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Thursday, March 4, 2021

7 Best Gaming Advertising Campaigns of All Time

The popularity of gaming – and with it the importance of gaming advertising campaigns – is soaring.

As a result of the global pandemic, an increasing number of people are turning to virtual worlds for entertainment, education and simple escapism. With popularity surging, gaming advertising and gaming display advertising will play an even bigger role in getting the right message in front of the right people – at speed and scale.

In this article, we’ll take a look at the best gaming advertising campaigns, what makes them stand out, and what we can learn from them. Plus, what the future of gaming holds and why creativity, scalability, control and speed will be key.

It will include:

The current state of gaming advertising in 2021

“Sega does what Nintendon’t”
Double Life
Life is Short Play More
“It’s a very, very mad world.”
Believe
Kevin Butler
“To Michael”

Stepping into the future of gaming advertising
Essential strategy: production automation for gaming

The current state of gaming advertising in 2021

Before 2020, the gaming industry was already seeing, on average, a 9% year on year growth. COVID-19 accelerated this growth. So much so that the industry’s revenue is expected to grow by a third before 2023 and will be worth in excess of $200 billion.

From blockbuster ads and $million integrated campaigns through to in-game advertising and gaming display advertising, gaming advertising is big business. For every power-up and boss fight win there’s a slew of game overs that leave the audience reaching for the reset button.

Gamers are everywhere – even if they don’t realise it. Forget the days of gaming being the sole domain of people hiding away in a dark room for days frantically trying to level-up on World of Warcraft. Gaming is now part of the mainstream thanks to mobile tech and the popularity of games like Animal Crossing, Wordscapes and FarmVille.

Gamers are an engaged, diverse and growing audience. But what’s the best way to reach them through advertising? Let’s look through the stand-out gaming campaigns ever produced and what we can learn from them.

Here’s our take on the best gaming advertising campaigns of all time:

1. “Sega does what Nintendon’t”

Gaming’s first big acceleration into popular, mainstream culture happened in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. It was defined by the rivalry by the two titans of the industry; Sega and Nintendo. The original NES – complete with everyone’s favourite Italian plumber, Super Mario – wiped the floor, in terms of sales, with Sega’s Master System.

Sega knew they needed a character to compete with Mario and they knew they had to push boundaries. Enter Sonic the Hedgehog.

The whirling, jumping, running, blue blur and the 16-bit graphics of Sega’s Mega Drive (Genesis in the US) left the 8-bit NES and Mario for dust, leading to Sega’s classic line: “Sega does what Nintendon’t” and an ad campaign with cameos from cultural icons like Michael Jackson and Joe Montana.

2. Double Life

While the early ‘90s were dominated by the battle between Sega and Nintendo, the middle of the decade saw a new player enter the scene, one that would revolutionise the industry.

Sony were best known for their Walkmens and camcorders. They weren’t even considered rivals to the dominance of Sega and Nintendo. But the Playstation changed everything. And its launch came with one of the best ads ever produced – Double Life.

Even now the line: “I have commanded armies…and conquered worlds” still sends shivers down the spine of seasoned gamers. When it comes to building anticipation, crafting a diverse story and encapsulating a moment in time so perfectly, very few ads do it better.

3. Life is Short Play More

Despite the N64 from Nintendo, it was Sony who would dominate the latter part of the decade, cementing their status as the market leader in 2000 with the launch of the PS2.

It would take budget, innovation and a point of difference for anyone to compete with them. It was Microsoft that had all of these. Not only did the Xbox arrive with Halo and the Masterchief, it came complete with controversy (there’s no such thing as bad publicity remember?).

The ad, Life is Short Play More shows a baby being born, flying through the air, rapidly aging before crashing into a grave. It was one of the earliest iterations of a viral video. Before it was released, it was shared internally at Microsoft via email. The file size having to be less than 2mb for it to send!

The email was shared over a million times – small numbers by today’s figures but huge at the time. This response inspired the team behind it to put it on TV. The ad immediately attracted a host of complaints and was subsequently banned – cementing its legacy and infamy.

4. “It’s a very, very mad world.”

The trailer for Gears of War on the Xbox was one of the very first ad campaigns to tap into the inherent power of human emotion. Set to Gary Jules’ cover of the Tears For Fears song Mad World from Donnie Darko, the trailer is a beautiful juxtaposition of melancholy and action, brought to life by sublime lighting and jaw-dropping (at the time) graphics. It changed everything for video game trailers and advertising.

5. Believe

Sticking with Xbox, the ad campaign for Halo 3 in 2007 was a defining moment for gaming advertising. Not only did the ad feed the hype machine already buzzing around the release of the title, it built a whole world extending beyond the game.

The buzz it generated was so big that every media outlet wanted to cover it. As storytelling in an ad campaign goes, it’s one of the finest examples. The ‘shorts’ to accompany the official trailers were directed by Neill Blomkamp and were the first to depict the Halo universe in a live setting.

They were followed up by the Believe campaign. This campaign had live action elderly ‘war’ veterans and a huge diorama depicting the final battle that stretched over 1,200 feet. It set a new benchmark for game advertising.

6. Kevin Butler

Instead of trying to compete with Microsoft’s big budget productions and lavish thrills, Sony took a new tack in 2009. Kevin Butler became the face of their (downright hilarious) It Does Everything campaign. It worked a charm.

The ads were self-aware and self-deferential with huge crossover appeal. Not only were they well received by fans, they succeeded in boosting Sony’s sales of their new PS3 model. The campaign extended even further when Kevin Butler appeared in person at E3, one of the world’s biggest gaming events.

7. “To Michael!”

In 2011, Sony continued to push the boundaries with its Long Live Play campaign. The jewel in the crown was the character commercial that featured live action versions of iconic video game characters.

From Nathan Drake and Kratos through to the soldiers from Omaha Beach, together they raise a toast to Michael. And who is Micheal? The gamer who got them through their toughest times. The ad works so well because the hero isn’t the characters from the game, it’s the gamer and their story is the one that matters.

Stepping into the future of gaming advertising

Fast forward to the end of 2020 and the future of gaming is laid bare in The Edge, one of Sony’s ads for the Play Had No Limits campaign launching the PS5. With themes of exploration, innovation and (literally) stepping into the unknown, it paints a vivid picture of the future of gaming – one born from creativity and connection.

And this is where the success of gaming advertising lies.

All of the campaigns featured above have creativity at heart. They push boundaries. They do things differently. Yet – ultimately – they create a connection and elicit an emotional response in the viewer.

This response is born out of storytelling. As we enter a new age of gaming, where it’s increasingly integrated with our day to day lives and more connected than ever before, the best campaigns will need to use AI and automation to unleash creativity – and to make sure they are seen on the right channels, at the right time, by the right people.

Essential strategy: production automation for gaming

One of the biggest challenges in the gaming industry is cutting through the noise and being heard. It’s a huge space (especially with the explosion of mobile gaming) with fierce competition.

Very few businesses have the budgets of Sony and Microsoft so speed and scalability are of the essence. And when they are combined with creativity and control, well, then the magic can really happen.

This is where a Creative Management Platform (CMP) comes into its own. Creative production can now be automated and scaled! Go from a single master creative to an entire campaign across all formats and channels (including video and social) in minutes. Not only is it a game-changer for creativity, it saves both time and money.

Ads can be optimised, tailored and tested without the need for coding and the messaging can be personalised, at scale, to your audience. This gives you the power and control to replace generic ads with user specific ads – whether that’s copy, images or video.

According to Evergage, 88% of marketers say customers now expect an experience that’s personalised to them. When you have the right data you can pair it with the right creative and put your personalised ads in front of the right gamers. Personalised ads for gaming have the potential to be both console and game specific. This means you can make one-to-one personalisation, at scale, a reality.

Conclusion

As we saw in the examples above, it’s the ability to capture the hearts and minds of your viewers which makes you stay in their memories. The more tailored your ads are to each viewer, the better chance you have of doing this and, ultimately converting them.

For advertising to be successful, it has to have creativity at its heart. That’s why using tech – and a solution like a CMP – in the right way is essential. They can enhance the creative process while at the same time removing unnecessary distractions. And when you have full creative control over your gaming advertising, you can create brilliant campaigns that resonate with your audience and deliver you results.

If you want to find out more about how a CMP like Bannerflow can help power your digital advertising in 2020 and beyond, then get in touch for a demo and see the future unfold before your eyes.

The post 7 Best Gaming Advertising Campaigns of All Time appeared first on Bannerflow.

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2 new measures aim to take diesel trucks off Southern California roads

Two sweeping air pollution regulations aimed at removing smog-causing diesel trucks from Southern California roadways and warehouses are being released for public review within the next 30 days.

The measures are part of an executive order issued by Gov. Gavin Newsom to have only zero-emission trucks and buses — most would be electric — on the roads by 2045. The changeover would impact 2 million medium- and heavy-duty trucks operating in California, including about 500,000 in Southern California.

A local Southern California measure would require trucks serving 3,000 warehouses to be electrified.

Trucks moving packages and all kinds of goods account for 47% of all the NOx, shorthand for oxides of nitrogen, in the South Coast Air Basin which encompasses Orange County and the non-desert portions of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties. NOx is a component of ground-level ozone, a gas that damages the lungs. The basin has the highest levels of ozone as part of smog in the nation.

Air pollution studies show ozone, produced when pollutants “cook” in sunlight, and fine particulates, a direct component of diesel soot, can trigger asthma attacks, emergency room visits, heart attacks and cause lung damage. Fine particulates, or PM 2.5, pass more easily into the lungs and even the brain.

Transportation sources account for 40% of the greenhouse gases in California, according to state environmental agencies. These gases, such as carbon dioxide, contribute to global climate change, which is melting polar ice caps and causing extreme weather events, according to climate scientists.

The Inland Empire has seen numerous large-scale warehouses, logistics and fulfillment centers pop up in the past 10 years, which are served by diesel semitrucks and delivery vans for companies such as Wal-Mart and Amazon. The two proposed regulations would reduce local air pollution around warehouses often located in low-income communities, as well as in and out of the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, according to Andrea Vidaurre, senior policy analyst for the People’s Collective For Environmental Justice (PCFEJ) in the Inland Empire.

“What used to be freeways, railways and ports are now pollution sources formed into an inland port,” Vidaurre said. “Forty percent of the nation’s stuff goes through those ports and come to warehouses in the communities of Bloomington, Muscoy, Highland, Moreno Valley, Perris and other areas in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.”

The two regulations are different in scope and approach but both target diesel trucks:

• An informational webinar will be presented at 1 p.m. Thursday, March 4, by the California Air Resources Board on its proposed Advanced Clean Fleets (ACF) program. The program sets targets for buying electric vehicles for public fleet owners such as cities and counties; private fleet companies such as those running airport shuttles, as well as owners of drayage trucks, defined as on-road, diesel-fueled, heavy-duty trucks that transport containers to and from ports and railyards.

The CARB program calls for phasing in zero-emission trucks as follows: For public fleets: 50% by the 2024-2026 model years; 100% starting with 2027 model year trucks. All drayage trucks must be zero-emission by 2035, while diesel trucks on the road can operate until reaching 800,000 miles or 18 years of age. Private fleet owners are to phase in zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) truck models starting at 10% in 2025 and up to 100% by 2035 for most truck varieties. Sleeper-cab trucks, the largest, have until 2042 to reach 100%.

• The South Coast Air Quality Management District is scheduled to hold a hearing April 2 on its Warehouse Indirect Source Rule (ISR). About 3,000 existing warehouses over 100,000 square feet in size located within the air district would be required to reduce truck tailpipe emissions that serve their facilities by replacing them with electric or fuel-cell trucks and installing electric charging infrastructure. Otherwise, each warehouse owner must pay a “mitigation fee,” estimated at $0.90 per square foot to the AQMD, to be used by others to buy clean-fuel trucks and equipment.

While environmental groups, from the PCFEJ to the Sierra Club and the American Lung Association support both rules, some industry groups have deep concerns.

The Southern California chapter of the National Association of Office and Industrial Parks opposes the AQMD warehouse measure, saying it will cost Southern California warehouses $1 billion a year and will result in higher consumer prices on everything from medicine to groceries to electronics.

“We share the goal to reduce air emissions but it needs to be done in a way that makes sense,” said Timothy Jemal, CEO of NAIOP SoCal. Jemal said the association’s 1,300 members will continue to oppose the measure.

There are too few electric trucks are on the market to meet the demand, according to Jemal, so most warehouse owners will pay the fee, which he said is illegal.

“We believe this is a tax that requires two-thirds voter approval in order to be adopted,” he added.

FILE -The Los Angeles based Chanje company CEO Bryan Hansel unveils a line of electric trucks at warehouse/hangar at Fullerton Municipal Airport October 18, 2017. The delivery vehicles were designed with permanent magnet motors from scratch, not based on any other truck. (File photo by Leo Jarzomb, SGV Tribune/ SCNG)

In an earlier webinar on the CARB’s clean truck fleets measure, Brandon Rose, a representative of the board, said there are 93 ZEV truck models on the market today and that will increase to 109 by 2023.

“There really is a wide variety of zero-emission trucks and buses available,” Rose said Tuesday, March 2. “You are starting to see this become more mainstream.”

Costs are going down, he added.

Investor-owned utilities have received approvals by the California Public Utilities Commission for $700 million to install electric-charging infrastructure through 2023, enough to support 18,000 trucks, buses and off-road vehicles, he said.

In the Tuesday meeting, some operators of public fleets asked if exemptions were allowed if the costs were too high. Though the rule is still in the early stage and could be changed, Tony Brasil of CARB answered: “We wouldn’t use cost as a direct criteria.”

However, CARB said it would work with cities and counties to avoid having to buy two electric trucks to replace one.

As far as large trucks that take containers from the ports to warehouses and rail yards, the proposed fleet rule from CARB is an extension of a similar truck regulation that sunsets in 2022. These trucks would be required to be 100% emission-free by 2035 in order to operate at a rail yard or sea port, according to the proposal.

“The concept will focus on minimizing negative health impacts these drayage trucks have on nearby communities,” such as those near a rail yard or the ports of LA and Long Beach, said Jessica Johnston of CARB.

“What we need is the shift from delay and confusion (regarding state and local clean-truck mandates) to investing in the infrastructure we need to fuel these zero-emission vehicles,” said William Barrett, American Lung Association’s California Clean Air Advocacy Director.

“We want to see CARB follow through with the governor’s vision — that all trucks operating in California must be zero emission. That would require a strong fleet rule,” Barrett said.

CARB plans additional online workshops for its clean fleet rule in April and June. No date has been set for adoption.

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2 new measures aim to take diesel trucks off Southern California roads was originally posted by Local Sign Company Irvine, Ca. https://goo.gl/4NmUQV https://goo.gl/bQ1zHR http://www.pearltrees.com/anaheimsigns

2 new measures aim to take diesel trucks off Southern California roads

Two sweeping air pollution regulations aimed at removing smog-causing diesel trucks from Southern California roadways and warehouses are being released for public review within the next 30 days.

A local Southern California measure would require trucks serving 3,000 warehouses to be electrified.

The two regulations are different in scope and approach but both target diesel trucks:

While environmental groups, from the PCFEJ to the Sierra Club and the American Lung Association support both rules, some industry groups have deep concerns.

There are too few electric trucks are on the market to meet the demand, according to Jemal, so most warehouse owners will pay the fee, which he said is illegal.

“We believe this is a tax that requires two-thirds voter approval in order to be adopted,” he added.

“There really is a wide variety of zero-emission trucks and buses available,” Rose said Tuesday, March 2. “You are starting to see this become more mainstream.”

Costs are going down, he added.

However, CARB said it would work with cities and counties to avoid having to buy two electric trucks to replace one.

“We want to see CARB follow through with the governor’s vision — that all trucks operating in California must be zero emission. That would require a strong fleet rule,” Barrett said.

CARB plans additional online workshops for its clean fleet rule in April and June. No date has been set for adoption.

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USC bounces back with rout of Stanford, keeps Pac-12 title hopes alive

USC’s Isaiah Mobley is fouled by Stanford’s Max Murrell during the second half of Wednesday’s game at the Galen Center. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
in the second half of a NCAA basketball game at the Galen Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Isaiah Mobley #3 of the USC Trojans shoots over Max Murrell #10 of the Stanford Cardinal in the second half of a NCAA basketball game at the Galen Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Chevez Goodwin #1 of the USC Trojans drives to the basket against Brandon Angel #23 of the Stanford Cardinal in the second half of a NCAA basketball game at the Galen Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Isaiah Mobley #3 of the USC Trojans shoots over Max Murrell #10 of the Stanford Cardinal in the second half of a NCAA basketball game at the Galen Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Chevez Goodwin #1 of the USC Trojans reacts after scoring against the Stanford Cardinal in the second half of a NCAA basketball game at the Galen Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Isaiah Mobley #3 of the USC Trojans fights for the loose ball against Michael O’Connell #5 of the Stanford Cardinal in the second half of a NCAA basketball game at the Galen Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Chevez Goodwin #1 of the USC Trojans shoots against the Stanford Cardinal in the second half of a NCAA basketball game at the Galen Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Isaiah Mobley #3 of the USC Trojans controls the ball against the Stanford Cardinal in the first half of a NCAA basketball game at the Galen Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
USC Trojans v. the Stanford Cardinal in the first half of a NCAA basketball game at the Galen Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Evan Mobley #4 of the USC Trojans rebounds against the Stanford Cardinal in the first half of a NCAA basketball game at the Galen Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Isaiah Mobley #3 of the USC Trojans shoots against the Stanford Cardinal in the first half of a NCAA basketball game at the Galen Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Drew Peterson #13 of the USC Trojans passes against the Stanford Cardinal in the first half of a NCAA basketball game at the Galen Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Head coach Jerod Haase of the Stanford Cardinal reacts against the USC Trojans in the first half of a NCAA basketball game at the Galen Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Isaiah White #5 of the USC Trojans scrambles for the loose ball against Ziaire Williams #3 of the Stanford Cardinal in the first half of a NCAA basketball game at the Galen Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Isaiah Mobley #3 of the USC Trojans reacts after a teammate scores against the Stanford Cardinal in the first half of a NCAA basketball game at the Galen Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Evan Mobley #4 of the USC Trojans controls the ball against the Stanford Cardinal in the first half of a NCAA basketball game at the Galen Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Drew Peterson #13 of the USC Trojans passes against the Stanford Cardinal in the first half of a NCAA basketball game at the Galen Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Max Agbonkpolo #23 of the USC Trojans shoots against the Stanford Cardinal in the first half of a NCAA basketball game at the Galen Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Head coach Andy Enfield of the USC Trojans looks on against the Stanford Cardinal in the first half of a NCAA basketball game at the Galen Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
USC’s Tahj Eaddy celebrates a basket during the second half of Wednesday’s game against Stanford at the Galen Center. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Head coach Andy Enfield of the USC Trojans looks on against the Stanford Cardinal in the first half of a NCAA basketball game at the Galen Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Ethan Anderson #20 of the USC Trojans passes against the Stanford Cardinal in the first half of a NCAA basketball game at the Galen Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Max Agbonkpolo #23 of the USC Trojans scramble for the loose ball against Ziaire Williams #3 of the Stanford Cardinal in the first half of a NCAA basketball game at the Galen Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Drew Peterson #13 of the USC Trojans passes against the Stanford Cardinal in the first half of a NCAA basketball game at the Galen Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Drew Peterson #13 of the USC Trojans slam dunks over Spencer Jones #14 of the Stanford Cardinal in the first half of a NCAA basketball game at the Galen Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Drew Peterson #13 of the USC Trojans drives to the basket against the Stanford Cardinal in the first half of a NCAA basketball game at the Galen Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Drew Peterson #13 of the USC Trojans passes under the basket against Lukas Kisunas #32 of the Stanford Cardinal in the first half of a NCAA basketball game at the Galen Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Isaiah White #5 of the USC Trojans scrambles for the loose ball against Ziaire Williams #3 of the Stanford Cardinal in the first half of a NCAA basketball game at the Galen Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Max Agbonkpolo #23 of the USC Trojans scramble for the loose ball against Ziaire Williams #3 of the Stanford Cardinal in the first half of a NCAA basketball game at the Galen Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)

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LOS ANGELES — There’s nothing quite like an empty-the-bench blowout to get a team back on track.

In its home finale, the USC men’s basketball team buried Stanford, 79-42, in a win that was important both practically and mentally for the Trojans (20-6 overall, 14-5 in Pac-12 play).

On the practical side, USC kept alive its hopes of a regular-season Pac-12 title, though it will need to beat UCLA on Saturday and hope Oregon State upsets Oregon a day later to achieve the goal.

And as for the mental, the victory – the Trojans’ most lopsided of the season – ended USC’s two-game losing streak and a stretch of three losses in four games, an important albatross to shake in the first game of the new month.

“Very important; March is here, so it’s good to come in with some positive energy,” said Chevez Goodwin, who made his first four shots to finish with eight points. “This is the time of year where make or break, if you lose you go home. So we had to get back on track.”

Everyone got in on the fun after videos from family members introduced the Trojan starting lineup.

Tahj Eaddy led all scorers with 16 points and four 3-pointers. Drew Peterson, back in the starting lineup after three games off the bench, scored 15, grabbed nine rebounds and had six assists. Freshman big man Evan Mobley scored 10 and blocked a couple of shots. Max Agbonkpolo came off the bench with eight points.

By the end of the game, the reserves and walk-ons had taken over, with 5-foot-7 Amar Ross draining a 3-pointer as the starters strummed their air guitars on the bench.

It took two minutes for either team to score, and the Cardinal quickly matched Eaddy’s opening jumper. But that was the last point Stanford (14-12, 10-10) scored for the next 8:04.

The USC defense was playing with a different level of energy than it did during last week’s road trip to Colorado and Utah. The Trojans stayed in front of their opponents, contested every shot and swallowed up the rebounds before the Cardinal could get a second chance.

USC forced two shot-clock violations in the first half and limited Stanford to six field goals before halftime. Overall, USC limited the Cardinal to 25.4% shooting from the floor and forced 16 turnovers.

“They were talking and they made the right switches,” USC head coach Andy Enfield said. “I thought it was a complete effort.”

As the Stanford offense went into a coma, the Trojans broke off a 15-0 run. Peterson started it with a put-back dunk, one of three second-chance baskets in that stretch as USC dominated rebounding 45-27 in the game.

By the time Stanford scored again, on a free throw by former Loyola High forward James Keefe, the Trojans were operating at full force. Step-back 3-pointers by Eaddy. Dunks by the Mobley brothers. Jumpers from Peterson.

USC took a 19-point lead into halftime, and in case there was any doubt about which direction the game was headed, the Trojans hit four straight 3-pointers to start the second. A mid-range pull-up from Peterson made it a 50-19 advantage.

Stanford was woefully undermanned, to be sure. Leading scorer Oscar da Silva missed the game with a lower-body injury, and he was one of three rotation players who didn’t dress for the game.

But after last week’s lows, USC was happy to leave the Galen Center for the final time this season with a win. The team took Sunday off and had what Enfield described as two good days of practice before seeing it come together on the court.

“This was a great team win,” Enfield said. “It was nice to play better basketball here at home.”

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Inside the Dodgers: Explaining the paradox of Corey Seager’s 2020 success

Editor’s note: This is the Wednesday, March 3 edition of the Inside the Dodgers newsletter from reporter J.P. Hoornstra. To receive the newsletter in your inbox, sign up here.

One curiosity of the 2020 season stuck to my brain and didn’t let go throughout the off-season. Prior to the pandemic, Corey Seager famously watched video of his plate appearances during games. MLB banned the practice last year, among many restrictions designed to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. In theory, that might have sent Seager’s numbers plummeting. Instead he had the best offensive season of his career (in 70 games).

Writing about this paradox for the Wall Street Journal, Jared Diamond noted how other stars, including Javier Baez and J.D. Martinez, said their inability to watch video mid-game caused them to slump at the plate. Seager couldn’t explain his own success. “I’m definitely eager for it to get back to normal,” he said. “There are certain things that you feel that you think are in the right spot and they’re not. It’s been a year of relying on feels, and that could be good and bad.”

Operating on the assumption that there has to be an explanation for Seager’s success, I decided to dig into his numbers. I found what looks like a partial answer.

If we’re interested in the effect of watching video between plate appearances, it makes sense to start by comparing Seager’s results from his first plate appearance to his second to his third. Baseball Reference has the counting stats for a batter’s 1st time facing a starter vs. 2nd vs. 3rd. We can see that, in terms of OPS, which is a good proxy for run production, Seager was noticeably better last year in his 1st and 2nd plate appearances against opposing starters compared to years past. His 3rd plate appearances against opposing starters in 2020 were slightly poorer by OPS compared to 2019, and to his career on the whole.

You can fit a theory to this data. Seager’s access to videos before and after games were the same in 2019 and 2020. His performance in his first plate appearance of every 2020 game shouldn’t have been affected by in-game video access ― only whatever adjustments he made before the 2020 season and between games. Knowing that his first-PA OPS jumped 200 points (from .938 to 1.139) tells us that Seager made significant strides that had nothing to do with his in-game habits. But how do we explain Seager’s second-PA success, a jump in OPS of almost 300 points (.841 to 1.132)? Hitters don’t always see the same pitches (by location, type, velocity, etc.) in their second plate appearance that they saw in their first ― especially hitters who tend to swing early in the count, like Seager. Maybe seeing a pitcher for the second time in the game, for Seager, was not much different from seeing him the first time. By the third plate appearance, however, pitchers ostensibly figured out something about Seager’s approach and adjusted to their advantage. Seager’s inability to access video in-game seemed to turn the “third time through the order penalty” on its head.

There’s a danger in fitting a theory to a sample size that small. Seager only faced an opposing starter three times in a game 34 times last season. We need more than 34 data points to forge any conclusions about what was actually happening with confidence. We’re also glossing over an important effect of in-game video: pitch recognition. Better pitch recognition results in a better OPS. But we still don’t know how a lack of in-game video affected Seager’s ability to recognize and react to specific pitches from one plate appearance to the next.

MLB.com’s Statcast data allows us to dig in to some of these specifics. It has a tool called “swing/chase” that displays hitters’ tendencies to swing or lay off pitches thrown to one of four different zones: the heart (middle), shadow (pitches on the border of the strike zone that are called balls half the time), chase (just outside the shadow) and waste (nowhere near the strike zone). Here is Corey Seager’s “swing/chase” chart.

That chart tells us a lot, but not for our purposes. It’s missing a breakdown of what happens to Seager’s swing/take tendencies from one plate appearance to the next. But we can figure this out, albeit crudely, through the Statcast search engine.

Sample size is our biggest obstacle when slicing this data by pitch type. It’s too easy for one pitch in one at-bat to skew the data. Here’s a great example: Seager saw 21 changeups in his third time through the batting order during the 2020 regular season. One of those (against the Rockies’ Carlos Estevez on Sept. 17) resulted in an extra-base hit, a double. Yet Statcast credits him with an expected slugging percentage of .857. More than an indictment of how Statcast calculates expected slugging percentage, I think this demonstrates the limits of using 21 data points to draw sweeping conclusions about a batter’s season.

So, let’s ignore pitch type and focus on location. When we use the same four location classifications (heart, shadow, chase, waste) that we have for the “swing/chase” analysis, a clear picture emerges of where Seager is looking to make his money. Sample size is still somewhat of an issue, but less so when categorizing every pitch Seager saw into four zones as opposed to, say, 10 different pitch types. For this analysis, then, we’re looking at two things: what Seager did against pitches thrown to one of four locations, and how that changed from one plate appearance to the next.

What jumps out first is how dangerous Seager was on pitches thrown down the heart of the plate in his first plate appearance. His average exit velocity when putting these pitches in play was 100.2 mph. Compared to past seasons, Seager put more of these pitches in play, and he was rewarded with an expected slugging percentage of .990. That ranked 25th out of 330 players who batted at least 10 times in 2020.

That’s impressive, but consider what Seager did against “shadow” pitches ― pitches that are called strikes half the time and balls the other half. Seager wasn’t as aggressive against these pitches his first time at-bat, but when he swung at them he was nearly as dangerous. His expected slugging percentage of .894 was second in MLB. That exceptional degree of selectivity wasn’t present for Seager in seasons past. Was this just a small-sample quirk of a shortened 2020 season, or a repeatable skill that can carry over to 2021? This is an important question for Seager and the Dodgers.

Seager didn’t put any balls in play on “chase” pitches in his first plate appearance in a game last year, but his .600 expected on-base percentage indicates that he laid off these pitches regularly. Now we have a more complete picture of Seager’s impeccable first-plate-appearance success. (Waste pitches are relatively uncommon, and so rarely put in play, that we can safely ignore them for purposes of this analysis.)

Looking only at his second plate appearances in 2020, here’s what Seager did against pitches in the heart and shadow of the strike zone. Compared to his career numbers, Seager was exceptional in these situations. He also continued to lay off pitches in the “chase” region, only striking out once on a chase pitch in his second plate appearance of a game in 2020.

So far, all of these numbers support the surface-level stats I cited at the beginning of this newsletter. So, what happened his third time up to the plate? Seager stopped crushing pitches located in the heart of the strike zone. Counterintuitively, he fared better against pitches in the “shadow” than the heart. He wasn’t chasing an inordinate number of pitches in the “chase” zone, only striking out twice. But for some reason Seager wasn’t crushing the pitches that should be easiest to crush in his third plate appearance, and that had a noticeable effect on his counting stats.

There’s no shortage of hypothetical explanations for why this happened. Maybe Seager was regularly looking for a pitch in one location his third time up, and getting another. Maybe by that point in the game ― probably the fifth inning or later ― Seager wanted to take the first pitch he saw to establish some measure of rhythm, and as a result he wasn’t as confident swinging even when those pitcheswere right down the middle of the plate. If that’s the case, maybe watching video prior to his third plate appearance had been providing Seager that confidence in years past. Again, it would be nice to have more self-reporting insight from Seager. When we asked him last October, he either wasn’t aware of what was happening ― or comfortable enough in his self-awareness to provide an explanation to the media.

At least there’s enough publicly available data to suggest where Seager can look to make an improvement on his 2020 season. More than that, last season shows that Seager has plenty he can build on. He wasn’t “getting lucky” late in games despite not being able to access video of his at-bats. He was somehow better equipped as a hitter ― physically and/or mentally ― going into each game, and that made a world of difference.

-J.P.

Editor’s note: Thanks for reading the Inside the Dodgers newsletter. To receive the newsletter in your inbox, sign up here.

Why must we reach out and always see the grass?

Luxury concerns ― The Dodgers will fall from 29th to 39th in the draft order unless they clear some payroll space, and CBS Sports has some suggestions for who they might trade.
Marginal utility ― Zach McKinstry can “rake,” but can he find at-bats with the reigning champions?
Two-way talent ― Pitching is a bonus for new Dodgers infielder Matt Davidson.
The pandemic isn’t over ― The start of the minor league season has been postponed due to health and safety concerns.
Run, don’t walk ― Walker Buehler’s first competitive start of 2021 came right on time Tuesday.

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Facebook Lookalike Audiences: What Marketers Need to Know

If you’ve ever been in charge of running ads for a business, I’ll bet you’ve wondered how to get cold audiences to interact with your ads. It’s the age-old problem of online advertising.

With Facebook ads, one of the best ways to target a cold audience that is likely to interact with you is to use lookalike audiences.

Don’t worry if you’ve heard of this concept, but have been slightly worried about getting started with the process. I know I thought the process would be more complex when I was working at an agency. Lucky for us, it’s actually really simple.

Below, let’s learn everything you need to know to get started with Facebook lookalike audiences.

So, how does it work?

How does Facebook create lookalike audiences?

Well, Facebook will look at your custom list of people (called a source audience), then match emails with those Facebook profiles, and then find users who have similar interests or are in a similar demographic.

With a lookalike audience, you can reach a cold audience that is highly targeted (reaching only the top 1% of people who most closely match your custom list) and more likely to convert than other audiences because they’re similar to your warm audiences.

When you create a lookalike audience, you’ll be able to maximize your reach and improve your cost per acquisition for new leads since you’re targeting warmer audiences.

Additionally, when Facebook is creating the lookalike audiences that your ad will show up for, it makes sure to exclude anyone from the source audience (the list you uploaded).

You can use several lookalike audiences even for one ad set, that way your ad can show up to people who are similar to your web visitors as well as your email list.

Now, how do you create a lookalike audience?

1. Go to Audiences.

The first step is to log on to Facebook Ads. Then, click the nine dots in the left-hand corner, and click “Audiences.”

2. Select Create Audience and choose Lookalike Audience.

Now, click the blue button that says “Create Audience” and then scroll down to “Lookalike Audience.”

3. Upload your source audience.

This step is where the magic happens. Now it’s time to upload your custom audience source. You can upload a .txt or .csv file or choose a Facebook source. This audience source can be from:

An email list
Website visitors (based on a Facebook pixel you’ll need to install on your site)
App activity
A customer list
Facebook sources (people who have watched your videos, filled out a form, Instagram followers)

To determine which source you want to use, think about your goals. Are you trying to get new email subscribers? Then maybe your email list would be best. If you’re trying to increase sales, maybe you should use your website visitors list.

Either way, it’s important to think about the goal of your ad before you choose your source audience.

4. Choose the country you’d like to find a similar set of people in.

Once you’ve uploaded a list, choose the country that you want to target. This doesn’t mean that people in your source audience need to be from this country. This is just the country or countries you want to target for the ad.

5. Decide your audience size.

Now, you can select your audience size. For example, if you choose 1%, then the people you target will include people who are most similar to your lookalike source. If you increase the percentage, then you increase your audience size. The bigger the audience size, the less precise the matching details are.

6. Click Create Audience.

Last but not least, click the blue button that says “Create Audience.” It might take up to a day for the audience to be created. But once your lookalike audience is being used, it will refresh every 3-7 days as long as you have ads that are currently targeting it.

Once you’re done creating your lookalike audience, you can set even more parameters by going into the Power Editor tool and choosing a specific age, gender, location, etc.

Before I set you off to the races, though, let’s first discuss some of the requirements of creating a Facebook lookalike audience.

Facebook Lookalike Audience Minimum Size

To create a Facebook lookalike audience, your source audience needs to include at least 100 people from a single country. Additionally, it’s recommended that your source audience contain 1,000 to 50,000 people. You can also create up to 500 lookalike audiences from a single source audience.

If you’re looking to create a Facebook ad, using lookalike audiences is one of the best ways to target cold audiences. These audiences will be more likely to engage with your ad based on their similarities to your other audiences.

If you’re a HubSpot customer, you can use HubSpot’s ads tool to manage your digital ads, including ones run on Facebook.

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Facebook Lookalike Audiences: What Marketers Need to Know was originally posted by Local Sign Company Irvine, Ca. https://goo.gl/4NmUQV https://goo.gl/bQ1zHR http://www.pearltrees.com/anaheimsigns