The results are in: Theater kids make great marketers, according to 69% of you! (Nice.) 

You said that…

• Theater “teaches you about psychology, behavior, and human nature.”
• It helps you improvise on deadline. “The show must go on!”
• It involves “a desire to get and keep attention.” 😂

Are we missing a reason? Be like Kristyn and share your thoughts on social.

Now onto Peloton’s second consecutive big week, the year in review and [checks notes]... goblin stuff!

P.S. — We’re taking next week off. See you in 2022 👋

EXPERT Q&A

5 lessons from the last year of Raisin Bread Q&As

This year, we interviewed ~50 marketing experts for Raisin Bread — and they taught us how to market everything from Turbie Twists to tractors. 

What a ride! We looked back through the Raisin Bread archives for our favorite Q&As of 2021. 

How Magic Spoon competes with Big Cereal

Who we interviewed: Magic Spoon’s head of growth, Yoon-Ji Nam

Key insight: Magic Spoon’s magic trick is to behave more like a DTC brand than Kellogg’s, by targeting keto diet enthusiasts on Facebook and advertising on podcasts. 

Best quote: “We make it a point to send everyone cereal a week or two before we do any [influencer] partnership,” Nam said. 

How Chip and Joanna rebranded Waco

Who we interviewed: Fixer Upper superfan and MarketerHire’s content strategist, Ivory Bandoh

Key insight: Chip and Joanna Gaines’ popular show, huge Instagram following, and distinct aesthetic have 5X-ed the number of tourists who visit Waco per year. 

Best quote: “Everything around [the Gaineses] is desirable at this point,” Bandoh said.

How West Elm masks logistics mishaps with marketing

Who we interviewed: Esther Hoff, producer at the Webby Awards, and novelist Mihret Sibhat

Key insight: Furniture company West Elm has just 1.3 out of 5 stars on TrustPilot and infamous shipping delays — issues that predate the pandemic. But their beautiful showrooms (and their reviews-free website) convince customers to buy their wares.

Best quote: “They just wear you down,” Hoff said.

How AR could revive print marketing

Who we interviewed: Aya Abitbul, founder of Studio 96 and publisher of the first AR-enabled travel book

Key insight: With AR filters, brands can use their print marketing as a gateway to exclusive digital content — or an online store. 

Best quote: “The future of the catalog is really an editorial magazine,” Abitbul predicts.

How to market a seasonal product year round

Who we interviewed: Bearaby CGO Joaquin Arce 

Key insight: Weighted blanket company Bearaby focuses on landing gift guides for the holiday season, but launches new products and works with influencers in the off-season to stay top-of-mind. 

Best quote: Bearaby customers “love to see new things,” Arce said. “It makes the brand feel new.”

TWEET TREAT

Are 48-hour ads the new normal?

We can confirm! Creative takes more than one second. But how much more? 

It was a salient question this week because of Peloton’s latest ad — a warp-speed response to Mr. Big’s death-by-Peloton (sort of) on Sex and the City reboot … And Just Like That. 

Ryan Reynolds’ agency, Maximum Effort, reportedly turned it around in 48 hours — but is that plausible? Sustainable? Good? 

3 takes on Peloton-fast creative turnarounds

• They’re scams. “[I] just don't for the life of me believe they shot that in 48hrs,” strategist Corey Kindberg tweeted.

• They’re a pain — but agencies should try them. “If you keep trying and the client constantly derails it, that's one thing,” tweeted Adweek editor David Griner. “If you don't try in the first place, that's another.”

• They’re a breeze, if bureaucrats let creatives live. “Indie creators have been making movies in weekends for decades now,” creative director Shannon Washington tweeted. 

Our takeaway? 

Marketing creatives need to be able to move quickly so a brand can make the most of its moment (or in Peloton’s case… its manslaughter?). 

But moving too quickly, too often can lead to burnout, shoddy work or, in Peloton’s case, a viral ad that milkshake ducks as fast as it was made.

SMALL BITES

Goblincore, growth loops and more…

Goldbelly’s new TV channel will literally let people “consume the content.”

Shopify merchants can now sell NFTs that unlock exclusive content. 

Facebook — er, Meta — paid a Sioux Falls bank $60M to change its name. 

The person of the year was the QR code. 

Who got more 2021 search volume: Alec Baldwin or Pete Davidson? 

Shein took over fast fashion by gamifying e-commerce. 

An Instagram study predicts “goblincore” will be popular in 2022…

… and Pinterest is forecasting a rise in “barkitecture.” 

The fastest-growing brand in the US is … Paramount+, followed by Moderna.

Email marketers plan to use more “growth loops” in emails in 2022.

DATA SNACK

What’s more popular: McDonald’s or Taco Bell?

It’s like “Why is the sky blue?”, but harder to answer. 

Lately, people have been searching “McDonald’s” more than “Taco Bell” — but “Taco Bell near me” more than “McDonald’s near me.”

Who’s really on top? 

Taco Bell wins on “near me” searches, so…

• It sees more explicit intent to visit. Search a brand name, and you could just be looking for news. Add “near me” to that search term, and you want to go there.
• It’s edging out McDonald’s on high-value searches. “Near me” keywords have a higher cost-per-click than brand name ones, Ahrefs reports. 

McDonald’s wins brand name search, so… 

• It's getting the highest overall search volume. McDonald’s is getting more combined brand name and “near me” searches. 
• It couldddd be winning on intent to visit. “Near me” doesn’t have a monopoly on intent. Searchers often expect to get local results automatically, especially on mobile, Google reports.

Our takeaway? 

We think McDonald’s is more on people’s minds. But considering that McDonald’s has ~2X more U.S. locations than Taco Bell, Taco Bell is punching WAY above its weight. 

In a way, everyone’s winning! 😎

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