SXSW 2015: Pandora Reaches Moment of Critical Mass With Audience Targeting
Pandora sat down to speak with ClickZ at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, about connecting with Millennials through better audience targeting.
Pandora sat down to speak with ClickZ at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, about connecting with Millennials through better audience targeting.
Audience insight is the key to connecting with Millennials, according to Lizzie Widhelm, senior vice president of ad product and sales strategy at Pandora, who spoke with ClickZ at South by Southwest.
“Millennials are hackers,” Widhelm said. “Their lives are always on, and they want brands to ‘show me you know me.'” And in the same way that Pandora’s music genome project maps behavior to predict new music for audiences, the brand’s “Sponsored Listening” program depends on audience behavior to deliver the right ads to the right audiences.
Sponsored Listening currently offers users one hour of uninterrupted music in exchange for a 15-second brand message. However, unlike similar offerings from other music channels, Pandora allows brands to seek audiences based on behavior.
One example Widhelm gave was energy drink Red Bull, who might want to target audiences of 25- to 34-year-olds who listen to upbeat music. According to Widhelm, beta testing revealed that targeting ads based on listening preferences increased audience interaction with ads by four times and led to a 30 percent increase in purchase intent. “Targeting is connective tissue for brands,” Widhelm said.
As Sponsored Listening moves forward into connected homes, the brand is considering a move to more interactive ads. “As we turn more to connected spaces, ads have to reach audiences more easily.” For example, to adapt to connected TVs, Pandora is thinking about using video that adds a call to action, where a wave of a users’ hand will act as a “thumbs up.”
The company is also experimenting with offering activity-based ads. One example Widhelm gave of activity-based targeting was a beauty brand using music insights to offer women one ad as they get ready for a night out then touch back later with a different ad as they prepare for bed or a late-night chat with friends.
“Advertisers will soon be able to target different moments with different creative for the same product,” Widhelm said. “Testing around gender and different ad voices is just starting. We’ve reached a moment of critical mass and scale.”
More about:
Lucy helps organizations leverage knowledge for in... View Tech Talk
TVSquared is the global leader in cross-platform T... View Tech Talk
Grata is a B2B search engine for discovering small... View Tech Talk
Streaming has become a staple of US media-viewing ... Download Now
Data is the lifeblood of so many companies today. ... Download Now
This report documents the findings of a Fireside c... Download Now
Customers decide fast, influenced by only 2.5 touc... Download Now
Streaming has become a staple of US media-viewing habits. Streaming video, however, still comes with a variety of pesky frustrations that viewers are ...
View resourceData is the lifeblood of so many companies today. You need more of it, all of which at higher quality, and all the meanwhile being compliant with data...
View resourceThis report documents the findings of a Fireside chat held by ClickZ in the first quarter of 2022. It provides expert insight on how companies can ret...
View resourceCustomers decide fast, influenced by only 2.5 touchpoints – globally! Make sure your brand shines in those critical moments. Read More...
View resourceHow the sunglasses giant created subconscious brand recall value with music festival-goers through the power of strategic partnerships and experientia...
View articleNavigating recent ecommerce data changes for targeted advertising and campaign measurement is crucial for effective advertising Read More...
View articleDespite shrinking ad budgets, marketers are on the hook to fuel their businesses by acquiring traffic. But how? Magic? Data and analytics are to the r...
View articleFootprint Digital, a UK-based digital marketing agency, created a comprehensive ebook to help brands, marketers, and agencies conduct effective digita...
View articleAs advertisers turn to alternate strategies to replace third-party cookies, AdPushup’s Ankit Oberoi looks at how publishers can use first-party data t...
View articleMarketers are turning to new methods to analyze the effectiveness of their campaigns, and they are getting more accurate results more quickly with inc...
View articleWe analyze more data about the effect of COVID-19 on consumer behavior, this time for notifications, messaging and ads in email newsletters. Read More...
View articleOnly 2% of consumers think brands should pause all advertising; 49% want ads to make them feel informed and 37% want ads to make them feel warm/happy....
View article