Rugby fans may have noticed that one of the Rugby World Cup's major sponsors is synchronising social media advertising activity in real-time based on what happens during each game. This is known as 'moment marketing'.

Earlier this week, TVTY's Antoine de Kermel, MD EMEA, spoke at ad:tech about how their moment marketing platform is helping brands such as Sony, Vodafone, Kia, and Coca-Cola drive incremental sales by synchronising digital campaigns with TV campaigns and external triggers such as sporting events or weather. ExchangeWire spoke exclusively to Antoine to learn more about moment marketing.

ExchangeWire: What is moment marketing and how does it differ to other forms of media planning and buying?

Antoine de Kermel: Put simply, moment marketing is the ability to instantly connect your online advertising to what’s going on in the offline world. Digital campaigns can be synced to a wide range of offline events, for example a change in the weather, the score of a football match, or the screening of a major TV ad campaign. A great example of moment marketing is Oreo’s very successful ‘dunk-in-the-dark’ Super Bowl tweet in 2013.

Unlike other forms of media buying, moment marketing has made it possible to instantly fine tune messages to make them personalised and relevant then shared across multiple platforms at a global scale.

How does moment marketing fit in with traditional multi-channel media planning and buying? 

Moment marketing is inherently multi-channel – it can be used to activate campaigns across all devices and across whichever form of digital media is needed to reach a brand’s customers. But a moment marketing platform should augment and not replace ‘traditional’ media planning and buying tools. TVTY is partnered, and fully integrated, with the biggest media buying platforms, such as Marin Software, to ensure our technology is a seamless part of the planning and buying process.

The first thing we look at is the TV media plan and we synchronise the digital strategy. We can also leverage competitor activity and plan digital roadblocks for brand X when brand Y's TV campaign goes live.

Where does the budget come from? Is it incremental budget, or is it taken from other media channels?

Brands are investing additional budget into synchronised campaigns. Moment marketing does not replace always-on campaigns, it compliments them. A brand's always-on campaign allows us to define patterns, e.g. when the temperature is above 15 degrees and it is not raining, conversion rate is highest. Based on that analysis brands will allocate specific budget to focus on those moments.

What is required, technically, to make moment marketing possible?

It’s TVTY’s specialist technology that makes moment marketing possible. We have a diverse number of offline triggers that let brands adjust their online campaigns. We also have the ability to mix and match those triggers, meaning that brands can combine triggers and rules to create a truly unique campaign tailored to their brand and audience. Despite all this, the platform is easy to use.

The technology behind our TV sync is brilliantly accurate. We allow brands to react to aired ads instantly, rather than an approximation based on a media plan model. This matters, as peak consumer interest occurs within 10 seconds of the ad being shown, so brands need to serve digital ads instantly to capture this interest. We currently monitor every TV ad, in real-time, across over 400 TV channels in 24 countries, using a combination of automated ‘video finger printing’ and human analysis. Others try and do this by just matching the audio of ad – this means the subtly of an on-screen cue is lost. For example, the same Currys ad could have two different on-screen calls to action for very different electronic products.

Which brands are most suited to moment marketing? 

Moment marketing is suitable for all kinds of brand. With consumers bombarded by so much advertising each day and the rising cost of online advertising, moment marketing is ideal for brands that want to cut through the noise, be relevant and optimise their media spend.

As such, our offering is very broad. Brands know better than anyone the types of triggers that might influence the behaviour of their audience. We simply give them the tools to manage campaigns in real-time, based on rules they’ve set. We also help brands search for new trigger trends that they might want to react to – for example, when Christmas gift Twitter conversations starts to pick up, or when ‘flight to Spain’ is a particular popular search.

Major brands such as Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Sony, and Visa are already using our technology as a way to monitor offline ‘events’ and then trigger their online advertising campaigns in real-time.

What are the main barriers to moment marketing and how can they be broken down?

Critics may be concerned that moment marketing triggered by TV ads could be threatened by the increase in time-shift TV. But in reality, the biggest moments for consumers will always be broadcast live – last year’s X Factor was watched live by over nine million people and over 10 million tuned in to watch England lose in the Rugby World Cup.

Another worry could be that different TV ads having alternative call to actions, as explained above. This would be a legitimate concern for platforms that monitor ads by matching audio. At TVTY, this isn’t a concern as we use a combination of automated ‘video fingerprinting’ and human analysis.

Finally, there could be a perception among digital marketing managers that this is an added layer of complexity to their already challenging jobs. But by using a platform that integrates fully with media buying platforms, executing moment marketing can be simple.

How do you see moment marketing evolving over the next 12-18 months? 

Over the next 18 months, we see marketing strategies becoming more granular and targeted towards the moments that matter most to consumers. These can be for massive global events like the UEFA EURO 2016 Finals aimed at football fanatics, or a rise in air pollution affecting asthma sufferers.

Also, we see moment marketing becoming a more integral part of the media planning process. A year ago, we were speaking to brands about the next quarter's activity, now we're talking about 2016 activity.

We will also see brands integrating first-party data into their moment marketing campaigns. For example, when a call centre is operating below 75%, that can be used as a trigger to increase digital activity and drive more demand to the call centres.