Fresh from the news of a proposed merger between NY-based Omincom and French-native Publicis Groupe, we begin to see positive numbers for digital advertising.
First things first, though. The two companies hold a big network of agencies each by and large focused on the ad business. In the Sunday OmniPub press conference, the rationale provided as a reason for merging was looking to combine forces to compete with Google and Facebook in the collection and utilization of data.
As Ad Contrarian points out#, apparently, the advertising industry has decided that it is no longer in the creativity business. The part that drives his point home is further down in the post:
The ad industry has decided to play the other guy's game. They are now competing in an arena in which they have distinct disadvantages. They are not as good at data or technology as their competitors. They are quietly abandoning creativity, although it is still the one and only thing that clients can't get somewhere else.
For all the talk of creativity, emotional connection, creating a memorable message, it sounds like the general hysteria conversation around "big data" is winning.
Maybe I'm wrong, I don't see Facebook and Google getting in the ad creative business. It's much more profitable to stick to what they know best.
Mobile is providing a boost to the Social Network. According to the BBC News#:
Facebook made $655.6m from mobile ads between April and June - more than 41% of the $1.6bn in overall advertising revenue, compared with 30% for the same period last year. The number of mobile users expanded 51% to 819 million.
Bloomberg reports on profit sales beating estimates on new ad formats# -- Zuckerberg is delivering on his promise of making Facebook a “mobile-first” company, according to Jordan Rohan, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus & Co. in NY.
Apps are simpler, more streamlined experiences. An ad on a mobile screen is like an ad on TV, only more personal when displayed off a social network app.
Will digital agencies own the ad creative space?
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