The term “cognitive” is essentially referring to cognition and intelligence. But what does cognitive have anything to do with advertising? Is it possible to earn money directly with an online ad? Here are a few showcases to understand the buzzword of the day: Cognitive ads.

The competition among traditional advertisers is tremendous – coming up with endless creative approaches to push their products or services to the audience. Now, imagine an ad robot capable of communicating with potential customers on its own, learning their consumption habits and interests, and eventually catering to their specific needs with your products or services. That is what cognitive ads, an AI chatbot banner ad, can do for your business.

Showcases

Last year, Orbis, an international humanitarian NGO launched a cognitive ad campaign for its Moonwalkers annual fundraising event, with the conversational data all stored on blockchain for future references. Blue, Hong Kong’s first digital life insurance company also launched a cognitive ad to grow their initial fan base, achieving triple engagement compared to traditional banner ads. Both clients successfully boosted traffic to their websites and most of all, they collected valuable customer data and meaningful insights on customer behaviour.

Conversational Database

In the long run, a database from users interactions will be continually growing, which helps the AI chatbot to train its conversational abilities and differentiate between spambots and human beings. It can also classify consumer responses and engagement for a comprehensive understanding of your target audience. Instead of mastering a one-way lecture to sell your products, now you can make it a two-way dialogue and find the missing piece to each customer’s puzzle.

Conversion Optimization

Let’s get down to business: conversion rates and ROIs. Aside from brand engagement, a cognitive ad itself is a channel for cross-selling, up-selling and closing the sale. Brands can introduce e-commerce elements such as lead generation, survey and on-the-spot purchase to their own cognitive ad. The conversion funnel will be shortened, with the most relevant products or services offered to your target audience at the right time.

Today you might still brag about clicks or impressions, but closing the deal is the real talk here. Money-making ad tools powered by technological breakthroughs are what businesses shall aim for. Have a chat with us to find out the unique digital solution to help your business grow.

MWC Barcelona, previously known as Mobile World Congress, takes place every February in Barcelona. It is the world’s largest mobile technology exhibition in the world. Themed ‘Intelligent Connectivity’, this year’s event focused on the high-speed 5G networks, as well as new smartphones, robots and other Internet-connected devices.

Welcoming more than 100,000 attendees on 25-28 Feb 2019, MWC Barcelona 2019 saw over 2,400 participating companies showcasing their latest technologies, some of which particularly caught the eye:

HoloLens 2

With corporate clients in mind, Microsoft unveiled its new augmented reality headset, HoloLens 2. An upgrade to its predecessor that came out three years ago, Hololens 2 has demonstrated improvements in terms of eye-and hand-tracking. Coming with a USD 3,500 price tag, the device is targeted at businesses with access to Dynamics 365 Remote Assist, helping professionals like medical researchers and mechanics work remotely.

Holoscreen 3D Screen Protector

This screen protector, when used with a special app, turns phone display into 3D and allows you to take 3D photos (provided you have two or more rear cameras). When the app is not in use, the screen protector works just like a normal screen protector. The best part? This amazing invention by Lucid and Holitech costs only USD 30!

Foldable Phones

Another feature of the event was foldable smartphones with the latest bendable displays, the emerging mobile trend:

Huawei Mate X: a 5G-compatible phone with an 8” screen and three cameras. The design even allows preview while taking a selfie.

Samsung Galaxy Fold: a two-screen phone which closes like a book with six cameras.

Robots

Taking advantage of the speedy 5G networks, Chinese player ZTE exhibited a robotic band, comprising a drummer and a pianist, which played music throughout the event. Meanwhile, CloudMinds Technology presented robots that served drinks at a bar.

Mercedes-Benz User Experience

Utilizing artificial intelligence (AI), Mercedes-Benz User Experience (MBUX) is a teachable, individualizable infotainment system to be used in the new A-Class. Its features include navigation— display with augmented reality technology and ’Ask Mercedes’ — a virtual assistant from the German carmaker.

If you’re kicking yourself for missing such an exciting event, don’t worry. Just make sure you mark this on your calendar — MWC19 Shanghai on 25-27 Jun 2019 and MWC19 Los Angeles on 22-24 Oct 2019.

In its effort to promote the realization of 5G by 2020, Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications put together a video clip, titled Connect Future ‘The world connected by 5G’, which offers a glimpse into a future with 5G and an array of other information and communication technologies in use.

Scenes from the clip include: Watching a soccer game through a pair of smart glasses while idling on a driverless vehicle. A medical consultation via a mirror-like screen. Patronizing an unattended store with payment automatically taken care of. Communicating with a foreigner instantly using a multilingual translation system. Delivering a band performance with band members from multiple locations using stereoscopic images.

With the arrival of 5G, all these mind-boggling scenes will become reality one day.

Explanation on 5G

BEEP BEEP — Time to get back to reality. What exactly is 5G and what can we expect from it with our current technologies? Known as the fifth generation of wireless technology systems, 5G provides lower latency and larger bandwidth, enabling much faster transfers of massive amounts of data. In other words, 5G will support a more efficient connection with reduced delays.

Low latency also gives your devices longer battery life, as it frees up high-performance processors, which used to be a big power suck. Plus, 5G is more reliable, meaning that transmission of data is possible even under extreme conditions.

So the question is, are we ready for more evolutionary changes, including those depicted in the above video? Mobile operators and the telecommunication industry play a major role in this miraculous transformation of 5G networks and technologies. In 2019, smartphones and mobile devices that claim themselves 5G have started rushing in the market, but the magic is yet to be seen. Check out the latest mobile innovations to watch in MWC19 Barcelona. 5G is generally predicted to tremendously benefit Internet of Things (IoT) innovation.

Impacts on IoT

By 2020, according to Gartner’s estimation, more than 20.4B IoT units will be installed, while IoT-related spending will grow to nearly $3T. Powered by technological breakthroughs, widespread networks and compatible devices, something more powerful is expected to wow the world in the future, to name a few:

Immersive entertainment

Super-fast downloads made possible by 5G’s low latency and high level of bandwidth will trigger a shift from streaming towards mobile downloads. Quality VR and AR applications will also be more widespread than they are now.

Experiential retail

From shelf-monitoring to inventory coordination, smart technologies have been playing a prominent role in the retail industry. However, the data required for all these services have proven to be overwhelming to existing infrastructure. Not only will 5G make these issues go away, the technologies that 5G brings, e.g. augmented reality and cashier-less retail, are set to revolutionise shopping experiences.

Autonomous driving

At the moment, driverless vehicles rely on onboard computers and radar to scan the surroundings. With 5G’s ability to process vast amounts of data, instead of operating individually, driverless vehicles will operate by communicating with each other, as well as with traffic lights and construction signs, taking autonomous driving to a whole new level.

With the dramatic increase in the number of IoT in recent years, demand for fast, smooth, reliable networks is unprecedented. What transformations 5G will unleash remain to be seen. But one thing is certain, life will never be the same.

Facebook recently launched their podcast series 3.5 Degrees. Another big player moving into the voice space through podcasting. There are countless opportunities in this area and voice technology is just at its infancy. Convenience plays a great role. Different from video, it does not require people’s full attention. It allows listeners to multitask while they are on-the-go.

Easy-peasy Podcasting requires a lot less equipment and setup compared to shooting a video. All you need is a good microphone, headphones and a good soundproof room. Softwares are often freely available online for you to do post production so forget about investing in expensive equipment. It is a cost-effective way for you to promote your brand, retain and reach out to your customers.

Steady audience base

Once listeners subscribe to a podcast series, they tend to stay and listen to it regularly, creating a relatively steady audience base. Listeners may even recommend your channel to others.

Build rapport

Listeners often develop a feeling that the podcaster is someone that they know and trust, even though they’ve probably never ever met in person. Such was the case even back in the radio days. This bond between the podcaster and listeners is highly effective in building brand credibility.

Podcasting certainly is a marketing force to be reckoned with. A survey of 300,000 podcast listeners by Internal Midroll has found that 63% of people had made a purchase because of the recommendations made by their podcast hosts.

With the popularity of podcasting and the rise of voice technology like Alexa and Siri, many believe voice is set to be the next disruptor in digital innovation. Comment below to let us know how you see the future of it!

Have your colleagues been disappearing en masse a couple of times a day for 15 minutes each time? Don’t worry, they’re probably just playing trivia game — the online game app of the moment.

The Rise of Trivia Game

Trivia game is a live Q&A style game show app where you can win real cash prizes. The best part? You can play for free! It’s a rather simple game. During each of its 15-minute episode, each player is given 10 seconds to answer each question. If the player gets the answer right, they move along to the next question. If the player gets it wrong, they are out of the game. There are 12 questions in each episode. Players who get all 12 answers right get an equal share of the jackpot.

Launch of QQAA

QQAA is great to engage customers and build brand awareness. You can localize content easily by hiring emerging influencers or celebrities to host the episode, asking the latest questions in lifestyle, entertainment, music, or link to your products. All you have to do is make the questions interesting and fun. Players just need to login then they can start playing.

It is a win-win for both the player and sponsor. Player gets to play for free, while sponsor gets to promote their message subtly into the quizzes. A good way to engage customers and build awareness.

Trivia game shows great potential to replace TV. To start with, anyone can now be the star on a live quiz show. Imagine extending this to reality shows where you can be the judge or direct the camera to where you want it to be. TV will no longer be TV as we know it.

Whether you want to initiate a partnership with something cool or want to market your products and services through gaming experience, QQAA is an opportunity you don’t want to miss. Get in touch now for more details.

When working on target marketing, online marketers often go all out to solve a key puzzle in mind: How to maximise efforts while minimising errors? With a simple digital tool, we’ve found a solution for one of our clients.

We worked with fast food franchise Subway on the promotion of Everyday Value, a combo launched earlier to compete with fellow fast food chain’s meal set deals. With only 24 stores in Hong Kong, Subway was set for an effective online campaign that reached out to the right customers in the right place — with the help of Geo-targeting. 

Geo-targeting is a technology that makes online ads relevant to target audience based on their physical location. We activated seamless touch points at 18 of Subway stores and some of its nearby competitor stores, collecting anonymised data from the mobile phones of visitors every day.

This system identifies potential customers and classifies them into different segments, allowing us to re-target ads on Google Display Network, Facebook, Line and Weibo accordingly with A/B testing. 

We prepared two sets of ad creatives for the given market segmentation, one highlighted the discount, the other on a brand new food item. Effectiveness of the two ads is quantifiable by the number of purchases prompted by respective ads. The campaign ran for three weeks and was a great success. 

When done right, Geo-targeting is a highly accurate and cost-effective way to maximise ad efficacy, especially in the fast-moving retail and F&B industries. It adds value to a brand’s initiatives by gaining a better understanding of customer behaviour and essentially, helping to designate budget and resources to the right audience. Reach out and learn more from us if you are interested!

WhatsApp for Business API is now available in Hong Kong. If you are wondering why should you use it? The answer is simple. Many of your customers are probably already using it. Just look at your family group chats on Whatsapp. Your younger cousins, siblings, parents, older aunts and uncles are all there sharing interesting news or arranging the next family gathering on it.

Messaging apps like WhatsApp have incredible engagement rates: 98 percent of mobile messages are opened and read, with 90 percent of them getting opened within three seconds of being received. Furthermore, people prefer to share news on private channels such as email or chat apps like WhatsApp, as opposite to more public networks like Facebook. Just look at your family group chats, there are always incoming texts.

More than 60 billion messages are sent worldwide through WhatsApp every single day. WhatsApp users and similar services are willing to engage with business. According to

 

Nielsen’s Facebook Messaging Survey, 67 percent of mobile messaging app users said they expect to use chat more for communicating with businesses over the next two years. What’s more, 53 percent of respondents say they’re more likely to shop with a business they can message directly.

What is the difference between WhatsApp for Business and WhatsApp for Business API?  WhatsApp for Business is only for small businesses, whereas WhatsApp for Business API is an enterprises solution for medium-sized and large companies. That being said, the service does not allow marketing promotions, and users need to opt-in. Brands will need to use pre-approved message templates for outbound notifications. Content can contain a maximum of 4,096 characters, much longer than SMS. Rich Text, images, documents, audio and videos are supported. It is a good way to provide fast and personal customer experience. Furthermore, if users change their sim card, they can still use the app.

Five Creative Ways To Use WhatsApp For Business API

1. Orders & Order Confirmation

2. Automatic Appointment Reminders

3. Alerts & Notifications

4. Surveys

5. Staff Communication

Which brand has deployed this service? KLM Royal Dutch Airline is the first airline to test this function and roll it out globally, offering customers around the world booking confirmation, check-in notification, boarding pass, flight status updates and asking questions in 10 different languages on WhatsApp via the official WhatsApp Business application.

Contact us at info@ndn.com.hk to learn more and how we can tailor to your needs.

 

When it comes to the automobile industry, it’s all about user experience — driving itself, and for marketers — the purchasing experience from start to finish. Marketers have done extensive research to better understand what goes through the consumers’ mind throughout the buying process from discovery, evaluation to purchase.

A recent survey in the US shown that women are more likely to use their mobile devices to discover new cars and brands, with 35% using mobile for those discoveries compared with 27% of men. Since women rely heavily on their social network to discover new vehicles, that influence also extends to networks on social platforms, with 34% of women discovering new automobiles through the Facebook family of apps.

When making their decision, mobile seems to be more popular among the 18-34 age group (31%), contrasting to a mere 16% among those aged 35 or above. The Facebook family of apps again plays an important role as well, helping 43% among the 18-34 age group decide which vehicle to buy. It is also worth noting that 45% among the 18-34 age group have purchased or intend to purchase their vehicle online.

The findings from the survey suggest that more auto consumers are feeling comfortable with making the purchase online. It also shows that the younger generation is now more used to processing research information on their mobile, especially women.

Marketing strategies should take into account age, gender and more in order to create a smooth and user-friendly shopping experience for customers.

WhatsApp Business is an Android instant messaging app specially designed to help small businesses advertise and interact with their customers. Launched by WhatsApp in 2018, WhatsApp Business offers tools to help businesses sort, automate and facilitate their communication with customers.

Setting up WhatsApp Business is as easy. Simply create your business profile with a photo, a brief description, as well as essential information, e.g. address, website, and email. Then set a greeting message, an away message, and frequently-used replies that can be re-used as quick responses.

Recognizing the effectiveness of business exposure on WhatsApp, Facebook started offering its advertisers who have both WhatsApp Business and Facebook Ads Manager accounts an option to add a call-to-action button to their ads. Facebook users clicking on the button will be taken to WhatsApp where they can communicate directly with the advertiser. Here are the benefits.

1. Multimedia 

Choosing to connect Facebook ad with WhatsApp does not only enhance exposure. Advertisers can instantly communicate with their customers through multimedia messaging, free international calls, group chats, etc.

2. Accessibility

Being available on WhatsApp means advertisers are more discoverable and accessible, boosting customer engagement rates, which helps grow business.

3. Efficiency

WhatsApp Business comes with tools that help automate, sort and organize customer messages, speeding up the communication process and enhancing customer satisfaction.

4. Flexibility

Advertisers can use both WhatsApp Messenger and WhatsApp Business on the same phone. Meanwhile, WhatsApp Web — the version of WhatsApp for computers — offers even more flexibility to advertisers.

5. Statistics

The statistics feature of WhatsApp Business allows advertisers to gauge the effectiveness of their messages and better understand their customers.

Customer relation is crucial in any retail business, be it brick-and-mortar or online. Combining Facebook and WhatsApp adds a bit of personal touch to traditional advertising and gives business a competitive edge. What’s more, with over 300 million active users on a daily basis, WhatsApp certainly offers businesses an enticing customer base to tap into.

Source:

1. https://www.facebook.com/business/whatsapp/get-started

2. https://medium.com/invoice-blog/whatsapp-business-app-features-benefits-for-small-business-owners-6c0fe5f4b181