Japanese marketers use "context advertising"

The Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games held this summer was an exciting and thrilling experience for Japanese advertisers (marketers) who spent a great deal of effort planning and managing campaigns and brand safety. In particular, interest in media quality has increased more than ever, and the importance of brand safety measures against the risk of brand damage and the efficiency of campaigns has attracted attention. According to the "IAS Media Quality Report Second Half of 2020", ad fraud (advertising fraud) is on the rise in Japan. As a countermeasure, investment in more reliable and high-quality inventory sources and realization of monitoring and optimization by verification partners are required.

What is needed to maintain high-quality impressions as Japanese marketers focus on improving the quality of digital media? Here are some of them.

Improving brand reputation

According to the IAS Ripples Effect Survey conducted by IAS in 2019, more than 80% of Japanese respondents said that it is important that online advertisements are displayed adjacent to high-quality content. In addition, nearly 90% of ad brands displayed in a low-quality content environment felt "annoying", and nearly 70% tended to hold advertisers responsible for the ad delivery environment.

With the sheer volume of digital content being created every day, advanced technologies and solutions that enable their data quality and contextual analysis of all pages are now available. In other words, you can analyze the context, emotions, and emotions of online content such as web pages to understand the true meaning of the page. A detailed understanding of the story makes it possible, for example, to distinguish between stories about the increased risk of death from the new coronavirus and stories about front-line healthcare professionals or the sacrifices they make. It is impossible to grasp the whole picture only with URLs and headlines. The important thing is to avoid content that doesn't fit your brand image and serve ads only to highly compatible content. By ensuring brand safety and compatibility, marketers can identify the optimal environment for their brand and avoid potentially harmful environments. With this approach, brands can take the best possible protection in the event of any problems and respond before criticism surface.

Context targeting as an alternative to third-party cookies

As behavioral analytics as a targeting method declines, context intelligence is gaining popularity because it can present relevant and engaging content to users and produce effective results. Context targeting is gaining in presence as the most effective alternative to targeting ads on a large scale and accurately. Many context targeting has already been adopted in the world, and it is used as a measure against cookie regulation.

So what does a brand need to maximize digital investment while testing, learning, and updating?

First, ensure baseline consistency by investing in quality impressions. Quality impressions ensure that marketers' digital investments are effective and reduce the waste of media investments.

And to ensure an effective environment and cost, and maximize the time that consumers can see. Content and context play an important role in identifying and engaging audiences as third-party data usage restrictions become more stringent. In addition, you can improve performance efficiency by maximizing the time your audience sees in a cost-effective way.

It is no exaggeration to say that we are in the midst of a data privacy revolution. Witnessing significant data breaches and lack of transparency, consumers are increasingly concerned about how personal information is collected and used. Strict access control is required to maintain data privacy and protect sensitive personal data. The same is true for marketing, but the marketing industry has traditionally relied heavily on user targeting and CPC optimization, ignoring context as well as brand safety and ad fraud that are already commonplace in the global digital advertising market. I have come to do it. Brand safety and consumer privacy are inextricably linked.

Context targeting to help marketers

Below, let's summarize the features of context targeting.

● Awareness of sentiment analysis

As the importance of the brand and the risk of brand damage are increasing, it is important as a brand safety strategy to avoid content that does not match the brand image and deliver advertisements only to highly compatible content.

Ads with messages related to the content environment, even in negative contexts, can be matched to the nuances of the article to increase their liking and awareness and make them more acceptable to consumers. Therefore, it is important for marketers to combine some advertising patterns suitable for their brand and brand message to adapt to the content environment.

● Adjustments to content that is closely related to the context

Context targeting gives you more flexibility in determining whether it is appropriate for your brand context and provides accurate targeting. It is possible to analyze the context, emotions, and emotions of online content such as web pages, avoid content that does not match the brand image, and deliver advertisements only to highly compatible content. It can also increase brand and campaign awareness, engagement, and even likability while minimizing the risk of brand damage.

And like traditional contextual ads, for example, car-related ads are delivered next to content that is highly relevant to the product or brand, as they appear in car-related articles.

● Reach your ideal audience with the Audience Proxy segment

Under the new environment of the revised Personal Information Protection Law and cookieless, which will come into effect in April next year, advertisers need a solution to reach their ideal audience in the right place. Context targeting allows audience targeting to be content-managed across proxy segments, helping advertisers adjust ad placement along with deeper classification of content, enabling large-scale and accurate target reach.

In addition to current affairs, industry, and seasonal targeting, context targeting can also be used as audience proxy targeting. This will enable highly adaptable ad placement, reach your ideal target audience, and enhance your brand image and awareness.

The advertising industry is undergoing a major transformation. One of the big trends is the rapid shift from mass reach to the right audience at the right time, and the right environment, and contextual advertising is evolving day by day. It can be said that the skill that Japanese advertisers need today to quickly understand and master contextual advertising is to maintain their competitive advantage.

(Text: Takeshi Yamaguchi Editing: Tatsuya Mizuno)

Takeshi Yamaguchi is the Japan Country Manager of Integral Ad Science.