Alexa, change audio advertising forever
Article first published in Campaign – see here
Berocca actionable audio ad campaign delivered through industry collaboration between A Million Ads, MediaCom, MullenLowe London & SSP3 and Say It Now agencies
London, 12 February 2021: Berocca from Bayer Consumer Health has become the first FMCG brand globally to adopt innovative ‘actionable audio ads’ with Berocca Boost, their energy vitamin & mineral effervescent tablets with added caffeine*. From today, consumers listening to Global radio stations via their Amazon Alexa smart speaker can interact directly with the ad to buy the vitamin supplement using a simple voice command.
The landmark campaign allows listeners to respond immediately to an ad that asks them to ‘Open Berocca Boost’ either by verbally requesting more information about the product, or by purchasing directly through a voice command.
The personal and connected nature of smart speakers enables ads to be carefully targeted, while contextual data such as the time of day, day of the week and weather further hone relevance and accuracy. Transactions are frictionless while end-to-end attribution data allows the direct effect of ad spend on user engagement to be measured.
Voice assistants are expected to drive the global rise in smart-home transactions (forecast to exceed $164 billion by 2025), and 70% of users already ask their voice assistant for information about brands.
This industry-first concept, developed by Berocca’s agency teams, was brought to life by award-winning voice technology company, Say It Now, with dynamic audio ads supplied by A Million Ads.
Vicky Keenan, Marketing Director Bayer Consumer Health says: “We are always looking for new ways to capture our consumers’ imagination and engage with our brands. With ecommerce proliferating and voice commerce a rapidly emerging channel, we looked to audio as increasingly effective, especially when everyone is spending so much time at home.
This ambitious activation for Berocca required a hugely collaborative effort from all of the marketing and agency teams: Say It Now, MediaCom, MullenLowe London & SSP3 and A Million Ads to deliver. It’s exciting to be the first FMCG brand to embrace this innovation and to set the tone for tomorrow’s radio advertising.”
Charlie Cadbury, CEO and co-founder of Say It Now, says: “Radio advertising has traditionally been about catchy jingles and sharp copywriting and, because it works, it hasn’t changed much over the years. But the evolution of technology and rise of smart speaker advertising opens up a new world of possibilities as ads move beyond being a passive, broadcast-to-all message and enter a new engaging, one-to-one environment. This radically changes the broadcast paradigm.”
Say It Now, which won Amazon’s Alexa Cup bronze medal in 2019, coined the term ‘actionable audio ads’ with the launch of a large scale charity project undertaken in September 2020.
*About Berocca
Berocca effervescent tablets contain vitamins & minerals to help you stay on top form including vitamins B1 & B2 to support energy release and vitamin C and zinc to support your immune system! Berocca Boost is packed full of vitamins & minerals plus caffeine which improves alertness to help you switch on when you need to most. Do not exceed 400mg of caffeine per day. Not recommended whilst pregnant or breastfeeding. Find out more & shop Berocca at www.berocca.co.uk
About Say It Now
With a heritage of enterprise software delivery experience, Say It Now specialises in understanding natural language so that computers can talk to people in the same way that people converse with each other. This helps brands and consumers to benefit from automated communications, which are becoming increasingly relevant as more people have smart speakers in their homes and are becoming comfortable and confident using them.
Launched in 2018, the company provides consulting and software development services to enable transactions and insights using voice assistants on smart speakers (Amazon Alexa and Google Home) and chatbots on messaging platforms such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and SMS.
The company won the UK and European rounds of Amazon’s Alexa Cup competition, and achieved the bronze medal in the final held at the end of July 2019.
About Global
Global is one of the world’s leading Media & Entertainment groups. Europe’s largest radio company, Global is home to respected, national market leading media brands broadcasting across the UK on DAB & FM and around the world on Global Player, including Capital, Heart, Classic FM, LBC, LBC News, Global’s Newsroom, Smooth, Radio X, Capital XTRA and Gold. Global Player allows listeners to enjoy all of Global’s radio brands, award-winning podcasts, and expertly curated playlists, in one place in app, on web and on smart speakers.
Global is also one of the leading Outdoor companies in both the UK & Europe, with over 235,000 sites reaching 95% of the UK population. Global’s extensive and diverse outdoor portfolio encompasses Transport for London’s Underground network, almost all major UK airports including Gatwick, the UK’s largest portfolio of roadside posters and premium digital screens in prime locations, as well as the UK’s largest network of buses including all major cities.
On-air, on Global Player and with our outdoor platforms combined, Global reaches 51 million individuals across the UK every week, including 25 million on the radio alone.
Global created and operates DAX (Digital Ad Exchange), the market leader in digital audio advertising and a pioneering platform in programmatic outdoor advertising.
The company headquarters is in London’s iconic Leicester Square. Ashley Tabor-King OBE is Founder & Executive President, Stephen Miron is Group CEO, Lord Allen is Chairman and James Rea is Director of Broadcasting. Ashley Tabor-King created Global in 2007.
@global
About MediaCom
MediaCom UK is Campaign’s Agency of the Decade, working on behalf of its clients to unlock growth through media. We do this through by helping our clients to See the Bigger Picture. This means that we apply our unique ‘Systems Thinking’ philosophy and technology to all marketing levers: media, message and data. As a result, we design communication strategies that deliver short term results and help brands build for the future.
Our success is underpinned by our long-standing ‘People First, Better Results’ belief. We know that by investing in our people’s whole-person wellbeing, careers and capabilities, we will in turn help grow our clients’ businesses.
Employing over 1,400 staff across five regional offices, MediaCom is the leading agency in the UK in terms of billings and has a client roster that includes British Sky Broadcasting, Direct Line Group, The Coca-Cola Company, Tesco and Cancer Research UK.
MediaCom is a member of WPP, the world’s largest marketing communications services group, and part of GroupM, WPP’s consolidated media investment management arm.
For more information, visit www.mediacom.cm/uk
Find us on Twitter @mediacomuk
Follow us on Instagram @mediacomuk
Join us on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/company/mediacom
Follow us on Facebook @MediaComUKNews
About A Million Ads
A Million Ads is the personalization expert.
It uses data to create personalized advertising with more context and more relevance to better connect with people.
Silke Zetzsche, Head of Commercial Partnerships, A Million Ads, added: “Dynamic advertising has gone from strength to strength, allowing brands to be agile and future facing with their strategies in a time of uncertainty. We are excited to be a part of this media-first campaign that is further paving the way for the future of audio and voice, giving dynamic advertising a call to action that has previously been untested.”