Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly - S2E20 - Real Time Advertising

Episode Date: May 18, 2013

This episode explores the arrival of real-time advertising. Over the past 100 years, advertisers could never respond to an event or opportunity in minutes. But now with the Internet and social media, advertisers can. This clip talks about two of the most talked-about instances of Real-Time Advertising with Oreo Cookies and AMC Theatres. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly. As you may know, we've been producing a lot of bonus episodes while under the influences on hiatus. They're called the Beatleology Interviews, where I talk to people who knew the Beatles, work with them, love them, and the authors who write about them. Well, the Beatleology Interviews have become a hit, so we are spinning it out to be a standalone podcast series. You've already heard conversations with people like actors Mark Hamill, Malcolm McDowell, and Beatles confidant Astrid Kershaw. But coming up, I talk to May Pang, who dated John Lennon in the mid-70s. I talk to double fantasy guitarist Earl Slick, Apple Records creative director John Kosh. I'll be talking to Jan Hayworth,

who designed the Sgt. Pepper album cover. Very cool. And I'll talk to singer Dion, who is one of only five people still alive who were on the Sgt. Pepper cover. And two of those people were Beatles. The stories they tell are amazing. So thank you for making this series such a success. And please do me a favor, follow the Beatleology interviews on your podcast app. You don't even have to be a huge Beatles fan. You just have to love storytelling. Subscribe now and don't miss a single beat. new year new me season is here and honestly we're already over it enter felix the health care company helping canadians take a different approach to weight loss this year weight loss is more than just diet and exercise it can be about tackling genetics hormones metabolism felix

gets it they connect you with licensed healthcare practitioners online who'll create a personalized treatment plan that pairs your healthy lifestyle with a little help and a little extra support. Start your visit today at felix.ca. That's F-E-L-I-X dot C-A. From the Under the Influence digital box set, this episode is from, no, no. You're not you when you're hungry. You're in good hands with Austin. You're under the influence with Terry O'Reilly. In all of my years of public life, I have never profited, never profited from public service.

I've earned every cent. And in all of my years of public life, I have never obstructed justice. And I think, too, that I can say that in my years of public life, that I welcome this kind of examination, because people have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook. It is said that an entire generation of journalists was born the day the Washington Post broke the story of Watergate. The investigative reporting of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, and their search for truth in the Nixon White House,

spawned journalists, best-selling books, and a famous movie called All the President's Men, which featured the mysterious informant called Deep Throat. Follow the money. You mean, where? Oh, I can't tell you that. But you could tell me that. No, I have to do this my way. You tell me what you know, and I'll confirm.

I'll keep you in the right direction if I can, but that's all. Just follow the money. Being situated in Washington gives the Washington Post enviable access to politicians and the machinations of Capitol Hill. Recently, during the last presidential election, there was a lot of debate over the debates. The hottest topic was accuracy. The Democrats complained that Romney

and members of his party were using false information and inaccurate statistics in their speeches. Republicans said the same thing about Obama and company. Fact-checking after debates became a national pastime. That's why, not long ago, the Washington Post unveiled a very interesting new app. It's called

the Washington Post Truth Teller app. It was inspired by a speech a Republican representative had made in a parking lot in Iowa. According to the Washington Post, the politician had repeatedly misled her audience with facts that weren't accurate. The Post's national political editor, Stephen Ginsburg, was there that day. He instantly

noticed that no one in the crowd realized the facts were wrong. So, the Washington Post created an app which aims to fact-check speeches in as close to real time as possible. Welcome to TruthTeller from the Washington Post. TruthTeller is a prototype developed in partnership with the Knight Foundation. It finds false claims that politicians say in speeches, TV ads, or interviews. Here's how it works. The app records the speech, converts the words to text, matches that text to a massive fact database,

then displays what's true and what's false in real time. It depends, of course, on an accurate database, and it's still in the beta stage. But you can see and hear an example of it working at truthteller.washingtonpost.com. What's interesting about this app is that it can be applied in real time to interviews, audio clips,

and, wait for it, political commercials. It can even be used by someone holding up a phone to record a political speech in a parking lot in Iowa. You can imagine the implications. A real-time revolution is happening in the world of advertising, too. The digital age has finally given advertisers the ability to react in real time to events,

breaking news, and completely unforeseen opportunities. That remarkable ability to move at lightning speed has never been available to advertisers before in modern history. This is no fad. It's the natural evolution of social media. It's called real-time advertising, and it's completely changing how the game is played. You're under the influence. If you've ever walked the streets of New York on a hot, sunny day,

you've seen the amazing amount of street vendors plying their trades. Many of them are selling cheap sunglasses. But if it started to rain, and you turned around to look at the street vendor you just bought your sunglasses from, he would instantly be selling umbrellas. Because New York street vendors are real-time advertisers. They react instantly to context. Historically speaking, the advertising industry has never been able to react that fast

to changing context. There have been many reasons for that. First, there is the very process of creating advertising. Between the original briefing, creative development,

production and research, a TV commercial, for example, may take three months or more from conception to screen. Secondly, media companies need time to schedule a new ad. Magazines once needed 30- or 60-day lead times

for insertion. TV networks needed a few weeks to slot a commercial into available broadcast time. Even newspaper space and radio time needs at least a few days available broadcast time. Even newspaper space and radio time needs at least a few days to be scheduled. Now, while advertising speed wasn't blistering, you could plan to react to an upcoming event. Are you prepared to take the oath, Senator?

I am. I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear. I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear. I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear. Like when President Obama was first inaugurated on January 20th in 2009. The Daily Telegraph newspaper in the UK reported the story on its front page. At the bottom of that page was a big ad that said, Goodbye Bush. The ad was for a product called

Veet. Veet is a waxing and hair removal product. I'll let you figure that one out on your own. While that amusing ad was timely, it wasn't real-time advertising. In other words, it hadn't reacted

within minutes to the event. And that's because the advertising and media industries weren't conducive to just-in-time advertising. And that, class, was the state of advertising for 100 years. Then, everything changed. With the advent of digital platforms, advertisers suddenly have the ability to react instantly. And it's changing the present and future of advertising as we know it. With the flexibility of websites and keyword search advertising, and with services like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Pinterest, the world is now an immediate, shared, two-way experience.

As the CEO of Twitter said recently, finally the friction of time and space have completely collapsed. The three-month lead time of a message has been obliterated. It is now possible to react within minutes or even seconds. For example, in 2010, Old Spice used shock and awe to engage with the public. As we chronicled before, Old Spice decided one day to answer questions from the public in real time.

Without any fanfare or pre-promotion the Old Spice guy began answering user-generated questions via videos on YouTube. He started with a question that had been posted previously and once viewers caught on that he was answering live Old Spice was inundated with questions on YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook. The responses were fully personalized

and turned around in minutes. He even helped someone propose in real time. On Twitter, JS Beals tweets, Can you ask my girlfriend to marry me? Her name is Angela A. Hutt-Chamberlain. JS Beals, thank you for your tweet, and I'd be honored to honorably honor your honorable request. Miss Angela A. Hutt-Chamberlain,

it seems like yesterday that you met J.S. Beals, but your love has blossomed from a seed into a fully grown love plant, and now it's time to fertilize that plant. Angela A. Hutt-Chamberlain, will you make J.S. Beals the happiest man in the world and marry him in real life? We'll be eagerly awaiting your reply. Eagerly. By the end of the day, Old Spice had created close to 180 video responses to real-time viewer questions

and had received over 5 million views. It was an extraordinary achievement because questions had to be screened, answers had to be written, then filmed, then uploaded, all in lickety-split real-time. One week later, the YouTube videos had attracted over 40

million views Old Spice Twitter followers jumped by 2700 percent Facebook fan interaction went up 800 percent traffic to the Old Spice website jumped 300 percent and reports stated sales shot up over 50%. It was an off-the-chart success because real-time interaction with customers on that level was unheard of. And we'll be right back. If you're enjoying this episode, why not dip into our archives, available wherever you download your pods. Go to terryoreilly.ca for a master episode list.

Two years ago on the Super Bowl, Koch created a website featuring their famous animated polar bears. Viewers watched in amazement as the bears reacted in real time to the Super Bowl play-by-play, cheering when a touchdown was scored, moaning when a ball was fumbled. The funniest moment, as we've mentioned before,

came when a Pepsi ad came on. The Coke bears fell asleep in real time. But the 2013 Super Bowl raised the real-time stakes even higher. In the third quarter, the lights suddenly went out at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans. Moments ago, as we watched the game start to proceed pretty much as normal, one big click of the light switch,

and we lost power in the half of the stadium. The blackout held up play for 34 minutes and generated over 230,000 messages per minute on Twitter. But as viewers waited for the power to come back on, some smart brands took advantage of that small window of opportunity. Within minutes, Oreo Cookie sent out a witty tweet that not only said, you can still dunk in the dark, but included a beautiful photo of an Oreo Cookie just barely lit in a shadow. How did they put out that response and an art-directed photo so quickly? Oreo had 14 of their key marketing people together in one room, which was set up to monitor the social media response to their new Super Bowl TV commercial.

Moments after the lights went out, the Oreo creative team came up with the idea and presented it to the Oreo marketing team who okayed it. In other words, everybody who was needed to create and approve the message was in the same room. The you-can-still-dunk-in-the-dark message wowed Twitter fans and was retweeted over 13,000 times. With all the advertising smog that accompanies the Super Bowl,

that Oreo real-time message was the big story of the day. As one marketing person asked later, do you remember Oreo's Super Bowl TV ad, the one that cost close to $4 million to place and hundreds of thousands to make? Answer, probably not. But millions remember the tweet. Other Super Bowl advertisers reacted quickly too,

albeit without a great custom-made photo. Tide Detergent tweeted, We can't get your blackout, but we can get your stains out. Audi took a big dig at rival Mercedes by tweeting, VW had aired a popular Super Bowl TV commercial earlier telling everybody to get happy. Traveling along, there's a song that we're singing. Come on, get happy.

So they tweeted, and included a link to their ad. tweeted, Lost power during the big game? Don't worry, get happy and included a link to their ad. PBS sent out a very cheeky reminder that if you were bored with the blackout, Downton Abbey was playing on their station at that exact moment.

But it was Oreo that stole the show because it wasn't just a typed response. It was a witty line accompanied by a fully art-directed graphic. All done within minutes. Now, a few months before the Super Bowl, Oreo learned a lesson in real-time advertising by getting one-upped by cinema chain AMC Theatres.

Oreo had tweeted the question, Ever bring your own Oreo cookies into the movie theatre? Within eight minutes, AMC Theatres responded with a tweet that said, Not cool, cookie. AMC, like most theatres, has a no-outside-food-and-beverage policy. So thousands of people witnessed the exchange on Twitter, and soon the retweets were up to 500, and the exchange was picked up by news organizations.

Then the retweets crossed 1,000. AMC's witty retort was widely admired. The company had 136,000 Twitter followers at the time. It now has over 170,000. That quick, real-time response ended up giving the company more publicity than most fully funded advertising campaigns. Just before that Oreo AMC showdown, Taco Bell and Old Spice had a real-time Twitter dust-up. One day in July of 2012, Old Spice tweeted, Why is it that fire sauce isn't made with real fire?

Seems like false advertising. Minutes later, Taco Bell, the maker of Fire Sauce, shot back with a hilarious tweet that said, Is your deodorant really made with old spices? Again, thousands saw the amusing real-time skirmish, and it attracted a ton of free press for both companies. But to demonstrate how difficult it is to have a hit with real-time advertising, just look to the recent Academy Awards. With all their learning from the win at the Super Bowl,

Oreo reacted to the winners by sending out real-time tweets of Oreos redesigned for the Oscars. One had a James Bond theme during the Academy's tribute to the Bond franchise, as well as other highly creative takes on the night's festivities and winners. Total Oreo retweets,

according to Adweek magazine, only 340. But JCPenney fared better that night. First, the retailer created a glitzy makeover of their website that invited customers to join our Oscars conversation live on Twitter. Then it started tweeting very amusing graphics in real-time sync with the Oscar presentation.

Using a Dear America theme, it tweeted, Dear Red Carpet, and showed a photo of a Dyson vacuum cleaner for $600. It tweeted, Dear Plunging Necklines, along with a photo of dress tape for $10. It tweeted, Dear Manicam, and showed diamond rings for sale. If you accepted the invitation to join the conversation by retweeting JCPenney's messages, the store messaged you back, by name, and offered you a $100 gift certificate, signed, yours truly, JCPenney. That surprise gift of $100 not only attracted new customers, it generated hundreds of excited retweets for the retailer. Here at home in Canada,

I was working with the Bay on their Christmas radio campaign and suggested they incorporate the Shazam app into their commercials. Shazam is a free smartphone app that can identify audio so for example if you hear a song in a bar and you want to know the name of it just click on the Shazam app and it will listen to the song and instantly tell you the name and artist direct you to the music video the song lyrics and link to iTunes in case you want to buy it.

I called Shazam's headquarters to ask if the app could be used for a retailer on radio. In other words, could someone be listening to a Bay radio commercial, click Shazam,

and actually see the product being advertised right on their smartphones? Shazam said they'd never tried it on radio before, but it could be done. So, that Christmas, as Bay President Bonnie Brooks described gift ideas on air,

Today's one-day sale at the Bay? Coveted Material Girl Colored Denim Pants. Just $19.99. If you used your free Shazam app just now, you're seeing this must-have skinny pant in all ten bright colors. Today only at The Bay and TheBay.com. Listeners could use the Shazam app and actually see the product being advertised in real time as they heard her talking about it. And they could buy the product right there on their phone. That's a big jump for the medium of radio. By converging with smartphone technology,

listeners can finally, after nearly 100 years, actually see the product advertised, and do it in real time. Some very late snowfall amounts and wind gusts to update, and these numbers are really going up there. Look at Mansfield at 16 inches now. So all these places, Saugus and Walpole and Salem ands to update, and these numbers are really going up there. Look at Mansfield at 16 inches now. So all these places, Saugus and Walpole and Salem and Weymouth, are all over a foot of snow, as you can clearly see there.

During the big winter blizzard that blanketed the East Coast in early February of this year, dubbed NEEMO by weather forecasters, Starbucks decided to stay in touch with their followers and stay relevant to the context of the impending storm. They targeted the areas with the heaviest snowfall and sent out Twitter and Facebook ads with a snow day theme, suggesting people try and enjoy the forced day off with a cup of hot java. Then, the company sent free coffee offers to areas where the weather had forced

their local Starbucks to shut down. The campaign moved with the storm in real time. But not all events are marketing opportunities. As we mentioned in our marketing blunders episode, Kenneth Cole got into hot water by tweeting an unfortunate attempt at humor during the Arab Spring Uprising in Egypt. Hurricane Sandy is currently more than 200 miles east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina,

but already its effects have been devastating. During Hurricane Sandy, where over 8 million people were without power and dozens died, several advertisers somehow saw it as a marketing opportunity. Home decor retailer Jonathan Adler tweeted, Storm our site and get free shipping by entering code Sandy at checkout. American Apparel advertised a Hurricane Sandy sale for those bored with the storm and tweeted the checkout code

Sandy Sale. Urban Outfitters actually put out an ad that said, This storm blows, but free shipping doesn't. Clearly, as the advertising frontier changes, marketers have to pick

the real-time moments very carefully. And some of those new world opportunities are helping old school mediums. While the newspaper industry has been struggling, the New York Times came up

with an interesting idea recently. Using a new analytical tool, the paper can see which of its stories are trending on Twitter. Using that real-time data, it developed a tool called Sparking Stories. It lets an advertiser place their ads in stories that are trending at that very moment. It's the new world of marketing.

It doesn't necessarily focus on age or gender or area code of readers, just what content is being talked about the most, giving advertisers a chance for additional exposure. It's a very smart idea. One last story of a real-time coup. One day, Fiat noticed the Google Street View cars roaming the thoroughfares of Södertälje, Sweden, taking photos for Google Maps.

So, they sent a bright red Fiat 500 to follow the Google camera car. When the Google camera got close to Volkswagen's head office, Fiat sped ahead and parked the car literally on the doorstep of the entrance to VW's headquarters,

just as Google Street View camera took its picture. Now, when you search Google Maps for Volkswagen's head office in Södertälje, Sweden, you'll see a bright red Fiat parked at the door. The photo's been there since 2010, and knowing Google Street View's pattern of updating Google Maps, it will be there for quite a few more years to come. Which must drive Volkswagen real-time crazy. The modern model of advertising began to evolve over 100 years ago. Since then, marketers have struggled to find a way to send a message without annoying the recipient. The historic problem with advertising

is that not only is it interruptive, but it arrives at a time that is out of context, usually in your living room, when you're not shopping, nor in the frame of mind to be sold to. But all that is changing. There is always something interesting happening in the world and there is always an audience that cares about it. And now, advertisers can weave their message into that conversation instead of crashing it, making the message more relevant, in sync with the context, and timely.

There's an interesting lesson in the stories you've heard here today. The advertisers who truly improvised in real-time got the most attention. The dust-up between Oreo and AMC got a large reaction, where Oreo's planned real-time ads during the Oscars didn't. JCPenney's planned real-time campaign during the Oscars did okay, but the surprise of Old Spice answering questions in real-time videos will go down in marketing history. And so will Oreo's brilliant, spur-of-the-moment, dunk-in-the-dark Super Bowl tweet. As a matter of fact, it has already become a verb. When you engage in real-time advertising, you are now Oreo-ing.

And it's changing the way the advertising business follows the money when you're under the influence. I'm Terry O'Reilly. Thank you. Hey Terry, I just downloaded the Washington Post Truth Teller app. It's amazing. And I just wanted to say that Under the Influence is the best radio show on CBC. It's one of the best on CBC. It's one of the best on CBC. It's on CBC. Anyway, thanks.

I'll tune in next week. Next month. Soon. Under the Influence was produced at Pirate Toronto. Sound engineer, Keith Ullman. Theme music by Ari Posner and Ian Lefevre. Series coordinator, Debbie O'Reilly. Research,

James Gangle. By the way, I know you've been dreaming of wearing an Under the Influence t-shirt. Or maybe I was dreaming that. But anyway, we have them for sale

on our shop page. And if you listen to the show while sipping a tea or a coffee, have we got the mug for you. Go to terryoreilly.ca slash shop. See you next week. In case nobody's told you, weight loss goes beyond the old just eat less and move more narrative, and that's where Felix comes in. Felix is redefining weight loss for Canadians with a

smarter, more personalized approach to help you crush your health goals is here. Losing weight is about more than diet and exercise. It can also be about our genetics, hormones, metabolism. Felix connects you with online licensed healthcare practitioners who understand that everybody is different and can pair your healthy lifestyle with the right support to reach your goals. Start your visit today at felix.ca. That's F-E-L-I-X dot C-A.