Informe de Sizmek titulado Luxury Brand Benchmark Report. En él, la firma estudió datos de comportamiento de campañas de 42 anunciantes globales de la categoría, desde enero hasta julio de 2014.
2. Contents
Introduction
The luxury landscape
The stakes are high
Sizmek benchmarks
Value through sophistication – best practices from Sizmek experts
Conclusion
3
4
4
5
6
7
Luxury Benchmarks
H1 2014
3. At first glance, luxury brands and the internet seem to have opposing objectives.
Luxury is about exceptionality, indulgence, and scarcity, while the internet is an
equalizer that anyone with a device and connection can use: Luxury brands in particular
have no interest in anyone who can’t afford their goods.
Due to this inherent conflict, luxury brands have been slow to adopt the internet as a
marketing and sales channel, sticking to traditional routes to reach known customers.
Nevertheless, luxury’s target customers are in fact online. And now there are tools that
can create a sense of exclusivity and brand loyalty once available only via brick and
mortar stores. With technologies like advanced audience targeting and cookie pooling,
dynamic creative, interactive video, mobile HTML5, real-time analytics, social media,
and verification, luxury advertisers can develop a valuable and lasting connection to
their best customers.
The following report offers tips based on Sizmek data and expertise for how to use
these advanced digital features to enhance your luxury campaigns. We also highlight
aggregate engagement data from more than 42 luxury brands worldwide running
campaigns on Sizmek MDX from January to July of 2014.
• U.S. affluent
consumers spent 49
hours online per week
in September 2013
(Ipsos MediaCT)
• 48% of U.S. affluent
consumers discovered
new luxury products
online
(American Express Publishing)
Interaction Rate Dwell Rate CTR
Luxury Benchmark Luxury Benchmark Luxury Benchmark
Introduction
Flash Formats
Rich Media 3.01% 2.93% 3.42% 4.41% 0.36% 0.22%
Polite Banner 2.55% 1.32% 2.45% 2.34% 0.37% 0.13%
Expandable Banner 4.52% 5.51% 6.43% 7.02% 0.31% 0.33%
3 Sizmek Luxury Benchmarks: H1 2014
4. The luxury landscape
• The target is defined. Traditionally, luxury brands know where to find their targets (affluents and aspirationals – A&A):
high-end magazines, luxury locations, exclusive events, business and finance publications, and the like. In digital, A&As are first
adopters. They’re mobile, cosmopolitan, and money isn’t a concern.
• Brand is king. Luxury advertisers take their brands very seriously and will spend big money to retain their status across an entire
campaign – be it on a billboard at Wimbledon or in the latest tablet edition of Vogue or Esquire.
• Anything goes. Luxury brands will follow their consumers to the ends of the earth and are willing to experiment with new
formats and features to get their attention – anything that fits with the brand story and values.
• It has to look effortles. The key to luxury brand success is keeping the brand as a status symbol without patronizing the target.
There is a fine line between a coveted accessory and over-eager aspirant. This applies to digital advertising as well – luxury
brands carefully select the environment, format, and style of their ads. No flashing banners here - it has to be personal and
appropriate.
• The end game is the same. Obviously, the ultimate goal in all marketing is sales. In that, digital is unique as a channel. Not only is
digital a branding vehicle, it also lets advertisers drive qualified customers to the checkout lane online (accounting for 5% of total
luxury sales in 20131) or in-store visits.
The stakes are high Allocation of Digital Luxury Ad Budget According to
U.S. Ad Agencies and Luxury Brand Marketers
% of total Ad agencies Luxury brand marketers
Display
28%
17%
16%
16%
11%
11%
11%
Interactive TV
7%
9%
10%
26%
13%
Search
Video
Mobile
Email
Social
3%
22%
Source: Martini Media and Digiday, "Engaging the Affluent Online: How Luxury
Brands Are Leveraging Digital Marketing to Connect with Customers",
Aug 23, 2012
Worldwide, people are increasing their time spent with media on
computers and mobile devices, and brands must connect with
their customers in these environments. As a result, spending
in these channels increased at a much faster growth rate than
traditional media, overtaking print and broadcast TV in some
regions. eMarketer estimates digital ad spending will reach
$213.9 billion by 2018.
Luxury marketing spend is no different. The 2014 Luxury
Interactive Benchmarking Study by WBResearch found that
97% of luxury advertisers were planning to increase their digital
spending in 2014. The study went on to report that respondents
were investing heavily in ecommerce, CRM, and display
advertising. This data supports a 2012 survey from Martini
Media and Digiday stating that 26% of luxury’s digital budget
went to display while 22% went to social. These responses
indicate that advertisers are using display advertising to build
awareness of their brands and then carefully grooming new
followers via social.
1 Bain and Fondazione Altagamma
4 Sizmek Luxury Benchmarks: H1 2014
5. Sizmek benchmarks
What works in lux? Sizmek Research built custom rich media and HTML5 benchmarks with data from 42 luxury brands and
advertisers from January to July of 2014. Below, we built out comparison tables using the H1 2014 Benchmark Data Book to see
how they performed against the benchmark average.
Interaction Rate Dwell Rate CTR
Luxury Benchmark Luxury Benchmark Luxury Benchmark
Flash Formats
Rich Media 3.01% 2.93% 3.42% 4.41% 0.36% 0.22%
Polite Banner 2.55% 1.32% 2.45% 2.34% 0.37% 0.13%
Expandable Banner 4.52% 5.51% 6.43% 7.02% 0.31% 0.33%
Luxury’s polite banner interaction rates were almost twice that of the benchmark number worldwide, hinting that great creative and
imagery grab the viewer’s attention. Dwell rates, which are only counted once, were in line with other rich media units. Click-through
rates (CTR) were higher for rich media on average and almost three times that for polite banners.
Polite banners with video clips showed a 40% increase in interaction rate and a 10% higher CTR vs. all polite banners (both video and non).
Interaction Rate Dwell Rate CTR
Luxury Benchmark Luxury Benchmark Luxury Benchmark
Rich Media Polite
with Video 3.60% 2.81% 2.05% 1.66% 0.39% 0.17%
In-banner video units also performed very well compared to the benchmark in all categories, suggesting that video strikes a chord
with affluent targets. Both interactions and dwell are proven indicators of increased brand awareness.
Luxury advertisers deployed a large number of HTML5 expandable banner formats. Luxury HTML5 expandable banners performed
more than twice than the benchmark in terms of CTR and almost doubled interaction rates as well. While interaction rates for polite
banners might not have hit the benchmark, dwell rates were higher and the CTR was equivalent at 0.35%.
HTML5 Formats
Interaction Rate Dwell Rate CTR
Luxury Benchmark Luxury Benchmark Luxury Benchmark
HTML5 Polite 0.61% 3.14% 3.98% 2.87% 0.35% 0.35%
HTML5 Expandable 8.06% 4.58% 2.11% 4.79% 0.81% 0.37%
HTML5 Standard -- -- -- -- 0.27% 0.31%
In addition to added performance with HTML5, Sizmek's internal research shows that default delivery rates for HTML5 (when an
impression fails to render on a user’s screen and they are shown a static image backup) are significantly lower than Flash rich media.
5 Sizmek Luxury Benchmarks: H1 2014
6. Value through sophistication – best practices from Sizmek experts
Jaime Singson, Director of Product Marketing
• Driving users to stores: Use geo-targeting and a simple call out to push people to their nearest luxury brand location. Even
listing just the neighborhood or store will do wonders especially since so many luxury advertisers don’t have e-commerce
capabilities.
• Retarget luxury users: While typical retargeting techniques (such as following users around with the products they looked at)
are ill-suited to luxury brands, other retargeting strategies are ideal. Showcase featured items, personalize items based on
categories the user enjoys, highlight new arrivals, etc.
• Complement rich ad units with engaging shopping experiences: You’ve filled that large, lavish space with rich brand imagery
and a great story – so why not let your users fall in love with your products as well? Users can browse the latest collections
directly with carousels or other ad units featuring products.
• Tailor your message and images: What gender do they buy for? Do they buy mostly gift cards or spend thousands of dollars
every month? Consider shaping the experience with lifestyle photos tailored to your audience.
• "Glocalize": Think global and local simultaneously. Some things must remain consistent to provide a coherent brand experience
around the globe, but other things like copy style or holidays can be localized. Leverage dynamic creative to build out the global
template and let your individual markets localize elements within it.
Lauren Gonzales, Senior Manager at Peer39 by Sizmek
Peer39 by Sizmek is the industry’s largest provider of data for ad decisions. By
processing more than 60 billion ad impressions every day, we classify nearly 95% of all
real-time bidding (RTB) inventory at page-level.
• Protect the brand: Luxury advertisers need to create custom safety profiles to
avoid negative content around their brand and the industry at large. For example,
a luxury retailer may want to avoid content around child labor or unsafe working
conditions.
• Quality over quantity: Luxury brands should demand transparent inventory that
has a low ad count and is content rich.
• Target, target, and target some more: Align content environments for your ads
with demographics that make the most sense, but do so contextually. For example,
a high-end clothing brand might target content such as sailing, international travel,
or investing, all of which are read by users in higher income brackets.
• King of the mountain: Use contextual targeting to target content around your own
brand on blogs or trend sites. Better yet, target those of your competitors to stay
top of mind with their target consumer set.
• Think global, execute local: Find tactics that work in one country or region and
then employ them across the globe. Think about a chic sportswear brand targeting
tennis content in the United States during the U.S. Open and then apply those
parameters to Asia Pacific, Europe, and Latin America during local Grand Slam
tournaments. Targeted reach can be instantly localized programmatically.
6 Sizmek Luxury Benchmarks: H1 2014