Serial techpreneur Sue Fennessy, after co-founding and subsequently selling off Standard Media Index, needed a new challenge.
She found it in WeAre8, the sustainable advertising platform, that places people and the planet at its core, paying its users (or citizens as the company calls them) to watch ads, making a positive impact in the process.
With the rollout of the platform in Australia less than two weeks away, Fennessy and her local WeAre8 team held a launch event in Sydney and provided a sneak peek of what to expect August 8.
Fennessy said one of the inspirations behind creating the platform was due to the negative impact that Big Tech has had on our lives.
“Technology and social media has divided us more than ever before. Algorithms control what we see, making our world smaller and more divided. It is not making us happier, it is not making us better and it is not making us more connected."
Noting the average engagement rate on a Facebook ad in the US is just 0.4%, despite a reported $100 billion in ad revenue spent on the platform last year, Fennessy approached the development of WeAre8 with a key question in mind.
“Is it possible to deliver a digital ad in a way that works better than 1% and guarantee someone's attention that leaves them feeling really involved, valued, rewarded, and respected?
“If we can take the engagement rates and the attention from under 1% and deliver better results, then we can shift money back to people and unite to save the planet."
Outside of paying its citizens to watch ads, WeAre8 also aims to spread positivity.
“One part of the WeAre8 app that launches on August 8 is what we've called the 8Stage, where we bring eight minutes of the world's best content to you every day.
“The whole purpose of that is a hate-free, ad-free experience to make you feel valued, loved, inspired, reconnected and looking at the world through a different lens, for eight minutes a day, and feeling your power to change the world.”
Part of the success that Fennessy and the WeAre8 team sees with the platform derives from the uncoupling of the ads from the feed experience, allowing citizens to watch the ads when and where they want, all while getting rewarded for it.
“Every time you watch an ad, you get valued by money going into your wallet and a donation getting made to charity.
“We researched that if I say ‘I'm going to make a donation when you watch that ad’, about 15% of people will watch it, whereas if I say ‘I'm going to pay you 10 cents, for example, to watch that ad because I really value your time’, you then feel loved, valued and trusted.
“What's fascinating is 54% of people in the UK are paying it forward. We think the numbers will be even bigger than that in Australia.
“In terms of the money, 50% goes to 8Citizens, so the money comes from the brands and advertisers through WeAre8 into people's pockets. Another 5% goes to charity and carbon offset and an extra 5% to a creative fund to really fuel creativity on the platform as well."
To help brands achieve this, the platform has created SAM-i – short for Sustainable Ad Manager – Intelligent - their answer to Facebook’s Ad Manager that allows brands to see exactly how much of their money is going to people and the planet.
“It's driven by a beautiful data engine underneath it. This is being deployed into all the agencies and it's really going to grow all the direct brands as well.
“We are a carbon-negative media platform and if brands shift just 6.5% of their social budgets, they will make their entire social budgets carbon neutral, so the offset piece is very exciting to us."
On track to hit 8 million people using the app in the UK by the end of the year, Fennessy expects similarly strong numbers from Australia.
“It's really through media partners, commercial partners and the talent in the WeAre8 team that we will grow. Lizzie and Luke [Robinson, the CMO] have an incredible plan here.
“People aren't getting involved just because they like the business. They're getting involved because they want to change the world."
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.