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“Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn!.”

Estée Lauder's new Messenger chatbot helps identify the right foundation

Dive Brief:

• Estée Lauder has launched a chatbot-aided campaign on Facebook Messenger to promote its Double Wear Foundation range, according to a report in CEW Beauty Insider. The campaign started Monday and is limited to the U.S.
• On Facebook Messenger, Estée Lauder uses a chatbot to guide makeup wearers through a series of questions to help them identify the Double Wear Foundation shade that matches their skin tone and formula preferences, learn how to apply it via an embedded video, read reviews and buy the product. 
• The Double Wear Foundation initiative isn’t Estée Lauder’s first on Facebook Messenger to connect with consumers. Over the holidays, the cosmetics brand harnessed the platform to allow shoppers to order gifts delivered throughout London in an hour or less. The endeavor was tied to a pop-up store in the city. 

Dive Insight:

Estée Lauder is the latest brand to take to Facebook Messenger armed with a chatbot to assist consumers. Brands are sorting through how best to present themselves to Facebook Messenger users, a group totaling more than 1 billion people globally, and potentially drive sales on the platform or to stores. The beauty industry has hopped onto Facebook Messenger to chase millennials, many of whom have abandoned brick-and-mortar retailers, notably department stores, and turned to digital resources for beauty advice. Hair color brand Madison Reed released a Facebook Messenger chatbot that recognizes a women’s hair color and suggests a hair dye to match.

At a Facebook event for beauty marketers, Karin Tracy, the U.S. head of industry, beauty, for Facebook and Instagram, pitched Facebook Messenger as a vehicle for direct consumer contact on a massive stage. As reported by CEW Beauty Insider, she said, “It helps create a one-on-one experience at a time when people think that nobody can get personal, but this creates a personal experience where they are ‘speaking’ with the brand.”

Foundation is an ideal product for personal touch delivered expansively. It’s commonly purchased, but dogged by complaints that women have difficulty selecting shades suiting their individual skin tones. Brands may also consider Facebook Messenger an advantageous platform to learn about customers and how they respond to marketing in a messaging environment.

But Facebook Messenger chatbots have their limitations for brands and users. A State of the Chatbots report by Forrester revealed AI-driven chatbots aren’t very effective and cause frustration. They can't replicate the complexities of human conversations — at least not yet. Estée Lauder’s Double Wear Foundation chatbot demonstrates the current confinements of the chatbot realm. While perfectly capable of handling its programmed commands regarding foundation finish, shade and undertone, it couldn’t answer basic questions beyond those delineated areas. A question about stores Double Wear Foundation is available to buy at prompted the response, “I’m sorry I didn’t understand. I’m just a Bot.”

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“Just because my path is different , doesn’t mean I’m lost.”

MMA: Clickthrough rates don't translate to sales

Dive Brief:

• There’s no direct correlation between clickthroughs and important outcomes such as sales, according to the latest cross marketing effectiveness (SMoX) study from the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA). The study, conducted for Allstate Insurance, advises marketers to hone in on the right formats and targeting strategies for the mobile environment to shift sales and consideration. It calls for comprehensive, real-time data management across channels and down to individual users. 
• The best targeting performer evaluated by the trade organization was behavioral targeting, which topped untargeted banners to drive incremental sales per dollar spent. Re-targeting was crucial, too, and led to performance double the rate of efforts that weren’t re-targeted. Location targeting heightened the efficiency of sales per dollar spent by a factor of almost two. 
• Mobile video and audio were found to be more efficient than the campaign average at propelling brand consideration, registering at 85% and 32%, respectively. However, mobile banners specifically targeting consumers in the market for insurance were 12% more efficient at fueling sales than the campaign average. Video efficiency is also highly dependent on length. A 15-second video is twice as effective for consideration than a 30-second video, and briefer audio performed 18% better than longer equivalents.

In the mobile age, retailers can't afford to focus solely on acquisition. As competition grows, using the power of apps to build long-term loyalty is a must.

Dive Insight:

In its tenth SMoX attribution study, MMA investigated an Allstate campaign that ran across traditional and digital media, including TV, print and radio, aimed at consumers 18-years-old and older who were candidates for Allstate auto and home insurance. In mobile, video and audio were tapped for consideration purposes, and banner ads to amplify sales.

Although clickthrough rates are popular metrics, MMA spotlighted Allstate’s use of device IDs to track potential customers across platforms, sites and locations as providing a clearer picture of consideration and sales. The study asserted, “The recent data from the Allstate campaign proves unequivocally that the correlation between clickthroughs and sales was practically non-existent.”

Per MMA, the bottom line from the results was: “Targeting changed the game.” The Allstate campaign employed behavioral targeting, contextual targeting, location targeting and retargeting. Behavioral outshone the rest, although the rest were meaningful, too. MMA pointed out retargeting customers expressing interest in Allstate boosted performance by a factor of two. In addition, contextual retargeting drove consideration particularly when coupled with high-impact video. It increased the efficiency of that video by at least 90%.

Other key findings of the MMA research were that in-app placements outpaced mobile web, optimizing creative messaging didn't have a huge upside, and clickthrough rates were unhelpful measurements. While they’re relatively costly, the association found in-app placements of mobile advertising were 20% more efficient, on average, than mobile web placements.

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“Life is one time offer, use it well.”

Snapchat users go for joyrides with Jeep's branded lens

Dive Brief:

• Jeep's custom Snapchat lens "Jeep Hair, Don't Care" allowed the app's users to virtually get behind the wheel of an open-air Jeep Wrangler Tuesday, according to a press release. The lens, which showed users' hair blowing wildly when they raised their eyebrows, was in celebration of the second annual Jeep 4x4 Day and was created with social media firm Society Agency.
• Unlike other branded lenses, "Jeep Hair, Don’t Care" isn’t completely disappearing after Tuesday. Starting Wednesday, consumers will be able to access it by scanning Snap or QR codes provided at Jeep events, and intermittently on Jeep's social media channels and blog. The lens will remain active through October.
• Across the social media landscape, Jeep encouraged consumers to mark Jeep 4x4 Day by emblazoning posts with the hashtag #Jeep4x4Day. Prior to the day, the auto brand accumulated social media content from Jeep fans to develop a short video called "Today Was Made For Adventure" that can be viewed on YouTube and other platforms. 

In the mobile age, retailers can't afford to focus solely on acquisition. As competition grows, using the power of apps to build long-term loyalty is a must.

Dive Insight:

Marketers have embraced Snapchat to connect with the app's Gen Z and millennial-heavy audience. In fact, research from the firm L2 figures 64% of brands now participate in Snapchat, though Digiday reports 30% of Snapchat brand accounts are dormant. Branded lenses have been a popular feature for marketers looking to drive interaction with young consumers, but their lofty prices limit the field of brands signing up to those with major social media budgets. Lens costs are estimated to range from $450,000 to more than $700,000.

Marketers are paying up because branded lenses have produced significant results. Snapchat revealed a Kraft macaroni and cheese lens reached nearly 20 million Snapchat users in 24 hours who viewed it 28 million times and spent an average of 20 seconds playing with it. The lens sparked a 5% increase in brand favorability and a 13% lift in purchase intent. A Michael Kors lens garnered 104 million views, an 18% jump in brand ad awareness, a 12.5% bump in sunglass preference and a 6% hike in purchase intent, per Snap.

Before Jeep ponied up for its "Jeep Hair, Don’t Care" lens, it had already run a successful Snapchat campaign. Working with Society Agency last year, Jeep launched its Snapchat channel with a voting challenge taking place within a six-day vertical video story, and it released national and dealer branded Snapchat filters. The Snapchat story garnered 24 million views, according to Society Agency.

In addition to tapping Snapchat again, Jeep returned to social media more broadly to promote its branded holiday with the 4x4. Branded holidays have become a staple of marketing blitzes, but the made-up occasions can also be greeted with bah-humbug attitudes.  

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Quote of the day

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“Don’t allow someone to make you feel like you’re not good enough!”

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_W94_yqKEY

Quote of the day

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“Nurture your minds with great thoughts.  To believe in the heroic makes heroes.”

 – Benjamin Disraeli

What does Apple's AR-fueled future look like?

For a brand that's changed the way consumers think about everything from digital music to handheld devices, AR technology presents huge opportunities — but also demands greater innovation.

Apple is just one among many companies in the midst of an augmented reality (AR) push that could revolutionize the way people interact with the world — and with brands — through smartphones and eventually wearable devices.

Apple's next phone, the iPhone 8, is expected to have AR built into the device, a move at least one analyst believes will result in a "paradigm shift" as the company creates new experiences by pairing the phone's services and features with AR. At the same time, Apple and Facebook are reportedly racing to create AR-ready glasses to challenge upstarts in the space like Magic Leap, according to the Financial Times.

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In the mobile age, retailers can't afford to focus solely on acquisition. As competition grows, using the power of apps to build long-term loyalty is a must.

For Apple, AR and AR-ready hardware present a fresh opportunity to be a tech industry leader in innovation following a relatively stagnant period that's drawn some heavy criticism. However, it faces some heavy competition from Google, Facebook and others also looking towards AR as an important shift in computing.  

"Apple is obviously looking for the next big thing," said Neil Mawston, executive director, wireless device strategies, for the research firm Strategy Analytics. "Apple has built a good business on iPhone, iPad, iTunes, iPod, etc. But most of those are starting to peak or slow down. Augmented reality is potentially the next big thing bringing together virtual and real worlds."

Pushing past gaming

In February, the International Data Corporation (IDC) forecast that worldwide revenues for augmented and virtual reality would reach $13.9 billion this year compared to just $6.1 billion in 2016. IDC also predicted that augmented reality spending will surge past virtual reality spending after 2018, with separate reports noting the technology "may just be on track to create a shift in computing significant enough to rival the smartphone."

Augmented reality, where digital assets and effects are overlaid on the real world through people's mobile devices, exploded on the scene last summer with Pokemon Go.

Developed by Niantic and Nintendo, the mobile game hit $600 million in revenue in a little less than 90 days, according to marketing researcher App Annie. By comparison, it took Candy Crush Saga — another giant in the mobile games space — more than 200 days to reach that goal. 

While Pokemon Go laid out some manner of blueprint for developers to follow when pursuing AR, most brands don’t have beloved game and cartoon characters from the '90s to leverage.

"Trying to make a single-use AR [augmented reality] app that isn’t a game is a hard sell," said Jeff Ward, principal software engineer at app-development firm WillowTree Apps.

Even AR experiences that copy Pokemon Go's business model are likely to run into obstacles. App users are only just warming up to AR and might not readily engage with the technology without a strong brand component, experts said.

"Pokemon Go did really, really well," said Ward. "What people don’t talk about is that the company that made Pokemon Go made the exact same game [Ingress] three years prior that did not do well. It's the Pokemon name attached to that game that made it do as phenomenally as it did."

Ultimately, attempting to replicate the success of other AR apps — whether they be Pokemon Go or, in Apple's case, Snapchat with its new video messaging editor Clips  — might be the wrong way to think about a technology that requires more forward-thinking innovation to evolve.

Fortunately for Apple, this is a space where it's thrived in the past. 

The Apple advantage

Much of augmented reality’s brand promise lies in the ability to layer ads and other information over the real world, said Strategy Analytics' Mawston.

"If you could envision a pair of AR smart glasses from Apple, you could look at, for example, a McDonald’s restaurant, wondering how much the menu might be and bring up the menu on your glasses before you even go in," he said. "Somebody like Burger King might pop up on the side of your glasses and say: 'Look, we’ve got an offer on for a cheeseburger that’s half the price.'"

One of Apple's advantages in the augmented reality race is its reputation for making technology approachable, said WillowTree’s Ward.

"What Apple can do and what Apple does better than a lot of companies, is they can take this technology, make it approachable for developers […] and show them how ordinary people can use it from day to day," he said.

Making AR more approachable will be crucial for the technology reaching critical mass adoption, and Apple has shown in the past that it can make new devices — from MP3 players to tablets — palatable to broader audiences.

The nascent state of augmented reality leaves a wide-open opportunity for Apple, said Mike Bloxham, a senior vice president at research-and-consulting firm Frank N. Magid Associates.

"There is still a space for a major player to come in as a platform and take hold of this and be the one that drives it forward, if they do it in a way that resonates with owners of the phone," he said.

Looking back to look ahead

Years ago, Apple played an analogous role in music to the one it could play with AR, Bloxham added.

"It’s easy to forget now that it was pretty much Apple that brought the notion of downloading music to the general public at a time when it was all about Napster and ripping stuff off," he said. "It's not too difficult to see how, if Apple were to really double down [on augmented reality], how AR could be fairly seamlessly integrated into some of the core functions of the phone."

Apple could spur augmented reality adoption by focusing initially on core smartphone functions such as GPS, maps and the camera. Once consumers are accustomed and comfortable with these interfaces, it will be easier to serve ads on them.

"Rather than having to rely on an infrastructure of app creators that people then have to go find in the iTunes store or anywhere else and download them, they could integrate this fairly effectively into some of the functions of the phone and, thereby, find that there’s a user base already installed," Bloxham said. "That, in turn, could create a situation in which the feasibility of scaling independently created apps becomes much more realistic."

Revolutionizing retail 

If augmented reality takes hold — as many, including Apple CEO Tim Cook,  predict it will — retail is a sector with perhaps the most obvious opportunities. 

Williams-Sonoma last week announced a smartphone app for Pottery Barn that lets customers see how a product will look in their homes before they buy. The "3-D Room View" app allows customers to add, move and remove furniture, rugs, lamps and pillows, and even change the color of the upholstery or pillows, and zoom in to see details or finish.

Pottery Barn is initially focused on living room furniture and decorations, but reportedly will add more rooms later this year. It's not hard to see how this type of technology might pick up traction with more brands who rely on a heavy in-store component, and Apple's potential facilitation of hardware and software development in these areas is enormous. 

"If you think about all the data retailers have on you and the differentiated offers and information flow that could be made available to you as you walk around different parts of the store, that kind of stuff could have a very immediately gratifying deliverable to the consumer," Bloxham said. "Because then it becomes a more sophisticated and timely, customized version of couponing."

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