The Dubai-based firm records significant improvement in Brand Health and Media Metrics over the past year

Dubai-based holding company Meraas, with a diversified portfolio of brands in various sectors, has seen substantial improvement in brand perception over the past year, YouGov’s data reveals.

YouGov’s daily brand tracker, BrandIndex, shows Meraas’s Index score—a measure of overall brand health—had an increase of +3.2 points from May 2018 to April 2019. This is a significant increase in brand health primarily driven by a +4.6-point uplift in overall Reputation for the same time period. Impression (whether one has a positive/ negative feeling about a brand) and Quality (whether a brand is perceived to be good or poor quality) also saw significant increases in the past year achieving +4.3 and +4.2-point uplifts, respectively.

Meraas’s impressive improvement in Reputation (which asks respondents "Would you be proud or embarrassed to work for this brand?"), also saw the brand top the improvers list among Development and Holding Companies in the YouGov BrandIndex 2019 Workforce Rankings in the UAE (which were published in April this year).

In addition to the brand health measures, the salience of the Meraas brand—as measured by Awareness—has also seen a statistically significant increase of +11.2 points, from 27.1 in May 2018 to 38.3 in April 2019. Other measures of media health also improved significantly over the past year (comparing May 2018 to April 2019), with Meraas’s Ad Awareness score recording a +6-point increase (from 9.8 to 15.8), Word of Mouth almost doubling from 6.3 to 11.6 (+5.3 points) and Buzz increasing by +4.5 (from 8.5 to 13.0).

The maximum uplift in most brand health and media metrics was seen in the second quarter of 2019, most likely indicating a positive reaction towards the announcement of Meraas’s new projects such as the inauguration of the Coca-Cola Arena, the plans for Dubai’s Central Park and the news of Dubai’s Harbour.  

Moreover, Meraas destination brands such as Bluewaters also see positive improvements from May 2018 to April 2019. Bluewaters - a relatively new destination hosting the renowned Caesar’s Palace Hotel, saw a significant increase in Awareness from 15.3-points in May 2018 to 27.6-points in April 2019 (up +12.3-points). The Index score for Bluewaters has also doubled over the same time period, driven by Impression which saw a +7.2-point uplift from May 2018 to April 2019.

With a number of high-profile projects launching in the coming months and years, we can expect Meraas’s profile to continue to grow substantially in the future. The extent of this success will continue to be tracked in BrandIndex, and we will get a clear idea of how satisfied visitors are with the new offerings.

The number of women stating this as the reason for not driving has increased since the last year

One year after women were first allowed to get licenses, lack of driving knowledge is the biggest reason stopping Saudi women from getting behind the wheel, new YouGov research reveals.

According to media reports, around 70,000 licenses have been issued to women in Saudi Arabia, with several driving schools opening since the ban was lifted. On the first year anniversary of this milestone, YouGov asked Saudi women who have not applied for a license what the biggest barriers are to them in doing so.

Not knowing how to drive is the biggest. A higher proportion of women now state this as a factor (35%) compared to last year, when we first interviewed them (when it was 24%). Fear of car accidents is another common barrier (23% this year compared to 27% last year) as is low confidence among women in their driving skills (21% now compared to 20% in June 2018).

There has been a notable fall in the proportion of women saying that their husbands’ or family members’ objection is stopping them from driving (from 23% in 2018 to 16% now).

While the number of women saying they don’t need to drive because they have drivers is almost the same, those saying the same due to fear of harassment by male drivers (from 10% to 6%) and due to the fear of being judged by the society (4% to 1%) has declined over the past year.

It is interesting to note that the barriers differ across the age groups. While the major barriers for those under thirty (18- 29 years) are not knowing how to drive (42%) and objections from their family (22%), those aged over thirty have different reasons for not driving. Their main one is a fear of car accidents (35%) followed by low confidence in their driving (30%).

Data collected online by YouGov Omnibus among around 400 female respondents in Saudi Arabia in August 2018 and June 2019 using YouGov’s panel of over 6 million people worldwide. Data is representative of the adult online population in the country.

Grands Go to ESPN Films “30 for 30 Podcasts” and Almost Tangible’s “Macbeth”

RTÉ Ireland Earns Broadcaster of the Year Award, Almost Tangible UK is Production Company of the Year.

New York Festivals Radio Awards Grand Jury awarded a wide spectrum of radio content submitted from 35 countries around the globe. Award-winning, podcasts and audiobooks, live events, dramas and documentaries, breaking news coverage, and multi-genre music specials were celebrated at the 2019 New York Festivals Radio Awards ceremony in Manhattan. For the complete list of award-winning radio entries, please visit: HERE.

RTÉ Ireland was honored with the prestigious title of Broadcaster of Year for the third consecutive year. The network earned a robust number of awards, Gold trophies winners include “The Summer Of Astral Weeks” (RTÉ Radio 1), “The Yellow Line” (RTÉ Radio 1), “The lyric Concert” (RTE Lyric FM), “The Announcement” (RTÉ Radio 1), and “Finding Private Branch” (RTÉ Radio 1).

“At RTÉ Radio we are immensely proud to be ‘Broadcaster of the Year’ for the third successive year at the New York Festivals. The ultimate listening experience at RTÉ is a tribute to the production, research, sound quality, presentation and storytelling of dedicated and professional broadcasters. We look forward to ‘Trumpeting’ our success and continuing to ‘make Radio great!”—Tom McGuire, Head of RTÉ Radio

Almost Tangible, UK earned the title of Production Company of the Year and the distinguished Grand Award for “Macbeth” (Best Digital Drama Program). The award-winning podcast was recorded live on location at Glamis Castle with a cast and crew of 25. Macbeth also earned 4 Gold trophies for Best Digital Drama Program, Best Director, Best Sound, and Drama Podcast.

“We are absolutely delighted to receive a Grand Award for 'Macbeth' and to be named Production Company Of The Year.  Alongside the incredible response from our audience, being recognised by the NYF Radio Awards proves there is a growing appetite and appreciation for immersive audio experiences.  It's hugely exciting to enter the next phase of our development at a time when audio is booming.  We are expanding our collaborative network and brand partnerships, growing our community and putting together a season of work that will champion new voices and new writing alongside more established pieces of work.”—Charlotte Melén, Founder, Almost Tangible 

ESPN Films 30 for 30 Podcasts was recognized with the Grand Award for 30 for 30 Podcasts: “Juiced” “All In: Sparking the Poker Boom” and “The Six Who Sat” (Narrative/Documentary Podcast) highlighted compelling people and iconic events in sports history. The series also earned a Gold trophy for Narrative/Documentary Podcast and Bronze trophy for Sports Broadcast.

“One thing we love about the New York Festivals is how widely they listen. Winners come from all over the world and take all sorts of creative approaches to this medium. So, we’re particularly honored to be among such a diverse and inspiring group of radio-makers.” —Jody Avirgan, Producer/Host, ESPN Films 30 for 30 Podcasts

On-demand audio’s wealth of content engaged listeners with accessible spoken entertainment. Audio Book entrants earned multiple trophies. Penguin Random House UK earned an impressive 2 Gold and 4 Silver trophies, Harper Collins UK received 2 Gold trophies and a Bronze. Swedish Radio, Major Label Germany and ACSR Belgium were each recognized with a Gold and Nova Entertainment Australia earned a Silver trophy.

Podcast entrants received Gold trophies including CBC’s Serialized Podcasts “Someone Knows Something: Kerrie Brown” and “Uncover: Escaping NXIVM”.  Additional Podcasts entrants earning Gold include BBC, Al Jazeera Media Network, The Age newspaper, Melbourne, Australia, NASA/JPL, Radio New Zealand, TBC Audio, Vox Media, and University of Wollongong. 

Documentaries engaged listeners with riveting stories and distinctive points of view. Gold winners include: “The Walk: For Richer, For Poorer” TBI Media, “Frankenstein In The Age Of Artificial Intelligence” Zoe Comyns, “Robert Manne's Voice” Robyn Ravlich , “From The Ground Up” BBC, “Madre” DMC Studio Argentina, “The King Of Alabama” Alabama Public Radio, “I'm Lucky That I'm Always Lucky” ORF Austrian Broadcasting Corp.,” Beyond Kate” Radio New Zealand, and “The Rescue” Clare FM.

Entertaining Dramas were in the winner’s circle. Gold trophy winners include “Dangerous Visions: Shadowbahn” Communications International Media, “The 70th Anniversary Of 'Suni-Samchon'” Korean Broadcasting System (KBS), “The King Of The Flat White As Narrated By Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II”, and “A View From A Hill” Bafflegab Productions.

Music and Sound entries entertained listeners and earned Gold: “The White Album” Howlett Media Productions Ltd.,” Magic Soul” TBI Media, “The Cult Of Aphex Twin” Reduced Listening, “Inside the National Recording Registry” BMP Audio, “The Summer Of Astral Weeks” RTÉ Radio 1, and “Deep Time And The Sparrowhawk” Jaye Kranz. Silver trophy winners include “JONI 75: A Celebration Of Joni Mitchell” The Strombo Show and “The Keith Urban Playlist: TBI Media.

New York Philharmonic’s “100 Years of Leonard Bernstein” earned 2 Gold trophies (Best Mini- Series and Music) for their five-week series of Bernstein-themed programming. The program also received a Silver trophy for Best Director.

News, Investigative Reports and Talk/Interview programs provided information on events and issues unfolding on the world stage, entries recognized with Gold trophies: “Parkland Shooting” Westwood One, “Rough Justice: Can The NT Keep Its Kids Safe?” Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and “The Interview Which Uncovered An Alleged Torturer” SBS. The Kalb Report: Cokie Roberts National Press Club Journalism Institute was honored with a Silver trophy.

Anna Maria Tremonti, host of CBC Radio One's The Current since its November of 2002 debut, earned a Gold trophy (Best Talk Show Host). Wallace Chapman, host of Sunday Morning – a five-hour live interview program on Radio New Zealand National, received a Silver trophy (Best Talk Show Host). 

New York Festivals with the United Nations Department of Public Information (UNDPI) honors programs highlighting global concerns of interest to the UN. Since 1990, the UNPI convenes a panel to honor radio broadcasting that best exemplifies the ideas and goals of the United Nations and their selections are awarded the United Nations Department of Public Information Award. 2019 Recipients: “Just To Have Had You” (CBC Radio) UNDPI Gold Award, “Impossible Dream Comes True” (WSHU.org) UNDPI Silver, and “Dark Snow & Emma” (RTÉ Radio 1) UNDPI Bronze Award.

Prominent award-winning radio industry executives honored winners and presented award segments: Richard Baker, Senior Investigative Journalist - The Age Melbourne Australia; Jennie Cataldo, Vice President of Programming - BMP Audio USA; Donal O’Herlihy, Producer, Documentary on One, RTÉ Radio 1 - RTÉ Ireland; Tanya Springer, Senior Producer, CBC Podcasts and Alisa Siegel, Producer CBC Radio - Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Canada; and Mark Travis, Associate Director, Media Production - New York Philharmonic USA. Patrick Newman, United Nations Department of Public Information presented the UNDPI Award segment.

For a complete list of all the 2019 New York Festivals Radio Award winners, please visit: HERE.

Kantar, the world’s leading data, insights and consulting company extends its leadership in Artificial Intelligence (AI) integration into the advertising and creative world with the announcement of four new big data and AI-based solutions. The new offerings will help brands, advertising agencies and media companies more efficiently and accurately build and measure campaigns that have global impact. 

The new offerings announced during Cannes Lions 2019 are:

Context Lab: A new platform that creates synergy between creative and media strategies. Context Lab answers the question “How does content perform incrementally better in different media environments?” The platform is flexible enough to optimise elements of a sponsorship, assess the value of branded content, evaluating boutique sites, choose the right creative for the right environments, understand potential for influencer or social performance within a live feed or optimise ad units for the environment in which they’ll run.

Creative Transport: A new toolset capable of forecasting how well creative executions designed for one country will perform if transported to other markets. Kantar combines learning from historical ads and the Link™ database to unleash AI-powered predictive models that guide where to reuse creative and where investment in new creative is needed. In beta testing clients have saved up to 30% in reduced creative production costs.

Balanced Attribution: A new solution that allows marketing leaders to balance short-term sales optimization and long-term brand equity growth. Balanced Attribution allows companies to find the right mix of channels, both online and offline. Built on the experience of over 10,000 brand lift studies and enhanced with AI capabilities from Kantar’s Analytics Practice and sales data from Kantar and our partners help clients optimize their marketing to the ideal balance between upper funnel brand objectives and lower funnel sales.

Enhanced Visual Analytics (EVA): A new online platform that analyses social media imagery at scale to help brand owners understand how their brand and products are being visually represented in broader culture. With almost 100 million images uploaded daily to Instagram alone, Enhanced Visual Analytics is the future of how we understand brands in a culturally connected way, and a critical component in how brands develop and deliver content to consumers. Combining AI and semiotics expertise EVA understands the equity that brands and categories have in culture and helps create great content, track brand equity and understand the opportunities in category ‘white space’.

Discussing the launch of Kantar’s latest suite of AI tools Eric Salama, CEO, Kantar said “At Kantar, we have a longstanding reputation as being the world’s most innovative research and consulting company. Today’s launch illustrates clearly how that innovation delivers meaningful impact for our clients across the whole marketing cycle. From understanding how your brand is perceived and used by consumers in social media, to ensuring investments are repurposed or directed to the right channels through to calculating ROI, it is clear AI is beginning to have a significant impact in the world of marketing”.

Lil Miquela posted her first Instagram post in 2016. Three years later and she has over 1.6 million followers. Not bad for someone who is not even real. Brands are increasingly using virtual influencers like Lil Miquela, but where does virtual brand ambassador cross over into brand deception?

Influencers are all the rage in some circles, but it seems that a few brands have realised that there are big risks attached to taking someone on to be their representative. There is upside to an association with a person with lots of followers: a chance to be endorsed by someone of interest, a person with values that fit your brand, and to be part of the latest cultural vibe. There is also a downside if your chosen ambassador is called out as less than authentic, as Anne Hunter notes in this post, or goes off the rails.

In her post, Anne asks whether brands might not hanker after the surety and consistency of brand icons of days gone by, like the Jolly Green Giant. However, it seems that today’s means of addressing the desires of surety and consistency is to create a virtual brand influencer. As Tiffany Hsu suggests in a New York Times article,

“In a way, virtual influencers are not so far removed from their real-life predecessors. It’s no secret that the humans who promote brands on social media often project a version of daily life that is shinier and happier than the real thing.”

Certainly no one would have imagined that the Jolly Green Giant was a real person and yet, Edward Saatchi, quoted in the New York Times article states,

“Eventually, it will be clear that the line between a Miquela and an Alexa is actually very slim.”

And it seems inevitable that at some point brand avatars will be indistinguishable from real humans, able to respond spontaneously and interact just like a real human.  According to Hsu, the Federal Trade Commission has yet to issue a ruling about the use of virtual influencers but states that companies using the characters for advertising should ensure that “any claims communicated about the product are truthful, not misleading and substantiated”.

If you ask me it is bad enough Siri suggesting that I use the word ‘please’ when telling it to go away, and it will only be worse when that rebuke is accompanied by a pouty face (for the record, I have now turned Siri off, I do not need yet another desperate AI trying to force its way into my life by purporting to be useful). People have little enough trust in advertising already, and when it becomes common knowledge that marketers are using virtual influencers indistinguishable from real people I suspect that that any remaining faith will evaporate. After all, as my colleague Ben Marshall notes, influencers only have any value because of the perception that they pick and choose what they endorse. If you create influencers that literally do exactly what marketers suggest then what’s the point?

For now, humans buy products and services, not technology, and hopefully they will remain the ultimate decision maker no matter how smart technology becomes. And I think marketers would do well to remember that, to quote various artists from over the years, “there is a fine line between love and hate”. But what do you think?

Written by Nigel Hollis,Executive Vice President and Chief Global Analyst at Kantar’s Insights Division.

Get in, fly out. As total time spent from check-in to take-off decreases (average globally was 133 minutes in 2016 versus 150 in 2013), airports around the world are looking to find novel ways to attract consumers by opening up spaces for high-brow, cultural programming and events. Airports are becoming luxury and cultural destinations in and of themselves as people look for new elevated experiences.

Last month, Louis Vuitton staged their Resort 2020 fashion show in New York’s JFK airport. The catwalk was in the previously abandoned Trans World Airlines terminal which has now been transformed into part of the new luxury hotel complex for TWA Hotel. Tapping into an appropriately air travel aesthetic, the collection was a celebration of New York City featuring the city’s skyline and the Chrysler building across pieces. Focusing on the location and its history, a star-studded audience witnessed the rebirth of JFK as a destination for luxury travel once again.

Having opened officially in February this year with an exhibition by German artist Andreas Gursky, the Tarmak 22 gallery is located at the Saanen airport in Gstaad Switzerland. Created as a space for visitors and locals of the luxury ski resort town to view contemporary art shows and other cultural conferences and performances, the gallery is a permanent addition to the airport. Open to the public rather than just travellers, they are “aiming to get people to just stop by,” according to Tatiana de Pahlen, who cofounded Tarmak 22 with Antonia Crespi. This contrasts with luxury airport lounges like the Qatar Airways Al Safwa First Lounge at the Doha International Airport which acts as an outpost for Doha’s Museum of Islamic Art. The lounge features a rotating collection from the museum available to view for first class passengers only.

It is not just functioning airports that are becoming cultural hubs. The Tempelhof airport in Berlin, famous for its part in the Berlin Airlift of 1948-49, is receiving a $112M investment from the city to turn it into a cultural and creative hub. In Shanghai, five aviation fuel tanks at the former Longhua airport have been turned into Tank Shanghai, an art and cultural park. Opened to the public in March 2019, two of the five tanks are currently art galleries while the other three have multifunctional purposes for exhibitions and leisure activities.

Air travel has its roots in luxury and heightened experience, with the 1960s golden age showcasing formal attire, top level service, relaxed boarding and of course plenty of legroom. Yet, today’s airports are commonly thought of with dread – long lines, intense security, and crowded, frenetic terminals – all before boarding the plane. By elevating airports into cultural spaces where both travellers and the public can go to be inspired, people will begin to look forward to the journey and treat it as a destination itself.

To coincide with the start of Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, WARC, the global authority on advertising and media effectiveness, has today released 'Anatomy of Effectiveness', a white paper for brand marketers and advertising agencies alike, highlighting five key priorities for brands seeking greater impact.

The report has been created by distilling evidenced best thinking, expert opinion and real case studies, all combined with 30 years of WARC's experience on helping the industry advertise effectively.

Paul Coxhill, Managing Director, WARC, says: "Poor marketing wastes money, time, attention and resource. All of which we can ill-afford in this fast-moving, resource constrained world. With 'Anatomy of Effectiveness' we provide five lessons to help combat this and make marketing more effective."  

Data suggests that advertising, in its current forms, is not driving the growth it should be. Advertising spend is not having the intended impact, and, at its worst, it is alienating the people it is supposed to be engaging:

A study by the Advertising Research Foundation found that 69% of all US TV commercials receive no visual attention (putting up to $40 billion of investment at risk in the US alone); 27% air in an empty room.

A focus on short-termism has halved the business impact of creativity, according to researcher Peter Field.

Only 12% of supposedly 'viewable' ads are actually noticed by consumers, according to Lumen Research

Nielsen reported that only 53% of the impressions served in the UK reached their intended target.

More than 600 million devices now have ad blocking, in what US journalist Doc Searls called the biggest boycott in history.

David Tiltman, VP Content, WARC, says: "Against this background, we wanted to pull together the best thinking from around the world on effectiveness. This white paper examines what the current range of evidence shows, and where it is being challenged by a fast-changing industry."

WARC's 'Anatomy of Effectiveness' highlights the following five priorities for brands who want to improve the impact of their advertising:

Invest for growth: Covers the wide range of factors that marketers need to consider when drawing up budgets, setting objectives and working out what they want a campaign to deliver.

Balancing spend: Sets out the frameworks for investment between brand-building and performance marketing. 

Be creative, be emotional, be distinctive: Analyses the arguments for investing in creativity - including the power of emotional communications and the importance of distinctiveness. 

Plan for reach: Discusses the factors to be considered when planning media spend. 

Plan for recognition: Focuses on the need for strong brand assets in an era of short-form ads to ensure consumers know whose ads they are seeing.

Tiltman adds: "While it sounds simplistic, none of these concepts is easy to apply. Every element involves trade-offs and hard decisions on where to invest. And, of course, insights and creative thinking are required to bring it all to life - that's what makes marketing such a dynamic industry.

"The five priorities are not a linear process. We increasingly live in a world where media selection and creative development go hand in hand, where creativity can be at the heart of business strategy, and where real-time feedback can allow strategies to evolve during the campaign. We hope this report promotes the evidence that exists to help advertisers - and ultimately their consumers."

For each of the five key priorities on how to advertise more effectively, the white paper includes evidence, what's changing, common mistakes, examples, and expert commentary from industry experts including Paul Dyson, founder of Data2Decisions; Les Binet, Head of Effectiveness at Adam&EveDDB; Peter Field, Marketing Consultant;, Faris Yakob, Co-founder of Genius Steals; and Jenni Romaniuk, International Director of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute.

Summing up Paul Coxhill says: "Great marketing can and does cut through. We need to challenge ourselves to think differently. By finding new ways to engage or through creatively brilliant executions we can avoid a world where consumers just ignore our best work."

Cannes Lions delegates can obtain a complimentary copy of the 'Anatomy of Effectiveness' from the WARC and The Work stand on level -1 in Palais I in Cannes. Alternatively, the white paper can be downloaded at no cost at makeitwarc.com

WARC will also be hosting a full day programme on marketing effectiveness at Cannes Lions on Wednesday 19 June in Audi A, Palais des Festivals.

View here WARC's imagined world of invisible advertising.

#makeitwarc

Dubai-based holding company Meraas, with a diversified portfolio of brands in various sectors, has seen substantial improvement in brand perception over the past year, YouGov’s data reveals.

YouGov’s daily brand tracker, BrandIndex, shows Meraas’s Index score—a measure of overall brand health—had an increase of +3.2 points from May 2018 to April 2019. This is a significant increase in brand health primarily driven by a +4.6-point uplift in overall Reputation for the same time period. Impression (whether one has a positive/negative feeling about a brand) and Quality (whether a brand is perceived to be good or poor quality) also saw significant increases in the past year achieving +4.3 and +4.2-point uplifts, respectively.

Meraas’s impressive improvement in Reputation (which asks respondents "Would you be proud or embarrassed to work for this brand?"), also saw the brand top the improvers list among Development and Holding Companies in the YouGov BrandIndex 2019 Workforce Rankings in the UAE (which were published in April this year).

In addition to the brand health measures, the salience of the Meraas brand—as measured by Awareness—has also seen a statistically significant increase of +11.2 points, from 27.1 in May 2018 to 38.3 in April 2019. Other measures of media health also improved significantly over the past year (comparing May 2018 to April 2019), with Meraas’s Ad Awareness score recording a +6-point increase (from 9.8 to 15.8), Word of Mouth almost doubling from 6.3 to 11.6 (+5.3 points) and Buzz increasing by +4.5 (from 8.5 to 13.0).

The maximum uplift in most brand health and media metrics was seen in the second quarter of 2019, most likely indicating a positive reaction towards the announcement of Meraas’s new projects such as the inauguration of the Coca-Cola Arena, the plans for Dubai’s Central Park and the news of Dubai’s Harbour. 

Moreover, Meraas destination brands such as Bluewaters also see positive improvements from May 2018 to April 2019. Bluewaters, a relatively new destination hosting the renowned Caesar’s Palace Hotel, saw a significant increase in Awareness from 15.3-points in May 2018 to 27.6-points in April 2019 (up +12.3-points). The Index score for Bluewaters has also doubled over the same time period, driven by Impression which saw a +7.2-point uplift from May 2018 to April 2019.

With a number of high-profile projects launching in the coming months and years, we can expect Meraas’s profile to continue to grow substantially in the future. The extent of this success will continue to be tracked in BrandIndex, and we will get a clear idea of how satisfied visitors are with the new offerings.

New York Festivals® Radio Awards, announced this year’s prominent radio industry professionals slated to present awards at the 2019 Radio Awards ceremony.

The annual New York Festivals Radio Awards ceremony will be held on Monday, June 24th in New York City and play host to award winners from around the 35 countries around the globe.  

New York Festivals Radio Awards applauds the 2019 presenters, their reputation as innovative award-winning audio content creators set the bar within the industry and are representative of the popular forms of audio available in the industry today. 

The 2019 ceremony segment presenters include:

Richard Baker, Senior Investigative Journalist - The Age Melbourne Australia

Jennie Cataldo, Vice President of Programming - BMP Audio USA

Donal O’Herlihy, Producer, Documentary on One, RTÉ Radio 1 - RTÉ Ireland

Tanya Springer, Senior Producer, CBC Podcasts - Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Canada

Mark Travis, Associate Director, Media Production - New York Philharmonic USA

The 2019 New York Festivals Radio Awards trophy winners will be announced Monday, June 24th at NYF’s awards ceremony at Manhattan Penthouse in New York City. The evening’s festivities kick off at 6PM with a cocktail party and hors d'oeuvres, followed by dinner and the awards presentation and concludes with a celebratory post-ceremony champagne toast to honor winners. For more information on the 2019 NYF Radio Awards gala or to purchase tickets, please click HERE.

For a complete list of all the 2019 New York Festivals Radio Award Finalists, please visit: HERE.

Esports provide a burgeoning platform for marketers looking to reach an increasingly elusive consumer. Interest in professional competitive video gaming is growing, with one in five fans globally beginning to follow esports just within the past year. Esports fans around the world include some of the hardest to reach consumers for brands because of their cord-cutting and ad-blocking tendencies. While esports unites them as a fan base, their digital-first mindset is pervasive in their approach to broader entertainment consumption.

Brands have the opportunity to get involved in the action through advertising and sponsorship relationships with all of the key stakeholders in the esports ecosystem including game publishers, leagues, teams, event operators, streaming platforms/broadcasters, and gaming personalities.

Both endemic and non-endemic brands are earning valuable exposure through esports, with endemic categories like computers, processors and peripherals maintaining a strong foothold from an exposure perspective. But non-endemic categories, like snack foods, men’s grooming, automobiles and insurance are making a splash too—and that splash is getting bigger. Across esports events that Nielsen measures, non-endemics’ share of sponsorship value grew by 13% year over year—with absolute value growing across all brand categories.