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Articles by Johan Walters
4 reasons why CFOs love data-drive creative Original
The first quarter is already behind us. For digital marketers who started the year on tighter budgets, the next eight months loom large as they try to achieve their strategic objectives with fewer resources than they had last year. For those who haven’t considered data-driven creative (DDC) there has never been a better time to take action. And here are four reasons why your CFO will agree with you.
Why data-driven creative projects fail and 3 steps to ensure success Original
Forward-thinking brands are leaning into data-driven creative (DDC), where companies can create digital assets that offer an almost limitless amount of variations, and which can be changed up quickly and cost effectively depending on the consumer’s circumstances. To put it simply, DDC helps target audiences with the right content, at the right time and on the right channel. On the fly.
Local brands ignoring the obvious while chasing shiny, new tech
Technology is helping global retailers reinvent themselves. Offering an exciting blend of cutting edge digital technology and traditional strategies, smart tech is helping retailers attract new customers and, in many instances, also gain valuable user data along the way. But before CMOs can start rolling out some of the exciting new services available, it's vital that they get the basics right first.
The future of eCommerce: the extended reality (XR) opportunities for retail
High streets, main streets and shopping malls are struggling. That process started a long time before COVID-19 came along. This is leading growing numbers of shoppers and a shifting range of consumer demographics to the popular world of eCommerce. While online retail brings convenience, speed and choice, there are still elements of in-person shopping that the online experience struggles to replicate.
#BizTrends2023: A growth in digital maturity helps local brands prepare for the year ahead
In last year's predictions we spoke about how brands were moving past digital transformation, saying we saw digital maturity playing a bigger role when it came to building sustainable brands. Johan Walters, Digital Marketing Transformation Specialist at Incubeta And if we said digital transformation was dead in 2022, then digital maturity is surely alive and thriving as we enter 2023. Here are some insights we gained from the work we did with some leading SA brands during 2022.
#AWE22: Democratising AR
In the second of two articles, Johan Walters shares highlights from the recent Augmented World Expo (AWE), the world's biggest AR/VR conference, held in Santa Clara, California, US. The continued adoption by brands of WebAR has taken a major focus at AWE. Branded WebAR makes it easier for consumers to experience AR as it essentially launches in the mobile browser. As no app or social app is required, it immediately increases the reach to 3.5 billion smartphones, across both iOS and Android devices.
#AWE22: Press 5 for the metaverse
As an AR strategist for the last eight years, these are my top key insights from the thought leaders driving the XR industry. Defining the metaverse A full year later, after all the headlines and buzz around the metaverse, people still don’t know what the metaverse means. John Riccitello, CEO of Unity, probably gave the best definition I’ve heard.
#BizTrends2022: Digital transformation is dead! What's next?
When we entered 2021, Incubeta pointed out that the digital marketing crystal ball was broken. Behavioural patterns had been turned on their head, rendering algorithmic decisions all but impossible. Predictions for 2022 are still tricky, but we can safely say that the conversation has moved past digital transformation. Marketing leaders are now focusing on digital maturity and how technology can help them leapfrog competitors.
A practical guide to digital marketing transformation
Photo by Anthony Shkraba from Pexels Most board agendas have digital transformation as one of the key recurring talking points and marketing leaders are increasingly being critiqued on their own transformation progress. But without a clear starting point, a proper plan, and a good idea of what success looks like, many companies will either abandon their implementations, or end up blowing budgets on technology they don’t know how to use.
Unpacking Google's DMT two years on - still an enigma for many
Johan Walters, lead tech solutions consultant, Ansa Leighton, lead platform and media consultant and Niamh NicLiam, head of business partnerships at Incubeta take a look at how local companies have fared with Google's DMT programme. Google’s Digital Marketing Transformation (DMT) programme was launched in South Africa in July 2019. The need for the solution was significant then, and is even greater two years later.
Don’t get trapped in the minutiae of measurement
One of the great things about digital marketing is the ability to track and measure all your efforts across all channels and in immense detail. It is also one of the dangers. Marketing leaders should be wary of a bottom-up approach to measurement, which could leave them with a skewed view of their efforts – often at the expense of business performance. Looking at the power of measurement, marketing leaders can best use it to advance business goals. Measurement is about incrementality.
Why enterprise martech implementations fail
One of the biggest stumbling blocks when trying to harness the power of cloud marketing technology is a fundamental disconnect between marketing, business and technology leaders. If unaddressed, this chasm between departments can not only impede the journey towards digital transformation but could stop it dead in its tracks.
How data can help CMOs reach Google's elusive multi-moment
Speaking at the Leaderex CMO Summit held recently, DQ&A Managing Consultant, Johan Walters, takes a look at how owning your own martech and using data can help marketing pros join the top two percent of European companies. Whether we know it or not, every day consumers leave hundreds of data signals as we move through our daily tasks. This data answers many of the important questions marketing professionals need in order to personalise the customer journey.
#AWE2019: Highlights from Day 3
The Augmented World Expo is underway in Silicon Valley, USA, and Johan Walters shares highlights from Day 3 of the world's biggest AR/VR Conference. The overall theme for this year's conference is 'Entering the Next Dimension with Spatial Computing'. The first session was by USA Today Network and their approach to immersive storytelling in journalism. Over the last few years, they've tackled small proof of concept campaigns in order to learn how AR can be applied in journalism.
#AWE2019: Highlights from Day 2
The Augmented World Expo is underway in Silicon Valley, USA, and Johan Walters shares highlights from Day 2 of the world's biggest AR/VR Conference. The overall theme for this year's conference is 'Entering the Next Dimension with Spatial Computing'. Day 2 started off with good news for the Adobe community. The Tech & Art Co. announced the release of Project Aero, due later in 2019.
#AWE2019: Highlights from Day 1
The Augmented World Expo is underway in Silicon Valley, USA, and Johan Walters shares highlights from Day 1 of the world's biggest AR/VR Conference. The overall theme for this year's conference is 'Entering the Next Dimension with Spatial Computing'. He says that AR (Augmented Reality), VR (Virtual Reality), MR (Mixed Reality) and AI Artificial Intelligence) are all tech enablers of spatial computing and that AWE is the platform to accelerate the adoption of spatial computing.
#BizTrends2019: Own your MarTech, control your data
Johan Walters, a managing consultant at DQ&A, believes marketing leaders should be wary of the marketing automation siren call and focus on building the foundations to enable real digital performance. Johan Walters, managing consultant at DQ&A The role of technology in marketing cannot be underestimated. Data analytics, machine learning (moving onto full-blown AI), and the quantum leaps made in augmented and virtual realities, have captured the imagination of marketers in 2018.
Geolocation marketing - crafting a symbiotic relationship with your customer
Mobile is increasingly becoming the channel of choice for brand engagement, especially amongst younger generations who rely on their smartphones during their shopping journey. However, many brands have invested heavily in apps which are not delivering real return on investment. Using new technologies in the geolocation space gives marketing professionals access to a wealth of opportunity to forge mutually beneficial relationships with their customers.
AR helps retailers re-imagine the entire shopping journey
Despite the speculation about the rise of the machine and the threat to jobs at best, and to humankind at worst, technology will not spell the end for bricks and mortar retail stores any time soon. However, the way customers are experiencing and engaging with the world is shifting and this is one place technology can actually help retailers. We can all agree that technology has forever shifted how consumers engage with their world.
Turning the whole world into an interactive billboard with AR
Augmented reality campaigns are taking off internationally with progressive brands using the technology to turn every available surface into a virtual billboard. As cellphone manufacturers plough money into AR capability, local brands should be looking to do the same. Tech and media companies have invested more than $7 billion into virtual and augmented realities since 2010 in both acquisitions and stakes in VR- or AR-related startups.
Are South African brands ready for augmented reality? - Memeburn
Although augmented reality (AR) technology is not new, it is only now beginning to gain the attention of media and marketing professionals. The big question remains: Are South African CMOs ready to include AR into their brand strategies? AR has moved away from its early days when it was reliant on expensive, specialised hardware. The rapid adoption of smartphones and even faster evolution of their AR capabilities means that AR is now well within reach of the average South African.
Gumtree adds new tech to better secure P2P payments
Gumtree adds new tech to better secure P2P payments Spend enough time online and you’ll come across more than a few horror stories around online classified sites. In a bid to cut down on those kinds of issues Gumtree South Africa has added Shepherd, a Standard Bank-powered escrow service, to its list of endorsed partners. Shepherd operates as a third party that facilitates transactions on behalf of sellers and buyers and is offered as an option to Gumtree customers.
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