Marketing Dojo #77: 😡 189 Billion Shades of Beige🥱
The billion dollar tax of boring advertising, steal Emily's style and Samsung scored an Olympic gold.
Welcome to the 77th issue of Marketing Dojo!
I've just returned from a whirlwind business trip to Korea. Picture this: two bustling manufacturing facilities, brainstorms with Asian colleagues, and enough Korean barbecue to make my taste buds dance.
In the battle of bits versus atoms, I'm firmly on the side of atoms. My career has always revolved around companies that deliver physical goods—mobile phones, cars, or advanced materials.
Every factory visit leaves me in awe - the sheer scale of production, the critical importance of planning, and the eye-opening reasons why "just one more variant" isn't always possible. These visits put so much into perspective.
But now, I'm back home, ready to slip into my routine and flex those writing muscles. Here's what's on the menu for today's newsletter:
💸 The extraordinary cost of dull
🏆 Creative excellence: Samsung’s marketing gold
🛍️ Shopping with Emily
📈 Performance marketing and grownups
And lots more.
If you haven’t already, consider subscribing to the Marketing Dojo.
The $189 Billion Marketing Mistake.
Remember the last ad that truly grabbed you? Where was it? What brand? What made it stick?
We're bombarded with 50 to 400 ads daily. How many leave a mark?
"The Cost of Dull," a must-read whitepaper, tackles advertising's biggest headache: the flood of "neutral" ads that spark zero emotional response.
The Tedium Tax.
The tedium tax is a price tag on boring ads. "Tedium tax" refers to the extra money brands spend on dull advertising to achieve the same results as engaging, emotionally resonant advertisements.
The total cost of dull advertising in the US for 2022 to be $189 billion.
Safe is a poor strategy.
We're emotional creatures - we feel joy, surprise, even disgust. But when it comes to ads, "meh" rules the roost.
In the UK, 52% of TV ad responses are neutral. The US? 47%. B2B ads fare even worse, with neutral responses hitting 60% in the UK and 54% in the US.
The excitement of watching cows graze.
How exciting can it be to watch cows graze? Surprisingly, it's more interesting than most ads. A 20-second clip of cows grazing scored 2.8 on System1's ad effectiveness platform—shockingly, one in four ads measured for the report scored lower than this clip.
1 Out of every 4 advertisements measured for the report scored lower than the ruminators.
Marketers, give "The Extraordinary Cost of Dull" a thorough read. Fair warning: neutrality won't be your takeaway emotion.
Creative Excellence: Flipping The Olympics Script.
"The sales results showed they would have produced better results had they wrapped their products in $100 bills and tossed them into the crowd" - Converted: The Data-Driven Way To Win Customers' Hearts, Neil Hoyne.
A solid brand campaign at the Olympics is a golden opportunity for those who can afford it. As one of the most watched sporting events in the world, a strong brand presence can capture massive attention. Unsurprisingly, brands line up and pay top dollar to be seen.
But how do you get your money's worth and stand out? Creativity, folks.
I am amazed at Samsung's brilliant idea of giving away limited edition Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 phones at the Olympics and Paralympics.
As Olympians created TikToks in the Olympic Village, one thing kept popping up: the unboxing of the Samsung Flip6. Take this TikTok from Australian boxer Tina Rahimi, which garnered 5.3 million views.
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And those victory selfies on the podium? Guess what was in every athlete's hand.
The sales are up, too - with a 23% spike in sales during the Olympics.
Growing Pains: The Performance Marketing Paradox.
Scaling up a business comes with its challenges (and opportunities).
One often-overlooked shift? The changing effectiveness of performance marketing.
I stumbled upon this eye-opening chart from Magic Numbers. It puts hard numbers on the ROI of performance marketing across startups, scaleups, and grownup brands.
The gist: Performance marketing is a startup's best friend, delivering a whopping 2.5x ROI. But as companies bulk up, those returns take a nosedive.
The difference between the marketing of startups, scaleups and grownups is a fascinating topic. Here's a podcast recommendation that does a great job of dissecting the differences in approaches.
Another week; another experiment in Shoppertainment.
Netflix's Emily in Paris Season 4 is here. Given the show's vibe and fanbase, it's destined for binge-watching. But if you've been eyeing Emily's wardrobe, Netflix made it easier to steal her style.
Netflix has partnered with Google to introduce a shoppable integration within Emily in Paris. This collaboration brings to life a feature called Shop with Google, allowing viewers to use Google Lens to scan outfits worn by Emily Cooper, the show's stylish protagonist played by Lily Collins.
Here's how it works: When users pause the show, shoppable ads appear on the screen, inviting them to scan the image with Google Lens. This provides instant access to product information, including prices and availability.
Netflix is approaching the ceiling of its user growth; its ad-supported plans have yet to gain significant traction. Shoppable ads within its content library could be a promising avenue to drive revenue growth, offering a new layer of interactivity that enhances the viewer experience while opening up fresh opportunities for monetization.
Short Stuff:
Yelp sues Google for suppressing its results (Not going to help Google’s anti-trust case).
Google expands its AI overviews. (Let’s see how this impacts web traffic).
YouTube tests longer but less frequent ad breaks on Connected TVs. (New TV is same as old TV)
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 newsletter's discoverability.
Regards,
Garima Mamgain
P.S:
You can run, but you can't hide from the Gartner Hype Cycle.
Gartner's hype cycle is a new technology version of a rollercoaster -
First, there's a technological trigger, followed by the peak of inflated expectations, a plunge into the trough of disillusionment, and finally, the long climb to the plateau of productivity.
Last week, Korean newspapers were ablaze with negative press for EVs as a car caught fire. To many of my colleagues, these fires and the media attention signalled it was game over for electrification. But is it, really?
Rewind to 1885. Karl Benz patents the first modern car. Exciting? Sure. Practical? Not so much. They were expensive, difficult to operate and unreliable. Even the rich owned horses and a car to move around.
Even the rich hedged their bets by keeping both cars and horses.
In the early 1900s, horses seemed like a better option than cars. Then BAM! 1908 hits and Henry Ford's Model T rolls out. Affordable, reliable, and mass-produced. Ushering the industry into a plateau of productivity.
From AI to EVs, every new technology's adoption follows a predictable pattern. The bad press for EVs is not exclusive to Korea, the west is also sliding thru the trough of disappointment right now.
The hype cycle's taught us one thing: you've got to hit bottom before you can bounce back.