The IATA Travel Pass, a digital health pass aimed at ensuring the safe reopening of borders, was used for a Singapore Airlines flight which landed at London’s Heathrow Airport.

“Digital health credentials will be essential as borders reopen and travel restrictions get progressively lifted worldwide,” said JoAnn Tan, Acting SVP of Marketing Planning at Singapore Airlines. “The successful implementation of the IATA Travel Pass reflects Singapore Airlines’ goal of using secure digital solutions to verify health credentials, and support a safe and seamless travel experience for our customers.”

During the trial, passengers on Singapore Airlines flights from Singapore to London could use the Travel Pass to create a digital version of their passport on their smartphone, input their flight details to learn about travel restrictions and requirements, and receive verified test results and confirmation that they meet all travel requirements.

The Travel Pass also provides a way to share vaccination certificates, though that feature was not used in this initial trial.

“The successful implementation of IATA Travel Pass in this trial with Singapore Airlines passengers demonstrates that technology can securely, conveniently and efficiently help travelers and governments to manage travel health credentials. The significance of this to re-starting international aviation cannot be overstated,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s Director General and CEO.

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The ‘Together Against COVID-19 Misinformation’ campaign will show up on Facebook through a series of graphics featuring tips on how to spot false news. These tips include checking the source, checking how the news makes the user feel, and checking the context of the content.

“Throughout this pandemic we’ve seen how bad information puts lives at risk. With vaccine rollout now underway, knowing what to trust is more crucial than ever,” said Will Moy, Chief Executive of Full Fact. “We’ve worked with Facebook to create three simple questions people should ask themselves when reading about coronavirus online. Where’s it from? What are other news outlets or public health authorities saying? And how does it make you feel? People who make false news try to manipulate your feelings.

“Taking a moment to think before sharing something with friends and family will help keep everyone safe. We all have a part to play in slowing the spread of false claims and dangerous health advice.”

The campaign has rolled out to people across the EU, UK, Norway, Iceland, and Turkey, as well as countries across the Middle East and Africa.

Facebook is also launching a dedicated website in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Polish, and Turkish to provide information on how Facebook is tackling misinformation its platforms.

“The fight against COVID-19 is at a critical stage and connecting people with accurate information is more important than ever. Improving media literacy in partnership with Full Fact is one of a number of steps we’ve taken to tackle coronavirus related misinformation,” said Steve Hatch, Vice President for Northern Europe at Facebook.

“Working in lockstep with the government and NHS we’ve directed over ten million visits to their websites with the latest accurate information on the virus. We’ve partnered with the NHS on the launch of Facebook vaccine profile frames to allow people to show their support and enthusiasm for getting vaccinated. And we’ve removed over twelve million pieces of misinformation with false and harmful claims about the virus and the approved vaccines on our platforms. This isn’t our first move in the fight against misinformation and it certainly won’t be our last, but we are committed to playing our part and making sure everyone has access to accurate information.”

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The first violation of Twitter’s policies will result in a label being applied to tweets including false information and the possibility of engagements being limited on said tweets, but no account-level action will be taken. The label will read something along the lines of “this tweet is misleading. Find out why health officials consider COVID-19 vaccines safe for most people” and contain a link to official public health information. At first, this labelling will only be applied to English-language content that is in breach.

If an account violates Twitter’s policies for a second and third time, the account will be locked for a 12-hour period on each occasion. The fourth strike will result in a one-week account lock. And the fifth (or more) will mean a permanent suspension.

Twitter hopes that the introduction of the system will help educate its users on its policies and on the truth about COVID-19 vaccines.

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The tech giant’s investment includes an additional $100m in ad grants for the CDC Foundation, the World Health Organization, and other non-profits. $50m will be invested into partnerships with public health agencies to reach underserved communities with vaccine-related information, while Google.org has promised $5m in grants to organisations addressing racial and geographic disparities in COVID-19 vaccinations.

Google has also taken steps to expand its information panels on Search to help provide more accurate and timely information on vaccines. So, far, it has expanded the panels to more than 40 countries and will roll out to more nations over the next week. And people will soon be able to see state and regional distribution information on Search, alongside the launch of a ‘Get The Facts’ initiative across Google and YouTube.

In the US initially, Google will add vaccination locations to Search and Maps, with the feature rolling out in Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas in the coming weeks before being introduced to more states and countries.

Finally, starting in the US, Google will make select facilities available for use as vaccination centres. Currently, its partnering with One Medical and public health authorities to open sites in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area in California; Kirkland, Washington; and New York City.

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The ‘Global Vaccination Support Fund’ will see Didi had out free or discounted rides for people travelling to vaccination appointments and for the healthcare workers providing vaccinations across the 13 markets, which include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Panama, Peru, and Russia.

The cash will also be used to support other measures in each country, though how the fund is allocated will be decide on a market-by-market basis.

“The vaccination support initiative is a crucial step in our local recovery effort across the world,” said Jean Liu, President of Didi Chuxing. “The incredible commitment and agility of Didi teams, together with a safety system built for complex mobility scenarios, play a critical role in protecting our people and ensuring essential services throughout these challenging times. We will continue to stand by our partners and communities to get our cities moving again.”

In the past year, the ride-hailing platform has already sponsored more than 6m free or discounted rides and meals for frontline healthcare workers outside of China through its ‘Didi Hero’ initiative. It has also distributed more than 6m masks and sanitation kits to its driver and courier partners, and provided financial support to those partners.

Back at home in China, the company sponsored over 1m free rides, thanks to the efforts of hundreds of thousands of drivers who signed up to join Didi’s medical fleets. And it setup 200 offline sanitation stations, while providing over RMB 200m to support its drivers.

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For the advertising and marketing industry, where Zoom calls and excessive drinking were an almost everyday occurrence long before COVID-19, the hope is that this new lockdown doesn’t do anywhere near as much damage as the last did – a feeling shared across the majority of industries.

“At the start of the first lockdown, retailers battened down the hatches immediately and cut costs whenever they could. While some furloughed staff and closed down brick and mortar stores, others went too far and cut back on performance marketing spend,” says Liam Patterson, CEO at Bidnamic. “… Decisions such as cutting digital marketing spend while consumers shop online in greater numbers added fuel to fire and caused further negative repercussions for brands at a time of increased economic uncertainty.”

Pandemic pains

The damage done to the industry has been highlighted by the last two releases of the IPA Bellwether Report, where it was seen that UK marketing budgets suffered their biggest decline in the 20-year history of the report in Q2 2020 and continued to struggle in Q3 2020, and in the latest Expenditure Report from the Advertising Association and WARC, where figures showed that the UK advertising industry recorded its worst-ever quarter in Q2 2020.

With the damage caused evident, the industry has been able to look back and see where this damage may have been done and strive to make sure it doesn’t happen this time around. Because hindsight. That old back vision. When you think of something smart you should’ve said after you lost an argument. Sorry, tangent. Anyway.

“Whilst there wasn’t a huge downturn in impressions during the first lockdown, we saw a switch from premium formats, such as dynamic ads, towards standard ads. But this meant advertisers were not able to serve different messages at different times, during a period when it would have reaped dividends for them,” says Simon Thorne, Managing Director for Western Europe at Flashtalking.

“Going into the second lockdown we have more visibility, and with some things such as sporting events continuing, hopefully the impact will not be as big as the first one.”

With the lessons learned from the first lockdown, there is a general feeling around the industry that this one won’t quite have such a negative impact.

Unlike other struggling industries, such as hospitality, advertising is one where intelligent adjustments based on the experiences of the first lockdown can greatly improve the place the industry finds itself in.

Justin Taylor, Managing Director UK at Teads, says, “we’ve had to adapt to massive changes in how consumers access content.” These changes also “created huge brand safety challenges” around words like ‘pandemic’, “so there has been a process of education and we are certainly in a better place with advertisers now,” he suggests.

“We have learned from the first lockdown, it is critical for brands to understand these new consumer behaviours and purchasing patterns,” adds Patrick Johnson, CEO at Hybrid Theory. “Also, identify who is in-market versus who is more cautious with their spending due to the circumstance changes.”

As a result of the education received from the first lockdown and anticipation of a second, many advertisers and marketers are well-prepared for what’s to come over the next four weeks – and in the future, if we have further lockdowns (please, God no!).

“I believe that advertisers have taken huge steps in the past seven months to recalibrate their business and reimagine their messaging to adapt to new ways of working, and I imagine for many brands, things will continue ‘business as unusual’,” says Craig Tuck, CRO at The Ozone Project. “As media owners we have had to become more flexible and imaginative in our approach and as long as we listen and respond to our customers’ needs, then that can only stand us in good stead.”

Claire Burgess, Head of Biddable at NMPi by Incubeta, adds, “As we head into lockdown part two, it’s important for advertisers to return to the mindset they were in earlier this year and be reactive to the market. Christmas this year will be different to what we know, and we will undoubtedly see a huge uplift in online revenue as the uncertainty surrounding physical retail restrictions intensifies.” 

And, speaking of Christmas…

Black Friday/Christmas

This lockdown falls in what is the most important retail period of the year, with Black Friday occurring while we are all trapped indoors and Christmas day falling just 23 days after we expect the lockdown to end.

“With two of the UKs biggest retail milestones in the firing line – but retailers unable to rely on physical footfall into stores – many marketers will need to be quick to adapt their strategies and engage consumers online during this critical period,” says Harmony Murphy, GM Advertising UK at eBay.

With these two occasions marked on everybody’s calendars for the same time every year, marketers have an added layer of security in being able to somewhat know what to expect. But, at the same time, there’s a huge amount of uncertainty because we can’t quite be sure how consumers are going to react this time.

“One thing that we can now be sure of is that, for the first time ever, Black Friday will take place entirely online,” adds Murphy. “But aside from this, there’s still so much that’s uncertain – including consumer behaviour and priorities, which will likely continue to shift… As we enter a second national lockdown in the lead up to Christmas, will people redirect their spend towards home improvement, instead of party clothes and decoration? To successfully understand and engage with audiences in the run up to Black Friday and Christmas, marketers must ensure that they harness the freshest data insights possible and look to target consumers in real-time, with products or messages that are truly relevant to them in that moment.”

Equally, while marketers look to get their strategy right in the coming weeks, they will also have an eye on making up for “the shortfall in projected profit margin,” according to Simon Gaulshoj, CEO at Adnami.

“Lockdowns mean that eCommerce will take centre stage to an even greater extent than usual, and as traditional media consumption continues to be unpredictable, with premium formats such as digital out of home still struggling to resonate, marketers will be looking for guaranteed ways to stop people in their tracks.”

In order to resonate with consumers, marketers over the festive and pre-festive period marketers must pay close attention to the way that these consumers have adapted and not just focus on their own adaptions.

Faye Daffarn, Managing Director UK at Tug, describes this as a “new digital future [that] has been embraced by many as the new normal”. But “businesses must see through the eyes of their consumer, and question what digital transformation actually means for their business,” she warns, adding that businesses must be agile in engaging with consumers across digital touchpoints across the Black Friday and Christmas period.

Whatever the route businesses decide to take during this lockdown, there still remains a great deal of uncertainty around how everything will unfold, though the general outlook is one of more positivity than what we’ve seen so far this year.

From the outside looking in (as we all will be doing, during our ‘daily exercise’, peering into our favourite bars, restaurants, and shops that have shut their doors), it looks like things are heading in the right direction for the industry. But only time will tell.

“Some brands may pause or pull their media spend again, and some may adapt to match an audience who will again be looking for ways to be inspired, entertained and educated. Whatever media channels brands choose, the greatest success will exist in making messaging relevant against the current backdrop — a strategy that could prove far more beneficial than falling silent,” concludes James Wigley, Chief Commercial Officer at Jungle Creations.

The post What will the UKs second lockdown mean for advertising? appeared first on Mobile Marketing Magazine.

The survey of 101 UK digital media and marketing executives also found that, despite recession (90 per cent) and second wave (56 per cent) fears, 68 per cent expect staff levels to increase or stay the same and 73 per cent believe wages will increase or remain the same.

“This industry has always been resilient and our findings back that up. Im encouraged by the views that revenues will increase and that many believe that increase will be significant,” said Andy Oakes, Managing Director at Bluestripe Group. “That being said, it is still vital that the industry keeps communicating and keeps telling clients and the wider market about the great work its doing.”

One area where respondents expect to struggle as a result of COVID-19 is diversity. 57 per cent feel the pandemic will make diversity harder to achieve because of how difficult it now is for new talent to enter the industry. Meanwhile, a little over 40 per cent are concerned that no money will be available to fund diversity initiatives.

Elsewhere, the coronavirus has transformed the way many people work and it’s likely that those new approaches to work are here to stay. Just five per cent of respondents expect their staff to be in the office four or five days a week, compared to 82 per cent who expect people back in two or three days a week.

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The feature, developed by the Absurd digital agency, enables guests to input all their information prior to arrival and simply verify their identity using their smartphone when they enter the building.

“We’re working with CitySuites to continually evolve their digital capabilities and end-to-end service design. This latest launch will not only benefit the guest experience with a quicker check-in process but it minimises contact time, enabling customers and staff to stay safe, while complying with social distancing measures,” said Oliver Bailey, Co-founder of Absurd.

“We’ve designed and built the technology for CitySuites, rather than bolt on third party software, to enable the service to go beyond just accelerating online check-in. It will facilitate ongoing communication with guests and more personalised marketing.”

The introduction of contactless check-in follows the launch of a bespoke online process for longer term guest bookings and the opening of CitySuites’ Embankment Kitchen restaurant site.

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The suite of internet of things (IoT) safeguarding solutions, created in partnership with Bell Integration, includes a thermal imaging tablet, a handheld thermal imaging scanner, and social distancing room management.

The thermal imaging tablet is an all-in-one temperature sensing tablet, which is said to read surface body temperature from a distance of one metre. The tablet is combined with the capability to manage visitors and ensure a contactless check-in, with each visitor required to use a unique QR code to confirm their attendance.

The handheld thermal imaging scanner promises an accuracy to 0.5 degrees and can be used in both controlled locations with limited people and in high footfall locations.

With social distancing management, businesses are able to monitor people count and occupancy status of communal areas. It features a digital display unit which shows green or red, depending on whether it is safe to enter an area.

“We’re delighted to be rolling out these new solutions to help British business reopen their doors safely. During lockdown, connectivity became one of the UK’s most valued services and we have continued to look at ways we can use our customer-centric networks to support this country,” said Jo Bertram, Managing Director at O2 Business.

“As we look to rebuild Britain, these new COVID-19 solutions will help minimise the risk of spreading the virus as the nation returns to work – through automation and reducing moments of physical interaction. It will not only help businesses get back on their feet but bolster their confidence as they reopen their doors over the coming weeks and months.”

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The search giant has created a specific destination on Search for information about travel resuming as restrictions are lifted – and reimposed – between certain countries. It’s also rolling out a feature which shows the percentage of open hotels with availability and flights operating based on data from Google Flights and Hotels.

On Google.com/travel, users will now be able to see trendlines for hotel and flight availability, while links to additional local resources – including the number of COVID-19 cases – are also provided.

Google’s travel hub now also provides an option to see only rooms or properties with free cancellation policies, so there is a little less uncertainty for travellers should coronavirus-related travel measures change. This feature is now available for hotels and for holiday rental later this month.

“As some countries around the world begin to reopen this summer, we’re seeing more searches for places to go on vacation. Because the impact of COVID-19 on destinations can vary, it’s important to stay up to date on the latest travel-related information for places you may want to visit,” said Richard Holden, Vice President of Product Management for Travel at Google, in a blog post.

“The uncertainty of COVID-19 makes it hard to navigate travel decisions. We’ll continue to share the most relevant information so you can make informed decisions and travel safely when the time comes.”

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