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The Evolution of Contextual Advertising

Traditionally, contextual advertising focused on aligning ads with related content, a tactic rooted in the origins of advertising itself. However, this method falls short in addressing the complexities of today's consumers, whose lives are equally shaped by offline and online experiences.

Real Life Context is redefining how we approach context in advertising. It goes beyond mere content adjacency to encompass a broader set of on- and offline variables, such as mobility, purchase behaviour, social media engagement, all understood by time and place. This approach allows marketers to create more dynamic and effective campaigns that better reflect their audience’s multifaceted lives.

Maximising Opportunities with Real Life Context

In marketing, we obsess about the moments that matter, the right place, right message, and the right time. These moments, or time as we learnt in school, are intertwined with place (space if you are to be exact). Adding the dimension of time and place paves the way for more nuanced strategies. Consider the example of a female consumer interested in beauty. Her context changes significantly on weekdays during working hours when she is either commuting or in the office and in a focused mindset, in work mode, versus the weekends when she is more relaxed and engaged in social activities, be that in the home or out and about. This audience could be targeted solely in fashion- and beauty-related online environments, but when factoring in the variables of time and place, a richer understanding of when and where to connect with them becomes clear.

Beyond Online Context

While online content consumption is a valuable contextual signal, it is merely one piece of the puzzle. Today's consumers also engage with social media, move around in the real world, and interact with various points of interest. These are important contextual signals, combined with purchase behaviours, demographic data, and client business data, offering a rich combination of signals to build effective and efficient context strategies.

The power of Real Life Context lies in its flexibility and strategic applicability across different campaigns and channels. Unlike traditional context, which is mostly limited to digital environments, Real Life Context incorporates both offline and online data. This all-encompassing view makes it a strategic tool rather than a mere tactical one, capable of omnichannel activation across diverse platforms, including CTV, out-of-home, audio, mobile, and more.

Dynamic Data Sets for Enhanced Targeting

Understanding static versus dynamic data sets is central to the Real Life Context methodology. For instance, while sociodemographics are typically static in that they tend to vary by place but not necessarily by time, overlaying mobility patterns can turn sociodemographic data into something that does change by time and place. Understanding when and where there will be more visitors vs residents, or more women vs men, provides useful contextual scenarios for a wide range of brands to activate. For example, a bank brand looking to advertise its mortgage product, rather than use sociodemographic or behavioural data to build a static audience to target, could first identify focus areas for the campaign based on locations with the most dynamic markets or top-performing branches, then use sociodemographic or behavioural data to activate the media dynamically, e.g. when and where there are more 25- to 34-year-old adults who consume relevant homes and property content online, engage with these topics on social, or live in proximity to relevant POIs like DIY and homeware stores.

Conclusion

Real Life Context is a transformative approach to modern advertising, helping marketers leverage a breadth of contextual signals beyond traditional online content. By embracing time, place, and a multitude of on- and offline data sets, brands can create more compelling and expansive contextual strategies.

For brands willing to rethink context in their advertising efforts, the potential to reach audiences in more meaningful ways is vast. With Real Life Context, advertisers have the tools to make impactful, data-driven decisions that reflect the true complexities of today’s consumer lifestyles. Embrace this nuanced strategy to unlock new levels of engagement and efficiency in your campaigns.