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Santa Monica-based independent agency RPA has hired Cliff Atkinson for the role of senior vice president, executive director, digital media, a new role at the agency.
Atkinson will lead RPA’s digital media practice, including strategy, social, programmatic, search and ad operations. He will also partner with other teams at the agency to further develop its suite of offerings. He reports to executive vice president, chief media officer Jim Helberg.
Atkinson comes to RPA from Saatchi & Saatchi L.A., where he held a similar role leading its digital strategy and investment practice.
Prior to his more than 12 years at Saatchi & Saatchi L.A., Atkinson began his career at Grey NY before moving on to posts at various agencies, including Deutsch N.Y. and L.A. His account experience includes Toyota, Procter & Gamble, Coors Light, UnitedHealthcare, and the Discovery Channel.
In an era when consumers are increasingly scrutinizing brands for their political leanings, Walmart has always been a sure bet as a red state stalwart. Just as Starbucks is cast as the beverage of choice for those lefty, latte-sipping elitists, Walmart has seemed the safest haven for gun-totin’ ’mericans.
Not so fast. New data from the YouGov BrandIndex shows that Walmart has been steadily creeping into the hearts of Democrats. More say they would consider purchasing something at Walmart, moving from negative five years ago to positive, and surpassing the purchase consideration of Independents. And perhaps most remarkably, it seems to have pulled off this feat without losing favor among Republican shoppers. YouGov CEO Ted Marzilli tells Marketing Daily what the new data means.
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Q. So this is a big change. In early 2013, 43% of Democrats said they’d consider buying something from Walmart they time they went shopping, and now it’s 52%. And they’ve closed the gap from a 22 percentage point difference with Republicans five years ago to just 3 percentage points now. What’s happening?
A. Over the last five years, Walmart seems to have made inroads with consumers who identify as Democrats. In April 2015, for instance, it sided with companies like Apple in protesting religious freedom laws, which might have opened the doors to LGBT discrimination. It’s raised the minimum wage for workers, a cause Democrats identify with most. And last month, it increased the minimum age for gun buyers to 21 years old. And it hasn’t given up much to Republican consumers. It seems like it’s been able to walk that fine line, appealing to Democratic consumers without alienating their conservative consumers.
Q. Walmart seems to be good at taking these steps in quiet ways, so that conservatives either don’t notice or object. It did protest religious freedom laws, for example, but it didn’t take the bold step Target did of creating gender-neutral bathrooms. And as you say, it did raise the age for gun purchases from 18 to 21, but not until Dick’s Sporting Goods did so, and hence drew the most social media a fire. Do you think this kind of tip-toeing is part of the Walmart strategy?
A. I think you’re onto something. We find, with brands in crises, it’s often better to be going through the crisis second or third—those brands tend to get less attention. Is it intentional, or serendipitous? I don’t know. If it is their strategy, the data suggest it is a good one.
Q. Walmart just announced it would remove Cosmopolitan from checkout lines, an announcement made by the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, saying the magazine contributes to the hyper-sexualization of women. Many people might have expected it to make such a decision based on a Christian family-values group. Can that alter perception?
A. That just happened, so we don’t have data on it. That Walmart is sympathetic to what would seem to be a more left-leaning group is interesting. But in general, the magnitude and breadth of the #MeToo movement in recent months have made it less of a political issue—Republicans and Democrats are saying, “There’s a problem here.”
Q. Can brands be apolitical these days?
A. To a degree. Take Amazon. I expected it to skew more Democratic, in part because of Jeff Bezos’ political activity. There is a difference in how consumers who identify as Democrats versus Republicans see it, but it’s small. I wouldn’t call it a polarized brand. Starbucks is a different story. Starbucks has become part of the lexicon. It’s political-speak for the right to deride the liberals who drink high-priced coffees, like Starbucks. That does show up in the data. Chick-fil-A is another polarized brand.
Q. How do class differences affect this research? Once, Walmart was seen as a brand targeting low-income shoppers. Now, it’s changing its profile with acquisitions and e-commerce. And now Amazon is actively courting low-income shoppers, offering special Prime deals for people on public assistance, for example.
A. I don’t know if that would hurt Amazon with Republicans, but it could help them with Democrats. In different income groups, people who earn household incomes of $100,000 or more consider Amazon for purchase more than Walmart. And at the low end, with household incomes of $20,000 or less, they are neck and neck.
Attribution is not a new problem. The desire to quantify the influence of marketing in terms of sales can likely be traced to early market days of the Roman Empire.
Yet over the last several years, attribution providers have stoked the notion that more definitive credit might be allocated to marketing using “algorithms” and “machine learning” on user/touch-level data.
In practice, however, reality frequently falls short of aspiration. Many of the reasons attribution projects fail can be rolled up under five current categories of challenges:
The People Factor
Data unification, the process of aggregating data from across sources[1] and mapping it to a cross-channel user ID, is typically where an attribution project starts, and for good reason—incomplete data creates a problem that attribution can’t solve. But this process isn’t trivial. Before committing to an investment in an attribution platform, assess your existing data and tracking infrastructure and consider whether you will be able to connect enough of your data sources for the platform to work as intended.
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Inability to Effectively Incorporate Offline Marketing into Models
Unlike many online systems and direct mail, where it is possible to collect data at the user level, offline marketing analysis typically requires looking for relationships on more aggregate data—testing factors like spend, location, and timing.
There is no perfect solution for these kinds of problems, but better solutions involve more opt-in data and a combination of modelling approaches. Consider evaluating user-level and non-user-level factors and how the methodology has been validated.
Failure to Account for Seasonal/Environmental Factors
Sometimes rain sells umbrellas, not marketing, but marketing attribution platforms aren’t always built to account for the influence of weather or other (less literal) environmental factors. Well-known brands also face the challenge of modelling the influence of momentum built-up over decades and the probable slow decline if they go dark on their marketing. Generally some experimentation and creative thinking will be necessary to account for the effects of seasonal factors and ambient brand awareness.
Outputs Don’t Translate Easily into Optimization Levers
Ad impressions are multidimensional events and it is often difficult to know which attribute(s) of an impression is most responsible for an outcome. From an attribution modeling perspective, there is a forced trade-off between abstraction and granularity when answering the question, “to what do we attribute this conversion?” Higher levels of abstraction (at the marketing channel level, for instance) allow analysts a lot of flexibility with the choice of the analysis mechanism and result in interpretable models, but they provide less visibility into the relative influence of the different attributes of the advertising impressions. This forces an analyst to provide a measure of effectiveness for the entire channel, when different tactics within that channel may range in effectiveness from ineffective to extremely effective. The operative question when developing a modeling approach is what you feel you’re going to need to get out of it to know which levers to pull.
Inability to Validate the Model
Many attribution solutions come pre-fitted with a model or algorithm built to sort out fractional credit for sales across marketing tactics. From a utility perspective, this is conceptually attractive, but the idea that general-purpose math can work well “out-of-the-box” is debatable. The reality is that there are often significant differences in predictive performance when applying the same model to different data and questions. Basing big decisions on an invalid model is potentially worse than simply leveraging experience and intuition. It is worthwhile to spend some time testing and experimenting after the implementation is complete.
Even if we ask the right questions, we sometimes receive answers that downplay the potential complexity and gloss over the kinds of challenges marketers face.
Reasons Attribution Fails And How To Avoid The Trap
ð Don’t underestimate the demands on your in-house marketing teams and vendor partners
ð Drive to incorporate offline marketing and paid social into models
ð Account for seasonal and environmental factors
ð Think through the process of translating outputs to marketing optimizations
ð Plan to validate the model
The Federal Trade Commission has confirmed it is investigating Facebook for possible privacy violations, a result of last week’s revelations that Cambridge Analytica used data from 50 million Facebook users to target advertising to potential Trump supporters.
For data-driven email marketers, the Cambridge Analytica and Facebook scandal might appear at first as a bit of a conundrum.
Email marketers use customer data every day to augment campaigns with personalization, and data drives the most successful digital advertising campaigns due to added relevance. Cambridge Analytica’s use of personal data to target voters on Facebook, and the subsequent upset victory in the 2016 presidential election, is perhaps even an example of how personal data can deliver more successful marketing campaigns.
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“As brands develop relationships with their customers, it is not only inevitable, but also desirable that they are listening closely to their customers to help better anticipate their needs and deliver improved products and services,” says Bill Magnuson, CEO & Cofounder of Braze (formerly Appboy).
The difference between personalized email marketing and the Facebook scandal, however, is critical: consent.
Magnuson says that personalized marketing requires the collection, storage, and usage of customer data. For example, retail brands utilize customers’ historical purchase data to deliver email campaigns with recommend purchases that fit subscribers’ interests and media companies utilize past engagement data to promote more relevant content in their digital ads.
This collection, storage, and usage of data for personalized marketing should only be used to a certain extent, says Magnuson, and only with the prior consent of the customer.
“Brands should be held to a high standard of transparency and accountability in their handling of personal data, and it should never cross the line into the sharing or sale of personal data on groups of customers without their individual consent,” he says.
Email marketers are familiar with the need for customer consent in marketing due to the CAN-SPAM Act in the United States, and other similar email privacy legislation around the world. The problem, however, is that companies currently do not face consequences for the misuse of personal data on newer communications channels like social media.
Until May, that is.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), set for implementation in the European Union on May 25, clearly outlines how companies can or cannot use personal data, and sets strict rules on how customer data is collected. American companies will need to adhere to GDPR privacy standards for their European customers, regardless of their physical location.
No data can be collected without a customer’s prior consent, per GDPR, and marketers need to clearly outline to customers how their data would be used. Furthermore, customers have a “right to be forgotten,” meaning customers can request a document from any company that outlines what data that company might have on them, and then request that data be edited or deleted.
If the United States had GDPR-like legislation, Facebook would be at fault for how Cambridge Analytica used its data in the Presidential election. GDPR clearly outlines the difference between data processors, like Facebook, and data controllers, their customers like Cambridge Analytica, so that both entities face consequences for either party’s misuse of personal data.
Furthermore, GDPR requires companies to notify customers of any data breach or face financial consequences. Companies that delayed telling consumers about massive data hacks – like Uber, Equifax, and Yahoo – would have faced financial fines under GDPR, a warning to other companies like Facebook to get their personal data security and privacy issues in order.
GDPR was approved in 2016 and will be implemented in two months time, but Facebook has yet to hire a Data Protection Officer. A current job listing for the position lists GDPR advising, training, monitoring, and compliance among its responsibilities.
Red Bull has appointed Starcom USA as its media agency for North America following a review.
Carat had previously handled the assignment, which it won back in 2010.
Starcom, part of Publicis Media, will handle media planning and buying as well as search, social, and programmatic on behalf of the energy drink marketer.
The company spent an estimated $30 million on measured media in the U.S. in 2017 according to Kantar Media. That was down sharply from the $54 million it spent in 2016, per Kantar.
“Red Bull is a cutting-edge brand with incredible vision and we are honored to be selected as their media partner,” stated Kathy Ring, CEO of Starcom US. “Their culture of innovation and iteration is a perfect fit for Starcom and we’re excited to use our unique capabilities to help Red Bull North America uncover new insights about their audience and reach them in an authentic way.”
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Around $18.2 billion (that’s a B as in bunny) is due to be spent by consumers this year on celebrating Easter, according to the National Retail Federation, and marketers know that social media is the basket that should hold a lot of their fanciest promotional eggs.
NewsWhip, which monitors Internet trends in real time for brands and newsrooms, has been tabulating who’s going where and when. For example, last year NewsWhip observed that Facebook Easter-related content was nothing much until a couple of weeks before the holiday. Pre-holiday, engagements were just in the 1 million range. As Easter got nearer the appetite for Easter content hopped to beyond 12 million.
But on Pinterest, perhaps because its users are more craft oriented, engagements spiked at 350,000 more than a month before Easter, and then again — but only to about 250,000 — a couple weeks before. By the time Easter rolled around on April 16 last year, engagements of Easter-related Web content fell to around 50,000 and lower.
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Marketers looking for an Easter food and candy push from influential Websites last year found gold at NPR.org, with over 61.000 engagements. Via Facebook, the top pages were CakesandCookieWorld, with a whopping 1.4 million engagements. The second-place finisher, Delish.com, had 1.2 million. RealHouseMoms, with nearly 185,000 engagements, was 10th on the Facebook list, but even it had more than twice as many engagements as the stand-alone traffic at NPR.org
On Instagram, the food and drink spot to be last year was over at Jamie Oliver’s place, with over 651,000 interactions, leaving just crumbs for Tastemade, the second spot on the list, with 173,432.
Beyond consumer goods, NewsWhip looked at what Easter-related stories had legs. Tops was “19 Things to give up for Lent that aren’t chocolate” from Dailyworld.com, with over 393,000 interactions to “Confirmed: Gays Are Lacing Easter Eggs with Homosexual-Inducing Food Colorings” with nearly 117,000 interactions, good for seventh place. It came from Onlyinamerican.com. Mainstream media might have missed it.
This year, tops so far is “The best thing to give up this Lent is plastic, not chocolate” from Metro.co.UK with over 337,000 interactions.
But a lot of the hot news has a slightly more religious frame of reference than last year’s. Top Easter news stories on social media include “Why does Lent last 40 days” and “Here’s why Catholics don’t eat meat on Fridays during Lent” both from BeeCatholic.com, which also landed two more spots on the Top 20. Echoes of the Fox News-inspired Say Merry Christmas trend are found in two Top 10 news stories, from Lifesitenews.com and Breitbart.com for the same story, “Apple removes Good Friday, Easter from calendar for iPhones.”
Peeps, which dominates the food and candy related social media categories, is fifth on the overall list for “Peeps Is Launching 8 New Flavors Just In Time For Easter—Including Some Mystery-Flavored” from Simplemost.com
On the opposite end, finishing second among top Instagram Easter-related posts this year is Lush Cosmetics’ downer, “While animals might make adorable Easter presents, the reality is far less cute: 95% of all animals given as Easter gifts die within the first year ...” with over 91,000 interactions.
Searches may reflect intent and what’s on the minds of those looking for information, but when it comes to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, some brands have it all wrong.
Data from iQuanti from March 20, 2018 through March 27, 2018 shows that people are thinking about learning more Cambridge Analytica and ways to protect their privacy on social media -- specifically Facebook.
Search volume for specific keywords reveals interests and concerns about Cambridge Analytica’s abuse of users’ personal Facebook data. In late March the search volume for keywords such as “cambridge analytica” tracked at 18,100; “delete facebook account” at 110,000; and “how to delete facebook account” at 74,000.
Searches show that people seemed less interested in information related to political scandals such as “trump facebook” at 22,200 searches; “cambridge analytica trump” at 1,600; and “cambridge analytica russia” at 390.
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Google Trends data for the past 30 days run by SEMRush represents a spike in search volume that began March 16, 2018 and spiked around March 20. The data is updated daily and averaged over a period of seven days.
Marketers at brands seem to view the scandal a little differently from Facebook users. Some are not giving up.
Ironically, brand activity on Facebook following the Cambridge Analytica news rose, according to data from social media data and analytics company Shareablee.
Despite consumer engagement on Facebook remaining flat to slightly down, the data from Shareablee shows that the average U.S. brand posted 9% more content on Facebook compared with the average day last week than they had on an average day in the previous three months.
Posts from the Education sector rose the most at 29.41%; followed by Telecommunications at 25.53%; Travel & Leisure at 24.83%; and Business Services at 22%.
The growth in daily posts by brands occurred between March 19, 2018 and March 25, and can be compared with the previous 90 days, according to Shareablee.
Some brands took the hint. For instance, Playboy Enterprises Inc. -- the company founded by Hugh Hefner -- is signing off of Facebook, according to The Wall Street Journal.
U.S. Online Media was the only category to fall at minus 0.07%. Sports and Recreation held back, too, at 4.75%; along with Publishing at 5.06%.
Melinda Lee, Meredith Corp. SVP and general manager of video, is joining BuzzFeed Media to become the first chief content officer of BuzzFeed Media Brands, a new division made up of the company’s lifestyle and vertical-specific brands, including food-focused Tasty, home-focused Nifty, health and wellness brand Goodful, and its two new brands, beauty-focused As/Is and parenting-focused Playfull.
In her new role, Lee will oversee editorial and business operations for the brands, and work closely with the company’s advertising, commerce and studio teams on new partnerships, product development, licensing and original content development.
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“I’m excited to see [Lee] apply her deep experience building out brand portfolios to help us quickly grow our media brands group by emphasizing brands that serve audiences, instead of the other way around,” stated Jonah Peretti, BuzzFeed’s founder and CEO.
“The growth and monetization of BuzzFeed Media Brands is an integral part of our strategy to diversify BuzzFeed’s business to a multi-revenue model," he added.
The BuzzFeed Media Brands portfolio currently reaches more than 600 million people monthly on Facebook and BuzzFeed properties, according to the company.
“Combined with their massive reach across social platforms -- and even now in department stores across the country -- there's a huge opportunity for brands like Tasty, Goodful, Nifty, Playfull and As/Is to grow revenue and embrace emerging models,” Lee stated.
Lee will focus on expanding the Tasty model of success to BuzzFeed Media Brands' other lifestyle verticals, a strategy Peretti revealed last December in a memo outlining his plans to reorganize BuzzFeed’s ad sales department, focus on its lifestyle and service-journalism brands and evolve them into multiple revenue stream opportunities to fight the duopoly of Google and Facebook “taking the vast majority of ad revenue and paying content creators far too little for the value they deliver to users,” he wrote at the time.
Tasty, which started out as a social-first brand known for its viral, shareable cooking videos on Facebook, now has a cookbook deal with Penguin Random House, content series on YouTube, a branded cooking device and a cookware line available through Walmart.
Lee joined Meredith in 2016 to oversee the company’s video studios, and expand its reach through new products, programming and partnerships.
Before working at Meredith, Lee served as VP of content and audience development at Hearst Magazines International, and launched the company’s first global content studio.
Melinda Lee, Meredith Corp. SVP and general manager of video, is joining BuzzFeed Media to become the first chief content officer of BuzzFeed Media Brands, a new division made up of the company’s lifestyle and vertical-specific brands, including food-focused Tasty, home-focused Nifty, health and wellness brand Goodful, and its two new brands, beauty-focused As/Is and parenting-focused Playfull.
In her new role, Lee will oversee editorial and business operations for the brands, and work closely with the company’s advertising, commerce and studio teams on new partnerships, product development, licensing and original content development.
“I’m excited to see [Lee] apply her deep experience building out brand portfolios to help us quickly grow our media brands group by emphasizing brands that serve audiences, instead of the other way around,” stated Jonah Peretti, BuzzFeed’s founder and CEO.
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“The growth and monetization of BuzzFeed Media Brands is an integral part of our strategy to diversify BuzzFeed’s business to a multi-revenue model," he added.
The BuzzFeed Media Brands portfolio currently reaches more than 600 million people monthly on Facebook and BuzzFeed properties, according to the company.
“Combined with their massive reach across social platforms -- and even now in department stores across the country -- there's a huge opportunity for brands like Tasty, Goodful, Nifty, Playfull and As/Is to grow revenue and embrace emerging models,” Lee stated.
Lee will focus on expanding the Tasty model of success to BuzzFeed Media Brands' other lifestyle verticals, a strategy Peretti revealed last December in a memo outlining his plans to reorganize BuzzFeed’s ad sales department, focus on its lifestyle and service-journalism brands and evolve them into multiple revenue stream opportunities to fight the duopoly of Google and Facebook “taking the vast majority of ad revenue and paying content creators far too little for the value they deliver to users,” he wrote at the time.
Tasty, which started out as a social-first brand known for its viral, shareable cooking videos on Facebook, now has a cookbook deal with Penguin Random House, content series on YouTube, a branded cooking device and a cookware line available through Walmart.
Lee joined Meredith in 2016 to oversee the company’s video studios, and expand its reach through new products, programming and partnerships.
Before working at Meredith, Lee served as VP of content and audience development at Hearst Magazines International, and launched the company’s first global content studio.
OMG! Facebook and Snap. If you thought social media platforms were scandal-proof, you were very, very wrong.
Facebook and Snap are the two leaders in what was originally referred to as social media when they launched — but they have quickly morphed to become platforms. The impending question is, exactly what kind of platform do they think they truly are?
As media platforms, they are responsible for the content being distributed through their pipes, while if they’re considered technology platforms, they’re not so directly involved. Still, as a technology platform, they have a responsibility to maintain the safety and integrity of the data they track or create (which they do as a media platform too, but at least this way nobody is holding them to the content responsibility). Either way, they’re in stormy waters.
Snap’s biggest challenge is being dependent on a traditionally fickle set of value creators: celebrities, who are not reacting lightly to things that Snap has been doing. The entire Kardashian/Jenner family can cut them deeply, and Rihanna came out swinging recently when an ad campaign of truly poor taste was run through Snap. That was followed this week by Chrissy Teigen speaking out negatively about the platform.
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As a result of these celebrity anti-endorsements, the stock value has been plummeting and many are questioning whether this is a platform they want to keep using. Once those questions arise, the brand has an uphill battle to convince the public otherwise.
But at least Snap has had to deal with this situation before and is probably accustomed to tackling this specific marketing challenge.
Facebook has also had to deal with questions about user privacy and data management in the past, but the scale of the outcry in this specific situation is unlike any previously, and it comes in the midst of other debates about privacy, a government that does not favor technology and the impending implementation of GDPR across the EU, with all its ramifications on consumer data privacy.
Do I think this is a death sentence for a company like Facebook? No. Do I think this is going to create challenges that will take months to overcome? Yes.
Consumers have become more educated about how how companies leverage their data in the digital age. They understand the old use cases of retargeting, when the shoes you just looked up follow you around the Internet. Consumers also understand this data is worth millions of dollars to the companies that use it. I’ve seen companies try to enable marketplaces and other tools that would allow consumers to monetize their data, but that requires time and effort on the part of the consumer for an ROI in the tens of dollars when you add it up. It’s not enough to make an impact, and therefore it’s not worth their time.
That being said, I think consumers do understand they wield some power here. That power comes in terms of voting and legislation. The government is more than willing to get involved, which could be a problem for these so-called platforms.
Snap’s issue is one of marketing and the perception of value, or lack thereof. Facebook’s is a challenge around what it wants to be when it grows up and what regulations it wants to live by. Facebook doesn’t want to be considered a media platform, so it doesn’t want to take responsibility for the content people use on its platform -- but if it wants to be a technology platform, then it needs to understand what it can and cannot do with the data.
How Facebook comes to term with its own success and defines itself now, going forward, will define how the population looks at it and uses it going forward.
Constellation Brands is investing in Pacifico Beer's first nationwide integrated campaign as the west coast cult favorite expands its distribution across the U.S. Until now, Pacifico’s biggest national-reach advertising focused primarily on social media.
Developed with Cramer-Krasselt, the “Live Life Anchors Up” creative is inspired by the anchor on the bottle. Young Millennial men - the campaign's target - are seen in short snippets enjoying beach lifestyles and adventures with a voiceover stating, "The world is full of anchors meant to keep you in place, but the good news is that its’ also full of things that remind you not to let them. So, every time you raise a Pacifico let it be a reminder to live life anchors up."
The media strategy will balance "high-reach networks" that provide mass audiences such as ESPN with more unique placements that align with the targeted Millennial’s passion point of adventure and discovery, such as the Discovery Channel. "And for those markets that have already received TV, our weekly weight levels will be three times higher than this past year, resulting in a truly impactful advertising plan," says an agency spokesperson.
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In addition, out-of-home will concentrate on core markets -- Denver, Boulder, Ft Collins, Vail/Aspen, Steamboat, Colorado Springs, LA, Sacramento, San Diego and Seattle -- with a projected mixture of traditional boards and non-traditional units, such as pedi-cabs.
There will also be signage and activations at live events including the Burton US Open of Snowboarding, X Games summer sponsorship, and an Airstream activation partnership.
Also, a digital/social influencer campaign will launch this summer.
“Pacifico has always been a beer for those with an independent spirit. It’s in the brand’s DNA,” says Rick Hamann, executive creative director, Cramer-Krasselt. “We were charged with bringing this to life in a way that inspired people to follow their own compass."
Constellation hopes to expand this brand beyond its core surfer and outdoor fanbase to reach Millennials across the U.S. C-K first started working with Constellation on Pacifico in 2015. The brands sales were up 19% in 2017, according to the agency.
For the first time since the financial crisis in 2009, U.S. annual car sales declined in 2017. The drop in sales come as Millennials and a new generation of drivers demand a retail experience that more closely aligns with the way other industries have evolved. It’s no surprise that recent studies continue to indicate that customers dislike the experience of buying or leasing a new car. In the past, the average car buyer used to visit five dealerships. Now, that number has dropped to two.
As a marketer in the automotive industry, these statistics are hard facts to face, but a challenge that we need to address head on. How do we change the stigma around car shopping to reach the modern car shopper? What is driving purchase intent? How can we increase brand consideration?
Every brand is trying to win customer business and loyalty by improving the customer experience. Innovative brands such as Amazon, Zappos and Venmo are redefining customer expectations in brand engagement and have clearly outlined three pillars that have become the new currency for brands:
1. Save Customer Time
From getting healthy quick-fix meals that make dinner prep a snap, to next-day or even same-day delivery on items, people favor saving time over money. However, the idea of shopping for a new car hasn’t always been synonymous with the terms fast, easy and efficient.
Customers spend a lot of time online researching the right car, only to get to the dealership to negotiate with a salesperson and start the process all over. Everyone has experienced this frustration. Research shows people spend nearly 15 hourson average shopping for their car, and only 56% are happy with how long the in-store sales process takes. We need to redesign the system to save customers time. Streamline the car-buying process to create one seamless experience that starts online and carries all the way through to test drives and dealership interactions.
2. Provide a Transparent Buying Process
The Internet has changed the way customers shop. Digital reviews, price comparison sites and social media have pathed the way for the digitally empowered customer. They are more demanding, research-obsessed, smarter and more informed.
When it comes to brand interactions, they know what they want and how they want it — and the automotive industry is no exception. If given the opportunity, 75% of consumers, would consider transacting some — or even most — of the car-buying process online. Consumers use both price information gathered online and customer reviews to form opinions and decisions. According to Autotrader, third-party sites are the most-used sites for car shopping, accessed by 78% of shoppers. Why not own the price conversation rather than making the customer work for it? Clearly lay out all the options, and eliminate the hassle, providing simplicity and flexibility for both dealer and car buyer.
3. Create a Better Experience with Technology
There are 24 average touchpoints and opportunities for a brand to connect with car buyers, 19 of these being digital (Google Jan. ’16). In addition, only three of those interactions are made directly with a dealer towards the end of the purchase journey, when the customer likely knows exactly the car he or she wants.
Car companies need to reach customers quickly and earlier in the car buying process, in the first moments when a customer turns to digital for information and access. From mobile apps to simplified one-stop shop web tools, we should provide the digital solutions that seamlessly connect customers with data across all channels. Take a page from brands that leverage technology to make the customer journey as smooth as possible, and help shoppers make decisions faster and with ease.
As the modern car shopper continues to evolve, so does the demand for an omni-channel customer experience — connected, user friendly and engaging. In order to succeed as marketers in the automotive industry, we need to embrace innovation, close the gap between online and offline, and create a seamless, efficient and transparent shopping process.
Doing damage control in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Facebook is trying to give users more control over their personal data.
That includes a redesigned settings menu on mobile devices, so users should see fewer outdated settings and important settings lumped closely together.
A new Privacy Shortcuts menu has also been created. Users can control their data in a few taps, with clearer explanations of how Facebook’s controls actually work.
Among other controls, people can add more layers of protection to their accounts, like two-factor authentication.
It should also be simpler for users to review what they’ve shared in the past, then delete any content they no longer wish the world to see. People can more easily manage the information that Facebook uses to target them with ads, while an Ad Preferences page explains how this process works.
Additionally, a new “Access Your Information” section promises a secure way for people to access and manage their information, including posts, reactions, comments and search history.
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“You can go here to delete anything from your timeline or profile that you no longer want on Facebook,” Erin Egan, vice president and Chief Privacy Officer of policy and Ashlie Beringer, vice president and deputy general counsel at Facebook, note in a new co-authored blog post.
Clearly on the defensive, Egan and Beringer admit they and their Facebook colleagues are playing catchup following the Cambridge Analytica controversy.
“Most of these updates have been in the works for some time, but the events of the past several days underscore their importance,” Egan and Beringer note. “Last week showed how much more work we need to do to enforce our policies and help people understand how Facebook works — and the choices they have over their data."
The new and redesigned tools are just one component of a broader response to user privacy issues, which Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg outlined last week.
Facebook has committed to investigating any apps that had access to large amounts of user data before 2014, when the company took measures to limit such access.
The social giant also plans to conduct a full audit of any apps exhibiting what Zuckerberg called “suspicious activity.” If and when Facebook finds developers misusing personally identifiable information, it promises to ban them, and promptly inform every user affected by their apps.
Zuckerberg also vowed to restrict developers’ data access even further to prevent other kinds of abuse. For example, Facebook will now remove developers’ access to user data after their apps go unused for three months. Facebook also plans to restrict the data people give apps when signing in to name, profile photo and email address.
The social network will now require developers not only to get approval but also sign a contract to ask users for access to their posts or other private data.
Another World Cup will mean another bout of the top sponsors pushing their message out there with fully endorsed references to the tournament and logos included. Likewise, challengers will be associating their brand with football, or soccer, before and during the tournament. How should they do it?
Well, GlobalWebIndex is suggesting that Facebook and WhatsApp are the most universally used platforms through which brands can get conversations going with fans. Don't know about you, but I'm not so sure.
Facebook is an obvious one. Pictures of stars, videos of top players, observations about the game, polls and a daily quiz. The list of what can be achieved through social media is almost endless, regardless of whether you are a sponsor or not.
What about WhatsApp? What's that all about? Sure, there may be an opportunity to get some details about a game, an injury update perhaps or goal notifications. But really?
Put it another way. I've always been a fan of the old school marketing mantra that suggests nobody wants a tweet from their pack of sausages or to be "inboxed" by their toilet roll. Not just because they're inanimate objects we don't really want to form a relationship with, although that's a good enough reason. It's because, in particular, my inbox is for me to contact friends, colleagues, clients and prospects, and vice versa. If you're a brand and you're not already in that list. You can forget it.
So just because a lot of people are on a platform, does it make it right for marketers to attempt to use it to strike up a conversation? I'd suggest not.
Don't get me wrong, WhatsApp is a perfectly fine channel to be receive customer service through, but all too often, I find marketers -- particularly gurus at conventions -- get this muddled up with marketing. If I'm catching a flight, a message to update me on its progress is great, as is a mobile boarding pass.
If the airport has my permission to get in touch and wants to offer a parking deal the day before I board, that's fine too. But email style offers regularly appearing or brand positioning messaging appearing regularly? You can forget it.
When it comes to football brands, as the World Cup approaches, I'm not too sure what they could offer to make me and other fans give them space on a very personal piece of mobile real estate.
There will be an official app, no doubt, and many others as well, offering scores, team lineups and fixture information. If I want to get a conversation going with friends, through a football-sponsoring brand, I'd suggest Facebook or Twitter content would be a good start. I'm just not sure how it would make the leap to my WhatsApp screen.
Ironically, the research in Netimperative today does mention that YouTube is near enough universally used across the world among soccer fans, but suggests more direct messaging approaches are tried. I'm not entirely sure why.
There will be some captivating football videos released as the tournament kicks off, and brands that get it right will be rewarded with a viral hit. I'm not sure what's not to like about that, and why those brands should be aiming for a more direct conversation in my messaging app.
It may be too clear a distinction, but as far as brands go, I don't think consumers mind being messaged when it serves a specific need that makes their lives easier (train times, recipe details, postcode for a hotel). As far as being tapped on the shoulder to see if a football fan fancies a chat, I'd suggest it's the wrong channel and social media is the place to go hunting.
Last Saturday, more than one million people took to the streets for the March to Save Our Lives, telling the government that “Enough is enough.” That it’s time to prioritize student lives—all lives—over gun regulations and open a meaningful dialogue about gun violence. Was Congress watching? And more important, did they listen? The midterm elections should give us some indication. However, while the streets were peppered with organizations looking to register young people to vote, research shows that only 28% of Gen Z believes the government even cares about them, much less actually listens to them.
Corporate America is a different story. Young people see that they’re watching; they’re listening; and a few of the smart ones are acting. And this is driven largely by young people who are making it clear that they expect brands – unlike politicians – to take a stand and will call them out when they don’t. It is Gen Z who is making sure everyone knows who is still partnering with the NRA and who’s not. Consumer power, rather than political, has become the driving force behind Gen Z’s movements.
But just writing a big check isn’t enough. Young people want brands to commit to something, and invite them to be a part of it. It’s why you see brands like Lyft offering free rides for students attending the March, and LUSH both funding and inviting its consumers to take action with the brand on issues from human rights to animals rights.
One of the many inspiring attributes of Gen Z (individuals roughly under the age of 22) is that they believe as citizens, they are responsible for changing the world. Not nonprofits. And not even the government. They believe citizens like themselves should be the ones to solve the world’s problems. And they will direct that passion and power in any way they can, including how they interact with and what they demand of brands.
Of consumers ages 13 to 25, 78% are more likely to buy a product or service from a company that gives back to society; 56% are willing to pay more to buy a product or service from a company that gives back; and 69% believe brands should stand up for what they believe in, even if controversial.
Brands are beginning to realize that every action they take and every cause or group they support, no matter how small the connection, is being scrutinized. Every association now speaks to who they are as a company—an incredible opportunity for wise companies and a giant stumbling block for the unwise.
For brands to connect with Gen Z consumers through social impact, the brand’s commitment must be genuine, consistent, and impactful. And the ones who invite their young consumer base to be a part of their social good community see an even greater edge.
For example, Patagonia has a long history of supporting grassroots activists working to find solutions to the environmental crisis. It has invited consumer involvement in its sustainability efforts in a variety of ways—from encouraging customers to repair and reuse their clothing, to starting the Patagonia Action Works, which connects employees and consumers interested in taking action with organizations and efforts that need their help. It continues to galvanize the Patagonia community around its shared values and aren't afraid to use its own platform to speak out. In the eyes of Gen Z, Patagonia is always a winner.
More recently, we’ve seen the rise of clothing brand Everlane. In addition to making noise for its digital-first retail approach, Everlane has an impressively radical transparency policy. It clearly communicates with consumers on pricing and sourcing and uses social channels to invite consumers into its production process (including a recent Snapchat tour of a factory). It encourages—solicits even—consumer feedback on its textiles, processes, and factories.
From gun violence to the environment to ethical sourcing, young people are forcing brands to think differently about impact and how they define success. They know that money drives corporate, and political, behavior and they’re prepared to direct their dollars to companies that are taking a stand and making a difference. As we saw with over one million people marching last weekend, young people aren’t afraid to stand up and speak out. Businesses of all size and scale will need to listen and take action. Otherwise, they’re going to be called out or left out—neither of which is a smart long-term business strategy.
Media disruption is a tired yarn now. Media-cutting streaming apps may just be starting.
Thousands of TV-like streaming apps are growing, even though key metrics -- viewers, new audience standards, engagement, and other ROI issue -- can be wanting.
Suffering for the long term?
Decades ago, media agency buyers worried about hundreds of new cable TV networks cutting into big broadcast network platforms. That didn’t happen. Through the 1990s, 2000s, and even into the current decade, broadcast networks -- despite weakening viewership -- maintained advertising revenue growth. (They are having a harder time now.)
New streaming apps may ultimately have a major effect because TV consumers could get exactly what they want: an a la carte selection of networks.
Now, for their part, broadcast networks have survived a key factor in the previous growth cable network phase. Lots of TV consumers still like the big broadcast networks a lot. (Witness “skinny” TV bundle efforts to focus heavily on big networks.)
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Decades ago, media buyers wondered what ratings might look like in the future -- that new TV networks (as well as growing U.S. syndication on local TV stations) could result in every TV show getting nearly the same low-level viewership.
Still not there yet.
Broadcast networks average higher numbers in prime time than cable networks. But new network streaming apps muddy the waters even further -- putting all network streaming efforts on the same “box”-looking app level.
Old school stuff: Right now, broadcast networks are still in the “lower” channel position numbers on most traditional pay TV systems, while cable networks are in the higher-numbered spots.
Traditional TV network advertising time still carries a lot of weight -- on brand marketers' TV media schedules -- especially more with live programming, heavily focused on sports.
In the near term, many new TV streaming apps will lose a lot of money.
Key for traditional TV networks’ is how to position their streaming efforts to look bigger than ever. On-air TV program promotion will continued be challenged, especially as more on-demand programming -- including traditional DVR, ad-supported VOD, and subscription VOD -- makes it harder to get out that message.
Can social media for TV networks works harder to make up the difference? Or, will we see media death by 1,000 streaming app cuts?
The FTC just made its investigation into the company offi cial, the attorneys general from 37 states and territories are now demanding< /a> answers, and lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee want CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify at an upcoming hearing on data and privacy.
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And, that’s just in this country.
For now, it’s unclear if all this scrutiny will translate into a significant decline in usership, engagement or ad dollars. As evidenced by Facebook’s sinking stock price, investors are worried about the tech titan’s future.
Analysts and advertisers also have their concerns.
After Zuckerberg waited days before addressing the Cambridge Analytica story last week, Pivotal Research analyst Brian Wieser accused Facebook of “exhibiting signs of systemic mismanagement.”
In a new note to investors, Baird & Co. analyst Colin Sebastian says he’s seeing “some moderation in Facebook usage,” while suggesting that brands may “pause some Facebook campaigns until headlines subside.”
At the moment, Sebastian said he sees no indication that the #deletefacebook movement is resulting in membership declines. Sebastian also found that, while younger users are cooling to Facebook, a larger share is flocking to Instagram.
In other words, he is describing a continuation of the same trend we’ve been watching for years, i.e., consumers shifting from Facebook to Instagram.
Last week, eMarketer’s Debra Aho Williamson said she didn’t foresee brands abandoning Facebook anytime soon. Yet, its privacy problems “will cause [advertisers] to think twice about how data about Facebook’s users is handled.”
So far, eMarketer has no plans to adjust its ad forecast for Facebook. The research firm still expects the company to rake in $48.85 billion in worldwide ad sales, this year -- which would represent a healthy 22% increase year-over-year.
Oh, and for what’s it worth, I have no plans to delete my Facebook account. Honestly, I wouldn’t remember my Mom’s birthday without it.
Soraa has appointed 3Headed Monster as the first-ever creative AOR for the designer lighting company’s newly launched consumer division, Soraa Home. The appointment followed a competitive review.
3HM’s first work will address home consumers by expounding on the brand's core differentiation—its products carry more natural lighting that mimics the sun.
Soraa means sky in Japan's kanji writing system, used by company founder Shuji Nakamura, a Nobel Prize winner and a leader in developing modern day LED lighting.
The agency’s first campaign will launch this spring via social and digital components.
The review was overseen by Soraa Chief Product Officer T.J. Grewel, and 3HM won the assignment based on a credentials review, a strategic proposal, and on its initial project work which included brand positioning and website development.
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The Command Brand of picture hanging strips is moving away from its “stop hammer time” slogan with MC Hammer to “make it work!” with Tim Gunn of "Project Runway."
“Make it Work!” is the signature phrase used by Gunn on the program to inspire contestants. For Command the idea is to motivate consumers to get over their picture hanging fears.
Developed with at Colle + McVoy, the integrated marketing campaign supports the organizing solutions brand with three national TV spots, social and digital content, retail partnerships, and promotions focusing on the brand's adhesive Command Picture Hanging Strips. The TV spots use Gunn as a voiceover before ending with a shot of him stating “Do. No Harm."
Have a look here.
There will also be a PR-driven partnership with members-only lifestyle platform Gilt that will include a branded content push and NYC pop-up shopping event April 12-14.
This expanded investment serves as an evolution for the brand and its initial “Do. No Harm" message that shifts the strategy away from direct-response TV to more seasonally-focused investment.
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This weekend may be the culmination of March Madness with the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Div. I Final Four and National Championship games, but that won’t keep MLB in the dugout.
On March 29, for the first time since 1968, every MLB team will begin the season on the same day.
While the New York Yankees were occupied signing Giancarlo Stanton, the Los Angeles Angels signing Shohei Ohtani and the Philadelphia Phillies Jake Arrieta, MLB has been on its own signing spree.
Among new deals that MLB has inked in recent weeks are Snapple, Barbasol, SuperCuts, Mitel, Netspend and Kingsford; plus expanding its alliance with YouTube TV and unveiling a $30 million pact to air weekly, mid-day games exclusively on Facebook Watch.
Among those companies signed during the 2017 post-season and now coming into their first full campaign as MLB partners are Camping World and several of its divisions — including Overton, Good Sam Club, The House and Windward/W82 — Doosan Group and YouTube, which was presenting sponsor for the 2017 World Series and will maintain that position for the 2018 and 2019 World Series.
This season, MLB intends to let people know that “Opening Day: The Hype is Real,” via a multi-platform campaign to include TV, Internet and social media.
The lead two-minute spot features many of the game’s top players — including Stanton, teammate Aaron Judge, World Series MVP George Springer and other members of the defending World Series champion Houston Astros — with action played out to the driving rap beat, “Icon” by Jaden Smith.
Anticipate seeing Judge — the American League Rookie of the Year last season who hit a MLB rookie-record 52 home runs in 2017 — as the new face of MLB in marketing and activation.
Last season, he was just the second rookie in MLB history whose jersey was the best-seller for the entire season (joining Kris Bryant in 2015). This month, he helped MLB partner Topps to set trading card record when his No. 1 Living Set card sold more than 13,000 in a week.
MLB is also planning to highlight another aspect of attending ball games: eating.
MLB will present its first MLB FoodFest, scheduled for April 21-22, to be held in New York.
According to MLB, the FoodFest — with the theme “30 Ballparks. 1 Plate” — features special selections from each of the 30 clubs served under one roof.
“This is not your average ballpark food,” MLB explains on the FoodFest Web site. “While we keep some of the fan favorites, each ballpark has picked an item they feel shows off the level of culinary experience you receive at their stadium.”
Also on the calendar this season is one of the league’s most popular promotions.
More than half of MLB’s team will conduct Bark in the Park, Pups in the Park and similar promo days, where people can attend games with their pooches to raise funds and awareness for such national efforts as the Animal Rescue Foundation (ARF) — under the auspices of former MLB manager and Hall of Famer Tony La Russa — and other national and local pet rescue/adoption centers.
MLB hit a record one-season mark in 2017 with sponsorship deals totaling a $892 million, according to research and consulting firm ESP Properties, Chicago.
MLB sponsorship spending is again expected to rise this year as it steadily has over the past several years, from $663 million in 2013, $695 million in 2014, $778 million in 2015 and $827 million in 2016, per ESP.
Heineken has pulled an ad for its Heineken Light after Chance the Rapper charged, in a tweet, that the ad, taglined “Sometimes Lighter Is Better,” was “terribly racist.”
The ad, named “Rooftop,” is part of Heinken Light’s new campaign, taglined “Sometimes Lighter Is Better.” It shows a bartender noticing a woman about to drink a glass of wine, and shooting a bottle of Heineken Light down a long bar to her. The bottle bypasses several darker-skinned customers along the way.
The Sunday evening tweet from the rapper, who has more than 7 million Twitter followers, quickly generated controversy on social media, though not all agreed that the spot was meant to be racist.
Heineken USA issued a statement within hours: "For decades, Heineken has developed diverse marketing that shows there's more that unites us than divides us. While we feel the ad is referencing our Heineken Light beer — we missed the mark, are taking the feedback to heart and will use this to influence future campaigns."
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Chance the Rapper later made it clear that he was not calling for a boycott.
However, the growing controversy was reflected in a petition on Care2 aimed at Heineken International CEO Jean-Francois van Boxmeer, which had drawn 8,400 supporters as of mid-day today, with a goal of 10,000.
The petition, citing Chance’s observations, maintains that Heineken is “the latest company to jump on the ‘hey-this-will-get-people-talking-because-its-racist’ bandwagon.” It urges consumers to “ask Heineken to take down this ad and apologize for making light of a very dark part of our culture.”
By late Monday, Heineken had pulled the ad from TV and the internet, without further comment.
Heineken is also running other ads as part of the new “Sometimes Lighter Is Better” campaign — “Indoor Bar” and “Sport” — but those don’t show darker-skinned people being bypassed by the beer shooting down the bar. The campaign is meant to position Heineken Light as an alternative to wine and cocktails — a beer with lower calories and alcohol content, but "great taste." ISpotTV lists the campaign’s creative agency as Red Urban.
Heineken won praise — and a Cannes Lions award — for its “Worlds Apart #OpenYourWorld” campaign, launched last year, showing people of differing backgrounds and viewpoints learning to listen to and accept one another, over Heineken beers.
Other recent ads that have generated controversy based on charges of racial insensitivity or racism have included H&M’s U.K. ad featuring a black boy modeling a sweatshirt bearing the words “coolest monkey in the jungle”; a short Dove video showing a black woman transforming into a white woman; and a Kellogg’s Corn Pops ad with artwork that showed the sole brown Corn Pop depicted as a janitor.
The Zoe Report, a popular fashion and lifestyle site founded by designer Rachel Zoe, will officially become a part of the growing Bustle Digital Group empire as of April 1.
Reported by Axios, the site was acquired for an undisclosed amount, however the sale was a combination of stocks and cash.
The Zoe Report will continue to operate independently. Rachel Zoe will stay on as founder and editor-at-large. Twenty staffers will also join Bustle Digital Group in the deal.
By adding The Zoe Report to its stable of sites, including Bustle, Romper and Elite Daily, the digital media company will gain access to the website’s more than 2 million email subscribers and a significant social-media audience.
Likewise, The Zoe Report will benefit from Bustle’s robust resources, including audience data and sales infrastructure.
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Bryan Goldberg, Bustle Digital Group CEO, stated to Axios: "The Zoe Report is a great example of what the company intends to do. It is a property with significant revenue, because of its authority in a specific category. Our scale and infrastructure allows us to grow that revenue, while limiting the impact on marginal operating costs."
The acquisition also signals a deeper expansion into fashion, beauty and luxury verticals for Bustle Digital Group.
According to Goldberg, the company is also interested in extending its reach through future acquisitions, specifically those that will deepen the company’s coverage of “soft-news categories,” like travel, wellness and food.
Goldberg described the strategy as Bustle Digital Group’s attempt to become “the digital native Conde Nast.”
