Biden-Harris Launch Official Campaign Signs In ‘Animal Crossing: New Horizons’

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Animal Crossing: New Horizon players can now decorate their islands with official Biden-Harris signs as part of the campaign’s larger effort to reach voters ahead of the 2020 election, according to The Verge.

Players can download four different sign designs in-game by scanning quick release (QR) codes through the Nintendo Switch Online app. Designs include two that feature the official Biden-Harris logo, one that features the “Jo” Pride logo and one that shows aviator sunglasses in red, white and blue.

To promote the virtual initiative, the campaign worked with gaming influencers who shared their gameplay with the signs.

“This is just the start of how we plan to engage players ahead of November as we’re already looking forward to rolling out more digital swag, voter education tools, and organizing efforts on Animal Crossing and other platforms,” Christian Tom, director of digital partnerships for the Biden campaign, told The Verge.

Animal Crossing became a lockdown hit after its latest game, New Horizons, launched on March 20. The game sold 11 million copies by the end of March, and an additional 1.6 million copies since then.

Appealing to gamers is one of many creative alternatives to in-person rallies and conventions for the Biden-Harris campaign. At the start of COVID-19 in March, Biden became the first Democratic candidate to hold a virtual town hall, a Facebook Live stream that amassed over 5,000 viewers.

Due to concerns over the pandemic, the Democratic National Convention was forced to pivot virtual via a mix of pre-recorded content and live streams from speakers’ homes. A total of 19.7 million people tuned in to the first night, down from 26 million in 2016, according to Nielsen data. The Biden campaign said 28.9 million Americans watched the DNC across television and digital platforms, including 10.2 million digital streams, as per Reuters.

Modernizing OOH With Ubimo’s Norm Chait

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During this 223rd episode of “Marketing Today,” I interview Norm Chait, the Head of Out-of-Home Solutions at Ubimo.

On the program today, we modernize my definition of out-of-home based on what Ubimo is doing with its location-based intelligence offering and bringing audience understanding, location, and traffic monitoring to an old medium. The updated view Chait shares on what out-of-home should look like today can expand what’s possible for marketers.

Chait begins by talking about what attracted him to the out-of-home space and how Ubimo uses location intelligence to understand what people do throughout their day. We then discuss how technology has dramatically changed the out-of-home space by helping marketers understand where a particular audience is originating from and where they’re going. Chait says, “it all basically starts and ends with audiences and understanding what these folks are doing and how do we tie them back to a physical location.” Then we talk about how marketers can leverage these data points in the out-of-home space and how privacy is handled. He says, “every signal we see, every segment that’s built, is based on opt-in data, and it’s all based on location services.” We then talk about how Ubimo has approached data during COVID and how the current environment presents marketers opportunities to connect with shoppers when they’re thinking about shopping.

Highlights from this week’s “Marketing Today”:

  • What attracted Norm to out-of-home. 01:09
  • Learn about Ubimo. 02:49
  • How Quotient fits into the mix. 04:26
  • Bringing measurement to behavior that would otherwise be a void. 05:49
  • How marketers can work with Ubimo. 07:38
  • The digital out-of-home DSP. 08:56
  • Different elements of the data that can be leveraged to understand the traffic of out-of-home placement. 10:50
  • How privacy is handled in this environment. 13:14
  • COVID dashboards. 14:29
  • How marketers should be thinking about marketing differently during this time. 19:40
  • Norm shares a defining experience. 21:52
  • Norm reflects on advice he would give to his younger self. 23:29
  • Norm shares about an impactful purchase he made in the last 6-12 months. 24:27
  • Are there any brands, companies, or causes that Norm follows that he thinks other people should notice? 25:58
  • Norm’s take on the top opportunity and threat facing marketers today. 27:59

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Alan B. Hart is the creator and host of “Marketing Today with Alan Hart,” a weekly podcast where he interviews leading global marketing professionals and business leaders. Alan advises leading executives and marketing teams on opportunities around brand, customer experience, innovation, and growth. He has consulted with Fortune 100 companies, but he is an entrepreneur at his core, having founded or served as an executive for nine startups.

US Consumer Confidence Reaches Six-Year Low As COVID-19 Worries Remount

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As worries over COVID-19 remount, the Conference Board’s consumer confidence index plunged to a reading of 84.8 in August, the lowest since May 2014. In July, the reading was 91.7.

The decline, which marks the second consecutive monthly decrease in consumer confidence reported by the Conference Board, is based on consumers’ assessment of the current labor market and incomes.

Consumer perception of the job market plummeted to a score of -3.7 in August, down from 2.2 in July—figures that reflect recent unemployment rates reported by the US Department of Labor.

From August 16 to August 22 alone, just over a million people applied for unemployment insurance. In total, about 27 million people are receiving some form of unemployment.

The grim outlook is in part due to the federal government canceling $600 weekly unemployment checks at the end of July.

Consumers also have doubts about their incomes, as the number of respondents anticipating an increase in pay dropped to 12.7 percent in August, down from 14.8 percent in July. Those who expect a decline in their income increased from 15.8 percent in July to 16.6 percent in August.

“This reinforces our view that a V-shaped recovery will not happen, the U.S. economy is unlikely to recover all of its lost output until mid-2022,” James Knightley, chief international economist at ING in New York, told Reuters.

The Conference Board’s data reinforce the findings of a consumer survey conducted by Dunnhumby, whose “Worry Index” reached 29 percent in August, up six percent from June and just below the 30% it reached at the pandemic’s start.

In addition, Dunnhumby’s survey revealed people’s concerns about the cost of food, with 42 percent saying they’ve noticed an increase in food prices since the beginning of the pandemic.

Despite a surge in online grocery shopping, in-store grocery trips account for 65 percent of all food trips, according to Dunnhumby. Still, 27 percent worry they could become exposed to COVID-19 while at the grocery store.

Listen In: What Can Hispanic Market Advertising Teach Us About Our Craft?

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(Originally aired September 1st on LinkedIn Live.)

On the show today, we’re featuring a conversation between Ayzenberg’s Matt Bretz and VP of strategy and planning at Acento, Angelica Garcia.

Cross-cultural sensitivity is nothing new to Angelica Garcia. She shares highlights from her thirty-plus year career in the ad business and the ins-and-outs of Hispanic market advertising.

Her takeaway for marketers is that the often complicated task of reaching multi-generational and ethnically, linguistically, culturally diverse Hispanic audiences with the right message, is one we can learn from as it relates to our own craft.

About Listen In: Each week on Listen In, Bretz and a rotating cast of hosts from Ayzenberg interview experts in the field of marketing and advertising to explore uncharted territory together. The goal is to provide the a.network audience with actionable insights, enabling them to excel in their field.