SOCIAL MEDIA

Facebook Limits How Much Money You Give Zuck

Facebook put out a pretty alarming announcement on Wednesday: The social media giant plans to limit the number of ads a Page can run at once. The ad limit will begin its slow rollout in February 2021, with full implementation by summer 2021. 

That might sound scary, but luckily the vast majority of you probably have no reason to be spooked. 

The learning phase

Zuckerberg isn’t just doing this to take even more control over your marketing strategy—Facebook hopes it will help existing ads perform better.

That’s all because of something in FB’s algorithm called the “learning phase.”

• When you create an ad, it enters the “learning phase,” where the algorithm tries to figure out the most efficient and effective way to deliver the ad. 
• That’s based on who sees your ad, how they respond, and how that response (or lack thereof) aligns with your campaign goals, per Social Media Today.

Essentially, running too many ads at once can really mess up that learning phase for the algorithm. 

• Too many simultaneous ads from one Page means that each ad is shown fewer times, thus giving Facebook too little information about the ad to help it succeed.
• That usually means that Facebook’s algorithm doesn’t have the time to exit the learning phase and maximize the ad’s performance for you.

TL;DR: The ad limit is being put in place to further automate your Facebook marketing efforts, with the ultimate goal of increasing effectiveness.

So it’s a good thing?

Yes, unless you’re an advertiser like the Trump campaign, which reportedly spent almost $20 million on 218,000+ different Facebook ads in 2019. 

But most advertisers aren’t running anywhere near that number of ads at once, and FB made sure that the ad limits are proportional to the amount the Page is spending. See the table above for more info.

Bottom line: You probably won't have to pare back FB spending due to these limits. And if you do, FB says you're trading volume for efficiency.

CMOS

Beauty Wars, Meet Streaming Wars

It’s social media manager lore that beauty content performs better than the rest. Does the same principle apply to beauty CMOs?

Amazon is about to find out: It just hired Ukonwa Ojo, former CMO of MAC Cosmetics and Coty, as CMO of Prime Video and Amazon Studios. Ojo will lead global brand and originals marketing for Amazon starting September 21.

Between the above roles and others at CoverGirl and Unilever, Ojo has “been recognized with over 50 awards and honors for driving outstanding market-leading results…that motivate people to act,” said Mike Hopkins, SVP of Prime Video and Amazon Studios, in a memo published by Deadline. 

Spot the difference: Most streaming platform CMOs have some media background. Netflix’s Bozoma Saint John came from Endeavor, Disney+’s Luke Bradley-Jones has companies like Pluto and Sky on his resume, and Roku’s CMO hails from 21st Century Fox. 

Looking ahead: Perhaps having a CMO steeped in the branding-heavy beauty industry could be the breath of fresh air Amazon needs to push it ahead of other tech-focused streaming services.

SPONSORED BY NETELIXIR, INC.

Watch Videos, Tackle the Holiday Season

This holiday season, binge watching might actually be good for your business, now that you can rewatch NetElixir’s videos from their Connecting the Dots series to piece together your holiday strategy. 

Their videos feature all the learnings, insights, data, and strategies shared by leaders at Google, Microsoft, UPS, Lenovo, and more. Each video features ways to fortify your strategy for the unpredictable and financially critical holiday season. 

You’ll learn about: 

• Omnichannel approaches, include BOPIS and curbside pickup, that will be revolutionary this holiday season
• Shopping expectations from both in-store and online customers
• How to build strong and lasting relationships from a former FBI Special Agent 

NetElixir’s lineup of videos will have you ready for eggnog season with a noggin full of holiday strategy knowledge. 

Get ready for the holiday season with NetElixir today.

CAMPAIGNS

BABE Wine Turned a Candle Trend into a Branding Campaign

BABE, the official wine of the NFL, recently partnered with fellow millennial women’s brand Ryan Porter to launch a line of live football-scented candles. 

• Scents include Jockstrap (ew), $18 Nachos (shouldn’t be ew, but usually is), and Hashtag Field Goals (this one smells like turf, which actually sounds fine). 
• The candles launched in tandem with the 2020 NFL Kickoff, per Marketing Dive.  

Zoom out: BABE Wine’s NFL scented candles aren’t the only “I miss this place” olfactory marketing stunt the pandemic has spawned. 

• For instance, Uncommon agency and fragrance brand Earl of East released a "Scents of Normality" trio of scented candles back in May.
• Both sets of candles were meant to trigger emotions tied to places we miss during COVID-19, from dive bars to box seats. 

My takeaway: BABE saw millennial-oriented candle companies releasing quirky “remember these smells?” candles and created an olfactory marketing experience that’s not necessarily meant to make a room smell good. The wine brand is simply letting its target market know it's aware of how much they 1) love a trendy candle and 2) miss drinking wine in the nosebleeds.

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• Cannes Lions Live is coming back October 19-23.  
• R/GA execs, including Barry Wacksman, are leaving the agency to start their own shop. 
• Home Depot is reviewing its $444 million U.S. media account following the NBA’s media review announcement last week.
• Google’s marketing team admitted that it was too broad in its coronavirus keyword blocking earlier this year.

SPONSORED BY ATTEST

Data is top chef in this marketing kitchen. Attest’s guide will help you optimize your marketing campaigns and elevate your creativity—all by using consumer data. Their guide outlines how to benchmark campaign performance, spend your budget effectively, and do it right, every time. Create a data-driven approach to marketing and download the guide today.

FRENCH PRESS

Marketing tips to make you fancy

CMOs: Watch Morning Brew CEO Alex Lieberman’s chat with Timothy Mahoney, who previously served as the CMO of Chevrolet, Subaru, and Volkswagen. Then tune in next week for Alex’s conversations with Chris Toy, co-founder of MarketerHire, on Tuesday, and Katie Perry, Public’s VP of Marketing, on Thursday. 

Blands: Have you heard of blanding? It might be the key to D2C branding success. Click here for a lot of pastels. 

Extensions: AdEspresso wrote the ultimate guide to Google Ads ad extensions. 

Newsletters: Designed to help make you a better leader, a better communicator, and a better human, the Timeless & Timely newsletter hits on history, philosophy, and current events. Life lessons are embedded in history, and each week, Scott Monty brings them up to the present.

METRICS & MEDIA

Stat: 50% of consumers find UGC more memorable than brand-produced content, per Salesforce.

Quote: “While health restrictions are forcing many brands to divert funds from in-person events, marketing executives are finding that switching to virtual versions allows them to include more people than would physically fit on a field and offers better access to fans’ data.” —Tiffany Hsu for the NYT on advertisers and the NFL’s return. 

Read: “Visualizing the Future of Marketing and Work” by Publicis vet Rishad Tobaccowala for AdExchanger (fun fact: he was also on Marketing Brew’s launch party panel).

ICYMI

Catch up on the top Marketing Brew stories from the last few editions.

• Gap’s new CMO went entirely in-house for her first campaign at the retailer
• Consumer loyalty now sits with products they bought at the start of the pandemic
• Labor Day promos are out, job postings are in