A Conversation with eMarketer's Geoff Ramsey

Bill Dugganamp160 In your role as Cofounder and Chief Content Officer at eMarketeramp160you39re on the cutting edge for all sorts of statistics and data pointsamp160 In the past year has there been a data point that you have found to be particularly compellingGeoff Ramseyamp160 That39s a fascinating questionamp160 Since I spend most of my days immersed in data and trends reading endless reports and uncovering new developments across the entire global digital landscape you39d think there wouldn39t be much that would surprise meamp160 But earlier this year I found a statistic that gave me real pauseamp160 We are all aware of how Google and Facebook control the majority of digital ad dollars collectively raking in 58 percent of all US digital ad revenues per eMarketer but now Amazon has emerged as a third player which could eventually challenge the duopoly Just a few weeks ago eMarketer39s forecast team surprised me with three related stats about the ecommerce giant Amazon39s US ad revenues will climb 144 percent this year to reach 46 billion putting them in the No 3 position behind Google and Facebookamp160 While that39s still a relatively small share our team predicts Amazon will control 7 percent of the digital ad market by 2020amp160 I didn39t see that one comingDugganamp160 Despite all the continued buzz about digital marketing there is very little conversation about digital creativeamp160 In your opinion has creative been an underoptimized component of digital marketingRamseyamp160 Absolutelyamp160 I have to admit I39m old enough to have worked in the ad world when the majority of ad agencies combined creative and media under the same shopamp160 Forgetting the financial incentives for agency holding companies this made perfect sense for brands because the message itself is just as important if not more important than where it39s placedamp160 And today of course everyone is focused singlemindedly on data who has it how to get more of it where to get the right data etcamp160 But in my opinion while data is certainly critical if you don39t pay attention to the creative message itself your audience isn39t going to pay much attention eitheramp160 Consumers will ignore you if your message isn39t interesting entertaining compelling or providing some kind of value or utilityamp160 I think this is being lost in the relentless pursuit of more dataamp160 The good news is that data and creative are starting to come together in the form of dynamic creative optimizationamp160 Think programmatic delivery of creative in realtimeamp160 That39s when the balance starts to get restoredDugganamp160 eMarketer39s coverage of the industry is globalamp160 Is there anything you are seeing from outside the US that could have important implications here Ramseyamp160 The US and UK lead in many digital areas but there is one particular area where China leads big time and that39s WeChatamp160 From what I can see WeChat has become the Swiss Army Knife of consumer appsamp160 People in China use it for everything from media consumption to communication to discovery and even proximity paymentsamp160 Frankly we don39t have anything like that in the USamp160 We39re fragmented all over the placeDugganamp160 You have spoken previously about a quotcrisis of trustquot in the digital advertising ecosystemamp160 What do you mean by that and how should it be addressed by the industry Ramseyamp160 When consumers say they can39t trust the media they read you have a big problem not only as a marketing ecosystemamp160but as a democracyamp160 We need to be able to trust at least some sources we read and believe that facts existamp160 Solid reliable journalism matters greatlyamp160 But there39s a paradox with consumersamp160 While consumers say in surveys that they don39t trust a lot of what they read on social platforms a majority say that39s their primary source for accessing the newsamp160 Go figureOn the other hand brands play a role in this tooamp160 Some marketers are paying lip service to the importance of brand safetyamp160 They may insist that context matters and that they want their ads to appear only alongside appropriate content yet too many don39t put their money where their mouth is In other words they are so fixated on scale at any price using programmatic to chase consumers all over the web that they overlook the fact that their ads are popping up on sites with violence terrorist ideology sexual content or other unsavory contextsamp160 I believe brands should take a firmer stand and take a flight to quality or they run the risk of eroding their brand equityDugganamp160 Your upcoming session at the ANA Masters of Marketing promises to discussamp160quota number of new technologies platformsamp160and tools that come with steep learning curves and require entirely new approachesquotamp160 What technology platformsamp160and tools are you most excited about Ramseyamp160 I39m excited about many interrelated and powerful new trendsamp160 Some may think that artificial intelligence is overblown or hyped but I believe it is already changing the field of marketing in every possible way from awarenessbuilding and CRM to personalization and customer loyalty AI will power personalize and accelerate every function we do in marketingamp160 It39s already under our noses if you as a consumer are using Google Maps Amazon Pandora Netflix or Spotify for example then you are using AIRelated to AI is voice technologyamp160 The market for voiceactivated devices think Alexa Google Home etc is exploding like I39ve rarely seenamp160 By the end of 2018amp160nearly one out of every five Americans will use one of these devices and 28 percent of them will be buying stuff on them per eMarketerNow I39m getting excited about Augmented Reality AR which is finally ready for primetimeamp160 Lots of use casesamp160 Lots of opportunities for brands to really connect with consumers in a deeper more involved wayClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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A Conversation with eMarketer's Geoff Ramsey

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Bill Duggan

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A Conversation with eMarketer's Geoff Ramsey

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