CAMPAIGNS

Arms Wide Open: Brands Embrace Biden

Does anyone else remember the election-themed content of yore, when animated donkeys and elephants happily played together with “No matter who wins, we’re all Americans” messaging slapped across the screen?

Sure, those ads still exist today—but on Inauguration Day 2021, unity wasn’t exactly the trendiest brand message. For example… 

• Ben & Jerry’s: Posted “First woman, first Black, first South Asian Vice President” to its socials.
• Bumble: Made a sparkly Instagram graphic saying “It’s Madam Vice President time” with the caption “We’ve been ready.” 
• Audi and Patagonia: Both openly praised President Biden’s climate policy decisions. 

TL;DR: These brands, among others, are explicitly supporting the new administration.

The Gap hoodie of it all

Remember: After the Gap hoodie fail of 2020’s election week, it’s safe to say that playing it safe isn’t exactly safe. So with that in mind, the reason for the open President Biden inauguration support seems twofold.

Brand purpose: Ask any brand marketer why they posted a statement in support of anything remotely political, and they’ll give you the same answer: Their brand values indicate that it’s the right thing to do. 

• Especially in the influencer marketing era, it’s become common for major brands to cite their large social media followings when they post anything controversial, saying they felt a responsibility to do so.

Proven formula: Sure, maybe some major advertisers feel a responsibility to promote what they feel is the “right” side of an issue—but it’s more likely they know taking a side, any side, is also proven to do more good than harm for performance metrics.

US brands are 4x more likely to gain a consumer’s trust than lose it when they “take action” on social issues, per Edelman’s global Spring 2020 Brand Trust survey. 

TV

Cloudy with a Chance of Streaming

Anyone who ever followed stay at home orders could guess that global consumers spent more time consuming all forms of media last year. A recent forecast from PQ Media doubles down on that assumption—and points out a way more interesting one. 

According to the forecast, time spent consuming all forms of media per week rose 2.8% between 2019 and 2020, the fastest annual growth rate in five years. But here’s where it gets interesting... 

• Despite that increase, global consumers actually spent far less time with ad-supported media—its consumption share fell to 6.8% worldwide, a historic low for the annual forecast.

How it happened 

Lower ad spend due to the economic downturn is partly to blame here—but so is subscription streaming growth. PQ Media EVP and Research Director Leo Kivijarv told Marketing Brew that… 

1. The trend is also due to increasing streaming options in the marketplace. “People are using ad-supported channels less because they want to get a bang for their buck,” Kivijarv said.
2. The downward slope of ad-supported media and increasing interest in consumer-supported media is “definitely here to stay” and not 100% driven by the pandemic.

SPONSORED BY IMPACT

Acid-Washed Jeans and Affiliate Marketing: '90s Styles to Leave Behind

A lot has changed since the ’90s, and while flared jeans and scrunchies might be making a comeback, other ’90s trends certainly are not. Namely—affiliate marketing. 

The only thing scarier than reviving frosted tips is relying on the marketing strategies of a bygone, platform shoe-wearing era. 

Which is why Impact’s e-book is chock full of the history of affiliate marketing and how forward-thinking businesses (like yours) can lead the pack by embracing a partnership mindset. 

In other words, affiliate partnerships are the way of the future, affiliate marketing belongs in the ’90s, and right now is the time to learn how to recruit, engage, and optimize your partnerships with Impact’s e-book.

Get your copy today. 

FROM THE CREW

In Case You Overlooked Our New Report…

Your weekend plans: Sitting down and binge-reading our list of the most overlooked and overhyped marketing trends from 2020—according to almost 400 marketers who read this newsletter. 

If you’ve already perused it, great—we're officially best friends. If not, here’s what you’re in for, beyond TikTok’s obvious spot as #1 most overhyped trend. 

The most overlooked trend of 2020: Micro-influencers gaining prominence—plus analysis on why the trend flew under the radar last year.

“That’s So Raven” psychic energy: The marketing professionals surveyed also detailed the five trends that’ll be most important to marketers in 2021—don’t worry, there’s a really beautiful graph that makes them easy to understand. 

Bottom line: If you made it this far, this is clearly a must-read for you, so get the full Marketing Brew Overlooked and Overhyped Report here. 

+1: If you’re a marketer in the retail industry, you’re in luck—Retail Brew also surveyed readers about the most overlooked and overhyped retail trends of 2020. 

• Social commerce and civic engagement—both of which made major waves in the marketing industry last year—made the list. 

But you’ll have to click here to find out if they were overlooked or overhyped . 

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• Google is threatening to pull its search engine from Australia if a new law requiring it to pay publishers goes into effect.  
• Walgreens Boots Alliance’s Global CMO and CCO Vineet Mehra is leaving after two years for an undisclosed Silicon Valley role.
• President Biden is revoking Trump’s agency diversity training executive order.
• Verizon Media is expanding its Microsoft ad sales deal as it looks to grow its supply-side platform.

SPONSORED BY ITERABLE

Dreamers, builders, and makers, here’s an event for which you should be takers. On April 7, Activate Live is helping marketers like you reimagine a better customer experience. For years, the top dogs from companies like SeatGeek and Zillow have come together at Activate to showcase how they built cohesive experiences and empathetic relationships based on trust and values. Save your free, virtual seat at Activate Live today.

FRENCH PRESS

Marketing tips to make you fancy 

Messaging: These seven tips for making sure your marketing messaging always lands with your consumer could change your approach to copywriting forever (or, you know, until the next seven tips). 

Buyer personas: Breaking down buyer personas in your target audience just got slightly less complicated, thanks to this infographic.

Images: Shutterstock, aka many marketers’ stock photo mainstay, outlined 2021’s emerging visual trends here. 

B2B: Anyone who says Twitter doesn’t work for B2B brands 1) is being way too general and 2) hasn’t read this B2B Twitter lead generation guide.

METRICS & MEDIA

Stat: Oppenheimer predicts Peloton has captured 12.6% of the 4.4 million US churned gym members, per MediaPost.

Quote: “At this very moment, if you’re very quiet and you close your eyes, you can actually hear the sounds of hand-wringing in every single edit bay across the country,” Don Shelford, executive creative director at Swift, told Adweek in regard to Super Bowl commercial creators trying to strike the right tone this year.

Read: “Purple Mattress: ‘Views Don’t Mean Much If People Don’t Take Action’”—Allison Schiff for AdExchanger on Purple’s marketing strategy. 

ICYMI

Catch up on a few Marketing Brew stories you might have missed.

• Is there such a thing as an unethical ad channel? Ask Omnicom and Home Depot
• Ford runs “unity” themed ad as other brands hit pause
• Apple’s planning a podcast subscription service