The Unruly Blog

Gaming has quickly become the perfect arena for escapism for many people in lockdown across the globe. With no live sports, TV channels repurposing old shows and the press awash with all things Covid-19, watching esports and playing video games offers consumers a chance to experience a virtual world free from the grip of the coronavirus. According to The World Economic Forum, the global video game market is forecast to be worth $159 billion in 2020, around four times box office revenues ($43 billion in 2019) and almost three times music industry revenues ($57 billion in 2019). Of course, gaming has been on Adland’s radar for a while. But the spread of COVID-19 could well be the inflection point when marketers start to see video games as an

To mark Mental Health Awareness Week, our Product Development Team Lead, Matt Wilding-Ayre, speaks out about his mental health during lockdown and what processes he’s put in place to help him navigate the working week. Isolation and remote working have taken a strain on me, even though I’ve done this before while running my own company with remote teams. Finding a routine that works, in these circumstances with social distancing, isn’t going to be easy for anyone. Something I learned very early on in life is to not be hard on yourself; give yourself time to adjust and focus on a good routine that helps you identify when things aren’t working. We’re all different in our likes and dislikes and all react differently to certain situations. The telling

The coronavirus pandemic has reached every corner of the world and has drastically changed how we work, communicate and live out our everyday lives. To mark Mental Health Awareness Week, we reached out to Unrulies in London, Hamburg, Sydney, Singapore and New York to find out how they’re managing their mental health in lockdown, and what tips and tricks are helping them stay productive.   Q: What do you like most about working from home? Tobias, Team Lead Account Manager, in Hamburg: “It’s been great to have more flexibility with our childcare and more time to work on projects. It’s also allowed me to focus more on my work, as there are fewer distractions and I’m not spending time commuting.” Marj, Sales Manager, in Sydney: “Taking out the

These are undoubtedly challenging times, with the global spread of COVID continuing to have a huge impact on our industry and all our lives. We’ve created a bank of resources to support advertisers and publishers as we continue into uncharted territory which includes virtual presentations, comprehensive guides, downloadable two pagers, news articles, survey findings and a COVID ad testing hub. The resources are broken down by territories and countries so scroll down to find the markets you’re most interested in. EMEA UK A video presentation exploring the results from Unruly’s survey which reveal how COVID is reshaping consumer content consumption, spending habits and advertising preferences in the UK.  An article exploring how COVID is reshaping consumer content consumption, spending habits and advertising preferences in the UK.  A two-pager

As a Unilever Partner, Unruly is proud to support Unilever’s #UnitedforAmerica movement to help those at the frontline of the current pandemic. This coming Thursday, May 21, 2020, marks Unilever’s first annual Day of Service. More than 70 organizations, partners and entrepreneurs will also be joining on this day to offer up their time and resources to help those in need. Keep reading to find out how Unruly is giving back! Although our team is working remotely, we will be committing our time and gratitude to Americans who need it most on Unilever’s Day of Service. Here are some ways that Unrulies are getting involved– feel free to join us: Writing letters of gratitude, encouragement, and support to staff at our local Feed America food banks through Postable

Our Director of Global Digital Trust and UK Operations Jessica King looks at the implications for advertisers of keyword blocking during the health crisis. There’s no doubt the coronavirus pandemic is having a huge impact on the digital landscape, with a recent Kantar study finding web browsing has increased 70% since the global spread of COVID-19. However, despite digital content attracting a significant increase in engagement, publishers are missing out on millions in ad revenue because advertisers, fearful of having their ads appear next to COVID-19 related content, are being too heavy-handed in their use of keyword blocking. In many cases, measures to block keywords such as ‘COVID-19’ are too strict, which means advertisers are missing out on valuable audiences and limiting their campaign scale, while also inadvertently

With many brands creating content in response to the coronavirus, we decided to use our emotional testing and targeting tool, UnrulyEQ, to see how their content is being received by consumers around the world. Over the past few weeks, we’ve analysed UK, US, German and, most recently, Australian reactions to COVID-19 content. We’ll be looking at ads from AirAsia, Colgate, Gov.sg and Prudential in this post to find out how viewers in Singapore felt about them and the impact they had on various brand and business metrics. AirAsia – Keep Fighting, China- 加油中国 China has been one of the nations most affected by the global pandemic, although cases have been declining in that region from early March. In this ad, AirAsia and its team of senior leaders showed

We previously analysed UK, US & German reactions to COVID-19 content. In this 3rd installment of the series, we take a closer look at how viewers in Australia feel about such content. With only 4% of Australians thinking that brands should pause all advertising during this pandemic,  advertisers are then led to the question “What is the right strategy and messaging  to use during these difficult times?” We decided to find out using our emotional testing and targeting tool, UnrulyEQ, how well the strategies of Coles, BHP, and Tourism Australia have been received by consumers in Australia. The results were then compared to Unruly’s database of thousands of ads to examine not only viewers’ emotional responses but also the impact they had on various brand and business metrics.

If we’ve learned anything over the past few months, it’s the power of positivity. After all, keeping positive is vital right now if we hope to navigate these uncertain times we find ourselves in. The same could be said for brands and the content they push out. Over the last few weeks, we’ve tested lots of brand response ads to COVID-19 from across the world and found that positive messages during this time are resonating very strongly among consumers. The highest performing COVID-19 ads are tied to positive emotions, often evoking high levels of warmth, inspiration and pride in viewers. To read more about our COVID research, click here. But even before the coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns, another recent project we worked on with marketing consultant