E-commerce marketers were officially stressed about Shopify’s stock price last week.

The majority — 61% — voted “When Shopify loses, I lose” in our poll. 

(Though at least one voter owns Shopify stock, so that’s… just a fact for them.) 

In this issue:

• 3 nifty ways marketers can use NFTs

• The most-checked marketing metrics

• Applebee’s viral media buy

EXPERT Q&A

3 non-garbage ways to use NFTs in marketing

NFTs and Web3 are the future of marketing, according to this year’s marketing trends survey. 

But most NFTs today “are just utter garbage,” said Matthew Mozzocchi, Head of Key Accounts at MarketerHire and self-proclaimed crypto-fan. “They have no value.”

So how should marketers stay relevant? Should they join the scammy celebrity-NFT complex? 

Not quite.

Here are three ways marketers can use NFTs  that aren’t smoke and mirrors, according to Mozzocchi and Andrew Wise, growth marketer and founder of Memberone DAO.

1. Partner with web3 natives

“There’s a stigma” to branded NFTs among savvy crypto people, Mozzocchi said. 

An exception: Adidas’ sold-out NFT project, whose Twitter account accumulated 4.1M followers — as many as Adidas’ main brand account.

This one worked because it was a partnership. The project homepage reads, “Bored Ape Yacht Club, PUNKS Comic and gmoney welcome adidas Originals Into the Metaverse.” 

The word “welcome” makes Adidas’ project seem approved by NFT legends — and earned the brand a hall pass, Mozzocchi said. 

2. Build a blockchain-only community

Enough people have entered the crypto world that you can cater exclusively to them — and make millions. Proof: Flyfish Club, a dining club accessible only with the Flyfish NFT. 

“[It’s] a lot like country club networking,” Mozzocchi said. 

It’s lucrative, too. The Flyfish tokens went for nearly $15K each, raising the not-yet-open restaurant $14M in just a week — and patrons will have to pay for their meals there, too. 

3. Find a devoted audience of beta testers

“What NFTs allow you to do is hone in on a specific audience and build a specific product just for them,” Wise said — and they’ll even help with product development.

Take up-and-coming luxury sneaker brand Cult&Rain. Some of the brand’s NFTs — GIFs of 3D sneaker renderings — come bundled with a pair of the brand’s first physical sneakers. 

NFT-holders also get access to an exclusive Discord. That’s where they can discuss sneakers with crypto fans — and where Cult&Rain can get feedback. Already, the community is eager to help with R&D. 

Our takeaway?

They’re not a must-have, but NFTs are a good fit for brands that can build partnerships with cryptocurrency projects, and have the resources for a membership program and community.

TWEET TREAT

Picture-in-picture? More like foot-in-mouth.

During a broadcast on Thursday, CNN cut from somber live footage of air raid sirens sounding over Kyiv to… an Applebee’s ad.

A peppy, inset Applebee’s ad, surrounded by wartime headlines.

It’s so jarring. You really have to watch the video, which went viral on Twitter (~40K RTs!) for the full effect.

The fallout for CNN and Applebee’s

CNN paused picture-in-picture ads after the incident. 

Applebee’s paused their CNN ads when they saw the clip, too, blaming the network in a statement: “​It never should have aired, and we are disappointed in the actions of the network.”

Wait — is this all CNN’s fault? 

Not totally. 

Brands should know what creative is running where on any given day, and it’s best practice to pause ads — at least celebratory ones running on news channels! — in times of crisis. 

Automated ad placements can go sour fast.

SMALL BITES

Video game billboards, Facebook Reel ads, and more

KFC did not tweet that image of a drumstick fist … this year. 

Meta is testing ad overlays on Facebook Reels.

Advice from a TikTok creator — don’t DM influencers about brand partnerships!

Is e-comm’s dynamic pricing getting too dynamic?

Video game billboards can now feature real ads.

Australia forced Facebook and Google to pay media sites for news.

Just 32% of content marketers think podcasts are an effective channel. 

The 2032 consumer will prioritize “holistic wellness.”

Regulating celebrity NFT drops  is like policing in the Wild West.

You can now post a 10-minute-long TikTok.

FROM OUR BLOG

Is paid digital ROAS still worth calculating?

It depends what you’re doing. 

As the privacy-first web rolls out, it’s getting harder to link ad spend directly to revenue. And ROAS is an imperfect metric: it doesn’t capture profitability or incrementality. 

Is it worth it for your paid digital effort?

NO if you’re running awareness campaigns

Look at Ahrefs: They spent $14K sponsoring podcasts in 2016, and “the direct ROI was terrible,” CMO Tim Soulo said. 

Instead of ditching the test, they invested, changing their KPI to reach. Last year, Ahrefs spent $200K on creator sponsorships, and didn’t track ROAS.

NO if you’re using native social analytics

In the wake of iOS 14.5, social platforms have struggled to track mobile conversions. 

Facebook’s native dashboards undercount conversions from Facebook Ads by about 15%, according to Facebook — if not more.  

YES if you’re using attribution tools like UTMs and media mix modeling

With the right in-house resources, marketers can still attribute revenue to paid digital campaigns — and from there, calculate ROAS.

How do you do it, though — and how do you know if it’s “good”? We had a Facebook alum break it down on our blog. 

DATA SNACK

The marketing metrics marketers “always” check

The majority of marketing teams check two metrics “always/consistently,” according to the 2021 CMO Survey: 

• Digital/web/mobile performance
• Sales/revenue

Other metrics — including lead conversion and LTV — were more likely to get checked between monthly and “almost never.”

Is this a sign of negligence? More likely, it shows teams focus on real-time data, according to Arjun Bidesi, MarketerHire’s head of growth analytics.

Upper-funnel: digital performance

Digital performance data — like social engagement and click-through rates — updates constantly.   

Especially for marketing teams at companies where revenue takes time to bake out — like B2B orgs, or mattress retailers — this is worth “always/consistently” checking. 

Lower-funnel: revenue

For companies with quick sales cycles, revenue updates in relatively real time — and it’s usually more relevant to org-level goals than digital performance. 

In fact, about 50% of companies use revenue as their North Star metric, according to venture fund A16Z.

Our takeaway? 

Most marketing teams only check two real-time metrics regularly, which makes sense. 

In fact, for more agile decision-making, Bidesi recommends marketing teams focus on just one real-time marketing metric to “help you reach to the next desired stage of growth the fastest.”

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