How omnichannel campaigns inspire confidence in uncertain times

Turbulence appears to be the new status quo for the advertising industry, as recent research shows. The economic downturn’s impact on both brands and consumers, the need to curtail both cookie usage and carbon emissions, and the FIFA World Cup happening in advertising’s most competitive season have made for an immensely challenging final quarter in 2022.

With brands looking to maximise their end of year budgets and address these challenges, agility is now essential for business success. Advertisers are therefore leaning into omnichannel approaches so they can adapt to market changes, industry developments, and consumer sentiment.

Phil Duffield, VP UK of media buying platform The Trade Desk, says: “Omnichannel campaigns are beginning to peak right now. Brands are recognising the opportunity to invest in different channels and be able to optimise across the ones performing best for them.”

So, how do omnichannel strategies transform multichannel campaigns and ensure brands deliver responsive, streamlined, and highly effective advertising despite the continued uncertainty?

Why advertisers are upgrading to omnichannel

While multichannel campaigns enable advertisers to engage fragmented audiences across screens and platforms, omnichannel strategies empower them to connect the dots between each of these channels. The diversification of media has made ad buying a tricky process, with advertisers needing to carefully manage frequency and ad duplication to avoid frustrating audiences or wasting budget. 

By allowing advertisers to centralise their media planning, buying, and optimisation, omnichannel approaches remove the silos between not only digital channels, but online and offline media as well, offering major benefits to consumers, brands, and the planet: 

Consumers

Advertisers must now cater for always-on audiences, because for consumers, no form of media is siloed. An omnichannel approach gives audiences a connected, quality advertising experience across all channels. One solution that takes this approach is Unmissable, a first of its kind collaboration between GroupM, Xaxis, Finecast, and Kinetic that can optimise in real-time, programmatic channels including, digital out of home, online video, and mobile, and more. 

Additionally, omnichannel strategies better deliver on programmatic’s promise to serve the right ad to the right person at the right place and time. When brands are looking to advertise around both the World Cup and seasonal sales, omnichannel solutions can ensure audiences are served the most relevant ad at the best possible moment, further improving the ad experience. 

Brands

Omnichannel approaches mean advertisers can fluidly redirect budgets towards the channels driving the most impact. GroupM’s Unmissable has demonstrated for clients the millions of pounds that can be saved in media budgets through the efficiencies driven by omnichannel optimisation. This flexibility increases efficiencies and guarantees every media buy delivers against brand-specific KPIs. When resources are stretched during the most important time of the year for many advertisers, the ability to continuously adjust ad spend based on performance and impact will enable brands to do more with their budgets. 

Planet

Since omnichannel strategies are all about being highly selective over media buys, campaigns consist of fewer but far more effective ads. Omnichannel solutions powered by artificial intelligence, for example, can make smarter trades and minimise the number of bids, reducing both media wastage and digital advertising’s carbon footprint.

The omnichannel appeal will grow in 2023 

As advertisers tackle ongoing uncertainty, being reactive to change as it happens will be a high priority going into 2023. Already plans and budgets are shifting on a weekly basis with brands wanting to remain sensitive to consumer circumstances. This will particularly influence seasonal campaigns, since extravagant creative and messaging planned earlier this year no longer aligns with the reality of the cost of living crisis.

Kelly Parker, CEO at Wavemaker UK, believes the media channels and marketing strategies that got us where we are today are unlikely to be the things that get us where we want to be tomorrow: “Applying an omnichannel approach and a test-and-learn mindset to your media investment has become crucial. You need to prove the effectiveness of the media you want to test and scale and you need to be able to take your team and stakeholders on that journey.” 

Another consumer concern that will stay front of mind for brands is the growing importance of data privacy. With more and more users opting out of cookies, advertisers are increasingly adopting cookieless solutions that can maintain and improve the effectiveness of their campaigns. 

Cookieless, omnichannel approaches grounded in adaptability offer advertisers the confidence they need to navigate the current climate. By helping to alleviate the pressures of continually changing plans, meeting highly scrutinised privacy standards, and making ad spend work smarter than ever before, omnichannel campaigns can guarantee business results despite the uncertainty.