STRATEGIES

Higher Aducation

Morning Consult data shows that U.S. adults are overall more anxious about leisure activities in mid-August than they were in June. The reason is, of course, the comparatively higher number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country. 

When people are nervous about doing things they like, how do marketers generate good feelings around less optional activities, like going back to school?

Beyond Zoom University

Despite all the concerns, it’s still go time for back to school advertising:

• From June to July, back to school ad performance measured by cost per click (CPC) increased by 47%, and consumer engagement with back to school content rose by 28%, per a Pattern89 infographic. 
• And advertisers spent 211% more on social distancing-themed back to school advertising in July than they did in May and June. That said, there wasn’t a noticeable increase in consumer engagement due to “six feet apart” creative.

A for effort?

A few for-profit online colleges caught onto pandemic-era keyword trends to promote their programs, though some say it’s unethical.

Example: Consumer advocacy group The Century Foundation found that among 2,000 ads since March promoting online college, 885 used keywords for healthcare programs. 

What’s wrong with that? Nothing…except for the programs that ran ads under “healthcare” keywords, even though the actual programs had nothing to do with healthcare.

• Bob Brock, president of the Educational Marketing group, explained to Inside Higher Ed that there’s a “fine line between appropriate and inappropriate” when it comes to basing back to school advertising around pandemic fear. 
• This may be an extreme example, but it highlights the broader balance marketers need to strike this year.

My takeaway: Marketers are walking a tightrope between exploiting fear and showing that keeping students safe is a brand value. Sticking to authentic and empathetic messaging could be a safe way to avoid coming across as tone deaf to an anxious audience.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Insta Made It So You’re Never 'All Caught Up' Again

There’s nothing that makes you feel like more of a loser than seeing “You’re All Caught Up!” after scrolling through your entire Instagram feed. But as of this week, Insta is showing mercy on us all.

That’s because Instagram officially rolled out “Suggested Posts,” a feature that…suggests more posts once you reach the end of your feed.

• Suggested Posts include content from accounts you don’t yet follow but the algorithm thinks you’d enjoy. 

The marketer angle: Instagram plans to serve ads here, too. Increased ad inventory + a new space to advertise = more opportunities for reach. 

• Bonus points: Suggested Posts provides yet another slot for recommended accounts—that means the feature could boost organic discoverability, too.

Zoom out: It’s unclear how many people will actually see those ads buried at the end of a long Instagram binge. But Instagram will see average daily time spent on the platform rise 13.8% year over year in 2020, so the odds of deepscrolling are higher than ever.

SPONSORED BY MORNING BREW CREATIVE

An Ad About Ads in a Newsletter About Ads

It’s pretty meta, but it’s our job.

We’re the Morning Brew Creative team, a group of creative designers and copywriters who create ads for everything from B2B software to ad tech to eco-friendly sneakers to (our personal favorite) bidets.

We may not get bylines, but by golly, we do have fun. We get to write one-of-a-kind, native ads using fancy words like “ROI efficiencies” and “artificially intelligent autonomous robotic kitchen assistants.” 

Whether you’re looking to connect with a B2B audience or a college senior interested in, “Umm, you know, political science or whatever,” we can craft intelligent, compelling ads lickety-split. 

So while it might be hard to explain our gig at family BBQs, we love what we do, and we’d love to do it for your brand, too.

Get in touch with us right here.

CAMPAIGNS

The Social Media Marketing Lesson in The NYT’s Latest Ad

The New York Times began running its “The Truth is Worth It” video ad series years ago to promote its fact-driven mission.

• The latest spot from the NYT and Droga5 will run across traditional TV programming and roll out via the publication’s social media accounts. 
• “Life Needs Truth” combined 100+ recent NYT article titles into a visual poem.

The NYT's new spot has flashy creative, good music, a clear mission...and a hidden social media marketing lesson?

Applying a social lens

Social media editors have long known that creating understanding is the best way to generate interest in a seemingly complex topic. In psychology, the idea that understanding drives interest is nothing new. 

• For instance, research shows that readers find complicated poems or abstract art more interesting when given additional information about what they mean. 
• That’s also why pull quotes are so effective.

Connect the dots: Similarly, the creatives behind “Life Needs Truth” generated greater consumer understanding about NYT subscriptions by yanking article titles out from behind a paywall, placing them in front of target audiences and contextualizing them with powerful images.

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• Snapchat is looking to expand off-platform sharing options, particularly for its original content.
• Group M tapped former Xandr exec Kirk McDonald as its new North American CEO.
• Amazon ramped up its ad spend by 70% since May.
• Dentsu Aegis appointed Christena Pyle of Time’s Up as its first chief equity officer of the Americas.

FRENCH PRESS

Marketing tips to make you fancy

Ads: You’re going to want to click this one. It’s a Google sheet of the most iconic ads of all time, aka a marketing nerd rabbit hole. 

Influencers: If you’re not that into influencer marketing because it’s tough to measure success with the strategy, check out this guide to influencer marketing KPIs.

SEO: The case for using a pipe | vs. a dash — in a title tag, explained.

College: Hootsuite read my mind and wrote about social media marketing best practices for higher ed institutions.

METRICS & MEDIA

Stat: 76% of U.S. adults support banning TikTok, per an August Horizon Media survey cited by MediaPost.

Quote: Speaking of TikTok…“Not only does Reels fail in every way as a TikTok clone, but it’s confusing, frustrating and impossible to navigate. It’s like Instagram took all the current functionality on Stories, and jammed them into a separate, new complicated interface for no reason.” —Taylor Lorenz on why Instagram Reels is a total dud.

Read: SAP CMO Alicia Tillman’s list for The Drum outlines three actionable insights for B2B brand success. You get bonus points for reading this one—Tillman was recently on Morning Brew CEO Alex Lieberman’s CMO Series.

ICYMI

Hulu launched the Creative Partner Program for small businesses

Everything you need to know about dating apps as a marketing channel

Top agencies are writing new rules for connecting with consumers during the pandemic