Make a Run for the (Gen Z) Border

 

Fast food legend Taco Bell has recently launched two new marketing initiatives that aim to further their grip on the Gen Z demographic. Notoriously successful with this much sought after demographic group, the taco gurus have once again thought outside the bun to spread their message of taco and burritos for everyone, but especially the younger folk. 

Using an innovative "Taco IRL" campaign, Taco Bell has set their eyes on spreading brand awareness globally by partnering with influencers and leveraging paid and organic social messaging. With this strategy, customers can scan a QR code that will then populate a taco emoji in a users messaging app. In turn, a free taco is their reward after they hit 'send'. It all rolls up to a very ambitious effort to 'own' the taco emoji on people's phones. So when you tell your bff it's Taco Tuesday and do so using one of these: 🌮, you'll immediately think of Taco Bell. Mind = Blown. 

The second major initiative leverages their Discord and spreading awareness of National Taco Day, which they claim to be the biggest holiday for the company. The biggest point with this strategy is that Taco Bell is truly trying to create a community of taco lovers in hopes that connecting over 'a shared love of Taco Bell' will help facilitate organic growth for the company. The Discord server held contests to award members and aims to become a long lasting stop to share thoughts why T Bell is the go-to spot for gorditas. 

Source: https://www.thedrum.com/news/2021/10/04/taco-bell-takes-ownership-taco-emoji-global-taco-day-stunt

Facebook outage costs Facebook, Inc $60m in ad revenue

Earlier this week, Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram went down for a combined six hours, costing the platform over $60 million dollars in advertising revenue. The sites went down on Monday Oct 4th at noon Eastern time, and were largely restored at 7pm on the same day.

Fortune and Snopes were able to calculate the $60m loss by looking at annual revenues and calculating hour by hour and minute by minute rates.  Facebooks earns about $220k in ad revenue per minute.

What isn't clear yet is whether this advertising spend was diverted in any way during the outage. Did demand for Google Ads spike during the outage, resulting in higher clearing prices for keyword searches, or was this revenue loss simply unspent and returned to advertising budgets to be spent later? It would be interesting to review keyword prices during the outage, to see whether there was any impact.

The drop in revenue was however very small in comparison to the drop in Facebook's share price. A day later, Facebook's share price is 3% lower, representing an almost $7b drop in valuation - showing the company's sensitivity to anything that might risk it's access to advertising revenue.

The outage comes at a terrible time for Facebook, given a whistleblower is currently testifying to Congress that Facebook is aware of the effects of its algorithms on young people and that misinformation is spreading across its platform, but is not acting on it because of the negative effects it may have on its income streams.

Is It The Right Time For A Social Media Detox?

                                                                                                                    Credit to: Harper's Bazaar

Earlier this month, Bottega Veneta, one of the most coveted Italian luxury brands, ceased to - socially - exist as it decided to delete its Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts.

While the company has not clarified the reasons behind their unprecedent action, a fashion institution like Vogue has judged it "refreshing", while others have considered it a complete folly. 

Bottega's drastic decision signals a feeling of broader dissatisfaction and frustration by some traditional brands with social media. The relationship between luxury brands and social media has not always been smooth, and some have lamented limitations in the platforms' ability to talk to their customers in a tasteful, elevated manner, especially when it comes to retargeting and influencer collaborations. In addition, some brands are revolting against the increasing costs of social advertising, and against the increasing challenges in appearing in their customers' newsfeeds in an organic manner.  

Nevertheless, social media are ubiquitous, and have become even more essential in the global pandemic. As most consumers remained confined in their homes, the shift of eyeballs from offline to online has increased even further. Thus, advertising money followed. For many brands, social media became the only option of connecting with their customers in a meaningful manner, and there are good reasons to believe that this shift is there to stay. It is therefore imperative that luxury brands pursue strategies to remain relevant in the social age, and find creative ways to connect with their clients in a way that resonates with their brand image.  

Reference:

https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/marketing-pr/should-fashion-break-up-with-big-tech

Gillette's double-edge razor

No one can forget the scandalous ad by Pepsi released in 2017 featuring Kendall Jenner, a rally of (calm) protesters and the all-powerful, can of soda. According to NBC news, Pepsi was accused of appropriating a Black Lives Matter movement following "police shootings of African Americans." The ad's controversial nature encouraged Pepsi to pull the ad and they've since refrained from releasing similar content. Understandably, the ad by Pepsi raised questions in light of its timing, message and context.

In 2018, Nike also released a controversial ad featuring Colin Kaepernick regurgitating the renown Nike slogan "“Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything. Just Do It." Admittedly, this was shortly after Kaepernick kneeled during the national anthem in protest to policy brutality. Although the ad spiked debate, it felt genuine to the millions of Nike followers and consequently brought the company $6 billion in sales. 

A few days ago, Gillette too launched a controversial ad encouraging men to take action against sexual assault and endorsing messages from the me-too movement. Many progressives commended the company for its liberal take, however, many more consumers condemned the ad and threatened to boycott the razor company, according to BusinessInsider. Many posted pictures throwing their razors in the toilet and others proclaimed their switch to alternative brands. The question then becomes, why? 

According to Intelligencer, Gillette tried to profit off a politically tumultuous time by accusing men of systematic corrupt behaviour. Regardless of the truth behind this claim, the company's downfall lies in their replacement of one word. Specifically, "Gillette... inverts the company’s slogan, changing “Gillette: The Best a Man Can Get” to “The Best a Man Can Be.”...Instead of offering the man something, the slogan now asks him to do something." Intelligencer examines the implications of this change and concludes that in marketing, the brand "works for its customers, not the other way around." In essence, Gillette introduces a social-change message by accusing men of faulty behaviour and by telling them the 'correct' way of acting. 

What are the implications of Gillette's ad in a digital world? Millions of consumers, potential consumers, and non-consumers are exposed to the ad, the company's name is trending for days, and the company gains news coverage and national popularity. But, this popularity is negative. Negative popularity can destroy a brand at a faster pace than a positive popularity can inspire a purchase. So, should companies gamble their future by introducing social-change messages in their campaigns? If it's well received, it can be financially rewarding like Nike's gains. If it's bad, well just look at Gillette. I guess if it's not well received, you can also just pull the ad like Pepsi, apologize and lay low for while. 

This goes to show that in business, espousing some moral authority can be the end of you. Hopefully Gillette does recover, though. I personally like their razors...

How to Create a Buyer Persona

How to Create a Buyer Persona

Since digital marketing is becoming more targeted and personalized than ever before, direct-to-consumer (DTC) marketers should know their audiences better than ever. One way to create engaging content is to create it for a Buyer Persona, or an approximation of someone who fits within your target demographic.

Key Facts:

• Personalized marketing campaigns drive 18x more revenue than broadcast emails

• 3 to 4 buyer personas usually account for over 90% of a company’s sales. 

According to Rob Peterson, founder of BarnRaisers agency, buyer personas can improve the following aspects of a marketing campaign: Targeting and positioning, messaging and media, defining purchase motivations in the buying process, establish company alignment, and creating a human face for sales and marketing.

To build a buyer persona, 

1. Check your site and social media platform analytics for inspiration
2. Create a buyer profile, complete with personal details and customer-specific information, like preferred news sources. I liked the suggestion to start with a famous character with obvious characteristics (see the example, left)

Example: Walter White's Buyer Persona

Download a free Buyer Persona generator template here: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/build-buyer-personas


Read more here:
https://www.buyerpersona.com/what-is-a-buyer-persona

https://www.businessesgrow.com/2014/02/12/31-business-building-benefits-buyer-personas/

https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/en-us/blog/2017-4-27-the-beginners-guide-to-defining-buyer-personas

Facebook Ads policies, rejections, and competitive tracking

Brands are getting caught in the cross fire of new Facebook policies and the interpretation on those rules.  Last week two ads by big players P&G and Walmart, were pulled down as they were deemed political and didn't have the "paid for label." This action cause a stir for both brands as their ads were not really political. Facebook rules are available to everyone on their website, however they sometimes, be opened to interpretation. It is this interpretation that might lead to ads being rejected from the platform.

Something else interesting that's happening is that this week, starting today, Facebook will allow any user to see what ads are running for a particular brand on its platform. This not only be very transparent to users but for marketers will be a way to do competitive tracking. All you have to do is go to the page of the brand you'd like ad information on, click on "Info and Ads" to see any running ads.



For more information on Facebook policies, ads that were rejected see links here:
http://adage.com/article/digital/facebook-hits-walmart-p-g-political-ads-warning/314083/
https://www.facebook.com/policies/ads/#