The Swift Effect: How contextual tech can tap into the “now” power of key cultural moments

"The application of contextual technologies in advertising is changing. No longer “just” a platform for watertight brand safety and targeting precision, its capacity to channel large volumes of credible, reactive data around evolving cultural phenomena is a gift for brands."

Image by Ogulcan Aksoy

Like a gymnast’s signature move, the world of advanced contextual tech has its own unique skill set that most advertisers know well. Namely, its ability to ensure brand safety and optimise user attention with razor-sharp content placements; and with zero call for invasive third-party data.

But there’s another – and increasingly potent – application that has so far gone largely unseen in the market. In a year where Taylor Swift has changed up the viewership for Sunday Night Football in an instant, and millions go to the polls in major elections, contextual intelligence can act as a powerful barometer to the ebbs and flows of key cultural moments.

At the cutting-edge of contextual, you have an analysis tool that can scan a huge breadth of content signals across the entirety of the open web, in real-time. This means that, as an advertiser or agency, you can get your finger on the pulse of emerging trends or stories just as the momentum around them builds.

It’s a capacity that echoes Google Trends; only it examines what people are reading – and the sentiment behind that action. This insight, in turn, hands advertisers the power to creatively and strategically adapt their campaigns in real-time, plan ahead more effectively and extend into new, unexpected audience segments. The same incisive methodology can also be used to gauge rising trends around a particular product, market or competitor subset.

Riding the wave of public sentiment

One of the characteristics of cultural moments is that they create waves of public consciousness that can build or change in a moment. And, much like its ability to align brand messaging with mood, contextual tech can stay one step ahead of these complex audience dynamics.

For example, when Britpop superstars Oasis announced their reunion tour after a 15-year feud this summer, GumGum research indicated a massive uptick in brand mentions. This was followed by a 26% spike in negative sentiment – no doubt caused by the ticketing fiasco that followed. At the same time, 85% of inventory mentioning Oasis was found to be brand-safe. All this forms a rich tapestry of mood-based insights that brands can capitalise on – as they reap the benefits of a dynamic surge in online debate.

Understanding public sentiment is core to brands making the most of cultural moments that are hard to predict – for example, the spread of cult-hit TV show, Baby Reindeer, or a viral moment in the Strictly Come Dancing final. Meanwhile, other, more established events – for example, the Olympic Games – may benefit from a daily contextual tracker that identifies the most salient moments in the minds of viewing consumers.

In Paris this summer, this included a 95% uplift in positive sentiment around Olympian Simone Biles, as she became the most decorated American gymnast in Olympics history, and French swimmer Léon Marchand’s record-making win of two gold medals in one evening. Also the closing ceremony – which generated a 27% higher rate of positive sentiment than the contest’s opening event.

By using data to intuit how the public is reacting to these live, drama-fuelled moments, brands can understand how to lean into, or out of, certain talking points. They can also identify where the opportunities lie to augment a particular campaign.

Key cultural moments: the bigger picture

There’s also an invitation here for brands to recognise their place in the broader appeal of emerging cultural moments. When it comes to events like Glastonbury Festival or The Met Gala, the challenge for advertisers is to extend beyond a one-dimensional targeting strategy – finding ways to flex into lucrative new audience streams.

Take the seismic moment when Grammy winner Taylor Swift was seen cheering on the Kansas City Chiefs; confirming her relationship with the NFL team’s star player, Travis Kelce. With Forbes’ data charting a +50% leap in female teen viewers, and a 24% uptick in women viewers aged 18-24, as a result, our own insights pointed to significant growth in verticals not normally associated with the NFL. For instance, entertainment and lifestyle brands increased their NFL content impressions by almost six times over.

Moving over to the Paris Olympics, Californian brands from beauty labels to classic clothing lines could find resonance in the global sports scene, via one of the main buzz points of the closing ceremony. This occurred as Los Angeles took over the Olympic flame, accompanied by live music by the Red Hot Chili Peppers and an abseiling appearance from Tom Cruise.

These reactive prompts are coupled with another major advantage of advanced contextual intelligence: the scope to read into real-time product conversations across the web. Say you are an electric car brand. This kind of insight is invaluable to understanding, for example, what features of an electric car get talked about the most; or how headline events like the IoT Tech Expo impact dialogue/excitement around EV mobility.

Whether applied in relation to market-specific intel or cultural events, nuances taken from live contextual data provide an unmissable opportunity. They’re a chance for brands to make headway against competitors, expand into new categories and connect with demographics they don’t usually reach. Identifying – and tapping into – audience mindset within a given cultural episode offers rare space for growth.

Amplifying scale and reach

The application of contextual technologies in advertising is changing. No longer “just” a platform for watertight brand safety and targeting precision, its capacity to channel large volumes of credible, reactive data around evolving cultural phenomena is a gift for brands. These rich insights can be used in a multitude of standout ways - whether it’s creatively and strategically optimising a future or in-flight campaign to chime with shifting audience sentiment and trends, identifying new verticals and audiences to resonate with, or as a model for live sentiment tracking around specific product values.

However the use case takes shape, this aptitude for pre-empting audience mood is a boon for any brand looking to stay ahead in a fast-moving digital space. The opportunities are unmissable.