Long time, no see! Congrats on surviving Black Friday (and the week after!).

This BFCM, we’re hearing that... 

• Spend was likely lower than in 2020.

• Evergreen ad creative and 30%+ discounts performed best.

• Shopify merchants brought in 2X what they made in 2019 — but there are probably 2X more of them now, so… 🤷‍♀️

Read on for French growth tips, November hiring trends, and a brand new report on freelance marketing!

EXPERT Q&A

How French social app Yubo got 20M American users

What’s four letters long, French, and used by 20M people in the United States — almost none of them adults? 

It’s Yubo, a social app popular with teens. On live streams, “we have groups of teens brushing their teeth together,” Yubo head of brand Geraldine Cohen told MarketerHire.

How has Yubo, headquartered in Paris, scaled to 55M users since 2015 — a majority of whom live in the United States and Canada? We talked to Cohen to find out. 

It operates in a common language.

Yubo’s founders built their app in English, which is spoken by 5X more people globally than their native French. 

“You do it in English, you’re probably appealing to the whole globe,” Cohen said. After the United States, Yubo is most popular in the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Brazil, Australia, Scandinavian countries, the Philippines and Indonesia, Cohen said. 

It piggybacked on a popular US product.

Yubo initially positioned itself as a way to make friends to add on Snapchat.

Snapchat already had 80M+ daily active users worldwide — more of them in the United States than in France, which meant Yubo’s early audience skewed American.

Then, Yubo slowly expanded its offering to keep people on its app. Chat came first, then video, and now, “it’s really become a live-streaming social network,” Cohen said.

It adapted to American parents’ safety concerns. 

Yubo is primarily used by teenagers, and its French team has learned that American parents are “more conservative, much more protective” than French ones, Cohen said.

So Yubo is trying to communicate with American parents about how the app works, and why it’s arguably safer for teens — and better for their mental health — than apps based on likes. 

(One of those apps, Instagram, made like counts optional earlier this year after a two-year study into the impact of likes on mental health.) 

“We’re here to create interactions between people,” Cohen said. “You can’t ‘like’ content [on Yubo]. You have to actually go into a live and say, ‘I like what you’re saying.’” 

Our takeaway? 

Yubo is more popular globally than in France because the founders designed and positioned the product for a global audience. 

“France is a small country,” Cohen said. “Most startups now, in France, they really do think of their products for global appeal versus a local thing.”

TWEET TREAT

Spotify Wrapped — but turned up to 11

This week, it was hard to pick just one tweet to capture the outpouring of… feeling about Spotify’s year-end personalized content campaign, Spotify Wrapped.

But this shoutout to/roast of Spotify’s copywriter(s) won out! 

Wait, is this real? 

Some people wondered in the replies, but we’re here to say: nope! 

The screengrab is pure Spotify Fanfiction, but it does capture three elements of Spotify Wrapped IRL:

• It’s longer than you’d EVER expect — 14 video-stories! 

• It mentions that 2021 was a tough year. A lot. (This is real.) 

• It praises every user’s music taste. (This is fake… we think.) 

Our takeaway?

People not only shared their actual Spotify Wrapped screengrabs, they shared Spotify Wrapped commentary. Personalized content really gets people talking! 

If you have the tools to do it, it’s worth a shot — though framing it as fun (NOT creepy) is key. And hard. 

SMALL BITES

Cardi B’s new job, ugly Panera cups, and crypto ads…

Does Jesus need a rebrand? Anonymous billionaires think so.

Playboy X Cardi B = CENTERFOLD. 

Gen Z loves astrology, so brands are aligning with the stars. 

TikTok’s best corporate logo ruiner designed Panera’s holiday cups. 

Meta is now accepting more ads for crypto. 

Influencer inspo: Jennifer Aniston’s virtual dog, Clydeo, could do brand deals.

Can DTC-style marketing work for the biggest CPG companies?

AI copywriting can officially outperform grifter copywriting. Low bar: cleared!

Lush is ditching its social media … again.

The eight most annoying things brands did for BFCM, in one thread.

SPONSORED

Hire marketers just like, Quip, Outer, and Playboy

You — yes, you — can hire marketing talent the same way those brands do.

How? Through MarketerHire.

Wait, what’s MarketerHire?

Well, it’s Raisin Bread’s parent company. Hi dad!

But MarketerHire is mainly a marketing marketplace. So it’s a network of vetted marketing professionals from badass brands, and the MH team matches those marketers with orgs that need them.

Fast. 

The best part? It actually works. Even Jason Calacanis called us a, “Brillant f***ng idea.” His language, not ours. 

Want to give it a try? Raisin Bread readers get $500 off their first MarketerHire hire.

FROM OUR BLOG

The rise of freelance marketing, by the numbers

In 2021, a lot of marketers quit their full-time jobs. How did marketing teams adapt? 

To find out, MarketerHire surveyed 600+ marketing decision-makers and found that most organizations are leaning on freelance marketers — and loving it.

Here are three (of many) stats that show that collaborating with freelancers is marketing’s new normal.

90%

That’s the fraction of marketing leaders that have hired freelance marketers recently, or plan to hire them in 2022. 

46% 

This is the average amount of marketing work freelancers do in marketing orgs that work with freelancers. 

In some states — like North Carolina — these orgs outsource the majority of their work. 

58%

This is the fraction of marketing leaders who plan to increase their current freelance budget in 2022. 

Want to learn more about freelancers’ role in the future of marketing? Check out our full report.

DATA SNACK

The most hired marketing roles in November 2021

It’s the happiest season for organic social!

According to MarketerHire’s internal data, social media managers’ slice of the hiring pie grew 80% MoM in November. 

That's the biggest jump SMM hires had since November 2020.

Does social media get 🔥 as the temps get ❄️?

Could interest in social media be seasonal? 

Our sales team noticed two types of companies in particular hiring SMMs to get word out about their products before the holidays:

• Personal brands, like authors and business coaches
• E-commerce brands, specifically DTC skincare and spa companies

But brands may also be taking notice of social media users’ growing (year-round) intent to purchase. According to a recent Essence survey, 75% of shoppers want to make purchases directly through social platforms.

There’s also a chance this MoM spike is a coincidence! Sometimes, social media managers churn naturally, and companies need replacements.

Our takeaway?

Whether it’s a seasonal trend or the beginning of a long-term shift towards social commerce, social media marketers had plenty to be thankful for in November!

SHARE YOUR BREAD

Share Raisin Bread, win free stuff

Got a friend who'd enjoy Raisin Bread?

If you share your referral link with 'em, you earn tasty treats like these:

Or copy-and-paste your unique referral link to a friend:

https://sparklp.co/cda917ef

Help us bake it better

How did you like this week's Raisin Bread? We'd love your feedback:

Loved | Great | Good | Meh | Bad