This Week In Marketing: February 28, 2021
Welcome to another weekly roundup! This week, I’ve got a great mix for you across tech, social platform and marketing campaign news. On the tech front, we’ve got a follow-up on policy issues around paying for news coverage, Spotify’s new audio ad solutions, a look at the new app Dispo, and more. For social platforms, Twitter is throwing down with bold future plans, there’s a troubling lawsuit for TikTok, Clubhouse reveals Android app plans, and more. On the marketing campaign front, there’s a cool full-body AR Snapchat campaign from Bacardi, a burger restaurant that has hilariously made its menu expense-able, a bizarre campaign from Heinz, viral Tom Cruise deepfakes, and more!
Facebook says it will pay news industry $1 billion over 3 years
Last week, Microsoft threw down the gauntlet saying that search engines and social networks should pay for news coverage. Shortly after, Google announced a multi-year deal with News Corp (of which Microsoft decided to take credit for influencing). This week, Facebook announced plans to invest $1 billion to “support the news industry” over the next three years. What’s not being covered? Whether Microsoft will do – or has already done – the same, as the situation currently reads as though the company would rather poke the bear versus join the party.
Spotify unveils audio ad marketplace as podcast ambitions face key test
With the rise of podcast, eBook and social audio consumption on the rise, it’s no surprise that Spotify is looking to expand its audio ad marketplace. Consider the following stats:
- 2020: Audio was the No.1 activity on mobile, outpacing social, video, and gaming
- Podcasts reach over 100 million Americans for over 40 minutes per day
So, why aren’t more advertisers embracing advertising on podcasts? The podcast advertising market is in its infancy, with limited ability to target audiences, lack of insights and barriers to entry such as high CPMs.
Spotify is claiming that its new Spotify Ad Studio will mitigate these concerns and more by offering the following product features:
- Confirmed Ad Impressions
- Audience-Based Buying [ALPHA]
- Streaming Insights
- Native Ad Placements [BETA]
- Creative Performance
- Third-Party Brand Lift Measurement
The purpose of the Spotify Ad Studio announcement was to raise interest and to drive interested companies to sign up for the waiting list. File this one under: one to watch!
Bacardi extends ‘Conga’ remix push with first-of-its-kind Snapchat AR activation
Snapchat continues to drive AR innovation – this time through the first-of-its-kind full-body AR lens that teaches people how to dance the Conga with Bacardi. The filter is quite a cool experience, taking people through a series of dance moves accompanied by 3D augmented reality animations. What’s also unique is that the filter also builds, meaning that users unlock additional instrumental layers as they follow the prompts and complete the dance moves. The technology is apparently called “AR 3D Full Body-Tracking Technology,” tracking 18 joints on someone’s body and using 3D modeling to follow their movements. Check it out for yourself and see how you do!
Clubhouse has reached more than 10 million weekly active users, Clubhouse co-founders Paul Davison and Rohan Seth announced on Sunday.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/23/clubhouse-hires-android-developer-work-on-android-app-has-begun.html
As the race for social audio supremacy continues, the frontrunner, Clubhouse, confirms that it has reached 10 million weekly active users, which is up from two million weekly active users one month ago. Additionally, Clubhouse has hired Android software developer Mopewa Ogundipe, which means an Android app is underway. Which is good for Clubhouse as competitors Twitter Spaces and Angle are already supporting Android.
Twitter Aims to Double Revenue in 3 Years; Shares Surge
As an avid Twitter user, I found it interesting to dig into Twitter’s ambitious three-year growth plan. Here’s a few highlights:
- Twitter aims to have 315 million monetizable daily active users by the end of 2023
- Twitter to double its annual revenue in three years – going from $3.7 billion in 2020 to at least $7.5 billion in 2023
- Twitter will meet revenue goals by doubling the number of features each employee ships that directly drives mDAUs or revenue
- New features to monetize Twitter’s user base are coming, including “Super Follows,” which allow users to charge their followers for premium content, like a newsletter subscription, badges showing support, or bonus tweets
- Twitter also said it’s experimenting with putting other features behind a paywall, such as Tweetdeck
For a company that currently makes 85% of its ad revenue from brand advertising, it’s interesting to see Twitter’s shift in better monetizing its user base, plus looking at monetizable products like Tweetdeck. I personally am prioritizing social media channels with creator programs, like YouTube, which allow users royalty-esque monetization opportunities upon reaching a specific fanbase. It will be interesting to see if Twitter gates the new features to influencers or if they will be open to everyone.
Burger Restaurant Renames Menu So You Can Expense Items
https://www.ladbible.com/news/food-burger-restaurant-renames-menu-so-you-can-expense-items-20210221
Anyone else missing regular business trips during lockdown? Or, do you simply have an underutilized budget for “office supplies?” Well, thanks to Good Fortune Burger in Toronto, Ontario, you may be able to get away with expensing your lunch or maximize those all-important credit card points multipliers on your business credit card.
So, how is this possible? Well, the restaurant has changed the name of some of its burgers and sides on Uber Eats and DoorDash to office supplies. For example, the Fortune Burger is now a “Basic Steel Stapler,” while the Emerald Veggie Burger is now “Wired Earphones with Mic.”
While I give the marketing team at Good Fortune Burger props for thinking outside of the box, I hope this doesn’t get people fired!
Heinz asks fans to wait 57 minutes for website to load in latest endurance play
How long would you wait for a chance to enter an online sweepstakes for a burger kit? Heinz is hoping its fans will wait a whopping 57 minutes to snag one of 157 new burger kits, which include a custom red spatula, apron, grill mitt, napkins, plates and Heinz’s ketchup, relish and mustard.
File this one under…am I missing something here? Call me crazy, but the prize needs to be considerably better for me to wait 57 minutes to enter a sweepstakes! Now granted, you could leave the browser open and get stuff done around the house, but it’s the principle here. The best contests and sweepstakes are easy to enter and this feels gimmicky in the wrong way. What are your thoughts?
TikTok To Pay $92 Million To Settle Class-Action Suit Over ‘Theft’ Of Personal Data
While I am a big fan of TikTok, this is an important read. The social platform has agreed to pay $92 million to settle 21 federal lawsuits, mostly on the behalf of minors, alleging that TikTok harvested personal data from users, including information using facial recognition technology, without consent and shared the data with third-parties, some of which were based in China.
As a result of the settlement, TikTok will no longer record a user’s biometric information, including facial characteristics. It also cannot track a user’s location using GPS data. TikTok also committed to stop sending U.S. users data overseas and the app said it would no longer collect data on draft videos before the content is published.
David Dobrik’s $200m photo app Dispo, explained
https://thehustle.co/02262021-david-dobrik-dispo/
There’s a new hot photo sharing app in town. It’s called Dispo and it was created by YouTube and TikTok star, David Dobrik. The app is invite only and mimics a disposable camera. The app was inspired by millennial and GenZ behavior of focusing too much on getting the perfect picture, to the detriment of being in the moment while with friends or at a party. As a result, the app takes unpolished, un-edited photos that do not “develop” in the app until the next morning. File this one under…one to watch because the app is currently valued at $200 million!
Insanely accurate Tom Cruise deepfake goes viral on TikTok
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/alarmingly-realistic-tom-cruise-deepfakes-taking-tiktok/
Let’s end on a crazy one. Tom Cruise has become the latest celebrity to go viral on TikTok – just not in the way he expected! A Tom Cruise deepfake TikTok account popped up and it’s eerily real. Check it out for yourself.
It’s moments like these that make me a bit afraid for the future. This technology in the wrong hands could cause a lot of trouble. It’s straight out of an episode of Black Mirror!
https://www.tiktok.com/@deeptomcruise
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.