GumGum made a splash at Cannes Lions 2024 with our first-ever Mindset Week, a transformative experience that encouraged attendees to refresh their mindsets and embrace the present moment. Stationed at Inkwell Beach, our cabana space offered an oasis from the hustle and bustle of the festival with mindful mocktails, delicious gelato and a spot of much-needed shade. We also hosted a number of powerful panels discussions across the croisette on how brands can adopt a mindset-first advertising strategy in an impending cookieless world.
The Future of CTV: Trust, Transparency and Effective Targeting
Phil Schraeder sat down with Alex McClure, Global Director, Media for Expedia Group and Kristy Quagliariello, VP of Programmatic for Klick Health for a keynote session to discuss how partnerships can foster trust to deliver impactful CTV advertising and apply new technologies to enhance viewer experiences and build authentic brand connections.
Here are the top highlights from the discussion:
Connecting Consumer Mindset with Brand Messaging
With CTV advertising booming, it requires unique strategies distinct from linear TV. This has become even more clear as current risks in CTV such as counterfeit contextual and misinformation threaten brand safety with unsuitable ad placements - like ads for alcohol in kid's content.
The future of CTV is incumbent on connecting the mindset of the consumer with the advertiser's message. We leverage our advanced contextual platform, Verity™, to analyze pages at a very deep, frame-by-frame level to ensure contextual alignment between an online environment and brand messaging.
Cookies make ad predictions based on previous consumer behavior instead of tapping into what someone cares about at a specific moment in time. That’s where advanced contextual targeting shines – it matches brands with consumers in the right mindset, based on the context of a digital environment.
Contextual ads promote brand safety, encourages transparency and drive amazing creative experiences that audiences are interested in.
CTV Exposure is Quicker to Drive Sales
With the streaming boom, it is crucial for brand and agency partners to connect with audiences where they are most present - that is, on CTV.
When audiences are exposed to CTV ads first, their path to conversion is much quicker than if they were exposed to audio or display ads first. With CTV ads, brands and agency partners can get to audiences a lot sooner at a much more efficient rate.
Plus, CTV improves audience targeting by streamlining the process and allowing advertisers to pick their specific audiences—from the broad to the niche for advanced targeting capabilities.
After an ad is served, advertisers can see how the ad is performing—allowing them to adjust creative if necessary. The result of these capabilities is a channel that provides a reliable and precise way to serve relevant ads to consumers.
Testing on Different Platforms to Drive Outcomes
While advertisers are keen on working with major streaming players there may be amazing pockets of opportunity amongst other channels that should also be considered. If marketers are only buying on Hulu or Paramount Plus, they are potentially missing out on many valuable users users and eyeballs that are present on FAST channels or OEMs.
What works for one brand on one channel may not work for another. To succeed on CTV is a balancing act -- layering on audiences, whether behavioral, contextual or geographical, with a mix of different services, publishers and partners is vital to learn what exactly is working to deliver brand outcomes.
For the full session recording, please click here.
Panel Discussions Beyond Inkwell Beach
Along with the keynote session, GumGum leaders participated in a host of other vital panel discussions at Cannes 2024.
Navigating the CTV Revolution
Phil and IRIS.TV partnered up with top industry experts to discuss how advertisers can navigate the CTV revolution amidst challenges like cookie deprecation and privacy regulations. Panelists chatted about how AI-driven data signals can enhance ad targeting, ensuring relevance and emotional resonance to improve consumer experiences and drive outcomes for brands.
Inclusion: The Untapped Growth Engine for Marketers
Whalar Group led a talk about the importance of embedding inclusion at the center business strategies and Phil joined in to highlight the importance of acceptance and equity in the workplace. Speaking from his own experience, he stressed that the implementation of inclusive business practices is essential to future proof businesses and deliver sustainable and profitable growth.
Is the Industry "Data Symmetry Ready"?
GumGum President, Michelle Hulst, joined Lou Paskalis, CEO, AJL to chat about the implications of the ANA Programmatic Transparency Study on our advertising ecosystem.
Recharging & Reconnecting at Inkwell Beach
Along with our inspiring panels, guests also got a chance to take break from the festival with a moment of peace and respite at Inkwell Beach. Here attendees mingled with top industry leaders, enjoyed refreshing mocktails, snacked on gelato and beat the heat with GumGum branded electric fans (that also doubled as phone chargers!)
For more great moments from Cannes, view our full gallery here.
The Mindset Era is Here Now
As we wrap up Cannes 2024 and begin to embrace a cookieless world, the future of effective advertising is rooted in mindset and The Mindset Era is here now.
The new generation of AI-powered advanced contextual intelligence means we can understand what's going on in a specific context and what the mood is. And we get to serve ads based on the content that someone is engaging with at a specific moment based on these signals.
The Mindset Era is authentic. It is multi-dimensional. It is powerful. And it is focused on building that relationship and the optimal match between the brand and the consumer.
If you want to learn more about The Mindset Era or have any questions about our Cannes programming, please reach out below.
