MarketingDojo #30: Your Silent Competitor. 🤫
There's a bigger competitor than your biggest competitor, a campaign that addresses women's safety issues, Uber's lucrative side hustle.
Hello hello,
For folks based out of the little Red dot - Happy National Day!
There’s something about August - a record 26 countries celebrate their national/independence days in August.
Anyhoo, we have a packed edition ahead. This newsletter includes-
💡What Newton’s Law Tells Us About Our Competitors
🪐Social media channels are settling into their orbits
🎧The case for audio ads builds up
👢Creative excellence: Tackling crimes against women
🚕A lucrative side hustle for Uber
Sounds interesting? Let’s dive right in.
Inertia: The Silent Challenger to Your Brand's Growth
An object remains in the state of rest or constant motion unless acted upon by an external force. - Newton's Law of Inertia.
Brand X has created a product that surpasses its competitors in every way imaginable. It is five times faster, costs half as much as its rival products, and requires 20% less labour than traditional methods. The company's marketers have done an excellent job of showcasing the product's superior features and benefits on a great website. Their sales team is fully prepared to handle all kinds of sales inquiries. However, to their disappointment, the cash registers remain silent. The prospects don't share the same excitement as the brand owners do.
Why aren't customers excited about a product that can save time, cost, and effort? The answer is inertia.
When developing unique product selling points (USPs) and communication, most companies focus on their product competitors and underestimate the effect of the status quo. Consumer inertia refers to the tendency of customers to stick with their current product or service, even when superior options are available.
Habit formation, brand loyalty, switching costs, or search costs are some of the top reasons for consumer inertia.
So what can we do to create a force strong enough for change?
Marketing messages that create a FOMO - what will your prospects miss out on if they don't use your product/service
Demonstrate why the current solution is inferior
Craft a simple & engaging sampling program
Build trust - reduce the risk of switching products
Create mental availability for the brand
What else do you do to combat customer inertia?
Scroll, Connect, Laugh: Social Media’s Split Personalities.
The Digital 2023 July snapshot by DataReportal is out, and it's packed with all the updated essential numbers and facts for marketers.
One particularly interesting finding is the varying roles of different social media channels for their active users. TikTok is mainly used for entertainment, Pinterest for discovering new brands, and Facebook for connecting with loved ones.
On average, a social media user visits or actively uses 6.7 different social platforms every month, but each platform has a unique dominant use case. The proliferation of social media platforms has allowed users to express themselves in many ways.
For marketers and brands, context is just as crucial as content. This specific data can help determine the appropriate channels that create the proper context for your product or service.
The Case For Audio Ads Keeps Getting Stronger.
A few weeks ago, I shared research by Stanford Business School that showed that recommendations are more effective when heard rather than read.
Recently, Dentsu commissioned a study that reached a similar conclusion - audio advertisements are more effective than video ads in capturing attention and generating brand recall.
In the study, participants were exposed to listening environments similar to their usual audio experiences, such as listening to an hour of radio, podcasts, or ad-supported streaming.
Afterwards, they took Dentsu's Attention Economy survey. The research found that audio advertising (including podcasts, radio, and music streaming) more effectively captured attention than other ad platforms. Moreover, the study found that podcast host ads were particularly effective at grabbing attention.
In 2022, only 2% of the total digital advertising spending in the US was allocated to digital audio advertising.
More research similar to Standford Business School and Dentsu's will help diversify marketing spending to underutilized & more effective channels such as audio.
Creative Excellence: Ogilvy London’s Campaign for Women Safety.
Don't we love it when creativity is a force for the societal good? This is why this campaign by Ogilvy London is so special.
In London, women's safety is a major concern. A survey of 8,000 Londoners found that 74% of female respondents worry about their safety most of the time. Shockingly, a UN Women UK investigation found that 97% of women aged 18-24 have experienced sexual harassment, but only 4% of these incidents are reported.
The "Have a Word" campaign by Ogilvy London focuses on the crucial role of bystanders in preventing crimes against women. While other campaigns usually target women or potential perpetrators, this campaign emphasizes bystanders' responsibility to intervene.
Although the campaign is a year old, I recently discovered it while listening to the creative process for the ad on the OnStrategy podcast. It's worth checking out if you get the chance. It’s a fascinating story of insight generation & bringing a concept to life.
A side hustle that makes $650Mn.
Uber is as famous for its net losses as it is for its ride-hailing services.
However, this week, the company reported its first-ever profit of $1 billion in Q2 of 2023, marking a significant turnaround. What's particularly noteworthy in the report is the mention of Uber's advertising business, which generated $400K in a quarter, with a run rate of $650 million.
Uber offers various advertising options to connect brands with consumers. These options include journey ads, in-app advertising, cartop ads, and Uber Eats in-app ads.
Advertising is a high-margin business. No wonder many companies such as Uber, Netflix and Walmart, who make their money in ride-hailing services, entertainment & retail, are keen on providing advertising services.
In 2023, these companies are working hard to find innovative solutions to maximize returns from their customer base amidst financial hardships. If Uber's advertising revenue is something to go by, this isn't a bad side hustle at all!
Short Stuff:
TikTok increased the character limits for captions to 4,000. (More space for keyword seeding, more opportunities for discovery).
The 178-year-old Jello brand gets a rebrand and a new logo. (Yet another Heinz brand that has gone for a refresh).
Meta offers to get customer consent before serving personalized ads in Europe. (The power of Government policy).
That’s all for this week. If you enjoyed reading this week’s newsletter - please like or comment. Your actions help drive up the discoverability of the newsletter.
Once again, thank you for your time and attention.
Regards,
Garima
P.S.: Fresh off the oven - I won 3M’s Oscars!
The 25 Marketing Award program acknowledges the most innovative and proficient marketing professionals in 3M, and my team and I are thrilled to have our efforts acknowledged.
Personal auto products like window tints & car wraps can feel like commodities. We worked on an omnichannel B2B2C approach and drove end-customer brand awareness & recall. New websites, influencer marketing, digital campaigns, and so much more - we were one busy team driving this central objective.
So excited that the effort was recognised.
1. pick a relevant industry use case and show how the brand delivers better
2. testimonials
3. how will the brand make you look cool / better