Digitas NewFront 2013: Brands as Software

We’re live from the Digitas NewFront! We’ll be recapping sessions all day. Watch it live on DigitasNewFront.com, and follow Digitas on Twitter and Tumblr for updates. Tweet #NewFronts to join the conversation.

Jason Spero Head of Mobile for Google just joined Richelle Parham from eBay and Bob Kupbens from Delta.  The conversation was about Mobile and the brands on the stage have focused on engaging and serving their customers on the device their customers live and die by. 

Mobile is extremely important shopping experience for eBay and they expect to exceed $20B in mobile revenue this year.  Their app has over 120MM downloads that allows their customers to quickly share items for sale and items to shop.  They find that their customers flip between desktop and mobile and so they are always thinking about their end-to-end customer experience.   

Delta has identified ways to meet their customers where they need them and mobile is central to that strategy.  So how do they measure success?  They are using Net Promoter Score to measure how their digital/mobile offering impacted the brand.  eBay measures everything and they do and rely on pilots and testing to learn how to maximize the experience for buyers, sellers and the buyers who are also sellers. 

Mobile is no longer just a marketing conversation but mobile impacts operations, the retail stores, infrastructure.  Done well, your brand can own their customer relationship wherever that customer may be – at the park, in the store or in the terminal.  

Today’s New Front live-blogging was done by Digitas’ Amie Green.  For more insights from Amie – Follow her on Twitter @Smit

Digitas NewFront 2013: Our speakers in five words or less (part II)

Less than one week to go until the 2013 Digitas NewFront!  Get a look at some of our newly announced speakers here, and tweet #NewFronts to join the conversation.

Last week, we had NewFront speakers such as Blake Shaw, David Karp, and Brian Wong  send us a statement of five words or less about their upcoming sessions onstage; something that exemplified the meaning behind their work.  You can see what they had to say here. And check out part two below, with insights from Bob Kupbens, Jules Daly, Peter Vesterbacka, and more.

“Mobility + Connectivity changes everything” – Jason Spero, Head of Global Mobile Sales & Strategy, Google

“The future is new territory” – Jules Daly, President, RSA Films

“Let’s make it amazing” – Peter Vesterbacka, Chief Marketing Officer, Rovio / Angry Birds

“Mobility drives positive brand perception” – Bob Kupbens, Vice President, Marketing and Digital Commerce, Delta Air Lines

“Taco Bell and consumer engagement” – Amy Kavanaugh, VP of Public Affairs & Engagement, Taco Bell

“Making inspirational moments instantly shoppable”- Richelle Parham, Chief Marketing Officer, eBay

"Twitter, bridge, not island to TV" - Adam Bain, President, Global Revenue, Twitter

Google Updates AdWords Platform

On February 6th, Google announced one of their biggest changes to date for their AdWords platform, which will consolidate targeting and campaign management into one campaign interface called Enhanced Campaigns. 

Sean McDonald, VP/Group Director of Search Marketing at Digitas, explores the new updates and the potential impact on advertisers. 

Learn more about these updates here. 

Google Updates AdWords Platform by DigitasPerspectives

Facebook Introduces Graph Search

Yesterday Facebook announced the beta rollout of an advanced search capability called "Graph Search." Digitas' Noah Mallin, Vice President and Group Director, Social Media, has written a perspective that explores Graph Search and the implications for marketers, the advertising industry, and the future of Facebook. How does Graph Search work? What kind of search results can users expect? How does Graph Search differ from Google and Bing? Find out in the perspective below.

Facebook Introduces Graph Search by DigitasPerspectives

Announcing the Digital Content NewFronts

We're excited to announce that Digitas is collaborating with some of the biggest names in online video—AOL, Google/YouTube, Hulu, Microsoft Advertising, and Yahoo, Inc.—for a two-week series of events in NYC from April 19–May 2, organized under one theme: the Digital Content NewFronts (DCNF). Similar to a television upfront, these digital video leaders will host independent events to showcase talent, launch new online video channels and premiere original digital native shows.

The time is now for the Digital Content NewFront events.  Online ad spend is expected to reach $39.5 billion in 2012; of this, video ad spend will grow to $7 billion. In December alone, there were 165 million unique U.S. video viewers who streamed over 22 billion videos.

This demand increases each month and with it, the opportunities for brands. By partnering with these digital leaders on the Digital Content NewFronts, we are collaboratively declaring the need for investment dollars to mirror consumer interest and behavior.

We're very proud to be the brain trust behind the DCNF, having born the idea from our own success with our annual Digitas NewFront. Celebrating its fifth year, the Digitas NewFront  will be held as one of the anchor events of the two weeks on Thursday, April 26.

At last year’s event we brought together over 800 participants including talent, brands, creators and distributors. We premiered original web series, welcomed to the stage Tyra Banks, Ashton Kutcher and Susan Sobbott, President of American Express OPEN, and over 250,000 live-streams tuned in across the globe.

Here’s how you can get involved:

• RSVP to the Digitas NewFront livestream: http://on.fb.me/yJtrsn   
• Join the conversation on Twitter
  -  Digital Content NewFront hashtag (for the entire two-week series of events): #DCNF
  -  Digitas NewFront hashtag (for our April 26 event): #NewFront
• Check the Digitas YouTube page for exclusive video content: Digitas NewFront Playlist 

- Colin Kinsella, CEO, Digitas North America