Tag Archive for: stand against discrimination

With a purchasing power of $1.4 trillion (2021 US Census) and a growing population accounting for nearly 6% of the US population (Gallup, 2021), the LGBTQ+ community is highly influential and extremely diverse. During the pandemic, the streaming industry exploded. For the LGBTQ+ community, an essential factor for content adoption and advertising resonance is accurate representation. To create a powerful relationship with this group, brands must first understand this segment and then create inclusive marketing content and strategies.

In June, we celebrated Pride Month with a webinar focused on reaching and connecting with LGBTQ+ audiences across media. Our star panel included Matt Skallerud, President at Pink Media; Brooke Bowhay, Senior Director of Acquisition and Planning at Carat; Ariana Vergara-Johnson, Product Marketing Manager at Disney+ and LG Ad Solutions’ Senior Director of Sales, Susan Edmonds.

Three important takeaways from the webinar included:

  1. Pride 365: Supporting the LGBTQ+ community cannot be a once-a-year endeavor during the month of June. Brands that create campaigns focused on the LGBTQ+ audience segment only during pride month will be called out for being disingenuous. How can brands show their solidarity with this group all 365 days of the year? 1) By ensuring the people behind the screen creating content and advertising campaigns have lived this life and can authentically recreate it on the screen. 2) By partnering with community advocates who have expertise in the LGBTQ+ domain or are part of the community and using the brand platform to amplify their voices and give them a space to tell their story. Creating a two-way conversation with the audience and understanding from them directly what they want to see represented in a brand’s content is a great first step to connecting with the LGBTQ+ audience.LG Ads Quote x Matt Skallerud
  2. Don’t Put All Your Eggs In One Basket: The LGBTQ+ community is especially active on social media and streaming TV. More than 40% of LGBTQ+ streamers spend three or more hours daily on social media (Nielsen, 2021). Short-form content is often the key to long-form content and is the first touchpoint that drives people to watch a longer-form movie or TV show. Tying these two media types together can create a winning strategy. Ultimately, the more facetime you have with your target audience with multiple touch points across screens, the higher the likelihood you will be part of their consideration set.LG Ads Quote x Brooke Bowhay
  3. Brands must be Matchmakers between Stories, Audiences & Platforms: A brand must decide the story it wants to tell and the audience for that story. Content to convey the story should be authentic, have accurate representation and be built around the specific LGBTQ+ audience segment being targeted — especially when it comes to different generations. Once the story and audience are confirmed, brands can choose which platform makes the most sense to distribute that message. To make the audience-platform match, brands must lean into the data around LGBTQ+ communities rather than making assumptions. Companies like LG Ad Solutions play a major role in targeting relevant audiences through layering on geographic, psychographic and demographic parameters.LG Ads Quote x Ariana Vergara Johnson

The LGBTQ+ community is technologically savvy and has traditionally been early adopters of new technology — whether that is social apps or streaming TV. In terms of ad content, our panel firmly believes that new and unique ad units that take advantage of technology such as QR codes along with simple messaging and creative work best. However, even the best-made ads can fall flat if the audience is not reflected correctly. To authentically resonate with the LGBTQ+ group, content must depict these audiences as whole human beings without simply a focus on their sexual orientation. Brands that truly listen to the LGBTQ+ community and create campaigns that represent them for the multi-dimensional human beings they are, will end up with a loyal customer base. To learn more about how you can connect with this audience, watch our full webinar or contact us at info@lgads.tv.

Watch the full webinar on-demand:

A walled garden refers to a platform or ecosystem wherein the platform owner has complete control over the content, data and media within the platform and restricts external parties from accessing this information. The CTV space is often said to have many walled gardens because data does not flow freely between different ad inventory suppliers. As such, brands are unable to get a complete picture of their consumer and determine impact.

With viewership fragmented across different platforms, services and networks, this issue is only amplified. US consumers subscribe to multiple streaming services, with the average number of SVOD subscriptions being 4.7 per household (Kantar, 2022). As a result, there is a good likelihood that marketers will reach the same audience multiple times, leading to viewer ad fatigue, oversaturation and ultimately, annoyance.

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The graphic above outlines how exactly this plays out in the ad marketplace. Since the various streaming services don’t share data, there is no way to control frequency.

OEMs Device-First Strategy Can Alleviate Visibility Issues For Brands

With advancements in technology, OEMs like LG are able to eliminate some of the ambiguity faced by brands. For example, ACR technology available on smart TV OEMs provides a direct line of sight into everything on the TV screen. With this device-first strategy, brands can understand what a particular household has viewed on TV, irrespective of which platform or network it was watched on (including linear and CTV). This transparency allows marketers to efficiently manage reach and frequency.

Movement Towards Gated-Gardens 

To be clear, walled gardens exist even in the OEM space, with no data-sharing between OEMs. LG Ad Solutions has tried to solve for the lack of cross-platform visibility by entering into relationships with third-parties and creating a gated-garden approach. Examples of such relationships include an ACR audience segment sharing agreement with Magnite, a data-sharing deal with iSpot for measurement purposes and another with Omnicom Media Group to bring LG smart TV and cross-device ad inventory to OMG clients. Through our gated-garden, we can control ad frequency and offer both reach and frequency guarantees across connected devices in the LG households.

The way I like to explain it is that we are a gated community. We are not a walled garden; we are a gated community. We give clients a specific passcode to our data. If you come in, we agree on specific business terms and we will give you our data. A perfect example is a measurement deal we did only with iSpot. It’s not exclusive, but iSpot is one of our clients that actually has access to our ACR data in the US. We are going to give [the data] to the ones that will empower the measurement industry.”

Serge Matta, President, LG Ad Solutions [Beet Retreat Interview]. Full interview here.

LG Ad Solutions can help brands gain a holistic view of their campaigns across TV services, create a window into walled gardens with our gated-garden approach and track cross-device campaigns efficiently. To learn more, contact us at info@lgads.tv or message us on our contact page.

 

The estimated number of people who identify as Asian in the United States in 2020 was a whopping 24M, accounting for over 7% of the total US population (Census, 2020). The fastest-growing ethnic group in the US, this segment’s annual purchasing power is well over $1 trillion. Connecting with this community should be a priority for brands and there are multiple channels through which brands can reach this audience. A common link between the various nuanced Asian American audience groups is an affinity for TV and video content. According to Kantar, Asian Americans spend an average of 27+ hours per week watching TV and video content, with a significantly higher portion of this time spent viewing streaming content. (Nielsen)

Last month, we held a webinar centered around authentically representing and connecting with AAPI TV audiences. Featuring leaders of top content platforms that specifically focus on AAPI audiences, this webinar hits on all the crucial ways to engage with this ethnically and racially diverse group. Our panel included Dan Sakaya, President and COO at Crossings TV; Joon Seok Lee, Co-Founder & VP of Advertising at ODK Media. Inc; Jaewon Chung, Head of Global Partnerships at KOCOWA, and our Director of Sales, Allison Lo.

If there are three key messages any brand looking to connect with this audience must remember, they are:

  1. TV Time = Family Time: According to Pew Research, about a quarter of Asian Americans live in multi-generational households. With parents, grandparents and children living under the same roof, language plays a huge role in connecting with these audiences and also helping them connect with each other. Younger generations may watch content in a specific Asian language and English. However, older generations may prefer to watch only in their traditional language. Watching TV together is a way to spend time as a family, and it is important that the content be understood by all generations, in the language they prefer to view content. Additionally, parents may also prefer in-language content for their children to help them engage with their culture at a deeper level. For Asian Audiences, there is a deep emotional connection that arises from seeing people who look like them on the screen and hearing them converse in the same language they speak at home.LG Ads Quote Jaewon Chung
  2. There is no one platform: There is no singular platform that caters to all AAPI audiences. AAPI audiences are one of the most diverse sects of US society, with community members having roots in India, Japan, Vietnam, Korea, China and other Asian countries. They cannot be put into a single bucket. Marketers have to be specific in their strategies to reach these audiences without falling into the trap of tokenism. Research into this segment’s nuanced culture and heritage is required for every campaign. While this may seem overwhelming, there are expert platforms and agencies that can help brands connect with AAPI audiences in meaningful ways. Moreover, having members from within the AAPI community in leadership positions is crucial for developing creative and messaging that resonates with this group.LG Ads Quote Dan Sakaya
  3. Streaming Content For The Win: According to Horowitz Research, 8 in 10 (78%) Asian TV content viewers are streamers, compared to 65% of TV content viewers overall. Among those who watch content in Asian languages, 59% frequently access Asian-language content via streaming. With smart TV OEMs like LG, marketers don’t have to guess which channels and platforms AAPI audiences are viewing, but can use ACR data to understand who these audiences are, what they watch, and develop strategies to target them. Brands can overlay this data with niche insights about the AAPI audience to position themselves to reflect this group’s unique values and beliefs, while authentically representing their culture.LG Ads Quote Joon Seok Lee

Today, even mainstream streaming providers have Asian-language content on their platforms. This programming attracts not only Asian American audiences but also the general market , showing the true cross-cultural appeal of the content. However, it is not enough to simply place ads within these Asian-language shows and movies. To successfully market to and engage with the AAPI audience, brands must create specific content and advertising campaigns that connect with these audiences on a deeper, emotional level. To learn more about how you can better reach and speak to this audience, watch our full webinar or contact us at info@lgads.tv.

Watch the full webinar on-demand:


“The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated” – Linear TV

In the same vein as the famous Mark Twain quote, while it is agreed upon that linear TV’s share of audience has reduced over the last few years, it is a bit too premature for an autopsy. Streaming and linear TV co-exist side by side – in fact over 40% of streaming households – using 30 million LG smart TVs as a proxy –  use a combination of linear and streaming TV. The trick is understanding how much of each type people are watching, and balancing ads accordingly. The most effective TV strategies will strike the right balance between both forms of television advertising.

Arch Enemies or Dynamic Duo?

While some brands remain hesitant to move into CTV advertising, more innovative marketers have embraced the new world of streaming with open arms. They understand the power of TV audience data for precise targeting and granular measurement, and are not looking back. While linear TV provides mass scale and national reach, CTV provides targeted incremental reach and enhanced frequency optimization as an extension of linear TV buys. With CTV, brands can target the right audience, at the right time, with relevant creative or messaging and pinpoint viewers not already exposed to their linear TV campaigns.

Across LG smart TV households, audiences engage with both streaming services and cable TV services, underlining the importance of advertising campaigns having a multi-touch approach.

LGAds Linear streaming

A recent campaign from an insurance brand running an audience data-driven campaign on LG smart TVs further demonstrates the inefficiency of linear TV on its own. Looking at the frequency across light, medium and heavy TV viewers, the campaign only reached less than half of light linear TV viewers, with a frequency of less than once per week. Conversely, heavy linear TV viewers were shown the ad about nine times on average per week. The amount of time spent on linear TV is not uniformly distributed, resulting in the insurance brand missing out on large swaths of its audience while some of their viewers were bombarded with the same ad multiple times.

LGAds reoprts banner

CTV fills in these gaps by connecting with light linear TV viewers on a variety of streaming platforms, where they spend more time. Similarly, marketers can use CTV targeting techniques to suppress heavy linear TV viewers to avoid oversaturating them with ads.

How does CTV complement Linear TV?

There are three main ways CTV can enhance linear TV advertising:

  1. Understand Your Ad Exposures: ACR, or Automated Content Recognition data on smart TVs gives brands glass-level insights into what audiences are watching. Brands can get detailed information on which viewers saw their ad on linear TV, and more importantly, which viewers did not.
  2. Applying the ACR Data: The linear TV viewership data can be leveraged to retarget (on streaming TV and other connected devices) those who saw the ad on linear TV or target only those who were not exposed to the ad on linear TV. This data can also be used to control frequency and ensure that viewers see the brands’ ads a specified number of times, regardless of where they might see it.
  3. Reach Those Who Prefer Ad-Free Environments: Some people might only watch subscription based streaming TV without any ads. In that case, brands can rely on native ad units – those that appear on the home screen of major OEM streaming platforms such as LG’s webOS, to reach audiences from the moment they switch on the TV, before they enter their preferred ad-free environment. While this “last-touch” technique has been popular with media companies and streaming service providers for years, general market brands, too, now draw in audiences with these interactive, highly visible ad units.

linear tv image

linear tv

 

The Future is Streaming, and TV Networks Are Way Ahead

TV networks, movie studios, and content aggregators have long been part of the gold rush to streaming environments, which has recently hit a frantic pace with the introduction of services like Redbox, Discovery+ and ClixTV in the past year alone. Networks are clear on the power of bundling linear and streaming TV to make it easier for brands to take advantage of the multi-format ad ecosystem. For instance, ViacomCBS (recently rebranded to Paramount Global) has moved into the streaming business with its sister services, including Paramount+, Showtime and Pluto TV. However, Paramount Global is still very much in the cable business, with cable television networks including MTV, Nickelodeon, BET and Comedy Central. Forward-thinking brands understand that linear and CTV are still today, and for the foreseeable future, two parts of a whole.

Interested in partnering with us to build on your linear TV campaign, bridge the audience gap between linear and CTV and gain incremental reach? Contact us at info@lgads.tv or send us a message on our contact page.

When you see a QR code atop a table at a restaurant, on a flier you receive in the mail, or floating across a TV screen , your first instinct is to pull out your smartphone and scan it. This almost involuntary action has become a routine part of everyday life. The numbers say it all — 83.4 million US smartphone users will scan a QR code in 2022, a 10% rise from 2021, and more than 50% from 2019, according to Insider Intelligence. This number is only projected to grow in the next few years.

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Quick Recap of The Rise Of QR Codes

The increased adoption of QR codes is in large part due to the pandemic. With ‘contactless’ being the catchphrase of 2020, QR codes helped limit physical interactions that could result in the spread of the Covid-19 virus. Advancements in technology also fuelled the growth of QR codes in almost every industry. Easy and free ways to build a QR code linking to your product or website meant that more brands and businesses could avail this technology. The consumer experience became much easier with the ability to simply use a smartphone camera to scan.

Brands and advertisers quickly realized how this shift in human behavior could propel their business — through QR codes available on TV screens, billboards, public transportation and even in stores. Shoppable ads are the next big thing, with interactive formats allowing brands to showcase products on screens that link to their website directly. The codes can provide scanners with different types of information, from product materials and manufacturing processes to marketing promotions, app downloads and more. On TV screens, QR codes allow viewers to scan and buy products, take advantage of discounts and deals, or download new games/apps directly on their smartphones.

What Are Static VS Dynamic QR Codes?

A static QR code is a fixed, uneditable snippet of code that links to a specific website or page. It cannot be tracked and can be scanned many times. These are useful for situations when you don’t need to change the link, such as for restaurant menus or one-time marketing purposes.

With a dynamic QR code, you can edit the content whenever necessary without having to change or redeploy the code. Here’s a quick example of how it works at LG Ad Solutions — Brands can send us their TV assets and our team will turn them into multiple dynamic template ad variations. Variations are tagged according to data signals, including weather, location, event, time of day, audience preferences, device, etc. Based on these signals, the creative and QR code is updated in real-time to provide the most relevant information to the viewer. It’s a hot August day in New York City? A retail store can target viewers within 3 miles of the store with ads for ice cream!

Measurable Outcomes = Big Wins

QR codes provide a privacy-complaint way of measuring the effectiveness of a campaign. Information on the number of scans, number of bottom-funnel decisions made by consumers as a result of the scan, location data, and time of scan can all be measured using QR codes.

QR codes also provide first-party data on customer behavior, including website visits, coupon codes used, purchases made, and other conversion metrics. Brands can use this data to better understand consumer behavior and optimize for the promotions, creatives, or messaging that performed best.

Screen Shot at PM

Interested in learning more about how we can help you take advantage of QR codes to engage with your viewers? Contact us at info@lgads.tv or scan below to send us a message:

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Often when brands are thinking about their advertising strategy, they make ad buys based on general market audience profiles, without stopping to consider the nuanced, specific segment of women. Yet, women control over $10 trillion in consumer spending in the US. Additionally, according to Traqline, women account for a considerable percentage of traditionally male product purchases — 45% of auto tires and batteries, 50% of consumer electronics and 55% of small appliances. With women being at the forefront of many purchase decisions, brands should dedicate a portion of their budget to advertising to this audience group in a manner that reflects their values and beliefs.

In celebration of #WomensHistoryMonth, we brought together a panel of female powerhouses to discuss how brands can better reach and engage with the highly receptive women audience segment. Our expert panel included Tiffany Pegues, Group Leader, Consumer Advocacy and Insights at Church & Dwight Co. Inc.; Katie Klein, Chief Investment Officer at PHD Media; Amy Sheridan, Senior Director, Global Integrated Media at Nike; and our moderators — Katherine Yager, VP of General Market Sales and Monica Longoria, Head of Product Marketing at LG Ad Solutions.

When it comes to reaching women audiences and connecting with them on a deeper level, here are three tips to keep in mind:

  1. Don’t Think Pink: Women are multilayered, multifaceted and dynamic individuals. Brands must truly understand a woman’s nuanced personality, tailoring their messaging and creative to represent her accurately. Advertising based on gender stereotypes will not only make a woman feel unseen, but likely prevent her from buying from the brand. As women grow and navigate different life stages, they prioritize different things. A single, working woman will have different priorities compared to a married woman or a mother. Brands must be deliberate in the way they speak to women so as to resonate with them in a way that earns their loyalty.                                                                                                                                                             LG Ads Quote Katie Klein v                                                                                                                                                           vvv 
  2. Content Is Queen!: The importance of following your audience and meeting them where they are cannot be stressed enough. Attention and consumption habits are fragmented, making multi-media marketing a necessity. Video on TV and cross-screen devices, if integrated into content in the right way, can strike a chord with target audiences. Short-form and long-form content both have their own place in media, but lines are starting to blur in terms of where this content can be found. For instance, LG TVs now have the TikTok app available, meaning that short-form content can be viewed on the largest screen in the house and is not restricted to mobile or tablet.                                                                                                                                                                            LG Ads Quote x tiff                      vvv 
  3. Not Out With The Old, But In With The New: Millennials are an important target for brands. But the up-and-coming Gen Z and Gen Alpha cannot be left unconsidered. Gen Z especially looks up to and resonates with brands that take a stand on social issues and have opinions on topics that matter. These generations are also not monolithic and consist of cohorts of diverse thoughts and backgrounds that marketers must embrace. To resonate with these audiences, brands must first consider what aspect of Gen Z audiences they want to tap into and then decide the media mix that will have the most impact.LG Ads Quote amy v

A common thread amongst all the expert opinions in our webinar was for there to be women representation both on camera and behind the scenes. For brands to design campaigns that target women, it is imperative to have women at the helm of decisions who can accurately portray women, their needs and values. Investment in diverse talent is critical not only to amplify the voices of women in general, but women from different backgrounds, cultures and belief systems to help truly make a difference.

To view the full webinar, fill in the form below:


If common sense, instinct, and good ethics weren’t enough to convince brands that the accurate portrayal of women in marketing was important, there is now data to prove it. According to the 2021 GEM Lift Study conducted by SeeHer and IRI using LG Ad Solutions TV viewership data, women across the globe together control $31.5 trillion in consumer spending, of which $10 trillion is in the US alone. A massive chunk of the consumer spend is women-led, with 90% of decisions around purchasing consumer goods driven by women.

Our world is not as equitable as we wish it to be, to make a gross understatement. But media today plays a central and pivotal role in fighting against discrimination and improving equality. In fact, more than half (52%) of consumers believe that the onus is, in part, on media to improve equality. Similarly, 72% believe that brands can drive social change. 

GEM Study To Understand Impact of Equal Representation on Brand Sales 

SeeHer has been actively involved in measuring the value of diversity in media. In its latest effort, SeeHer led the development of a measurability index called GEM (Gender Equality Measure) to examine unconscious gender bias in advertising and programming. GEM evaluates the accurate portrayal of women and girls in ads and programming. The baseline GEM score is 100, with any score higher than 100 meaning that the programming/commercial accurately represents the female population. 

The GEM research study* conducted found that:

*For full methodology on the research study download the 2021 GEM Lift Study here. (Page 16)

  1. A campaign creative that accurately portrays women and girls can garner five times incremental sales lift and two times sales lift when placed in proper programming
  2. Across gender, language, race and ethnicity, ads with high GEM scores overall delivered 60% improved sales performance
  3. Ads that score 106 or above on GEM see a 12% incremental sales lift for women and an 81% lift for men vs. those scoring below that number
  4. Ads placed on TV shows that have a high GEM score also contribute to significant sales increases (up to 93% lift)

LG Ads womens equality

Inclusion and representation should be the core of every business

Media investment directed at marginalized audience groups is very small compared to the percentage they account for in the population. For example, there are 31 million Hispanic women in the US, representing one in five women overall. However, according to the Hispanic Marketing Council, only 6% of advertising industry investment is directed at the Hispanic community. This discrepancy is also present for Asian and Black audiences, in part due to lack of diversity within companies.

Understanding the audience is key. Having a team that can add a cultural lens, that can interpret the data, make it [the Hispanic audience ad experience] authentic and make it real is extremely important. In front of and behind the camera, the creatives at any point must reflect the audience.” – Annie Leal, Head of Content at H Code

As a society, we are making strides, most often in the right direction, toward shattering stereotypes and biases. While inclusion is obviously beneficial for society, it is also valuable to the bottom line: Brands that stand for accurate representation and have a diverse internal makeup build trust and loyalty with the consumer, leading to increased sales performance. Media that showcases the intersectionality and multidimensional personality of an audience helps them feel seen. As such, if brands want to grow and gain more traction with their audiences, focusing on equality should be the highest priority. 

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Interested in learning more? Download the 2021 GEM Lift Study – Accurate Portrayal of Women and Girls Accelerates Business Growth Across Gender, Language, Race and Ethnicity here.

To discuss how we can help you reach women across TV, contact us at info@lgads.tv or send us a message on our contact page.