To Promote Sport Inclusivity, Adidas Unveils World’s First Swimmable Billboard!
Adidas, in a revolutionary move, has launched the world’s first-ever liquid billboard at one of Dubai’s most attractive tourist beaches – the Kite beach.
This move came as a promotion for Adidas’s launch of its new collection of accessible swimwear. This swimmable billboard is also an attempt on part of the company to live up to its oath of breaking sport taboos and creating inclusivity for women.
The liquid billboard was erected on the beach, right in the sand, after which, the company encouraged women to dive in.
‘Watch Us Move,’ a 2021 roadmap launched earlier this year, promises to overcome sport taboos through modernizing Adidas’ product offering and services.
Adidas introduced performance tights as a method to reinvent its product offering and services to better meet the requirements of its varied female community after discovering that adolescent girls were dropping out of sport at an alarming rate, with one of the main reasons being fear of period leaking.
In fact, it is important to take note of the fact that, in UAE, Only 12% of women feel fully at ease wearing a swimsuit at a public beach or pool, with body shame and a lack of privacy being the two most common causes for women’s discomfort in their swimwear.
Also, 59 percent of UAE women aged 18 to 42 feel the media portrays female swimmers in an unachievable body ideal.
It is in wake of such statistics, that Adidas decided to sponsor a survey by YouGov, as part of its wider “Watch Us Move” campaign, to get an even understanding of the physical, emotional, and cultural hurdles to sports participation.
When the study revealed the hurdles that hinder women from participating in swimming, the mega sports company decided to create a line of swimwear based on community involvement.
Joao Medeiros, executive creative director at Havas Middle East, in an interview, said that the concept of a liquid billboard was born to literally give women a spirit of independence and freedom.
Fabio Silviera, general manager at Havas Middle East, said –
“Of the three ideas pitched, the swimming billboard was the one that Adidas immediately bought into. They were fully supportive, which made us believe that OK, we can pull this off. “
The swimming pool billboard is five meters high and three meters deep, and it is made of strengthened transparent acrylic and holds 11,500 gallons of water (the equivalent of 163 bathtubs). The crew put a camera inside the pool to broadcast live footage to the city’s largest digital display, allowing a broader audience to see the action.
Giovanna Altomare, marketing operations manager at Adidas said –
“We loved the creative idea because our whole point was to inspire the women in Dubai (and hopefully all around the world) to take a leap of faith and embrace the water.”
He further commented on the swimmable billboard –
“So the idea of this billboard that has real women swimming inside, showcasing the movement of the water in front of people in a public space, was really driving our objective.”
Women of Dubai were asked to join in a dive “beyond the surface” to reaffirm the brand’s global effort to guarantee that sport is inviting to everyone.
Adidas ambassador and amputee triathlete Dareen Barbar, who is also a Guinness world record holder, and Adidas ambassador Raha Moharrak, the first Saudi Arabian female to climb Mount Everest, were among the inspiring women who made the public plunge into the liquid billboard.
The content from the liquid billboard was shown live on a digital screen above the famed Dubai Mall ice rink, close to the Adidas flagship store, allowing customers and mallgoers to participate in the experience.
In a conservative landscape like the UAE, such a swimmable billboard is more than just an ad – it symbolizes the need for inclusivity in sports and otherwise for women.
LinkedIn Rolls Out New Features – All Marketers Assemble!
In today’s changing world of work, LinkedIn has released new platform capabilities that will enable marketers to quickly increase and deepen their connection with their audience. These new additions to the LinkedIn Marketing Solutions (LMS) portfolio will allow marketers to develop communities through lengthy content, expand their reach with Live Events, and streamline how they track progress toward their brand-building objectives.
So, what are these features that are creating a buzz? Let’s check them out below.
LinkedIn New Features: A Marketer’s Delight!
LinkedIn wants to assist its members to grow their networks, and features enabling native long-form content, virtual events, and data-driven optimization tools will encourage them to interact with their audience and optimize their reach. Let’s have a look at these features –
1. Article For Pages
Informative and trustworthy content is still a powerful approach to engage people and establish a brand image for thinking leadership. The problem is that attracting visitors to a typical corporate blog is becoming increasingly challenging. The solution? – Articles for Pages.
This functionality provides the user easy access because it’s only a click on the social network, and there’s a better chance they’ll find it, which means there’s a chance to engage once the audience arrives.
LinkedIn members have had the option to write and publish long-form articles for a long time – so, it is logical to ask –what novelty does this feature add to the table?
Well, before this feature, businesses have been constrained to character limitations for organic postings in the feed. With Article For Pages, users can benefit in a lot of ways such as:
- Creating and disseminating high-quality information, including rich media, links, pull quotes, and more
- Obtaining extensive audience insights in order to understand the demographics of individuals who read and engage with the material
- In the comments area, stimulating visible and welcoming dialogues with the community while replicating the engagement components of a social post
Interesting Read: Ways To Improve Your LinkedIn Marketing Strategy
2. Scheduled LinkedIn Live & LinkedIn Events
The much-anticipated “Scheduled LinkedIn Live” and “LinkedIn Events” have finally arrived, allowing LinkedIn to better collaborate for optimum reach and engagement.
LinkedIn Events is a one-stop-shop that combines the reach and engagement of LinkedIn’s original live-streaming platform with the planning and targeting that allows users to –
- Invest in a targeted audience by sponsoring your live stream in advance
- During and after the performance, gather views on your public Live Event post from anybody on LinkedIn, whether they’ve clicked “Attend” or not
- For optimal circulation and value, broadcast the replay of your Live Event content, effortlessly
As more growth engagement transfers to the digital domain, live events are quickly becoming a bedrock of community-building. LinkedIn aims to make it as simple as possible for you and other interested guests to connect at a larger scale. This is where ‘LinkedIn Live’ comes in. Through this feature, users with fewer followers can also access Live. Furthermore, once a Page is authorized, all Page Admins can make it live.
Interesting Read: TikTok Partners With Double Verify For Ad Measurement And Brand Safety
3. Brand Lift Testing And Reach Optimization
LinkedIn has added features to assist members to achieve and measure their brand-building objectives. One of these features is ‘ Brand Lift Testing’ – which enables people to assess the impact of LinkedIn Advertisements on their brand by first establishing a baseline of brand perception and then comparing the brand impact of those ads to important indicators.
Another brilliant feature for brands is – ‘ Reach Optimization’. With this functionality, users can simply increase their brand’s exposure to new and relevant audiences by optimizing for the number of unique member accounts that are displayed advertising.
That’s What He Said!
Sachin Sharma, Director, LinkedIn Marketing Solutions for India, said-
At LinkedIn, we are heavily inspired by the efforts of marketers who continue to build communities despite the many volatilities of today’s day and age. To facilitate their efforts, we’re adding new features to the LMS portfolio that can help them reach more of their targeted audiences, and grow their brand community more seamlessly — all while measuring impact in easier ways
Also Read: Google Is Reportedly Planning to Index Instagram and TikTok Videos
Snapchat Spotlight Challenges & Other Monetization Tools For Creators!
According to Variety, Snap is pushing boundaries with new tools for Snapchat creators that will help them bring in more cash. Snap is launching Spotlight Challenges next month, which will provide cash prizes ranging from $1,000 to $25,000 to users with the most views in various categories.
This technology is a ramped version of Snap’s rival (like TikTok), Spotlight’s monetization tool. Before we explore the other tools that Snap is introducing, let us delve deeper into – Spotlight Challenges.
Interesting Read: After Instagram, TikTok Targets Snapchat With Its New Augmented Reality Ad Format
Snapchat Spotlight Challenges: Cha-Ching!
Snapchat will be offering the aforementioned cash rewards to artists who create the most entertaining videos using certain AR lenses, sounds, or topics.
Snapchat users may enter Spotlight Challenges to earn cash rewards for generating postings in a variety of categories, such as “Best Trick Shot” and “Impressions Challenge.”
Individual Spotlight Challenge prizes will generally range from $1,000 to $25,000, though Snap stated it may pay out a greater figure for a specific challenge on occasion. A Snapchat user may earn a minimum of $250 in a Spotlight Challenge.
If you are wondering, what are the rules for this challenge? Well, the only rule is…there are no rules.
Just kidding.
Apart from being a legal resident of one of the 50 United States and be above 16 years of age, participants must suffice to a lot of rules that you can find – here.
According to Snap, each challenge would typically award prizes to an average of 3-5 eligible Snapchatters. Each contest’s top 50 qualifying, relevant, and most-viewed contributions will be judged on their ingenuity and novelty, creative use of Snap creative tools, distinctive point-of-view, and entertainment quotient.
Now, how to find these spotlight challenges on the Snapchat app?
The challenges may be found on the Trending Page by tapping the “trending up” sign in the upper right corner of the app’s Spotlight. The description and submissions provided by the community will be shown on each Spotlight Challenge’s website.
To submit a video to a contest, users may press the camera icon to launch the Snapchat camera and make and enter a Snap.
Interesting Read: TikTok MENA Newsroom: An Opportunity For The Region’s Finest Creators!
What Else Is New For Snapchat Users?
Apart from Spotlight Challenges, Snap is also rolling out other tools to increase income options for creators. Here are some other new changes that Snapchat plans to introduce –
- Snap is also bolstering its Creator Marketplace, allowing Snap Stars ( as they are dubbed) to secure sponsorships and tag brands in sponsored content
- Snapchat will also globally launch ‘ Creator Hub’, the company’s pioneer resource guide tool
- Snap’s gifting functionality, which allows followers to send money directly to creator accounts, might also be potentially rolled out worldwide
These changes are part of Snap’s efforts to dissuade prominent artists from switching sides to competitors like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, which are all investing substantially in incentives in the next two years alone – to entice creators to their networks.
Also Read: Instagram Rolls Out Ad Feature To The Shops Tab Globally
TikTok MENA Newsroom: An Opportunity For The Region’s Finest Creators!
TikTok has created a dedicated MENA newsroom, in accordance with industry best practices, to provide media partners with the most up-to-date regional news. On the newly established TikTok MENA Newsroom, you can follow up with real-time updates on trends, in-app developments, creators, and safety.
TikTok wants to make sure that everyone has access to all of its news in one accessible spot because the platform is bursting at the seams with content and exciting new upgrades. Press releases and media alerts unique to the MENA area, as well as blog articles and feature content, will be housed under the MENA Newsroom.
The MENA newsroom will focus on spotlighting some of the region’s most inspiring and creative content creators, in addition to the newest updates.
Also Read: TikTok Partners With Shopify In The Middle East
Roku And Shopify Collaborate, Create App For SMEs To Launch CTV Ads
Shopify and Roku have announced a collaboration to provide a Roku app for creating CTV ads and managing campaigns to all Shopify businesses’ dashboards. The goal is to get a piece of the $16.4 billion spent on local TV advertising by small and medium-sized enterprises.
The inclusion of Roku in Shopify’s marketing solutions will make it the first-ever TV streaming app available in the Shopify App Store, allowing SMBs to strengthen their brands and generate income through TV advertising.
Roku’s platform, which is designed for merchants to employ on their own and with low ad budgets, has already shown to be successful, with one advertiser’s brand seeing a 63 percent increase in consideration.
Related News: TikTok Partners With Shopify In The Middle East
Roku And Shopify Collab: What Does This Mean For Sellers?
Thanks to Roku’s app, Shopify sellers of any size will be able to quickly construct TV advertising campaigns utilizing exact demographics and measurement across their marketing pipeline. This is a great leap forward from the traditional linear and cable TV advertising solutions, which have limited targeting and measurement possibilities.
Amir Kabbara, Director of Product, Shopify, said –
At Shopify, we’re focused on helping our merchants reach more consumers, boost their sales, and build thriving businesses.
By launching the new Roku app in the Shopify App Store, merchants can bring their products directly to TV screens, while allowing consumers to discover exciting new brands right from their living room
Shopify users can download the Roku app from the Shopify app store, following which they can easily choose their audience, budget, timing, and duration for their ad – and finally, submit the creative. Quickly, users will be able to commence their campaigns and communicate their brand message to the millions watching TV at home.
Interesting Read: Here, There, Everywhere, It Is Cross-Screen Advertising!
Dubai Science Park Curates Thought- Provoking Video Addressing Paralysis
The pandemic has created a perpetual sense of disorientation and displacement. We all, in the past year and a half, have felt anxious, restless, and stuck.
But this reality, as catastrophic as it is, is only temporary for most of us. There are people in the UAE and across the world where feeling stuck is not fleeting.
Paralysis is a serious and alarming health condition affecting thousands of lives across the world. Despite its ubiquitous nature, paralysis still remains a hush-hush topic in the United Arab Emirates.
Interesting Read: Social Media Ad Reach in UAE, KSA: Instagram,Facebook Expands, Twitter falls
To challenge this silence, Dubai Science Park has started the conversation around it. And as part of this wonderful initiative, it has recently curated a mind-provoking video called ‘ Stuck’. Watch it in the space below.
Courtesy: Dubai Science Park, Youtube
The short video, which is a part of the campaign, brilliantly takes a practical approach to the cause, than being preachy. Conceptualized by McCann Health Middle East, the video does its job in making us feel impatient and helpless – which is the case with most people with paralysis.
It is only at the end of the clip that you realize what the real message is behind it. And the message is loud and clear – there is not enough dialogue around paralysis in the country and the Dubai Science Park’s health community is here to change that.
Kudos to the people driving change in the healthcare ecosystem! If you want to know more about this amazing campaign, head out here.
Interesting Read: CARS24 Arrives In UAE With A Digital Campaign On Burj Khalifa!
Xandr Launches Monetize Tv To Provide “Granular Targeting” On TV
Monetize TV, an audience-based selling platform developed for the future of advanced TV was launched by Xandr recently.
TV sellers may use Monetize TV’s self-serve platform to get complete monetization capabilities, demand enablement, and, in the future, integrated video solutions. Buyers may also use the platform to make audience-based deals with some of the top premium networks, making it easier to reach particular audiences at scale.
Relevant News: Double Verify Acquires EMEA based Meetrics, Expands Globally
Monetize TV is the outcome of Xandr’s successful acquisition of clypd, a company that provided data-driven linear proposal optimization through deep integrations with top programmers. Monetize TV enhances the clypd platform by allowing Invest TV, Xandr’s simplified advanced TV buying platform, to access automated, cross-seller demand.
Mark Mitchell, Vice-President, Business Development, TV Platform, Xandr, said –
As TV viewership moves to digital channels, buyers want the granular targeting and measurement benefits of digital on TV. As such, sellers need to be able to offer optimized proposals for advanced audience targets for their linear inventory
He further added –
Monetize TV’s effort to standardize audience-based transactions is essential to scaling the TV marketplace
Xandr And Monetize TV: Of Media Owners, Buyers & Sellers
Monetize TV allows rapid and efficient proposal generation with an easy-to-use, automated UI. Media owners may use Nielsen, Xandr, and matching first-party data sources to create sophisticated audiences on the platform.
As a result, sellers may predict viewership in order to create optimal, detailed proposals across networks, dayparts, and selling titles in order to maximize reach or impressions against an advertiser’s target population.
Relevant News: Apple Will Now Ask Permission Before Showing Its Own Targeted Ads
Because of Monetize TV’s direct connection with Invest TV, sellers now have another way to reach premium advanced TV customers. Buyers can deal with sellers in person or through the Invest TV user interface or APIs connected with their agency planning systems.
Programmers that use Monetize TV may sell single-seller or multi-seller agreements to Invest TV customers. Between the two platforms, the same technological backbone allows for uniform audience definitions and universe estimations, as well as prepopulated buyer RFP criteria.
Xandr And Monetize TV: What Does The Future Hold?
Buyers and sellers need unified purchasing and selling methods across inventory types as consumer viewing moves from linear to streaming and across screens. Through expertise in linear optimization technologies and automated demand enablement, Monetize TV allows data-driven, audience-based linear TV sales at scale.
In the future, Xandr plans to work with its partners to solve the challenges of convergence and offer solutions that fit their business demands in an ever-changing media ecosystem.
Also Read: Instagram Rolls Out Ad Feature To The Shops Tab Globally
You Can Now Charge For Tweets With Twitter’s New ‘Super Follows’
Starting today, Twitter is launching Super Follows, its premium membership option.
The function, which was initially announced in February, would allow users to pay a monthly fee to subscribe to accounts they enjoy in return for exclusive material. Super Follows are another valuable tool for artists amid the growing patchwork of revenue opportunities available across social media.
Eligible accounts can charge $2.99, $4.99, or $9.99 per month for Super Follow memberships, which is equivalent to the cost of a paid newsletter. They may then opt to make some tweets exclusive to subscribers while still reaching out to their unpaid followers on a regular basis.
Super Follows: Paid Vs Unpaid Subscribers
Paid subscribers will be distinguished from unpaid followers amidst the crowded tweets by a unique Super Follower badge. The badge appears in replies, allowing followers to communicate directly with the accounts they want to support.
Super Follows will appear as a separate button on the profile page for accounts that have the feature enabled. ( like the picture above)
Similar News: Twitter Tests New Feature to Limit Sharing of Unread Articles
Super Follows: An Exclusive Affair
Super Follows isn’t enabled by default for everyone. For the time being, the procedure is still application-only, with a waiting list. The option can be found under the Monetization section of the app’s sidebar, but users must be based in the United States and have at least 10K followers and 25 tweets in the past month to be eligible.
Starting today, iOS Twitter users in the United States and Canada will be able to Super Follow certain accounts, with additional users around the world receiving the feature in the following weeks. On the creator side, Super Follows are now only available on iOS, with Android and desktop compatibility “coming soon.”
Similar News: Instagram Rolls Out Ad Feature To The Shops Tab Globally
Super Follows: How It Will Impact Twitter’s Revenue
Twitter claims that Super Follow earnings will be subject to Apple or Google’s regular, though contentious, 30% in-app purchase fees. For the first $50,000 earned through Super Follows, Twitter will only take a 3% share of profits – a bonus for smaller accounts just getting started or anybody who utilizes the paid Twitter tool to augment other creative income elsewhere. Twitter will begin collecting a 20% cut after an account reaches $50,000 in revenue.
Also Read: Taboola Acquires Connexity, A Global Leader In E-Commerce Media
Uber Ads: Uber Hires Mark Grether To Lead Its Ad Division
Mark Grether, the former CEO of Sizmek and an Amazon advertising executive, has been named to oversee Uber’s advertising division. Grether is a significant step forward for Uber as it develops a worldwide advertising strategy.
Even though the ride-hailing service’s advertising revenue isn’t insignificant; Uber firm hopes to gain $300 million in 2022 from advertisements in its food delivery apps (Uber Eats and Postmates), as well as actual Uber ads that drivers may choose to install on top of cars.
Grether made the announcement official on LinkedIn. His post read –
By building strong offerings, Uber can help merchants, brands, and other advertisers to reach its highly engaged user base across Mobility and Delivery in 32 markets. And I’m particularly passionate about doing this in a way that enables our eaters and riders to discover the familiar
Uber Ads: What Do We Know So Far?
Uber Ads division is a recent, yet established space for the company. The Uber advertising strategy panned out to give such possibilities via its food delivery app in late 2019 after first announcing its plans to engage in the advertising market and has subsequently extended to serving to cartop adverts.
Uber OOH is available in five U.S. markets: Atlanta, Dallas, Phoenix, and, as of this month, Los Angeles and Boston, thanks to a collaboration with out-of-home ad-tech firm Adomni and screen provider Cargo Systems. 7,500 Uber cars are equipped with digital display advertising in those cities.
In New York, Uber Ads have outfitted 3,500 yellow cabs, which account for about a quarter of the city’s total cabs.
DoubleVerify MRC Accreditation: How Can CTV Advertisers Benefit?
DoubleVerify (DV), a prominent software platform for digital media measurement, data, and analytics, said today that it has gained Media Rating Council (MRC) accreditation for video filtering, benchmarking, and Connected TV ( CTV) entirely full-screen along with completion metrics.
To elaborate on the newly recognized DV solutions, let us start with metrics for CTV fully-on-screen. With this functionality, it is possible to measure whether all pixels are in view, if the TV screen was turned off, and quartile completion, offering valuable insights – when the viewability technology is not currently enabled,
The unique components of DV’s completely on-screen completion measurement solve existing viewability problems for CTV advertisers.
Now to talk about Benchmarks, the MRC certification of DoubleVerify’s benchmarks means that these cross-industry performance measures that compare a brand’s performance to others in a given vertical or across all measured traffic have been approved by the MRC.
Mark Zagorski, CEO of DoubleVerify said on record –
Earning MRC accreditations for industry-first solutions across CTV and video environments, where investments continue to surge, reinforces our mission to help make the digital ad ecosystem stronger, safer and more secure, by providing superior media quality and performance solutions to our global brand customers
Another important solution is that of Video Filtering. It is part of DV Video Complete, which allows marketers to assess campaign quality holistically and enhance brand protection across all video contexts and platforms, such as CTV, mobile, and desktop.
Furthermore, even in settings where typical video blocking technology is not available, video filtering prevents advertising from being displayed. This DV reported measure is valid, trustworthy, and effective, according to MRC certification.
Zagorski further added –
These new accreditations help us give advertisers continued clarity and confidence in their digital investments
The MRC also granted continued accreditation for display and digital video impressions, viewable impressions, and IVT (invalid traffic) in desktop, mobile web, mobile application, and CTV environments.
Viewable impressions and property-level ad verification metrics in desktop, mobile web, and mobile application environments – were also granted.
The continuance of DV’s MRC certification, as well as first-time accreditations for the DoubleVerify metrics mentioned earlier, demonstrates that the company continues to develop and launch new products while adhering to the industry’s highest standards.
George W. Ivie, Executive Director and CEO of the MRC commented –
DoubleVerify’s participation in the MRC’s accreditation process since 2013 has demonstrated its capabilities in keeping pace with evolving industry trends, such as with this most recent expansion of its accredited metric offerings in the CTV environment
He also said that this participation has most significantly demonstrated DV’s commitment to assisting marketers in better protecting their digital ad spend, regardless of where those advertisements appear.
In February 2013, DV gained MRC approval for its impression quality package of services and desktop display viewability for the first time. The MRC awarded its accreditation for desktop video ad viewability and invalid traffic for desktop and mobile web in 2015.
DV was awarded certification in 2017 for detecting invalid traffic in mobile applications. Last year, the firm was awarded MRC accreditation for impression measuring in CTV as well as third-party integrated measurement on Facebook.