Digital Marketing Solutions Summit | Forum Events Digital Marketing Solutions Summit | Forum Events Digital Marketing Solutions Summit | Forum Events Digital Marketing Solutions Summit | Forum Events Digital Marketing Solutions Summit | Forum Events

Posts By :

Stuart O'Brien

Print & Digital Innovations Summit: Everything you need to know!
By:
2

Your complimentary pass gives you free access to the hybrid Print & Digital Innovations Summit – Register today!

Date & Venue: 18th November – Hilton London Canary Wharf

Format: We will create a bespoke itinerary designed just for you. The itinerary will include relaxed, 1-2-1 meetings with suppliers, based on mutual agreement and matched requirements.

Key Benefits: You can build business connections with innovative suppliers, as well as gain insight into the future challenges within the industry. 
We will handle everything for you, saving you time and money by arranging all of your meetings – condensing months of work into one day.

Seminar Sessions: Throughout the event you can enjoy a range of insightful seminar sessions hosted by industry thought-leaders.

Your pass also includes complimentary lunch and refreshments throughout.

Register your place here via our short booking form (virtual attendance options are also available).

ICO issued fines of £42million last year
By:
2

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued a number of final civil monetary penalties in 2020, totalling £42,416,000 – The reasons for the fines included breaches of Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) and the Data Protection Act (DPA). 

The data, contained in the ICO’s ‘work to recover fines’ report and analysed by the Parliament Street Think Tank, reveals a catalogue of fines issued across a variety of sectors.

The analysis shows the scale of the fines highlights the severity of the problem. A total of 17 penalties were issued last year according to official figures. The largest fine was given to British Airways in the transport and leisure sector on 16th October 2020 at a total of £20,000,000 for a breach of the Data Protection Act (DPA). This is followed by a fine of £18,400,000, issued to Marriott International Inc on 30th October 2020, also for a breach of the DPA. 

The next largest was to Ticketmaster LTD, with a fine totalling £1,250,000 for data breaches on 13th November 2020. Then, DSG Retail Ltd, CRDNN Limited and Cathay Pacific all received fines totalling £500,000. 

Additionally, CRDNN was with a £500,000 fine on 2nd March 2021 for breaches of Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR).

The industry hit with the biggest fines was marketing with nine fines in total issued, followed by three fines issued to firms in the transport and leisure sector.

Additionally, the ICO issued three court orders for winding-up upon petitions in 2020. Trusted Futures Ltd received a penalty amount of £70,000, Superior Style Home Improvements received a penalty fee of £150,000 and Alistar Green Legal Services Ltd received a penalty fee of £90,000. All three organisations were given court orders in 2020.

Additionally, there were eight directors disqualified following ICO enforcement action in 2020. These directors have been disqualified for a number of years for conduct while acting for various companies.

Charlie Smith, Consultant Solutions Engineer, Barracuda Networks, said: “In today’s digital working environment, data security, recovery and protection is of vital importance. Unfortunately, it has become apparent that many business owners, workers and consumers are not aware of the need for backup and recovery services for their email service providers. Our own research even revealed that 40% of Office 365 users believe that Microsoft provides everything they need to protect their data and software.

“Whilst Office 365 does offer some level of security, even Microsoft suggests using a third party backup to ensure that data is fully protected and retrievable. Without it, organisations can be left prone to accidental data loss and even ransomware attacks. 

“Thus moving forward, organisations should invest in a third-party data backup solution that runs in the cloud, to enable seamless, efficient and comprehensive backup of data on a granular level – allowing lost, stolen or misplaced data to be restored without delay.”

Ecommerce revenues remain buoyed as bricks-and-mortar reopens
By:
6

As the UK High Street experienced a boost in the first week of non-essential retail re-opening, the digital High Street also remained buoyed, with revenues up +2.5% week-on-week.

That’s according to data from Wunderkind‘s Marketing Pulse report, which says as consumers hit the shops after months of closure, traffic on the High Street increased +178%, and an estimated £1.6billion was spent in-store on the first weekend of trading.

Web traffic also saw a rise, increasing by +2.4% over the same period (w/c 12.04 vs w/c 5.04) – which the behavioural marketing specialist says illustrates sustained digital demand.

This, Wunderkind suggests, is not only indicative of the seismic – and permanent – shift to digital, but of the importance in understanding and connecting more closely with shoppers to drive long-term brand advocacy and increased customer lifetime value. 

Wulfric Light-Wilkinson, GM EMEA at Wunderkind, said: “There’s been much debate as to whether the boom in online could successfully be sustained once retail reopened.  And, from what we’ve seen so far, even pent-up demand for real-life shopping experiences in the first week of opening hasn’t deterred consumers from the ease and convenience of shopping online, suggesting the shift to digital is here to stay.  But the real test now comes in how brands and retailers connect and engage with their customers moving forwards, to turn the new cohorts who have come online into repeat shoppers and those existing shoppers into long-term brand advocates.” 

While web revenues and traffic increased on the week before, email performance dipped slightly with revenue down a marginal -1.6% week-on-week. 

“This slight drop in UK email revenue retail could be down to a number of factors;” Light-Wilkinson suggested.  “Non-essential retail opened on the same day as outside hospitality, which also coincided with the last week of the Easter holidays – this may have prompted many to step away from their desks and take time off to enjoy new freedoms, perhaps explaining the slight dip in email performance during the week.”

Social mentions for the words ‘hairdresser’, ‘shops’ and ‘pub’ all saw significant spikes on the first day of restrictions easing, according to social agency, the tree, up 277%, 276% and 272% respectively on the day prior.

Do you specialise in Social Media marketing? We want to hear from you!
By:
6

Each month on Digital Marketing Briefing we’re shining the spotlight on different parts of the print and marketing sectors – and in May we’ll be focussing on Social Media services.

It’s all part of our ‘Recommended’ editorial feature, designed to help marketing industry professionals find the best products and services available today.

So, if you specialise in Social Media solutions and would like to be included as part of this exciting new shop window, we’d love to hear from you – for more info, contact Clair Wyld on c.wyld@forumevents.co.uk.

Here are the areas we’ll be covering, month by month:

May – Social Media
Jun – Brand Monitoring
Jul -Web Analytics
Aug -Conversion Rate Optimisation
Sep -Digital Signage
Oct -Brochure Printing
Nov – Creative & Design
Dec – Online Strategy

We’re looking for expert speakers for the Digital Marketing Solutions Summit
By:
3

We’re looking for marketing industry thought-leaders to share their knowledge at the upcoming Digital Marketing Solutions Summit, which is taking place virtually on May 12th & 13th.

If you’re available on those dates, have an internet connection and would like to take part in this unmissable industry event, simply contact Clare Wyld on 01992 666 724 / c.wyld@forumevents.co.uk.

Alternatively, if you’re a marketing professional, the Digital Marketing Solutions Summit takes place virtually this May – will you be joining us?

The Summit allows you to connect with innovative and budget-saving suppliers, as well as learn about the latest insights within the eCommerce industry.

Confirm your place here via our online booking form – attendance options are flexible.

Additional $900 Billion Spent Online at Retailers Globally in 2020
By:
7

As Covid-19 kept consumers around the world at home, nearly everything from groceries to gardening supplies was purchased online.

According to Mastercard’s latest Recovery Insights report, this amounted to an additional $900 billion being spent in retail online around the world in 2020.

Put another way: in 2020, e-commerce made up roughly £1.50 out of every £5 spent on retail, up from about £1 out of every £5 spent in 2019.

For retailers, restaurants and other businesses large and small, being able to sell online provided a much-needed lifeline as in-person consumer spending was disrupted.

Roughly 20-30% of the Covid-related shift to digital globally is expected to be permanent, according to Mastercard’s Recovery Insights: Commerce E-volution. The report draws on anonymized and aggregated sales activity in the Mastercard network and proprietary analysis by the Mastercard Economics Institute. The analysis dives into what this means by country and by sector, for goods and services, and within countries and across borders. 

“While consumers were stuck at home, their dollars travelled far and wide thanks to e-commerce,” says Bricklin Dwyer, Mastercard chief economist and head of the Mastercard Economics Institute. “This has significant implications, with the countries and companies that have prioritized digital continuing to reap the benefits. Our analysis shows that even the smallest businesses see gains when they shift to digital.”

While the digital transformation has been neither universal nor consistent – due to geographical, economic, and household differences – the report uncovers several key overarching trends: 

  • Early digital adopters go into overdrive: Economies that were more digital before the crisis—such as the UK and US —saw larger gains in the domestic shift to digital that look more permanent than the countries that had a smaller share of e-commerce before the crisis. In the UK, the e-commerce share of retail sales pre-crisis was 22%, rising to 31% at the peak of the crisis. The current level stands at 24% and we expect this shift of 2 percentage points to be permanent. 
  • Grocery and discount store digital gains look sticky: Essential retail sectors, which had the smallest digital share before the crisis, saw some of the biggest gains as consumers adapted. With new consumer habits forming and given the low pre-Covid user base, we anticipate 70-80% of the grocery e-commerce surge to stick around for good. As an example, as a result of the lockdowns in the UK, roughly one-fifth of all grocery shopping is now done online.
  • Consumers increase their e-commerce footprints, buying from up to 30% more online retailers:Reflecting expanded consumer choice, our analysis shows that consumers worldwide are making purchases at a greater number of websites and online marketplaces than before. In the UK, people are buying from 22% more online stores, on average. 
  • International e-commerce rose 25-30% during the pandemic: International e-commerce got a boost both in sales volume and the number of different countries where shoppers placed orders. With infinitely more choices at their fingertips, consumer spending on international e-commerce grew around 25-30% year over year from March 2020 through February 2021. 

Digital Marketing Solutions Summit: Secure your place today!
By:
3

Secure your place at the Digital Marketing Solutions Summit – a unique, virtual event for senior marketing professionals.

It takes place on the 12th & 13th May at 09:00-13:45, and is entirely free to attend. Simply register your place here.

• Receive an itinerary of pre-arranged, online meetings with suppliers based on your requirements and upcoming projects
• Gain 1-2-1 access to innovative, budget-saving solution providers
• Attend insightful and inspirational webinars
• Obtain a wealth of pre-recorded webinars post-event

Places are extremely limited. You can attend for one or both mornings or whatever your schedule allows – book here.

Global online Advertising Expected to Reach $1,089bn
By:
4

A rise in expenditure on digital media across various industries and a surge in popularity of streaming platforms is driving the growth of the global internet advertising market, according to new data.

A new report from Allied Market Research pegged the global online advertising market at $319 billion in 2019, growing to hit $1,089 billion by 2027, equivalent to a CAGR of 17.2% over the forecast period.

The report cautions that rising adoption of ad-blockers has restrained the growth to some extent, but that the emergence of advertising automation and a rise in adoption of identity-based pay-per-click (PPC) marketing are projected to pave the way for lucrative opportunities in the coming years.

Specifically, it says the impact of COVID-19:

  • Increased use of social media leading to rising drift to resort to social media platforms to endorse various media content with the target audience, which boosted the global market for Internet advertising.
  • That trend is likely to continue post-pandemic as well, since advertising of media and entertainment content over Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram has almost become a new drift in the recent times.

The global internet advertising market report is analyzed across platform type, ad format, pricing/revenue model, enterprise size, industry vertical, and region. Based on platform type, the mobile segment accounted for nearly two-thirds of the total market share in 2019 and is expected to rule the roost by 2027. The same segment would also manifest the fastest CAGR of 18.9% during the forecast period. 

Based on pricing model, the performance-based segment garnered more than half of the total market revenue in 2019 and is expected to lead the trail by 2027. At the same time, the hybrid segment would manifest the fastest CAGR of 22.7% throughout the forecast period.

Based on geography, North America held the share in 2019, holding around two-fifths of the global market. The market across Asia-Pacific, on the other hand, would cite the fastest CAGR of 21.6% from 2020 to 2027. The report also analyzes the market growth across LAMEA and Europe.

IAB Tech Lab publishes draft Project Rearc standards
By:
2

With less than a year until third-party cookies are phased out across all browsers, and with imminent changes to mobile ad IDs, IAB Tech Lab has been collaborating with the ad and media industry via Project Rearc.

The aim of Project Rearc is to develop privacy-preserving specifications and best practices to support the development of open-source and proprietary solutions. 

Tech Lab has now released initial specifications and best practices to support re-architecting digital media for addressability, accountability and privacy. These are released in partnership with PRAM (Partnership for Responsible Addressable Media), which brings together business, policy, and technical efforts across a full range of industry stakeholders.

The standards are currently open for industry comment and Tech Lab is urging the industry to get involved with vetting the specifications and best practices, which aim to provide a foundation for responsible targeting, measurement, and attribution solutions with consumer privacy at the forefront.

IAB Tech Lab said: “All of the specifications and best practices being released are designed to be pragmatic, secure, scalable, supportive of marketplace innovation, and enablers of conformity to data transparency standards for publishers, advertisers, and constituents across the advertising ecosystem, whether or not advertisers and publishers are able to connect their audiences directly.”

These include:  

  • The Accountability Platform: Ensures that all supply chain participants can consistently prove that they are adhering to user preferences. It provides specifications for open, auditable data structures, and standard practices intended to reliably demonstrate digital advertising supply chain conformity to preferences and restrictions set by users and the digital properties they visit. Open for public comment until 7 May 2021. Download the platform and provide feedback here. 
  • The Global Privacy Platform: Builds on prior standards to ensure that user data is passed in a safe and transparent manner. It addresses capturing and encoding regional user data rights and preferences into a standardised format that can be propagated through the supply chain. The aim is to offer users reliable transparency and control, and to support efficient compliance for industry participants amidst ongoing regulatory evolution. The Global Privacy Platform is designed to plug into the Accountability Platform, which enables compliance programs to analyse whether the advertising supply chain respects user preferences. Open for public comment until 8 April 2021. Download the platform and provide feedback here. 

Two addressability-focused releases are also being announced for public comment, supporting separate but complementary approaches and intended interoperability with the Accountability Platform.

  • Best Practices for User-Enabled Identity Tokens: A set of guidelines to ensure security and consumer privacy in scenarios when publishers and marketers offer personalised content and services tied to a user-provided email or phone number. Open for public comment until 7 May 2021. Download the platform and provide feedback here. 
  • Taxonomy & Data Transparency Standards to Support Seller-Defined Audience and Context Signalling: Specifications for ad-supported publisher content when no user-provided or third-party identifier is available, relying on standardised seller-defined audience and contextual attributes being passed within OpenRTB (real-time bidding). Open for public comment until 7 May 2021. Download the platform and provide feedback here. 

You can review the proposed standard and provide feedback, please go to: https://iabtechlab.com/rearc 

You can find out more about the new releases via IAB Tech Lab here. 

Sony showcases Spatial Reality Display 3D tech
By:
4

Sony Corporation has unveiled the latest instalment of its brand campaign, A Sony Collaboration Series, with a visual 3D immersive experience that brings together RCA Records artist, songwriter and dancer Tate McRae with its innovative Spatial Reality Display.

The collaboration, produced by London-based agency Ralph, transports viewers into a whole new world of creativity and imagination with a unique and visually spectacular take on Tate’s hit song, “you broke me first.”

Sony’s Spatial Reality Display is a new product based on Sony’s award-winning Eye-Sensing Light Field Display technology. It follows the exact eye position of the viewer to create a highly-realistic virtual and 3D experience that is viewable to the naked eye, driving creators across a variety of industries to bring ideas to life in 3D displays. 

This collaboration steps inside the inner workings of Tate’s mind, following the story of her journey to becoming a chart-topping artist as it is illustrated through amazing visual 3D effects – powered by Unreal Engine. Sony’s ‘Spatial Reality Display’ lets viewers experience Tate’s “you broke me first”, with a choreographed dance routine Tate created specifically for the collaboration.

“Using Sony’s Spatial Reality Display to create a different look for my song was so cool and exciting,” says McRae. “The ability to transform myself into this 3D universe and showcase my dancing and song in a whole new way was just unthinkable and Sony helped me achieve the impossible. I mean come on, it’s a mini Tate!” 

“We are excited to celebrate the tremendous success Tate has had with her hit ‘you broke me first’ in an entirely new way with this collaboration,” said Tomokazu Tajima, Head of Brand Strategy Division, Sony Corporation. “A Sony Collaboration Series continues to follow our Purpose statement of filling the world with emotion through the power of creativity and technology, and this visual 3D immersive experience is an example of yet another way Sony technology can unleash creativity.”

The project is the fifth in the Sony Collaboration Series, a brand campaign produced by agency Ralph, that showcases all that the world of Sony has to offer through the power of creativity and technology. The multidisciplinary campaign consists of unique activations to produce stunning online content. This is part of an ongoing strategy to further highlight the ties between Sony Music artists and Sony assets including technology, gaming, film, and activating their passionate fan communities.

For more information and updates on the Sony Collaboration campaign, visit www.sony.com/collaborations or follow the campaign on www.youtube.com/sonyglobal