BRANDS

In a Post-Gap Hoodie World, You Need an Opinion

When a brand’s middle-of-the-road social media post prompts so much backlash that it has to issue a public apology, it’s a pretty good indicator that not taking a clear stand on social issues is increasingly risky for brands. Obviously, I’m talking about the Gap hoodie. 

People pleasing 

In the backdrop of Gap's hoodie fiasco, one of its subsidiaries quietly adopted a less opinionated approach as well. Athleta ran a middle-of-the-road YouTube spot without a hitch. 

• In an election week YouTube ad, Athleta focuses its message around two words: “Women run.”
• A grey-haired woman doing yoga, a mother duck crossing the road, and a female flag football team flash across the screen with the words “Women run the playbook, women run the circus, women run a tight ship,” etc., overlaid across the screen. 

Big picture: While celebrating women in positions of power might have been considered left-leaning a few years ago, now it’s closer to the norm. In a 2019 Morning Consult/Ascend poll, 73% of U.S. adults advocated for hiring more women in leadership outside their current companies. 

Key takeaways 

Here’s what marketers can learn from the differences between the Gap hoodie that sparked outrage and Athleta’s similar spot that…didn’t. 

Attention and reach: Athleta’s video only has 10,146 views on YouTube so far, but racked up at least 15.3k views on Twitter. For context, a recent product-focused video from the brand received about 1.4 million views in a similar time frame. 

• Meanwhile, Gap’s controversially uncontroversial message blew up on social.
• It's possible Athleta's message didn't attract scrutiny simply because it reached fewer people.

Agencies: Athleta worked with agency Yard NYC to create its election day ad. Gap has not returned Marketing Brew’s request for comment regarding whether there was an agency involved in crafting the now-infamous post.

• Regardless of the answer, amidst the in-housing trend, it's probably still a good idea to have a third party on call to provide perspective during tense times.

Low stakes hot take: Although supporting women is less controversial nowadays, centering women is still a clearer statement of brand values than calling for “unity.” 

Bottom line: Sometimes the "safe" option can actually be risky. U.S. brands are 4x more likely to gain a consumer’s trust than lose it when they “take action” on social issues, per Edelman’s Global Spring 2020 Brand Trust Survey. 

AD TECH

It’s the Remix to Ignition CCPA

Just like letting your significant other know your iPhone passcode, data privacy was up for debate a few days ago. Jokes aside, Proposition 24 is one of the surest election outcomes we've gotten all week.

On Wednesday, California voted in favor of Prop 24, also known as the California Privacy Rights and Enforcement Act (CPRA), which will be certified on December 11.

• Prop 24 generally gives consumers more protection over certain types of data, including their ethnicity, geographic location, health, religion, and sexual orientation, among others. 
• It also makes it so consumers under the age of 16 must opt in to have their data sold, and will triple the fine for violators.

Plus, California will now give a squad of regulators up to $10 million a year to enforce privacy regulations like the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), the state's comprehensive privacy bill passed in 2018.

Looking ahead: It might be too soon to fully comprehend Prop 24’s impact, but for now, it’s important to think about “how cross-contextual behavioral advertising will work in this new world, repercussions of consumers opting out, and penalties that brands and marketers will have to face if they are noncompliant,” MediaLink’s VP of Data and Tech Solutions Reshma Karnik told Adweek.

SPONSORED BY MARKETO

The Truth Behind Marketing Magic

Working in marketing, there are days you just wish there was a magic ruler to help measure your marketing efforts and activities. 

Perhaps a mystical scale you could pile every campaign, native ad placement (ahem), and event onto and suddenly understand their effectiveness.

Figuring it all out can seem impossible, but it doesn’t have to be. 

The very real marketing wizards at Marketo have put together a worksheet to help you develop a framework for marketing measurement so you can prove impact on pipeline and revenue.

In this worksheet, you’ll learn: 

• Which metrics to measure and report on, and why they’re significant 
• Questions to answer when developing your marketing measurement framework 
• How to concisely connect marketing efforts/activities to the bottom line 

Good marketing doesn’t happen with magic—it happens when you have the right framework.

Complete Marketo’s worksheet today.

PARTNERSHIPS

Keep Calm and Sponsor On

For those of you who haven’t seen a meme about it yet, meditation app Calm sponsored CNN’s Key Race Alerts on Election Night. Per iSpot data shared with Marketing Brew, $93,000 in paid TV ad spend went towards the CNN sponsorship. 

But Calm saw its most significant resulting success on a different channel—social.

• Calm experienced a 248% jump in social media mentions on Election Day versus the previous day, per Talkwalker data via Ad Age.  

Plot twist: There’s a chance Calm’s success on social had less to do with the CNN sponsorship than you might think. Competitor Headspace saw a 965% week over week increase in unique users on Election Day—even without an ultra-viral TV sponsorship, according to data shared with Marketing Brew.

• Headspace released Politics Without Panic last month, a collection of meditations for people coping with the complicated feelings election time brings up.

My takeaway: 65% of respondents to a recent CensusWide survey for Headspace said they’re worried or anxious about the current political tensions. Calm’s social success simply came from capitalizing on that statistic in a darkly comical way.

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• Clorox upped its ad budget by 30% in preparation for the new wave of U.S. Covid-19 cases. 
• The Washington Post is creating a new contextual ad targeting product. 
• Nielsen data shows that, despite including OOH and CTV in its measurements, 2020 Election Night TV viewers fell 20% from 2016.
• BuzzFeed expects to reach profitability this year due to stronger ad revenue and heavy cost cutting.

SPONSORED BY REV

Qualitative researchers, take note: When conducting interviews, talking and taking notes doesn’t go far enough. So, Rev put together their free Care Package full of tips and tools to help researchers and marketers gather the insights they need (and make the whole research process less stressful). Get the Research Care Package right here.

FRENCH PRESS

Marketing tips to make you fancy

Job hunting: Did you know? That the second chapter? Of Marketing Brew’s Jobs Guide? On getting a job at a creative or media agency? Is here right now?

Marketing leaders: Watch Alex Lieberman’s chat with Vimeo CMO Harris Beber to hear about how to be the best marketer across industries, the importance of data in strategy, and the best parts about being a marketing leader at a high-growth tech company. 

Black Friday plans: This infographic can help you plan your Black Friday and Cyber Monday campaigns, if you only let it.

Product pages: SEO still matters on e-commerce product pages—improve yours here.

METRICS & MEDIA

Stat: As of October, 50% of advertising execs had “contingency plans” for social unrest post-election, according to a Pivotal Research Group survey.

Quote: “Marketers will need to be more mindful of how they appeal to a polarized customer base. In fact, it may no longer be possible to appeal to essentially everyone in the U.S.” —Seb Joseph for Digiday on what the U.S. election means for marketers.

Read: Both existing chapters of Marketing Brew’s jobs guide to prep for Chapter 3, launching Monday (!!).

ICYMI

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

• Pivoting your marketing strategy post-Election Day and pre-holiday season
• Jägermeister partnered with the Lesbian Bar Project
• Mattress brand Nectar just schooled us in micro holidays