Marketing Dojo #51: 🤐 A Gag Order For Brands ? 🙅♂️
Brand activism is falling out of favour, state of mobile in 2024, Tiger Woods has a job offer and more.
Hello,
Happy hump day! We're halfway through the week – give yourself a pat for making it this far.
As we kick off 2024, the year seems to have started on a sobering note, with layoffs making headlines again. Ever since I graduated, it feels like the bad news cycle has been a constant companion.
Here's a peanut comic strip that describes how I feel.
Do you relate?
In today’s edition, we’re unpacking some fascinating topics:
🚫Brands are not activists
🎨 Inkblots on billboards
🏌️ New job opportunity for Tiger Woods
📱 What's up with the mobile economy?
And lots more.
Before we jump into these intriguing discussions, here’s a friendly reminder: If you haven’t subscribed to MarketingDojo yet, now’s the perfect chance!
Every Wednesday, I bring you the latest marketing news, peppered with fun marketing memes – all delivered straight to your inbox. Trust me, you’ll enjoy being part of our community.
Speak Up or Zip Up? The Risky Business of Brands Taking a Stand
In recent years, we've seen a growing narrative around brands' responsibility to address critical social issues like climate change, gender and racial inequality, and LGBTQ rights.
However, 2023 was a stark reminder that these stands come with risks. AB InBev featured Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender influencer, for a promotional campaign promoting Bud Light beers. This campaign sparked an anti-trans backlash in the United States, leading to calls for a boycott of the company. As a result, AB InBev experienced a significant drop in sales, with shares in the Belgian-Brazilian brewer tumbling 18% in May.
Bentley-Gallup Business in Society Report is an eye-opener.
The findings of the Bentley-Gallup Business in Society Report shed further light on this challenging landscape:
A mere 41% of Americans believe businesses should publicly take stances on current events, a 7% decrease from 2022.
There is more public support for business advocacy on issues like climate change (55%) and mental health (52%) compared to more divisive topics like religion (15%), political candidates (19%), and abortion (26%).
Source: Bentley-Gallup Business in Society Report
The generational divide is pronounced: Only 35% of older Americans (ages 45-59 and 60+) favour brands taking a stand, whereas 53% of the younger demographic (ages 18-25) expect such advocacy.
The Bentley-Gallup report underscores a critical shift: Consumers are gradually showing less interest in brands that advocate for societal issues, suggesting a need for brands to navigate these waters with heightened caution.
Creative Excellence: Exercise, Psychology & Breakups.
Exercise uplifts one's mood.
Asics UK has embraced a unique and intellectually stimulating approach to highlight the mood-enhancing benefits of exercise.
Asics billboards draw inspiration from the Rorschach inkblot test, which uses symmetrical inkblots to delve into a person's unconscious thoughts and feelings.
The Asics billboards contrast the inkblot test interpretations before and after the exercise.
This juxtaposition not only illustrates the psychological uplift exercise can provide but also serves as a refreshing deviation from the conventional athletic imagery of runners in the latest footwear. Clutter-breaking stuff!
A big breakup inspired another stroke of genius.
Tiger Woods & Nike called off their 27-year partnership, ending one of the most lucrative sponsorships in sports history. Seizing this opportunity with a stroke of marketing genius, Topgolf stepped into the spotlight with an intriguing LinkedIn job posting.
This job listing is not just any ordinary call for applications – it's a custom-tailored invitation aimed directly at the legendary Golf champion himself.
Every word in Topgolf's LinkedIn post is a masterstroke of creativity and wit, resonating with fans and industry watchers alike. An interesting trendjack this one!
Creatives On-The-Go Courtesy Microsoft.
Generative AI's role in advertising is growing rapidly, and unsurprisingly, Microsoft wants a piece of Gen AI-enabled marketing. Last week, they unveiled the Retail Media Creative Studio, a cutting-edge solution for banner ad creation specifically designed for retail media.
The demo looks quite interesting. Plug in the product page URL and the campaign goal (awareness, conversion, etc.) to get a range of creatives that adhere to retailers' guidelines & advertising website's ad dimensions.
Users can refine the advertisements using prompts and collaborate seamlessly through Microsoft's tools, making approval processes and team input more efficient.
This development is particularly exciting for small to medium-sized businesses. It offers the power to create high-quality ads on the fly, with minimal investment, democratizing access to sophisticated advertising solutions.
The company is making the move to cement its position in the advertising solutions category.
Upwardly Mobile: The State Of Mobile 2024.
Data.ai's State of Mobile 2024 report offers a treasure trove of insights into evolving consumer behaviour in the mobile sphere.
Here are some quick and dirty highlights:
Mobile Economy Scale: In 2023, the total mobile economy reached a staggering $533 billion. This includes $362 billion from ads and $171 billion from app stores.
Increased Mobile Usage: The daily average time spent on mobile phones rose 6% to 5 hours.
Consumer Spending Resurgence: Global consumer spending on mobile surged by 3% in 2023. South Korea, Brazil, Mexico, and Turkey witnessed over 25% year-over-year growth.
Rising Star: Bangladesh has emerged as one of the fastest-growing app downloads market.
Ad Spending Growth: Mobile ad spending grew by 7%, a modest rate compared to the double-digit growth seen since 2019.
TikTok's Milestone: TikTok became the first app, including games, to reach $10 billion in consumer spending.
TikTok has managed this at an unprecedented speed: It took nearly 10 years for any non-game app to accumulate just $1 billion in all-time consumer spend. TikTok is now surpassing $1 billion in consumer spending each quarter.
Most of its in-app purchase revenue comes from coins that can tip creators during live streams. TikTok now earns more than $1 per user in the United States, up from just 67 cents per user in 2022. Discord ranks a distant second at 17 cents per user.
This comprehensive report is a must-read for anyone with mobile-centric strategies in 2024, providing in-depth insights across various countries and industries.
Meme-Time: There’s a Twist in AI Tale For Marketers.
There are no free lunches.
Major tech companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google (parent company Alphabet) have significantly ramped up their capital expenditures in generative AI.
Their combined capital spending reached $42 billion in the last quarter, a notable increase from previous years. Analysts forecast a further 22% increase in cloud-related capital expenditures for the next year, potentially reaching $116 billion.
Sooner rather than later, the tech firms will charge a premium for the AI-enabled ad creation & delivery. I expect digital advertising costs to outpace the inflationary increases by double digits by the end of 2024.
Creating personalized digital ads on the go might get easier but not cheaper.
Short Stuff:
Prime Video Ads will undercut its rivals by offering competitive rates. (Discounts galore).
X/ Twitter is considering making certain video content exclusive to premium subscribers. (Gated content is back in vogue).
Instagram's co-founder's Twitter competitor, News App Artifact, is shutting down. (RIP yet another Twitter competitor).
Netflix's Ad Tier Users hit 23Mn Monthly Active Users. ( A landmark for streamers).
That’s a wrap on this week. Thank you for your time and attention. If you liked this week’s newsletter or found something interesting - please give me a like or drop a comment. Your support helps drive the discoverability of the newsletter.
Once again, thank you for your time. See you in your inbox next Wednesday.
Regards,
P.S. In a startling "New Year, New Me" twist, notable YouTubers like Game Theorists, Tom Scott, Joel Haver, MeatCanyon, CaptainSparklez, and Stampylonghead have all chosen to step away from YouTube.
This wave of departures has left their fan communities in a state of confusion and sadness. Yet, it's also sparked a wave of humorous memes that capture the bittersweet mood.
One standout farewell that resonated with me was Tom Scott's. Creating high-quality video content weekly for ten years is no easy task - his speech helped me develop an appreciation for Youtubers. No easy task this.