Connected Media

Our Connected Media practice exists to drive performance and growth, bridging brand, media and performance marketing for omnichannel results. We help you maximize sustainable results from your own channels and use paid media for incremental impact.

We have 500+ media specialists across 4 regions, representing more than 30 nationalities and languages.

The Connected Media team helps you to unify channels, content, data, people, process and technology. We break down silos; from awareness to loyalty, we know which channel mix provides optimal results from both a consumer and business perspective.

Uniquely at VML, Connected Media is allied with Commerce, Content, CRM, Data, Technology and Marketing Automation, providing a fully integrated, end-to-end service that can be tailored to any requirement.

We accelerate together, and when you’re up for it, we’re there to empower your organization to take the steering wheel and make future growth sustainable.

In breve

Outcome-first

Delivering brand & performance objectives with continuous measurement & testing

In breve

Audience-led

Exploring data signals from the customer journey to forecast growth & build integrated plan

In breve

Channel-fluid

Media deployed through global platforms with a transparent buying mode

In breve

Connected through creative content

Humanizing the relationship with audiences through integrated content & media planning

In breve

Automated

To deliver at scale, avoiding low-cost commoditized resource

Our Services

Planning & Strategy

Defining digital marketing strategies, objectives, roadmaps, budget allocation, processes, measurement frameworks and operating model.

Media Management

Defining and meeting your audiences based on data, and driving transactions with media and content where they are in their journey, across paid, owned and earned channels.

Measurement & Reporting

Driving impact can’t be done without measuring the right performance indicators. Working from a core objective, we define the key metrics within a KPI framework and visualize through dashboard creation.

Optimization

We help you get more impact by continuously optimizing your campaigns, whether it’s optimizing audiences, channels, or budget allocations. We only spend money where it drives impact.

Auditing

Let us assess your current setup to find quick wins and long-term initiatives, prioritized on incremental value.

In-housing

Our experts are ready to drive growth for you, but can also help you build these capabilities in-house, by working alongside your teams, and helping structure your organization.

Localization

Entering new markets has never been easier. We leverage our international network to define, create, translate, and optimize hyper-local content and campaigns.

Training

Learn how to master media with our tailor-made training programs. From management to operational level, we provide training for teams and individuals at every level. This way you and your organization can take the steering wheel yourself.

Podcast

How will retail media networks ultimately impact advertising and the shopping journey? On the latest episode of Commerce Confidential, Simon Miles, Global VP for Omnichannel at The Coca-Cola Company, joins the podcast to share his crucial perspective on the evolving promise of RMNs and the importance of collaboration, measurement, and customer centricity. Hosted by Kiessé Lamour, Global Head of Media. Available on Buzzsprout, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts.

Created by VML as part of WPP Open X

#ConnectedMedia #Media #Omnichannel #WPPOpenX

Our Channels

Everybody’s searching for something. Discoverability helps them find it.

With our unique, award-winning approach to search marketing, brands can harness the power of search data to understand audiences, perceptions, motivations and behaviors. We help brands connect with customers wherever and however they search in their online journey, with a platform-agnostic approach to discoverability, and confidently create relevant content and experiences designed to perform in any searchable space.

With organic search, or search engine optimization (SEO), we optimize the brand’s online experience and content to reach audiences no matter when, why, where or how they search. Maximizing portfolios of owned, earned and influenced digital assets to capture critical real estate everywhere people search.

With paid search, we ensure hand-raisers see the most relevant messaging possible in the moments they search for the products, services, or solutions our brands offer. Strategically present, measurably effective, ever-evolving, and increasingly cost-efficient across all search engines and paid search properties.

To make these search successes possible, we create high-performing, data-driven digital performance content at scale for traditional and commerce ecosystems to connect brands to audiences and help drive meaningful business results. Devising, developing and scaling digital content that converts.

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We offer media planning and execution at, or near, the point of sale, covering marketplaces and retail media networks. As commerce experts, we are well equipped to help clients win.

Retail media networks are set to explode. Digital advertising spend on these channels is set to grow to over $143 billion by 2024. We can take you from an initial audit, help you define your strategy, execute on that strategy, deploying omnichannel campaigns, and then report back with actionable insights to enable continuous improvement.

Marketplaces are also consistently growing their share of digital advertising. It’s where consumers are starting their search. Our Future Shopper survey revealed that marketplaces are accountable for 31% of consumer searches in 2023, ahead of search engines at 14%. As WPP’s Amazon Centre of Excellence, we can help you win on Amazon and beyond.

With an expected annual growth rate of 31.6% from 2023 to 2030, there’s now a vital urgency to nailing your social strategy.

The beauty of social commerce is that it’s discovery-driven and offers a single platform path to purchase. Being visible is essential to ensuring you are front of mind.

Programmatic Display, Native, and Video are means of purchasing display, native, and video inventory by bidding against other advertisers in real-time auctions across a vast marketplace of inventory.

This form of buying enables advertisers to purchase impressions at more efficient CPMs (cost per mille, or cost per 1,000 impressions) because it raises the supply of inventory as compared to buying directly from an individual publisher and promotes competition among suppliers to drive down prices. This also gives a strategic advantage when targeting specific audience segments because it enables advertisers to reach their target audience essentially anywhere they go digitally (with the exception of walled gardens). 

We utilize programmatic media buying at all stages of the funnel due to its cost-efficient, flexible, and targeted nature, and most importantly the ability to implement tagging that provides real-time, full-funnel, performance feedback to DSPs, fueling media optimization.

Audio is any traditional or digital channel where a visual element is not present and content is consumed through sound, such as radio, podcasts, streaming audio, or smart speakers. Audio can support all parts of the funnel. Radio can be planned and purchased based on CPM, TRPs, or by spot basis on an MSA, DMA, or by town level.

Similar to other digital channels, podcasts, streaming audio, and smart speakers are all purchased based on CPM and can utilize data to enhance targeting to reduce waste. Digital audio also has an option to utilize 3rd party attribution companies to help clients track full funnel performance. Uniquely, when it comes to podcasts, they can be used in several different ways such as hosts, endorsers/influencers, standard run-of-podcast :30 or :60 commericals, programmatically through several DSPs, or utilizing custom segments.

As podcasts surge in popularity, more and more are being uploaded to YouTube, so simulcast podcasts must be taken into consideration when vetting show level opportunities to ensure they include a visual creative element as well.

Out of Home is any static or digital unit that exists outside of someone's home or personal belonging. It can be defined as a standard billboard, transit, airport, mall kiosk, bus shelter, large format wallscape, among others.

Creative is key for OOH. Clear and to the point messaging is key for success. Out of Home is to be utilized as an awareness driver and can be utilized for general awareness of a brand, a direction driver, or to serve as a reminder of an upcoming event.

CTV, also known as Connected TV, refers to the practice of delivering video advertisements to audiences through internet-connected television sets or devices, including smart TVs, streaming media players, gaming consoles, and mobile devices. CTV inventory includes Over-The-Top (OTT) platforms and apps, and ads can take various formats, including pre-roll (before the content), mid-roll (during the content), and post-roll (after the content).

Unlike traditional television ads, CTV is highly targetable and measurable, leveraging data-powered audiences and objective-driven algorithms to deliver more relevant ads to viewers and contribute efficient performance. Since CTV advertising has gained popularity as more people shift from traditional cable or satellite TV to streaming services and internet-connected devices, it plays an essential role in mid to upper funnel objectives within VML's strategic media plans.

Direct Mail is a top-performing channel in terms of ROI, response and conversion rates and can be instrumental in supporting brands while creating customer engagement and affecting purchasing decisions. This year, we will have put over 88 million pieces in homes across the US on behalf of our clients, not to mention the rest of the globe. Leveraging our data and tech solutions enables us to reach those most receptive to our messaging while aggregating learnings to be applied in the future.

Every part of our direct mail campaigns, from targeting, to messaging, to formatting, to timing is grounded in best practices identified through third-party research and client-level in-market testing and optimizations made both year-over-year and within the context of a single campaign

Email as a mode of marketing and customer communications continues to thrive as an essential channel for reaching people throughout the customer lifecycle. When executed correctly, it can have a higher ROI than other direct marketing channels. It is also one of the most cost effective routes you can take. We ensure that your email campaigns are highly targeted to achieve the best open rates, actionable, and aligned with every other touchpoint in a seamless and connected customer journey.