We’re searching for the most pressing marketing insights this week. Updated daily.
5 Ways Covid-19 Has Changed Gen Z Consumers’ Preferences
Adweek
In an Amplify Solutions survey of 357 Gen Z consumers aged 16-24, 76 percent of respondents said they’re using this time for personal or professional development and 37 percent of men and 19 percent of women, respectively, reported spending most of their shopping budget on online courses or digital learning tools.
Why it matters: The pandemic poses a big opportunity for traditional e-learning companies and new online course services.
Google Requiring All Advertisers To Verify Their Identity
Adweek
Google is extending its certification program for political advertisers to all advertisers following an influx of bad ads seeking to profit on the coronavirus pandemic.
Why it matters: Advertisers have 30 days to submit personal identification and business incorporation documents to prove their identity and the country from which they operate. Otherwise Google will stop serving their ads.
Selling Experiences When No One Can Experience Anything
Forbes
To sell experiences amid coronavirus, advertising veteran Mat Zucker suggests enriching your brand’s digital architecture, reducing barriers to trials and reviving older buying models like option-to-purchase buying cooperative buying.
Why it matters: Consumers value flexibility in times of crisis.
Crisis Management: Marketing During COVID-19
The Drum
To emerge from crisis stronger, digital marketing expert Rumble Romagnoli recommends prioritizing communication with your team and providing necessary safety equipment when remote work isn’t possible; adapt your content to be sensitive to the crisis but don’t lose your brand in the process; offer discounts to key workers.
Why it matters: A thoughtful crisis management strategy will ensure a business’s survival post-coronavirus.
Why ‘Business as Usual’ Is Not The Answer For OOH
ExchangeWire
Adverty CEO Niklas Bakos believes mobile, virtual and augmented reality in the gaming space can help out-of-home (OOH) advertising weather the pandemic.
Why it matters: As per Bakos: “For all its very visible strengths, OOH lacks the targeting capabilities of online, and its relatively basic metrics reflect that fact. Virtual OOH, taking advantage of the boundless imaginary landscapes console, desktop and mobile games offer us, offers both targeting and context within secure, brand-safe environments, while also catching audiences in highly engaged, focused moments.”
Roku’s Scott Rosenberg Breaks Down COVID-19 Viewership Trends: Ad Age Remotely
Ad Age
Senior VP and general manager of platforms at Roku, Scott Rosenberg, says daytime viewing and kids’ content has jumped while movie releases have created a new opportunity in movie rentals.
Why it matters: An increase in daytime viewing makes sense as viewers are looking to start their day with the most up-to-date news about the pandemic.
How Do You Talk Sustainability And Climate During A Pandemic?
Forbes
A Futerra survey found that its consumers want it to respond to climate change with the same urgency it has responded to the coronavirus. In addition, respondents said they want brands in general to talk about recycling and climate change during the pandemic.
Why it matters: The key to talking about sustainability during a pandemic is to avoid blaming humans, offer advice and practical actions on living sustainably and share creative stories of how people around the world are making a difference.
Glow At Home: Beauty Industry Remakes Product Pitches In The Age Of Coronavirus
Reuters
Beauty brands are redirecting pitches to show how their products can be used while social distancing, with the pivot most noticeable on social media campaigns, where companies can move more quickly than with television.
Why it matters: With nowhere to go and no one but co-workers to see on Zoom, consumers need to be reminded why beauty products are still relevant amid coronavirus.
Post-Pandemic, Will Consumers Really Remember How Brands Behaved During Lockdown?
The Drum
In an Edelman report, 65 percent of people said the way a company responded to the coronavirus crisis would impact the likelihood of them buying its products in the future. Leaders like Weatherspoon’s Tim Martin and Virgin Atlantic’s Sir Richard Branson have recently come under fire for playing down the risk of the virus’s spread and for asking staff to take unpaid leave, respectively.
Why it matters: Rob Sellers, chief growth officer at ad agency Grey London thinks the market has short memories and whether consumer attitudes toward brands have any bearing on the future success of these businesses will be deteremined on a case-by-case basis.
Lowe’s Knows You’ve Gotten To Know Your Home Really Well
Adweek
Lowe’s is launching a campaign during ESPN’s broadcast of the NFL Draft to highlight its community outreach and individual employees amid coronavirus as well as its work during previous natural disasters.
Why it matters: Lowe’s, a presenting sponsor of the NFL Draft, could stand to gain brand awareness with a timely, cause-driven campaign.
DTC—Throw Away (Almost) Everything You Know
Forbes
The DTC companies thriving in the current climate can inform a new DTC brand playbook focused around operational changes and a serious rethinking of acquisition strategies.
Why it matters: Challenges were already stacking up against the DTC model even before the coronavirus crisis.
H&M And Gucci Top List Of Most Transparent Brands In Mainstream And Luxury Fashion
Fashionista
“Fashion Revolution’s 2020 Fashion Transparency Index ranks the world’s 250 largest apparel brands and retailers based on how much information they share about their supply chains, environmental practices and social commitments.”
Why it matters: With coronavirus exacerbating the structural weaknesses of the global fashion supply chain and highlighting the plight of vulnerable workers, consumers are demanding more transparency as part of sustainability concerns. In fact, some brands have “invoked the ‘force majeure’ clause to free them of their contractual responsibility to pay suppliers.”
Why Business Is Booming For Mobile Game Publishers Despite The Downturn
AdExchanger
“Players are playing more than ever, ad inventory in mobile games is a bargain right now, acquiring users is way less expensive than it’s been in years and the monetization train is chugging for the mobile game ecosystem.”
Why it matters: All signs point to it being a wise choice to increase mobile ad spend for Q2.
EMarketer: Digital Video Will Take A Hit In The US But Could Still Grow Through The Crisis
AdExchanger
According to eMarketer, digital video ad spend in the US could potentially grow 7.8 percent in the first half of 2020 to $17 billion. Or, it may only reach $15 billion, which would represent a 5.2 percent drop from 2019.
Why it matters: The researcher’s previous forecast predicted that digital video ad spend would grow 26 percent in 2020. The potential drop won’t necessarily translate to a cut in spending, however, as digital video offers a good brand opportunity for marketers that don’t have anything to sell right now.
YouTube Takes Criticism After Shaking Up Measurement Program
AdAge
YouTube added a variety of new companies to its roster of approved vendors but also excluded longtime partner OpenSlate after it refused to sign a contract that would limit what it can and can’t report to its clients. OpenSlate clients include Nestle, GroupM and Procter & Gamble.
Why it matters: OpenSlate claims the new restrictions set forth by YouTube’s Measurement Program defeat the program’s intended purpose, to ensure ads are running in suitable environments.
How The Covid-19 Pet Ownership Boom Has Impacted Pet Brands
AdWeek
Since officials announced stay-at-home orders, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Association for Animal Welfare Advancement reported a drop in animal intakes and surrenders at rescues.
Why it matters: BarkBox saw a year-over-year increase in its subscription business this March. Chewy hired between 6,000 and 10,000 new employees to meet higher demand amid coronavirus and expects first quarter sales in 2020 of about $1.5 billion, a 36 percent growth from Q1 of 2019. Watch time and views on The Dodo’s YouTube grew more than 170 percent and 162 percent, respectively.
After COVID, What Behavior Changes Will Stick?
Forbes
Stephen Wunker predicts that post-coronavirus, we’ll be forced to evaluate the benefits of new approaches that theoretical consideration could never illuminate, reversion to the old status quo may be slow, if it occurs at all, and the viability of working from home will have improved.
Why it matters: “While it has had a terrible overall impact, COVID has been the great Inertia Breaker.”
