Archives par mot-clé : video

How Trump is helping destination marketers go wild

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The US President seems to be inspiring a raft of viral videos and a little known African destination has found itself in the spotlight. Pamela Whitby takes a look

In the latest move in the anti-Trump fuelled media fest, this week a video post by Swedish Paralympic athlete Aron Andersen become the latest to go ‘viral’ on Facebook. The video, which has already clocked up 15 million views, came in response to Trump’s now well-documented speech over the weekend, which implied that there had been a recent terrorist attack in the Scandinavian nation.

This form of global trumpeting, that is spreading across the digital world like wildfire, has not been missed by a lesser-known destination in Africa – Namibia. Here on the windy highlands of the capital Windhoek, a well-established travel brand and its long-standing digital marketing agency recently launched a video that has also gone viral.

The inspiration? A Dutch comedian’s post in response to the US presidential inauguration speech which ‘welcomes Trump in his own words to The Netherlands’. This video, which was published in January, has now been viewed over 23 million times and has spurred a raft of others from countries including Switzerland, Australia, Germany and Iran.

“I instantly loved the [Dutch] idea and am always thinking of ways to promote Namibia and my music internationally,” says the Namibian kwaito star and founder of digital agency CoolBox Cinema who goes by the name of EES.

EES and its client, the Gondwana Collection worked closely together to put together a video featuring everything from Namibia’s surreal sand dunes to its majestic ‘bigger than the Grand Canyon’, Fish River Canyon and its kwaito scene, a genre of music that emerged in South Africa’s townships in the 1990s.

While EES says that the intention was to “fully mock the USA”, his overriding objective was to put Namibia on the map. “Many people in the world don’t know where Namibia is and how beautiful this country is,” he says.

To date the campaign has achieved over 2.5 million online views and coverage in global media like the Washington Post, Berliner Morgenpost and Mashable, whose headline proclaimed it ‘glorious’, as well as on international radio stations. With a strong focus on storytelling across multiple platforms and using a range of marketing tactics, Gondwana is no stranger to digital, says social media manager Bernd Grahl. But they have never seen anything like this. Previous successes, for example, were a 2015 Facebook post of the group’s Namib Dune Star Camp which in two days was viewed a mere 6,000 times in Namibia and South Africa.

Lightening in a bottle

“Going viral remains the pinnacle of achievement for many digital marketers,” says independent digital marketing analyst and author, Rebecca Lieb.  “Not just for video, of course, but also for a clever tweet, Facebook post, animated gif and more. B2C marketers in particular are on that elusive quest for ‘eyeballs’, and hope to make their efforts reach as many of those as possible.”

Yet it remains a tough one to crack. “It’s like trying to catch lightening in a bottle. There is no tried and true formula to achieve it. It requires a combination of the right degrees of humour, pathos and Zeitgeist.”

Going viral is like trying to catch lightening in a bottle

Rebecca Lieb, Independent Digital Marketing Analyst Author

One brand achieving recent viral success is the Momondo Group, which was recently acquired by Priceline for $550million. Last year, its DNA journey campaign went viral, arguably benefiting from the timeous launch around the time of the divisive UK Brexit referendum.

So what was Momondo’s secret?

“In my view, what made our video go viral was that we had the courage to bring up a subject that really matters to people; the whole idea of confronting people with their own narrow-mindedness by showing that we have more in common than we think seemed to really resonate,” says Pia Vemmelund, Managing Director, momondo, who will speaking at EyeforTravel’s upcoming European Summit in May.

She continues: “Our video was quoted as a kind of antidote to conflict in the world, both on a global level but also country-specifically such as in relation to the Brexit-vote and the US presidential election.”

For Vemmelund, it is vital to create an idea that is emotionally engaging; and since ‘emotional engagement’ is a cornerstone of the Momondo experience, this seemed to work. Another strategy was to design the campaign as a brand builder rather than a sales driver.  Having said that, Vemmelund says Momondo saw a very strong uptick in traffic in the days after the global launch. “Our traffic increased by more than 40 % in this period with traffic coming from many first-time visitors to the site,” she says.

..What made our video go viral was that we had the courage to bring up a subject that really matters to people  

Pia Vemmelund, MD, Momondo

However, as with any viral campaign Momondo also faced ‘to-be-expected’ criticism for its patchy scientific claims and for using actors rather than members of the public, which some argued gave the video too professional a finish.

Possibly because it is less familiar with such intense public scrutiny, the Gondwana team was somewhat “surprised” by negative feedback, especially from people on its home turf. In an official, somewhat apologetic release, the team sought to reassure those offended that the campaign was “underpinned by a light-hearted spirit of goodwill” and they would be “more sensitive in the future”.

What they hadn’t bargained perhaps, is the backlash from Trump-supporting travellers, not to mention those in favour of rising populism across the world.

To be expected

According to Lieb, negative feedback is always to be expected even in the most successful campaigns. But marketers can prepare teams for this with training and a social media triage chart, a form of workflow process management.  A chart could pose questions like: ‘Is the remark positive or negative?’ Is it civil and polite (then do this)? Does it violate brand guidelines (then do that)? If A happens, then escalate to a supervisor.

Negative feedback is always to be expected even in the most successful campaigns 

“No two triage charts are the same but they can help teams address how to deal with positive and negative feedback that arrives in real time,” says Lieb.

In doing so, teams are better equipped to answer questions such as what should be addressed (or not), how, by whom in what tone of voice and within what margin of time. After all, you only have to contemplate the outpourings on social media to know that there are many different shades of grey.

“You can’t account for everything,” admits Lieb, “but with forethought you can lay very foundational guardrails that help greatly in handling situations as they arise.”

Momondo CEO Hugo Burge and MD Pia Vemmelund will be speaking at the EyeforTravel Europe Summit in London May 3-4

Video Marketing Poised for APAC Growth, But Marketers Need to …

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In this industry byliner, SelectMedia’s CEO and founder, Sagi Gordon, discusses the growth of video marketing in Asia-Pacific and urges marketers in the region to take the first steps towards fighting ad fraud.

The use of programmatic software for the purchase of digital video advertising is already a fact in Asia. The technology has brought about a great change to the field of marketing, which was previously dominated by traditional video marketing practices. Programmatic video marketing has been particularly preferred over traditional platforms because it utilises real-time data, hence, ensuring a video ad is presented to the target customer at the right time.

The advent of high-speed bandwidth also fuelled the growth of programmatic video ads, just as it revolutionised the way people access TV and online video content. This drove marketers to switch dollars used for TV marketing towards digital marketing.

Looking forward, I expect some significant programmatic trends for the Asia-Pacific region in 2017. First, one should anticipate increasing use of digital marketing among manufacturers. In SelectMedia, for instance, our data for Asia reveals some manufacturers are starting to invest significantly, with upward trends in advertising for clothing and footwear as well as travel, where these players are buying online packages for landing pages.

Across Southeast Asia and Asia-Pacific, in general, has seemed like a haven for online marketing, with the region embracing digital content more than anywhere else. For example, consumers in the Philippines send more text messages than any other country; and Indonesia leads the world in the use of tweets. The region’s population has shown an eagerness to use mobile technology and consume video.

The region, this year, will likely experience a surge in mobile ad spend, especially in video ad formats. In fact, with about 50% of searches occurring through mobile platforms, up to 75% of marketers in this region will see a rise in mobile spend. The growing importance of cross-device marketing further points to a likely uptake of video marketing in 2017.

However, while mobile video ad spend is growing faster than any other digital ad format, it’s still straining to catch up with desktop video. Thanks to audiences who love to consume video content via smartphones and tablets, mobile video ad spend is likely to see rapid growth. Particularly in Asia, though, the lack of agreement over metrics, as well as ad pricing between buyers and sellers, has affected mobile video growth. The disparity in mobile video ad formats has led to buyers choosing to wait and see where the trends are heading. Also, the jury’s still out on whether mobile web or in-app is the better option for video mobile advertising.

Sagi Gordon, CEO Founder, SelectMedia

I believe advertisers are starting to understand the concept of splitting budgets into cross-channel marketing strategies. They see mobile video ads as highly attractive, due to touchscreen devices and the ability to create a more private video experience, compared desktop video.

As such, all indicators point towards the possibility of mobile marketing outpacing desktop marketing in the region.

The rising affluent demographic in Asia also can present marketers with a great opportunity, but targeting this group should be done through video marketing. For instance, an interesting area where programmatic video advertising has started to gain ground in Asia is luxury goods and services; and search activities around this product segment have been high on online video platforms. This underscores the need for luxury brands and marketers to focus their efforts on digital video advertising and platforms.

In June 2016, a poll by research firm Ipsos revealed that 62% of consumers in the top-income bracket watched online marketing videos on YouTube or via social media networks. Another 2015 study by Nielsen Company indicated 75% of young adults in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, India, and the Philippines watched digital videos on a weekly basis; and video sharing topped the region’s social networking activities. These findings further emphasised the importance of video marketing in Asia – although the effectiveness of targeting in the region would require a combination of digital video content and TV ads, since the majority of the population here still consume TV.

Asia-Pacific presents a great opportunity for digital marketing and, in particular, programmatic video advertising. Here at SelectMedia, we’re seeing a 30% year-on-year increase, due to growing programmatic spending. Digital video ad spend also is projected to rise faster in the region in coming years, compared to display, search, and even social media.

Global organisations are starting to take notice of anticipated growth in digital media consumption in APAC, with many US companies already targeting the region by offering programmatic video ad services and opening sales offices here to support increased demand. In particular, video media companies have opened sales offices in Australia, Singapore, as well as other Southeast Asia countries, and in territories such as India, Hong Kong, and Japan, to name a few.

Marketers must take the first step in fraud fight

To reap all the benefits of video, however, marketers must not neglect the need to embrace strategic safety and quality measures. The topic of fraud in digital advertising involves a broad range of issues, from fake clicks and inventory from publisher websites, to exaggerated traffic numbers and the lack of transparency in media buys. In Asia, fraud became a serious consideration only since 2014; and media companies in the region then started to use third-party tools to address the issue. However, today, such tools are not yet widely used in this region and still have gaps in what they are able to track, such as video ad serving template (VAST) video formats.

I believe education is key to improving the fraud situation, especially in Asia where the gap is wider than the West. Most advertisers are unaware of the problem, and most media vendors do not want to deal with the issue since it will dramatically reduce their inventory reach – or amount of available media to sell – and spend opportunities.

Also, marketers in Southeast Asia and Asia-Pacific, as well as Japan, still are not willing to pay for verification companies and technologies, even though these are available today and the issue is frequently discussed. They probably want media agencies to take care of it and rely on the latter’s capabilities and judgement to find the fraud matrix and, as a result, neglect it from their actual planning.

The bottom line is, until advertisers start demanding third-party verification tools and heeding the advice to set KPIs beyond viewer metrics or click-through/completion campaigns, fraud surfaces too easily and advertisers will continue to pay for its impact.

Breitbart’s Milo Yiannopoulos resigns following outrage over his past comments about pedophilia

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Milo Yiannopoulos, the incendiary writer and commentator who helped make Breitbart News a leading organ of the “alt-right,” resigned from the news organization Tuesday after a video of him endorsing pedophilia resurfaced online over the weekend.

Yiannopoulos — known simply as MILO in Breitbart’s own coverage of him — has been a flame-throwing provocateur whose writing has offended women, Muslims, blacks and gay people ever since former Breitbart executive chairman Stephen K. Bannon hired him as a senior editor in 2014.

Bannon, now President Trump’s senior adviser, championed the British-born Yiannopoulos’s inflammatory commentary and promoted him as a conservative truth-teller and champion of free speech. In turn, his popularity helped raise Breitbart’s profile among Trump’s supporters and the “alt-right,” a vaguely defined collection of nationalists, anti-immigration proponents and anti-establishment conservatives. Adherents of the alt-right are known for espousing racist, anti-Semitic and sexist points of view.

“Breitbart News has stood by me when others caved. They have allowed me to carry conservative and libertarian ideas to communities that would otherwise never have heard them,” Yiannopoulos said in a statement. “They have been a significant factor in my success. I’m grateful for that freedom and for the friendships I forged there.”

“I would be wrong to allow my poor choice of words to detract from my colleagues’ important reporting, so today I am resigning from Breitbart, effective immediately. This decision is mine alone,” he added.

“Milo Yiannopoulos’s bold voice has sparked much-needed debate on important cultural topics confronting universities, the LGBTQ community, the press, and the tech industry,” the publication said in a statement Tuesday. It said Yiannopoulos decided to resign Tuesday morning and “we accepted his resignation.”

As recently as last week, Breitbart editor Alexander Marlow called Yiannopoulos “the No. 1 free speech warrior of his generation in America at the moment” in an interview.

But Yiannopoulous’s views on pedophilia apparently went too far even for Breitbart.

On his SiriusXM satellite radio program on Tuesday, Marlow called Yiannopoulos’s comments “indefensible” and “appalling.” He said, “It’s all very upsetting and something we take very seriously at Breitbart,” but he made no comment about his future with the site.

Breitbart was under pressure to take action against Yiannopoulos, 32, from its own staff, which had threatened an internal revolt if he wasn’t fired or disciplined, according to people familiar with the discussions.

In a video interview early last year, Yiannopoulos bantered with the hosts of a podcast called “The Drunken Peasants” for nearly three hours. As the lengthy discussion veered into pedophilia, he condoned sexual relations with boys as young as 13 and joked about a sexual encounter he said he had with a Catholic priest as a teenager.

“You’re misunderstanding what pedophilia means,” he told the hosts. “Pedophilia is not a sexual attraction to somebody 13 years old who is sexually mature. Pedophilia is attraction to children who have not reached puberty.” He adds that consent by minors is “arbitrary and oppressive.”

Milo Yiannopoulos on HBO’s “Real Time With Bill Maher.” on Feb. 17. (Janet Van Ham/HBO via AP)

A group called the Reagan Battalion was among those calling attention to the interview to highlight its opposition to Yiannopoulos’s speaking role at the upcoming Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in the Washington area.

The reemergence of the video over the weekend triggered a cascade of adverse consequences for Yiannopoulos.

First, CPAC’s organizer, the American Conservative Union, rescinded its invitation to him as a conference speaker. The group’s chairman said in a statement that the organization found his comments “disturbing” and the video “offensive.”

Then Simon Schuster canceled an agreement to publish Yiannopoulos’s forthcoming memoir, “Dangerous,” for which it paid him a $250,000 advance. The publisher said it decided to cancel the book — which had drawn protests before the pedophilia flap arose — “after careful consideration.”

Finally, about a half-dozen Breitbart employees told Marlow, the editor, that they would quit in protest if Yiannopoulos wasn’t fired or disciplined, according to people familiar with the discussions who weren’t authorized to comment publicly. Breitbart hasn’t made any public comments since the issue arose.

Yiannopoulos, meanwhile, defended himself on Facebook on Sunday and Monday as the tide of controversy rose.

“I do not support pedophilia. Period,” he wrote. “It is a vile and disgusting crime, perhaps the very worst. There are selectively edited videos doing the rounds, as part of a coordinated effort to discredit me from establishment Republicans, that suggest I am soft on the subject.”

In an update Monday, he wrote: “I’m partly to blame. My own experiences as a victim led me to believe I could say anything I wanted to on this subject, no matter how outrageous. But I understand that my usual blend of British sarcasm, provocation and gallows humor might have come across as flippancy, a lack of care for other victims or, worse, ‘advocacy.’ I deeply regret that. People deal with things from their past in different ways.”

He added, “I am certainly guilty of imprecise language, which I regret.”

Yiannopoulos’s speaking tour has sparked protests on college campuses for the past year, including one this month at the University of California at Berkeley that turned violent. In reaction, Trump threatened on Twitter to cut off federal funds to the school if it “does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view.”

Trump finally confronts anti-Semitism head-on

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‘The anti-Semitic threats targeting our Jewish community and community centers are horrible and are painful,’ the president says.

For the first time in a week, President Donald Trump on Tuesday unequivocally condemned anti-Semitism, following in his daughter’s footsteps after twice last week refusing to explicitly denounce discrimination against Jews.

“The anti-Semitic threats targeting our Jewish community and community centers are horrible and are painful and a very sad reminder of the work that still must be done to root out hate and prejudice and evil,” the president said, reading brief remarks after concluding a tour of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.

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“This tour was a meaningful reminder of why we have to fight bigotry, intolerance and hatred in all of its very ugly forms,” he said.

Trump spent roughly an hour walking through the museum with his daughter Ivanka Trump; Housing and Urban Development secretary nominee Ben Carson and his wife, Candy; Fox News contributor Alveda King, niece of the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.; and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.).

The president told reporters he plans to visit the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. “I will be doing it soon,” he said, when asked about a potential trip. “Very important. Very important for me.”

Trump’s attempt Tuesday to calm the waters came after the president and his White House alarmed many in the Jewish community and anti-discrimination groups. His long-awaited remarks came weeks after he omitted a reference to the slaughter of 6 million Jews from a Holocaust remembrance statement and days after he declined to directly condemn anti-Semitism when confronted by reporters at news conferences on back-to-back days.

But it didn’t appease some Democrats. “It’s not hard to see a connection between the rhetoric used by the white nationalists given a platform by President Donald Trump’s campaign and the increase in threats against the Jewish people,” House Democratic Caucus Chairman Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.) said in a statement. “President Trump’s statement is long overdue and doesn’t begin to scratch the surface of what needs to be done.”

Steven Goldstein, executive director of the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect, based in New York, also said Trump’s efforts were too little and too late. “The President’s sudden acknowledgment of Anti-Semitism is a Band-Aid on the cancer of Anti-Semitism that has infected his own Administration,” Goldstein said in a statement.

Trump throughout the campaign battled allegations of anti-Semitic influences on his operation, including from campaign chairman Steve Bannon, who had run the conservative news outlet Breitbart. He also failed to quickly disavow the endorsement of white supremacist David Duke, and many of his supporters pushed anti-Semitic imagery, including Pepe the Frog, a popular internet meme among white nationalists.

Trump’s condemnation on Tuesday came hours after former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton called on him to speak out against anti-Semitic violence.

“JCC threats, cemetery desecration online attacks are so troubling they need to be stopped. Everyone must speak out, starting w/ @POTUS,” Clinton tweeted Tuesday morning.

Her post followed a call from the Anti-Defamation League for the Trump administration to take action in response to a wave of reported threats against Jewish community centers (often referred to as JCCs) around the country. At least 10 such centers have received bomb threats in recent days, the fourth wave of threats against JCCs the ADL has identified this year.

On Monday night, Ivanka Trump, who converted to Orthodox Judaism ahead of her 2009 wedding, tweeted: “America is a nation built on the principle of religious tolerance. We must protect our houses of worship religious centers. #JCC”

Ahead of his brief address, the president had told MSNBC’s Craig Melvin that “anti-Semitism is horrible and it’s gonna stop and it has to stop.” He added that the racial divide in America is “age-old” and speculated that “something” is going on that prevents the country from fully healing.

“Sometimes it gets better and then it busts apart. But we wanna have it get very much better, get unified and stay together,” Trump said. “But you’ve seen it where oftentimes it’ll get much better and then it blows up.”

He credited the new African-American history museum for helping bridge that divide, though.

“Part of the beauty of what you’re doing here with the museum and the success of the museum — the success is very important because it’s doing tremendous numbers. Tremendous numbers of people coming in,” he said. “I think that really helps to get that divide and bring it much closer together. If not, perfect.”

Trump was joined in his denouncement of anti-Semitism by House Speaker Paul Ryan. “Anti-Semitism in any form is abhorrent, and I encourage authorities nationwide to take these threats seriously,” he tweeted on Tuesday.

Trump’s rhetoric Tuesday was a stark contrast to his passive language last week. Trump failed to take advantage of his first opportunity last Wednesday, when a reporter asked about the rise of anti-Semitic incidents across the country.

Standing alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump immediately discussed his Electoral College victory before pledging his administration will do all it can to “stop long-simmering racism and every other thing that’s going on.” He also hinted that he personally can’t be anti-Semitic, pointing to his Jewish family members: Ivanka; her husband, senior White House adviser Jared Kushner; and their three children.

At a news conference Thursday, Trump again caused agitation. In search of a “friendly reporter,” the president called on Jake Turx of the weekly Orthodox Jewish publication Ami Magazine, who prefaced his question by noting that he did not believe Trump to be an anti-Semite before launching into a query about bomb threats against JCCs.

Complaining that he wasn’t asked a “simple” or “fair question,” Trump ordered the reporter to “sit down” and insisted he understood the remainder of the incomplete question. The president then declared himself to be “the least anti-Semitic person that you’ve ever seen in your entire life” and added that he’s also “the least racist person.”

He also recalled Netanyahu’s defense of him at the prior day’s news conference, where the prime minister argued that “there is no greater supporter of the Jewish people and the Jewish state than” Trump.

In neither instance, however, did Trump condemn anti-Semitic acts of violence, instead opting to defend himself against possible charges of being an anti-Semite or racist.

On Tuesday, asked explicitly by MSNBC’s Melvin whether he would denounce anti-Semitism “once and for all,” Trump said yes — and claimed he’s been doing it all along.

“Oh, of course,” he said. “And I do it — wherever I get a chance, I do it.”

DHS secretary orders immigration agent hiring surge, end to ‘catch-and-release’

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Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly moved Tuesday to implement a host of immigration enforcement changes ordered by President Trump, directing agency heads to hire thousands more officers, end so-called “catch-and-release” policies and begin work on the president’s promised U.S.-Mexico border wall.

“It is in the national interest of the United States to prevent criminals and criminal organizations from destabilizing border security,” Kelly wrote in one of two memos released Tuesday by the department.

The memos follow up on Trump’s related executive actions from January and, at their heart, aim to toughen immigration enforcement.

The changes would spare so-called « dreamers. » On a conference call with reporters, a DHS official stressed that the directives would not affect Obama-era protections for illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children and others given a reprieve in 2014. But outside those exemptions, Kelly wrote that DHS “no longer will exempt classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement.”

A DHS official said the agencies are “going back to our traditional roots” on enforcement.  

The memos cover a sprawling set of initiatives including: 

  • Prioritizing criminal illegal immigrants and others for deportation, updating guidance from previous administration
  • Expanding the 287(g) program, which allows participating local officers to act as immigration agents – and had been rolled back under the Obama administration
  • Starting the planning, design and construction of a U.S.-Mexico border wall
  • Hiring 10,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and officers
  • Hiring 5,000 Border Patrol agents  
  • Ending “catch-and-release” policies under which illegal immigrants subject to deportation potentially are allowed to “abscond” and fail to appear at removal hearings

It’s unclear what timelines the secretary is setting for some of these objectives, and what budgetary and other constraints the department and its myriad agencies will face. In pursuing an end to “catch-and-release,” one memo called for a plan with the Justice Department to “surge” immigration judges and asylum officers to handle additional cases. 

While congressional Republicans have vowed to work with Trump to fund the front-end costs associated with his promised border wall, the same memo also hints at future efforts to potentially use money otherwise meant for Mexico – following on Trump’s repeated campaign vow to make Mexico pay for the wall. The secretary called for “identifying and quantifying” sources of aid to Mexico, without saying in the memo how that information might be used.

Mexican officials repeatedly have said they will not pay for a border barrier. DHS said it has identified initial locations to build a wall where current fencing is not effective, near El Paso, Texas; Tucson, Ariz.; and El Centro, Calif. 

The DHS directives come as the Trump White House continues to work on rewriting its controversial executive order suspending the U.S. refugee program as well as travel from seven mostly Muslim countries. The order was put on hold by a federal court, and Trump’s team is said to be working on a new measure.

The directives also come as the Trump administration faces criticism from Democratic lawmakers and immigration advocacy groups for recent ICE raids of illegal immigrants.

DHS officials on Tuesday’s conference call stressed that they are operating under existing law and once again shot down an apparently erroneous news report from last week claiming National Guard troops could be utilized to round up illegal immigrants. That will not happen, an official said.

“We’re going to treat everyone humanely and with dignity, but we are going to execute the laws of the United States,” a DHS official said on the conference call. 

[video] @Ericsson #IoT with @EsmeSwartz | @ThingsExpo @EricssonIT #M2M – SYS

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Join Cloud Expo / @ThingsExpo conference chair Roger Strukhoff (@IoT2040), June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY and October 31 – November 2, 2017, Santa Clara Convention Center, CA for three days of intense Enterprise Cloud and ‘Digital Transformation’ discussion and focus, including Big Data’s indispensable role in IoT, Smart Grids and (IIoT) Industrial Internet of Things, Wearables and Consumer IoT, as well as (new) Digital Transformation in Vertical Markets.

Financial Technology – or FinTech – Is Now Part of the @CloudExpo Program!

Accordingly, attendees at the upcoming 20th Cloud Expo / @ThingsExpo June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY and October 31 – November 2, 2017, Santa Clara Convention Center, CA will find fresh new content in a new track called FinTech, which will incorporate machine learning, artificial intelligence, deep learning, and blockchain into one track.

Financial enterprises in New York City, London, Singapore, and other world financial capitals are embracing a new generation of smart, automated FinTech that eliminates many cumbersome, slow, and expensive intermediate processes from their businesses.

FinTech brings efficiency as well as the ability to deliver new services and a much improved customer experience throughout the global financial services industry. FinTech is a natural fit with cloud computing, as new services are quickly developed, deployed, and scaled on public, private, and hybrid clouds.

More than US$20 billion in venture capital is being invested in FinTech this year. @CloudExpo is pleased to bring you the latest FinTech developments as an integral part of our program, starting at the 20th International Cloud Expo June 6-8, 2017 in New York City and October 31 – November 2, 2017 in Silicon Valley.

@CloudExpo is accepting submissions for this new track, so please visit www.CloudComputingExpo.com for the latest information.

Speaking Opportunities

The upcoming 20th International @CloudExpo | @ThingsExpo, June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY and October 31 – November 2, 2017, Santa Clara Convention Center, CA announces that its Call For Papers for speaking opportunities is open.

Submit your speaking proposal today! ▸ Here

Our Top 100 Sponsors and the Leading « Digital Transformation » Companies

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About SYS-CON Media Events
SYS-CON Media (www.sys-con.com) has since 1994 been connecting technology companies and customers through a comprehensive content stream – featuring over forty focused subject areas, from Cloud Computing to Web Security – interwoven with market-leading full-scale conferences produced by SYS-CON Events. The company’s internationally recognized brands include among others Cloud Expo® (@CloudExpo), Big Data Expo® (@BigDataExpo), DevOps Summit (@DevOpsSummit), @ThingsExpo® (@ThingsExpo), Containers Expo (@ContainersExpo) and Microservices Expo (@MicroservicesE).

Cloud Expo®, Big Data Expo® and @ThingsExpo® are registered trademarks of Cloud Expo, Inc., a SYS-CON Events company.

Video Advertising Trends of 2017

Video Marketing,

Bob Reina, Founder CEO of Talk Fusion, discusses the upcoming video marketing trends of 2017 and shares how advertisers can incorporate these trends into their future promotional campaigns

As marketers, we’re always on the lookout for newfound ways to create lasting impressions. In a sea of possibilities, video stands above the pack: more than just a beneficial medium, video is, unequivocally, an advertiser’s most valuable asset.

As I reflect on what led us to this moment, I’m looking back on 2016, “the year of video,” and tracing how the trends of this past year will continue to magnify in 2017 and beyond.

Why Video in 2016?

On the horizon of 2016, industry experts were hyperaware of the surmountable impact video would continue to have on the marketing world. Video is easily digestible, it encourages sharing, and it gives businesses an unforgettable footprint. Over the past year, we clicked the “play” button and watched as video expanded from every angle, pulling audiences in like never before, and becoming the advertising trend of the year.

In a comprehensive study, Wyzowl reports that 61% of business incorporated video into their 2016 marketing campaigns; and for a shocking 66% of these companies, last year was their very first year using video. As a marketing goldmine that shows no signs of slowing down, video is a necessary advertising tool that nearly every successful business will continue to employ in 2017.

The Rise of Video Storytelling

People thrive on stories: they play on our need to connect and they’re instantly more memorable than most other forms of communication. Video storytelling brings a unique twist to an old game: combining two preferred informational mediums into one promotional powerhouse. Countless companies picked up on this benefit in 2016 and began incorporating video storytelling into their marketing tactics, but this trend is only expected to fully take hold in 2017.

Whether they’re sharing customer stories, explaining how a new idea was first imagined, or showing a product during its development stage, numerous businesses will try their hats at video storytelling in 2017 to increase customer loyalty and brand retention.

And Live From Our Brand

Live streaming has grown in popularity in both the social and marketing worlds. In 2016, we saw more companies try to “go live” on social media sites like Facebook, and many others used this technology to hold industry-wide broadcasts on a number of various hosting sites. The results of this shift were, quite literally, instantaneous.

2017 promises to be the year that we see live streaming take off in full swing. Business will fully explore ways to connect by giving behind-the-scenes tours, holding question and answer sessions, and providing training materials and product demonstrations. Not only does this type of unedited content increase traction by instilling immediate trust, it’s also a fantastic way for businesses to receive real-time customer feedback, further enriching the communication experience between brand and consumer.

The Lure of Temporary Content

Thanks to Snapchat, and then later Instragram, temporary content became a marketing staple in 2016. Though perhaps counter intuitive, this type of momentary film is well worth the investment time.

By sharing temporary video content, you’re more likely to have viewers really listen to your message. Audiences are captured by the lure of a one-time only experience, and successful marketers will continue to grasp onto this demand in 2017.

Video + Email = Opportunity

Because of its non-invasive nature, email marketing has always been a successful form of promotional communication. To this day, email is still a consumer favorite, and according to MarketingSherpa, 72% of people would rather receive marketing content via email versus any other medium. Not surprisingly, when video thumbnails are added to email campaigns, customers are hooked. Video email boosts customer open and click-through rates and gives your brand a leg up in the industry.

We’re starting to see the video email trend cement itself now, and this shift is only expected pick up more steam as we head into the New Year and beyond.

Video From Every Angle

360-degree video became a marketing reality in 2016: allowing consumers to fully immerse themselves in an experience and attach personal meaning to a recorded moment. Magnifyre reports that the same video will receive 28.81% more views if it’s in a 360-degree format, and when filmed from every angle, your chances of having a viewer watch a video to completion doubles.

The Road Ahead

Business marketers have steadily stopped asking “why video?” and started more aptly questioning: “how can I do this?” Video is no longer a cog in the marketing machine, but rather the machine itself. The video trends and success we saw in 2016 paved the path for what’s to come in the New Year, and though the content of each trend differs, each is a reflection in a mass shift in the promotional world: one that centers on building closer connections, loyalty, personalization, and consumer trust.

Avoya Travel Showcases Travel Agencies in Innovative Branded Video Campaign

Video Marketing,

/EINPresswire.com/ — FT. LAUDERDALE, FL–(Marketwired – February 21, 2017) – Avoya Travel®, one of the world’s most innovative marketing and travel technology companies, launched its new branded video campaign to elevate the role of travel agents by putting them at the forefront of the modern vacation planning and booking process. Avoya’s investment in the videos purposefully illustrates the personal service and expertise Independent Agencies within the Avoya Network offer travelers. By highlighting the personal connection with a travel professional in combination with Avoya’s powerful technology and exclusive value, the video campaign further positions Avoya as a different, better type of travel company.

« Avoya Travel’s innovative heritage and love for the travel industry drives us to continually improve the vacation planning and booking process, and we are doing this now by placing the spotlight on the value travel agents offer consumers, » said Brad Anderson, President of Avoya Travel. « We are confident that Avoya Travel’s message in the branded videos will have a big impact with travelers and generate even more bookings for the Independent Agencies in the Avoya Network. »

The video series is the next chapter for Avoya’s evolving consumer brand campaign, Beyond The Web®. By showcasing a family’s vacation crafted by an Independent Agency in the Avoya Network, Avoya brings the benefit of experiencing the world beyond the web to life through breathtaking cinematography and messaging that resonates with travelers. Royal Caribbean International, a company that believes in the power of branded videos, Avoya’s model, and the value of travel agents, partnered with Avoya by providing the filming venues.

Avoya will use numerous videos in various trade and consumer marketing campaigns to highlight the value of booking with travel professionals, and to reinforce why Avoya’s patented combination of people, technology, and value makes it a better choice for customers. Examples include:

  • A Brand Anthem video uses poetic, meaningful footage shot on location to tell the story of a family traveling on a vacation planned by an Independent Agency in the Avoya Network.
  • A Companion video that explains Avoya’s unique position in the market by recapping the interaction of the family with a professional Avoya affiliated Independent Agency.
  • A Short video applies a voicemail message voiceover to show the personalized experience customers receive from when choosing to book with the Avoya Network.

Avoya will introduce the branded video campaign this month to the travel industry and soft launch on select consumer facing platforms. The full, multi-channel consumer rollout is expected to debut in the second quarter of 2017.

To view the videos, please visit: https://vimeopro.com/avoyatravel/beyond-the-web-brand-video-series-2017-media

About Avoya Travel:
Avoya Travel is a family-owned company with a longstanding reputation for being one of the world’s most innovative marketing and travel technology companies. As an American Express Travel Representative for more than 30 years, and their largest seller of cruises and tours, Avoya is deeply committed to Integrity and Professionalism™, service, and value in every aspect of planning cruises and vacations. Through an elite network of independently owned and operated travel agencies, Avoya provides exclusive discounts, amenities, and first-class customer service to travelers worldwide. Cruise lines recognize this. Avoya has received numerous accolades, including being repeatedly named Travel Partner of the Year by Norwegian Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, Carnival Cruises, American Express, Oceania Cruises, and more.

Travel agency owners, travel professionals, and others interested in owning and operating their own travel business should contact Avoya Travel at 800-521-2597 or visit www.JoinAvoya.com. Travelers interested in booking their next vacation with Avoya Travel, should call 800-753-1463 or visit www.AvoyaTravel.com.