Apple, the most valuable brand according to the Forbes survey has come to symbolize the era of “digital disruption”, often disrupting the category to create a proposition that resonates with the audience while cannibalizing its own products, to disrupt the category that it operates in. Microsoft on the other hand has stuck to the staple, Office and Windows products. The two brands are at the divergent end of spectrum and yet are iconic for ushering in newer products that revolutionized computing in everyday personal and work lives, and lead the pack for being the world’s most valuable brands. Here is a video that traces the evolution of Microsoft.
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According to IAB Mobile Programmatic Playbook, “The most popular native format for mobile, and mobile programmatic, is in-feed advertising. In-feed ads are those that appear within the user’s natural activity stream. This includes traditional ads, videos or branded/sponsored stories which appear within a publisher’s content feed”.
Mobile Programmatic buying is known to improve performance on campaigns with Fiksu data proving that programmatic averages are better for both native and other programmatic advertising.
• Interstitial ads convert at a rate 2x higher
• Interstitial ads have CTRs 1.5x higher
• Native ads convert at a rate 4x higher
• Native ads have CTRs 1.2x higherIn mobile programmatic environment native ads are available via select publishers or open exchanges that consolidate the mobile app and mobile web native inventory of many publishers. Powerlinks and Unruly are partnering to launch an industry first native advertising effort where users will see an in-content stream and in-feed native ads across all devices. According to a Press Release, ” Advertisers will be able to access every placement with one standardized set of creative assets, including a video, headline and sponsor message, which will automatically adapt Unruly’s In-Feed video ads in real-time to the design and layout of the publisher’s website through Unruly’s proprietary Liquid Layout Technology.
The real-time bidding (RTB) integration will allow advertisers to reach audiences with granular targeting using 1st and 3rd party data, keyword level context and dozens of other data points to deliver highly relevant messages and to optimize performance.
With viewability in the forefront of buyer’s minds, Unruly’s In-Feed placements only begin to play once in-view, making the inventory 100% viewable. The partnership will provide detailed reporting and will allow advertisers to make changes and optimizations in real-time, while also using PowerLinks proprietary learning and bidding technologies to achieve engagement and conversion goals”.
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Facebook has introduced “Instant Articles” for select publishers allowing for ten-times faster access to stories, published to Facebook, with better load times. The “Instant Articles” feature also allows publishers to create a one of a kind experience for readers with a set of tools that allow users to zoom-in, listen to audio captions, comment on the story in-line and explore with interactive Maps.According to Facebook Chief Product Officer Chris Cox, “Instant Articles lets publishers deliver fast, interactive articles while maintaining control of their content and business models.”
Facebook is working with nine launch partners for Instant Articles: The New York Times, National Geographic, BuzzFeed, NBC, The Atlantic, The Guardian, BBC News, Spiegel and Bild.
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Mobile App Install Ads that are available to App advertisers on different networks are now available in a carousel format on Facebook. Facebook has earlier introduced carousel format for link ads also known as the Dynamic Product Ads, that are available with Ads API, Power Editor and Ad Create tool on Facebook. The Carousel Ad Format allows you to showcase different products from a catalog or highlight different creative within a campaign.
With the interactive experience that Mobile App Install and Engagement Ads provide Carousel Ads can help App Advertisers engage audiences with the unique attributes for the brand or the app.
Carousel Ad Format for Link Ads also offers Carousel format insights that has helped advertisers optimize images based on engagement has increased click-through rates by 12 percent. Certain advertisers have seen up to 3X more conversions and 85 percent better click-through rates with Facebook Carousel Link Ads.
“Using the carousel format to promote its app, foodpanda increased click-through rates by 180% and reduced their cost per impression by 39%”.
“Using the carousel format to promote its app, 
