BRANDING

The Best and Greenest Branding Hacks for Earth Day

What do consumers care about more: saving the planet, or preventing Covid-19? This Earth Day (which is fast approaching on April 22, so mark your cals), the answer might surprise you.

The answer…was need-to-know info for marketers last spring, when the industry struggled with adapting to rapidly changing consumer preferences. Environmentalism got bumped down the list of concerns once we all started disinfecting every. single. grocery item. with a wet wipe. 

• For instance, Covid-19 accelerated the number one consumer consideration when buying a cleaning product past its eco-friendliness and straight to its ability to kill germs, per a 2020 Buzzback market research survey among US and UK adults.
• And while environmental impact is still a major concern for US consumers, it’s among the least important factors that influence purchasing decisions compared with others, like perception of quality and convenience, per an August 2020 McKinsey study. 

TL;DR: This Earth Day (and always, TBH), you need to show consumers your product is both high-quality and good for Mother Earth...but especially the quality part. 

Case study: Brandless

Some companies, such as thrift retail brand ThredUp and Native natural deodorant, have recently toed that eco-friendly/high-quality line with their design elements. And the new "tree-free" products from Brandless—the “brand without a brand” that shuttered in February 2020, then relaunched in June—are no exception.

Colors: In one 2017 Buzzback study—the freshest we could find—the market research firm found that the colors US adults most closely associated with the term “clean label” were white (35%), green (30%), and blue (17%). 

• While all of Brandless’s “tree-free” products have white accents, and some of them come in ocean blue, perhaps that was guesswork—other products in the line center brown rather than blue.

Font: Although Brandless is literally supposed to be “brandless,” its choice to use a sans serif logo font signals that the products are forward-thinking, clean, and honest, which checks both the high-quality and environmentally progressive boxes, per Fabrik. 

Oh yeah, Earth Day: This Earth Day, whether your company has plans for a product launch or a social media graphic, keep the above design elements in mind to signal both quality and sustainability. 

PLATFORMS

Spotify Looks Off Platform

Spotify wants to be bigger than its app. In a slew of announcements that included a podcast from former President Barack Obama and The Boss, as well as its plan for global domination, Spotify said it's expanding to help advertisers reach listeners "on and off" its platform.

• Dubbed the Spotify Audience Network, the offering is a “first-of-its-kind audio advertising marketplace” across Spotify's portfolio of audio and podcasting streams.

Spotify's exact plans are still vague, but it's not the first walled garden to add an off-platform component. Facebook's Audience Network, for instance, enables select third parties like Tinder to target FB users on their sites. For its part, Spotify will allow advertisers to reach listeners of its owned pods (e.g. The Ringer, Gimlet) on other platforms, a spokesperson told Marketing Brew.

The brand also announced the expansion of its self-serve platform to include ads for podcasts. The minimum spend is $1,000, making the medium more accessible to smaller brands and businesses.

Looking ahead: Details are scarce at the moment, but Spotify's goal is clearer than its new high-fidelity tier: become the one-stop shop for all things audio advertising.

SPONSORED BY SAILTHRU

RE-VE-NUE 4 Y-O-U

We’re developing a dance to our new hit single “RE-VE-NUE 4 Y-O-U.” Why? 'Cause Sailthru just dropped their “Increasing Revenue from Email” guide, and it has us dancing for revenue joy.

It doesn’t matter if you’re not a choreographer—when you see all the methods Sailthru shows you for increasing engagement and revenue from your email marketing program, you’ll throw on a fedora and start snapping those fingers.

It doesn’t matter what industry you work in, either! Sailthru’s guide gracefully pirouettes its way across lots of industries, including retail and media. 

And with earning reports out, you already know the biggest brands are seeing record results with the surge in online buying. Sailthru has all the proven strategies you need to capitalize on the trend.

Get the guide here.

TV

Bring Your Kids to Upfronts

SpongeBob, Slime, and...media buyers? Nickelodeon is hosting its first upfront in three years and it’s inviting the whole family. On March 18, the network will pitch itself to brands, advertisers and their children because, well, that’s its audience.

• “We thought, ‘Why not do an upfront through the eyes of the audience, as opposed to the eyes of the partners?’ Since families are home together, and a lot of our partners have children, let’s make something that can be a co-viewing event,” Nickelodeon President Brian Robbins told Variety.
• Nick’s promising photo ops and meet-and-greets, in addition to the expected sizzle reels for upcoming shows.

Slime zone

A lot has changed since Nickelodeon’s last upfront, as both cord-cutting and streaming adoption have skyrocketed. But Nick, like many of its competitors, could cushion traditional TV’s decline thanks to its ability to sell streaming inventory through ViacomCBS’s Paramount+ library.

• “For Nick...this isn't a zero sum game since many TV marketers will now be looking for streaming inventory during the upfronts,” eMarketer analyst Ross Benes told Marketing Brew.

Bottom line: At the bare minimum, this is a pitch that’ll raise eyebrows and a twist that builds on Nick’s latest media experiment—a cartoonified NFL playoff broadcast.

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• Facebook agreed to restore Pages from Australian news publishers after blocking them last week. 
• Virginia, a certain founding Marketing Brew writer’s home state, passed a Consumer Data Protection Act similar to California’s CCPA. 
• Jeep heard from the head of the Cherokee Nation, which wants the automaker to stop slapping its name on the side of vehicles.
• AdColor tapped Droga5 as its creative agency of record.

SPONSORED BY POSTCLICK

Do you know the secret to getting better conversion rates while reducing ad costs? To help you reduce wasted ad dollars, Postclick created a complimentary tool that lets you self-assess your ad-to-page relevancy in under five minutes. Click here to unveil your post-click score.

AD FRAUD

Which headlines are real marketing news, and which one is fake?

1. Mountain Dew Resurrects Bob Ross in ‘Lost Episode’
2. Study Finds Industry Researchers Spend Less than Half their Time Researching
3. Gatorade Finding Consumers Have a Thirst for—Lots of Other Drinks
4. The Package Designer Branding Glossier’s New Line of Dog Poop Bags 

Keep scrolling for the answer.

FRENCH PRESS

Marketing tips to make you fancy

Facebook ads: Ending up in Facebook jail is the worst—here are 10 reasons why it happens, so you can be a preventer, not a fixer. 

Video content: This infographic breaks down which of the eight types of high-performing video content is right for your brand. 

SEO: Check out these seven most need-to-know emerging technologies in SEO. 

This marketing icon needs no introduction: Bozoma Saint John, CMO of Netflix, will be the keynote speaker at Activate Live on April 7. In an exclusive fireside chat, she’ll discuss the key pillars of building a memorable brand experience. Reserve your spot here.*

*This is sponsored advertising content

AD FRAUD ANSWER

You cannot buy dog poop bags at Glossier, no matter how hard you try (trust us).

ICYMI

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

• Marketers are all over Clubhouse for career growth—but does the tech bro platform work for women?
• Roku reports record-breaking Q4 earnings
• Big buys in podcasting tech