BRANDS

Tell Me How to (Partner with) Sesame Street

Lately, brands haven’t had to ask anyone for directions to Sesame Street. After pitching DoorDash at the Super Bowl, Elmo and friends are also popping up as the faces of a new General Mills cereal.

Our question: What is it about the Muppets that appeals equally to a Depression-era brand and a Silicon Valley disruptor?

• Sesame Workshop EVP and Head of Global Media and Education Ed Wells told Marketing Brew it’s because the gang's iconic characters "are equally appropriate in living rooms with kids and families and relevant on the biggest stages." 

C is for cereal

If you’re going to pitch fiber to preschoolers, it helps to have Elmo on your box. Plus, “the parents trust that their kids are going to love it and that the nutrition is going to be what they're looking for,” Hillary Balma, senior brand manager at General Mills, told us. 

Head start: “When there are equities out there that capture the essence of what we’re trying to do, it’s typically a stronger launch out of the gates than us trying to invent something from the ground up,” Balma said.

Doesn't get much safer than Grover

So what does a delivery app want from a 50-year-old children’s brand?

One possibility: A controversy-free legacy like Sesame Street’s is a rare find. And a potentially useful one if you’re DoorDash, which alongside other delivery services has taken heat over accusations that it exploits both its drivers and small restaurants.

• When asked if the partnership was meant to help improve the brand’s image, a DoorDash spokesperson declined to specifically answer that question, instead pointing toward the brand’s philanthropy, including a $1 million dollar donation to Sesame Workshop.
• Sesame Street clarified to Marketing Brew that it “regularly” passes on partnership opportunities.

But Jarrod Moses, CEO of United Entertainment Group, told us he thinks it’s less about scrubbing the brand, and more about using Big Bird to accelerate DoorDash’s ambition in “becoming a household name, something that the household relies upon on a consistent and continual basis.”

• In other words, DoorDash wants to brand itself as an essential service for everyone—not a luxury for a few.

Bottom line: When the aim is to position yourself as a brand for the masses, partnering with a cultural cornerstone like Sesame Street can be the path of least resistance for companies of all shapes and sizes.

MOBILE

Call Me, Beep Me—No, Not Like That

As of today, your favorite DTC candle brand will no longer text you 10x a day about the $72 candle you left in your cart—well, at least not from the same number. SMS marketing platform Omnisend recently informed Marketing Brew that… 

• An AT&T and T-Mobile ban on using short codes to message consumers went into effect today. It’s meant to reduce text spam, but it’s a bit of a headache for mobile marketers. 
• Short codes = those five- or six-digit sending numbers used by many businesses, including that cursed candle company, for commercial messaging. 

Good trouble: Omnisend CEO Rytis Lauris says it’s good news for marketers, despite the tedium of changing numbers.

• “We see it as a huge leap forward to ensure SMS and MMS remain trusted growth channels for brands. A dedicated unique number for each brand is the only way to develop trust and reduce confusion with consumer SMS opt-ins,” Lauris told Marketing Brew.

Big picture: It’s a timely update as the pandemic accelerates SMS marketing growth. Cloud communications provider Infobip saw “8.5% and 20% growth in SMS marketing messages in March and April 2020, respectively, compared with February,” wrote eMarketer less than a month ago. 

SPONSORED BY ASANA

Work About Work About Work

Let’s talk about it.

According to Asana’s Anatomy of Work Index report, you’re spending about 60% of your time on work about work. Which means you’re not spending your time on the skilled and strategic work you were hired to do.

Not all is lost, though, because you can learn how to get that time back with Asana’s report. 

Asana surveyed more than 13 thousand global workers and assembled the results alongside recs for creating a more efficient workplace. They called out issues like the unnecessary meetings and rising workloads that come with too much work about work.

Time’s a-wastin’ to get your time back. Get Asana’s full report today.

STRATEGIES

Alcohol Brands Literally Buy You a Drank, Put Money in the Bank

In an alternate universe where we’re normal, non-marketer consumers, we’d 100% be on board with this trend: Alcohol companies are literally funding PTO for consumers.

• Bud Light Seltzer’s running multiple cash giveaways which pay people to #TasteTimeOff and use their vacation days in honor of Employee Appreciation Day this Friday.
• Similarly, Jameson drinkers can take its SPTO (St. Patrick's Day Time Off) campaign pledge, committing to request the holiday off to enter Jameson's sweepstakes. 

But we’re marketers: So we’re curious—how does this strategy deliver, metrics-wise? Bud Light Seltzer Senior Director Conor Mason told Marketing Brew this timely strategy can strengthen brand-consumer relationships.  

• “There’s a relationship that develops between our marketing team and consumers, and my job is to make sure they are continually excited about [Bud Light Seltzer]. Now more than ever…consumers expect brands to do more than just advertise their product: They expect us to give something back to them.” 
• Mason thinks nurturing that relationship makes these campaigns “travel a lot farther.”

Zoom out: “Giving back” PTO certainly makes sense during the pandemic, when the average American worker currently uses just 54% of their paid vacation days, per a recent Glassdoor survey. 

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• Frida, a baby products company, ran this ad about the struggles of postpartum and breastfeeding during Sunday’s Golden Globes Awards.
• Walmart’s in the market for a new agency for its US business. WPP has had the gig for four years.
• Cannes may be virtual, or at least hybrid, reports Ad Age, as organizers look to scale down.
• Ice cream sales jumped 20% in 2020 as we tried to fill the void with Rocky Road and Phish Food.

SPONSORED BY POSTCLICK

Rethink personalization with this new research: Postclick confirms that implementing personalization in advertising can be challenging but drives great results. Of the 194 marketers surveyed in the Postclick study, 84% found personalization challenging to implement. Only the top 16% of marketers who implemented the most advanced 1:1 personalization strategies saw the highest ROI, increased brand loyalty, and a lift in sales/revenue. Download the full report to learn how top-performing marketers get the best results.  

FRENCH PRESS

There are a lot of bad marketing tips out there. These aren't those.

Insta: Engaging followers is more than just an @—here’s how to take your Instagram game to the next level.

Connections: Treat LinkedIn like Etsy and build a sales pipeline on it.

TikTok Tips: We know you’re on TikTok. Here’s how to bring your brand there too.

A globally recognized marketing icon: Bozoma Saint John, CMO of Netflix, will be the keynote speaker at Activate Live on April 7. In an exclusive fireside chat, she’ll share insights on how to create a quality, authentic customer experience. Reserve your seat here.*

*This is sponsored advertising content.

AD ANTIQUES

Forget the Muppets, tell us more about Quakies!

ICYMI

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

• Why the 125-year-old Swarovski company needed a rebrand.
• Airbnb’s first global campaign signals the return of travel ad spend.
• VaynerMedia scored American Eagle’s media account. Of course it did.