In the fast-paced world of marketing, the concept of seasonality is undergoing a significant transformation. Gone are the days when holiday and promotional cycles were strictly confined to their traditional timeframes. Today, savvy marketers are reimagining the calendar, seizing opportunities to engage consumers year-round. This shift reflects both changing consumer behavior and the evolving strategies of brands seeking to stay ahead in a competitive landscape. The Shifting Landscape of Seasonality Historically, the marketing calendar was defined by predictable peaks: Back to School in late summer, Halloween in October, and Christmas in November/December. However, these once-clear boundaries are now blurred. For example, this year’s Prime Day in July saw retailers promoting Back to School deals earlier than ever, while Christmas promotions are creeping into the summer months. This shift is driven by changing consumer behaviors, with people shopping earlier and more frequently throughout the year. In fact, 49% of consumers plan to start their holiday shopping before Halloween this year, up from 41% last year. What’s more, 25% now consider holiday shopping a year-round activity, highlighting a significant change in how people approach these seasonal events. The traditional Black Friday-Cyber Monday weekend is no longer the dominant starting point, with only 27% of consumers waiting until then to begin their shopping. The Early Bird Advantage The motivation behind these extended promotional cycles is clear: brands are eager to capture attention as soon as possible, often in an attempt to outpace competitors. Advertisers are increasingly moving their messaging and product placement up, sometimes well before the actual season. This strategy not only allows brands to stand out but also offers financial benefits, such as cheaper CPMs during less competitive periods. For instance, one brand launched its Father’s Day campaign a week earlier than usual, capitalizing on lower advertising costs while boosting awareness, traffic, and impressions. This incremental shift may seem minor, but it’s part of a broader trend of stretching seasonality to maximize impact. As traditional seasonality fades, it’s being repurposed as a tool for understanding and targeting consumer behavior. Brands are now adjusting their marketing cycles based on when consumers are most likely to be receptive, rather than sticking to historical timelines. This adaptive approach allows brands to align more closely with consumer needs, whether that means promoting Back to School items during Prime Day or launching holiday sales months in advance. Consumers Drive the Change It’s not just brands that are shifting their approach; consumers are also playing a crucial role in redefining seasonality. Social media platforms like TikTok and Pinterest are fueling this change, with influencers and content creators posting Back to School hauls and holiday inspiration months ahead of time. This early exposure prompts consumers to start shopping and planning earlier, further blurring the lines between seasons. Moreover, the economic pressures of recent years have made consumers more budget-conscious, leading them to seek out deals and inspiration well in advance of traditional shopping periods. This shift in consumer behavior is pushing brands to rethink their promotional strategies, ensuring they remain relevant and top-of-mind throughout the year. How LocalFactor Can Help Marketers Adapt As the lines between seasons continue to blur, marketers must adapt by embracing flexibility and creativity in their strategies. That’s where LocalFactor comes in. Through our advanced Attention+ technology,, brands can seamlessly repurpose creative assets across multiple channels, ensuring their messaging stays relevant no matter the time of year. Attention+ provides valuable insights into what content resonates most with audiences, enabling marketers to make real-time adjustments to optimize performance. In this new era of stretched seasonality, it’s crucial for brands to activate and optimize their campaigns across the channels that are driving results, whether that’s CTV, Audio, or DOOH. LocalFactor’s Performance Engine is designed to provide seamless cross-channel activation and comprehensive data on campaign performance, helping brands identify the most effective channels and adjust their strategies to meet consumers wherever they are. The Future of Seasonality in Marketing As the traditional holiday cycle fades, marketers have an opportunity to break free from the confines of old timelines and create lasting connections with consumers year-round. By leveraging flexible, data-driven solutions like Attention+ and our Performance Engine, brands can stay ahead in this evolving landscape, delivering impactful campaigns tailored to today’s consumer behavior. At LocalFactor, we’re committed to helping brands navigate these shifts and thrive in the new world of marketing. Ready to redefine your approach to seasonality? Let’s talk.
Embracing Innovation Beyond Cookies: A LocalFactor Perspective
As a leading programmatic advertising services provider specializing in omnichannel digital advertising, Google’s recent announcement to preserve third-party cookies has sparked significant discussion and strategic planning within LocalFactor. Google’s decision marks a significant shift from its earlier commitment to phase out third-party cookies, acknowledging the complexities and challenges voiced by stakeholders across the digital advertising ecosystem. For us at LocalFactor, this development underscores the importance of our long-standing dedication to developing alternative data strategies that prioritize user privacy and advertising effectiveness. Why This Matters Third-party cookies have been fundamental in digital advertising, allowing advertisers to serve targeted ads and measure campaign effectiveness. However, these cookies have also raised significant privacy concerns, leading browsers like Mozilla Firefox and Safari to block them entirely years ago. Google’s initial plan to phase out third-party cookies was seen as a necessary step towards a more privacy-focused web. Despite these efforts, Google’s delays and the advertising industry’s lack of preparedness for this change have led to the current decision to retain third-party cookies while introducing new user controls. Publishers can breathe a sigh of relief today, but for everyone else, does Google’s decision change much? Here in the US, close to half of all web browsing already takes place in aforementioned cookieless environments (Safari, Firefox, etc.), and investment continually shifts to CTV and social, where cookies have no impact. Omnichannel marketers still need ways to create scale and consistency across channels and platforms, no matter what Google decides. Additionally, privacy still matters, and ultimately anyone who has dove into cookie data knows it’s often wildly inaccurate and unnecessarily expensive. The ability to retain third-party cookies keeps legacy systems alive, but that does not mean the industry should take its eyes off new and better ways of advertising. The most intelligent data systems are built for multi-platform, multi-OS, and multi-channel environments to ensure continuous compatibility. From the outset, LocalFactor anticipated the industry’s trajectory toward increased privacy regulations and evolving consumer expectations, investing heavily in proprietary technologies and methodologies that leverage permissioned, multi-sourced data, contextual signals, and advanced algorithms to deliver precise audience targeting without relying on intrusive tracking mechanisms. Google’s proposed solution presents an opportunity to reinforce our commitment to ethical advertising practices and effectively guide our clients through this transition period. LocalFactor recognizes the ongoing challenges and uncertainties surrounding these changes have on our clients and partners’ adoption and we remain vigilant in assessing these developments to ensure that our clients continue to achieve optimal campaign outcomes. Moreover, as Google continues to engage with regulatory bodies and industry stakeholders to refine its offerings, we are actively participating in discussions to shape the future of digital advertising. We believe it is crucial to advocate for solutions that balance user privacy with advertisers’ needs, promoting a sustainable and competitive advertising environment. The Future Lies in Innovation Looking ahead, we are optimistic about the future of digital advertising and the open internet, where one party cannot control everyone else. LocalFactor is well-positioned to leverage these changes to enhance our service offerings further, continuing to deliver innovative and effective advertising solutions that resonate with audiences while respecting their privacy preferences. We have always been at the forefront of innovative, privacy-first advertising solutions. Google’s decision only reinforces our commitment to these principles. Our proprietary Geo-Graph™ technology, which focuses on geographic targeting rather than traditional cookie-based identifiers, is a testament to our forward-thinking approach. Our LFG Performance Engine integrates audience, creative, inventory, and performance data across multiple channels, ensuring optimal campaign performance. This comprehensive approach allows us to deliver exceptional results, regardless of changes in the digital advertising landscape. Looking Ahead While Google’s decision may bring short-term relief to some, it should not deter the industry from continuing to innovate and prioritize user privacy. At LocalFactor, we remain committed to developing cutting-edge solutions that address the evolving needs of advertisers while respecting consumer privacy. We invite our clients and partners to explore how LocalFactor’s Geo-Graph™ and LFG Performance Engine can enhance their campaigns in this changing landscape. Together, we can build a future where innovation and privacy go hand in hand, delivering exceptional results for brands and consumers alike.
Attention+: Bridging the Gap Between Walled Gardens and the Open Web
Brands are constantly challenged by the evolving social media landscape. Despite the significant investment and effort poured into creating engaging social media posts and stories, these efforts often reach only a small percentage of a brand’s total following. On average social accounts with 10-50k followers only reach 19.2% of their followers with posts and 6.5% through stories. As follower counts increase, reach rates actually get worse, with accounts over 200k reaching only 5.5% of their audience with posts and 1.2% with their stories. The shelf life of these posts is short, with content quickly getting buried under the constant flow of new updates. With marketing teams consistently tasked to do more with less, these numbers can be frustrating as they strive to maximize impact with constrained resources. Introducing Attention+: Unleashing the Power of Your Vertical Video Assets Enter Attention+, a powerful tool designed to transform how brands, agencies, and publishers leverage their existing vertical video and social stories beyond traditional platforms. Attention+ stands out by repurposing video assets from platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook, extending the life and reach of these videos. No longer confined to a single platform or a brief lifespan, a brand’s videos can now provide a greater return on investment by engaging audiences across the open web. Creating Compelling Ads with Ease One of the standout features of Attention+ is its ability to create engaging cross-screen ads quickly and effortlessly. Imagine turning any vertical video into customized full-screen ads on mobile, Connected TV or DOOH, creating multiple variations that captivates viewers, extending time spent with the brand and encouraging action. This extended engagement is crucial for brands looking to strengthen their connection with their audience. Attention+ excels in this speed-to-market environment, enabling you to create compelling ads swiftly and effortlessly. This not only maximizes the return on your investment but also ensures that your messages reach more people, helping to bridge the gap between your brand and your audience. For instance, consider a beer brand whose core consumers are heavy baseball viewers and they have partnerships with several MLB teams. Using Attention+, the brand can pull in team-specific stories and posts, targeting heavy up in the relevant markets. By adding interactivity with voting widgets, Attention+ keeps the audience engaged and the beer brand top of mind as they prepare to watch games each week. This seamless integration and rapid content deployment highlight the speed-to-market capabilities of Attention+, driving both engagement and brand recall effectively. Seamless and Engaging User Experience The user experience with Attention+ is seamless and engaging, no matter the channel. For example, display ads generated by Attention+ catch the eye with dynamically selected snippets from your videos. When users tap on these ads, they are taken to a full-screen story page where they can engage more deeply with your content. Custom call-to-actions (CTAs) within this immersive environment guide users to your landing pages, driving meaningful interactions. Enhanced Reporting and Insights Attention+ provides enhanced reporting and insights, shifting the measurement focus from traditional click-through rates (CTR) to time spent with the brand. This approach considers increased time spent as a critical success metric, far exceeding the engagement levels of traditional display ads. By analyzing performance in real-time, Attention+ provides valuable data to understand how creative is performing, allowing for continuous optimization and improving campaigns from impressions to meaningful actions. Always Improving Attention+ is a core component of the LFG Performance Engine and creates dynamic creative delivered to custom LFID audiences. The LocalFactor team has an exciting product roadmap that will continue to enhance Attention+’s creative decision-making and optimization in the coming months. Elevate Your Omnichannel Video Strategy with Attention+ In the fast-paced world of digital marketing, harnessing the full potential of video content is a game-changer. Marketers must do more with less, Attention+ offers a powerful solution to extend the life and impact of your digital media investments, ensuring your brand reaches its full potential. Discover how Attention+ can elevate your social stories and drive meaningful engagement today.
The LFG Performance Engine: A Better Way to Plan, Activate and Optimize Omnichannel Campaigns
LocalFactor launched in 2021 as a response to a series of industry trends that were reshaping the advertising landscape. Market oversaturation, a rapidly changing data environment, underperforming creative content, and operational inefficiencies were just a few of the challenges brands and agencies faced. Our mission was, and continues to be, to tackle these issues head-on. What began as a small team with a big vision has evolved into a tech-enabled powerhouse. At the core of our growth and success is the LFG Performance Engine, designed to help brands and agencies operate more efficiently and effectively. As we celebrate our three-year anniversary, it’s the perfect time to share our perspective on the industry, our vision, and the exciting advancements in our solutions. What is the LFG Performance Engine? LocalFactor is dedicated to helping brands and agencies plan, buy, optimize, and measure omnichannel campaigns across TV, video, display, digital out-of-home (DOOH), audio, and social media. The LFG Performance Engine is our comprehensive system that streamlines the entire process from planning to activation, offering a seamless experience. The engine integrates audience, creative, inventory, and performance data to deliver optimal results. Audience Discovery: Our cookieless audience planning tool identifies where your audience is located. Campaign Delivery: We use geo-based IDs to ensure your campaign reaches the right audience with the right creative in the right inventory. Performance Optimization: Data from campaign performance is fed back into our unified reporting platform, allowing our team to derive insights and make adjustments that impact the entire campaign, rather than optimizing within a single channel. We are continually enhancing our capabilities, ensuring every step of the way is delivering on our mission. Meet the Geo-Graph™: The Foundation of the LFG Performance Engine To address the limitations of legacy identifiers and new alternative ID frameworks, LocalFactor developed the proprietary Geo-Graph™. Unlike traditional device graphs that map attributes to individual identifiers, the Geo-Graph™ stitches data to specific geographic areas. The aim is similar—identifying an advertiser’s target audience—but our approach ensures future-proofed, privacy-focused audience data and consistent cross-channel performance. For each campaign, we activate the Geo-Graph™ by creating LFIDs (LocalFactor IDs), using a brand’s specific audience factors. LFID algorithms use these factors to select localities that best match the target audience. The output is a cookieless segment that is easily activated across all channels. Where We Go Next By creating an LFID audience, campaigns are pre-optimized, setting the stage for efficiency and higher campaign ROI. With the Geo-Graph™ in place, our focus is now on integrating creative and contextual performance data. LocalFactor’s custom Attention+ format dynamically serves tailored content to LFID clusters, and robust creative reporting allows our team to leverage insights for ongoing optimization. Our goal is to enable real-time algorithmic optimizations based on these contextual performance signals, using the data surrounding every impression at the page or app level, to feed into our LFID algorithms. Maintaining a Human Element While AI and technology play an increasingly significant role in the advertising industry, we firmly believe in the creativity and innovation that people—especially our dedicated LFG’ers—bring to the table. We are investing heavily in technology but always ensure we have the right teams to support what we build.. This commitment to a human element is why so many of our clients continue to partner with us, confident that they will always have a dedicated team looking out for their best interests. Their team is fantastic – easy to work with and attentive to details. We look forward to continuing our partnership with them! Supervisor, Horizon Media As we celebrate three years of LocalFactor, we are proud of the progress we’ve made and excited about the future. Our LFG Performance Engine represents a significant leap forward in how brands and agencies can navigate the complex advertising landscape. With innovations like the Geo-Graph™ and a steadfast commitment to maintaining a human touch, we are well-positioned to continue driving success for our clients. To get the most performance out of digital campaigns in 2024 and beyond, advertisers can’t rest on the old way of executing campaigns. Solutions like the LFG Performance Engine do not require significant tech investments or ramp times, and can start delivering real results now. If you’re ready to see how, contact our team to schedule a demo or to learn more!
Why a Platform-Agnostic Approach Matters in Digital Advertising
In the early days of programmatic, media agencies or in-house brand teams often leveraged eight or more platforms via direct partnerships. However, as the industry matured, it became evident that this approach led to redundancy in both inventory and capabilities. This realization gave rise to the trend of supply path optimization (SPO). SPO can offer significant benefits for brands and agencies, as managing numerous direct partnerships with tech providers can be both challenging and costly, ultimately impacting ROI. Implementing SPO while still seeking to maximize the value of omnichannel campaigns across various channels and formats can be a balancing act. Because of this there is immense value in partnering with programmatic service providers that adopt a broad approach to the digital marketplace while still maintaining the tenets of SPO. The key lies in finding partners equipped with the right strategies, infrastructure, and expertise to effectively manage and execute campaigns across diverse platforms. What does a broad approach mean? For LocalFactor it means a platform-agnostic approach, not relying on a limited set of demand or supply-side solutions to execute campaigns for our advertising partners. By doing so we can deliver the utmost value for teams looking for either managed service and self-service solutions. Let’s take a deeper look at some of the key benefits to a platform-agnostic approach. The Right Tool for the Job Every platform has its strengths and weaknesses, which may not always be apparent upfront. A platform may provide the ability to activate in every channel, but depending on the origins of their tech, it doesn’t mean that they’re the best suited to execute across all of them. Their solutions might be highly optimized for CTV, but DOOH and audio are bolted on solutions that are not well integrated, as an example. By executing thousands of campaigns across all types of platforms, we’ve gained this insight and have ultimate flexibility to architect campaigns without the limitations that may be faced within a limited set of platforms. What does this look like in practice for an advertiser that partners with LocalFactor? The DOOH portion of a campaign can be executed within a purpose-built DOOH platform, while the CTV piece will go where we have tailored capabilities, premium inventory and the highest performance. Exclusive Inventory Availability & Formats This piece is an extension of finding the right tool for the job, as some supply or demand side platforms will have unique partnerships or access to premium inventory. For example, an advertiser may want to activate YouTube TV, requiring access to DV360. If that is not a platform currently in the mix, the options are to either find an alternative or sign on with DV360 directly, absorbing monthly minimum spend requirements. By using a partner like LocalFactor, we will be able to activate YouTube TV, while maintaining the flexibility to deliver other portions of the campaign on the platforms that make the most sense. Similarly, some platforms offer their own unique formats that are exclusive to campaigns activated within their walls. LocalFactor can take full advantage of these units for advertisers, with the ability to test each for the highest performance. Additionally, we can deploy our own unique Attention+ format across all platforms in CTV, video and display inventory. Cost Efficiencies A broad view of the supply and demand marketplace enables LocalFactor to find the most efficient path to premium inventory. We can see similar inventory coming from multiple locations and pivot to optimize towards the most efficient sources. And like we mentioned earlier, by using a platform-agnostic partner, advertisers unlock the benefits without absorbing the downsides of additional costs and headcount to manage direct relationships. Category Considerations Each platform approaches sensitive categories in their own way, and some advertisers may face restrictions in certain DSPs and social platforms. In other cases they may be prevented from running campaigns at all. By having flexibility to find the platforms that enable campaigns in sensitive categories, there is less friction to building and launching high performing omnichannel campaigns. Flexibility with Optimizations A common downside of operating in different ad platforms is that performance data becomes siloed, limiting the ability to make optimizations that improve the overall campaign. To address this, teams need a unified reporting system that can dynamically integrate with every platform, ingesting real-time data. However, this can be cumbersome as each platform integration is different, and will require engineering and IT involvement. LocalFactor has built integrations with all major platforms, including social media, to provide a comprehensive view of entire campaigns. This is leveraged by our own trading teams to make quick, data-driven decisions that improve performance, while providing advertisers self-serve access to the same data. This helps LocalFactor keep budgets fluid across the entire campaign, shifting investment where we find the strongest performance. The Human Element As automated and platform-driven the advertising industry becomes, there are still people involved in the strategic decision making process. Individuals have had their own experiences, positive or negative, with many of the solutions in the market over the past decade. Brand marketers and other client-side leaders may have their own opinions on who they are open to using, or completely avoiding. With a platform-agnostic approach it is possible to pivot as needed, while ensuring campaign needs and personal preferences are met. Wrapping Up Being platform-agnostic requires the right infrastructure to be able to execute the planning, buying and measurement of campaigns across platforms. Brands and agencies should focus on their areas of expertise, but remain open to everything available to them via strategic partners. LocalFactor built our LFID Engine performance platform, powered by AI and harnessed by strategists, traders and digital experts, to provide a unified experience that simplifies a complex ecosystem on an advertisers behalf. Want to learn more about LocalFactor’s platform-agnostic approach? Reach out to our team and we’ll be happy to make tailored recommendations for your campaigns.