Next generation of farming
A print and digital special feature will spotlight the next generation of farmers.
Uncategorized
Responsible Media is transforming Canada’s advertising landscape
Responsible Media may become the next buzzword in 2023. With so much uncertainty about the environment, economy, and society, it’s easy to become disillusioned with making a positive impact. The events surrounding George Floyd in 2020 served as a wake-up call for many in the industry, igniting discussions about social inequality. This pivotal moment triggered a powerful shift within offices, as professionals started actively seeking ways to support and uplift Black-owned publishers and content creators. In this climate, media buyers could no longer be content with simply pursuing financial gains. Having recognized the importance of incorporating equity into their investment decisions, they sought to actively form a coherent plan to improve investments with equity in mind.
Today, advertising in Canada is poised for positive change and growth. While Black-owned or BIPOC-owned publishers are still underrepresented in general media planning, there is an increasing awareness and commitment to addressing this disparity. Responsible Media already touches key areas like the environment and society. Assessing your environmental impact can be difficult initially, but numerous resources are available to help you get started. Ad Net Zero, for instance, provides helpful guides to creating awareness and establishing accountability within an organization open to change. Other exciting initiatives have also emerged to combat environmental challenges. GroupM has gone so far as creating a carbon calculator in partnership with Scope3 to measure the carbon emissions in the media investment supply chain.
Responsible Media to support societal initiatives is less prescriptive. Trust is declining across Canada and it can be difficult for advertisers and media buyers to see value in advertising with news media publishers. While this sentiment can be amplified by the misinformation and disinformation proliferating in social media, initiatives have already been formed to combat this. For example, the Canadian government has stepped in to create the Digital Citizen Initiative, which focuses on empowering Canadians with resources to understand disinformation with a view towards developing future policy-making. Similarly, NewsGuard has developed a rating system for news media publishers in Canada based on the site’s risk for publishing misinformation or using unreliable sources. This ranking shows the trustworthiness of a publisher but can also demonstrate which news outlets serve underrepresented groups, including BIPOC and 2SLGBTQ+ communities. NewsGuard’s ratings for news outlets is conducted by a team of experienced journalists and editors focused on credibility and transparency. These initiatives are critical to bringing us a future where trust in media is restored, accurate and reliable information prevails, and diverse communities are celebrated and uplifted.
Additionally, in recent years, the Canadian Media Directors’ Council published the Canadian Media Manifesto, which aims to support Canadian media owners and publishers by taking a pledge to ensure transparency, promote accountability, and support building an infrastructure that allows Canadian media to thrive. Participating agencies have agreed to direct 25% of their media investment to Canadian media by 2025. This will be measured by Standard Media Index (SMI), which cleanses and harmonizes media investment data from the major agencies to produce trends and reporting insights about how media is purchased in Canada. Similarly, The Conseil des directeurs médias du Québec (CDMQ) and the Association of Creative Communications Agencies (A2C) published the Guide to Responsible Media Practices, which has a greater focus on defining the role of local media in relation to economic benefits, preservation of local/regional culture, and support of journalistic integrity. The guidelines also suggest the use of a Local Media Index (LMI) to identify the percentage of media invested in across Canada and specifically in Quebec. In addition, the notion of auditing the digital/programmatic supply chain for how ad dollars are spent is very similar if not directly connected to supply path optimization. This is a process necessary for carbon footprint reduction for accessing Canadian ad opportunities with efficiency. Overall, there is an increasing demand for transparency by brands to know how much of their ad investment reaches Canadian media owners. These efforts show a promising future where Canadian media can thrive with transparency, and the value of local media investment is fully realized.
While many of these initiatives have focused on individual accountability, we now have an opportunity to shift toward working together to achieve shared goals within the larger advertising landscape.
Often, emphasis has been placed on media buyers to make decisions on what to buy without necessarily collaborating with the media owners or technologies necessary to realize those partnerships. However, it is vital to acknowledge the necessity of collaboration for these initiatives’ success. For collaborative efforts to succeed, greater emphasis must be placed on establishing trust first.
In Canada, media owners have focused on selling advertising based on unique capabilities or simply differentiating themselves from their competitors. However, we can accelerate progress faster by bringing media buyers and sellers together to use technology that demonstrates the journey a brand’s customer takes across the Canadian media landscape. In doing so, we can see the value each media owner contributes to the social value of a brand while understanding the environmental impact produced from each touchpoint in that journey. Although this may seem overly optimistic, it is founded on the hope that we can have a more responsible media ecosystem in Canada – one that accounts for the contribution of all parties in that change. By recognizing that solving these problems lies beyond the efforts of individual media buyers, we can overcome the limitations posed by taking a competitive approach to this change. To ensure a sustained positive impact and mitigate the risk of losing momentum, we must place value on collaboration and begin working together.
What the July 2023 Globe Insiders Finance Study tells us about readers’ spending habits
Recently, Globe Insiders conducted a survey to better understand the financial plans of our readers for the second half of 2023. The survey consisted of 1,529 respondents, one third of whom own more than $1 million in investable assets, and 16% of those who have between $500,000 – $1 million in worth. The survey delves into various aspects of their financial lives including investment habits, preferred investment partners, satisfaction with financial institutions, response to financial advertisements, their preferred spending categories, and desired financial topics for learning. Here’s an overview of some of the key findings:
Spending priorities
Compared to the first half of 2023, 51% of Globe readers plan to maintain their current level of spending while 24% are looking to increase their expenditure on discretionary purchases. These purchases primarily revolve around dining, traveling, diverse forms of entertainment, and spending on apparel. For the second half of 2023, readers top spending categories were vacation and holidays (59%), clothing or footwear (37%), concerts/theater tickets (32%), home renovation (25%), and home décor/furnishings at (16%).
For investments, 60% of respondents say they plan to invest the same amount, while 15% say they plan to invest more than they did in the first half of 2023. However, most Globe readers are looking to change the company they invest with to focus more on finding an institution that offers better customer service (51%) and higher returns on their investments (53%).
Financial interests
When asked what topics Globe readers want to learn more about, many claimed they’re interested in learning more about tax strategies (52%) and retirement benefits (36%). Some mentioned an increased analysis of Canadian and US stocks and sectors (36%) along with RRIF (Registered Retirement Income Fund) investments (33%). Some other notable topics mentioned were cryptocurrencies, wills and trusts, AI, and green investing.
Knowledge sourcing
Most Globe readers rely on newspapers as their go-to source for managing their finances. This includes both digital newspapers (52%) and print papers (46%), while a significant portion of readers also turn to online websites (49%) for financial guidance. In contrast, rarely are individuals now turning to books (12%), television (13%), or radio (7%) for their financial information.
Responses to advertisements
48% of readers said they will take some form of action after seeing a financial advertisement online. The ways in which they act after seeing an ad varies, such as searching the brand or service online (32%), directly visiting the company’s website to learn more (24%) or discussing the brand or service with others (15%).
For more information on this study, contact Andrew Consky, Head of Research and Media Insights at The Globe and Mail: aconsky@globeandmail.com.
Preparing the Workforce of the Future
A print and digital special national feature preparing the workforce of the future.
AI takes centre stage at Cannes Lions
Deep diving into the AI revolution at Cannes Lions: From NFTs to generative AI, unraveling the possibilities and challenges.
Last year, Cannes Lions stages were ablaze as futurists predicted a seismic revolution driven by NFTs, the Metaverse and Web3—a future where brands would connect with consumers like never before. Yet, fast forward to the 70th Festival of Creativity, and those same stages are now witnessing a breathtaking shift in focus: AI.
What makes this year’s headlining theme so riveting is the tangible impact it has already had on the way we work and communicate. This is not about the future; this is very distinctly about the now.
Two standout presentations on the subject included a fireside chat with Jensen Huang, Founder and CEO of Nvidia, the sixth largest company in the world that focuses on computing and is a pioneer in the AI space, as well as a talk delivered by Mathias Döpfner, CEO of Axel Springer, one of the largest publishers in the world.
Together, these two influential leaders tackled the three most top-of-mind questions on everyone’s minds. With inspired insights and actionable points, they set out to quell the rising fears that cast a shadow of uncertainty over the future of our industry.
- Will creativity die with AI?
Will AI be the destroyer of creativity, casting an ominous shadow over the artistic process we hold dear? Or does it possess the transformative power to amplify our creative endeavours across all formats, liberating us from technical roadblocks and propelling our concepts to astonishing new heights?
The sense is that AI will remove the friction that is often caused by technical speed bumps and help concepts come to life much faster and at a greater speed. It has the power to democratize creative, not creativity.
In the context of journalism, the efficiencies will be seen in layout and quality control while progressive publishers will invest their savings in higher-quality unique content and significantly boost their journalism teams to cover more stories in more places (think local).
- Deep Fakes: Is society doomed to become misinformed?
This technological evolution isn’t without its perils. Enter the realm of deep fakes and authenticity, where AI’s prowess blurs the lines of reality and raises a crucial concern: Is our society doomed to drown in a sea of misinformation?
Throughout history, we’ve witnessed the rise and fall of walled gardens in response to technological advancements. However, in the case of AI, we are seeing an unprecedented level of collaboration and alignment between the most powerful industries in the world to help develop policies to protect authenticity. It’s truly in every stakeholder’s interest to create guardrails for the responsible use of AI.
From the perspective of news publishers, this represents a major opportunity for journalists who have established deep trust with society to help lead the way in creating technical mechanisms like watermarking and other solutions to help identify the origin and authenticity of content in a secure and recognizable way.
- Will AI be the killer app? Will it be the only app?
AI, like any other technology, has the innate power of interoperability. Content creators will find ways to seamlessly integrate AI solutions into what they offer. Publishers, for example, could offer generative AI access directly from their content pages, which creates tremendous opportunities to enhance user experiences and maximize engagement.
Agencies can integrate generative AI into their development software, which creates immense customization and differentiation opportunities, particularly when these systems are proprietary.
While AI has an unsettling effect on this creative content-producing industry, there are some very positive prospects that lie ahead. These two presentations made it clear that ownership was the only way forward for Generative AI. Audiences at Cannes and around the world are well advised to invest efforts in owning the outputs and participating energetically in the guardrails AI needs to avoid paralysis caused by worry.
Sonia Carreno is the president of The Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada, the only trade association dedicated to the responsible growth of the digital advertising industry in Canada. With a career spanning almost 25 years, Sonia is a true digital veteran who has deep industry experience covering virtually every angle of the digital marketing sector.
Colleges and Institutes
A print and digital special national feature in conjunction with CICan highlighting the commitment of Colleges & Institutes to future proof Canada.
National Physicians Day
A print and digital special national feature celebrates National Physician’s Day and the critical role physicians play in Canada’s healthcare system.
