Trend Set: Corona’s Natural Billboard, Poparazzi

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Ayzenberg Junior Strategist Ashley Otah recounts the past week’s trends.

Corona

Sunshine on a cloudy day. In “Corona’s Natural Billboard” campaign, the company channels all things sunny and 75 to capture a billboard ‘100 naturally.’ In Brighton, the out-of-home (OOH) stands out as the sun comes down, casting the iconic silhouette and hidden message: “Made from the natural world.” The campaign offers a different take from those involving hundreds of physical cutouts, papers, or items floating around cities to perform the perfect stunt. As sustainability is becoming increasingly important to consumers across the globe, brands must take note as sustainability is an expectation. According to Simon-Kucher & Partners Global Sustainability 2021 Study, seismic shifts are currently happening. One is that globally, 85 percent of people indicate they have shifted purchasing habits towards being more sustainable. Like the campaign above, activations will need to involve less waste and lean into more environmentally friendly executions. 

Duolingo

Talk about it. Duolingo, the language-learning website and mobile app, opens a taqueria that aims to help diners practice their Spanish. After opting into Dulingo’s “Espanol Challenge,” restaurant-goers can receive a discount. The tech company is biting into a new category that other companies have attempted to bridge. Whether through loyalty programs, discounts, or even free food, brands have missed the opportunity to marry their missions to their current or future models. Although gaining brand recognition and affinity, the efforts leave their sustainability in question. Carving out a creative niche and leaning into what may seem to be the impossible has served Duolingo well and showcases how brands can lean into their white spaces. 

Poparazzi 

Quick, take a pic. Another authentic photo-sharing application has popped up on the scene. Poparazzi, an app aimed at making your friends your paparazzi, came out last year with quite a buzz. This year, it is gaining traction once again. The catch, users are not able to post pictures of themselves, but their friends shape their social profiles by doing so. The ability to show up authentically, share meaningful moments, and the option to prioritize creativity are qualities that more and more consumers are looking for. That is where the app succeeds. However, the access to entire contact lists, photos, and more is where the app teeters across a line of privacy many do not want to delve into. Nevertheless, the app’s continued success indicates that more and more are craving cultivated social spaces, authenticity, and new digital outlets. Brands can take the opportunity to tap into the changing landscape of digital and create spaces to let audiences do what they do best: connect.

Instagram Launches Digital Collectibles Feature

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This week in social media news, Instagram tests a digital collectibles feature, YouTube receives MRC brand safety distinction for a second year, TikTok launches a new target market insights tool and more.

Instagram Tests Digital Collectibles With Creators

Starting this week, select Instagram creators and collectors can share digital collectibles they’ve created or bought on the platform thanks to a new feature the platform is testing.

Why it matters: Creators have started leveraging technologies like NFTs to take more control over their work and monetization avenues. That’s one reason Meta says it’s introducing the digital collectibles feature.

It also explained:

“It’s critical that our early efforts in this space empower diverse voices and that underrepresented groups have access to emerging digital assets like NFTs. By building support for NFTs, we aim to improve accessibility, lower barriers to entry, and help make the NFT space more inclusive to all communities. It is also important that we keep Instagram a safe and enjoyable place for everyone.”

The details: Here’s how Instagram’s digital collectibles feature works. Once connected to a digital wallet, creators can choose which NFTs from their wallet they’d like to share on Instagram. When they post the collectible, it’ll have a shimmer effect and can display public information like a description of the NFT. This post will be visible on their profile. The creator and collector can be automatically attributed in the digital collectible post.

Instagram says it collects and organizes public data from open blockchains like Ethereum to provide this new feature. From this public blockchain data, it can only identify which collectibles belong to collectors and creators when they connect their third-party wallets to Instagram.

At launch, the blockchains that will be supported are Ethereum and Polygon, with Flow and Solana coming soon. The third-party wallets compatible for use will include Rainbow, MetaMask and Trust Wallet, with Coinbase Wallet, Dapper and Phantom coming soon. There will be no fees associated with posting or sharing a digital collectible on Instagram.

The digital collectibles feature will open up to more creators soon, but for now only these accounts have access to it: @adambombsquad, @bluethegreat, @bossbeautiesnft, @c.syresmith, @cynthiaerivo, @garyvee, @jenstark, @justmaiko, @maliha_z_art, @misshattan, @nopattern, @oseanworld, @paigebueckers, @phiawilson, @swopes and @yungjake.

YouTube Receives MRC Brand Safety Distinction For Second Year

For the second year, the Media Rating Council (MRC) has given YouTube content-level brand safety accreditation, the platform announced on the Google Ads & Commerce blog.

Why it matters:  Last year, YouTube became the first digital platform to receive content-level brand safety accreditation from the MRC. This second accreditation makes YouTube the only platform to hold this distinction, which builds on its commitment to remaining at least 99 percent effective at ensuring brand safety of ad placements on YouTube, in accordance with industry standards.

Over the past two years, YouTube says it’s worked directly with advertisers and agencies to better understand their needs and develop a set of best practices like anchoring on YouTube’s inventory modes and reassessing whether they should exclude certain kinds of content. When advertisers knew how to better navigate the platform’s suitability controls, they experienced performance benefits ranging from increased reach and view-through rates to decreased cost-per-view, according to YouTube.

The details: As part of this accreditation, the MRC extensively audited YouTube’s content review systems, including the machine learning technology that analyzes content uploaded to the platform and the policies that determine which videos on YouTube are eligible to run ads.

The MRC auditors also met with YouTube’s brand safety personnel on-site to review its processes and dug into how it protects its global community. This included its procedures for evaluating content across different languages.

The accreditation also recognized YouTube’s advertiser safety error rate, a metric authorized by the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) which evaluates the total percentage of ad impressions that run across violative content.

YouTube says it’s now using these best practices and customer feedback to evolve its suitability offering, which will include intuitive controls, more consistency across all Google inventory and clarity on how controls may impact ad campaigns.

TikTok Launches Interactive Audience Insights Tool

TikTok has a new target market insights tool that includes several filters to help you get to know the TikTok community’s behavior, interests and how they connect and feel about brands.

Why it matters: The interactive tool provides marketing insights from around the world, which will be useful for brands looking to understand and tap into key trends in certain locations around major events and holidays.

The details: For example, using the tool marketers can learn more about Gen Z trends around Black Friday 2021 for a specific industry as they relate to advertising, creators or people.

On the tool’s landing page, TikTok lists several findings regarding user behavior worldwide. For example, Gen X TikTok users are 3.3 times more likely than other platform users to make a tutorial about a product after buying it. And in the US, millennial TikTok users are 1.8 times more likely to comment on a brand post after buying a product.

YouTube Adds Green Screen Feature To Shorts

YouTube has launched a new TikTok-style Green Screen tool that lets creators use a 60-second video segment from any eligible YouTube or YouTube Shorts video as the background for their own Shorts video.

Why it matters: The video effect is another sign of other social platforms copying TikTok, where users often leverage the Green Screen feature to provide commentary on each other’s videos.

But as TechCrunch points out, in Shorts’ case, the original video creator isn’t necessarily a Shorts creator and they may only create long-form content for YouTube proper.

The details: The platform says that on iOS YouTube creators can also use the Green Screen tool in the Shorts camera to choose any photo or video from their device gallery as the background.

YouTube’s new Green Screen tool is rolling out on iOS today and will come to Android soon.

Meta’s New Cambria Headset Will Enable Next-Level AR Experiences

During Meta’s Cambria headset showcase, Mark Zuckerberg previewed a new augmented reality (AR) experience powered by Meta’s Presence Platform, which enables developers to produce experiences that fuse virtual content with the real world.

Why it matters: Current Quest headsets don’t allow users to interact in full-color experience but Meta’s new Cambria headset—slated to launch later this year—includes improved external cameras that enable them to operate as both a VR and AR device.

The details: In this 60-second spot, Meta highlights Cambria’s AR and VR abilities in creating a new dimension of gameplay.

Currently, the Quest 2, now called Meta Quest 2, can “see through” and show the outside world but in a grainy black and white video feed. The Quest 2 overlays some VR with this feed, like room boundaries, creating a form of mixed reality. But Cambria’s improved external cameras will capture passthrough color video, displaying it on the headset’s internal display.

JCPenney Names John Aylward Chief Marketing Officer

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This week in leadership updates, JCPenney hires John Aylward as new chief marketing officer, Bark, Inc., taps Cindy Gustafson as chief marketing officer, Snipes scouts Rich Foster as chief marketing officer and more.

JCPenney Hires John Aylward As New Chief Marketing Officer

JCPenney has tapped John Aylward as its new chief marketing officer according to a press release from the department store chain.

Aylward joins from international humanitarian NGO Care.org, where he spent the last five years as chief marketing officer.

Bark Inc. Appoints Cindy Gustafson As Chief Marketing Officer

Bark Inc. has named Cindy Gustafson as chief marketing officer.

Gustafson most recently served as chief marketing officer at WeightWatchers, where she also once held the position of senior vice president of global marketing.

Snipes Taps Rich Foster As Chief Marketing Officer

Snipes has appointed Rich Foster chief marketing officer, reports WWD.

Foster, who has 11 years of experience in digital marketing and media relations, joins the sneaker retailer from Sony Music Entertainment where he held several marketing leadership roles including vice president of marketing at Epic Records.

Bazooka Candy Brands Promotes Becky Silberfarb To Vice President Of Brand Marketing

Bazooka Candy Brands, a division of The Bazooka Companies Inc., has elevated Becky Silberfarb to vice president of brand marketing for the Americas, according to a press release.

Silberfarb previously held the position of senior director of marketing.

Twilio Scouts Joyce Kim As Chief Marketing Officer

Twilio has named Joyce Kim chief marketing officer.

Kim joins Twilio from Genesys where she was executive vice president and chief marketing officer.

Paramount Elevates Marco Nobili And Olivier Jollet To Key Global Streaming Roles

As part of a rapid expansion of its international streaming services and on the heels of chief executive officer Bob Bakish’s news that Paramount+ will soon launch in the UK and South Korea (and in India next year), Paramount Global has promoted Marco Nobili and Olivier Jollet to new key roles.

According to Deadline, Nobili has been promoted to executive vice president and international general manager of Paramount+, and Jollet has been promoted to senior vice president and general manager of Pluto TV International.

Previously, Nobili held marketing executive roles at Netflix, Amazon, Microsoft and Vodafone. Jollet was most recently Pluto TV’s managing director in Europe.

Metaverse Technology And Its Implications For Business Leaders

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The metaverse has the potential to disrupt several realms from gaming to advertising to retail and so much more. But to tap into this virtual world’s full power, leaders must address its possibilities and pitfalls over the coming years and determine where it fits in with their business models. To help you do that, Deloitte has shared an overview of metaverse technology and its implications for business leaders.

What Is The Metaverse?

As Deloitte puts it, the metaverse is the term used to describe the convergence of an array of separate technologies that together will provide humanity with an immersive, three-dimensional virtual environment/platform to conduct business, interact, play and access new resources and experiences.

The metaverse, despite remaining years away from full realization and adoption, is a 30-year-old idea that has only just recently come into the spotlight and attracted considerable support and investment. Although it may have a comparable impact on the world as the internet did in the ‘90s or smartphones did at the turn of the century, it’s too early to accurately say. 

Other than a virtual space, the metaverse is characterized by two other important elements that could constitute make it the new platform with seemingly unlimited uses. First, it’ll likely include both physical and digital worlds in the user’s experience, fusing both into one. Second, it may have a native economy with digitally native assets and trade. 

Other elements of the metaverse that are already at play include immersive virtual worlds with avatars that interact, digital overlays on the physical world that provide data or commentary on what the user sees and digitally native trade and economic activity.

What’s Really At Stake Here?

  • Similar to what smartphones did to the world after the year 2000, the metaverse may prove to be a paradigm shift for consumer and enterprise behavior.
  • The metaverse could create a massive new market with an estimated commercial opportunity amounting to $13 trillion with 5 billion regular users by 2030.
  • It could rearrange the competitive landscape and displace legacy brands with new winners.

Why Now?

Several factors—including technical, social and financial—seem to be converging, which are in turn making the metaverse seem especially appealing. Deloitte says these are:

  • A cluster of maturing technologies
    • Extended reality user interface
    • Cloud and edge computing with artificial intelligence/machine learning
    • 5g and fiber optic networks
  • Incumbents’ search for growth
    • Digital market leaders and existing platforms are currently looking for new avenues to grow
  • Behavioral shifts amplified by COVID-19
    • Increasingly digitized social and work interactions
    • Rise of ecommerce and shifts in consumer preferences
  • Evolving digital economy
    • Growth of digitally native assets and supporting economic infrastructure
    • Increasing popularity of digital asset ownership, cryptocurrencies and digitally native contracts
  • Major capital investments 
    • Over $80 billion in corporate investment in the last 12 months
    • Over $10 billion in venture capital investment in 2021

How Will People Use It?

Several use cases for the metaverse exist across categories and industries, including work and learning, entertainment and experiences, retail, health and wellness, and manufacturing. 

Within work and learning today, the metaverse is being used for telecommuting, virtual collaboration and immersive professional training. Deloitte predicts emerging trends could include digital renditions of physical operations and locations and even classroom tools and fully native schools. In five or more years, we may begin to see metaverse-native and dependent companies.

Currently, we’re able to “attend” concerts, shows and sports games and even watch movies while socializing with others’ avatars. Emerging entertainment metaverse trends could include interactive sports and events and possibly even tourism. In the long-term, Deloitte predicts there will be immersive “theme park” experiences that adapt to customers’ data profiles.

And in retail, we’re seeing the metaverse’s capacity to host boutique shopping experiences and digital customer contact centers. Soon we may see data-enhanced everyday shopping for things like groceries, furniture and appliances, Deloitte notes. People may even one day be able to purchase homes and cars in the metaverse. In the long-term we can expect to see full sensory immersion in retail experiences, complete with sights, sounds, smells and more.

Where Is It Headed?

According to Deloitte, the metaverse’s evolution will likely depend on consumer response as well as the outcome of at least four key unknowns, each with its own set of questions that will have to be answered:

  • User interface
    • How user-friendly and mobile will the predominant interface be?
    • Does the interface enable seamless switching between physical and digital worlds?
  • Standardization
    • To what degree do standards and protocols converge? 
    • What is the level of interoperability among different platforms?
    • Is there a single unified economy across platforms?
    • Will digital goods purchased in one metaverse be available in another?
    • Are identities persistent across platforms?
    • Are there consistent design and programming standards?
  • Market fragmentation
    • How many market leaders will emerge and what consumer and commercial use cases do they serve?
    • How much competition is there in the market, and how does this affect innovation?
    • How much M&A/market consolidation will we see or will be allowed?
    • Do different platforms serve different use cases? For example, one dominant consumer platform and one dominant enterprise platform.
  • Governance
    • How effectively and consistently are content and conduct regulated? 
    • Are IP and digital assets reliably protected?
    • Is there strong government regulation or do platforms rely primarily on self-governance?
    • To what degree are interactions and transactions secure and trusted?
    • Is there an effective process governing tax jurisdictions and legal liability concerns?

What Leaders Can Do Today

Whether the metaverse has a future and what it might look like remains to be seen but there are four primary actions executives can take now to best prepare for the possibilities of what this potential paradigm shift could bring. Deloitte says these include:

  • Don’t underestimate the potential.
    • Design a flexible and adaptable strategy for taking your business into the metaverse, respond to new tech and shifting consumer preferences and engage a “test and learn” approach for both consumer-facing and enterprise functions.
  • Take the long view.
    • Considering the possibility that the mainstream metaverse and accompanying revenue generation may be several years away from being fully realized, take a long-term view on investments. Consider KPIs around consumer and employee engagement along with ROI. Also, consider investments in the context of broader digital transformation agendas.
  • Focus on demand and what motivates users.
    • Focus on how to create engaging experiences and captivating content—exclusive partnerships or user-generated content tools, for example. This will help you establish share and maintain a competitive edge.
  • Commit to a “responsible metaverse.”
    • Ensure your strategy can handle many complexities and risks within the metaverse. Privacy, security, accessibility and sustainability are all hot topics that consumers care about currently and will likely continue valuing in the near future. Ensure that your organization can be proactive in building a “responsible metaverse” – which will be indispensable in garnering consumer and employee trust.

How To Skyrocket Your Social Growth With Banfield Pet Hospital’s Lisa Stockmon

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Lisa Stockmon is the Chief Marketing Officer at Banfield Pet Hospitals. Lisa leads the development and execution of Banfield’s innovative integrated marketing strategy, ensuring it supports the organization’s strategic vision, aligns with its purpose, and drives revenue.

In this episode, Lisa and I discuss Banfield’s recent 400% growth in social followers and a 104% increase in content interaction on Instagram. Lisa also shares curiosity’s role in successfully engaging Gen Z in her marketing strategy.

Listen to learn how to adapt to the shifting market and skyrocket your social growth.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • Ways the pandemic has changed brands’ customer bases
  • How to strategically leverage influencer marketing on social media
  • The importance of open-mindedness and curiosity in marketing

Key Highlights

  • [01:00] Lisa’s career journey and passion project
  • [07:00] Banfield’s “b here” marketing strategy
  • [09:00] Reaching new demographics of pet owners
  • [15:00] Strategically leveraging influencers on social media
  • [17:00] Experiences that define Lisa
  • [19:00] Lisa’s advice for her younger self
  • [20:00] What marketers should be learning more about
  • [23:00] The biggest opportunity for marketers today

Resources Mentioned:

Follow the podcast:

Connect with the Guest:

Connect with Marketing Today and Alan Hart:

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 brand, customer experience, innovation, and growth opportunities. He has consulted with Fortune 100 companies, but he is an entrepreneur at his core, having founded or served as an executive for nine companies.

These Brands Have Successfully Cracked The TikTok Algorithm

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TikTok is a winner takes all platform—the brands that can crack its enigmatic algorithm are rewarded with a surge in followers and views. In other words, they go viral. This phenomenon has created a digital gold rush for market share within the short-form app, which is expected to reach 1.5 billion monthly active users (MAUs) this year. 

Conviva’s third annual TikTok Benchmarks and Strategy Guide examined more than 1,500 verified brand accounts from 15 different industries and categories to determine how the most successful ones were able to add an average of 527,000 new followers from March 2021 to March 2022.

Data was collected using Conviva Viewer Insights and independent analysis of 150 news and media accounts, 75 sports leagues, 125 sports media accounts, 300 sports teams and 350 TV and entertainment accounts. Conducted between March 2021 and March 2022, the study looks at several industries, including beauty and fashion, technology and the Premier League. Together, these accounts boasted a following of 1.43 billion while the most successful of the lot committed to doing two things: posting quality content and doing so consistently. 

Conviva’s guide includes a number of key statistics that can help inform your TikTok strategy, including: 

  • Accounts posted more in 2022; 13 percent more frequently this year than they did in 2021 with an average of 189 times.
  • Posting consistently has a notable impact on growth. The 20 accounts with the highest follower count growth averaged about 7.1 times more posts over the past year than all accounts on average.
  • Newer accounts are experiencing a high engagement rate. The average engagement rate for accounts with under 100,000 followers is 28 percent, showcasing TikTok’s ability to offer new accounts the organic reach necessary to grow.
  • Between March 2021 and March 2022, sports leagues experienced the highest average annual growth at 970,000, followed by sports media at 825,000 and streaming accounts at 785,000.

According to Conviva, average followers increased in every category over the past year. The sports leagues category grew faster than every other segment in 2021, beating out sports media which had the fastest-growing accounts in 2020 and the second-fastest growing in 2021. Sports media is also the category with the highest average followers. Streaming accounts were the third fastest-growing category with 785,000 new followers in the last year.

Notably, the categories sports media (1.8 million), sports leagues (1.7 million), TV and entertainment (1.3 million) and streaming (1.1 million) each averaged over 1 million new followers gained since March 2021.

Social marketers seeking examples of effective strategies for growth should look to the TV and entertainment category. These accounts experienced the highest average shares (1,565), comments (548) and likes (79,621) per video, found Conviva. And though the brands category captured the highest average engagement rate of 17.3 percent, the category also had the lowest average number of followers (601,546). 

Sports leagues (60,602) and sports teams (39,494) had the second and third-highest average likes per video, respectively. In terms of shares per video, the news and media category came in second place with an average of 817 shares.

The average engagement rate by followers displayed a familiar trend. The more followers an account within this category had the lower the engagement rate was on average. The average engagement rate for brands with under 100,000 followers was uniquely high at 28 percent—twice as high as the engagement on accounts with between 100,000 and 199,999 followers (14 percent) and substantially higher than that of any other follower count. 

Accounts with about 300,000 followers experienced a 5 to 10 percent decline in organic reach until the account reached 1 million followers and then experienced less than 5 percent engagement on average: a new phenomenon that may be explained by concerns regarding relatability or perceptions of honesty. Conviva considers accounts with over 1 million followers with an engagement rate of 5 percent or higher a highly-engaged account. 

Frequent and consistent posting is an effective way to gain more followers. Conviva’s study found a very strong correlation between accounts that gained the most followers and those that posted the most frequently. On average, accounts posted 189 times in 2021—a 13 percent increase from 2020’s average.

The top 20 most-followed accounts averaged roughly 7.1 times more posts over the past year, with an average of 1,345. For the most successful of the bunch, that equates to about three or four posts every day. Comparatively, the average number of posts per day for top performers in 2020 was two or three. 

Accounts that posted more gained significantly more followers on average. Accounts that posted up to 250 times in the past year gained an average of 319,000 followers, compared to an average increase of 2.3 million followers for those that posted over 1,250 times. Notably, accounts that posted between 250 and 499 times and 750 and 999 times gained a similar number of followers.

According to Conviva, TikTok has more than doubled the number of brands it has verified in the past year, suggesting the power of its organic reach potential and ability to generate awareness for new products and services.

Here are some of the top TikTok accounts Conviva ranked based on follower count and growth across various industries.

Top three accounts by a total number of followers:

  1. Flighthouse – 28.1 million total followers
  2. PSG – 25.2 million total followers
  3. ESPN – 22.9 million total followers

Top three accounts by follower growth YOY:

  1. Tottenham Hotspur gained 12.9 million followers to reach 14.5 million total followers.
  2. Champions League gained 12.5 million followers to reach the same number of total followers given that it launched its TikTok account last year.
  3. Manchester United gained 11.8 million followers to reach 13.6 million total followers

Top three TV and entertainment accounts:

  1. Nickelodeon has 12.5 million total followers, 2.4 million followers gained YOY, 2,539 total videos, 608 videos posted in the last year and a 0.8 percent engagement rate.
  2. Wildnout has 11 million total followers, 3.3 million followers gained YOY, 364 total videos, 236 videos posted in the last year and a 5.4 percent engagement rate.
  3. AFVofficial has 9.5 million total followers, 1.1 million followers gained YOY, 1,991 total videos, 361 videos posted in the last year and a 1.6 percent engagement rate.

Top three news and media accounts:

  1. LADbible has 8.4 million total followers, 1,841 total videos, 645 videos posted in the last year and a 2.8 percent engagement rate.
  2. Complex has 5 million total followers, 300,000 followers gained YOY, 3,437 total videos, 950 videos posted in the last year and a 1.2 percent engagement rate.
  3. NowThis has 4.4 million total followers, 1.9 million followers gained YOY, 1,160 total videos, 549 videos posted in the last year and a 3.1 percent engagement rate.

Top three streaming accounts:

  1. Netflix has 22.4 million total followers, 10 million followers gained YOY, 1,158 total videos, 645 videos posted in the last year and a 0.9 percent engagement rate.
  2. Netflix Latinoamérica has 13.7 million total followers, 7.3 million followers gained YOY, 1,202 total videos, 615 videos posted in the last year and a 1.2 percent engagement rate.
  3. Prime Video has 10.8 million total followers, 7.4 million followers gained YOY, 3,550 total videos, 1,716 videos posted in the last year and a 0.7 percent engagement rate.

Top three brand accounts:

  1. Guinness World Records has 19.1 million total followers, 7.8 million followers gained YOY, 795 total videos, 275 videos posted in the last year and a 2.4 percent engagement rate.
  2. Roblox has 7.9 million total followers, 4 million followers gained YOY, 243 total videos, 182 videos posted in the last year and a 1.9 percent engagement rate.
  3. Fortnite Official has 7.7 million total followers, 4 million followers gained YOY, 208 total videos, 166 videos posted in the last year and a 3 percent engagement rate.

Top three technology accounts:

  1. Xbox has 3.8 million total followers, 1.8 million followers gained YOY, 224 total videos, 171 videos posted in the last year and a 3.8 percent engagement rate.
  2. DuoLingo has 3.4 million total followers, 3.3 million followers gained YOY, 128 total videos and 125 videos posted in the last year. 
  3. Breathwork has 3.1 million total followers, 777 total videos, 328 videos posted in the last year and a 2.4 percent engagement rate.

Top three fashion accounts:

  1. SHEIN has 3.7 million total followers, 2.3 million followers gained YOY, 1,558 total videos, 919 videos posted in the last year and a 0.5 percent engagement rate
  2. Gymshark has 3.5 million total followers, 1.1 million followers gained YOY, 470 total videos, 369 videos posted in the last year and a 3.3 percent engagement rate
  3. Fashion Nova has 3.2 million total followers, 1,440 tota videos, 783 videos posted in the last year and a 0.5 percent engagement rate

Twitter Announces Premium Content Partnerships At 2022 Digital Content NewFronts

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This week in social media news, Twitter announces new video and audio programming at year’s Digital Content NewFronts, Meta shares the ways brands are driving relevance by harnessing the codes of culture, Facebook axes its podcast service, Pinterest launches the Pinterest TV Studio livestreaming app and more.

Twitter Announces Premium Content Partnerships At 2022 Digital Content NewFronts

Twitter has inked several multi-year deals with publishers and media companies including Condé Nast and E! News to expand its coverage of live events via Spaces and livestreams, the platform confirmed at this year’s Digital Content NewFronts. It also said it plans to launch a pilot program later this year that lets advertisers promote and run pre-roll on live event pages featuring real-time highlights.

Why it matters: Twitter’s audio and video programming updates will offer brands new opportunities to reach engaged audiences on the platform. They also bring fresh content to Twitter’s advertisers via Twitter Amplify, which gives brands a chance to put their ads right next to video content from Twitter’s content partners.


The details: The video and audio programming Twitter announced on the stage included:

  • A global, multi-year content commitment with Condé Nast that will be open to sponsorships across video, Spaces, Moments and live events. The content will cover domestic and international tentpoles such as live streams of Vogue’s Red Carpet at the Met Gala, Vanity Fair Oscar Party Red Carpet and the Pitchfork Music Festival and will include content from Wired, Bon Appetit and The New Yorker.
  • An expanded partnership with Essence with the addition of event highlights and clips from series like The Receipts and Essence Uncovered. 
  • E! News’ launch of its made-for-Twitter live-stream show called “While You Were Streaming,” which will cover the biggest shows on TV.
  • A partnership with Revolt to bring content across music, lifestyle, urban entertainment, sports and social justice to the Twitter timeline. Content will include Drink Champs, Revolt Summit, The Crew League, Assets Over Liabilities and more.
  • A multi-year extension of Twitter’s partnership with the WNBA. For the first time, WNBA’s Twitter account will regularly host Spaces during the season, WNBA tentpole events and the offseason. 
  • In collaboration with NBCUniversal, Twitter will be the first social partner to test an integration with NBCU’s first cross-platform video-certified measurement partner, iSpot.
  • Twitter is also doubling down on real-time highlights covering the biggest global events through a new pilot program coming later this year. The program will allow advertisers to promote and run pre-roll on live event pages that feature real-time highlights. 

Meta Shares Six ‘Culture Codes’ To Help Brands Build Natively For The Platform And Context

As social media matures, more brands are utilizing native advertising, a phenomenon that’s in part being driven by a shift away from perfection to a culture that celebrates the unpolished. To help brands communicate as peers and establish relatability and trust, Meta shared six best practices, or culture codes, they can use to drive relevance.

Why it matters: A study Meta conducted on Instagram Stories back in 2019 found ads that were shot on mobile with a more “lo-fi, language-of-the-platform” vibe were 78 percent more recallable and had an 84 percent greater probability of being viewed as compared to more polished studio ads. Additionally, a meta-analysis found that a lower video production score (VPS) was correlated with higher creative impact in verticals like technology and retail.

A recent report from YPulse echoes a similar sentiment. It found that 84 percent of young consumers agreed with the statement that “I like it when content from brands is not perfect” and 79 percent of them agreed they are “tired of seeing perfect images in advertising.”

The details: According to Meta, here’s how brands are harnessing today’s prevailing culture codes:

  1. They increase credibility and relatability by including real people—employees or customers—who tell real stories.
  2. They communicate with empathy to increase relatability by using the language of the platform to signal their place in feed and, therefore, in culture.
  3. They benefit from credibility and relevance by proxy by harnessing the power of creators given 63 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds trust what a creator says about a brand more than what the brand says about itself.
  4. They lift the veil on artifice by taking viewers behind the scenes to be part of the process, for example in a “how I made this” video.
  5. They use lo-fi editing techniques that feel handmade and human.
  6. They make themselves accessible and relatable by using humor to dissolve boundaries between their brand and their audience.

Pinterest Launches Pinterest TV Studio Livestreaming App

Pinterest recently launched a new Pinterest TV Studio app for iOS and Android to make it easier for creators to livestream on the platform, reports TechCrunch.

Why it matters: Pinterest’s new dedicated livestreaming app is an example of how the company is responding to major social players’ own versions of TikTok. It’s re-evaluating its position in the border social media arena with Pinterest TV Studio and Idea Pins, a video-first combination of TikTok-style short-form video content and tappable Stories.

The details: Though not broadly available to all creators just yet, Pinterest’s new app will ask select creators who want to go live on Pinterest to enter a code or scan a barcode that will provide them access to the app’s tools. It also offers the option of adding multiple devices for different camera angles.

The app is available in the US, Canada, Australia, the UK and Germany—which points to the possibility of a global expansion of Pinterest TV. 

Twitter Expands Test Of Its TikTok-Like Format On Explore Page

According to social media expert Matt Navarra and Social Media Today, Twitter is continuing to test a revamped, more personalized TikTok-inspired display format in the Explore tab that makes the platform look exactly like TikTok. 

Why it matters: Twitter is the latest platform that’s given in to the key social platform trend in the last couple of years—pointing to TikTok’s dominion in the short-form video space. Twitter’s ongoing test will allow it to receive a direct response feedback on each post as every action taken by the user is indicative of their interest in that specific tweet. This kind of insight could help Twitter improve its recommendations and keep users engaged.

The details: Having begun testing in December, Twitter’s updated layout is being offered to more users and features two new elements. On the main ‘Trending’ page, users can select ‘Personalized’ or ‘Top Trends’ to view the most popular content on the platform at that time. The second is a more immersive, full-screen, vertical-scrolling, TikTok-like display of tweets.

Meta Introduces New Ads And Messaging Tools For Small Businesses

As part of National Small Business Week, Meta has announced new tools for businesses to manage conversations and ads, generate leads and share more about their business.

Why it matters: Today, 71 percent of people want to be able to communicate with a business in the same way that they do with friends and family. Meta is making it easier and faster to reach new customers with new features that’ll save businesses time and increase productivity while streamlining the process of engaging and nurturing new customer relationships.

The details: To help businesses start and manage conversations on WhatsApp, Meta will make it possible to create ads directly from the WhatsApp Business app – expediting the process of finding and conversing with new customers.

Meta is also adding two new features to Meta Business Suite. The first lets brands centralize communications and the second allows for several individuals and devices to manage messages in Inbox from the same WhatsApp number.

To allow businesses to send promotional message campaigns via Messenger to customers who opt-in, Meta is testing a new tool that will drive sales and customer loyalty in Meta Business Suite.

And to improve end-to-end management of lead generation on the platform, Meta is launching a number of updates, including:

  • A small test with select businesses that will allow them to put a “Get Quote” button on their Instagram profile and use “Get Quote” stickers in Stories. 
  • Lead filtering with Instant Forms.
  • A test of a more flexible and personalizable Instant Form that allows businesses to add visuals and content in the form.
  • The ability for businesses to offer exclusive, relevant content for people who complete the Lead Ads Instant Form.
  • Businesses can now download lead info directly into their own CRM to follow up with potential customers quickly.

LinkedIn Shares The Five Key Ingredients That Make Up A Unified Brand

LinkedIn has shared five key approaches to help brands unify their messaging across audiences to increase brand fame, reach, trust and marketing impact.

Why it matters: LinkedIn data shows that exposing consumer brand audiences to corporate and talent brand messaging increased the click-through rate (CTR) of consumer campaigns by 14 percent and reduced cost-per-click (CPC) by 18 percent. 

It also found that exposing talent brand audiences to corporate and consumer brand messaging increased the CTR of talent campaigns by 138 percent and reduced CPC by 32 percent. 

And lastly, exposing corporate brand audiences to talent and consumer brand messaging increased the CTR of corporate campaigns by 32 percent and reduced CPC by 22 percent.

The details: LinkedIn recommends that brands seeking to increase their marketing impact and keep brand DNA consistent across all messaging take five key actions, including:

  1. Make creative bold and unexpected in everything from your logo to your art to your messaging. Weave your brand DNA through your logo, color scheme, slogan and customer and employee stories.
  2. Make all branding distinct and immediately recognizable. After you’ve developed your creative hook, apply it to all of your messaging, including on your website, on social media and in advertising. 
  3. Harness the power of emotion by showing your audience why you’re doing what you’re doing and help them feel it. Connect all of your messaging back to the story you want to tell. 
  4. Execute always-on campaigns and ensure your audience is seeing your messaging as often as possible. 
  5. Balance your organic and paid strategies. While organic content primes your audience for more personalized paid content, paid campaigns compel them to backtrack and check out your organic content. When paid and organic content both present one unified message, the effectiveness of each increases.

Meta Adds Insights And New Incentives For Reels Creators

Meta has announced a number of updates to Instagram Reels including adjusting how its creator payouts are calculated and adding more visibility into how creators Reels are performing. It also launched a new Challenges incentive on Facebook that helps creators in the Reels Play bonus program unlock new ways to earn from their content.

Why it matters: The update comes on the heels of creators claiming that Instagram has cut Reels payouts without notice. Its new insights feature will presumably help creators keep the platform accountable for content monetization as well as prove to interested brands their reach before inking a paid deal. 

The details: In order to reward creators who craft and promote original content, Meta has recently rolled out ranking changes that prioritize the distribution of original content in places like the Reels tab and Feed on Instagram and on Feed and Watch on Facebook. The company has also made changes to its incentives program that gives creators avenues for reaching new followers and uncovering new opportunities.

Meta has adjusted how payouts are calculated with the aim of rewarding creators who make high-quality original content. And on Facebook, it introduced a new incentive that helps creators in the Reels Play bonus program called Challenges to unlock new ways to earn up to $4,000 per month.

Challenges make it so that each creator can participate in a series of monthly, sequential, cumulative challenges. Completing one challenge unlocks the next. Creators’ progress on Challenges will reset back to one at the start of each 30-day bonus period.

Meta has also responded to creators’ requests to know more about how their Reels perform. So, it rolled out insights for Reels Play creators on Facebook that will allow creators to see how many Plays their Reels received within the given earning period.

Lastly, Meta has expanded creator monetization on Reels to help them build more sustainable businesses. Specifically, Meta is testing overlay ads in Reels on Facebook with a wider set of creators. Additionally, Instagram creators will soon be able to crosspost their Reels to Facebook, which will open up the potential to grow audiences on both platforms. Meta will also explore the ability of eligible creators to earn a share of revenue on crossposted Reels via overlay ads. Creators can also earn bonuses from Instagram Reels Play and Facebook Reels Play.

Snapchat Announces Four New Snap Originals, Renews Two

Snapchat has announced four new Snap Originals after the success of its first 150 Snap Originals.

Why it matters: According to Snap, over 80 percent of US Gen Z’ers watched a Snap Original last year. Snapchat’s success is rooted in the selection of its stars. Megan Thee Stallion, for example, got back to her Texas roots in Off Thee Leash with Megan Thee Stallion and viewers got to travel to Louisiana to visit Addison Rae in Addison Rae Goes Home. Both series reached over 16 million viewers.

The details: Apart from renewing two of its hit Snap Originals, Dixie and Charli D’Amelio’s Charli vs. Dixie and Propagate Content’s Big Breakfast and Kids at Play’s The Me and You Show, Snap’s four new original shows include:

  • Daring Simone Biles by Propagate Content’s Big Breakfast and Kids at Play, where Olympic medalist Simone Biles tries things she’s never done before, including beekeeping and DJ-ing.
  • Reclaim(ed) by Eagle Vision, which is Snap’s first Canadian Snap Original. The docuseries explores today’s indigenous culture with hosts Marika Sila and Kairyn Potts, as they reclaim cultural traditions and issues from a Gen Z point of view. 
  • Run For Office by Ovrture follows Gen Z and millennial political candidates as they seek elected office in the 2022 Primary and General Elections. 
  • La’Ron in a Million by Leopard USA has NAACP Image Award winner La’Ron Hines finding a way to balance his life back at home with his Los Angeles dreams and rapid rise to fame.

Instagram Tests TikTok-Style Full-Screen Home Feed

With the intention of bringing video front and center, Instagram is in the testing phase of a new feature that offers a similar, instantly immersive experience as that of TikTok’s.

Why it matters: Reels, Instagram’s TikTok competitor, now comprises more than one-fifth of the time people spend on Instagram. On Facebook, videos comprise one-half of the time users spend on the platform. Instagram’s new full-screen home feed is yet another change that attempts to recapture some of the users it lost—and continues to lose—to TikTok.

The details: In the initial test of the full-screen home feed, users can still use the bottom navigation bar to access the discovery tab, Reels, shopping and their own page. Also, the icons to switch accounts, create a post, check notifications and browse messages are still on the top bar.

YouTube’s New Live Redirect Feature Helps Fans Spontaneously Discover New Creators

Google has introduced Live Redirect on YouTube, a feature that allows creators to send their audience to the Premiere or live stream of their choice as soon as their live stream ends.

Why it matters: The update will help creators boost each other’s discoverability and potentially open opportunities for brands and creators to expand their reach when promoting a collaboration via livestream.

The details: With the new feature, creators with over 1,000 subscribers and no active Community Guideline strikes can build excitement for an upcoming Premiere and help fans discover new creators. 

Google has also added built-in features so that creators have control over who can redirect to their YouTube channel. To redirect an audience to another channel’s live stream, that channel needs to give permission from YouTube Studio, either by default because their channel is subscribed, or because they’ve approved a specific channel for Live Redirects.

Facebook Axes Podcast Service And Other Audio Products

On Friday, June 3, 2022, Facebook will be shutting down its podcast service barely one year after its launch, according to TechCrunch. It’ll also be discontinuing its short-form audio Soundbites feature and its Audio hub in the coming weeks. 

Why it matters: Emarketer forecasts that US podcast ad spending will surpass $2 billion next year and $3 billion by 2026. Still, a spokesperson from Meta told TechCrunch that after a year of learning and iterating on audio-first experiences, the company has decided to integrate Live Audio Rooms into Facebook Live and discontinue other audio products. 

The details: In its efforts to focus on the most meaningful experiences, namely, short-form video, Facebook will be discontinuing its podcast service, Soundbites feature and Audio hub in the coming weeks. As of Thursday, May 5, users are not able to link or publish any new podcasts.

Facebook’s venture into audio began in April 2021 when Clubhouse was valued at $4 billion and when Spotify and Apple were dominating the podcasting market.

Unilever Elevates Samir Singh To Chief Marketing Officer, Personal Care

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Unilever promotes Samir Singh to chief marketing officer, personal care, Walgreens taps Linh Peters as senior vice president and chief marketing officer, Rockefeller Capital Management hires Janette Cabellero Jovic as chief marketing officer and more.

Unilever Promotes Samir Singh To Chief Marketing Officer, Personal Care

Samir Singh has accepted a promotion as Unilever’s chief marketing officer of personal care, a portfolio of brands including Axe, Dove, Pepsodent, Sure and others, reports Global Cosmetics News.

Singh spent the past 24 years at Unilever and Unilever India. Most recently, he served as executive vice president of global skin cleansing and oral care.

Rockefeller Capital Management Appoints Janette Caballero Jovic Chief Marketing Officer

Financial services marketing veteran Janette Caballero Jovic has joined Rockefeller Capital Management as chief marketing officer, according to a press release.

Jovic joins Rockefeller from UBS Wealth Management’s U.S. division, where she was head of strategic marketing and content communications.

Darco Spirits Hires Jimmy Bruton As Chief Marketing Officer

Darco Spirits has appointed Jimmy Bruton chief marketing officer. 

Bruton, who has over 25 years of experience in the alcoholic beverage industry, will lead marketing strategy for Darco’s American Harvest Vodka and Beach Whiskey.

Previously, he served as trade marketing director for Freixenet Mionetto USA.

Movado Names Stéphane Gerschel Chief Marketing Officer

Movado Group has tapped Stéphane Gerschel as its new chief marketing officer, according to Jck.

Gerschel previously held senior marketing and communications roles at Pomellato and Bulgari, respectively.

Walgreens Appoints Linh Peters Senior Vice President And Chief Marketing Officer

Following its chief marketing officer Pat McClean’s exit three months ago, Walgreens has hired Linh Peters as senior vice president and chief marketing officer.

Peters joins Walgreens from Calvin Klein where she was global chief marketing officer.

Dickies Hires Sarah Crockett Global Chief Marketing Officer

VF Corporation-owned Dickies has named Sarah Crockett global chief marketing officer.

Crockett previously was chief marketing officer of Backcountry and before that, chief marketing officer for Burton Snowboard.

SmartRent Names Robyn Young First Chief Marketing Officer

Robyn Young has been appointed SmartRent’s first-ever chief marketing officer.

Young joins SmartRent from Western Alliance Bancorporation, where she served as chief marketing officer leading all marketing and communications functions for eight years.

Loob Holding Taps Yau Chuan Ng As Chief Marketing And Digital Officer

Loob Holding has appointed Yau Chuan Ng chief marketing and digital officer.

Ng previously was a food and beverages industry manager at Google.

Viral Nation Taps Lauren Crampsie As President Of Marketing

Former Ogilvy New York president Lauren Crampsie has been hired as Viral Nation’s president of marketing, reports AdAge.

In her new role, Crampsie will oversee growth, strategy and operations for the influencer marketing agency.

Traditional Advertising Is Headed For Growth. These 7 Trends Are Driving It

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For the first time in a decade, traditional advertising is headed for growth, bucking the prediction that it would fizzle. Though the 28th edition of the CMO Survey found marketers’ traditional spending decreased annually by 1.4 percent between February 2021 and 2022—compared to an annual increase of 7.8 percent for overall marketing budgets during this same period—recent evidence shows a shift is underway. In August 2021 and February 2022, marketers predicted that traditional ad spending would increase by 1.4 percent and 2.9 percent, respectively.

Leading this shift are companies that earn all of their sales through the internet; they’re predicting an 11.7 percent increase in traditional ad spending over the next 12 months. Business-to-consumer (B2C) service companies are predicting a 10.2 percent increase while B2C product companies forecast a 4.9 percent increase.

In a recent Harvard Business Review op-ed—with insight from founder and director of the CMO Survey Christine Moorman and academic experts from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and the London School of Business—the authors outline seven factors driving this trend, including the ability of traditional ads to cut through digital clutter, the decline in third-party cookies and more.

First, the authors maintain that as consumers spend more time online, they’re becoming increasingly numb to conventional digital ads and engagement. HubSpot research found that 57 percent of shoppers disliked ads that played before a video and 43 percent didn’t even watch them. 

As marketers look for a way to cut through the noise, traditional ads are seeing greater engagement while the costs associated with them have fallen. A report from MarketingSherpa found more than half of consumers often or always watch traditional TV ads and read print ads they receive in the mail from companies they’re satisfied with.

Another trend driving the uptick in traditional ad spending is consumers’ trust in the format. The same MarketingSherpa survey found that the top five most trusted ad formats to drive purchases are all traditional: print ads (82 percent), TV ads (80 percent), direct mail ads (76 percent) and radio ads (71 percent).

With the imminent demise of third-party cookies, marketers will need to rely on segmentation methods that hew closer to traditional ad models, the authors suggest. The CMO Survey found that 19.8 percent of companies invested more in traditional ads as a result of Google and Apple’s forthcoming changes.

Marketers have also started tapping into the growing medium of podcasts, which saw a 51 percent increase in available inventory, a 53 percent increase in new podcasts and an 81 percent increase in podcast ad impressions, according to Ads Wizz. The reason for the medium’s growth is their on-demand approach is akin to traditional radio and listeners trust their podcast hosts. Edison Research’s Super Listeners 2020 study shows that 45 percent of podcast listeners believe the hosts of their favorite podcasts actually use the brands mentioned on their shows.

The authors also emphasize exploiting the digital lift of traditional media, like pairing mailers with QR codes, as well as precision targeting viewer segments across on-demand and live-streamed TV through addressable TV solutions like Finecast.

Lastly, digital effectiveness is being revisited. While the CMO Survey found that 54.8 percent of marketers track digital marketing performance in real-time, they’re becoming skeptical of digital media’s hyped returns. This is raising concerns related to ad fraud and bringing the effectiveness of digital ads under scrutiny.

The authors conclude that traditional advertising is “alive and well” and when used with digital marketing, it can reach more audiences, build and maintain trust and motivate buying from consumers who might otherwise ignore marketing messages.

Trend Set: Close Friends On Twitter

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Ayzenberg Junior Strategist Ashley Otah recounts this week’s trends.

Close Friends

Come closer. Much like BeReal, finstas, and throwaway accounts, the new Twitter feature allows users to connect with a select group of people of their choosing. Tired of perfectly curated and cluttered feeds, social users look to dive deeper with the people they connect with the most. The reaction differs from previous years when individuals desired a clean-cut and aspirational outpouring of content. Now, brands must lean away from the tailored ad-like posts and shift to a more inclusive, insightful, and human-centered model. Although touted as buzzwords, the attributes are what society is heavily leaning into. 

Tiny Bee Effect 

Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. The trending TikTok effect created by Eddy Adams has over 300,000,000 views. Paired with the “and the best part of this plan is, no one can stop me.” sound makes it an interactive, easy, and fun way for people to connect in a relatable manner. The effect is a perfect example of how brands can utilize augmented reality to connect with new demographics.  

Spotify x Roblox 

Sound the alarm. Spotify enters the world of Roblox with “Spotify Island,” making it the first music streaming brand to do so. The virtual universe will now allow artists, friends, and fans to interact like never before. The introduction underscores a much larger shift as users demand immersive, interactive, and interconnected experiences after continually navigating a pandemic. Making new playing grounds that are intuitive yet new will continue to rise, and brands must find and expand their niche accordingly.

Bad Bunny x Marvel 

Marvel madness. Marvel will have a Latino hero in the upcoming ‘El Muerto’ film for the first time ever. Slated to hit theatres in January 2024, the hero will be Latin music icon and artist Bad Bunny. The continual convergence between fashion, film, music, and technology is an avenue to be explored in the era of cultural globalization. Regardless of industry, powerful players can bring big ideas to life and widen audiences like never before. 

Meta

Let’s get physical. Facebook-owner Meta gives an early look at what its store set to open on May 9th will look like. While focused on the Metaverse, brands are losing sight of the now. As much as consumers would like to buy into the idea, they need something tangible and current to cling to. Physical stores may become obsolete as the world dives deeper into the metaverse, web3, and beyond. However, for now, a  scaled brick and mortar model serves as a positive attribute that can reel consumers in and give a better understanding of the brand before they buy.