LinkedIn's Newest Acquisition

LinkedIn acquired an online education company Lynda.com few days ago for $1.5 billion - this acquisition is LinkedIn’s biggest ever and will allow the company to have access to instructional videos on topics including web development, photography and design, wherein these courses will be promoted to LinkedIn’s 350 million users.

Considering that the digital economy is becoming increasingly data-driven, LinkedIn could potentially utilize Lynda data in the following fashion:

• LinkedIn recently launched a product that allows advertisers to buy ads across the web using its data. LinkedIn can now append Lynda's valuable first-party data to the offering should it so choose. Lynda's data is goldmine for some advertisers – Adobe would probably love to get ads for its Creative Suite in front Lynda's design students -- and Lynda already seems to be using that data in some way. A visit to its Design section brought up 28 ad tags according to the browser extension Ghostery. Included among them were the ad exchange AppNexus and retargeter Criteo.
• Much of LinkedIn's revenue comes from its Talent Solutions platform, so it's not a stretch to imagine recruiters getting notifications about people who complete courses for the skills they're looking for. This could be a win for both parties. Recruiters get the people they need, and people in need get jobs. It would also make LinkedIn more indispensable, raising the bar for competitors to challenge it.

http://adage.com/article/digital/linkedin-s-1-5-billion-lynda-purchase-data/297986/

Periscope, Twitter's live-streaming app

Two days ago, Twitter unveiled Periscope, a live-streaming app the company acquired in January. With the emergence of Periscope, Meerkat is bound to face tough competition although it has begun to attract the attention of celebrities and other high-profile users. With the fast connection that we have today, powerful smartphones in the hands of many, and of course, the presence of social networks, live mobile video is finally gaining meaningful traction. As long as one has connection, he or she can turn into an instant broadcaster, allowing video to be streamed in real time to friends and followers. Like Meerkat, Periscope allows users to broadcast whatever they are doing with just a couple of taps. Users can also find out if followers or viewers adore what they are doing as comments and questions can be shared during the entire broadcasting session, and viewers can tap the screen to offer positive feedback in the form of hearts. Moreover, Periscope's ability to save streams for replays makes it a superior option than its rival.

Savvy marketers are quick to employ this app as one of their social tools. A few companies that have already started using Periscope in their marketing strategy include Spotify and DKNY. After joining Periscope, Spotify posted a behind-the-scenes video with singer Conor O'Brien. The live stream garnered 382 views and 1,534 hearts (the equivalent of Facebook likes), and the video had been replayed at least 99 times. On the other hand, DKNY gave viewers a look into its fashion closet on Thursday after announcing via Twitter it had opened an account.

Below is a video that demonstrates how the app works:

Amazon Shutting Down Webstore

Amazon has recently decided to shut down its e-commerce platform Webstore, a service enabling small business owners to create standalone e-commerce websites, in 2016. Several users of the service noted on Amazon forum that the company had contacted them to state that the platform would close next summer: "We will support the Webstore service until July 1, 2016 to give you 15 months to prepare for the change," the notification letter reportedly reads. A message on top of the Webstore landing page also states that the service is "no longer available to new sellers." According to reports from Re/code, the move comes as the hosting landscape has become increasingly flooded, with competitors Shopify and Bigcommerce raising boatloads of venture capital to develop more enticing eCommerce tools. eBay is apparently affected by this as well as it had announced last summer that it would discontinue its Magento Go software, which provides a similar service.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/244193

Commoditizing Data

Data usage is a major concern shared by most mobile users and since advertisements, apps and websites are known to impose on data usage, mobile users constantly search for ways to conserve data wherever they can. To address consumer concern about increased data, Telefonica announced a new plan that will allow consumers trade brand engagement for mobile data.

It is critical for marketers to create meaningful experiences for their audiences, and while they have typically relied on ad-based models to gain audience reach, the time has come for advertisers and marketers to devise a new advertising model when interacting with mobile users who are concerned about data usage. In Telefonica's example, brands could ideally offset users' data costs in exchange for consumer interaction with the brand. Recently McDonald's has also announced it will offer customers in the Philippines free SMS messaging with food purchase. In short, advertisers have to think strategically about ways their brands can offer "bonus data" to consumers for spending with their brand. Whether it is giving them opportunities to watch a video, play a game, listen to music or spend time on a mobile website, advertisers need to think about ways to engage consumers that won't count against their data plans. As a reward for engagement, consumers get to conserve precious data. 

Advertisers will also benefit from this new ad model as they will be creating entertaining experiences for their audience besides increasing utility and value to consumers, which in turn helps shift brand perception. When advertisers can successfully capture consumer attention while addressing consumer needs, they will be the ones to win in this space.  

http://adage.com/article/digitalnext/gen-z-s-data-obsession-bits-bytes-commodity/297576/

Instagram's New Carousel Ads

The one problem that I have always had with Instagram was its inability to swipe through photos when viewing a user’s account. This issue will now be (partially) fixed following Instagram’s newest launch of “carousel ads”—a slideshow-like ad format that lets advertisers include up to 4 photos in an ad, where the ads are being sold on a cost-per-thousand-impressions (CPM) basis. The carousels also allow advertisers to insert a “learn more” button that links to their website, creating more opportunities for direct-response ads. Because it is an in-app web browser, users cannot navigate directly to websites unless there is a link to those sites on the advertiser’s page that opens from the ad.

Instagram started selling ads in late 2013, which started with sponsored images and gradually evolved to sponsored videos. However, there have been limits to Instagram’s growth due to the hands-on nature of the company with its advertisers: it works closely with brands to ensure their content aligns with the platform, which features stylishly filtered photos and videos. With this clickable carousel, advertising on Instagram will appeal to a wider range of companies and will quickly ramp up its revenue. For Instagram’s advertisers, this new feature will allow them to know not only if someone had seen, liked, or commented on their ad, but also if people swiped through multiple photos and clicked through to their site. Yet, the flip side to this feature is that too many links and carousels could dilute the Instagram scrolling flow, which goes against the initial culture of the app.

Right now, the carousel option is only available for advertisers, and Instagram does not have immediate plans to extend the feature to its 300 million everyday users and non-paying brands. It is a shame this feature is rolling out first to brands because the idea of photo sets will definitely be a popular feature that the average users crave. Not only is this feature hugely popular on Tumblr, it has also been adopted by Twitter more recently. Additionally, it would also help address my least favorite use of Instagram: the “unfiltered feed” problem where oversharers I follow drown out people I care most about. With photo sets, users’ flurries of excitement can be neatly organized into a single carousel rather than spamming their friends’ feed.

Real-time Marketing at the Oscars

Award shows are increasingly dominated by social media and the second-screen experience, allowing brands to connect with users via real-time marketing and online conversations. While Twitter is typically regarded as the central platform for real-time online conversations, Facebook came out on top at this year's Academy Awards: 21 million people discussed the Academy Awards on Facebook, generating a total of 58 million related posts while only 5.9 million Oscar-related tweets were found on Twitter. 

In fact, Facebook's social activity had increased more than double from last year as there were 11.3 million users who posted, liked, or commented about the Oscars in 2014. On the other hand, the number of tweets fell from 11.2 to 5.9 million this year. The decline is somewhat inevitable considering how popular Ellen's selfie was - that selfie alone accounted for more than 20% of the tweets about the 2014 event. Without anything like the photo, Oscar-related tweets experienced a dramatic decrease this year. Additionally, preliminary Nielsen figures revealed that this year's show was seen by an audience of 36.6 million,  which is a 7 million decline from last year and the lowest since 2009.

Regardless, the event presented a great opportunity for film studios behind this year's nominees to drive engagement and brand awareness. The following blog post analyzes the Facebook content from the film studios responsible for this year's Best Picture nominees: http://trackmaven.com/blog/2015/02/power-real-time-marketing-shines-oscars/

According to the author, Focus Features distributed a congratulatory post while Eddie Redmayne was accepting his Best Actor award, reaping 23.5K interactions with a single post simply "by playing into the real-time suspense and excitement of the awards with their Facebook content". In contrast, Fox Searchlight's top-performing posts that were posted 5 minutes after their awards saw only 1.7K interactions. In a live event like the Oscars, the speed of posting becomes exceedingly important as evident from the engagement difference between the two film studios that were just mentioned. Once the opportunity to break the news is missed, engagement will necessarily suffer as the show moves on to the next trending topic.

Emoticoke

Over the years, Coca-Cola has worked hard to associate its brand with happiness, and this time its Puerto Rican arm has decided to promote the brand by introducing its first emoji web address: 

On top of that, Coke has also registered every emoji that conveys happiness on the .ws domain suffix where all of these domains are redirected to the main promotional website, Emoticoke.com. On this site, users can also register to try to obtain their very own emoji address. If you are wondering why the domain suffix .ws (which is a domain suffix for Samoa) is used instead of the popular domains such as .com, .org, or .net, Coke's ad agency explains that emojis are not accepted on these domains and opted .ws because the letters could stand for 'We smile', which seemed most relevant to the brand.

The campaign is clearly targeted at the active mobile device users - presumably the younger generation. By using emojis, which has slowly turned into a second language for the younger consumers, Coca-Cola is attempting to connect with and grab the attention of the young and tech-savvy crowd. A major drawback of this campaign however, is that only mobile devices are able to insert emojis in the urls, hence preventing consumers from accessing it using their laptops and computers. That said, a quick search of #emoticoke on Twitter reveals positive feedback from users who are raving about this creative new idea.

Forbes Taking Native Ads to New Level

The latest issue of Forbes that will hit newsstands on Monday will feature a native ad for Fidelity not on its foldout or second cover, but on the actual cover. While it is common to advertise sponsored content, Forbes magazine has clearly crossed a line that many in the publishing industry view as sacred, given that placing ads on magazine covers remains a taboo in the industry. 

In the native ad - a tactic where ads seek to mimic editorial content - Fidelity Investments calls out the FidelityVoice branded content inside the magazine on the right side of the cover within a black box with a tagline that reads "Fidelity Voice: Revving Up Your Retirement". The ad appears just below the cover teasers for regular editorial content about retirement planning which appears in a light blue box, making the ad placement for Fidelity contextually relevant but also distinguishable from editorial content. However, it is missing a crucial element: an explicit disclaimer that identifies it as sponsored content.

In an industry that is under so much financial pressure that editors are enlisted to work with advertisers, magazine publishers have flirted with placing ads on covers but have resorted to placing ads on fake covers or cover flaps. During May last year, Time Inc. made a similar move by putting small ads for Verizon on the covers of Time and Sports Illustrated magazines that were located near the mailing labels or barcodes. Although these ads may seem unobtrusive, they appear to depart from the American Society of Magazine Editors' guidelines which clearly instructs magazines to "[not] print ads on covers" as the cover of a magazine should solely represent the editor and publisher's brand statement.

Clearly, this advertising strategy by Forbes was not particularly well-received and it is not difficult to understand why readers are angry - especially when the cover tease was thrown in as a byproduct of the deal and did not come at a premium!

Uber Offers Kitten Delivery

In an effort to endear itself to existing and prospective customers, Uber pulled a marketing stunt by partnering with Cheezburger to deliver kittens to customers' doorsteps. For $30, customers get to have kittens delivered to them for 15 minutes of snuggling, and proceeds from the publicity stunt will go to local shelters participating in the event.

In fact, this is not the first time Uber has come up with such marketing strategies to promote its service. Last year, it allowed users to hail ice cream trucks in 33 cities around the world, delivered roses and personalized cards on Valentine's Day for $150, and offered helicopter rides to East Hampton for $3000 to promote its July 4 launch in the Hamptons.

Despite having these campaigns, there are many challenges lying ahead for this ride-hailing company - from widespread regulation problems to competition from its own investor, Google, who is developing driverless cars. 

The following article highlights some interesting challenges that Uber has to face: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/can-uber-distract-us-with-cute-animals-2015-02-05

For instance, while Uber did announce a partnership with Carnegie Mellon to create driverless cars, other competitors are likely to own them by the time these cars are available. Additionally, Uber is seen as a "faceless entity" given its lack of a prominent founding story. Clearly a lot is left to be done for this company, but it will be interesting to see how much further Uber is able to grow while facing multiple lawsuits and resistance from taxi drivers and lawmakers.

Super Bowl: A New Game for Digital Marketers

As football fans prepare for Sunday's Super Bowl, marketers are looking forward to the game just as much. Each year, marketers spend millions of dollars to advertise during Super Bowl; as for this year, a single 30-second spot is selling for about $4.5 million. With modern day Super Bowl advertising evolving into a multi-platform event, the role of social and mobile becomes increasingly relevant.

The Adobe Digital Index data shows that the NFL is the most popular social sport in the US, hence, social will remain an important digital marketing strategy. However, with Facebook algorithm changes, marketers are expected to rely less on images and more on videos or link posts. Mobile visitors will also play a huge role as consumers will likely be watching the game and simultaneously accessing social channels from their mobile devices, which should serve as a sign for marketers to ensure their communications are mobile-optimized. This year's game is also expected to attract a bigger international audience than ever before given the increase of broadcast availability. With this new crowd, advertisers have the opportunity to increase brand exposure to consumers who might never have heard of their products or services. (Look up http://mashable.com/2015/01/27/super-bowl-marketing-trends-brandspeak/ for detailed statistics on the trends in Super Bowl marketing)

Super Bowl is the ultimate platform for advertisers to reach out to consumers, and the field awaits the most creative advertisement that marketers will be presenting this Sunday.

Will WhatsApp be able to sustain its no-advertising policy?

When WhatsApp was founded in 2009, its motto was: no ads, no games, no gimmicks. Its co-founder, Jan Koum, was especially against the invasion of advertising. However, following its $19 billion acquisition by Facebook last year, people have started to wonder how the investment can be financially justified if the messaging app were to continue its no-advertising policy.

For WhatsApp, the mobile texting space is filled with rivals such as Line, WeChat, KakaoTalk and Tango—apps that are constantly striving to monetize through different channels. Line is known to derive 20% of its revenue from selling virtual stickers while Tango has introduced native ads; on the other hand, WhatsApp makes money from selling $0.99 yearly subscriptions (with free access for the first year) for its service. As the market leader, WhatsApp is able to operate without offering other premium features, but the same business model will be hard or even impossible to replicate for other apps that try to follow WhatsApp’s lead.

Typically, mobile texting apps try to generate revenue through the following channels: selling stickers, creating games around chat with in-app purchase elements, and promoting the purchase of real-world goods. The chart below shows a comparison of the business models used by various apps:

Source: http://wattsjones.org.uk/post/61010619439/messagingappmonetisation 

While WhatsApp owns a large user base, the company’s revenue might only be hundreds of millions of dollars—leaving an unfilled gap between hundreds of millions and $19 billion. Unsurprisingly, there have been indications that WhatsApp has gradually started to loosen its no-advertising policy as it starts to explore possible marketing channels. According to Forbes, some brands could be allowed to message WhatsApp users once they have been granted permission by the company, and it is also considering charging airlines and brands like Uber to message its users. Regardless, if WhatsApp policies do change, it would not be the first time a tech company that rebelled against marketing grew to be reliant on advertising—with the likes of Facebook, Google, and Twitter being its predecessors.