Sectors
Capabilities
Specialisms
Here’s the latest scoop on what’s happening in the digital world this month, straight from the Brands2Life Digital Marketing and Social Media team.
The latest on our radar of game-changing AI tech? OpenAI’s Voice Engine – a text-to-speech model that turns text into audio using synthetic voices. To use the tool, you feed it your desired text plus a 15-second audio sample, which it mimics hyper-realistically. It’s not been released yet as OpenAI is testing it due to safety concerns, but a sneak preview’s been shared, and is suggesting great things.
Our film team’s watching this one closely, as it’s got huge potential for generating audio for videos and improving content’s accessibility and reach. Plus, it’s great at capturing a human-sounding, natural tone of voice and nuances like accents.
It’s definitely one to watch if you’re looking to reach a wider global audience with your content – it’s been rumoured to make super accurate translations into multiple languages.
Get the full story from OpenAI.
Fiona says: “B2B brands could use this to translate video ads, social content (like animations and videos) and podcasts into different languages, to boost brand awareness in new parts of the world.”
Spotify’s just released a new ad objective in its Ad Studio, designed to help podcasters reach new listeners. ‘Podcast Streams’ will let people promote their podcast or specific episodes to an audience deemed engaged, based on behavioural signals they make through the app.
Our paid team thinks this is great news, as it comes with advanced measurement tools, which will show podcast streams, new listeners and number of streams from new listeners, all within the app. So, gone are the days of guesswork when it comes to tracking the success of your podcast ads.
If you’re keen to give it a go, the platform’s shared the creative requirements and best practices.
Helena says: “Brands could use this new ad objective to break through to engaged podcast listeners with more advanced reporting.”
A new trend took over X recently – one which politicians, brands and sports teams jumped on all over the world. But there’s more to it: the trend uses misleading alt text – which translates images for people with visual impairments – as clickbait, pranking people to ‘click here’ in an unclickable alt text box.
While some might have seen the funny side, we’re less convinced. People with visual impairments rely on alt text to access content, important information, and be actively involved in social media communities. Using this vital feature to bag a few laughs at the expense of accessibility, doesn’t seem so funny to us.
Barcelona FC jumped on the trend and has faced public scrutiny as a result. This shows how important it is for brands to think twice before jumping on any and every trend.
This is your reminder to do your due diligence and prioritise inclusion and accessibility, always.
Sydney says: “Brands should assess the accessibility of their content, and always include alt text and subtitles for audio.”
Emotional storytelling rules on social – especially when it comes to influencer marketing. But brands often put too much focus on product fit, instead of creating content that builds emotional connections with their audience.
We’ve been working with influencer, Dan Daytona, and his furry ‘petfluencer’, Thor for the last two years for our client, ORIJEN. Our campaign content focuses on storytelling with subtle brand elements that aren’t the main character. Instead, content’s centred around the loving relationship between Thor and his owner, Dan, and their adventures in the wild.
Taking this angle has led to some great results, helping us cut through the noise of ORIJEN’s competitors. In the last seven days alone, this Reel has generated 16k+ engagements and 154k+ video views… (w)oof!
Let’s chat about influencer marketing.
Taimen says: “More brands should use this approach, taking the focus away from hard product pushes, bringing creativity and emotion into the limelight.”
The top brands know that employees, customers, consumers and investors want business leaders to have a point of view on the world and values to match. But how many execs regularly speak up?
We analysed the LinkedIn and media profiles of 100 CEOs across some of the biggest brands from nine industries. The results found only 7 out of 100 post twice a week and just 28 met the ideal criteria – talking about industry, society and personal thoughts just as much as company updates. So, when it comes to effectively building and maintaining an audience, it’s clear there’s an opportunity for your brand to make its mark in the executive comms space.
Which creators are you watching right now?
“I’ve been watching Vee Kativhu for quite some time now, on Instagram and LinkedIn. She shares empowering content around the importance of education, particularly for women and was recently appointed Young Leader at the UN! Her journey is inspiring and authentic.”
Olivia Jones, Account Manager
“The team and I are closely watching the rise of virtual influencers. Imma is a really good example of how virtual influencers have taken the influencer world by storm – partnering with high-end brands such as Coach, appearing on the cover of Taiwan’s Harper’s BAZAAR and most recently being invited to deliver a TED Talk.”
Alexandra Parkes, Associate Director
See all