This Week in Strategy: Justice is a dish best served cold, if it were served hot it would be justwater
Hi Strat Pack,
Let's kick off the first full working week of 2020 on a high note! I'm currently in love with Tiny Relections: a downloadable art board from one of the most wholesome instagram accounts I follow: @thisfeelsnice . Everyone deserves joy and inspiration in their lives. Print 1 or 100, print 1 every month, every week, every day… seal it in an envelope, send it to yourself…send it to your mom, read it next year, read it tomorrow… fill it out it by yourself or do it with your friends. Because feeling nice feels nice. I really enjoy this artist and I hope you do too.
OK! On to something more depressing and a hell of a lot more sinister: Article or ad? Teen Vogue removes glowing Facebook story without explanation. (Or if you prefer. here's the New York Times's version) Here's the skinny: On Wednesday, Teen Vogue published an article on Facebook’s efforts to safeguard political speech. It had no byline and a glowing tone. Not long after it was posted, a line appeared, in italics, at the top of the story to signal that it was a paid advertisement: “Editor’s note: This is sponsored editorial content.” Soon after, the “sponsored editorial content” label disappeared. And then, the article itself vanished. Amid the din, a photographer tweeted a link to the story, asking, “What is this @TeenVogue.” The magazine’s own verified Twitter account spoke for many onlookers when it replied “literally idk.”
I'm sharing this story not to gleefully shame Teen Vogue or Facebook but to highlight how fucking important transparency and honesty is in advertising and in society today. Advertising is all about putting our best foot forward, but as stewards of our brands and our clients' reputations, it's more important than ever to stay above-board and not do shady shit like this.
Alright, stop messing around trying turn my It Feels Nice moodboard into a sponsored post on Buzzfeed. Let's jump right in.
The one thing to read this week
1) 2020: A New Year, An Old Resolution [Martin Weigel - Canalside View]
Look past all the rhetoric, the confident future gazing, the self-congratulation, the slick case studies, the awards, the campaigns du jour, the smartass blogs, the authoritative keynote speeches... and it’s plain that the vast majority of what we produce as an industry isn’t brilliant or even good.
Most of what our industry puts out into the world is banal, mediocre, unremarkable. Some of it is much, much worse - patronizing, insulting, hectoring, polluting, stupid, intrusive, toxic.
All that effort, all that ingenuity, all that inspiration, all those years perfecting one’s craft, all those long hours, all that Powerpoint, all those brilliant rationales, all those conference calls... all those missed school plays and cancelled dates, all those postponed vacations, all those lovers never loved, all those bedtime stories never told, all those plans postponed, all those promises broken, all those passions never pursued...
To produce crap? I confess I know from years of firsthand experience that producing crap takes almost as much time and effort as producing stuff that’s good or better. So it strikes me that we have a choice. We can choose to make those sacrifices in the name of producing crap, or in the name of producing something good.
As a new year begins, as we switch the laptops back on, as we resume the rhythms of the working week, picking up unfinished tasks and starting fresh ones... as clients, as creatives, as account people, as planners, let's all say No to crap. Crap conversations. Crap teamwork. Crap ambitions. Crap expectations. Crap standards. Crap objectives. Crap briefs. Crap advice. Crap feedback...
Because if we aren’t going to reclaim more of our lives, then at the very least we should maintain (or reclaim) our standards.
2) AI & Big Data Question: What Happened to the Distinction Between Primary and Secondary Research? [Doug Garnett's Blog]
What happened to the important distinction between primary and secondary in research? The great market hope of data analysis (now sold as “AI”) was that companies who systematically gathered “data” would create a valuable resource to guide later decisions. Lovely thought. Look carefully at that statement, though. Because any program of “gathering data” without knowing the specific questions you want answered makes the data SECONDARY data. It’s odd that no one is talking about this — we’ve lost the usual cautions needed with secondary data.
Primary data comes from primary research designed to help answer specific questions. That means it is designed knowing opportunities for how research can assist your business in this challenge. It is also designed knowing the clear risks that research might encounter — customer biases, problems in language, problems gathering data, etc.
We must never forget that all secondary data includes hidden assumptions or is used with assumptions on the part of companies. It’s rare to see these assumptions clearly articulated as risks. Here’s a few:
To use the data you must assume it is valid for today’s problem. This may be an error but you’ll never know that.
The data collection process includes assumptions about the population from which it was collected OR for you to use it you must assume important things to have it be valid. Often these assumptions happen in subtle and subconscious ways.
Secondary data must be assumed to be consistent with your interpretation of it — but it’s gathered with unknown biases or agendas. For example, we generally don’t know what data WASN’T gathered that might be more critical.
Using secondary data means accepting whatever built in bias was assumed in interpreting the language people used. This bias may be in how questions are asked, in how open ended answers are interpreted, or in how YOU might understand the use of a term differently than the team which gathered the data.
A great deal of secondary data is behavioral — like website actions. There are huge assumptions taken from a specific website action. Yet there are a great many reasons why someone might, for example, look at a product page on a website. Which reason can you assume? None — you need to be aware of all of them.
Please don’t misunderstand my concern. Secondary data has always played an important role in market research making corporate successes possible. Still, it remains secondary and no amount of twiddling with AI makes it anything other than secondary.
That means when we use it we must search deeply to find what it DOESN’T say and to avoid implying that it offers completeness.
It’s even more concerning to me that companies appear to have cut back on traditional primary research in order to rely on big data/AI — because of vendor and consultant promises.
Robust understanding of the world is critical to any corporate effort and key to developing the products that will deliver future demand for your company. So go forth seeking that demand. And always remember that big data and AI are secondary data. Only then can you establish the right respect for the assumptions which might be buried in what you find.
3) Here’s what I hope will change in 2020 [MarketingWeek]
Zeros have an odd effect on us humans. Birthdays that end in them get us promising all sorts of things to ourselves and, if we’re incautious, letting on to others. I’ll lose five stone. I’ll learn Cantonese. This will finally be my Patagonia walkabout time.
Here are my favorites of Helen Edwards' 2020, no-particular-order, branding and marketing wish-list:
Everyone will be strict about that word ‘insight’. It should amount to a revelatory understanding of people and their lives.
The evidence-based school down there in South Australia will point out the error of our ways without impugning the purity of our motives.
Junior marketers will prioritise the thinking over ‘the deck’. Witty images and snazzy animation never did compensate for vacuity where numerical precision and imaginative interpretation should be. Applies to some senior marketers, too, come to think of it.
Brand-owning companies with a long history of undistinguished creative work will stop blaming their agency for undistinguished creative work. Look in the mirror, marketers: it might, you know, have something to do with you.
Marketers and agencies will use simple, established terms for simple, established concepts. ‘Squad’ isn’t the new ‘team’. ‘Growth hacking’ isn’t a smarter way to say ‘tactics’. And ‘Plannerfesto’, which I heard in a meeting last week, isn’t anything I would be in a hurry to hear again
Ad agency people invited to participate in a brand workshop will remember to take out a big layout pad the night before and hand-write on it: Brand building is more than communications. Brand building is more than communications. Brand building is more than communications. Brand building is more than…
It’s a wish-list, remember. These aren’t predictions, and the potential changes I feel most passionately about might well run counter to yours. That’s marketing for you.
But I can’t escape the feeling that our discipline is in a rut right now and could do with even an artificial reason for a new kick-start. What do we have to lose by seeking to do things better, more thoughtfully, differently? A big, round zero.
4) Quick Hits: A few articles that are concise, important, interesting, impactful, and I'm not going to write long descriptions for them.
Six rules for writing by Anton Chekhov. Also applicable to other creative fields. [Justin Morgan - Twitter] 1. Absence of lengthy verbiage of political-social-economic nature; 2. Total objectivity; 3. Truthful description of persons and objects; 4. Extreme brevity; 5. Audacity and originality: flee the stereotype; 6. Compassion.
The Definitive List of Ad Industry Buzzwords You Need to Know in 2020 [AgencySpy] Maybe this belongs under great work? Hard to tell. I love this: Many a bullshit bingo game has been created for advertising-centric events, and there seems to be no stop to the turgid, mindless word poops that come out of peoples’ mouths. My two favorites:
Full-Wieden
Definition: When a client allows good work.
Usage: “We thought the client would reject this. Instead, they let us go Full-Wieden.”Inbox Hero
Definition: When Todd in accounts fills your inbox with email after email of potentially award-winning creative ideas.
Usage: “Incoming: Inbox Hero! What a guy!”
Demand for niche products is growing [Chicago Booth Review] Each consumer’s grocery basket increasingly differs from that of his or her neighbors. As a result of these purchasing patterns, aggregate spending concentration has decreased, even as individual households’ concentration on niche items has increased. This increased consumption of niche products existed across multiple populations—all ages, incomes, education levels, and races. The product categories for which niche consumption increased the most included coffee, disposable diapers, and fresheners and deodorizers. As these trends continue, marketers will have to create more and more differentiated products catering to increasingly narrow household tastes. It is difficult to predict the implications for aggregate markups, but consumers should benefit.
Getting Brand Assets Right [Ipsos] This isn't new so you may have seen it already. But it's a great resource nonetheless! managing distinctive assets is a very important element in building strong brands. Marketers should strive to select a portfolio of brand assets that not only evokes the brand but also subconsciously reinforces what the brand wants to be known for. (And if you're in a rush, here's a link directly to the PDF)
5) Department of Great Work
Not a ton of new work this week - it appears that most US advertisers are hunkering down in preparation for the Super Bowl of advertising: the Super Bowl
BBC's Dracula billboard only fully reveals itself as the sun goes down [My Modern Met] Really fucking smart use of platform. During the day passers-by will notice that the billboards are stabbed with stakes - alluding to the action of vampire killers. Yet, at night a light at the side turns on, and viewers realise the stakes have been placed with the utmost intention so that their shadows recreate the face of the TV series' blood-thirsty villain. From BBC Creative
Pabst Blue Ribbon - The Tallest Boy [Instagram] To celebrate Pabst Brewing Company's 175 anniversary, the crew at Party Land created the 175 ounce tall boy, The Tallest Boy, if you will. I love this. Not all work needs to want to win a Cannes Lion. This is a simple execution done excellently and they knocked it out of the park.
A brilliant twitter thread where you reply with the name of a fake startup and Andrew Cushing writes an ad for it in the style of an NYC subway campaign. [Andrew Cushing - Twitter] You might need to scroll down a little bit but this thread is amazing. And so goddamn accurate to NYC subway ads. My two faves are Glink and Squeef.
Burger King Giving Out Free Whoppers To Bronx Residents Aggrieved By 'Joker Stairs' [Gothamist] After the release of Joker last fall, tourists began flooding the stairs connecting Shakespeare and Anderson Avenues in the Bronx in order to recreate Joaquin Phoenix’s balletic dance moves from the film. Highbridge locals were not so happy about it, complaining about feeling disrespected and having their everyday lives turned into a glorified photoshoot. Burger King announced this week that they are giving a free Whopper to anyone who lives in the Bronx as a promotional giveaway, which is either very clever or very cynical, I don't even know at this point. From David Miami (click here for credits)
Hinge is selling a pinata of its brand mascot so you can smash it to pieces [Campaign Live] The brand is opening a limited-edition online store featuring a (pricey) piñata, a bath bomb, a pair of Hinge-branded Vans and a Hingie stuffed toy. Items in the shop range from $10 to $500. The dating ap[ is encouraging couples to buy the merchandise to celebrate the "delete day" milestone in a relationship. Items also include a "delete date" necklace, which features the date a couple makes the leap of deleting Hinge on a 14-carat gold necklace with real diamonds.
Department of "Who thought this was a good idea"
Narcissus had it right all along says Droga5 in debut campaign for Equinox [More About Advertising] Who thought this was a good idea? Titled “the most selfless act of all” it’s a spin on ancient Greek time waster Narcissus and his, um, gift to the rest of us rather than himself. And at a minute forty, this spot is certainly self indulgent. As my sister so eloquently put it "feels tone-deaf given that the earth is literally on fire."
Domino's Pizza to open 850 outlets in Italy [Wanted in Milan] Who thought this was a good idea? Domino's stated intention is to reach 2 per cent of the market share of pizzerie in Italy by 2030, with the goal of becoming a major player in home delivery.
6) Platform Updates
TikTok Banned for US Military Personnel as Questions Continue to Swirl Around the App [SocialMediaToday] The concern stems from TikTok's exposure to the Chinese Government through parent company ByteDance - under China's cybersecurity laws, all Chinese-owned companies must furnish Chinese government requests for user data on demand. That doesn't necessarily mean that the Chinese government will request such, and TikTok has repeatedly noted that it doesn't store American user data in China, limiting any potential exposure. But the lack of transparency around the Chinese regime, and its processes, continues to raise concerns, and may, eventually, force TikTok to drastically change its ownership profile, or risk losing out in certain markets.
Instagram User Growth in the US Will Drop to Single Digits For the First Time [eMarketer] Starting in 2020, and through the end of our forecast period in 2023, we estimate that the social media platform will grow slower than previously expected. Growth will be at 4.5% in 2020, revised down from 5.4%, and in 2021, it will be 3.2% instead of 4.1%. Contributing to Instagram’s overall slower growth is the fact that older age groups are not joining the platform as quickly as anticipated.
Facebook Introduces Enhancements to Instant Articles for Publishers [Facebook Blog] Changes include a new article recirculation and navigation surface, launched a new integrated yield model that makes smarter Call to Action (CTA) and ad placements, and enabled support for IA links in Facebook Stories
Twitter will test reply limiting feature to beat back trolls [Mashable] Can't tell if this is a good idea (which it is, in theory) or just a way to make it easier to spread misinformation. The company will start testing a new feature that will allow users to set limits on who can reply to their tweets before they hit send. The feature, which the company plans to test in a limited rollout later this year, marks one of the company's most aggressive efforts to fight trolls and targeted harassment on its platform. With this new feature, Twitter users will be able to choose who can reply to their tweets from a list of options that include: everyone, only followers, only people who are mentioned in the tweet, or nobody.
The paltry price paid for Unruly rattles the consolidating ad tech market [Digiday] The price tag represents a haircut from the £58 million (then about $90 million) in cash upfront that News Corp paid for Unruly a little more than four years ago. The Unruly-Tremor deal “doesn’t suggest valuations are high for ad tech,” media analyst Alex DeGroote said. “In this ad tech landscape, the spectrum for ad tech winners and losers is very wide.”
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