With banner blindness and ad-blocking software on the rise, native advertising is growing rapidly. And while there are plenty of thorny issues, Young & Shand co-founder Ben Young thinks that’s a good thing for marketers.
Browsing: Ben Young
Not quite two years ago, Ben Young, co-founder of Young & Shand, packed his bags and headed to New York to fill what he saw as a gap in the market for analytics around native advertising. Now its measurement tool Nudge has been given a major boost after entering a licensing agreement with one of the world’s leading native advertising software companies, Sharethrough.
Niche publishers have sold their audiences based on the premise that their readers are valuable. The problem has been that this was eroded by extended audiences, interest and behavioral targeting. But native advertising allows niche publishers to sell integrated campaigns, rather than selling rapidly commoditised space, says Ben Young.
Who starts a new digital agency in the middle of a global recession? Ben Young and Duncan Shand, that’s who. We talk to the Young & Shand co-founder and managing director about the company’s plans and why its clients still need a specialist digital agency.
Late last year, Young & Shand’s Ben Young and Daniel Phillips ventured to New York to attend the ad:tech 2012 conference. And here’s what was being talking about on the bleeding edge.
Digital, online, interactive, cyberspace, the intertubes … whatever you like to call it, there’s no denying it’s all up in everyone’s face at the moment—and it’s growing rapidly (not your face, the techy space). And, as we’re sure you’ve noticed, this evolution is having a rather large impact on the marcomms industry. So, not surprisingly, there is a huge appetite for stories and information on the subject from those who are hoping to harness it. As such, the March/April edition of NZ Marketing magazine is dedicated to all things digital, from search engine marketing to the changing face of TV to the importance of social media to the need for agile thinking to the rise of collaborative consumption and plenty more inbetween.
Forbes to the fore on Maori TV, Susan Wood makes a TV comeback, Young & Shand & Growing, Clemenger Group welcomes its annual influx of young’uns, The Sweet Shop adds some more talent, The Blue Rose shifts timeslot, and jobs.co.nz hunts for a new way.
Young & Shand, a digital agency that flicked the switch at the end of 2009, has laughed in the face of the Great Recession and grown at a rapid rate, with a total of 45 clients now on its books and an office in a new creative hub in Auckland’s Britomart. Here’s founding partner Ben Young’s take on 2011.
…as More FM welcomes a new breakfast trio, Christchurch mayor Bob Parker gets something to smile about, Young & Shand add two more to the growing flock, Adshel appoints an interim chief exec, ZenithOptimedia sends one of its own to China and Phantom Billstickers moves its HQ north to Grey Lynn.
Young & Shand, a digital agency that flicked the switch at the end of 2009—and at the height of the recession—has gone from three staff to nine in the past year, has recently added Jasons Travel Media, Lucky Rentals and Goodman Fielder brands Puhoi Valley and Kiwi Bacon, and now has a total of 45 clients on its books. But, not content with mere digital domination, it’s now moving into bricks and mortar by attempting to create a creative hub in an office it has secured in Auckland’s Britomart.
Late last year, up-and-coming digital agency Young & Shand asked 150 New Zealand chief executives and marketing managers about their organisations’ spending intentions and planned commitments to digital marketing in 2011. And while the results showed there’s no doubt Kiwi businesses see digital as an integral aspect of the marketing mix, there still appears to be an unwillingness to splash too much e-cash.