, brands and their marketing teams took blows “I spent almost every day that
when the pandemic arrived, but quickly switched to I could within the office last year,
except when the government man-
attack, seeking advantage and a path to growth. dated we all stay at home,” he says.
“Some days it was myself and the
cleaners, and on other days there
may have been five or 10 people.
W O R D S B Y
“I prefer to come into the
C H R I S P A S H office. I just like to get up, get to
my desk and slide into my work. I
just feel far more productive than
I do when I’m at home. So I’ve
been coming in the whole time.”
But that’s not the case with
the majority of his team. “There
are plenty of my marketing team
who I did not see for months
on end,” he says.
Just as COVID-19 was starting to
creep into Australia, Catch was
employing. “During the real lock-
down period of COVID-19, we
onboarded more than 100 people
into head office,” says Gracie.
“That was a very strange period
where we were bringing new people
into the business without actually
physically meeting them. Trying to
assimilate them into teams who had
a history in the business.”
At the same time, it felt like the
whole of Australia had jumped
online, buying groceries, looking
for goods normally picked up in
person on Saturdays.
“There was certainly an increas-
ing demand for online and it looks
like there’s been an increase across
retail in general,” he says. “From
about late March, April last year, we
saw a big increase in people jumping
online and purchasing, and they
hadn’t purchased online before.
“It has really picked up from
about here on in.
“Catch was one of those bigger
brands that people were more aware
of. So when people were searching
around for those essential items, we
were very readily discovered.
 www.adnews.com.au | May/June 2021 39

“Increased demand from our consumers across a whole bunch of

products that we had not generally sold en masse or in volume before.
Then the second part was that Australia Post really felt the strain.
“The strain of all of these sales going through their delivery net-
work with them reaching their capacity they’d never reached before
— very, very quickly.
“I think consumers were understanding of the fact the whole of
Australia had jumped online and were trying to purchase goods.”
Since then, Catch has changed its marketing.
“Previously we’ve been spending 95% of our marketing budget on
performance channels, which have a lower funnel activity, mostly
across Google affiliates, retargeting, programmatic, etc,” says Gracie.
“What we’ve done from August 2020 onwards is we’ve really
spun that mix around to be 70% performance and 30% spent on
our brand campaign.”
With Catch’s brand campaign, unprompted brand awareness has
increased by just over 50%.
“A significant increase, and what we’ve seen is we’re driving far
more people from that top of funnel through our free channels, com-
ing to the site either directly or through organic search,” he says.
“We’ve got a higher repeat customer number. So as we’re building
up that loyalty as people are becoming more aware of Catch, they
just come back to us more often.
“I think we’ve been able to capitalise on the opportunity of that
increase in online spending, to have a formation around people who
are coming through online, just natively now.”

Did somebody say Menulog?

Menulog took a big bet and, at first glance, a counter cyclical move at the
start of the COVID-19 pandemic by launching a massive recruitment drive.
The delivery business is built on technology but still needs people
to sign up restaurants and to make sure they can be serviced.
Growing fast before the pandemic, Menulog took off on a steeper
climb when everyone was ordered to stay at home to help stop the
spread of COVID-19. The business became a lifeline for many.
“We were actually doing quite well going into the pandemic,
delivering a full quarter of double-digit growth,” says Simon Cheng,
Menulog’s marketing director.
Then the world changed. Restaurants weren’t allowed to open.
Overnight, Menulog became an essential service.
“And so we had to madly recruit about 2000 crew within the
first few weeks of the pandemic just to keep up with demand
because the only way restaurants could trade was through delivery
services,” says Cheng.
Growing the restaurant range is one of the biggest drivers for
stickiness for customers using the Menulog app. “We want to be able
to provide the full ecosystem of restaurants and dining options, then
there’s no reason for people to go anywhere else,” says Cheng.
Amsterdam-based Just Eat Takeaway.com, the parent company
for Menulog, singled out the Australian operation when releasing
its results for the year to December 2020 for its soaring sales and
expanded market share. Menulog was Just Eat Takeaway.com’s fast-
est growing market, with 104% order growth in 2020.
“Our investment in the sales force and in signing up restaurants to
get on our platform, and growing that range, was one of the linchpins
of our success last year,” says Cheng.
“Obviously, we had a lot of that at the start of the pandemic in March,
April and May.”
Cheng has been at Menulog since April 2019. Before that he was with
Jeremy Bolt (top) retailer Healthy Life, Carnival Australia, Qantas and agencies including
and Ryan Gracie McCann Erickson and Ogilvy.

How did you fare during COVID-19?
45.00%
40.00%
35.00%
30.00%
25.00%
20.00%
15.00%
10.00%
5.00%
0.00%
1 - much worse than expected
Sneak Peek
This is an early, top-level look
at the survey results of the
first AdNews Marketing Pulse,
a comprehensive survey and
analysis conducted jointly
with Hearts & Science (the full
results and analysis are under
preparation).
Marketing Pulse looks at
how brands, large and small, are
responding to not only COVID-19,
but to an increasingly complex,
yet fragile and constantly
changing, environment.
It is designed to create
reference points, a benchmark
on what organisations are doing
post-COVID-19, what they plan
and where they sit against other
marketers
in the Australian context.
Jeremy Bolt, CEO of Hearts
& Science: “The survey confirmed
what we already knew — that
marketers are operating in an
increasingly complex environment
requiring new skill sets. In addition,
more technology-driven solutions
alongside fragmented publishers
and platforms.”
2 - worse than expected
The survey of more than
100 found:
• 92% of marketers believe they
will grow in the next 12 months.
• Nearly 40% see that growth in
excess of 10%.
• Primary driver of growth being
to increase market share.
• 47% believe media budgets will
increase to drive this growth.
“What I found interesting was
what marketers felt was critical to
enable this growth, and where they
believe these capabilities are now
and where they see themselves
with respect to these capabilities in
24 months’ time,” says Bolt.
From the survey, the most
significant gaps now, where there
was either no or basic capability,
included:
• ROI & attribution analytics.
• Martech and Automation.
• 1P data
Looking forward 24 months, the
areas where 100% of those surveyed
wanted a solution included:
• Reporting.
• Collaboration between
business units.
www.adnews.com.au | May/June 2021
3 - as expected 4 - better than expected
• Mapping of the Customer
Journey.
But the biggest shifts in
capabilities over the next 24
months were:
• ROI and attribution analytics.
• Martech and Automation
• Single Customer View.
“However, none of these
issues were expected to be
fully solved by then,” says Bolt.
“Mapping the customer journey
followed closely behind, in that
many organisations are not there
yet, but all participants wanted
this solved in the next 24 months
as priority.”
Bolt finds these insights both
fascinating and valuable, but not
surprising.
“Knowing how much to spend
— and in what channels — is a
discussion we have regularly,
which our ‘brain’ solution solves,”
he says. “First-party data and
martech to manage audiences is
the next discussion and is largely
driven by global privacy changes
and how these are manifesting
in the larger platforms, as well as
40
5 - much better than expected
how the collection, management
and use of customer first-party
data is navigated.
“What was surprising to me was
the focus on automation. This can
make some clients anxious but
it does tie closely to owned and
earned assets (identified as one of
the highest drivers in a high ROI),
as well as understanding
and mapping the customer
journey. This we know is no longer
linear and intersects across both
brand and performance.
“So marketers have a busy
but interesting time ahead, full
of opportunities. Some of these
capabilities and requirements
may not sit naturally in the
marketing function, but need
to be managed and led by
marketing; hence the need for
new skill sets, high levels of
collaboration and the de-siloing
of functions within organisations.
“The time is now for marketing
to take the lead. Starting with the
customer journey and prioritising
the capabilities and who will
deliver these to support it.”
Contextual
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B ec Brown is known to move people

to tears.
Every year she bakes commercial quan-
tities of brownies, slightly crunchy on the
outside and soft when you bite through.
These are Bec’s Brownies and they are
addictive. The tears come when someone
thinks (probably wrongly) they may miss
out on a brownie delivery.
She sends these to her media contacts
and key people on her client list, either
as a thank you or after a big win together.
Brown has her own communications
company. Many also know her for her
work with Australian Radio Network,
Amazon Prime Video, or hayu but she
has several other companies on her list.
She also has a creative side. One of
her brownie deliveries heralded the
launch of her first book, You’ve Got This,
with Peng uin Random House. It’s
described as the ultimate hack for
anyone wanting to build their dream
career in a creative industry.
“I’m 40 years old and live near the
beach in Sydney with my husband,
Dom,” says Brown. “For the past nine
years I’ve run my company, The Comms
Department, a public relations, corpo-
rate communications and crisis manage-
ment company. We work with some of
the biggest names and brands in the
media, enter tainment, travel and
lifestyle industries.”
However, life was not always so
straightforward. As a teenager and into
her early 20s, Brown often felt life was out
of control. “While trying to carve out a
successful career, I battled eating disor-
ders, anxiety and depression,” she says.
Her first career was as a performer. She
grew up on a farm outside of a small coun-
try town in South Australia and on Sundays
the family went to church. That’s when
they discovered Brown has a good voice.
She dreamed of being a musical theatre star
on Broadway or London’s West End.
She went on to st udy at t he
Bec Brown
Conservatorium of Music at Adelaide
Creative Sides www.adnews.com.au | May/June 2021 44

University, then performed in musicals, operas, jazz and pop bands,

working all over Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, the UK and Europe.
But in her mid-20s, Brown had a quarter-life crisis. In a time before
social media and smartphones were as prevalent as today, she was
disconnected from family and friends, and also realised her career as
performer wasn’t fulfilling her or making her happy. So she returned
to Australia and decided to retrain. She’d always loved writing,
storytelling and problem solving so she went back to university to study
media and communications, majoring in public relations.
She worked her way up to what she describes as a dream role as the
national publicity and promotions manager for Universal Music, where
she stayed for five years. “It was an incredible company to work with,
managing PR campaigns for some of the world’s best-known artists — Dolly
Parton, the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Sting, Andrea Bocelli, and
many, many more,” she says.
“But at 31 I started to get restless again — I was yearning to try to run
my own business and be able to have more control over who and what
I was promoting and, as my world view broadened, I realised I also wanted
to work within other industries that weren’t just music.”
Brown started The Comms Department. “I now work with a team of
10 brilliant people spread across Australia and New Zealand, servicing
household-name clients all over the world,” she says. “And because I’m
also really interested in understanding people and the way our brains
work and how we as humans can work together to achieve incredible
things, I recently completed a certificate in social psychology, something
that’s come in very useful, particularly when managing crisis comms.”
Now, life looks — as Brown describes it — awesome. “That anxious
25-year-old would have been wide-eyed at the thought of it,” she says.
“And it is awesome. I’m incredibly grateful for it. But it wasn’t an easy
ride, and it came with a lot of lessons that were crying out to be shared.”
She always had people asking for advice: graduates wanting to intern
with her; young professionals seeking to advance careers; those in
corporate jobs who’d rather be doing something creative; and those who
“While trying wanted to start their own business or side hustle.
“Plus, plenty of people who don’t quite 'get' PR, but want to understand
to carve out a it as they know it could advance their career or business,” she says. “So
successful career, that all led to me writing You've Got This.”
I battled eating Brown gives examples of women who’ve approached her for advice
disorders, anxiety (and were happy to be named).
and depression.” There’s Sasha, a bright 28-year-old marketing executive who is intro-
verted and struggles in her boisterous workplace.
Jasmine, a 19-year-old design graduate who compares her life to others
on Instagram and thinks she’s not doing well. In the workplace for the
first time, she doesn’t know how to communicate effectively with her
Bec Brown Gen X or Boomer bosses.
Then there’s Emma, a 26-year-old journalist who was made redundant.
She’s looking for new work but needs to find ways to make herself stand out.
“The solutions to each of these things are learnable skills,” says Brown.
“They’re things I had to learn the hard way, over many years through
tons of research — in books, online, and podcasts — and learning from
mentors who I found along the way.
“I’m also determined to help creatives be both creative and commercial.
Because those in creative pursuits usually feel it’s a calling — it’s a passion
they must do. But often, mapping out a financial path that goes along with
a creative passion isn’t something that’s naturally ingrained.
“So You've Got This explains how to do that because we all deserve to
have a wonderful, fulfilling career and make great money that we can
use to support ourselves, our families and the wider community.
“This book’s aim is to help others to create a fulfilling career that they love,
and earn great money doing it, minus the anxiety and burnout.”
You’ve Got This is available as a book, ebook or audio book. Part-
The cover of Bec
Brown’s book, You’ve proceeds go to charities supporting disadvantaged women: Fitted For
Got This. Work, and Life Changing Experiences’ SISTER2Sister program.
 AGEN
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Profil www.adnews.com.au | May/June 2021 47

Imogen Hewitt on
crimping shears,
saving jobs, and
communications
Imogen Hewitt was a newly minted CEO when the
pandemic hit, but quickly realised that no-one else had a
playbook in their bottom drawer to deal with such a crisis.

I mogen Hewitt, CEO of media

agency Spark Foundry, was just
a little girl when she was attracted
to advertising.
Being on television was the
goal. When she was about six, one
of her friends was the girl who
played Barbie in the Mattel ads.
“In an early sign
W O R D S B Y of my competitive
C H R I S P A S H
nature, I played
hair salons with
crimping shears
w it h t h is lit t le
friend of mine’s impressive blonde
locks, which ended up in her par-
ents threatening to sue my parents
for loss of income,” says Hewitt.
“An early lesson that advertis-
ing can be brutal.
“But I was not put off. Despite my
mother’s warnings that advertising
was full of posers and I wouldn’t
have a job after 40, I persevered and
landed myself work experience in
the creative department of an agency
called BAMSSB at the age of 16.”
Hewitt took her first role as a
CEO in December 2019, which
didn’t leave a lot of time with the
holiday season ahead to settle in
before a pandemic that no-one
knew was coming.
She arrived at Spark on
Imogen Hewitt December 4, 2019. Before she
could find her way round the
 Profil

office, she was in the global pitch

for Diageo, the multinational bev-
erage alcohol company. “I was
thrown into that meeting, so that
was a good start.”
It was back into the office in
early January, and then it was just
a few weeks when lockdown hit.
“I was walking into something
that I knew would be difficult but
couldn't possibly have known it
was going to be quite as tumultu-
ous as it was,” says Hewitt.
Her biggest worry was jobs in
her team. “That was the primary
focus for the bulk of last year,”
she says. “It was certainly the
thing that weighed heaviest on
my mind.”
She had 120 people looking
for her to provide them with a
sense of stability, focus, some
certainty, in an uncertain and
destabilising time.
“Making the best decisions
possible so we could protect the
jobs and the livelihoods and the
mental health of those people was
something I knew would be part
of the job but I didn't necessarily
think it would be the front and
centre focus for the bulk of my
first year,” she says.
Hewitt started to look with a
more detailed and critical eye at
wording of communications with
staff during 2020.
With remote working, and the
stress of rapid change, an unknown
“We had to create
a way to keep
our people safe
and secure and
motivated.
Imogen Hewitt,
CEO, Spark Foundry
near future, staff would read everything in detail. The chance of misinter-
preting, or reading too much into a statement, was high.
“When everyone was at home, trying to navigate through stuff that
was genuinely scary, I tried to provide some certainty,” she says.
“When you've got people who are wondering if their jobs are safe —
who are wondering, ‘What are we doing this week? What are we doing
next week? What happens in a month?’ — and there's disturbing news
everywhere, the best thing we could do was to be kind and clear.
“When you're not all together and you can't have that sidebar conver-
sation to double check that what was heard was meant, there's no room
for ambiguity because it creates fear. Or it creates a vacuum where people
will have to fill that with their own narrative, which won't necessarily be
right and can cause more disruption than is necessary.
“I sat there and thought very long and hard about every single word.”
The agency also had more staff forums — more than Hewitt had seen
before. “If we could create a sense of certainty about the decisions we may
need to make, and when we would need to make them, and what the
horizon looked like, and what our current financial performance looked
like, and how our clients are holding up, and all of those sorts of things,
then we could at least minimise people's fear. So that's what we did.”
When Hewitt was thinking about taking this role, somebody said to
her, only half-joking, that chief strategy officers make the worst CEOs.
But those strategic and communication skills became more important.
She has spent the bulk of her career thinking through what people
need to hear, when they need to hear it, in what format and whether or
not that would work for them.
“What are the possible ways they could interpret that was a bril-
liant skill set to have, when I was sitting there thinking about internal
comms and the management of people's emotional state, more so
than anything else,” she says.
“We were also obviously paying incredible attention to cost
 www.adnews.com.au | May/June 2021 49

containment and all the measures that you could possibly take to make that I think is really powerful in
sure the business was as robust as it could be. terms of where we landed with
“But the other side of that was communication strategy, which I felt analytics and strategy at the core
was interesting, given that people had said to me that strategists don't of decision making.”
really make decisive decisions. They're a bit too ponderous. And they Spark Foundry ended the 2020
don’t make the tough calls.” calendar year on top of the new
Along the way some staff were asked if they would be prepared to take business league for media agen-
a voluntary pay cut to ensure others could stay. cies in Australia, as measured by
“We asked them one-on-one so it wasn't an awkward public conversa- consultancy R3. Wins in 2020
tion,” she says. “We asked anyone over a certain salary level, whether or not i n c l u d e We s t p a c , C l a r i n s ,
they were in a position to take a voluntary cut and I think 95% of people who Ancestry and Silversea Cruises.
were asked were willing to do that because it was a very clear strategy which Other clients include Campbell
was to protect and preserve as many jobs as we possibly can. Arnott's, NRMA, HCF, RAMS, TAL,
“It's not an opportunity to get rid of people, it's not an opportunity to Ateco and Hello Fresh.
restructure. The business is in good shape, we have incredible talent. Hewitt is proud and delighted
Let's try and do everything we can do to keep as many of those people's by the result. When asked (as she
jobs as safe as we possibly can for as long as we possibly can. is constantly) how she did that,
“And the conversation about voluntary salary sacrifice was somewhat she replies she had all the right
easier because everybody bought into the fact that we were doing this ingredients on her side.
for the collective good.” “The first thing to acknowledge
Those who took 10% pay cuts were repaid in December. “That's prob- is that I inherited a business that had
ably one of the greatest outcomes of the success we've had this year — the some incredible people and talent
ability to do that,” says Hewitt. already doing great work,” she says.
“And the gratitude of people, because they didn't expect us to be able “I feel like I came in and was
to do that, and they weren't sitting there feeling resentful about it because able to put a bow on top of some
they knew it saved a lot of people's jobs. really strong fundamentals.
“That was one of the highlights of the year was when I was able to say, “Before the pandemic came into
because of everyone's extraordinary effort, because of everyone's focus From left: In the play, one of the first things we had
on keeping their clients as buoyant as they can be through this awful set Spark Foundry office; collectively decided we needed to
Spark Foundry Sydney
of circumstances, because people have made sacrifices, because we have Christmas, Imogen
do was have a think about what was
had an incredible run on new business, because we've got a proposition Hewitt’s family. the vision for the agency.
Profil www.adnews.com.au | May/June 2021 50

“We were going through the back end of a merger, between Blue 449
and Spark. How are we going to bring these elements together, create
something that's really motivating for our staff, create something that
resonates for clients.
“That work really was about bringing together the legacy of those
two agencies. So if you think about Blue 449 (formerly Match Media), a
strong legacy in data and digital, and efficiency, and analytics. If you
think about Spark, it’s strong in big, bold, creative, interesting, inte-
grated campaigns.
“And it sounds obvious now but we did a lot of work on how to bring
those two things together. The fact that there were so many talented
people doing great work already was a gift. It wasn't like we needed to
think about how to strip out and rebuild the agency. All the ingredients
already existed — they just needed some packaging.”
And the move out of the office was helped by a program for remote
working already being in place.
An office move — consolidating three locations — was due March
20 and the move home happened March 25. “I think we managed that
relatively seamlessly,” she says. “The Publicis Groupe Liberte program
was already established, which is pretty forward thinking in terms of
the f lexibility, and there was already a code of conduct around how
you make that work. So it wasn't a ground-up exercise in a week. It
was: ‘We've got a framework, and now it's going to get a mighty test.’
And it stood its ground in that test. I think we really did have an
advantage because a lot of that thinking had been done. A lot of those
protocols had been established.
“But even then that doesn't really get you ready for the shock of
having 120 different offices. That's what it's like when you've got 120-odd
people working from home — they're all working in their own office.”
Office dilemmas disappear such as we've run out of toilet paper,
or can somebody change the light bulb? Or does anybody know who
our electricity supplier is?
“Despite my “But you do have to deal with kids walking into frame and different
people having a really different experience,” she says.
mother’s warnings “A share house with five people in it is different to someone who, like
that advertising in my case, has children who don't really care whether you're trying to
was full of posers work or not. They make their appearances when they feel they need to.
and I wouldn’t “And it really put the onus on us to try and work out how to create an
have a job after 40, environment where it's OK to just keep going? Yes, there are distractions.
Yes, I can see you're sitting on your bed, and I can see your dirty laundry,
I persevered.” and your husband just walked past in his undies, but just keep going.
“I tried really hard to make sure I was modelling that because I had a
husband and children and work from home, and at times dodgy internet,
and all of the rest of it that everybody else had. I just tried to make it really
Imogen Hewitt, clear that the business is intruding on your home, and on the home of your
CEO, Spark Foundry children and your partners. Just do your best, and it'll be OK.”
On a personal level, lockdown had challenges. “I've got the enormous
privilege of having a husband who takes on by far the vast majority of
keeping the home boat afloat,” she says.
“It's a challenge when you've got kids trying to do schoolwork and me
trying to not just manage the sudden working from home but still having
people I've not yet met and clients I have not yet met.”
There was a perverse advantage in coming into a CEO role that year. She
arrived thinking, "I know I've got the experience, but I've not yet done it."
The pandemic was something that no-one had ever dealt with.
That levelled the playing field because Hewitt, as probably the least expe-
rienced CEO in the group, was in the same boat as everyone else.
“Nobody’s done that before,” she says. “It created an incredible sense of
camaraderie across all of the leaders in the group. We had to create a way to
keep our people safe and secure and motivated. We banded together to get the
best of everybody's experience, and try and work out how you do that. It kind
Imogen Hewitt of made me worry a little bit less about facing things I'd never done before
with her children. because everybody was facing things they'd never done before.”
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 Meet the Team

TWITCH A Māori woodcarver’s Twitch livestream isn’t where you expect to

find a nation’s leader make a surprise appearance, but with more
than a million followers to Broxh’s account, that’s where New Zealand
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern popped up in 2020.

WANTS TO BE
Broxh primarily streams the Māori art of woodcarving, whakairo,
and became a source of entertainment across New Zealand during
COVID-19 lockdowns. As a result, he now has 1.3 million followers to

ADVERTISERS’
his account — evidence of Twitch’s growth beyond the gaming niche.
By the end of 2020, it wasn’t just Ardern, with US politicians appear-
ing on Twitch livestreams for Q&As; musicians such as Travis Scott
performing; and even fashion brands such as Burberry hosting run-

‘MUST-HAVE’
Lockdowns around the world caused live-
streaming platform Twitch to explode in 2020.
We catch up with local boss Ricky Chanana
to see where the platform has landed after the
initial hype, and where he wants to take it next.
W O R D S B Y
M A R I A M C H E I K - H U S S E I N
way shows on the platform.
The global boom for Twitch came just months after the Amazon-
owned company launched its Australian team in January last year,
recognising the market as one of its biggest in the region. The team is
led by former Unruly managing director Ricky Chanana as its head of
sales for Australia and New Zealand.
Chanana tells AdNews that a big focus for the team has been to
educate agencies and brands on the wide appeal of Twitch.
“We were already starting to see a lot of content creators come
onto the service before the COVID-19 pandemic, such as musicians,
artists and people just chatting, but I would say the pandemic has
definitely exacerbated that growth,” he says.
“Twitch is a live entertainment service for music, DJs, sports,
ga m i ng a nd more. You a lso have to remember ga m i ng is
now part of pop culture. It's not niche — your cousins, your friends,
they're all gamers.”
Chanana has also been committed to having a complete team on
the ground beyond its commercial team, which includes account
directors Hamish McPhee, Batoul Peters, Sam Spray and Adam Lung.
 www.adnews.com.au | May/June 2021 53

“That, for me, is a big win

because once we get into that
must-have and advertisers under-
stand how crucial Twitch is as
part of their journey to the con-
sumer, it will be a big win for us
and we’re already on that track.
“We'll smash that goal by this
year. You’ll start to see all the hard
work the team has done last year
pay off. Even in the first quarter
we have unlocked categories
which we didn't see working last
year and they are now coming
onto the service.”
Twitch doesn’t provide user
numbers for Australia but says
that globally it has 2.5 million
people tuning into its platform at
any given moment. Across the
g lobe, more t ha n 1 t r i l l ion
minutes were watched in 2020, a
60 per cent increase on 2019.
In Australia, users predomi-
nantly fall into the 18-34 age
group, and 75 per cent are male.
Chanana says that will even out as
more content is produced on the
platform locally, with non-gaming
content on Twitch quadrupling
during the past three years.
This changing demographic is
another reason Chanana feels
The team also has a brand partnerships studio with Edwin Hughan brands will need to join Twitch.
and Joanne Garcia, ad operations manager Alvin Bugay, content “The 18-34 demographic is the
director Lewis Mitchell, head of marketing Sandeep Suvarna, and hardest to capture,” he says.
sales marketing director Cheeri Leo. “We all know they’re not watch-
“It’s great that you have the front house sorted and speaking to ing TV. In fact, 90 per cent do not
the customers, but what about post-sale partnerships, ad operations, watch free-to-air at all.
the strategy...” says Chanana. “In terms of gender, in the
“One of my biggest pushes is to have all that based out of Australia. bigger mature markets it's almost
“So we have a full team of partnerships — think about them as talent 50/50 because the growth of music
teams — they are the ones who will scout out gamers, content creators, and other channels have com-
musicians, artists, sports collaboration, partnerships with perhaps pletely brought in new creators,
AFL, Geelong, and the NBL [National Basketball League].” and we are going to continue see-
The platform has delivered local campaigns for big brands such as ing that grow in Australia, as well.”
Unilever, Mars, AHM Insurance and DoorDash. But being reliant on user-gener-
“We’ve seen such amazing success with Australian advertisers, ated content means Twitch is also
after our work on educating the market and perception around this subject to brand safety concerns
idea that gamers are stuck in a dungeon,” says Chanana. from advertisers that many other
“We’ve really done a big job with that and we’ve seen Nestle, tech platforms face.
Unilever, Mars, entertainment clients, finance and delivery food “One challenge which has
services come onto the platform. come up in the past is sometimes
“Last year alone, we unlocked 22 new categories of advertisers there's superstition around brand
onto our service, which we’re really proud of. Advertisers are safety,” says Chanana.
really starting to understand that gaming is not niche, and Twitch needs “We are big on brand safety. We
to be part of their video-mix strategy because Twitch is now a live consistently go out in the market
entertainment service, rather than just a gaming site.” that we are not a free-speech plat-
Chanana says the team will work on getting Twitch to be part Above left: The Twitch AUNZ form. We are moderated; we do
of brands’ core video strategies, rather than an afterthought, and it’s team. Above centre: Ricky a lot of work with our content cre-
a goal he thinks it can easily meet. Chanana, head of sales, ators, partners and affiliates — they
Twitch AUNZ. Above right:
“In 2021, my biggest goal is to get Twitch out of the bucket of nice-to- Inside the Twitch AUNZ
are all contracted so that’s one task
have and into the must-have,” he says. office in Sydney. we've done a really good job on.”
 .FFU
UIF
5FBN

E D W I N H U G H A N • S E N I O R C R E A T I V E S T R A T E G I S T

What’s the most exciting part of
your role as a creative strategist?
With all the new ways streamers
are creating content to entertain
their audiences, it’s exciting to
work with brands to figure out
how we can leverage the best
parts of Twitch to create the
best activations for our clients.
You’ve got people playing FIFA
roleplaying as coaches, holding
team meetings, people sharing
their culture and skills,
musicians making new
music, even someone
dressing up like a gecko
and inviting people to
call into their show to
chat. There’s always
something new to
discover and apply.
Is there a big misconception
advertisers have about Twitch?
As easy as Twitch makes it for
creators, it’s not just people diving
into a game and going live on
Twitch — though that’s where it
often starts.
The team of support Twitch
creators build around themselves
to make this their profession
really is amazing. The investment
that goes into the tech and
production value, highlights how
dedicated gamers and their
audiences are.
We’ve got Australians spending
1.8 billion hours gaming in 2020 and
the Australian gaming industry now
being worth $3.4 billion. Gaming and
livestreaming can’t be considered
just a niche hobby these days.
What’s the biggest challenge
in your role?
Knowing when to switch hats
from creative strategy to
producer to client.
I make sure to take the
Twitch hat off and zoom out to
see things from a different
perspective. On the flip-side,
it’s also balancing when to keep
the Twitch hat on and help guide
all parties through some of the
more interesting aspects of
a live environment.
Taking them on that journey
to ensure what might seem very
out there is in fact helping
achieve brand objectives
— even if it involves a roleplaying
coach or a grown adult dressed
as a gecko.

B A T O U L P E T E R S • A C C O U N T D I R E C T O R

What does a typical day look like
for you?
A typical day for me is helping
brands better understand
Twitch and demystifying the
opportunities available to
them. I’m focused on building
a community of likeminded
advertisers and agency partners
who understand Twitch and
appreciate its ability to drive
impact for brands.
In many ways I consider myself
similar to a Twitch streamer — the
account director type! Hear me
out... my content narrative is
Twitch media opportunities, my
audience is made up of advertisers
and agency partners, and my
platform is virtual.
Having started at Twitch in the Have you learnt anything
midst of a pandemic, I had to get you didn’t expect to while
comfortable pretty quickly with working at Twitch?
building rapport and genuine Brands don’t need
relationships in 2D. a gaming strategy to win
with our audience. Twitch
What attracted you to Twitch? users do “ordinary people
If the media and advertising things”, like buy groceries,
industry were The Matrix, then apply for
Twitch would be Zion. It’s the a loan and shop online.
chosen place by passionate When it comes
creators and a deeply engaged to content diversity,
audience community. I love the Twitch has something
connection the audience has with for everyone. From
the creators, it’s deeply authentic. gaming, to music to
Twitch isn’t just a media talk shows to sports
service, it’s a way of life — a culture to beauty and art —
unto itself driving community- there is content for
led content. You can’t find many everyone.
places that do it like Twitch does.
 www.adnews.com.au | May/June 2021 55

L E W I S M I T C H E L L • A P A C C O N T E N T D I R E C T O R

What’s your one key goal for 2021
in your role?
Twitch has been built from the
ground up as a livestream service
and the tools built for engagement
are second to none. My key goal is
to continue to provide
a sustainable home for as many
creators as possible in 2021.
Have you learnt anything about
Twitch you weren’t expecting to
since joining?
While gaming is known to be,
and will always be, at the
core of Twitch, I found
the breadth and depth
of content available
astounding. In fact,
non-gaming content
on Twitch has
quadrupled during
the past three years. In AUNZ,
sports and music genres have
experienced tremendous growth,
and we’ve seen categories such as
art, comedy and lifestyle emerge
to capture new audiences.
Have you learnt anything about
Twitch you weren’t expecting to
since joining?
Creativity is infinite. Throughout
my time here, I’ve seen people
utilise the service in ways no-one
working at the company could
have expected. We’ve seen wood
carving and knitting streams,
new ways to experience sport
and music, and creators’ live-
builds of bespoke controllers out
of baguettes. It’s been amazing
seeing what people can do when
you give them the right toolkit.

C H E E R I L E O • A P A C D I R E C T O R O F S A L E S M A R K E T I N G

What’s the biggest challenge you
have in your role?
Twitch Australia officially
launched on 1 January 2020,
amid a global pandemic and
significant market challenges.
Launching and scaling the Twitch
presence in Australia in a virtual
environment was definitely a
challenge, especially without the
in-person interactions to connect
with brands and clients. We were
up against the fatigue of virtual
events, and the team had to
adapt to working from home and
losing the regular face-to-face
communication. However, this
also created an opportunity for
Twitch to connect with the world
via our livestreaming services.
What’s something you wish
advertisers better understood
about Twitch?
Twitch’s “secret sauce” is the live,
personality-driven content and
two-way interaction between
community and creator. Popular
creators stream for an average of
40 hours a week, and each creator’s
community interacts through its
own language, set of rules and
inside jokes. Brands that create
a Twitch channel expecting to
organically capture an engaged
audience will likely struggle to keep
up, to create enough content, and
to find entry points on their own.
Advertising on Twitch is instead
about brand building via tapping
into a community through creator
partnerships — think Tourism
New Zealand’s PLAYNZ campaign
collaboration with top Aussie
streamer Loserfruit.
Any key goals for 2021 at Twitch?
Bringing about key thought
leadership pieces on
“Community Created
Content” and “The Power
of Livestreaming”. We
want to share more on the
research and insights
we’ve been working on
and show how these
translate into amazing,
and hopefully award-
winning, campaigns
we’ve done
with clients.
 $SFBUJWF
3FWJFX

ALDO FERRETTO
The Hallway creative director
There are not many product categories that reach the
lofty heights the automotive advertising has traditionally
attained, but sadly these days, not many car ads make it
into that realm. This is a quintessential advertising sector
that is screaming for a comeback, a new golden age, the
next “ultimate driving machine” or “das auto”, for the
great car work that automotive dreams are made of.

ADAM SMITH
Host/Havas senior copywriter
In a category where there’s
not a whole lot to differentiate
your products, you’d think
creating a memorable brand,
a point of difference, would
be important. Yet we see the

B9F51G1I14C same kind of ads time and

time again. It’s why brands
such as Volkswagen and, more
recently, Suzuki stand out
from the sea of sameness with
A key category in the advertising world, insight, humanity and
automotive ads have traditionally been a bit of fun.

showstopping commercials. But how do

they fare today? AdNews asks creatives
to share their thoughts.

W O R D S B Y

P A I G E M U R P H Y

CHRIS D’ARBON
Archibald Williams senior creative
Much of the current Australian automotive
work has become a bit bogged down
in the “lifestyle montage of city slickers
escaping the big smoke in their new car”
trope. So it’s great to see a bit of much-
needed humour and out-of-the-box
thinking returning to the category.

"$a(&$!$
Agency:
BBDO Australia
AF: If there is a “Ranger Life”, it
surely can’t be like the 99 per cent
of ute ads out there. For me, Ford
misses a chance to make a unique
statement for such an iconic car.
I hope the agency dives deeper
into it. The creative platform
feels big and very ownable, but
not when executed like this.
AS: The idea feels a little familiar
— our car helps you be the person
www.adnews.com.au | May/June 2021
you’ve always wanted to be, do
things you never thought possible.
However, they’ve managed to
execute it with a good amount of
personality, using dramatisation
to have some fun.
%','a
& "&"$"$%
Agency:
Deloitte Digital
AF: I don’t like puns. Sorry,
let me be clearer. I don’t like
puns in advertising — it’s lazy.
Everything else in this ad is
right. It’s good. It’s fun. It’s
exactly how I like to ride my
Suzuki. Well done, but for f**k’s
sake, please no puns!
AS: “For Fun’s Sake” — what a
great platform. It continues to
produce fresh and fun work that
57
CD: Love the idea that
“Ranger Life” makes you feel
like Bear Grylls even when
you’re grabbing a latte.
This should hit the target
market right between the eyes.
cuts through the tired tropes
of car advertising. And “The
Motorbike of Cars” delivers
again. Although I wish they held
off on the reveal a little longer.
CD: What a great payoff on the
brand line. The VO, the slow-
motion, the talent — it’s all fun.
No easy sell getting a biker to
straddle the roof of every pack
shot. Kudos to all.
 $SFBUJWF
3FWJFX www.adnews.com.au | May/June 2021 58

a&%%
Agency:
Innocean Australia

AF: This is it. Maybe a bit long,
and maybe the line could be a bit
stronger, but I don’t care. I love
what Kia is doing, not just in this
ad, but in general. It seems like
they’ve got it and every ad is
a clear manifestation of it. Well
done. The last shot is everything.
AS: A people mover that moves
like a race car. It’s an interesting
thought, but the execution is
lacking humanity. What’s the
benefit for families? Why would
they hit tight corners at high
speeds? Seems like the idea could
take you to more interesting
places than the racetrack.
CD: Accusatory end line aside, not
sure if rain, speed, racetracks and
family wagons are a good mix.
Perhaps there’s more to come with
Kia’s new brand positioning?

!%%!a!($
Agency:
Nissan United

AF: There is not much to
say about this ad. Pulling
the travel rug isn’t getting
us anywhere. It feels like
another iconic car model
misses the mark. There is more
to a Navara than this.
AS: “Travel the whole world… of
Australia” is an interesting idea
that’s never been more relevant.
But the execution just feels a bit
familiar. It would’ve been nice to
see something less expected than
a ute conquering different terrains.
CD: Nice insight, nice execution.
This will no doubt be the first of
a bunch of COVID-19-influenced
automotive work in Australia — hey,
there’s worse places to holiday.
 REACH THE INFLUENCERS
WHO ARE SHAPING YOUR
WORKPLACE AND LEADING
THE BUSINESS AGENDA.

To e n g a g e w i t h t h e m o s t i n f l u e n t i a l a u d i e n ce i n S p o r t s M a r ke t i n g co n t a c t :
YAFFA 12908

Ja m e s Yaf fa Publisher T 02 9213 8293 E jamesyaf fa@yaf fa.com. au

 Reacquaint
yourself with the
secret to maximum
effectiveness.

thinktv.com.au
 IS YOUR MEDIA
INVESTMENT
WORKING AS HARD
AS YOU ARE?
As we approach EOFY, you need to be certain
in your media investment decisions.
With TV, you know exactly what you are going
to get for your marketing dollars - mass reach,
attention, memorability, and more sales.

UNBEATABLE BVOD CONSUMPTION

1 REACH 2 IS BOOMING

up
36.9%
85% year
on year
of Australians
watch broadcast
TV each week

Active attention paid to advertising

TV COMMANDS
3 ATTENTION
58% 31% 4%

TV YouTube Facebook
 YOUR BRAND
4 REMEMBERED

100%
Ad visibility

Active attention
0% TV Facebook YouTube

Length of sales impact

5
6 8 109 A BIGGER
DAYS DAYS DAYS
SALES
IMPACT
Facebook YouTube TV

For a media investment

that works as hard as you do...

BE TV CERTAIN.
XyÀª„(Ç!XyJ ªy(ّy0à
EDITION OF THE PAYBACK SERIES
Commissioned by ThinkTV, the study
uses econometrics to demonstrate how
broad reach, high levels of attention,
and time spent viewing ensure that
Total TV is the ultimate tool for
marketers who want to drive sales
right now and in the long term.

METHODOLOGY
The study included 60 Australian brands,
nine media channels and 850+ ROI
observations across multiple years,
to deliver a comprehensive comparison
of performance of media platforms in
both the short and long-term.

Source: ‘Demand Generation’, Feb 2021, Mindshare/

MediaCom/Wavemaker/GroupM/GainTheory
Invest $1 and get $18.30 back.
That’s $4.20 more than the
next best channel
The average ROI for TV is far Average long-term ROI
greater than any other platform (Across 60 brands)
18.3
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12.4
at $13.70, digital video at $13.20 11.2 10.4
10.0 9.2
and search at $12.40.

DISPLAY
TOTAL TV

OOH

SOCIAL

DIGITAL
VIDEO

SEARCH

DIGITAL

CINEMA

RADIO

PRINT
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DELIVERING A QUICKER, S

Average short-term ROI

(Across 60 brands)

4.5
Invest $1 and
4.3 4.2 4.1 4.0
3.7 3.8
3.6 3.5
get $4.30 back
in three months
TV is, time and time again,
demonstrating its ability to
ƮƵǶǞɨƵȲȺǞǐȁǞ˛ƧƊȁɈǐȲȌɩɈǘȌɨƵȲ
shorter time frames.
DISPLAY
SEARCH

TOTAL TV

DIGITAL
VIDEO

SOCIAL

DIGITAL

OOH

RADIO

PRINT

CINEMA
 TV is the number 1
SEM impact decomposition driver of search
Direct and indirect contribution
Which other media channel is best
at prompting consumers to search?
Non TV, 6%
!ȌȁɈȲǞƦɐɈǞȌȁɈȌɩƊȲƮȺȺƊǶƵȺ‫ڭة‬

Digital, 11%
Indirect The research asserts that TV is
Contribution
Total TV, 18% fundamental to the sales demand
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Direct
Contribution Search, 65% impact. In comparison, digital
channels contributed 11% and other
non-TV channels contributed just
Search Search 6% in the short-term.

À„ J0y0ªÀ0 DzXy0²² (0wy( Xy À

STRONGER, AND MORE SUSTAINED IMP

Sales volume contribution index

‫ـ‬XȁƮƵɮƵƮ ɈȌ ǘǞǐǘƵȺɈ ƧǘƊȁȁƵǶ‫ف‬

100

TV drives
3x greater 30
sales volume than 27 27
20

any other media

11 11 7 7
DISPLAY
TOTAL TV

OOH

RADIO

SEARCH

DIGITAL

PRINT

SOCIAL

DIGITAL
VIDEO

CINEMA
 TV is best at In multi-channel campaigns
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making other ƊȁƮɨǞƮƵȌɩƵȲƵƧȌǿƦǞȁƵƮɩǞɈǘƵƊƧǘ
channels more ȌɈǘƵȲ‫ة‬ƊȁƮƊǶȺȌɩǞɈǘÀß‫ة‬ÀßǞȁƧȲƵƊȺƵƮ
the effectiveness of search by 7.13%,
effective social by 6.02%, and video by 4.67%.

Cross-channel synergy effect

TOTAL TV SEARCH SOCIAL y„y‫ى‬Àß‫ ؤ‬DISPLAY VIDEO

TOTAL TV 7.13% 6.02% 5.31% 5.28% 4.67%

SEARCH 7.13% 1.46% 1.30% 1.29% 0.98%
SOCIAL 6.02% 1.46% 1.01% 1.15% 0.99%
y„y‫ى‬Àß‫ؤ‬ 5.31% 1.30% 1.01% 0.82% 0.59%
DISPLAY 5.28% 1.29% 1.15% 0.82% 0.73%
VIDEO 4.67% 0.98% 0.99% 0.59% 0.73%

*Non-TV is made of OOH, cinema, radio and print.

ÀR0
À ²R„ªÀ y( m„yJّÀ0ªw‫ة‬
PACT
P THAN OTHER MEDIA.

Total TV is in its own (good) place

ɩǞɈǘȺɈȲȌȁǐȺǘȌȲɈٌƊȁƮǶȌȁǐٌɈƵȲǿª„X

Short-term vs long-term ROI

TOTAL TV

SOCIAL
(FACEBOOK)
OOH
AVERAGE DIGITAL VIDEO Long-term
ROI
DIGITAL SEARCH
DISPLAY
CINEMA

RADIO
PRINT

Short-term ROI