Interviews, insight & analysis on digital media & marketing

New Business Bulletin: Hawk, Twilio, SurveyMonkey and more

Hawk, a European player in digital omnichannel advertising, recently acquired by Azerion, announced a strategic partnership with Samba TV, the leading provider of TV technology for audience data and omniscreen measurement. For the first time, Hawk’s platform will give advertisers and agencies access to Samba TV’s Geo Audience data and insights to enable greater omnichannel targeting effectiveness for brand exposure and incremental reach. The multi-market collaboration will initially roll out in the UK, followed by France and Germany. Hawk’s demand-side platform (DSP) will ingest Samba TV’s first-party Geo Audience data, powered by automatic content recognition (ACR) technology to give advertisers privacy safe, compliant, and unbiased insight into TV advertising reach analysed at a geographic level. With a deterministic view of a brand’s TV ad exposure at a postal district level, advertisers can optimise targeting in those areas and achieve incremental reach by activating across other media channels, such as on connected TV (CTV), audio and digital out-of-home (DOOH). This unique geographic approach gives advertisers a smarter way to synchronise targeting across multiple media channels for greater impact and return on ad spend.

Two-thirds of UK shoppers (66%) expect a personalised experience from the brands they regularly shop with this Black Friday. That’s according to new research from Twilio, the customer engagement platform that drives real-time, personalised experiences for today’s leading brands. The survey of 2,000 UK consumers revealed a big opportunity for brands to engage with new audiences, with over a third (36%) of UK consumers saying Black Friday is the day of the year that they are the most open to trying out new brands. Nearly half (46%) also said they are more likely to become a year-long customer if they’ve had a positive Black Friday experience with a brand. However, these findings also reinforce the need for brands to engage their existing customer base and put strategies in place to avoid them looking elsewhere. Respondents suggested companies could achieve this by giving them prior notification of an upcoming sale (33%), notifying them if a product or service they repeatedly buy is heading into the sales (30%), and delivering personalised communications based on past purchases (23%). One in five (21%) respondents also said that, when they are a regular and loyal customer, they do not want to compete with ‘new’ customers to get the best deals. This further supports the idea that brands need to go the extra mile to reward and engage their existing customer base.

SurveyMonkey has announced the international availability of Build with AI, a new survey creation feature powered by AI research and deployment company, OpenAI. Build with AI, the newest capability in the SurveyMonkey Genius® line-up of AI-enabled features, allows users to create surveys from just a written description, automating and accelerating the survey creation process. Build with AI is available now and is free for all SurveyMonkey users. With Build with AI, anyone can create tailored surveys and forms in as little as 30 seconds by typing a description of the desired survey or the feedback goal. The feature also offers a selection of prompts for popular feedback and research use cases that can be used instead of self-drafted descriptions for an even bigger head start. Users can then review the automatically generated survey, edit as needed and send. As organisations continue to see an increase in demand for feedback in a post-COVID-19 world, Build with AI allows users in marketing, insights, HR, IT, CX and more to collect granular feedback even faster. 

The ‘Its OK’ campaign from the AA in July has been extended with a cameo from innovative location technology what3words! Every day, stranded drivers provide The AA with their precise what3words addresses to help them be found easily. In fact, in 2022, over 19,000 breakdowns were identified with the help of the technology – that’s about 79 breakdowns a day. So whether that’s an engine fault, a flat tyre, or a situation that’s a bit more unusual…it’s ok, the AA uses what3words. This extension to The AA campaign went live last week, with two OOH ads across two locations in South London (Sutton and New Malden) and comprised a 48 sheet and a 6 sheet. The ads were digital billboards and the creative played into the strange scenarios that people find themselves in, but with The AA (and what3words) it’s okay!

Endava, a provider of digital transformation, agile development and intelligent automation services, has announced its new partnership with financial API platform, Salt Edge. Salt Edge is an open banking services provider that offers compliance and account aggregation solutions. With connectivity to 5,000+ of financial institutions in 50 countries, banks can facilitate their customers getting instant access to account data and adding a secure payment method. Its Open Banking Compliance Solution is a full-service environment for banks and EMIs to enable them to meet the strictest regulatory requirements in a matter of weeks. The solution adjusts to meet the requirements of new jurisdictions, including Europe’s Berlin Group, UK’s Open Banking, Australia’s CDR, Brazil’s Financial-grade API and Saudi Arabia’s and Jordan’s API standards. Open banking is set to be a game-changer in financial services and is transforming how we access and manage our money and is growing in momentum, particularly in the UK. Endava’s expertise, especially across finance and payments, will allow banks and third-party providers (TPPs) to keep pace with the adoption of new innovations and meet their regulatory obligations. This ultimately means a smoother, faster time to market whilst delivering the innovative solutions that businesses need to grow and scale.  

According to a new survey from Criteo, the commerce media company, 74% of UK consumers anticipate spending the same or more than they did last year online in the run-up to the holiday season, while 66% of shoppers expect to match or exceed in-store spend. Against the tide of rising prices, smart purchasing strategies are enabling shoppers to maintain or increase their spend in more discretionary categories, like health & beauty (71%), consumer electronics (60%), apparel (59%) and home furnishings (57%). 

TV streaming platform Roku has announced a strategic product and commercial partnership with Unity, the platform for creating and operating real-time 3D (RT3D) content, to help mobile app businesses easily expand their app install campaigns to TV streaming inventory. This partnership offers mobile app marketers the only seamless experience in executing TV streaming campaigns for mobile user acquisition, combining Roku’s premium inventory with Unity’s user acquisition technology and expertise. Utilizing Roku’s Action Ads provides viewers with a seamless path from ad view to download, empowering advertisers with the click-through measurement benefits and a frictionless discovery flow for viewers.

Global marketing and advertising network dentsu has joined Generation C, a climate education provider, to develop a series of fully-funded interdisciplinary resources intended to upskill young people across the UK on sustainability and climate change. The bespoke learning resources are the latest evolution of dentsu’s multi-award winning social impact programme The Code, which aims to strengthen the pipeline of future talent by addressing the climate change “green skills” shortage and inspire the next generation of changemakers. Dentsu’s social impact strategy recently picked up the award for Best Practice in Sustainability Award – Large Agency in Campaign’s Ad Net Zero Awards. The innovative pilot has just commenced and will run throughout the winter term, with five primary and secondary schools participating in Manchester, Kent, Dartford, and London. The resources thread into the current National Curriculum learning objectives and will focus on sustainable consumption for the current academic term. After the pilot, the resources will be made available for all schools to access from 2024 onwards via an online platform. The resources aim to connect theory with practical application, instil sustainable behaviour change, and spark proactive conversations and solutioning around real-world business challenges. The case studies examined have been compiled through the lens of clients that dentsu represents worldwide. By connecting interdisciplinary projects, critical thinking and creative thinking to theory-based learning, children are exposed to the mindsets, behaviours, and roles that may be open to them in the future and develop skills that allow them to flourish.

CGI, one of the largest independent IT and business consulting services firms in the world, and Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland have agreed a partnership to support their joint vision of an improved stakeholder experience for those involved in higher education, whilst growing the Scottish digital economy by investing in a skilled workforce. The partnership will see CGI leverage its globally-recognised IT and business advisory services expertise, whilst utilising the latest digital technology to bring Edinburgh Napier University’s highly-regarded research capabilities to areas such as improving health and security outcomes for society. Edinburgh Napier has also joined CGI’s Sustainability Exploration and Environmental Data Science (SEEDS) programme, a new research programme in partnership with academia and the United Nations. 

Magnite the world’s largest independent omnichannel sell-side advertising company, and Greenbids, an industry leader in sustainable advertising AI optimization solutions, has announced a partnership to help reduce carbon emissions generated by digital advertising ad calls while preserving campaign performance. Magnite is the first SSP to share traffic shaping data with Greenbids to help inform efficient ad selection. The collaboration is live in the UK and France, with plans to extend globally.