• The increasing agency and brand budgets call for actionable insights and customized technology to drive strategic planning.
• Contextual intelligence examines every possible page interpretation, enabling marketers to comprehend the numerous categories into which it can be divided

Have you noticed advertisements on Facebook or YouTube while watching videos – or Spotify ads while scrolling Instagram? Examples are plenty, but hold on a minute, why would a company use another social media platform for its promotion?

The necessity for strategic planning has never been more robust due to the expanding mix of media channels, devices, and platforms to advertise across. However, because of tighter data regulation, evolving privacy laws, and the phase-out of third-party cookies, marketers are under pressure to uncover new data sources and knowledge that will enable them to design and roll out more successful online advertising campaigns.

In between the various industry shifts in digital advertising, contextual targeting is experiencing a boost.

A safety solution applied to campaigns during activation earlier is now used to inform planning and strategy recommendations in the campaign cycle earlier. You might ask why.

The increasing agency and brand budgets call for actionable insights and customized technology to drive strategic planning.

In this guide, we will explore the key learnings marketers can derive from incorporating Contextual Intelligence during the planning and research stages of campaign development.

The most common contextual insights across various advertising seasons and tentpoles are:

1. Content engagement over time: Learn how online consumer interest changes and how to pace your advertisements appropriately.
2. Trending content: Learn the fundamentals of favorable and unfavorable content trends and how they might affect a campaign.

• Related contexts and content categories: Discover the many possible interpretations of a page and how expanded content categories can increase the size and reach by attracting new, relevant viewers.

The guide will also feature commentary on how you can apply the insights to your campaigns, whether you’re a strategist, campaign manager, or planner.

1. Content engagement over time

The volume of ad calls within each specific context segment is examined to evaluate the level of content engagement over time. The page is divided into a few sections based on the context when information is posted and interacted with online. It is established by examining every word on the page and how it relates to other words.

A more significant number of categorizations and ad calls are produced when more individuals interact with the material; this information can be used for high-level predictions when developing marketing strategies.

How to implement this insight: You can use content engagement at different points to assess the right time to launch campaigns and to understand the most curious topics for your end users.

Application into your campaign is divided for two categories: Strategists and Campaign managers–

1. Strategists:
2. Validate opportunity
3. Optimize campaign timing
4. Understand drivers of intent
5. Campaign Managers:
6. Drive scale and reach
7. Maximize budget

1. Trending content

Online material is continuously changing, whether it’s a real-time news article, the impact of seasonal events, or cultural trends. Digital marketers must consider haphazard content trends since they can (and will) suddenly take over the news and media cycle. These trends may be advantageous, providing chances to create brands, or they may be harmful, posing possible hazards to brand safety.

How to implement this insight: Utilize content trends to evaluate online content’s turbulence and unpredictability over a 12-month period or during an event.

Application into your campaign is divided for two categories: Strategists and Campaign managers–

1. Strategists:
2. Understand consumer behavior
3. Identify popular content topics
4. Campaign Managers:
5. Identify brand safety risks
6. Identify brand-building opportunities

• Related contexts and content categories

Contextual intelligence examines every possible page interpretation, enabling marketers to comprehend the numerous categories into which it can be divided. This identifies nearby content areas with comparable audience demographics, which may be utilized for targeting to broaden the reach and impact of campaigns.

How to implement this insight: Check out the ways that page can be interpreted and relevant topic which will offer additional information for targeting.

Application into your campaign is divided for two categories: Strategists and Campaign managers–

1. Strategists:
2. Identify the reasons why consumers engage with content
3. Understand brand safety risks
4. Campaign Managers:
5. Drive incremental reach
6. Build better custom segments

Conclusion

Lately, strategic planning has become more robust due to the expanding list of devices, platforms, and channels to advertise. Unfortunately, with stringent data regulation, phase-out of third-party cookies, and evolving privacy laws, marketers are pressured to discover new data and knowledge sources. The most common contextual insights across various advertising seasons and tentpoles are content engagement over time, trending content, and related contexts and content categories.

• Ninety-four percent of the respondents stated that they did not even have a technology to consider.
• According to Digibee, most respondents have chosen a piecemeal approach to integration due to the lack of a suitable plan.

According to the 2022 State of the Enterprise Integration report published by Digibee, although most IT leaders in the finance, manufacturing, and retail industries assert that digital enterprise integration is a business imperative, only seven percent have an established strategy. The importance of an enterprise integration plan for the businesses was regarded as either “imperative” or “good to have” by 93% of the respondents.

While most polled IT leaders believed that integrating systems and data is necessary for organizations to remain competitive in a digital-first world, it seemed they were at a loss for a strategy to carry out that integration. Ninety-four percent of the respondents stated that they did not even have a technology to consider.

It is challenging to justify the investment, mainly when competing priorities that yield an immediate return are present. There are insufficient resources, and the current legacy infrastructure frequently acts as a barrier to innovation.

Only seven percent of the respondents whose companies have given integration initiatives a priority have been successful in putting an enterprise integration plan into action. Most respondents (53%) are still in the planning stage and intend to implement their strategy within the next 12 months. On the other hand, over a third of respondents (36%) said there are no plans.

The high cost of not having a digital integration strategy

The cost of executing digital transformation without first developing and implementing a comprehensive strategy can be relatively high in terms of monetary expenditures and the amount of work required. According to Digibee, most respondents have chosen a piecemeal approach to integration due to the lack of a suitable plan. This means they focus on meeting immediate requirements rather than their longer-term ambitions. Firms must consistently rebuild one-off integrations to keep their businesses running, even though they are commonly impeded by legacy infrastructure and other obstacles.

Over fifty percent of Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and 45% of system architects and developers reported that they had to rebuild integrations for existing critical business applications six to ten times in the past 12 months. At the same time, 98% of the respondents stated that they had rebuilt integrations for existing key business applications in over a year.

Despite the obstacles that stop companies from beginning or finishing the process of integrating their systems and data, these firms must do so. In a recent discussion on the quickening rate of the migration to the cloud, Gartner stated: “Technology and service providers that fail to adapt to the pace of cloud shift face increasing risk of becoming obsolete, or, at best, being relegated to low-growth markets.”

Digibee’s research was developed in partnership with research firm CensusWide and is based on a survey of more than 1,000 U.S.-based CIOs, developers, and enterprise architects conducted from April 27 to May 5, 2022.

• Injective Protocol’s goal is to offer users decentralized, cost-free business transactions .
• Although the upgrade is primarily meant for developers, people who utilize the dApps built on Injective will also gain from it.

Early in July, Injective Protocol underwent a “CosmWasm mainnet” upgrade to offer enhanced functionality and efficiency for its users and developers. Injective Protocol is an Ethereum-compatible blockchain utilized in the decentralized finance (DeFi) and derivatives industries.

The Injective Protocol, a protocol that enables the full potential of decentralized derivatives and borderless DeFi, facilitates derivatives trading across blockchains using financial products, including perpetual swaps, smart contracts, and spot trading. Injective Protocol’s goal is to offer users decentralized, cost-free business transactions. Injective integrates the Ethereum and Cosmos blockchain ecosystems to offer a “cross-chain transaction architecture” without adding transaction charges known as “gas fees.” This results in a reliable, openly verifiable network.

CosmWasm is a library of code that contains elements required to build more intricate smart contracts on the Cosmos blockchain. As the name implies, smart contracts are self-executing agreements where the blockchain’s Ts and Cs between buyer and seller are described in lines of code. Transactions are traceable and irreversible, and that code regulates their execution.

With the upgrade, developers will be able to build more complex applications. It also introduces negative maker fees, which are returned to traders who offer liquidity (or tokens) to a market, and the ability to create multi-chain smart contracts and self-executing smart contracts.

To put it in context, a mainnet upgrade is when a chain-level update is received by a blockchain that introduces new features that expand the capabilities of the blockchain. The Injective community decides which upgrades the system will receive through governance recommendations.

According to Eric Chen, co-founder and CEO of Injective Labs, the mainnet upgrade to Injective Protocol adds many new features, which developers and users will find exciting.

“CosmWasm is a much more resource-efficient smart contract environment compared to a traditional Ethereum virtual machine,” he said. “And more importantly, this chain upgrade added a big feature where it can self-execute smart contracts at the beginning of every single block.”

Self-executing smart contracts reduce the workload of developers and transaction costs as well. A smart contract usually needs an outside agent to be executed – be it a person or a computer program. A smart contract is now managed automatically rather than having to be watched over, executed, and updated. The CosmWasm integration accomplishes this without raising petrol prices or transaction times.

Injective’s Inter Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol allows developers to design multi-chain smart contracts, enabling interoperability between blockchains and self-executing smart contracts. The CosmWasm upgrade’s other key feature is negative manufacturer fees.

According to Chen, “[Negative maker fees are] a highly sustainable sort of rebate or compensation for those who contributed liquidity to the market.” “There is a significant incentive there since institutions won’t be paying trading fees but rather a portion of the maker volume or liquidity they supply. It also brings a ton of extra advantages for organizations using the Injective API and for programs creating on-chain marketing algorithms.”

All decentralized exchange applications or dApps built on Injective for approved markets will enable negative maker fees. Negative maker fees are given to market makers who provide Injective liquidity rather than being withheld from the maker.

Although the upgrade is primarily meant for developers, people who utilize the dApps built on Injective will also gain from it.

Chen said, “If the application or contract that [users are] interacting with does a good enough job, [users] won’t see the increase in complexity or have to deal with the headache of learning to deal with these complex features and offerings that are enabled by this upgrade. I think that’s one of the most important parts of the product. To be able to serve the user and abstract away a lot of the complexity,” he added.

In the future, the mainnet upgrade will also enable additional functionality within the dApps already available on Injective.

Traders might use stop-loss or take-profit orders on Injective Pro, a decentralized exchange where they can trade cryptocurrency futures and spots. Before these functions are used, though, it can take some time. According to Chen, the current existing dApps are benefiting right away from the negative manufacturer fees.

• Microsoft is launching Viva Engage, an app similar to Facebook that will promote social networking at work.
• Viva Engage improves on some of Yammer’s features by enabling workplace digital networks, dialogues, and self-expression.

Ten years ago, Microsoft acquired Yammer for USD 1.2 billion. Yammer is an enterprise-focused social networking platform. Despite the fact that 2019 was dominated by the revamp of Yammer, Microsoft has been highly focused on Teams and its new Viva platform as the communication platform for workplaces.

Microsoft is now launching Viva Engage, an app like Facebook to promote social networking at work.

Viva Engage improves on some of Yammer’s features by enabling workplace digital networks, dialogues, and self-expression. Often Yammer gives a feel of an extension of SharePoint and Office, while Viva Engage is more of a Facebook replica. The storyline area of Viva Engage resembles a Facebook news feed and includes conversational posts, videos, photos, and more. Viva Engage has a Facebook-like interface, allowing employees to exchange news and personal interests.

Augmentation of Microsoft use

Microsoft has spent the better part of a decade attempting to construct something comparable. The company’s early Yammer investment was into enterprise-focused social networking, paving the path for communities within enterprises that depend on Office. The integration of Yammer with SharePoint, Office 365, Dynamics, and Skype appeared to be more of a must than something that enterprises often demanded.

As is common knowledge, the pandemic allowed the corporate world to usher into hybrid work, increasing the need for applications such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Slack. Microsoft Teams is now increasingly positioned as the central platform for work and communication. Teams is now the obvious place for many businesses’ employees to connect and discuss, and it’s become a social network for many who use Teams channels.

A brief peek into Viva Engage

Viva Engage will incorporate a feature known as Stories, which is analogous to those seen on Snapchat and Instagram. This is a function that LinkedIn, which Microsoft owns, abandoned a year ago. Workers may now share their stories on Microsoft Teams and Viva Engage in a manner analogous to that of Instagram; there is no longer a requirement for users to follow one another on Instagram or fill up the email inboxes in Outlook.

Viva Engage can be more successful than previous attempts with Microsoft Teams’ integration and concentration on consumer-like social networking. Surprisingly, Viva Engage was created with Facebook Workplace in mind or Workplace from Meta. Microsoft has been cautious of Meta’s drive into the industry, and the two companies are increasingly headed toward a head-on collision in the metaverse battle.

• Delaware court will hear Twitter’s case against Elon Musk in October, earlier than requested.
• Kathaleen McCormick, the chancellor of the Court of Chancery in Delaware, would be presiding over the hearing.

Elon Musk has been in the news for a considerable amount of time. Here is another update about the most talked-about topic in the town. In October, a Delaware court will hear Twitter’s case against Elon Musk for seeking to back out of his acquisition of the business. Twitter requested a shorter hearing period than Musk; thus, the winds are in favor of Twitter at the moment.

It was in April that Musk had agreed to purchase Twitter for USD 44 billion but remained quiet for an extended period about the agreement. Even though he was permitted to research the company he was planning to acquire, he asserted that Twitter had too many bots. Then, he attempted to terminate the agreement. Twitter filed a suit in response to holding the defendant from completing the purchase.

The judge who would be presiding over the hearing is Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick. During an oral trial, Twitter argued that Elon Musk’s objections regarding bots were not made in bad faith attempts to back out of the purchase owing to an acute case of buyer’s remorse. In the beginning, Twitter intended the trial to take place in September, but Musk requested that it take place in February. Nevertheless, the trial will last for five days, which is longer than what Twitter requested but shorter than what Musk did.

The legal representation for Twitter characterized Musk’s actions as “inexcusable” in the courtroom. Musk has held up an employee retention plan and is engaging in “needless value destruction.” In response, Musk’s legal team alleged that Twitter was playing games with Musk using bot data. Both teams concluded that Musk’s group had conducted millions of searches on Twitter’s firehose, which is a real-time stream of Tweets as they are sent. Musk’s attorneys also suggested that a leading daily was provided with a copy of Twitter’s complaint before they did.

McCormick stated that the delay would cost Twitter irreparably. Further, McCormick noted that she was sure that the teams of attorneys would be able to rise to the occasion, although a court date in October is a rapid turnaround.

• Although Netflix hasn’t announced an official date for the tier’s rollout, it’s rumored to become available to customers by the end of 2022.
• The Xbox 360 was the first console to include HD Netflix streaming software.

According to a statement released by Netflix, Microsoft will be a part of its forthcoming ad-supported streaming service. After launching the less expensive alternative, the streaming service claims that Microsoft will become its “global advertising technology and sales partner.”

“It’s still extremely early, and there are many issues to be resolved,” said Netflix COO Greg Peters in the post. “But our long-term goal is clear — more choice for consumers and a premium, better-than-linear TV brand experience for advertisers. We’re excited to work with Microsoft as we bring this new service to life.”

The firm claims that marketers would collaborate with Microsoft to introduce advertisements to the Netflix ecosystem.

Mikhail Parakhin, Microsoft’s head of web experiences, said, “Today’s announcement also supports Microsoft’s approach to privacy, which is built on protecting customers’ information.” Besides Netflix, Microsoft is also considering bringing advertisements to free-to-play Xbox games.

Netflix first suggested a cheaper, ad-supported tier in May, and it was confirmed last month. Although Netflix hasn’t announced an official date for the tier’s rollout, it’s rumored to become available to customers by the end of 2022.

The news of Netflix’s ad-supported tier spread after the business disclosed a decline in members for the first time in a decade last quarter, peaking at 222 million globally. To help mitigate a drop in subscribers and revenue, the corporation is also looking into live streaming and ways to crack down on password-sharing.

Choosing Microsoft recalls the close relationship shared between the two companies for streaming product launches. The Xbox 360 was the first console to include HD Netflix streaming software. The original version of Watch Instantly streamed B-movies primarily used Microsoft’s Silverlight technology to serve video rather than the more popular Flash Player until HTML5 replaced it.

• Microsoft is currently exploring the addition of notification badges after recently restoring the Weather widget to the taskbar in Windows 11.
• The tech giant is experimenting with bringing back Windows 10’s well-known search bar and adding notification badges to the Widgets section of Windows 11.

Microsoft announced that it is experimenting with new UI adjustments for the taskbar in Windows 11. The tech giant is experimenting with bringing back Windows 10’s well-known search bar and is adding notification badges to the Widgets section of Windows 11.

Currently, Windows 11 comes with a search button on the taskbar that can be turned off and merely displays the search logo. Microsoft is currently evaluating three alternative cosmetic modifications to the search taskbar.

Two of the experiments use a small or large search bar in the taskbar, while the first one uses the standard search icon. The experiments are a part of Microsoft’s new experimental Windows 11 features, which does imply they might not ship.

Microsoft is seeking input on the modifications before they are implemented more widely.

The tech giant is also currently exploring the addition of notification badges after recently restoring the Weather widget to the taskbar in Windows 11. The alerts resemble the badges in the Action Center on the right side of the taskbar and are intended for material like breaking news.

Director of Windows Insider Amanda Langowski explained, “When you open the Widgets board, a banner will appear at the top of the board providing more information on what triggered the notification badge.”

Although it’s not said specifically, it can be assumed that it’s possible to disable these notifications in addition to the standard option to remove the Widgets taskbar button.

Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel will be able to begin testing a new Camera app for Windows 11 in addition to the UI tests. The design has been changed to work with Windows 11 and now supports scanning QR codes and barcodes. Additionally, a brand-new Media Player upgrade that can rip CDs into AAC, WMA, FLAC, and ALAC files is accessible for testing.

• Atos and Agfa publicized the story behind the partnership.
• Agfa has been involved in a unique IT transformation program and is endeavoring for an agile, simple, and future-proof digital organization.

To streamline digital transformation

Atos and Agfa announced the conclusion of a major partnership wherein the former will assist the latter in streamlining digital transformation. Atos will also offer and manage a vital section of Agfa’s internal IT services and help streamline the firm’s digital journey.

Being a global imaging technology and IT leader, Agfa has been involved in a unique IT transformation program, endeavoring for an agile, simple, and future-proof digital organization.

This strategic move will help Agfa benefit from Atos’ expertise to execute a modern and pioneering IT landscape while enhancing its IT cost in all territories where it’s operational. Atos will execute advanced solutions, such as workplace management, mainframe services, cloud solutions, hosting, and network.

Atos’ solution comprises a wide range of application-related services and transformational projects, seeking to standardize, simplify, and modernize the Agfa IT landscape. This IT landscape comprises a harmonization of Agfa’s Human Resource (HR), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and digital workplace solutions.

By enhancing and personalizing the IT experience for more than 7,000 employees of Agfa, Atos will enable them to enjoy the benefit of the most significant level of employee experience in the sector and assist them to innovate further for their consumers.

Experts’ view

Jean-Claude Geha, Head of Telecom, Media and Technology at Atos, said, “We are pleased to welcome the former Agfa employees and help them take a step further into the future with our cutting-edge technologies and expertise. Through our partnership, we are focused on providing Agfa and its employees with innovative tools, using transformational initiatives and next-generation technologies to deliver best-in-class imaging systems and IT solutions to their customers.”

Dirk De Man, CFO at Agfa-Gevaert Group, said, “We are very pleased to enter into this partnership with Atos. It will accelerate Agfa’s global transformation, while planned cost optimizations will allow us to invest in future-proof digital systems and to further improve the services we provide to our customers. Simplification, modernization, and digital transformation are at the heart of this partnership, while the cultural fit between the two companies will also ensure the successful onboarding of the former Agfa IT teams into the Atos organization.”

Custom software development, digital transformation consulting, and software implementation are some of the services the duo will offer.

The development has come at a critical juncture for the industry.

NTERSOL, a digital transformation strategy and solutions firm that serves financial services executives, announced the acquisition of CoreIP Solutions, Inc., a technology solution consulting company. It aims to create a digital transformation powerhouse for financial services and fintech industries.

The development has come at a critical juncture for the industry:  According to Gartner, IT skills shortages are the single most significant adoption barrier for 64% of new technologies, up from four percent in 2020. This makes it difficult for banks, lenders, insurance firms, and other financial services organizations to implement back-end and front-end technological solutions required to deliver simplified experiences as expected by today’s consumers.

Furthermore, with interest rates rising and borrowing activity declining, many financial institutions are now capable to undertake operational improvements they could not achieve during the previous two-year boom cycle.

Custom software development, digital transformation consulting, and software implementation are some of the services the duo will offer, which will be distinguished by an approach that blends deep industry understanding with substantial technical experience.

Experts’ view

“We’re keenly aware that our greatest asset is our people,” said NTERSOL CEO Anthony Jenkins. “By joining forces, we will be able to scale up and deliver essential technology solutions to more financial services and fintech firms that need it to meet their customers’ constantly evolving expectations.”

“We’re delighted to be able to offer more comprehensive and scalable consulting services to our customers,” said CoreIP Solutions CEO Steven Wolfe. “Just as exciting are the new opportunities that will be available to our incredibly talented and creative staff.”

Hallaron started utilizing enhanced digital platforms to deliver commercials among local counties, including precise targeting capabilities.

Hallaron, a full-service advertising and branding agency based in The Woodlands, Texas, has started leveraging digital ad platforms to reach out to smaller, local political advertisers. It will be beneficial by way of serving highly customized display and video adverts to local voters based on microtargeted geographic and behavioral criteria. The findings suggest more effective campaigns that can help achieve significant results with monthly ad budgets under USD 10,000.

Thanks to a collaborative partnership with Vici Media Inc., based in Philadelphia, PA, Hallaron started using enhanced digital platforms, including precise targeting tools, to serve ads among the local county and even city elections in the early 2022 primaries. Hallaron employs the same big-client ad techniques to build a strategy for smaller local low-budget campaigns, usually reserved for more significant business or political clients. Usually, the aim is to replace older marketing thinking with smarter targeting that serves the ads to local voters with the help of cell phones and social media instead of billboards or direct email.

“Our new political campaigns aim to serve voters with ads where they consume daily news and entertainment through their mobile phones and the Internet,” explained agency principal Mike Hallaron.

According to Statista, in 2022, mobile media usage in the United States will rise to four hours and 29 minutes a day. Compare this with typical drive time, radio listening, print reading, and television viewing.

Hallaron believes that because of the prolonged Covid-19 lockdowns, many Americans have prolonged their dependency on digital and mobile gadgets, using them for business, shopping, and to reach out to the world beyond their front door.

Direct mail is still prevalent in most small-town political elections, where access to new digital technologies is limited. Inexpensive yard signs are still popular, although their use is restricted. Voters can watch videos, read bios, and evaluate a candidate’s platform positions on local issues by clicking on digital and mobile ads links to landing pages.

“When you add a well-executed social strategy on Facebook, the frequency and reach for a small campaign can be game-changing,” Hallaron said.

Vici Media, Hallaron’s digital partner, works with approximately 200 ad agencies and media firms in the United States, offering three billion digital ad impressions every year. In 2020, the firm made it to Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 list. According to Hallaron, more and more clients are educating themselves about creative digital media strategies like geofencing, mobile conquesting, and social mirroring approaches.