This Week In Marketing : February 21, 2021
This week, policy and payment issues among the tech heavyweights dominated the headlines. Microsoft threw down the gauntlet, advocating for Bing, Google and Facebook to pay publishers to use news coverage in search engines and social networks. Meanwhile, a slew of anti-monolopy legislation against Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Stores are underway in multiple U.S. states.
But, it’s not all legal battles this week – Clubhouse faces two new competitors in the social audio space. And, some interesting research emerged on the growing power of CMOs and marketing strategy pivots amid the pandemic, plus a great breakdown on the psychology of going viral. Lastly, there are bonus updates with a cult cookie shoe collab an our favorite “I’m not a cat” lawyer in Texas! Sound good? Let’s dig in!
Microsoft says Google and Facebook should pay publishers for news in Australia & beyond
Microsoft threw down the gauntlet this week, advocating for search engines and social networks to pay publishers for news and Australia and beyond. In a blog post, Microsoft President and Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith asserts that, “The United States should not object to a creative Australian proposal that strengthens democracy by requiring tech companies to support a free press.” Smith also goes on to make compelling points on how search engines and social networks benefit from access to news coverage:
- Since 2000, newsroom revenue in the United States has fallen by 70% and employment has been cut in half.
- More than 2,000 newspapers have closed entirely. In many places, local news has been decimated.
- Pew Research reported last month: About half of U.S. adults (53%) say they get news from social media ‘often’ or ‘sometimes.’”
- News content generates significant indirect value for search and social media sites – as much as $4.7 billion annually for Google, according to one recent study – even though people often do not click through to the original story.
News Corp agrees deal with Google over payments for journalism
While Microsoft was advocating for search engines and social networks to pay publishers, Google was actually making it happen this week by striking a deal with News Corp to pay to feature its news sites around the world in Google’s News Showcase product, including the Wall Street Journal, the Times and the Australian.
Also interesting? Microsoft is taking credit for inspiring action from Google. When asked to comment on the deal, Microsoft president Brad Smith said, “Our endorsement of Australia’s approach has had immediate impact. Within 24 hours, Google was on the phone with the prime minister, saying they didn’t really want to leave the country after all. And the link on Google’s search page with its threat to leave? It disappeared overnight. Apparently, competition does make a difference.”
Cheeky, right? It’s one thing to inspire action from your competitors, but, now we’re all curious as to when you’re going to strike a similar deal.
There’s a Big Tech battle going down in North Dakota – and many other U.S. States
https://thehustle.co/north-dakota-big-tech/
Why should we care about a big tech battle going down in North Dakota? North Dakota is the latest in a growing number of U.S. states to challenge Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store from forcing companies in their states to hand over a share of their app sales. With going rates between 15-30 percent, the issues at hand are the high percentages, plus policies that prevent fair competiton. For example, Apple’s does not allow apps to be downloaded outside of the app store, while Google does.
In addition to North Dakota, similar legislation and challenges to Apple and Google’s app store policies are happening in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Massachussets, Maryland, Minnesota, New York and Wisconsin. So, while North Dakota might be generating more sensational buzz because it’s playing off of the surprise of such a challenge coming from the state, it’s important for us all to follow this legislation. So much happens at the state level in the U.S. and similar to the issue of paying for news coverage, one state could set a powerful precedence for other states and even countries. These cases could have a major impact to app-based business models and subsequently the marketitng of them.
Epic Games takes its Apple App Store fight to Europe
https://techcrunch.com/2021/02/17/epic-games-takes-its-apple-app-store-fight-to-europe/
It’s not just U.S. states that are fighting with Apple – companies are also challenging the tech giant’s app store policies. A lengthy battle between Epic Games, which makes Fortnite, took on a new momentum this week as the company took its plight to the European Commission. Epic Games advocates that Apple’s monopolisitc practices are harming consumers and app developers in Europe and around the world.
This specific action follows an ongoing brawl Epic Games is having with Apple, following a ban of Fortnite in the U.S. in August 2020 after the company tried to bypass Apple’s in-app purchase framework. In addition to banning Fornite, Apple threatened to revoke Unreal Engine, the developer account and access to developer tools for Epic Games, which would have had a negative impact on third-party app makers that rely on Epic’s engine.
This legislation is also one to watch. If a major market like the European Union sides with Epic Games, it could be another precedence setting move to challenge long established policies and fee structures.
Clubhouse is no longer the only social audio network in town
While the popularity and sheer size of Clubhouse’s userbase has absolutely exploded – the audio-based social network has one major vulnerability – it only caters to iOS or Apple users. With the vast majority of the world’s population using Android phones,the race is on by two key competitors to gain market share with Android users before Clubhose can launch its app on the Google Play store.
Who are those competitors? First and foremost, Twitter. Twitter has been teasing the release of Twitter Spaces for some time now and has announced this week that they will launch on Android in March. Built on Periscope technology, Twitter’s sizeable user base and company infrastructure could make it a formidable competitor to Clubhouse: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/twitter-continues-to-quickly-evolve-its-clubhouse-competitor-spaces/595169/
Also in the race? A Swiss startup called Angle, which is also available to both Apple and Andriod users. The platform is already live and growing – and the company has been staffing up to gain coveted market shade in the social audio race: https://www.angle.audio/
Study: CMOs see influence climb in crisis, but action is needed to preserve gains
As someone who has been a long time champion of CMOs, it’s been frustrating to see the role beaten up and in some cases, eliminated at companies over the years. According to research from Clear, the pandemic has strangely had a positive impact on the role of the CMO, reinforcing the need for seasoned marketing leader among the C-Suite.
In Clear’s report, more than half of surveyed chief marketers report their influence has increased. Clear revealed that 89% of CMOs believe they have at least “a lot of control and input” in shaping business objectives.
While the report does share positive results, it also highlights ongoing challenges:
- The tension between long-term brand vision and the pressure to deliver on short-term goals.
- Only 53% of non-CMO marketers in the C-suite believe their strategy is well defined
- Just 14% of surveyed CMOs believe attracting and retaining talent are a priority at the moment
- Sixty percent of CEO respondents to said marketers should work with third parties to improve experience design
Study: Brand marketers stick to trust-building strategies forged in 2020’s fires, study finds
A study from Iterable uncovered that 91 percent of brand marketers plan to stay focused on the trust-building strategies developed in 2020 as a result of the pandemic and wider social unrest. While it’s no surprise that 2020 was an unprecedented year, for most of the world 2021 is not “back to normal” either. In fact, it may be some time before there’s a sense of normalcy, meaning that marketers need to listen to their customer’s needs and prioritize empathy more than ever before.
The study also highlights the growing trend of customers wanting to know what brands stand for. In the study, almost half (47%) of brands issued statements about racial inequality last year, making the issue more common than public health (40%), gender inequality (34%), LGBT pride (32%) and climate change (29%).
LinkedIn is the latest tech giant to launch a creator program & it’s hiring for a head of community out of NYC
https://www.axios.com/linkedin-launch-creator-program-cf3b1897-157e-4c8d-9fff-1f1566087c98.html
Here’s a fun one for you! Following the rise of creator programs at companies like YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat, LinkedIn is reportedly looking to launch a program of their own. This story is very early days, meaning that it leaked because the company is recruiting for a global head of community out of NYC to build the program and manage the team. Meaning, there’s no details of the actual program or any plans for creator monetization etc. But, all in all, sounds like an exciting development! Too bad the role is not located in London ;).
Why People Share: The Psychology Behind “Going Viral”
https://www.nfx.com/post/why-people-share/
If you’re looking to brush up on what prompts people to share content, I found this piece to be a great resource. The post breaks down eight motivational clusters that trigger sharing and is well thought-out! I encourage you read it versus me overly summarizing it here.
K-Swiss and Girl Scouts team up on a ‘sweet’ sneaker collaboration
https://kswiss.com/pages/girl-scouts-collection (note: Change your location to USA if visiting from another country)
Here’s a sweet one for you – K-Swiss has teamed up with Girl Scouts of America for a limited edition sneaker collab with shoes inspired by cult classic Girl Scout cookies. K-Swiss has done a great job of bringing relevance back into its brand with limited edition collabs like this. I haven’t seen this covered in the press, but I’m assuming this “collab” is really a brand licensing type deal, as it’s not being branded as a CSR campaign to raise money for the Girl Scouts based on shoe sales.
‘Lawyer Cat’ Reveals His Real, Human Face In Quirky Mike’s Hard Lemonade Ad
Let’s end with a fun one. File this one under…it was bound to happen! But also kudos to Mike’s Hard Lemonade for jumping on this viral story to make a quick ad off the back of it.
Jessica Gioglio is the co-author of The Laws of Brand Storytelling and The Power of Visual Storytelling. Professionally, Jessica has led innovative marketing and public relations programs for Dunkin’ Donuts, TripAdvisor, Sprinklr, and more. Today, Jessica is the founder of With Savvy Media & Marketing, a strategic branding, storytelling, and content strategy consultancy.