Advertising: Facebook and Google’s digital duopoly
全球数字广告业的双头垄断
广州广告翻译公司：数字广告领域正被谷歌和Facebook主宰，全球数字广告大部分支出流向这两个平台，这对广告业产生了颠覆性影响。
Unsuspecting visitors to the French Riviera this week might have been surprised to discover that the advertising industry, which gathers here every year for the Cannes Lions festival, is facing a big upheaval.
上个月来到法国里维耶拉的毫不知情的参观者可能会吃惊地发现，广告业正面临巨大变革。广告业人士每年齐聚于此参加戛纳国际创意节(Cannes Lions)。广州广告翻译公司。
The rosé was flowing, the music at industry beach parties was thumping and A-List talent that included Channing Tatum, Gwyneth Paltrow and Will Smith were on hand, dispensing wisdom on stage to the thousands of executives who came from all over the world to this celebration of advertising creativity.
玫瑰红葡萄酒斟满酒杯，海滩聚会的音乐声低沉而有力，查宁•塔图姆(Channing Tatum)、格温妮丝•帕特洛(Gwyneth Paltrow)和威尔•史密斯(Will Smith)等重要嘉宾闪亮登场，他们在台上与来自世界各地、参加此次广告创意表彰大会的数千名高管分享智慧。
But away from the parties and awards, advertising agencies, media buyers and the holding companies that own them are slowly waking up to a future that has been upended and reshaped by two technology companies.
然而，除了聚会和颁奖，广告代理商、媒体广告买家和这些公司的持股公司慢慢意识到，广告的未来已被两家科技公司颠覆和重塑。广州广告翻译公司。
The bulk of spending by brands on digital advertising is going to Google and Facebook: combined, they accounted for 75 per cent of all new online ad spending in 2015, according to the Internet Trends report published this month by Mary Meeker of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, the US venture capital fund. In the US, 85 cents of every new dollar spent on digital went to the two companies in the first quarter of 2016.
各个品牌在数字广告上的大部分支出流向了谷歌(Google)和Facebook：根据美国风投基金凯鹏华盈(Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers)的玛丽•米克(Mary Meeker) 6月发布的《互联网趋势》(Internet Trends)报告，两家公司合计占2015年互联网广告新支出总额的75%。2016年第一季度，美国新数字广告支出的85%流向了这两家公司。
This matters because digital is fast becoming advertising’s biggest source of revenue. It will eclipse television in the US next year for the first time, according to eMarketer, the research firm, with the lion’s share likely to go to the digital duopoly of Facebook and Google. Executives in Cannes this week put a brave face on what this might mean for their industry but the consequences of two companies becoming the gatekeepers for most digital advertising are becoming profound.
这至关重要，因为数字广告正迅速成为广告业最大收入来源。研究机构eMarketer称，明年它将在美国首次超过电视广告，最大的份额可能将流向数字领域的双寡头Facebook和谷歌。对于这可能对广告行业意味着什么，参加上月戛纳国际创意节的公司高管们一副满不在乎的样子，但两家公司成为多数数字广告的守门人的影响正变得深远起来。广州广告翻译公司。
Google and Facebook compete in some areas such as digital video advertising but are present “across every part of the food chain”, according to one senior ad executive. Google has its search business and YouTube while Facebook has its news feed, Instagram and other services. This seismic shift to a digital and mobile ad landscape effectively controlled by two companies has wide repercussions for agencies, media buyers, publishers and the brands that want to sell more products.
据一位广告业高管称，谷歌和Facebook在数字视频广告等一些领域存在竞争，但二者占据了“这个食物链的每一环”。谷歌拥有搜索业务和YouTube，而Facebook拥有新闻推送、Instagram和其他服务。广告向由这两家公司有效控制的数字和移动广告版图的重大转移，对于广告代理商、媒体广告买家、出版商和希望销售更多产品的品牌有着广泛影响。
Advertisers like the targeting they get with Facebook and the trove of data it has on its 1.6bn users, just as they like the efficiency of Google search. But they are worried about a concentration of market power in two companies that not only own the playing field but are increasingly able to set the rules of the game as well.
广告商喜欢Facebook提供的针对性广告及其有关16亿用户的海量数据，他们也喜欢高效的谷歌搜索。但他们对于市场力量集中在这两家公司感到担忧，它们不仅拥有竞技场，而且还越来越有能力设定游戏规则。广州广告翻译公司。
Facebook and Google “are hegemons” that could soon be taking campaigns away from television, says Brian Wieser, analyst with Pivotal Research. Paul Frampton, chief executive of Havas Media Group UK, says they are “black boxes” that have too much power. “They don’t give agencies or the brands access to their algorithms and the data being mined are for Google and Facebook — and not for the brand.”
Pivotal Research分析师布莱恩•威泽(Brian Wieser)表示，Facebook和谷歌是“霸王”，它们可能很快会将广告从电视手中夺走。Havas Media Group UK首席执行官保罗•弗兰普顿(Paul Frampton)表示，它们是权力过大的“暗箱”。“他们不让广告代理商或者品牌接触他们的算法，他们的数据挖掘是为了谷歌和Facebook自己，而非品牌。”
“They are hegemons,” says Mr Wieser. “Right now they are not competing with television but they are competing with Yahoo and AOL. It’s plausible that with every passing year [Facebook and Google] and television advertising will become part of the same market.”
“他们是霸王，”威泽表示，“目前，它们没有与电视竞争，但它们正与雅虎(Yahoo)和美国在线(AOL)竞争。假以时日，（Facebook和谷歌）可能和电视广告同属一个市场。” 广州广告翻译公司。
The two companies have unwittingly had an impact on print advertising revenues, which have tumbled in the UK and the US in the past six months. The Financial Times reported this week that UK newspaper executives have had discussions about pooling resources to form a single ad sales operation, partly because so much print spending has shifted to Facebook and Google.
这两家公司无意中对平面广告收入也产生了影响，过去6个月，英国和美国的平面广告收入大幅下滑。英国《金融时报》上月报道，英国报业高管讨论了集中资源组建单一广告销售业务，这在一定程度上是因为很多平面广告支出转而流向了Facebook和谷歌。
There have been similar discussions in Cannes with the aim of creating a “third block” of television advertising inventory to rival the might of Facebook and Google. Talks are at a very early stage but have centred on owners of television networks pooling inventory, according to people who have been briefed on the discussions.
戛纳也出现了类似的讨论，目的是创建电视广告库存的“第三区”，以抗衡Facebook和谷歌的实力。据知情人士称，讨论处于非常初期的阶段，主要围绕电视网络所有者集中广告库存。广州广告翻译公司。
Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of WPP, the world’s largest marketing and communications group, says one possible third block of inventory could be formed by the acquisition of Yahoo by AOL, the dial-up pioneer owned by Verizon. An alternative, he says, would be the proposed alliance between traditional media owners such as 21st Century Fox, News Corp, Comcast, which owns NBCUniversal, and other groups. The idea had come from Group M, the media buying agency that is part of WPP. “It’s a thought,” he adds.
全球最大营销和传播集团WPP首席执行官苏铭天爵士(Sir Martin Sorrell)表示，Verizon旗下拨号上网先驱美国在线并购雅虎将可能创建广告库存第三区。他表示，另一种选择是21世纪福克斯(21st Century Fox)、新闻集团(News Corp)、康卡斯特（Comcast，是NBC环球(NBC Universal)的所有者）等传统媒体集团和其他集团之间拟议的联盟。这个想法来自WPP旗下媒介投资管理机构群邑(Group M)。他补充称：“这是一种想法。”
Dialogue with consumers
与消费者对话
Advertising executives used to have a simpler life. They won a client’s business, created a campaign and bought media time on television or space in print magazines and newspapers.
广告业高管曾经的生活较为简单。他们赢得一笔客户生意，做出一个广告创意，在电视上购买媒体时间或在纸质杂志和报纸上购买版面。广州广告翻译公司。
“People didn’t know how good the old days were until they were over,” says one agency chief executive. “You could go away for two and a half months to ponder what the campaign should be and then go to some exotic place to shoot the commercial.”
“在这种日子结束之前，人们不知道过去的日子有多美好，”一家广告代理商的首席执行官表示，“你可以用两个半月的时间构思广告，然后去一些风情奇异的地方拍摄广告片。”
Before the internet brands could “bark at the audience”, he adds: the “conversations with consumers” that brand managers talk about were decidedly one-way. Agencies now talk about brands connecting directly with consumers, creating what Keith Weed, chief marketing officer of Unilever, calls a “path to purchase”.
在互联网出现之前，品牌可以“对着观众大叫”，他补充称：品牌经理所说的“与消费者对话”无疑是单向的。广告代理商现在讨论的是品牌直接与消费者对接、打造联合利华(Unilever)首席营销官基思•威德(Keith Weed)所称的“采购之路”。
On Facebook, this might be an ad in its news feed for a car that involves the viewer entering personal details or booking a test drive — anything that moves the viewer closer to a purchasing decision.
在Facebook上，这可能是新闻推送中的一则汽车广告，邀请阅览者填写个人信息或者预定试驾，竭力让阅览者更接近作出购买决定。广州广告翻译公司。
Unilever is the world’s second-largest advertiser, spending several billion pounds a year and owning brands that range from Dove and PG Tips to Marmite and Persil. “We used to show a great ad on a Thursday on television and when you were walking down the aisle at Tesco on a Saturday morning you would see Persil and put it in your shopping trolley,” he says.
联合利华是全球第二大广告主，每年耗资几十亿英镑，拥有多芬(Dove)、PG Tips、Marmite和宝丝(Persil)等众多品牌。他表示：“我们过去会在周四在电视上播出精彩的广告，然后当你在周六早晨漫步在乐购(Tesco)超市的过道上时，会看到宝丝，然后把它放到你的购物车里。”
The company and its peers are trying to use data to target their campaigns better, aware that, in an age of digital video recorders and on-demand viewing, fewer people tune in to watch live television at a set time. It recently ran a “programmatic creative” campaign in Brazil for Axe, the men’s deodorant known as Lynx in the UK, which automatically drew from 100,000 vignettes to create a short commercial individually tailored to the viewers watching. The ads ran on desktops and mobiles and were compiled automatically using data stored on each user’s device.
该公司及其同行现在正尝试利用数据提高广告的针对性，他们意识到，在这个数字视频录像机和视频点播的时代，在固定时间观看电视直播的观众变少了。该公司最近在巴西为男士香水Axe（在英国的名字是凌仕(Lynx)）推出了“程序化创意”广告，它会自动从10万个画面中选取画面，为观看者制作个性化的广告短片。这些广告在台式机和移动设备上播放，利用存储在每位用户设备中的数据自动编制。
“Technology gives you the ability to be much more specific to an individual,” says Mr Weed.
威德表示：“科技让你能够更具体地针对个人。”
Facebook holds a trove of data on its users, including their interests, location and other variables, which partly explains why so many advertisers are flocking to the platform. “Facebook believes the most important thing is identity in ensuring ad effectiveness,” says Ben Winkler, chief digital officer of OMD, a media agency that is part of Omnicom. “That is key to performance because that’s their strength . . . they know who you are and so much about you.”
Facebook拥有大量用户数据，包括用户的兴趣、地理位置和其他细节，这部分解释了为何有这么多广告主涌向该平台。“Facebook认为，对于确保广告有效性，最重要的是用户身份，”宏盟集团(Omnicom)旗下媒体机构OMD的首席数字官本•温克勒(Ben Winkler)表示，“这是效果的关键，因为这是他们的优势……他们知道你是谁，了解你的很多事情。” 广州广告翻译公司。
Google’s proposition is different, he adds, with most of its business coming from online search, which it dominates around the world. “Google believes identity is secondary to intent. What’s important is what you want right now because advertising products and services fulfils a want or need.” They are different approaches but complementary, Mr Winkler says. “The reality is they are both right, which is why we use both.”
他补充称，谷歌的观点不同，谷歌主宰着全球的在线搜索业务，其多数业务来自在线搜索。“谷歌认为，身份次于意图。重要的是你现在想要什么，因为做广告的产品和服务是用来满足愿望或需求的。”温克勒表示，这是两种不同但互补的方式。“事实是这两种方式都是正确的，这就是为什么我们两者都用。”
There are other consequences to the advertising industry’s move towards more data-driven targeted ads — namely that the creative aspect requires more work. “The creative process in advertising is being blown up,” says Jim Stengel, the former global marketing officer of Procter & Gamble, the world’s biggest advertiser.
广告业转向更由数据驱动的针对性广告还有其他影响——创意部分需要投入更多工作。全球最大广告主宝洁(Procter & Gamble)前全球营销官吉姆•斯滕格尔(Jim Stengel)表示：“广告中的创意过程正在扩大。”
“It’s definitely more work than it used to be,” says Mr Weed. “But we have always targeted. The reason why we have a portfolio of ice-creams is because we have targeted different groups of people. We’ve always done it and now we have a greater ability to do it.”
“现在的工作肯定多于过去，”威德表示，“但我们一直是有针对性的。我们之所以有一系列冰淇淋是因为我们瞄准不同的人群。我们一直在这样做，现在我们有更大的能力这样做。” 广州广告翻译公司。
Even with automated processes, assembling the component pieces of a campaign aimed at multiple different demographics is going to be more complex than a single television commercial or print ad.
即便有自动化程序，与单一的电视广告或平面广告相比，把针对多个不同用户群的广告的各个部分组合在一起将更为复杂。
“If we are going to go beyond the mass market of yesterday to mass customisation, that’s going to be a challenge in content creation,” says Mr Weed. However, he has little doubt that mass customisation is the better approach. “It has to be better for the future of brands.”
威德表示：“如果我们要超越过去的大众市场，转向大规模定制，内容创作将面临挑战。”然而，他毫不怀疑大规模定制是更好的方式。“这一定会更有利于品牌的未来。”
Breaking the chain
挣脱枷锁
Opinion is divided over whether the data-driven services offered by Facebook and Google will hit the agencies that used to provide that information to their clients. They own their platforms, they can set the price and, increasingly, they can offer other useful services.
关于Facebook和谷歌提供的数据服务是否将冲击过去向客户提供这种信息的机构，人们的意见不一。它们拥有平台，它们可以制定价格，而且它们越来越有能力提供其他有用的服务。
“The agencies are the ones who are going to be cut out of the equation the most,” says one senior ad executive. “If buying [a campaign] is as easy as going to Facebook and Google and you can target a particular demographic, then why do I need a media buying agency?”
“广告代理机构是最有可能被淘汰的，”一位资深广告高管表示，“如果购买（广告）像访问Facebook和谷歌那样容易，而且你可以瞄准特定人群的话，我们为什么还需要媒体广告代理机构呢？” 广州广告翻译公司。
Media buyers argue that even with Facebook and Google’s dominant position the advertising landscape is complex so brands need all the help they can get,” says one. “Marketing managers are leaning on their agencies more than ever,” says one agency executive.
媒体广告买家指出，即便Facebook和谷歌占据主导地位，广告业的版图仍非常复杂，因此品牌需要借助一切可能获得的帮助。一位广告代理机构的高管表示：“营销经理比任何时候都更依赖广告代理机构了。”
There are other digital options beyond Facebook and Google. Snapchat, the messaging app, is becoming an alternative option for advertisers and had a big presence in Cannes this week.
除了Facebook和谷歌，还有其他数字选择。短信应用Snapchat正成为广告主的另一种选择，上月Snapchat在戛纳曾大展身手。
“It’s beginning to challenge Facebook and Google, particularly in the US,” says Mr Frampton. Having more distribution options is better for clients and it leads to better creative work, he says. “Freedom of choice to work with multiple partners leads to smarter thinking and better ideas.”
弗兰普顿表示：“它正开始挑战Facebook和谷歌，特别是在美国。”他表示，拥有更多的广告选择更有利于客户，而且它会带来更出色的创意。“能够自由选择与多个合作伙伴合作，会带来更明智的思考和更出色的创意。”
Despite their size and scale, both Facebook and Google have limitations, he adds. “A lot of the content on YouTube isn’t where brands want to be. Facebook is a social environment which may not necessarily be the best place to give a brand bottom line impact.”
他补充称，尽管Facebook和谷歌规模庞大，但它们也有其局限性。“YouTube上的很多内容都是品牌不想在上面做广告的。Facebook的社交环境不一定是提升品牌收入的最佳广告场所。” 广州广告翻译公司。
While the industry grapples with how to handle the digital duopoly there are other technology companies that could have an even bigger impact on their marketing and sale of consumer goods.
在广告业思考如何应对数字双头垄断的同时，还有其他科技公司可能会对消费品的营销和销售产生更大影响。
Amazon is reportedly planning to produce its own brand of consumer goods products, such as snacks and washing powder. It has worked with consultants to create brands that it will sell on its online store alongside items from established consumer goods companies, such as Unilever.
据报道，亚马逊(Amazon)计划推出自有消费品品牌，例如小吃和洗衣粉。亚马逊已咨询顾问，欲推出自有品牌，与联合利华等老牌消费品公司的产品一起在其在线商店销售。
It is also stepping up its push to be part of the “internet of things” by teaming up with manufacturers to offer its Prime customers automatic reordering via so-called “Dash Buttons”. For example, a consumer places a laundry detergent button next to their washing machine and can press the button to order a fresh supply when they are running out.
此外，亚马逊还在加快步伐成为“物联网”的一部分，与制造商合作向其Prime用户提供用“一键按钮”(Dash Buttons)自动再次下单的服务。例如，一位消费者可以在洗衣机旁放一个洗衣液按钮，在洗衣液快用完时，可以按下这个按钮，再次下单订购。广州广告翻译公司。
Ad campaigns help brands stand out from the competition in stores or online. At Unilever, advertising has helped drive online sales of its brands. “Our share in Tesco.com is higher than in Tesco’s brick and mortar stores,” says Mr Weed.The prospect of Amazon, the world’s biggest online store, selling its own goods and circumventing the traditional purchasing process has sparked plenty of reflection and anxiety.
广告帮助品牌在门店或在线竞争中脱颖而出。在联合利华，广告帮助推动了其品牌的在线销售。威德表示：“我们在乐购网站的销售份额高于在乐购的实体店。”全球最大在线商店亚马逊销售自有产品并绕过传统的购物程序的前景，引发了大量思考和担忧。
“Clients are terrified,” says one senior ad executive, pointing to Amazon’s scale, market power and ability to sell and deliver its own products quickly and efficiently. How will brands and the companies responsible for marketing and selling them possibly compete?
一位广告高管表示：“客户很害怕，”他指的是亚马逊的规模、市场实力以及快速高效地销售和递送自有产品的能力。品牌和负责营销及销售的公司如何与之竞争？
The answer is not immediately obvious but those concerns and other worries about Facebook and Google did not stop the industry partying in Cannes this week as if its life depended on it. Which, perhaps, it does. “It doesn’t feel like an industry that is under serious threat, but it is,” says Mr Frampton. “The agency model is being heavily disrupted.”
现在没有明确现成的答案，但这些担忧以及其他有关Facebook和谷歌的担忧，并没有妨碍上个月的广告业戛纳聚会，好像该行业对之产生了依赖一样。或许确实如此。“并没有该行业正面临严重威胁的感觉，但它确实面临威胁，”弗兰普顿表示，“广告代理模式正被严重颠覆。”
Google and Facebook are the new advertising kingpins and Amazon is waiting in the wings. Ad men and women know how to tell stories but it is unclear how their own will end.
谷歌和Facebook是新的广告天王，亚马逊正蓄势待发。广告业的男男女女们都知道如何讲故事，但现在还不清楚他们自己的故事将如何结尾。
