Last week I attended the IAB Innovation Days event as part of Internet Week here in New York. Here are some of the highlights from the two day event.
Emotion in Advertising
Ross Levinsohn of Yahoo! and Neal Mohan of Google talked about how as an industry we are not connecting with people emotionally through ad creative. In his conversation with IAB’s Randall Rothenberg, Ross Levinsohn referenced the Chrysler “Born of Fire” ad that ran during the Super Bowl. He told Rothenberg that he’s still waiting to be emotionally moved by an online creative. Levinsohn said, “I would love to break through with some emotional campaigns.”
Neal Mohan (pictured above) also pointed out in his address “There’s a Perfect Ad for Everyone” that in the past few years a lot of the innovation has been about making our lives easier – meaning buyers, sellers and operations. What about users? He said we aren’t making an emotional connection with them. And how do we measure that engagement? Mohan stated, “If we are going to have a much more user-centric approach to our advertising efforts, the metrics need to change in a profound way as well.”
Opportunities for Innovation
If we as an industry need to connect more with users, perhaps social media is a good opportunity to do so.
Bravo had a workshop talking about their efforts in social media which include products such as the “Talk Bubble.” These products really take advantage of the loyal user base around shows such as The Real Housewives series. They also take advantage of the two screen experience by thinking about what fans are doing while they are watching the show.
Tim Schigel of ShareThis, said that everyone who shares is an influencer. It’s clear that sharing is representative of intent, but that it also creates these moments of relevance. These moments can be used to reach consumers who are possibly more receptive to marketing messages.
More information and content from the event is available:
Twitter IABID stream
IAB Innovation Days Event Wrap Up
Video clips of the event presentations
Monsters did you attend this event? Please share your takeaways in the comments.