Ahead of next week’s ATS Singapore 2022, John McNerney, senior director of platforms, APAC, Yahoo, details how an omnichannel approach, leveraging emerging formats and technologies, can be successfully used to adapt to evolving customer journeys.

John McNerney, senior director of platforms APAC, Yahoo

The ad tech landscape is rife with rapid changes and significant shifts — we’ve seen this take place since the pandemic with the surge in online use, and we are bound to witness more change with the phasing out of the cookie. Keeping up with these developments can be daunting, but for brands who want to continually engage with people in a digital environment, it boils down to a fundamental marketing principle: connecting people.

Creating these connections comes down to brands meeting people at relevant touchpoints at the intersection of a ‘trinity of rights’ — reaching the right person, at the right place, at the right time. At the end of the day, marketers still have to understand the three C’s — connectivity, consumer, and content — and brands with the data-driven insights and technology that enable a seamless experience, personalisation, and transparency will be poised for success.

The changing consumer journey

The growth of emerging channels and connected devices have allowed people to be tethered to the digital world 24/7, shaping their expectations of digital experiences.

5G connectivity, in particular, has powered transformative technology. It enables businesses to create rich and immersive experiences for their consumers, while accelerating the progress of next-gen platforms such as the metaverse. This technology is changing the way brands connect with people whose motivations, perceptions, and attitudes evolve with each digital experience.

One thing to note as well is that digital-first habits from the pandemic are sticking. A study by Yahoo and Publicis shows that 84% of households purchased a new device during the pandemic, with 63% engaged in online shopping, while 41% searched for new online stores to try. People stepping out more and regaining their confidence to be anywhere adds layers to where brands should be meeting their consumers. Even when shoppers are in a store, they constantly research reviews and recommendations for products online, or download discounts or offers they can use in-store - the best deal is often a click away.

And while the rise of e-commerce over the past couple of years has been massive, being digitally savvy has resulted in some fascinating consumer trends. Aside from being more adventurous in their shopping behaviour, consumers expect brands to be seamless, innovative, and with the constant ability to offer more — a Yahoo immersive formats study found that 63% of Millennial and Gen Z shoppers are more likely to buy from brands that innovate in their advertising. They want brands to enhance their real-world experiences, aside from just online interactions.

Consider the average consumer’s daily activity: they probably read the news on their phones as they wake up, answer emails and do some work on their laptop, shop online on their tablets, head to the mall to grab their dinner, and unwind in front of their connected TV (CTV) before bed.

A screen for every routine: omnichannel, not multi-channel

This makes it crucial for brands to integrate their online and offline touchpoints and adopt an omnichannel mindset. To meet people where they are, inspiring them to take action at the right time, whether they’re on their tablet on the couch, or passing by a digital out-of-home (DOOH) billboard on the street.

Yet, today, the main challenge that confronts most marketers is connecting the dots between these fragmented activities and channels. This increasingly complex matrix is compounded by the fact that there are more distractions and fewer ways to understand what customers are doing online, all while ensuring that performance is delivered in a privacy-safe environment.

It is not about a hyper-charged “spray and pray” tactic as well. It can be easy to decide to adopt a multi-channel approach with a varied media mix, but marketers often lack the information they need to ensure efficiency and transform experiences into truly seamless and omnichannel ones.

An omnichannel mindset - a screen for every routine - begins with data-driven insights that help you understand your customer well: their lifestyle habits and devices they use, how they interact with your brand, and their pain points.

It is also about understanding and mastering the strengths of different channels and formats, and engaging audiences appropriately at each touchpoint in an omnichannel strategy. Together, this will help you identify the right messaging, and how to utilise each of these channels within your media plan to create a seamless, tailor-made experience on the right screen at the right time.

More screens and channels give rise to limitless possibilities. From emerging formats such as DOOH and advanced TV (ATV) that offer larger creative real estate to the interplay between screens that open up possibilities for multiverse, interconnected opportunities.

Think big! Global asset and wealth management company Schroders’ “Beyond Profit” campaign utilised DOOH to capture audience attention within Singapore’s CBD and followed through with CTA-optimised ads on their mobile phones. This effective campaign leveraged enhanced targeting tools and advanced contextual opportunities in mobile-first Southeast Asia.

Omnichannel campaigns, powered by the latest technologies, blur the lines between the physical and digital realms. The evolving landscape allows marketers to break new ground as they explore the parameters of telling stories, narratives, and multisensory experiences. With various channels at your disposal - AR/VR, ATV, DOOH etc. - amp up personalisation through data-driven insights and creatives to ensure success in the battle for consumer attention and to combat banner blindness.

A great example is Discovery Communication’s “Shark Week” - a personalised, creative and experiential engagement brought to life across display, mobile, video, CTV and DOOH. Users just had to point their mobile cameras at a QR code on a DOOH or CTV screen for an AR shark experience as part of an omnichannel strategy to drive subscriptions.

To overcome fragmentation, a full-stack solution that helps manage a unified omnichannel supply of media can also give you a holistic view of the campaign and your consumer — all while honouring privacy preferences. Harness this efficiency across creative, workflow, measurement, and attribution, and truly maximise your working media by optimising channels and creatives to drive the best results against your objectives, whether it is awareness and reach, or conversions and engagements.

Through a seamless pre-campaign, live, and post-campaign process — including planning, buying, optimisation, measurement, and attribution within a single unified view — marketers can focus on shaping the customer journey, no matter what screen they’re on.

Consumers today want more, even as they might seem impossible to reach. However, with audience understanding powered by first-party data, creativity, and a fully-focused omnichannel mindset powered by the right solutions, reaching consumers where they are at scale and with efficiency is possible today.

ATS Singapore 2022 will take place on 21st and 22nd September at Parkroyal Collection Marina Bay. Tickets and further information are available via the ATS Singapore 2022 event hub.