Month: July 2020

By Mattias Spetz, MD, Europe

Last week we discussed the nuance of having a blocklist approach that does not overly exclude content (here). On YouTube, keyword blocklists uploaded into GoogleAds or DV 360 are exact match only – on their own, they will act as a blunt instrument and block content without regard for context. 

Channel Factory uses keyword blocklists as one part of a multi-pronged approach to delivering brand suitable, efficient YouTube advertising and, in our experience, it must begin at the pre-bid phase of a campaign where inventory selection and pre-optimization is most critical.

 

Step One – Brand Suitability Parameters

It’s essential for brands to craft an approach that works for them. Brand suitability is all about selecting highly specific content adjacencies and contextual alignments that meet potential customers and brand-loyalists in the right places within YouTube’s massive video ecosystem. Certain contexts work better for certain brands, and that differs by market, by language, and so on. The only way to finetune that resonant environment-building is by sitting down and deciding what contexts work best align with a brand’s values.

Step Two – Ongoing Analysis of Inventory

Channel Factory’s proprietary technology is always-on, always curating content from within YouTube’s constant user-generated content machine. Campaign success occurs as much at the pre-bid phase as it does mid-flight.

Keyword blacklists (approximately 155,000 words in total) are updated regularly in 36 languages to account for real-time, real-world events. They cycle constantly within our technology and data platform, ViewIQ, flagging and categorizing all undesirable content and identifying the highest quality inventory for use in client campaigns. 

These blacklists look at all the content signals available within videos and channels, which includes a whole host of metadata (titles, tags, descriptions), as well as the audio tracks of the videos themselves. Unlike exact match keyword blacklists used in live campaigns, these advanced blacklists are capable of detecting context from natural language cues. 

Brand unsuitable content is tagged at the keyword, channel, topic and video-level and used to guide inclusion list curation, as well as generate video-level and keyword blacklists calibrated to suit a particular brand and run dynamically within campaigns for ultimate suitability and scale. 

Step Three – Inclusion Lists Drive Brand Suitable, Contextual Performance

Inclusion lists help brands curate brand suitable, trusted environments to advertise within. However, smart use of blacklists is a pivotal part of that strategy. 

Inclusion lists are built from the constant cycling of inventory through brand suitability filters. Once these highly refined, pre-bid optimized channel and video lists are built out, however, that’s not the end of the story.

Inclusion lists need to be updated continually throughout a campaign. Otherwise what we see is a steady increase of CPV/CPM as brands keep bidding against the same static inclusion list inventory. It also affects scale as well as relevance – by bidding against static content, brands run the risk of missing out on new, viral highly relevant and engaging content.

Fortunately, blacklists are always running in the background, distilling the best content and extracting the brand unsuitable to ensure there’s always new inventory available for the multiple inclusion list iterations it takes to drive dynamic contextual performance on YouTube.

Step Four – Video-Level Blocklists

Once brands have guaranteed pre-bid optimized inclusion lists which target suitable, aligned content and in-market audiences their campaigns run alongside highly specific video-level and keyword blocklists. 

Video-level blocklists enable brands to buy against channels that make overall sense for them, but which have the odd video that sits outside their brand suitability parameters. Without using this technique, brands otherwise have to write off entire channels worth of scale just to avoid one lone wolf video. 

Keyword blocklists at this stage in the brand suitability provide “air cover” for a “ground force” of highly curated inclusion list inventory. In-flight keyword blacklists are highly brand-customized and, thanks to pre-bid curation,  they’re not the only hope of campaign brand suitability once a campaign is live.

COVID-19 Blocklisting

As far as COVID-19 content adjacencies are concerned, our clients have taken varying approaches to brand suitability for coronavirus related content. Some of our clients are fine with appearing next to this type of content – in fact some advertisers actively seek it out. However, for some brands it is the right approach to avoid it. A lot of these decisions are driven by an understanding of their consumer, as well as the brand’s creative messaging at this time. For example, brands helping to amplify the WHO’s  messaging by providing educational content might find news adjacencies ideally suited to them and their customer’s content consumption choices. 

Early on in this crisis we shared a Coronavirus keyword list with all our clients and other advertisers to help them target or de-target content related to COVID-19 as they see fit.

In Sum

Clumsy blocklisting is a real concern, but that’s only when it’s the only method by which advertisers are driving brand suitability in their campaigns. A lot rests on contextual analysis capabilities and ongoing strategic media planning considerations. 

At Channel Factory, we’ve refined a inclusion listing methodology which introduces the very best in contextual sophistication. This approach is key to aligning brands, publishers/content creators and consumer stakeholders especially during times where those value systems are in constant flux.

 

Top advertisers revise creative on average once every 10.4 days, but nothing could have prepared them for the creative revisions demanded by the first half of 2020. The quarantine lockdown prompted massive rethinks at every brand marketing department and agency worldwide about the organic and ad creative produced prior to March now lying on the cutting room floor. 

Creative brand pivots in the digital realm was the topic of a recent MMA discussion (you can watch the entire discussion here) between Channel Factory’s Chief Commercial Officer Jed Hartman, Traci Spiegelman Director of Global Media at Mastercard, and Eugene Buono, Google’s West Coast Creative Lead.

Not long into the lockdown, Edelman fielded a survey which found that 55% of consumers said brands and consumers were responding more quickly and effectively than most governments. In addition, it also showed that 71% of consumers agreed that if brands put profit over people, trust in them would disappear forever.

Since that report came out, brand marketers have responded in a variety of ways – some successful, and some less so. In fact, AdAge maintains a regularly updated post of marketers’ responses to the coronavirus.

Traci Spiegelman, Director of Global Media at Mastercard drove home the importance of authenticity in brand message pivots. “Brands need to be able to stand behind and honor core brand values in their creative. They should avoid being something they’re not. At Mastercard, we’re always conscious of how and who we’re talking to, and we lean into the passion points we’ve aligned to over the years.”

Putting Creative In Context

So how do you pair authentic, empathic, value-driven ad creative with the content that it runs on across digital? Devising media plans that make sense for individual advertisers requires a little little soul-searching and it’s entirely conceivable that what works for some might not work for others.  

Taking YouTube as an example, Jed Hartman, Channel Factory’s Chief Commercial Officer, and someone whose own career has pivoted between the publisher, the brand and the tech side, pointed out that “one thing that makes YouTube interesting is that you have that one-to-one ratio of content to ad. This means that brands want to ensure their newly adapted creative runs opposite content that not only works for its targeting and performance, but is also aligned with the tenor and intention of the creative message.”

In order to better understand and control where their ads run, advertisers have very quickly had to learn the new vernacular, updating their blocklists with a range of keywords across the health and social justice spectrum. On top of that, they’ve had to revise their inclusion lists to confirm the types of content they formerly embraced are still environments that best serve their business and their message.

And once the media plans have been reviewed, it’s over to the campaign to serve as a testing ground for new creatives in a new normal. Just like brands have multiple products and services, so do they have a variety of ad formats to use in order to test and optimize their multi-market messages. 

“When you think about all the different YouTube creative lengths, it’s not so much a question of this vs. that. It’s thinking about how all the components work together,” shared Eugene, who sits within Google’s creative innovation team. “Whether it’s media and entertainment or consumer goods, there’s a story to tell, and there’s a time and a place for each of these different components depending on where users are and the signals they’re sending out.” 

Brands are always adapting, and the cultural conversation is always changing, but 2020 really drove home the importance of infusing brand culture with the expectation that things could change on a dime. Digital video offers brands a powerful place to test and adapt at speeds and with data that simply doesn’t exist elsewhere. It’s time to fully explore those opportunities. 

By Mattias Spetz, MD, Europe

The latest conversation around advertiser blocklisting is focused on the damage being caused to publishers by the COVID-19 news cycle. With publisher revenues down, blocklisting strategies have once again come under scrutiny. 

While blocklisting is an essential component of scalable and brand suitable campaigns, there are a few pitfalls it’s important for advertisers to avoid. 

Contextual blindness in keyword lists 

Blocklisting on YouTube needs a combination of keywords, videos, and channels to ensure brands can scale campaigns against content that makes sense for them and not accidentally 

Brand safety company CHEQ’s 2019 study found 57% of neutral or positive stories were being incorrectly flagged as unsafe for brands. Keyword blocklists can easily become clumsy and avoid completely innocuous content when they fail to acknowledge the context in which a keyword appears. Think “shots” or “injuries” on the basketball court. Or amidst quarantine, here is a great workout routine or recipe.

One-size-fits-all, set-and-forget approaches

Blocklists must adapt to the brand, and they must adapt constantly. Popular culture and news events are in constant flux, and new keywords must be incorporated constantly. 

Using universal blocklists across brands (for agencies) or markets isn’t an ideal solution. Every brand is different and every market has unique nuances.

This is particularly important for multi-market advertisers.  Local languages have their own native nuance and idioms. Also, individual countries have their own real-world events (political parties, celebrity scandals, etc) that might need to be blocklisted. 

Overlooking consumer content consumption realities  

Brand should consider content consumption habits to engage with the right audience. 

The latest debate around news blocklisting highlights the importance of considering the context and content against which brands advertise. When you see almost 40% of millennials closely following national politics, social issues, and natural disasters, and yet a reluctance on the part of brands to buy against that content, bridging the gap is a question of building nuance into your blacklisting strategy to address consumer consumption patterns.

As we found in our recent survey of consumer viewing habits during the lockdown, 70% of consumers interested in seeing more alignment with their mood, brands have to factor in consumer viewing habits into what they choose to include and exclude in their campaigns.

By Mattias Spetz, MD, Europe

The latest conversation around advertiser blocklisting is focused on the damage being caused to publishers by the COVID-19 news cycle. With publisher revenues down, blocklisting strategies have once again come under scrutiny. 

While blocklisting is an essential component of scalable and brand suitable campaigns, there are a few pitfalls it’s important for advertisers to avoid. 

Contextual blindness in keyword lists 

Blocklisting on YouTube needs a combination of keywords, videos, and channels to ensure brands can scale campaigns against content that makes sense for them and not accidentally 

Brand safety company CHEQ’s 2019 study found 57% of neutral or positive stories were being incorrectly flagged as unsafe for brands. Keyword blocklists can easily become clumsy and avoid completely innocuous content when they fail to acknowledge the context in which a keyword appears. Think “shots” or “injuries” on the basketball court. Or amidst quarantine, here is a great workout routine or recipe.

One-size-fits-all, set-and-forget approaches

Blocklists must adapt to the brand, and they must adapt constantly. Popular culture and news events are in constant flux, and new keywords must be incorporated constantly. 

Using universal blocklists across brands (for agencies) or markets isn’t an ideal solution. Every brand is different and every market has unique nuances.

This is particularly important for multi-market advertisers.  Local languages have their own native nuance and idioms. Also, individual countries have their own real-world events (political parties, celebrity scandals, etc) that might need to be blocklisted. 

Overlooking consumer content consumption realities  

Brand should consider content consumption habits to engage with the right audience. 

The latest debate around news blocklisting highlights the importance of considering the context and content against which brands advertise. When you see almost 40% of millennials closely following national politics, social issues, and natural disasters, and yet a reluctance on the part of brands to buy against that content, bridging the gap is a question of building nuance into your blacklisting strategy to address consumer consumption patterns.

As we found in our recent survey of consumer viewing habits during the lockdown, 70% of consumers interested in seeing more alignment with their mood, brands have to factor in consumer viewing habits into what they choose to include and exclude in their campaigns.

Conclusion

At Channel Factory, we’ve found a duel inclusion list/blocklist strategy to be the most effective way to deliver maximum contextual sophistication for brands. In next week’s post, we’ll outline the optimal ways to configure this strategy to maximize your brand suitability.