Transformation Leader IBM Global Business Services Region: Global
The value of social sentiment
IBM’s Saul Berman starred in ‘The Great Connected TV Debate’ at IBC; the precept being that the internet is threatening to kill off television as we know it.
“The pendulum may be swinging away from
broadcast/cable/satellite channels towards OTT but so far it is not a fait accompli, especially as OTT delivery depends on something outside of its control - the internet,” says Berman who is a global strategy consulting leader at the American multinational. “OTT will grow as visual quality and reliability improves, however that isn’t to say that cable or satellite will become obsolete: they will coexist for now. Berman suggests that In order to succeed in this competitive landscape, media and entertainment providers need to capitalise on transformation and use data and analytics to better understand and communicate with the consumer. Advances in analytics open an entirely new level of insight into consumer perceptions via social media. IBM has done a lot of work on so-called social sentiment analysis (SSA) in particular, arguing that these technologies make it possible to understand positive, negative and neutral sentiments, to distinguish irony, and even apply ‘machine learning’ to figure out which tweets are just background noise and those that are truly important.
“This data can be inte- grated with other data such as purchase histories and website traffic to generate insights, which in turn can help media companies make decisions around ‘make, market, and monetise’ in a smarter manner,” explains Berman. Recent IBM projects which
‘To succeed,
providers will need to use data and analytics to better understand and communicate with the consumer’
have demonstrated the value of SSA include Wimbledon, the US Baseball World Series, NFL Super Bowl and the 2012 Oscars. “Data can be used to provide more value,” he advises. “Offer incentives to gain consumer insights and then offer value in exchange. Use the knowledge of consumer preferences and behaviour patterns through analytics to generate additional revenue models focused on targeted advertising. “Media and entertainment companies must be proactive because doing nothing almost guarantees continued value loss.” GJ
Johan Jervøe VP, Sales and Marketing
Group and Director, Partner Marketing, Intel Corporation Region: Global
By Ann Marie Corvin J
ohan Jervøe admits that when Intel originally announced its relationship with musician, entrepreneur and serial tweeter will.i.am, eyebrows were raised. What could the Black Eyed Peas frontman tangibly
contribute to a chip company?
But the marketing VP points out that sports companies have been doing the same thing with athletes for years – giving runners different shoes to try out is common practice. “What we are doing is a similar thing - sitting Will down with our engineering teams to think up user interfaces, talking about how he as a creator uses technology to enable him to do things.” The Ultrabook collaboration with will.i.am, sees the artist blogging and tweeting about his global travels, writing and recording one new song from each city he travels to. Intel – the seventh most valuable brand in the world according to Interbrand’s 2011 ranking - is currently involved in three other key partnerships to deliver its brand messages. These include online videos on its website and a short film project with W hotels made by up- and-coming directors. Intel also funds the critically well-received online video portal run by the youth brand Vice. While none of these current projects includes the 30 second ad spot, Danish-born Jervøe makes it clear that this doesn’t signal its death knell.
“Saying things like that make good headlines at shows like these but TV advertising is not dead. There has been more TV watched than ever before and more advertising. We are going through a stage now where we are seeing where else we can take the experience.” Prior to joining Intel, Jervøe served as vp of global marketing at McDonald’s, culminating more than 14 years with the company and leading the team that came up with the fast food giant’s ‘I’m loving It’ campaign. “One thing I learned very early on at McDonald’s is the importance of people, their attitude and talent. McDonald’s is a people business and you need a great crew in your restaurant to deliver. Similarly Intel went from sand to silicon through the talent that it has - the imagination of engineers and the staff.” Jervøe last visited IBC six years ago and is
impressed at the rate it has grown as a show. “It’s big now – and it’s interesting that this event was much more industry-focused ten years ago. Now it feels like technology has driven it on to become more of a consumer conference.”
Technology has driven IBC to become more of a consumer conference