What's new in the world of international marketing? From LinkedIn playing a part in Canadian B2B digital marketing strategies to how Google Cloud can be used to enhance customer experience, read more.

International Marketing News: The Impending UK and EU Agreement Over Transportation of Goods

What's new, important and interesting in international marketing? This week we look at the current and future uptick of investment in digital advertising, the part LinkedIn plays in Canadian B2B digital marketing strategies and an analysis of how Google Cloud can be used to enhance the customer experience.

13 KEY STATS TO INDICATE HOW ADVERTISING IS EVOLVING

Econsultancy has reported that digital ad spend is surpassing traditional and mobile advertising, growing consistently to become one of the most resilient channels throughout the course of the pandemic.

1. Digital ad spend has grown ahead of traditional advertising this year

Businesses have turned to digital advertising during the pandemic to reach consumers where they have spent most of their time through COVID-19.

1. Traditional ad spend in the UK fell by 48% in Q2

Cut backs on ad spend by the entertainment and leisure industry has impacted traditional ad spend, coupled with a pullback on investment in out of home advertising. McDonald’s, Amazon and Sky made the biggest cut backs, while Disney+, Microsoft, O2 and Public Health England invested the most in traditional ad channels.

1. In 2019, social media replaced print as the third largest advertising channel

Social media accounted for 13% of global ad spend (or US $84 billion), while print reduced by 6% to $69 billion.

1. Mobile ad spend could reach $40.58 billion by 2026, which has remained resilient through the pandemic

Fortune feel this rapid growth is reflective of the rising demand for smartphones and greater availability of internet connections worldwide.

PubMatic’s Q2 2020 Quarterly Mobile Index highlighted that mobile ad spend had skyrocketed, growing by over 71% YoY. Mobile video ad spend increased by 116% over pre-COVID-19 levels.

1. Forecasted growth of Global In-App Advertising could reach 278% between 2020 and 2027             

The Global In-App ads market could rise from the current level of $99.50 billion to $376.40 billion by 2027. In-App advertising in China, the world’s second largest economy, could reach $64.3 billion a growth of 20% by 2027. Canada, Japan and Germany are forecasted to grow by 18% over this period.

1. Mobile accounted for more than 50% of the UK digital ad spend in 2018

For the first time ever, smartphones overtook desktop, representing 51% of ad spend in 2018 – up from 45% in 2017.

1. For the first time ever, Google’s ad revenue declined in Q2 2020

Both Facebook and Google reported negative impacts on their ad revenue resulting from the pandemic, although Facebook saw a lesser impact with a reported growth of 10% YoY, while Google saw a decline of 8% compared with a 16% gain in 2019.

1. Amazon anticipates a growth in ad revenue of 470% between 2019 and 2023

Juniper Research forecasted Amazon’s ad revenue to reach $40 billion by 2023, up from $29 billion. This growth is driven by “the use of AI-based programmatic advertising to deliver highly targeted ads”, according to Juniper.

1. Podcast ad revenue is estimated to grow to nearly $1 billion in 2020, a 15% YoY increase

Podcasts have endured the impacts of the pandemic to a lesser extent than other forms of advertising media, which has been fuelled by B2C companies continuing to invest in advertising for podcasts.

1. US digital ad spend through radio increased by 78% to $1,002 billion from 2010 to 2019, which represents 10% of US ad revenue

This growth is attributable to growing investment in local radio advertising on stations, which offer digital advertising services.

1. E-sports advertising spend is set to see continued growth reaching more than $250 million by 2022

Despite the impacts of the pandemic, Warc report that e-sports ad spend is forecasted to grow by 1.7% in 2020, 5.9% in 2021 and 5.4% in 2022.

1. Buy-side advertisers anticipate Connected Television (CTV) and Over-the-Top (OTT) advertising to see the biggest growth through digital ad channels during H2 2020

Both OTT and CTV have seen modest growth over the pandemic with streaming services like Netflix and Disney+ enjoying all-time viewership highs. US programmatic ad spend on OTT/CTV grew by 40% during April and May, as reported by Pixalate. Media research firm TAM reported that ad insertions on OTT platforms in India doubled in April.

1. Digital could fuel the recovery of OOH (Out of Home), representing almost 100% of growth by 2024

Pre-pandemic OOH was anticipated to see a boom in 2020, this has pivoted to a decline, which will be unlikely to reverse until 2021 when the channel is expected to grow as a result of increased investment in DOOH (Digital Out of Home) advertising.

LINKEDIN OFFERS LUCRATIVE OPPORTUNITIES FOR B2B ADVERTISERS TARGETING CANADA

eMarketer’s analysis indicates that LinkedIn received an average of 8.7 million monthly visitors in H1 2020. This has reduced to 8.3 million visitors in June.

The Coronavirus pandemic drove the decline due to the reduction in companies recruiting in March and April, as well as a switch in usage to personal social media channels to keep in contact with friends and family.

LinkedIn is the third most frequently used social media channel in Canada, as evidenced by a recent Ryerson University survey highlighting that 44% of users surveyed have a LinkedIn account, compared with 51% for Instagram and 83% for Facebook.

Canadian B2B marketers view LinkedIn as the top digital channel for executing organic and paid campaigns due to increasing the number of features that support B2B marketing efforts.

73% of B2B advertisers worldwide believe that LinkedIn generates the highest return on investment, according to an Incite Group survey. Grapevine 6, an ad-tech firm based in Toronto, emphasise the importance of having an integrated paid and organic strategy on LinkedIn, ensuring that your audience targeting for paid ads is optimised to the demographics of your target personas.

UK AND EUROPEAN LOGISITICS COMPANIES SEEK TO FORM A UNIFIED FREE TRADE DEAL AMID FEARS OF FRAGMENTATION

Institute of Export & International Trade report that 33 logistics bodies across Europe have put pressure on the negotiators of the UK and EU trade deals to secure an agreement that is economically viable for EU and UK transit vehicles to move between the two territories.

The UK and EU began the final round of negotiations this week with the EU leaders’ summit in mid-October being the date an agreement would need to be reached.

The logistics industries are seeking a reciprocal agreement between the EU and the UK based on mutual recognition of standards, competences and certificates, which would exclude the reintroduction of haulage permits and quota systems originally intended to cover high volumes of trade between the two territories.

The proposed de facto Kent border would involve hauliers being subject to new checks and controls for moving goods from the UK to the EU, with new requirements being phased in for imports into the UK over a period of six months.

The government estimates that 7,000 lorries cold be caught in traffic jams in Kent to carry goods over the English Channel and are introducing a ‘Kent Access Permit’ to prevent this barrier to trade.

CHIEF MARKETING OFFICERS (CMOs) EVIDENCE HOW THEY ARE USING CLOUD TECHNOLOGY TO PERSONALISE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCES

Google Canada outline that CMOs have been championing innovation to transform their relevant companies digitally. The importance of their efforts has been accelerated by the urgency for digital adoption emerging from the impacts of the pandemic.

Board members are now actively seeking insights into consumer behaviour that may inform all areas of their operation – from supply chain management to customer service.

It’s absolutely key for companies to provide a relevant, personalised customer experience in spite of the current inability to predict consumer behaviour. Agile plans can be made using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), powered by cloud technology, to analyse vast amounts of data to identify trends in consumer behaviour, predict trends, flag underperforming campaigns and move budget where there is greater opportunity.

Rituals, a global home and body cosmetics business, used Google Cloud to connect first party data from Google Marketing Platform, CRM systems, email and point of sale to identify better market insights. This resulted in an 85% increase in sales, 15% decrease in CPA and overall company growth of 50-60%.

Implementing a unified data strategy through Google Cloud enables the integration of supply chain from warehouse, digital ad campaign and storefront data to efficiently forecast demand and supply, plan capacity and act on real time market trends and consumer behaviour indicators.

CMOs can use their position to unite the C-Suite using automation to save their teams’ time and improve customer experience to increase revenue and allow budget to be invested in activity that is aligned with consumer expectations.

Agility does not have to be reached through experiencing risk. CMOS can develop an actionable vision, powered by cloud to drive their organisations forward.

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