CAMPAIGNS

User Generated Vaccines

In December, I wrote about how the World Health Organization (WHO), the Ad Council, and the United Kingdom’s National Health Service all plan to work influencer marketing into pro-vaccine campaigns.

But you know what I’ve often found more effective than influencer marketing? User-generated content (UGC). Maybe that’s why I literally swooned when I saw Mischief’s recent vaccine awareness PSAs. 

• Vaccine producer Pfizer and BioNTech tapped agency Mischief @ No Fixed Address to create a series of short video PSAs.
• The spots depict all the things we can’t wait to do in person again—hug someone, react to a baby announcement, etc.—through real videos of real people.  
• They’re rolling out via social channels, US national TV, and OOH—thanks to a media donation from Quan Media Group—per The Drum.

Watch them here. 

Why they work

“Mischief sifted through real scenes the agency found on social channels and other outlets and obtained approval from the creators. ‘We tried to pick a wide variety—the joyous moments like someone having a baby, or the spontaneous, which is what the hug was about. We just wanted to capture the emotion and raw energy,’” Mischief CCO Greg Hahn told Ad Age. 

Zoom out: Finding “real scenes” on “social channels” and obtaining “approval from creators” isn’t traditionally how social media marketers find UGC. 

• Typically, fans tag a brand on social, then marketers repurpose that content. 
• Mischief took a different approach, but the output is the same—real people who believe in the “brand” (or in this case, the vaccine) giving marketers consent to use their content.

And because the videos are truly authentic, they feel even more emotional—that's the power of UGC. For instance… 

• UGC can be almost 10 times more influential than influencer content for consumers in their purchase decisions, per Social Media Week.
• Additionally, Mischief might be a trend setter—eMarketer recently predicted that it’s “expecting to see more UGC in all sorts of media this year, from TV commercials to digital video to print ads,” rather than just social. 

My takeaway: This isn’t to say that actors or influencers have no place in the vaccine PSA push—it’s just that here, UGC seemed particularly effective. So why not keep it top of mind for your own marketing initiatives this year?

TV

AT&T Not Now

This might be the least shocking news of the day: Linear TV is still riding the struggle bus. 

The latest victim? AT&T's skinny bundle AT&T TV Now, formerly known as DirecTV Now. AT&T is merging the low-cost linear service into AT&T TV, its more traditional MVPD service.

So what shall rise from linear TV’s ashes? Say it with me...CTV. 

• New eMarketer estimates suggest that advertisers spent “an additional $1.16 billion on programmatic CTV video ads in 2020 compared with 2019, and incremental spending in 2021 will increase to $2.37 billion.” 
• eMarketer also predicts that the $2.37 billion number will represent almost “29% of all incremental spending on programmatic video ads this year, or about 15% of growth in total programmatic display.” 

Big picture: A November 2020 Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) poll showed 60% of US advertisers plan on shifting ad dollars from linear TV to CTV/OTT in 2021. 81% of that same group cited “targeting and efficiency” as an explanation. 

SPONSORED BY COHLEY

Abandoned Carts Make Us Sad

When we learned almost 70% of carts are abandoned online, we couldn’t help but tear up. It just seems so cruel; that shiny cart filled with so many fun goodies left alone in the dark reaches of the Internet.

Luckily our friends at Cohley are committed to putting an end to this sad state of affairs. They are turning automated abandoned cart messaging into engaging, successful sales savers.

Cohley can help your brand test content, comparing how things like lifestyle photos, product shots, and UGC can bring consumers back.

They’ve been bringing this A+ value to A/B testing with partners like Klaviyo to help them make informed, data-driven decisions that result in more conversions and stronger customer relationships.

Which means Cohley can help you have a pretty cool ROI.

Abandon your abandoned cart problem right here.

EVENTS

Virtually Everything You Need to Know about Virtual CES

CES, like many things, went virtual for the first time ever this year. And let's just say it doesn't appear to be anyone's favorite CES.

• The event that once drew marketers from every corner of the industry to explore the intersection of emerging technology, consumer interests, and advertising was referred to as …  
• …“a series of back-to-back Zoom calls—one that cost exhibitors hefty sums that aren’t too far off from the price of showcasing themselves at the real event,” per Ad Age.

Okay, so noted—some events might benefit from an in-person component. But personally I still had CES FOMO even with the prerecorded panels, so read on for the most important 2021 CES takeaways. 

Remote work solutions: WFH might look different by the end of 2021 if CES presenters have anything to say about it—Dell and Shure offered up WFH enhancements that aim to make video calling more efficient and aesthetically pleasing.

Connecting social and traditional media: TikTok shared its belief that connecting these two channels is the future—and apparently so is Addison Rae. At CES, TikTok announced that one of its top creators will do just that by starring in a TikTok-co-produced (full length!) movie. 

Esports and professional gaming: Presenters like Nvidia think it’s the future and will become more Real Sports-like as time goes on—enough said. 

Want more? Ryan and Hayden at Emerging Tech Brew have been covering every detail of this year’s CES—click here to read all about it.

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• Dentsu is merging agencies iProspect and Vizeum to create a full service media agency. 
• iSpot is acquiring Ace Metrix to expand its linear TV and CTV analytics capabilities.
• WPP poached McCann’s Rob Reilly as its new global CCO.  
• YouTube is allowing creators to measure a video's performance over the first 24 hours.

SPONSORED BY SAILTHRU

Big engagement, smooth sailing. Sailthru is the tech we used to turn our newsletter from an email chain with college friends into a multimedia company with millions of engaged subscribers. From efficient automation to optimization with A/B testing, learn about all the ways Sailthru helped us grow in this case study.

FRENCH PRESS

Marketing tips to make you fancy

SEO: From breadcrumb optimization to meta descriptions, Moz detailed the top 21 Google SEO tips for 2021. 

ABCs: Is it just me, or did keeping up with social media marketing acronyms and abbreviations get way more difficult now that people born in 2000 are reaching the legal drinking age? Fight Gen Z creep with these abbreviation definitions for social. 

B2B: B2C marketers have it easy in a lot of ways, especially when it comes to finding consumer feedback—that’s why this list of five unconventional B2B feedback sources exists. 

FB Ads: Apparently, there are hacks to getting your ads approved on Facebook faster, which I definitely wish I knew many moons ago. 

METRICS & MEDIA

Stat: 50% of registered voters surveyed on January 6 and 7 had a “more favorable view of companies that condemn the riot” at the Capitol, per Ad Age. 

Quote: “There are a lot of things on the ground in New York…there’s graffiti on the ground. There are ads on the ground!”—a few very inspirational words from Fran Lebowitz's “Pretend It's a City.”

Read: “Brand Safety Shouldn’t Be Reactionary–Advertisers Need to Do Better”—Allison Schiff for AdExchanger.

ICYMI

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

• A major Super Bowl LV ad inventory update
• Facebook hired an Obama White House advisor and an R/GA alum in new leadership positions
• To embrace Dry January or not to...do that? That is the question