iWorld
Turner aims to re-imagine commercial breaks by combining ads with content
MUMBAI: Turner Ad Sales is returning to the CES this week as part of an ongoing approach to collaborate with clients and agencies through ideation-fueled discussions. With an introduction by Turner Ad Sales president Donna Speciale, the meetings will include her new leadership team and introduce a new insights-powered unit within the division, Turner Ignite, led by executive vice presidents Dan Riess, head of content partnerships and Michael Strober, head of client strategy & ad innovation. Speciale will share Turner Ad Sales’ vision in better enabling business partners to re-imagine advertising by combining data and content.
Turner Ignite is the combination of two solution-oriented teams under Strober and Riess. The unit will focus on content and data solutions that power the next generation of portfolio capabilities for Turner, enhancing the ad viewing experience while also driving better ad performance. During the meetings at CES, Turner Ignite will share with clients how they can keep one foot in today’s opportunities, while stepping another foot into tomorrow’s possibilities. Clients will be led through a suite of planning, creating, targeting and measuring solutions that put the consumer at the center of it all, and drive stronger business results for partners.
“Turner Ignite will play an instrumental role in moving our partners’ businesses forward. While other companies separate their data and content teams, we believe it’s vital to bring them together, allowing advertisers to re-imagine the possibilities of advertising in one conversation. We want to continue to be a resource to clients and better help them accomplish their goals. With Turner Ignite and this powerful suite of solutions, we are set up to make that happen now,” said Speciale.
Turner Ignite will share the newest tool within its arsenal of capabilities, Turner Native Plus. Once experienced only on digital and social platforms, Turner Native Plus expands the power of native advertising to television, producing a powerful environment for better brand storytelling. Utilising targeting capabilities to find the right placement across the entire portfolio, Turner will align with a brand and replace the traditional commercial pod with a space more powerful and impactful to the viewer. Turner can produce longer-form branded content for a client, or utilise the client’s existing and typically digital-based long-form content that previously didn’t have a home on television. Turner Native Plus will extend storytelling into the commercial pod by developing the right environment for the client, increasing exposure to the brand, and as a result, driving higher ROI.
In addition to Turner Native Plus, Turner will share updates to previously announced solutions, real results out of last year’s deals, and highlight ways the company is leading in branded content.
. Launchpad: New to Turner, this first-of-its kind product combines the power of Turner’s premium branded content with real-time social analytics and promotion. Launchpad takes the influential branded content Turner creates for partners, and launches it into social and beyond, using data and insights to maximise a brand’s effectiveness.
. TargetingNOW: With 30 campaigns completed and a 27% average lift, Targeting Now will continue to target a specific audience and optimise a client’s schedules within their same media mix across the Turner portfolio in 2016.
. AudienceNOW: A true audience-based selling product spanning the entire portfolio, AudienceNOW is a turbocharged version of TargetingNOW. Currently being executed with four key partners, the solution leverages the entire Turner portfolio to find the best schedule for the brand’s target audience across the entire day.
. Turner Data Cloud: Turner’s Data Management Platform (DMP) can directly link to a client’s DMP to effectively execute targeting in digital and soon linear. The team will share a recent movie studio example where Turner Data Cloud enabled the brand to better connect with the right audience by finding new segments.
. ROINOW: Turner’s proprietary research clarifies the distinct sales lift advertisers get from Turner’s branded content partnerships. With over 50 campaigns measured, ROINow continues to show powerful bottom line gains for partners.
. Provable ROI: Building on the success of ROINOW, ProvableROI launched in 4th Quarter 2015 with 18 partners across the Turner Emerging Consumers portfolio of brands. All brands receive guaranteed success at the front end of their deals, and early insight shows that Provable ROI will be Turner’s next big measurement success story for partners.
. Branded Content: Led by Courageus, CNN and HLN’s first-ever branded content, and including network brands such as Adult Swim and CONAN, marketers have extensive production opportunities utilising the breadth of Turner’s global, multi-screen portfolio.
“We broke ground last year with our suite of data products, and now we are building on that with Turner Native Plus and Launchpad,” said Speciale. “These capabilities aren’t available anywhere else. We are fully equipped to take the burden off our partners and become a stronger resource for them. We want brands to connect with consumers like never before.”
iWorld
Prashant Iyer joins Sony LIV as head of marketing
The former Netflix India director grew the streamer’s social following from half a million to 55m
MUMBAI: Sony LIV has poached one of India’s most battle-hardened streaming marketers. Prashant Iyer, who spent nearly eight years at Netflix building its India operation into a social-media juggernaut, has joined the platform as head of marketing.
Iyer leaves Netflix having done rather a lot. He grew the streamer’s India social community from roughly 500,000 followers to over 55m, delivered engagement and organic impressions double those of rivals, and ran more than 250 campaigns across titles, brand and partnerships. In his final role as director, marketing, he sat on the core leadership team credited with driving 15-times revenue and subscription growth over eight years. He also served as the only director-level social leader across Asia-Pacific, a regional mandate that stretched across a 200m-plus follower community.
Before Netflix came Nike, where Iyer spent three and a half years straddling digital brand commerce and key account management, including ownership of Myntra, the brand’s largest digital account in India. Earlier still, Titan Company gave him his first crack at brand and digital marketing.
Sony LIV, which has been muscling for position in an increasingly crowded streaming market, has landed a marketer who knows precisely how to build an audience from scratch and, just as importantly, how to keep it. For a platform still chasing the kind of cultural cachet Netflix India took years to earn, that is not a bad place to start.
