Advertisers are spending roughly a tenth of their budgets on clickbait sites, according to a new report.

Working alongside brand suitability firm DeepSee and ad-tech consultancy Jounce Media, media-research company Ebiquity found that its clients had spent about $115 million between January 2020 and May 2022, enough to buy some of the most expensive real estate in New York City, on something the industry calls “made for advertising” inventory, aka clickbait sites that exist for the sole purpose of siphoning ad budgets.

• That’s roughly 7.8% of the $1.47 billion that 42 clients spent on programmatic display and video ads across 5,490 unique made-for-advertising domains, Ebiquity told Marketing Brew.
• Ebiquity’s US clients spent an average of 9.8% of their budgets on clickbait.
• Though they declined to name clients, according to Ebiquity’s website, the company has worked with brands like L’Oréal, Sony, Nestlé, Subway, and Audi.

Flashback: Last year, we examined why ads end up on “made for advertising” websites. It works because publishers (and we say that sarcastically) like Elite Herald, Pawszilla, and Nice Traveler can buy traffic via social platforms like Twitter and content-recommendation platforms like Taboola and Outbrain for less than they make in ad revenue.

Though on paper (or in a spreadsheet, more realistically), these sites read as cheap, with low CPMs and high viewability, few advertisers would ever deliberately buy this inventory.

Those dollars could have gone to “media companies with a diverse ownership profile...high-quality journalism or high-quality news publications,” Ruben Schreurs, chief product officer at Ebiquity, told Marketing Brew, as opposed to companies that have “no value to society.” As for how to avoid this, Schreurs suggested leaning on exclusion or inclusion lists, which can be easier said than done.

“It’s so blatant, it’s such a big number, we feel it’s a prerogative for brands to make sure that they address this,” he said. “Exclude this activity and make the effort to understand which properties are misbehaving.”—RB

Let’s get some shoes this bread.

In its latest campaign, Magnolia Bakery worked with Liam Kyle Sullivan, the creator of the 2007 viral YouTube videos “Shoes” and “Muffins,” to promote its new breakfast-loaf sampler pack.

Throwback: When Adam Davis, Magnolia’s manager of media and marketing, was introduced to the flavors, he told Marketing Brew he remembered “immediately thinking of [‘Muffins’] and then thinking, what is this guy up to these days? Most people haven’t heard from this guy in 15 years.”

Sullivan told us he was excited to hear from Davis. “The ‘Muffins’ character, she is a spokesperson,” he said. “She’s speaking for her own fictional muffins. And I always thought it could work for an actual product.”

Together, Davis, Sullivan, and the Magnolia team pulled together a two-minute clip that almost identically matches the original, down to the same glasses Sullivan wore in 2007.

Major props

To go back in time, Sullivan said he found parts of the original costume for the old lady, like her glasses, sweatshirt, and wig. He also still had the cookie jar and the picture hanging on the wall.

“Yeah, I save things,” he said. “Who knows—these might come in handy again someday!”

Other things, like the location, required a bit more imagination: Sullivan said his agent had a kitchen similar enough to the one he had at the time, so he didn’t have to go knocking on his old apartment’s front door. Davis said the team then went in with “tiling and paint and the whole nine yards to make it really, really feel like the original.”

Nailing the nostalgia angle was crucial, Davis said, which is why the video was cut almost identically to the original: “We wanted everything to match to a tee so that the second it starts, you’re immediately transported back to 2007.”

Click here for the full story.—KH

We’ve all seen those “Made in USA” stamps on products from Wilson footballs to Igloo coolers, but it takes a lot to be able to make that kind of claim.

It’s not easy—or cheap—to manufacture products in America. But as US companies face supply-chain tumult, many are evaluating how to bring their manufacturing home.

• It has some benefits, among them agility to adjust to market trends and more quickly flex supply and essentially “shrinking the supply chain” with shorter shipping distances, explained Kamala Raman, VP of logistics and supply-chain network design at Gartner.
• “Having more control is a big theme that we’re seeing for why people are trying to make more products in the US,” she told Retail Brew.

As more companies look to move some or all manufacturing stateside, what consumer-facing labels or statements can they make about being American-made? When it comes to these claims, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is in control.

Read the full story on Retail Brew here.—EC

There are a lot of bad marketing tips out there. These aren’t those.

Take note: You’ve heard about Twitter Notes…Here’s the scoop on Instagram Notes.

WFH: If you’re awaiting a more permanent remote-work policy from your company, we have good news.

Make it snappy: Find out who’s on Snapchat these days.

See who’s watching : Even as audience viewing habits evolve and content styles shift, Nielsen’s audience-first media measurement counts every view, everywhere. It’s accurate, it’s reliable, and it’s pretty darn essential. Learn more here.*

^{*This is sponsored advertising content.}

Sunday Scaries? Maybe finding a better job would help. Check out the Marketing Brew Job Board today!

Today’s featured openings:

• Performance Marketing Manager at Good Moose
• Senior Account Executive at Caliber Corporate Advisers
• Designer at Gotham Greens

See more jobs or post your job opportunities here.

“Mom, can you come pick me up? I’m scared. Mr. Burns is here.”—Us when we saw this 1974 sunscreen ad

Catch up on a few Marketing Brew stories you might have missed.

• The summer music website that spawned an NFT and sunscreen brand
• Is streaming’s binge-watching era officially over?
• TikTok’s new avatar feature could help brands without mascots on the platform