Tag: Viacom Velocity

Viacom Velocity: 68% millennials trust online pals more than news or govt

MUMBAI: Viacom Velocity, the in-house branded content agency within the Marketing & Partner Solutions group, has released findings from a study exploring how popular culture is shaped as lines between brands, celebrities, fans, and mass media have faded. The research is the basis of Velocity’s original documentary, “The Culture of Proximity,” which explores the impact when these groups which once existed distinctly and separately collapse into each other and behave similarly.

“The making of pop culture used to feel very far away, but with the shift from top-down distribution of messaging and content to a reality where many people can communicate together, influence culture, and deeply connect over shared interests there are remarkable implications for marketers and content creators,” said Viacom Velocity CMO Dario Spina.

“Exploring this inflection point through our research and ‘The Culture of Proximity’ documentary allows us to understand the impact and most effectively work within this new landscape. Our screenings and workshops with marketing partners translate these insights into actionable ideas.”

“The Culture of Proximity” features interviews with celebrities, thought leaders, and cultural influencers including Swizz Beatz; YesJulz; Chris Hardwick; Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian; MTV News’ Ira Madison; civil rights activist DeRay McKesson; Stanford University’s Dr. Brie Linkenhoker Ph.D; writer/illustrator Tim Urban; and Chief Strategy Officer of Publicis Rishad Tobaccowala.

“The Culture of Proximity” revealed four key themes:

1. The Conjoint Effect: Brands, celebrities, fans, and content creators have started acting like each other…brands are people, and people are brands.

50% of Millennials believe their life should be made into a movie
Nearly half feel like they know their favorite celebrity, and 1/3 of those say their favorite celebrity is like a friend or family member. Only 11% of Millennials DO NOT like when brands have online personalities, as if they were real people

2. New Centers of Gravity: The risks and rewards of shared influence…proximity puts people on the same playing field as the creators of mass culture.

61% of Millennials say they can influence popular culture
86% of Millennials believe that fans have some ownership of the things they’re fans of

3. The New Intimacy: People live with only one degree of separation from everything — the difference between “in real life” and virtual is blurry, and true intimacy is possible without physical proximity.

73% of Millennials have made friends with people online or through social media because of a shared passion.

More than half say they could fall in love with someone they only know online

When asked “Which of the following group or groups of people do you trust?”
68% said people online with a shared interest or cause
58% said people my age
56% said people in my community
29% said news media
21% said government

4. The Filtered Me: The idea of authenticity is being rewritten. The ways people create and broadcast their identities continues to shift, and they are often negotiating the difference between showing the best versions of themselves and the authentic lives they lead.

70% of Millennials choose activities that will give them items to post and almost 1/3 admit they post things that make their life look better than it is
1/3 say brands are as honest as people try to be
Millennials say it is ok to publicly share:
Mental illness: 70%
Coming out: 70%
Going to rehab: 55%
Having a miscarriage: 50%

Quantitative Study Methodology:

Qualitative and quantitative research was conducted between Fall 2016 and Winter 2017. Over 5,000 respondents representing multiple generations were surveyed. The statistics cited in the documentary and in this release represent the findings for a nationally representative sample of 2,000 Millennial respondents age 18-34.

April 22, 2017
Viacom & TiVo Research ink deal for ad data targeting

MUMBAI: Viacom and TiVo Research and Analytics have inked a new strategic alliance focused on advancing Viacom’s proprietary data and advertising solutions.

Viacom’s innovative data and ad products have led the industry in recent years with predictive tools such as Vantage and Echo Social Graph that hyper-target consumers. The first such alliance for TiVo with a media company, TiVo Research’s suite of single-source measurement tools will integrate with Viacom Vantage’s advanced predictive engine to augment its precision and consumer targeting capabilities.

The new collaboration also provides Viacom Velocity and Velocity Products Group — the company’s creative content/integrated media group and the newly formed group that brings multi-platform social partnerships, products, and services to clients — with more data that can help increase the impact of custom campaigns and further expands the unique analytics delivered to ad partners.

TiVo Research senior vice president and general manager Frank Foster said, “This integration will make Viacom the first network to offer advertisers true single-source solutions for audience targeting and measurement. The combination of Viacom’s advanced predictive engine and TiVo’s anonymized, granular set-top box data, matched directly to purchase and consumer engagement data in a privacy protected manner, allows advertisers to see much more than if their campaign was viewed. This partnership will not only enable advertisers to see how effectively a campaign reached the target audience, but it will shed light on whether the campaign enticed consumers to take action such as going to a store or buying a product.”

“Viacom Vantage is on a mission to transform TV advertising through advanced targeting and prediction. The integration of TiVo’s single-source database significantly enhances our data capabilities across our advanced advertising products, Vantage, Velocity and Echo, delivering truly unique value to our customers,” added Data Strategy senior vice president Bryson Gordon.

Advertisers have been calling for new approaches to measurement and targeting to address the many ways audiences consume content across devices and platforms both in and out of the home. To determine how media spend drives consumer behavior and product sales, TiVo Research has built the industry’s largest cross-media single-source panel, including second-by-second tune-in data anonymously matched to online exposure and purchase data for more than two million US homes. Viacom, which reaches a cumulative 3.4 billion television subscribers worldwide and 650 million social media followers, will unlock new capabilities for its marketing and advertising partners through an advanced application of its predictive engine to this sophisticated data set.

November 2, 2015
Viacom releases annual Viacommunity social responsibility report

BENGALURU: Viacom Inc (Viacom) today released its annual corporate social responsibility report, ‘Viacommunity 2014 Review: Impact Creating Value.’ The report showcases the company’s investment in some of today’s most pressing issues, and its work to inspire and activate audiences to bring about positive social change. In conjunction with the report’s release, Viacom launched a powerful new series of NO MORE PSAs to raise awareness for the NO MORE movement to end domestic violence and sexual assault.

A few highlights from the Viacommunity report include:

Viacom committed US$ 116 million in in-kind goods and services to campaigns and non-profit partners in 2013, the same amount that would purchase 464 seats on Virgin Galactic’s commercial trips to space – or 5 copies of the Magna Carta.

1.8 million kids, educators and parents visited the Get Schooled website during the 2013-14 school year, enough to fill every Major League Baseball stadium, and then Yankee Stadium another 11 times.

40,000 volunteer hours were donated by Viacom employees in 2013. In that time you could watch the entire film Titanic 11,428 times.

“Our partnership with the NO MORE movement is a prime example of Viacom’s commitment to shining a spotlight on the most important issues of the day,” said Viacom president and CEO Philippe Dauman. “I am proud to showcase this work and all of the company’s initiatives in the Viacommunity 2014 Review.”

The new “Speechless” NO MORE PSAs, produced by Viacom Velocity and the Joyful Heart Foundation, highlight the difficulty and critical need of starting conversations around domestic violence and sexual assault.

The NO MORE PSA campaign initially launched in September 2013 and was designed to help dispel many of the most common and pervasive myths about sexual assault and domestic violence, and to engage the public in an open dialogue about these important issues. The three-year PSA campaign, developed in partnership with Y&R, director Mariska Hargitay and world-renowned photographer Timothy White, has been rolling out across the country in local and national markets via print, broadcast, online and outdoor advertising, in movie theatres nationwide, and in major airports and medical facilities.

December 16, 2014
Viacom Launches Viacom Velocity

MUMBAI: Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIAB, VIA) today launched Viacom Velocity, a new full-service group offering insights-driven integrated marketing and creative content solutions from Viacom Media Networks Music and Entertainment. Viacom Velocity merges the company’s existing Music and Entertainment Integrated Marketing teams, under Dario Spina, with a new creative team headed by Niels Schuurmans, former Executive Vice President, Consumer Marketing and Executive Creative Director at Spike TV, who joins as Executive Vice President, Viacom Velocity Creative Content Solutions. Both Spina and Schuurmans report to Jeff Lucas, Head of Sales for Music and Entertainment.

“Now more than ever, creative collaboration and custom content are at the center of our client partnerships, and we continue to grow our capabilities to meet marketers’ evolving needs,” said Lucas. “Viacom Velocity is built to utilize our unique relationship with our passionate fans and drive value for marketers through consumer insights, strategic collaboration and creative excellence.”

Within Viacom Velocity, Integrated Marketing will continue to work with clients to build strategic campaigns under the leadership of Dario Spina, Executive Vice President of Viacom Velocity Integrated Marketing. This includes the planning and execution of campaigns across Viacom’s networks and their online and mobile extensions, as well as throughout social media.  Viacom Media Networks Music and Entertainment were recently voted the number one and two integrated marketing teams, respectively, in an industry survey conducted by the Myers Media Business Report.

Under Schuurmans’ leadership, Viacom Velocity Creative Content Solutions will produce original content for clients in partnership with MTV, VH1, CMT, Logo, Comedy Central, Spike TV and TV Land.   This includes the development of custom creative on linear television, digital platforms and cross-network campaigns. Viacom Velocity Creative Solutions capabilities will include video and digital production, strategy, design, copywriting and more.

Upon launch, Viacom Velocity introduced the Viacom Echo Social Media Network, a new service offering for clients. Through Viacom Echo, the company will develop creative campaigns for clients on the company’s platforms and engineers their extension across social media and measurable earned media.

“Viacom Echo is a one-of-a-kind service that mirrors the way our content travels beyond our screens, across social media and throughout the pop culture.   We want to take our clients and their brands with us on that journey,” said Lucas.

January 23, 2014