ANTITRUST

Big Zuck vs. Big Gov

Facebook has more legal troubles than just a few parking tickets: Today, Zuckerberg will face the U.S. House Judiciary antitrust subcommittee, which has been investigating the company’s alleged market domination over social media advertising for more than a year now.

FB facts from a friend

On Monday, I may or may not have sent Brew writer Jamie Wilde a Facebook friend request immediately after reading her deep dive into Facebook’s antitrust case. TL;DR below:

• 31.2% of the world’s population has a Facebook-owned account.
• When you agree to Facebook’s terms and conditions, Facebook can share your data with advertisers, its other properties like Instagram, and its audience network. 
• Those data practices make Facebook especially useful as an advertising platform—in the U.S., Facebook gets $8+ of every $10 spent on social advertising.
• Germany’s top court recently ruled that users must be given the choice of whether or not they consent to sharing data across all of FB’s platforms. 

Extrapolating: Germany’s decision doesn’t necessarily affect the U.S.—but it does illustrate one potential path U.S. lawmakers could take. 

What might happen: If the U.S. follows Germany’s lead (and users actually opt to unlink their data), the social advertising space could get more competitive. But that’s a lot of ifs. Plus, Facebook would still likely have best-in-class ad targeting capabilities and reach.

A timely reminder

You might be aware of a little thing called the Facebook Boycott.

But what you might not realize is why that boycott is unlikely to put a big dent in FB’s bottom line...which is also why lawmakers are talking about breaking up Facebook:

• Generally speaking, larger brands don’t rely on FB for driving sales, so they can easily afford to pause ads and boycott the platform.
• But small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs)—which make up nearly 75% of Facebook’s yearly ad revenue—do rely on the platform for direct sales, making it much more difficult for them to participate in the boycott. 

Later today...The recent Facebook ad boycott could provide fresh fodder for the antitrust hearing—many businesses simply can't quit Facebook, which further illustrates its influence.

While we’re here: Check out the Brew’s guide to the antitrust hearing, which includes everything from a history of antitrust law to a primer on the allegations against Amazon.

AGENCIES

Hold the Rising PResses

Few aspects of the early aughts’s Sex and the City still ring true today. But even in 2020, most of the U.S. PR industry still looks like Samantha Jones: It’s almost 90% white, per the Harvard Business Review. 

Hold the PRess, a grassroots organization founded in June with the goal of making PR more diverse, wants to change that. So on Monday, it merged with 600 & Rising, the nonprofit focused on diversity in ad agencies.

• Just like 600 & Rising, Hold the PRess wants agencies to disclose their diversity data.
• Weber Shandwick, Nike Communications, and InkHouse shared their stats with Hold the PRess already.

Why this matters: Nathan Young and Bennett D. Bennett founded 600 & Rising to make a positive impact on the larger marketing industry, which, hot take, includes PR. So it linked up with Hold the PRess to better coordinate diversity and inclusion efforts from inside their respective sectors.

+1: If you work in PR, you can share your agency’s diversity data with 600 & Rising. Hold the PRess is asking agencies to disclose this info by July 31, 2020.

SPONSORED BY MORNING BREW CREATIVE

These Ads Don’t Write Themselves

The Morning Brew Creative team does. And we receive a lot of fan mail...admittedly, much of it is from our mothers. Still, many admirers, ad scholars, and brands write in asking, “Just how do you craft such compelling copy?” 

Well, dear readers, the secret to our ad sauce is in the training—and we train hard. 

A typical day for copywriters at Morning Brew Creative goes like this:

• 9am: Recite—whilst planking—synonyms from Creative Director Blake’s thesaurus. 
• 11am: Go “Long Distance Punning” until the last writer eye rolls.
• 12pm: Spar over product samples.
• 2pm: Speed-solve crossword puzzles—in permanent marker.
• 4pm: Write an ad with just the write amount of puns.

If your brand is ready to experience highly trained creative at its finest, we’ll be right here.

BRANDS

The Top Three Stats From a Note Edelman Passed Me...

...and a juicy note it was. Here are my three biggest takeaways from Edelman’s Brand Trust in 2020 report.

Stat: Only 24% of U.S. respondents said that celebrities are credible spokespeople for brand trust, whereas 59% said they’d trust a “person like themselves.” 

• Why it matters: If you tried and failed to get the most recent Bachelorette finalists to post about your products on IG, you might want to look for people who tried and failed to get on The Bachelor.

Stat: 62% say they want brands to inform them about ways they're helping with the pandemic. 

• Why it matters: Whether or not to address COVID-19 has consistently been a hot topic among marketers since March, and now we finally have a better sense of where consumers stand on the issue.

Stat: 70% of U.S. respondents said trusting a brand today is more important to them than it was in the past.

• Why it matters: Due to the pandemic, transparency is, dare I say, having a moment.

Shameless plug: I’m hosting a panel via LinkedIn Live today at 4pm ET to chat about Brand Trust in 2020 with Edelman COO Lisa Ross, Edelman U.S. Brand Chair Michele Anderson, and Petco CMO Tariq Hassan. And you should absolutely come, especially if you want to talk about how these stats differ along racial lines. RSVP here.

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• The Trade Desk may have cracked the code to ditch third-party cookies.
• Omnicom released its workforce diversity data after being called out for not doing so on an Ad Age livestream.
• WarnerMedia said HBO Max users skew younger than on its other platforms.
• Ford is planning a podcast for the return of the Bronco.
• The South China Morning Post is returning to a subscription model.

SPONSORED BY LISTRAK

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ADWEEK OR ADWEAK?

Which headlines are real marketing news, and which one is from marketing satire Twitter account @ADWEAK? 

1. “Study Finds Parents Alarmed By Ads Their Kids See On YouTube”
2. “Marriott and Hilton Hotels Are Using Robots for Room Deliveries”
3. “Emirates Airlines Will Cover Funeral Costs If You Catch COVID-19 While Flying”
4. “Agency Loses New Business Pitch To Guy On Fiverr”

Keep scrolling for the answer.

AD ANTIQUES

Duke

Mark Zuckerberg is probably vibing with this Washington, D.C. travel coupon from 1950 right now.

ADWEEK OR ADWEAK? ANSWER

If an agency lost a new business pitch to a guy on Fiverr, they’re keeping it to themselves.

ICYMI

Catch up on the top Marketing Brew stories from the last few editions. 

What Google's antitrust hearing means for advertisers

Ian Borthwick’s hot take on influencer marketing