HOW IPG MEDIABRANDS IS LOOKING TO EXPAND ITS INVESTMENT IN DIVERSE-OWNED MEDIA IN THE UPFRONTS

By Jade Yan, Published by AdAge
 
IPG Mediabrands’ clients spending with Black-owned media properties nearly tripled since the company held its first equity upfront last year, it announced today.
 
The agency plans to host its second equity upfront in April to bring attention to Black-owned and other BIPOC media companies. Last year, the agency announced its commitment to invest at least 5% in Black-owned media across its clients by 2023.
 
The agency said that “we are on track to deliver our three-year goal and continue to create opportunities for our clients.” It has seen growth in all of its client categories.
 
While last year’s event exclusively focused on Black-owned media companies, 2022’s equity upfront will include Latinx, AAPI and LGBTQIA+ companies, IPG Mediabrands announced. Widening the net was partly a response to client needs, said Dani Benowitz, president at Magna U.S., but was also viewed as “the next natural extension” of increasing media spend diversity.
 
The first equity upfront came at a time when Black-owned media companies called upon brands to spend a minimum of 2% of their ad budgets on Black-owned media; at the time, less than 2% of total ad spend was going towards Black-owned media companies even though Black consumers make up 13% of the population, according to Nielsen Ad Intel.
 
WPP’s GroupM made a similar pledge a few days after IPG’s 2021 pledge for its clients to spend 2% on diverse and Black-owned media, with a shorter activation timeframe of 12 to 18 months. GroupM also created a fund to put dollars specifically towards Black and other BIPOC creators.
 
More broadly, IPG and other agencies ramped up diversity initiatives in 2020 during the uprisings and increased scrutiny of racial inequity following the May 2020 police killing of George Floyd. Those efforts included appointing DE&I leaders, altering hiring practices and creating employee resource groups and business resource groups, although concerns have been raised around members not getting compensated for their work in these groups. Other agencies increased mentorship opportunities for employees of color and created programs to make the talent pipeline more diverse.
 
Benowitz confirmed that the equity upfront will be a yearly event. The agency has also created an internal “equity portal” that provides a directory to the media companies it is working with.
 

Read the article in Ad Age.

MAGNA Hosts 2nd Annual Equity Upfront™ Focused on Deep Engagement and Collaboration with Diverse-Owned Media Companies in 2022 and Beyond

Launches Black consumer report highlighting the continued importance of Black-owned media in providing representative content to valuable Black audiences.

 
New York, NY, FEBRUARY 28, 2022 – MAGNA, the investment and intelligence company of IPG Mediabrands, today announced its second annual Equity Upfront™, taking place on April 5 – 7th, 2022. The theme for this year’s event is “Invest for Impact” and will be a hybrid experience, both virtual and in-person, focusing on highlighting the impact of diverse audiences on media consumption and their impact on brand loyalty. The Equity Upfront™, which aims to accelerate support of Black-owned media businesses, will also allow brands to schedule collaboration workshops with media owners to plan for upstream investments in critically important diverse audiences. This year’s Equity Upfront™ will also coincide with the launch of MAGNA’s latest research on Black consumers and will feature the release of MAGNA’s new equity portal, a media guide of diverse owners designed to further media investments.
 
Over the last year, through its monthly equity experiences and top-to-top equity workshops, MAGNA has now hosted forums with nearly 100 diverse-owned media partners and welcomed over 2,000 attendees. These dialogues have highlighted the strategic significance of diverse audiences, and the effective impact of brands speaking to these audiences in new ways, across dynamically diverse owned platforms. MAGNA’s latest report, Multicultural Audiences: The Black American Consumer, shows that representation and addressing stereotypes are important to making video content culturally relevant, among a host of other insights.
 
MAGNA’s overarching goal of the Equity Upfront™ is to redress gaps in how our industry engages with media businesses that are diversely owned. By enabling deep collaboration with diverse-owned media companies, this year’s Equity Upfront™ will create a critical pathway towards achieving Mediabrands’ previously announced commitment to invest an aggregate of 5% in Black-owned media by 2023. Confirmed media partners include Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group, Ebony Media, ReachTV, REVOLT, Group Black, Urban Edge Network, NuTime Media, Black Enterprise, and more.
 
“After last year’s inaugural Equity Upfront™, we pledged to invest a minimum of 5% in Black-owned media to reverse long-standing inequities in the advertising industry,” said Dani Benowitz, President, U.S., MAGNA. “We’re very happy to report that since then, MAGNA has added new bespoke partnerships that extend to innovative integrated marketing programs and content solutions. We remain committed to creating more breakthrough opportunities and using our audience insights and consultative reach to support diverse-owned media suppliers in impactful ways.”
 
The 2022 Equity Upfront will also include media partners from Hispanic, Asian American Pacific Islander and LGBTQIA+ communities in an effort to inspire a greater understanding of how these audiences are growing in economic and cultural influence. The hybrid experience will host media sessions that will showcase the opportunities around GenZ/Millennial focused outlets, across sports and influencer markets, as well as health and pharmaceuticals.
 
Benowitz added, “As part of our mission to understand the impact of diverse audiences on brand loyalty, for this year’s Equity Upfront™, we’re broadening our lineup by including Hispanic, Asian American and Pacific Islander, and LGBTQIA+ owned media companies.”
 
“We are thrilled to be working together with MAGNA and Mediabrands to bring bold and brilliant conversations about issues that matter most in Black communities, to brand marketers,” said Michele Ghee, Chief Executive Officer at EBONY & JET. “At EBONY, we are committed to telling stories – for us and by us – and those important life moments that matter and contribute to the American fabric. Our partnership with Mediabrands has shown that brands care about real impact in Black communities.”
 
About MAGNA:
MAGNA is the leading global media investment and intelligence company. Our trusted insights, proprietary trials offerings, industry-leading negotiation and unparalleled consultative solutions deliver an actionable marketplace advantage for our clients and subscribers.
 
We are a team of experts driven by results, integrity and inquisitiveness. We operate across five key competencies, supporting clients and cross-functional teams through partnership, education, accountability, connectivity and enablement. For more information, please visit our website: https://magnaglobal.com/ and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.
 
PRESS CONTACT:
 
Rahel Rasu
Global Chief Communications Officer, Mediabrands
[email protected]

NEW STUDY BY MAGNA & ORIGIN FINDS BRANDS BENEFIT FROM INNOVATING WITH NATIVE AD FORMATS ON CONNECTED TV

Study finds surrounding ads with short-form native content leads to higher attention and more cognitive processing of brand ads

New York, NY – February 28, 2022 – MAGNA Media Trials, MAGNA’s industry-leading proprietary research offering, announced today a new study in partnership with media and technology company Origin, titled “Reinventing TV Ads.” MAGNA and Origin set out to try to understand if consumers are really processing the information they are given when served an ad, if they are engaged in the experience, what emotions they are feeling, and whether they are distracted or focused.

Consumers along with the media landscape have rapidly evolved, yet CTV advertising has predominantly remained the same. As concerns about ad fatigue, attention deficit and the need for performance rise, it is vital for brands to innovate with new ad formats on Connected TV (CTV). “Reinventing TV Ads” concluded that native ad “extensions” break the monotony of back-to-back traditional ads on CTV, resulting in higher attention and more cognitive processing of the ad to follow – making these ads memorable and more effective across key metrics used today to plan and evaluate CTV investments.

The study used a two-pronged methodology, using EEG and eye-tracking glasses – it first measured subconscious responses to extension TV ads vs. traditional TV ads, and then the impact of extension TV ads vs. traditional TV ads across key KPIs for brand participants including Energizer, Norton LifeLock and T-Mobile. The study used neuroscience to test cognitive load, emotion, arousal and visual attention.

“A valuable finding in this latest research with Origin is that pairing traditional TV ads with additional native content, otherwise known as ad extensions, helps amplify ad impact with considerably higher attention and engagement,” said Prayushi Amin, Sr. Manager, Intelligence Solutions, MAGNA. “Brands can extensively benefit from pairing their traditional TV ads with attention-grabbing content and use the moment to form meaningful relationships with consumers.”

Ad types tested in the study were traditional TV ads and extension TV ads, which comprise of an Origin-produced native asset plus a standard video ad.

Key findings of the report include:

  • TV ads can be just as engaging as TV content when within an extension ad: Traditional TV ads are naturally less engaging than TV content, but the study found that people were just as mentally engaged during extension ads (46.1%, Normative EEG Score) as they were during TV content (46.3%, Normative EEG Score).
  • In fact, when paired with extensions, traditional TV ads are processed differently:
    • They capture more attention: +6% of people viewed the ad paired with an extension compared to the traditional TV ad.
    • They are easier to process, resulting in higher engagement: EEG responses show cognitive processing load is significantly lower while mental engagement is significantly higher for the traditional TV ad when paired with an extension.
  • Amplified success when extension creative strategy is closely aligned with campaign goals: The study found that when aligned with campaign goals, extension ads moved key attributes for the respective brand – resulting in stronger agreement with brand message (+14%), higher brand preference (+13%), and agreement that brand stands out among competitors (+9%).
  • Brands benefit differently from the different extension strategies: For the highest impact across the funnel, a branded extension is the way to go. Though, the subtlety in un-branded extension instills curiosity, resulting in higher search intent (+11%), and the priming experience helps the brand stand out among other brands (+15%).

“In an age of constant distraction where ‘attention’ is the new commodity brands must fight over in the living room, this study has given us unique insight into how advertisers can not only captivate viewers – but influence them too. The question was never ‘do traditional ads work?’ Because they do. Instead, it was about discovering what brands can do to engage and amplify their message,” said Fred Godfrey, Co-founder, and CEO of Origin. “By pairing their ad creatives with highly dynamic and agile native content, regardless of if they are branded or unbranded, we’ve discovered that advertisers can earn the attention they need and, in doing so, elevate the impact and performance of their campaigns in a significant and meaningful way.”

The full study can be found here.

About Origin
Origin is a pioneering media and technology company delivering first to market native advertising solutions to brands that want to elevate the impact and outcome of their marketing campaigns on Connected TV. The original architects of ‘Native CTV’, Origin’s in-house animation studio produces highly engaging native content that is engineered to capture the attention of a room during an ad break and enhance the connection a viewer feels towards a brand. Learn more at www.originmedia.tv.

About MAGNA
MAGNA is the leading global media investment and intelligence company. Our trusted insights, proprietary trials offerings, industry-leading negotiation and unparalleled consultative solutions deliver an actionable marketplace advantage for our clients and subscribers.

We are a team of experts driven by results, integrity and inquisitiveness. We operate across five key competencies, supporting clients and cross-functional teams through partnership, education, accountability, connectivity and enablement. For more information, please visit our website: https://magnaglobal.com/ and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

MAGNA Media Contact:
Zinnia Gill
Mediabrands
Director, Global Corporate Communications
(646) 965-4271
[email protected]

Origin Media Contact:
Patrice Gamble
Kite Hill PR
[email protected]