How AI has enabled more successful video advertising campaigns for Unruly

By Ethan Wagner, Columbia University

It was only fitting that Kenneth Suh, chief operating officer of Unruly, an innovative online video marketplace, would begin with a video advertisement.  Clocking in at nearly two minutes and taking viewers on an emotional roller coaster of highs and lows, the video—a spot produced for Unruly’s client Proctor & Gamble to coincide with the 2018 Winter Olympics—celebrated the pride mothers feel as they guide their children through adversity to overcome fears, escape from poverty, and even develop into Olympic champions.

Turning to the audience, Suh posed a simple yet poignant question: “How did that video make you feel?”

Skin tingled and it took a moment for the viewers to collect themselves.  “Connected,” said one attendee at the Big Data & AI for Media Conference in New York.  “Proud,” intoned another.

Suh explained that Unruly takes user response like these emotions to better understand the target audiences of its clients.  Based in the London neighborhood of Shoreditch, Unruly has grown from humble beginnings twelve years ago into one of the most dynamic tech firms, with 350 employees, engaged in emotional testing and targeting.

Unruly develops video charts based on the number of users that watch, share, and interact with its clients’ videos.  But Unruly is interested in far more than quantitative metrics.  “Advertising focuses on humans and human behavior,” said Suh.  “And at the core of human behavior is emotion.”

One such initiative, UnrulyEQ, uses emotional data to supercharge campaigns.  “Our aim is to match your audience personas to target real people,” Suh explained.  “We don’t want to settle for demographic approximations of your audiences.  Instead, we want to un-stereotype your audience profiles for more accurate audience segmentation, and help you understand characteristics of real people.”

Suh offered an overview of some of the most creative ways that Unruly has used first-party data to understand people.  Unruly has built a home—not a virtual house, but the real thing, made of bricks and mortar—to learn what it means for how a person might live in their residence in 2020.

The key, Suh said, is moving from one-way conversations to two-way conversations.  Unruly has polled audiences in the UK and the US to learn not just their favorite parts of the house, but in which places would they feel comfortable interacting with brands and their marketing.

Part sanctuary, part social space, part family abode, Unruly’s house of the future showcases the latest technology from a variety of brands, including NewsCorp, the parent company of Unruly.

A FridgeCam that offers a look inside your refrigerator and tracks expiration dates.  First-party responses via the start-up Whisk that help to understand which recipes users like based on prior preferences.  Integration with Amazon’s Dash, allowing instant delivery of the items needed to make a perfect dinner for friends and family.