What We’re Reading—Week Of April 26th

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A look at the insights we’re sharing internally this week from various marketing publications.

Booking.com CMO On Brand’s Pivot To Local Sights, And What Comes Next

Campaign Live

After COVID wiped out much of its business and forced it to cut staff by a quarter, Booking.com pivoted its marketing by reminding people that they can travel locally and emphasizing its flexible cancellation policy.

Why it matters: The company surveyed more than 28,000 travelers across 28 marketers to gauge their thoughts about traveling when it’s safe to do so again. Seventy-seven percent of respondents stated that they’d rather go on vacation this year than find true love and nearly 70 percent of Hong Kong travelers said they’ll only travel to countries that have implemented vaccine programs.

Purpose At Work: Lessons From VSP Global On How To Lead With Purpose

Forbes

After months of internal work, optical industry leader VSP Global landed on a new brand purpose: “to empower human potential through sight.” To integrate this purpose in its corporate culture authentically, chief marketing officer Wendy Hauteman says VSP trained leadership and appointed “purpose ambassadors” across the employee ranks.

Why it matters: As Hauteman notes, a McKinsey study showed that 82 percent of employees believe it’s really important for their employer to have a purpose.

TikTok Is Now The Second Most Popular Platform For Influencer Marketing

ION

According to Linqia’s fifth annual ‘The State of Influencer Marketing 2021’ report, 16 percent of marketers planned to use TikTok in their influencer campaigns early last year, while 68 percent plan to use the platform in 2021—a 325 percent jump.

Why it matters: Influencer marketing interest in Twitter and Facebook dipped this year, from 35 to 32 percent for the former and 79 to 68 percent for the latter.

FMCG Ad Spend To Recover After COVID-19 Slump

The Drum

Zenith’s business intelligence report shows that fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) brands will increase their ad spends by 7 percent a year to 2023. The forecast comes as ad expenditure by FMCG brands plummeted by nearly 11 percent to $26.7 billion in 2020. 

Why it matters: FMCG out-of-home advertising is projected to grow by 9 percent a year from 2020 to 2023, but TV is likely to be the top beneficiary of the rebound given it represented 38.5 percent of FMCG ad spend last year–though still less than digital, which accounts for 46.1 percent of the FMCG ad market. 

The End Of Pandemic Means Major Changes For 3 Mobile App Categories

Marketing Drive

After a year that saw consumers using their mobile devices more often and in more ways than they used to, MOLOCO chief operating officer Brian Yoo believes dating apps will see an influx of organic downloads, the end of lockdown will trigger huge engagement in dining apps and that those who became mobile gamers in lockdowns will remain post-COVID.

Why it matters: Yoo suggests dating app marketers allocate budget for remarketing efforts to entice their most valuable users who may have taken a break during lockdown. In addition, he believes food delivery app volumes will plateau at a much higher level than they were pre-pandemic.

Marketers Say Creating Content More Efficiently Is The Best Use Of Automation

BY

Marketers see automation in a whole new light thanks to the demands of the past year. According to Bynder and OnBrand’s State of Branding Report, last year 23 percent of marketers said branding can’t be automated; this year just 1 percent of respondents said the same.

Bynder surveyed 1,600 global marketers and creative professionals to understand the implications of digital transformation during the pandemic. The ensuing report covers the challenges and priorities of marketers when it comes to digital experience initiatives as well as creative output and automation.

First up, 50 percent of respondents report they’ve accelerated digital transformation and digital experience initiatives in 2021. Twenty-four percent are already fully digital, but 18 percent say that digital initiatives slowed or ground to a halt this year.

The top impact of digital transformation for 59 percent of marketers was creating more digital content and creative output. For 58 percent, the top byproduct was implementing new digital experience technologies and for 55 percent it was investing in customer data and analytics.  

With the volume of campaigns and content increasing by 41 percent from 2020 to 2021, respondents were forced to prioritize bite-size content and creativity even more than previously. Eighty-five percent of respondents reported an increase in demand for content in their company due to the pandemic and digital acceleration.

More than half (52 percent) plan to increase their technology budget to scale content creation and 48 percent plan to increase headcount to help address growing content demands.

For 80 percent of respondents, a digital asset management solution (DAM) is the answer to bolstering team performance. Yet, just 54 percent of companies consider DAM a critical part of their marketing technology stack.

Despite the surge in demand for content, 72 percent of marketers say they’re completely or very confident that they can continue to meet the demand. Nevertheless, for 25 percent keeping up with the creative and content requests is a big concern.

An even bigger 2021 marketing concern is reaching audiences on increasingly crowded digital channels. That’s why many plan to invest in tech and personalization, a tactic that’s considered one of the most effective ways of building consumer connections by 82 percent of marketers. 

Still, 45 percent of respondents say that, “making sense of inaccurate and inconsistent data” is one of the three biggest time-wasters for their marketing team. For 52 percent, the solution to efficient data aggregation and analysis means plans to increase investment in tech.

Bynder notes that there is a mismatch between how the content crunch is viewed by chief marketing officers versus marketers in video, design and creative roles. For example, 79 percent of respondents in CMO or vice president roles compared to 62 percent of marketers in video, design and creative roles report feeling “completely confident” in their company’s ability to meet 2021’s creative content needs.

Enter: tech and automation. Eighty-nine percent of respondents believe technology will help support their marketing department’s creative efforts. Nearly all (96 percent) of consumer goods brands say tech will help their creativity, more than any other sector.

Additionally, over half of respondents say automation will either increase efficiency, free up time for brand teammates to focus on more important tasks and/or improve brand consistency for their company. 

According to Bynder, for the second year in a row, marketers deem creating content more efficiently as the best use of automation. Overall, automation will increase the efficiency of marketers’ efforts, as noted by 55 percent of respondents.

Bynder’s findings are based on responses from 1,600 marketing and creative respondents —from the US, the UK, Germany, France and the Netherlands—who were interviewed during January, February, and March 2021.

Betting On Partnerships To Amplify Your Brand With Churchill Downs’ Kristin Warfield

BY

Kristin Warfield is the vice president of partnerships at Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby since 1875. During her twelve years at the historic racetrack, she has championed significant growth in the track’s partnership development and activation efforts. It includes new and expanded relations with Longines, the official timekeeper of the Kentucky Derby and title sponsor of the Kentucky Oaks; Woodford Reserve, the presenting sponsor of the Kentucky Derby; and MassMutual, among many other alliances.

In this episode, we begin with Warfield’s trajectory to becoming the vice president of partnerships and why the Kentucky Derby is such a unique experience. Even though people come to the Derby for varied reasons, Warfield believes that “There’s a party for everyone” and makes it her focus to partner with companies to give them the experience they seek. 

Warfield discusses the shifts she had to make to work with partners in the last year and what makes a good partner in the first place. 

For anyone interested in horse racing, history, fashion, or the relationship between marketing and partnerships to amplify your brand, this episode is for you. 

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • What makes the Kentucky Derby such a unique experience
  • How a digital shift can amplify customer engagement
  • What makes a good partnership
  • Using partnerships to connect with your customers

Key Highlights:

  • [01:41] Kristin’s backup career as Bingo the Clown
  • [02:55] How Kristin “fell into sports”
  • [05:05] Why the Kentucky Derby is a unique sport
  • [08:34] How COVID impacted the Derby
  • [11:13] Partner shifts to digital and virtual activations
  • [15:07] Cross-collaborations with partners
  • [16:50] The new Jackson Family Wines partnership
  • [18:36] The perfect blend of wine and racing 
  • [22:01] What makes for a good partnership
  • [27:44] Kristin’s advice to marketers identifying or negotiating partnership deals
  • [29:11] An experience that defines Kristin, made her who she is today 
  • [30:40] Kristin’s advice for her younger self
  • [31:05] Kristin’s recent impactful purchase
  • [32:25] The brands, companies, and causes Kristin follows
  • [33:50] What Kristin says is today’s biggest threat and opportunity for marketers

Resources Mentioned: 

Subscribe to the podcast:

Connect with the Guest:

Connect with Marketing Today and Alan Hart:

Alan B. Hart is the creator and host of “Marketing Today with Alan Hart,” a weekly podcast where he interviews leading global marketing and business leaders. Alan advises leading executives and marketing teams on opportunities around brand, customer experience, innovation, and growth. He has consulted with Fortune 100 companies, but he is an entrepreneur at his core, having founded or served as an executive for nine startups.

Facebook Tests Targeted In-Stream Video Ads

BY

This week in social media news, Facebook launches a global test of a new ad format called In-Stream Video Topics, Snapchat’s new study shows how users are gearing up for the NFL Draft, TikTok shares Mother’s Day shopping trends, Clubhouse and the NFL announce a partnership and Snapchat reports an increase of 51 million daily active users in Q1.

Facebook Launches New Video Ad Formats

Facebook announced new topic targeting options within In-Stream video to help brands better engage with relevant customers. The company is also running Instagram Reels and Facebook Stories ad tests to help creators monetize their content.

Why it matters: Facebook says more than 2 billion people watch Facebook In-Stream eligible videos every month and that globally 70 percent of In-Stream standalone video ads views are completed. In addition, data from 10 studies found that including a Facebook In-Stream campaign to a Feed and Stories buy resulted in a median 1.5 times increase in ad recall and a median 20 percent drop in cost per incremental recaller.

The details: Facebook is launching a global test of In-Stream Video Topics, a machine learning-powered ad format that enables advertisers to place ads in certain video topics through Ads Manager. Brands can choose from over 20 video topics and more than 700 sub-topics.

With 90 percent of people now following a business on Instagram, Facebook is also testing Reels ads in India, Brazil, Germany and Australia. These ads can be up to 30 seconds like organic Reels videos and people will be able to comment, like, view, save, share and skip the ads.

In addition, Facebook will test custom Sticker Ads for Facebook Stories, which will let creators monetize their content and receive a portion of the resulting revenue through bespoke stickers that brands create.

Snapchat’s Study Highlights User Sentiment Regarding 2021-2022 NFL Season

Snapchat’s latest research shows that 93 percent of its users are looking forward to the upcoming 2021 NFL season with another 85 percent saying they plan to use the app during the Draft, which occurs on April 29. Snapchat’s partnership with the NFL includes official NFL shows and NFL Highlights, which the app says is updated in near real-time every game.

Why it matters: Between the two weeks leading up to the 2020 NFL Draft and the actual events, conversation on Snapchat about the Draft ballooned over 220 percent. Plus, 64 percent of users agree that using augmented reality (AR) or filters makes the Draft more enjoyable, giving brands an opportunity to reach the young consumers. During last year’s Draft, over 80 million Snapchatters in the US and Canada engaged with AR.

The details: According to Snapchat’s findings, its users are most looking forward to watching the Draft live and “hearing the early buzz around top picks.” The top two ways they’re preparing for the Draft include buying snacks and drinks and checking Draft predictions and updates.

Snapchat says it’s creating an AR experience that will feature all 32 official NFL teams with music by Machine Gun Kelly.

TikTok Shares Mother’s Day Shopping Trends And User Demographics

Ahead of Mother’s Day, TikTok is giving marketers a look at shopping trends and online activity around Mother’s Day. The app found that 27 percent of TikTok users are moms, 48 percent of TikTok moms are full-time employees and 34 percent of TikTok moms are in high-income brackets.

Why it matters: Highlighting moms’ purchase power, TikTok cites insight from a Weber Shandwick study that found millennial moms “like” or give unsolicited product recommendations 10.4 times every month. In that same study, 74 percent of millennial moms reported that they’re sought out more often than other friends as advisors on a wide range of topics.

The details: According to TikTok, 94 percent of TikTok moms use phones to get online, 88 percent spend more than one hour on their phone each day and 40 percent find brands through social media.

When analyzing activity around relevant Mother’s Day hashtags, such as #mothersday and #giftformom, TikTok found that content related to the holiday saw a big spike on the day of, compared to the day before.

The top gift TikTok moms are planning to buy, TikTok adds, is a vacation, followed by jewelry and a handbag.vTo make the most of Mother’s Day, TikTok suggests brands set up a special curated section of gifts on their homepage, throw in a discount code or run a For You feed ad.

Clubhouse And NFL Ink An Exclusive Content Deal

According to Social Media Today, Clubhouse took to Twitter over the weekend to announce its new content partnership with the NFL, which will include a series of Rooms leading up to the 2021 NFL Draft.

Why it matters: The partnership marks the first of its kind for Clubhouse, the invite-only, audio-focused platform that has surged in popularity since launching in April last year. For the NFL, it’s another way of growing its online presence, which has been bolstered the past year through its beloved TikTok account.

The details: Social Media Today reports that Clubhouse already hosts a variety of NFL-related rooms, but this new collaboration will open up opportunities to expand connections and reach.

Clubhouse explained:

“With Clubhouse’s highly interactive audio-based social platform, fans can drop in on the NFL’s rooms to follow the picks live as they’re announced, and listen in on discussions featuring key NFL figures – from athletes and coaches to network personalities. Fans also have the opportunity to join the conversation and be invited on stage by moderators to ask questions or share their reactions to the Draft.”

Snapchat Now Has 280 Million Daily Active Users

Snapchat saw 280 million DAUs in Q1, an increase of 51 million, or 22 percent year-over-year, as noted in its Q1 earnings report. The platform’s revenue increased 66 percent YoY to $770 million, with average revenue per user growing 36 percent YoY to $2.74.

Why it matters: It’s interesting to note that for the first time, Snapchat says the majority of its DAUs for Q1 came from the Android version of its app.

The details: Snapchat’s positive growth in users and revenue comes after the platform boosted its content offerings and invested in new markets. In March, over 125 million Snapchatters used Spotlight, the app’s newest platform that displays the most entertaining Snaps from the community. It launched Spotlight in three new countries including India, Mexico and Brazil, making it live in 14 countries.

Additionally, Snapchat debuted 321 new channels in Q1 with over 150 partners from 12 countries.

Other highlights include a 40 percent increase YoY in the number of Snapchatters engaging daily with the app’s AR Lenses. On average, Lenses created by the Snap community via Lens Studio accounted for more than 50 percent of daily Lens views.

WWE Names Claudine Lilien As Head Of Global Sales And Partnerships

BY

This week in leadership updates, WWE appoints Claudine Lilien as head of global sales and partnerships, the World Federation of Advertisers appoints new global leadership members and the Ad Council names 27 new board members.

WWE Taps Claudine Lilien As Senior Vice President And Head Of Global Sales And Partnerships

WWE has named Claudine Lilien SVP and head of global sales and partnerships. She will report to Stephanie McMahon, WWE chief brand officer.

Lilien spent over 15 years at FOX Corporation. Most recently she served as SVP, client solutions at FOX Sports.

The World Federation Of Advertisers (WFA) Appoints New Global Leadership Team

The WFA has announced several new appointments for its global team.

First up, Raja Rajamannar, Mastercard chief marketing and communications officer, has been re-elected as president for a second term that runs until April 2023.

Conny Braams, Unilever chief digital and marketing officer, has been named deputy president.

Firdaus Shariff, VP of marketing, communications and digital customer experience, MEA at Schneider Electric, has been named WFA’s first-ever regional VP for the Middle East.

In addition, Lubomira Rochet, L’Oréal chief digital officer, will become regional VP for Europe.

See here for the WFA’s full list of executive committee members, including new representatives from national advertiser associations.

The Ad Council Elects 27 New Board Members

During its virtual spring meeting, the Ad Council appointed 27 new members to its board of directors. The new members include:

  • Lara Balazs, EVP, CMO & GM, Strategic Partner Group, Intuit
  • Nadja Bellan-White, Global CMO, VICE Media Group
  • Devika Bulchandani, CEO, Ogilvy North America & Global Chairwoman of Advertising, Ogilvy
  • Ingrid Burton, CMO, Quantcast
  • JP Colaco, Head of Advertising Sales, WarnerMedia
  • Maurice Cooper, SVP, Brand & Category Marketing, Target Corporation
  • Jill Cress, Vice President Consumer Marketing, PayPal
  • Norman de Greve, Chief Marketing Officer, CVS Health
  • Morgan Flatley, SVP, Chief Marketing & Digital Customer Experience Officer, McDonald’s Corporation
  • Sarah Franklin, CMO, Salesforce
  • Josh Gillon, Chief Executive Officer, What If Media Group
  • Jeremi Gorman, Chief Business Officer, Snap Inc.
  • Tariq H. Hassan, Chief Marketing Officer, Petco
  • E. Yuri Hermida, EVP North America Hygiene, RB
  • Susan Somersille Johnson, Chief Marketing Officer, Prudential Financial, Inc.
  • Bill Kolb, Chairman and CEO, McCann Worldgroup
  • Heather Malenshek, SVP, Chief Marketing Officer, Land O’Lakes Inc
  • Jamie Moldafsky, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer, Nielsen
  • Alan Moss, VP, Global Advertising Sales, Amazon
  • Charlie Neer, Chief Revenue Officer, MiQ Digital
  • Todd Pendleton, Chief Marketing Officer, Dolby
  • Ann Rubin, VP, Corporate Marketing, IBM
  • Carrie Seifer, General Manager – North America, GWI
  • Justin Thomas-Copeland, President & CEO, DDB North America, DDB Worldwide
  • Dara Treseder, SVP, Head of Global Marketing & Communications, Peloton
  • Tiffany R. Warren, EVP, Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer, Sony Music Group
  • Janey Whiteside, EVP & Chief Customer Officer, Walmart

What We’re Reading—Week Of April 19th

BY

Your mid-week rundown of the latest marketing and advertising news.

Brand Safety Report Reveals The Dangers For Advertisers On Platforms Like Facebook And YouTube

Ad Age

After working closely with major social media platforms following the political and social upheaval in 2020, GARM— a branch of the World Federation of Advertisers—has released its first digital brand safety report, which measures how well Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat and Pinterest monitor obscene and hateful content.

Why it matters: Facebook reported to GARM that 0.08 percent of its posts in Q4 2020 depicted hate speech. YouTube estimated that 0.18 percent of video views violated its community guidelines and that less than one percent of ad impressions came from those types of videos. Instagram didn’t provide data on hate speech, spam or sexual content and nudity.

Author Talks: Karin M. Reed On Virtual Meetings

McKinsey & Company

In her new book, Suddenly Virtual: Making Remote Meetings Work, video communications expert Karin M. Reed shares tips on how to both lead and participate in virtual meetings, with data from coauthor Joseph Allen.

Why it matters: To avoid stilted and stunted conversation, Reed suggests virtual meeting leaders look for nonverbal cues that might indicate somebody has something to say. She notes that some may feel intimidated to participate in a larger meeting and find it easier to participate via the chat feature. She encourages leaders to look at the chat and incorporate it into the overall verbal communication.

Why Brands Like Neutrogena And Old Spice Are Rushing To Build Internal Content Studios

Marketing Dive

Earlier this month, Johnson & Johnson’s Neutrogena skincare line revealed an internal content division dedicated to creating short films, the first of which, “In the Sun,” is a documentary that aims to dispel myths about sun safety and will debut on video-on-demand platforms on April 27.

Why it matters: Marketers realizing they can manage a content studio themselves —57 percent of multinational marketers surveyed said they’ve created some form of in-house creative agency. In addition, a large number of consumers have switched to streaming during the pandemic. To reach audiences in this new digital landscape, many brands including Old Spice, SK-II and Corona have formed similar content divisions.

For “Cookieless” Solutions To Work, We Need To Talk About Addressability

AdExchanger

In talking to advertisers and publishers, Nancy Marzouk, chief executive and founder of MediaWallah, has found that for all the cookieless solutions available, few marketers are using them in the bidstream currently.

Why it matters: For first-party identifiers to become actual third-party data alternatives, Marzouk says brands should create a single view of the customer, work with walled-garden targeting formats such as Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC), secure private marketplaces including data clean rooms and cast a wide net across consented identifiers.

What Changes When A Company Hires Its First Chief Marketing Officer?

Forbes

For the first time, Sinclair Broadcast Group created an enterprise-wide chief marketing officer position, a role that John Zeigler filled in November 2020. His responsibility, he says, is to “offer a convex lens to point all of the passion, customer-first energy in one consolidated direction.” In other words, Zeigler is tasked with developing and executing a band marketing strategy for Sinclair’s 186 television stations in 87 markets and 19 of the Regional Sports Networks.

Why it matters: Zeigler’s first order of business involved rebranding elements of FOX Sports networks to Bally Sports, including on-air looks, rebuilding production facilities over a six-week period, programming, music and graphics.

Walt Disney Studios Elevates Anastasia Ali And Jan Coleman To Vice President Roles

BY

This week in leadership updates, Anastasia Ali and Jan Coleman accepted promotions at Disney Studios, Vans appoints Kristin Harrer as global chief marketing officer, Coca-Cola Great Britain names Louise Maugest as UK marketing director, KFC’s US chief marketing officer Andrea Zahumensky exits and more. 

Disney Studios Promotes Anastasia Ali And Jan Coleman To Vice President

According to Deadline, Anastasia Ali has accepted a promotion as VP, marketing at Walt Disney Studios and Jan Coleman has been elevated to VP of global marketing partnerships, promotions and multicultural of Walt Disney Studios.

Ali has been with the company since 2013, most recently serving as director of marketing. Prior to Disney, she was the co-owner and chief operating officer of HazraH Entertainment.

Coleman’s time at Disney spans a decade, her most recent role being director of global marketing partnerships. 

Ali co-founded Disney’s Black Employee Resource Group, The Bond. Together, she and Coleman co-founded rePRESENT, which aims to expand multicultural marketing competencies and develop diverse talent.

Vans Names Kristin Harrer As Global Chief Marketing Officer

Kristin Harrer has been appointed global CMO of Vans.

Harrer joins Vans from Dollar Shave Club, where she was CMO for about two years. Prior to Dollar Shave Club, she held marketing leadership roles at Samsung and Nike, respectively.

Coca-Cola Great Britain Elevates Louise Maugest To UK Marketing Director

Coca-Cola Great Britain has promoted Louise Maugest to UK marketing director.

Maugest, previously marketing manager of new beverages, replaces Kris Robbens, who was promoted to senior director of brand strategy on the company’s global team.

Maugest has been with Coca-Cola for seven years.

KFC US Chief Marketing Officer Andrea Zahumensky Departs

Andrea Zahumensky has left her role as CMO of KFC, according to Ad Age.

Zahumensky is stepping down after three and a half years with KFC. Prior to KFC, she spent more than 20 years at Procter & Gamble in various executive brand roles.

Collective Health Taps Alison Worthington As Chief Marketing Officer

Alison Worthington has been named Collective Health’s new CMO, reports MarTech Series.

A board member for Generate Life Sciences and Columbia Care, Worthington previously served as interim CMO for GoPro, Ancestry.com, Bragg Live Foods and multiple direct-to-consumer startups.

Disney Elevates Jane Gould To Executive Vice President, Content Research, Insights And Scheduling

Jane Gould has accepted a promotion as EVP of content research, insights and scheduling at Disney General Entertainment (DGE).

As Hollywood Reporter notes, in her new role, Gould will oversee a centralized team that comprises Hulu, ABC, ABC News, Disney Branded Television, FX, Freeform and National Geographic.

Most recently, Gould served as Disney Channel’s senior vice president of content strategy and insights.

Moviegoing Is The Top Post-Pandemic Activity Snapchatters Are Excited About

BY

This week in social media news, Snapchat research highlights users’ excitement about returning to the movies, TikTok launches a creative hub to help guide business accounts, Twitter’s latest study reveals users’ financial optimism about the year and Facebook may soon launch campaign budget optimization across multiple platforms, not just ad sets. 

Snapchatters Plan Their Return To The Movie Theaters

As movie theaters start to reopen, the top activity Snapchatters are most excited about doing post-pandemic is going to the movies, shows the platform’s latest research. Another 81 percent say they’ll watch movies in theaters as much or more often than before the pandemic.

Why it matters: Snapchatters are 1.7 times more likely to see a movie on premiere weekend compared to non-Snapchatters, giving studio advertisers an opportunity to boost opening box office sales by running native Snapchat ads like AR Lenses, Story Ads and Filters leading up film releases.

Snapchat’s findings come as large movie chains including AMC and Regal Cinemas have reopened some of their locations nationwide in recent weeks.

The details: Nearly all of Snapchatters (96 percent) say they heard about a film they watched in theaters from an ad, usually weeks before they ended up seeing it. Among that group, 36 percent say they hear about a film more than one month before watching; 27 percent hear about it weeks before watching; 26 percent hear about it within a week of watching; and 11 percent hear about a film the same day they watch it.

Back in August last year, Snapchat teamed with Atom Tickets, the social movie ticketing app, to launch ‘Movie Tickets By Atom,’ a branded experience that enables Snapchatters to invite friends to the movies and buy tickets together directly in Snapchat.

TikTok Launches ‘Business Creative Hub’ To Provide Content Inspiration 

TikTok has introduced a new, free in-app resource, Business Creative Hub, where business accounts can access a stream of trending content, creative ideas and best practices to inspire their TikTok videos.

Why it matters: This new online resource center is one of TikTok’s many recent attempts at simplifying the road to success for brands. Recently, it launched a free video editor that enables brands to create native ads in their browser, plus it’s reportedly building four new ecommerce ad solutions so that brands can showcase their products and retarget audiences.

The details: TikTok’s new Business Creative Hub — which is located in the ‘Business suite’ section of a business account’s ‘Settings and privacy’ menu — comprises two sections: the Business Content Guide and the Video Showcase, the latter which is constantly updated, according to the app.

The Business Content Guide is a “cheat sheet” brands can follow for tips on content strategy, storyline ideation and video shooting. Additionally, it offers best posting times and showcases successful business account case studies.

The Video Showcase section includes three curated feeds of trending content that’s popular in your country over the past 30 days. The first feed, Trending: Business, displays videos from business accounts ranked by the total number of likes they’ve received. 

The second feed, Engaging: Business, shows videos from business accounts ranked by the level of engagement, measured by the ratio of comments to video views. 

Lastly, the third feed, Trending: Community, features videos from all account types, ranked by the total number of likes they received.

Twitter Study Shows Users Are Ready To Make Major Life Purchases In 2021

In a new Twitter study of more than 1,000 US users, people are ready to spend again on travel and clothes, as well as anticipate resuming major life moments including buying a new house and having a child.

Why it matters: Twitter reports that during 2020, the conversation about people’s financial future jumped more than 26 percent from 2019. With users now expressing a hopeful outlook on the future and saying they’re likely to reevaluate their financial service providers, banks and home and auto insurance lenders have an opportunity to reach this audience on Twitter.

The details: According to Twitter’s study, 46 percent of people surveyed say the pandemic negatively impacted their finances. Nevertheless, people who use Twitter are 2.4 times more likely to be optimistic about their finances heading into this year than those who don’t use Twitter.

Compared to non-Twitter users, Twitter users are 2.3 times more likely to get a new job, 2.3 times more likely to have a child, 2.3 times more likely to buy a house and 1.5 times more likely to buy a new car.

Facebook May Launch A Campaign Budget Optimization Tool Across Platforms 

Facebook is potentially working on a budget management solution that would optimize campaign delivery across multiple Facebook products, not just ad sets, reports Social Media Today.

Why it matters: As a new 20-page Facebook paper notes, the issue that brands face when running campaigns to users across different internal products, which in this case Facebook refers to as “platforms,” is the campaign must acquire impressions from a variety of platforms that serve different value, possibly due to a different user base and different prices.

The details: To find a better way for online advertisers to optimally spend budget for a campaign across Facebook platforms, Facebook set out to learn the valuation of bidding on each platform studied while “simultaneously maximizing their cumulative rewards.”

Currently, Facebook’s Campaign Budget Optimization (CBO) lets brands set a campaign budget with flexibility in how the budget is allocated across campaigns with at least two ad sets. Should the company introduce this new process, advertisers will have the ability to implement CBO across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp from a single campaign.

Human Behavior Should Inform Your Brand Positioning With Panera’s Eduardo Luz

BY

On this 256th episode of Marketing Today, Eduardo Luz, chief brand and concept officer at Panera, discusses the pivots Panera executed during the pandemic, including how they positioned their mobile app and the innovations they implemented in their menu offerings.

Eduardo sees the future of marketing as really honing in and connecting with your consumer. As Panera changed its menu and shifted to what Eduardo calls “warmer offerings,” they started to see the incremental success that has propelled their business forward. 

The conversation covers consumer behavior and Panera’s new company value: respect for the planet. To hear how Eduardo thinks about the future of consumer behavior and its impact on marketing, listen to Marketing Today.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • Changes in direct-to-consumer interaction
  • How your company positioning impacts success
  • Why listening to your consumers is essential
  • How Panera shifted during the pandemic 
  • How Panera leaned on its “promise” to expand its offerings

Key Highlights:

  • [01:52] Where Eduardo grew up
  • [02:50] How Eduardo ended up in marketing
  • [04:42] Shifts in the consumer industry
  • [06:25] Eduardo joins Panera at the peak of the pandemic
  • [07:46] The role Eduardo was expected to fill 
  • [11:02] Panera’s positioning before the pandemic
  • [12:48] How these shifts impacted Panera
  • [14:30] Panera’s updated menu
  • [18:30] Why Panera expanded to pizza
  • [22:10] Panera’s new value: respect for the planet
  • [25:13] The future of Panera
  • [27:34] An experience that defines Eduardo, made him who he is today 
  • [29:18] Eduardo’s advice for his younger self
  • [30:08] Eduardo’s recent impactful purchase
  • [30:52] The brands, companies, and causes Eduardo follows
  • [32:12] What Eduardo says is today’s biggest threat and opportunity for marketers

Resources Mentioned: 

Subscribe to the podcast:

Connect with the Guest:

Connect with Marketing Today and Alan Hart:

Alan B. Hart is the creator and host of “Marketing Today with Alan Hart,” a weekly podcast where he interviews leading global marketing professionals and business leaders. Alan advises leading executives and marketing teams on opportunities around brand, customer experience, innovation, and growth. He has consulted with Fortune 100 companies, but he is an entrepreneur at his core, having founded or served as an executive for nine startups.

Honesty Is The Best Policy, Even In Advertising

BY

The world has changed radically. And no, we’re not talking about COVID-19.

With everything now discoverable, measurable and available in realtime, verifying the truthfulness of claims through independent data, social media and experts is now a given. Which means that after decades of ambiguity around the truth, the chickens are home to roost for advertisers.

Steve Fowler, SVP of A List Games, shares insights from his two-plus decades in the video game industry. With a past including the marketing of the original Halo, Fowler has witnessed broad shifts in game advertising, social communication and the mapping of consumer journeys.

Fowler dives into a discussion around honesty in advertising (as he says, “transparency is the best communication tool”) while also discussing the transformed relationship between players and game developers, pre-digital distribution, the history of games as products and the landscape-leveling impact of digital distribution. 

Other topics discussed include automating retention-based marketing, AR/VR’s impact on community enhancement and more.

About A List Games:

When it comes to executing marketing and publishing campaigns, our leverage is 25 years of legacy and expertise in game audience building under our roof. With the Ayzenberg Group’s support, A List Games can tap into the Ayzenberg network to execute world class marketing executions.

We love breaking from convention and adore the unprecedented. We offer scalable publishing solutions and negotiate “win-win” deal terms based on total investment. Got localization and QA handled? Great. Need help with user acquisition and first-party promotion?

Yeah, we can do that.

Led by passionate people with backgrounds in marketing and development at both the developer and publisher level, we have more than three hundred hit game titles in our collective portfolio.

For strategic leadership, our brain trust hails from Xbox, EA, Blizzard, Riot Games and FoxNext. We also have strong relationships in place throughout the industry, including development services companies capable of Q&A, Localization, Customer Service, Monetization and Production.

Get in touch: https://www.alistgames.net/contact

About Listen In: Each week on Listen In, Ayzenberg VP and ECD Matt Bretz and a rotating cast of hosts from Ayzenberg will interview experts in the field of marketing and advertising to explore uncharted territory together. The goal is to provide the a.network audience with actionable insights, enabling them to excel in their field.