At SHOPPER 2024, practitioners and academics shared research-based insights on retail media networks (RMN), AI, influencer marketing and live shopping. The industry’s leading experts revealed which tools, technologies and trends are shaping the ever-evolving shopper landscape and what brands need to know to stay ahead.
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Current existing methods used to calculate reach and frequency of a campaign or media schedule are known to have deficiencies in measuring cross-device ad exposure. Restrictions to protect digital privacy complicate cross-platform exposure measurement even further. Multiple global research organizations have turned to a concept known as “virtual people,” to overcome these limitations in order to produce aggregate reach and frequency estimates. This report by the ARF Analytics Council provides a foundational overview of VIDs for a broad audience, providing ARF members with a stronger understanding of this vital topic.
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Privacy regulations have served as the impetus for a renewed interest in contextual targeting. To be effective, an ad must be related to its context but different enough to stand out. This working paper from the Marketing Science Institute (MSI) at the ARF presents a comprehensive model leveraging eye-tracking data and XGBoost algorithms to forecast the effectiveness of ad placements in real time.
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Professor Russ Newman of New York University does not believe that AI will cause humanity’s extinction. Instead, it should help enhance human intelligence and productivity and our quality of life. After putting the AI revolution into historical context, Prof. Newman discussed aligning AI with human values. At our current stage, he believes the regulatory mechanisms in place are sufficient. He explained how large language models work, what allowed them to come into existence and their future impact, describing the effect on marketing and advertising, as well as what the individual user experience will be like. A democratizing, hyper-personalized experience could take place where AI agents advocate on their owner’s behalf and negotiate each transaction with their owner’s preferences in mind. Over time, he sees a great diversification of models coming into being. Historically speaking, each groundbreaking technology that changed the world has been a net gain for humanity. What makes AI different is that if applied correctly, it could make us smarter. The question is, if AI gives us exceptional advice, will we take it?
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Explore the latest findings from the ARF Attention Measurement Validation Initiative. The phase two report is a comprehensive examination of various attention measurement methods used in creative testing. It concludes with reflections on the challenges of attention measurement, as well as some suggestions for advertisers on how to choose and evaluate attention measurement providers.
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The ARF’s annual AUDIENCExSCIENCE conference highlighted the most critical audience measurement issues. Through keynotes, panels, debates and rigorously peer-reviewed research presentations, attendees learned about a wide array of new and evergreen industry topics, endemic to our industry changes. World-class thinkers joined us in NYC to share their perspectives on the future of advertising research and measurement, and how tomorrow’s technologies and data trends will impact advertising and media.
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Audience measurement is changing at an unprecedented rate. Concurrently, identifiers such as cookies are fading, and traditional models and incumbent suppliers are being questioned. In reaction to all these happenings, new measurement initiatives and a new Joint Industry Committee (JIC) have risen to establish a path toward a new video measurement framework. In 2023, the Online-Offline Metrics Working Group, within the ARF Cross-Platform Measurement Council, conducted anonymous, in-depth-interviews (IDIs) with eight key decision-makers from major agency holding companies. The IDIs focused on three major issues involving the metric situation confronting the advertising industry. This report summarizes the learnings from those interviews.
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Online video gaming is a channel that has grown significantly in popularity in the last decade and the trend is likely to continue. Due to a massive group of highly engaged gamers, marketers can use this channel to understand this segment and their needs much better. However, this ecosystem, along with providing unique opportunities, also comes with unique challenges. This Marketing Science Institute (MSI) working paper offers a roadmap.
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