KAFFEINE / Arts & Culture, Lifestyle, Placemaking, Retail & Property , Travel & Tourism

VIDEO: Succeed at Contextual Targeting

3 October 2022

Contextual Targeting is one of the simplest and most effective routes for brands that want to reach more people and sell more online. It gives advertisers the ability to precisely target the right audience, at the right time with the right message and is increasingly important given the declining importance and effectiveness of third-party cookies in online advertising.  

In THIS VIDEO, Rupert Bean, Media Director, sets out the recent changes in Contextual Targeting, exactly what it entails and how brands can better succeed by improving their contextual targeting activity online and in digital out of home advertising.  He provides examples from our client campaigns and the wider sector.  

This video is from our ‘Espresso Sessions’ - free, live training to help you and your team with your marketing and communications.  SUBSCRIBE and join industry peers at these lively and informative events. 

The key advantages of Contextual Targeting for online advertising

1. Consumers are more likely to act: When an ad is unintrusive and relevant to the content on the page, which it would be if governed by Contextual Targeting methodology, it leads to a more positive perception of the ad, and the brand itself, creating a halo effect. Consumers are more likely to be receptive to future advertising from that brand as a result.  A study by Business Wire* indicated that 73% of consumers felt that contextually relevant ads complimented their content experience. In addition, purchasing intent was 63% higher for audiences that were served contextually relevant ads over those which were targeted through behavioural methods. 

2. More effective that other forms of advertising: Obviously, the main purpose of advertising is to encourage consumers to take further action. Recent Neilsen research** , surveying 1800 people across the UK, showed that contextually targeted ads were the most effective at driving higher rates of interaction. 

3. Contextual improves brand safety: Contextual advertising provides a higher degree of brand safety than most other forms of online advertising. Part of maintaining a brand’s public image comes from serving ads to high-quality websites, an objective which isn’t always feasible when website selection is managed solely through a user’s data and browsing habits (which will no longer be possible once the third-party cookie goes). Because contextual advertising manages website selection for ad serving based on the contents of a web page itself, the chances of a contextually relevant website complementing the message of an ad and retaining a brand’s reputation are both greatly improved. 

4. Privacy friendly without asking for user opt-in:  Contextual Targeting is effective without relying on the internet user having to opt in (e.g control cookie preferences) and does this while conforming to privacy regulations.  The rise of consumer control over cookies that track their internet use has reduced the use and effectiveness of cookies in internet marketing - and increased the importance of Contextual Targeting.    

5. Straightforward: Contextual advertising operates on straightforward keyword matching - simple and effective. For example, for our client The Wallace Collection, we are running contextual advertising for their new exhibition “Richard III: The Lost King”, - about how the lost King was found under a car park in Leicester.  For this exhibition our key words range from the names of the actors (e.g. Steve Coogan / Sally Hawkins) in the recent film through to well-known sites or people connected to the King’s story – such as Bosworth Field, the site of battle site and Shakespeare. If a consumer is on a website that mentions these keywords, then it’s likely they’ll be interested in the subject, so what better time and place to serve them an advert to the show? 

Contextual targeting provides a highly effective and cost effective away to improve your online advertising.  Speak to Rupert Bean for more information on our media planning & buying services and how Contextual Targeting can help your business and brand goals.  

Join future Espresso Sessions 

Bring your coffee and join industry peers at our free, online training sessions – SUBSCRIBE to be invited.