This Week in Strategy: My friend said, “That’s a nice-ass shirt you’re wearing." I responded, "Thanks! Where I'm from we call them pants"
Hi Strat Pack,
First off - thanks to all two of you who supported me from the kindness of your heart on Venmo last week. The $1.05 was extremely generous and helped me cover the postage on my rent check this month. Less thanks to the 17 of you who Venmo requested nearly $1,200 from me. I mean still thanks: I appreciate you reading my weekly diatribes for sure. But definitely less thanks.
In other news, I came across this article and have been thinking about it a lot recently: If We Weren’t the First Industrial Civilization on Earth, Would We Ever Know? Consider this: “Species as short-lived as homo sapiens (so far) might not be represented in the existing fossil record at all” It's a really interesting read. Basically nothing that we build will really survive geologic timescales except for the massive amount of CO2 that we're dumping into the air and if the world ends in nuclear war, Plutonium-244 has a half life of 80.8 million years. So it will be around for a while. Which means that if there were earlier industrial civilizations (looking at you dinosaurs...) there would be basically no evidence they existed. Wild. Millions of years is hard to think about.
Last but not least, Levain Bakery Will Soon Sell Its Super-Famous Cookies In The Grocery Store. Years ago when I was at a small agency, we literally used to pick up Levain cookies and just leave them in the room during pitches. It definitely helped our success rate. If you are not from New York, get excited! These things are bonkos good. And also like 800 calories each. But don't worry about that.
Alright, stop messing around trying to figure out if Levain cookies would be the last industrial remnants of our civilization (obviously not, they would all be eaten). Let's jump right in
The one thing to read this week
1) The Wrong and the Short of it [Tom Roach]
This is an incredibly well researched article. It's a bit of a long read but a brilliant one. I know we've been talking a lot about marketing effectiveness recently but what can I say...It's interesting!
Short-termism and long-termism are both just wrong-termism. So let’s end the false choice between long and short-term marketing tactics, maximise the compound effects of getting them working together in harmony, and start to close the value-destroying divide between ‘brand’ and ‘performance’ marketing. It’s limiting marketing effectiveness and brand growth, when we’ve never needed them more.
Long term ‘VS’ short term is probably the most commonly cited false choice in marketing. It’s never been more important that we start closing the artificial but growing divide between brand and performance marketing, and to do what’s most effective for our brands collectively.
For some brands it will be a huge task, but if anything shared here helps a single team begin to break down the barriers in their business it will have been worth it.
Brands should be aiming to create long-term communications engineered for immediate success. Advertising that, in the words of the great Jeremy Bullmore, sells ‘both immediately and forever’ [viii].
Let’s all make that our ambition too.
2) The power of social proof is that thousands of people can’t be wrong [MarketingWeek]
Social proof is the idea that people are influenced by what everyone else is doing. We are driven by a powerful human instinct to fit in, and we follow others’ behaviour naturally, even when we don’t always know why. It’s one of the most robustly researched biases in social psychology and applies to any aspect of human behaviour, from trainer [sneaker] preference to obesity.
Using social proof literallyBeing so ingrained in human nature makes social proof an easy target for shifting behaviour. If you can make your desired behaviour or brand appear to be the norm, it will become more popular still.
Even when social norms are invoked overtly – a literal interpretation of the phenomenon – the method is highly effective.
One lovely commercial example is the messaging used by travel brand Fred Olsen. Advertising its summer sale, it trialled two messages: “SAVE up to £300pp. PLUS up to €200/room FREE onshore spend on great summer 2019 sailings,” and: “Over 2,350 guests have already SAVED up to £300 & Received up to €200 FREE on-shore spend.”
This literal application of social proof – a statement that lots of people are already doing the desired behaviour – proved highly effective. The second message resulted in a 53% reduction in the cost per acquisition.
A little more lateral
There are nuances to the bias that may enhance it. If you can make your messaging specifically relevant to the consumer, they’re more inclined to be on board with it.
A great example of this is the messaging used by HMRC to encourage people to pay their tax on time. Working with the Government’s Behavioural Insights Team, HMRC ran a series of trials in which its tax request letters included different statements about social norms.
Simply stating that nine out of 10 people paid their tax on time improved repayment rates by 7%. However, when they tried to make the social proof a bit more relevant – by tailoring the message to an individual’s town – it was much more successful: a full 22% better than the control.
Looking sideways
Where it gets really exciting though, is in the slightly less obvious applications of social proof – the lateral approach. More of a ‘show, don’t tell’ way of thinking.
Here’s where standing out from the crowd helps. If you look a little different from the rest, you’ll get noticed. And so, you’ll appear to be more commonplace. Take Apple’s white iPod earphones as an example – they came out when every other brand was black. By getting noticed, they appeared to be everywhere, and soon we all wanted Apple. Monzo used a similar approach with its distinctive debit card colour.
So the evidence would suggest that the Government’s proposed plan for ultra-low emission vehicles to sport green number plates would be a success – a badge of eco-honour that would make us feel everyone was going green, and we should too.
Stressing the popularity of your product is a simple way to make it more appealing. However, if we use our creative skills and apply the biases laterally then we’ll produce the greatest value for our clients and consumers.
3) How Can Social Media Managers Survive 2020? [Christina Garnett - Medium]
Welcome to the burnout zone.
It has been the year of extras. The year of noise, boycotts, PR disasters and more. The year of Karens. The year of social media hate. The year of… I’m exhausted.
At the helm is the social media professional, reading vitriolic tantrums in 280-character bursts. The professional often regarded as a lowly intern, a volunteer, a teen with a smartphone, is stacked against a torrent of anger, frustration, and whatever announcement their comms team is ready to unleash, breaking the internet and signaling press reports with soundbites, quote cards, and the ubiquitous embedded image to make you, the reader, click.
The past few months have been more than just COVID. COVID was somehow the opening act. Crisis comms has become the major skill set for social media marketers, unable to unplug for fear that they will miss the next hack, the next boycott, the next news alert. The social media marketer has truly become the messenger for brands across the internet and the public has indeed shot the messenger. In addition to being the voice of the brand, they also act as the eyes and ears of it. They are using social listening to see what consumers and the general public are saying about their brand/industry/latest announcement. They are seeing the flood of negative sentiment. In a country divided, a brand’s stance immediately encourages love and hate. There is no escape from the comments and DMs shouting their disgust.
You have impassioned staff that continues to consume the neverending stream of negativity for the sake of preparing and saving a brand. They are burning out, consciously aware of what they are about to consume as soon as they wake up. They are burning out as they sit at their home desks for 12–15 hours at a time, constantly on alert. They are burning out as they have to keep their quality of work afloat as they move (flee) their current homes/apartments, worry that their own job may be cut at any time, while also seeing the world crumble around them, one TikTok video or tweet at a time.
For these professionals, they are paid to tap into these platforms. To read and understand how they work, even when we see them unraveling into streams of hatred. If social media is toxic, social media professionals are paid to be poisoned.
Can they be saved?
One positive thing I have noticed during the course of this year is that the community has come together to try to save itself. The posts once celebrating only wins have been replaced with tweets about imposter syndrome, exhaustion, and the naked truth of sadness. Community has become a refuge. Professionals are no longer hiding the bad parts of their jobs and how stressful things are. They are venting, sharing, and commiserating. The facade of success is gone. Instead, there is a community clinging to an unapologetic discourse about struggles, challenges, and the general suck of it all.
Many are leaving to do other jobs. Others are meditating, drinking, and trying to survive. The truth is that the current state of things can’t continue. There needs to be support.
Management needs to see what it is like on the front lines.
If you are in management and aren’t seeing the daily toll taken on your team, you need to pay attention. There are tons of articles written about the need to overcommunicate right now to help teams but that seems to only turn into more meetings — that don’t bring value. Meetings do not equate to leadership and social media teams (of many or of one) need to be heard. Now more than ever, you need to not only pulse check the sentiment for the brand but for the people working the accounts. The happy hours don’t make up for people who had their COVID adrenaline dump two months ago.
Management: What do you really know about your social team’s day? How are you providing opportunities for stress relief?
Social media professionals need to give themselves the grace of knowing they are doing their best.
It doesn't matter that the world is burning, these professionals want to do their best. They hate that typo in a post as much as you do. They hate that sometimes they can’t hit the SLA when there are double the messages. They hate they don’t know what comes next.
It is time to show personal grace. Social media professionals: You are human. Give yourself the grace of knowing you are tired, you grow more and more cynical by the day, but you are trying. Do the small things you need to feel better. Meditate. Grab that absurdly expensive cup of coffee. Treat yourself. Love yourself in the small moments.
4) Quick Hits: A few articles that are concise, important, interesting, impactful, and I'm not going to write long descriptions for them
The Wisdom of Memes [Rob Estreitinho - Isolated Talks] Memes are a snapshot of the mood of society. They're manufactured elements that either resnoate or spread like wildfire or die a speedy death. What are the human truths (and dare I say insights) that go into building memes. And by proxy into building effective communications. Check out this talk over lunch. It's fun, slightly absurdist, and just engaging
This Thread on Oatly's Marketing Department [Kevin Lee - Twitter] And specifically this tweet: Oatly Chief Creative Officer, John Schoolcraft, claims that they only keep one strategic document internally. Seems unlikely, but it's a good story that embodies Oatly's rebellious spirit.
5) Department of Great Work
Nike’s split-screen You Can’t Stop Us ad perfectly matches old and new footage [It's Nice That] I think this came out last week but I didn't have a chance to include it. “A simple idea but one with a vast amount of toil hidden under the surface,” describes director Oscar Hudson of his internet-breaking new ad for Nike. Created by Wieden+Kennedy Portland, the 90-second film combines 72 clips, with new footage meticulously made to match the pre-existing footage and therefore largely achieved in-camera.
U.S. Marshals Are Selling Off Fyre Festival Merch in Auction to Support Victims [Complex] Why is this great work? Because I saw the headline, breathed in deeply, and thought "oh that's great". Check out the auction here
Chipotle Just Launched a Merch Collection That's Dyed With Avocado Leftovers [Thrillist] The Chipotle Goods collection features denim jackets, camisoles, phone cases, and reusable lunch bags created from organic cotton with an emphasis on size inclusivity and gender-neutral pieces. All profits from the line will benefit organizations making fashion and farming more sustainable. So you're not just upping your wardrobe -- you're doing good in the process. Known for its famous six ingredient guac recipe, Chipotle is left with nearly 300 million avocado pits in its restaurants each year. The company is now upcycling leftover pits to create several natural avo dyed goods. Each unique piece from the avo dyed collection requires five avocado pits, roughly equivalent to five orders of guac."
IKEA Revamps 2021 Catalog To Be More Useful Than Purely Showcasing Inventory [DesignTaxi] For the IKEA catalog’s 70th birthday, the Swedish furniture giant is rethinking its purpose to be “not just a catalog” but a more meaningful source as home lives become more cluttered. Rather than serving as plainly a catalog, the 2021 edition will be transformed into a “handbook” that offers “how to’s” for building quality of life at home in spite of budget and space constraints. The forthcoming handbook will serve as a “friendly and optimistic problem-solver full of smart tips, hands-on ideas and small affordable shifts,” the company revealed in a press statement.
Jose Cuervo taps Lil Dicky to host first episode of live YouTube series [MarketingDive] Jose Cuervo is trying to encourage people to make and try new flavors of margaritas through an influencer marketing series that taps livestreaming, a popular format for brands looking to connect with homebound consumers during the pandemic. The series is called "Who's Making Margs?," with each episode starring a different celebrity influencer hosting a virtual party from their home. First up is Lil Dicky from "Dave" fame but also from Lil Dicky fame
Department of "Is this genius or very much not?"
Kraft mac and cheese is now a breakfast food, apparently [CNN] Is this genius or very much not? More Americans are eating at home as the pandemic spreads across the United States, and household routines are changing. So Kraft Heinz announced Tuesday that it will rebrand its Kraft Macaroni and Cheese Dinner along with its iconic blue box. It's not getting a full redesign: The company is just adding the word "breakfast" — instead of dinner — to encourage Americans to start their day with neon orange cheesy noodles.
6) Platform updates
TikTok clone Instagram Reels is just one of the many times Facebook has copied its competitors [Re/code] Facebook’s TikTok knockoff, Instagram Reels, is making its big United States debut today. The feature is Instagram’s answer to TikTok, the wildly popular short-form video streaming app. It would be a big deal if this copycat product is as successful as Instagram Stories, but that’s hardly guaranteed. Though the Reels launch is drawing attention for all kinds of reasons, let’s not forget that Facebook has a long history of creating knockoffs. To put the latest effort into perspective, here are some of the more notable times the social media giant has tried to copy its competitors — with varying levels of success.
Influencers stopped caring about the pandemic. Here’s why that's so dangerous [Mashable] Influencers with large platforms can and should be doing more to stay at home. They have immense reach and unique access to younger populations that health officials are struggling to find. In his interview with WebMD, Fauci emphasized the importance of reaching young people, which is why he's appeared on Julia Robert's Instagram Live and Lil Wayne's podcast. But those with massive platforms, like Jake Paul, who ignore social distancing recommendations are undoing much of the country's progress.
Trump Signs Executive Order That Will Effectively Ban Use Of TikTok In the U.S. [NPR] In the order, which takes effect in 45 days, any transactions between TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, and U.S. citizens will be outlawed for national security reasons. In practice, experts told NPR the order likely will mean the viral video service could no longer receive advertising from American companies and the app could be removed from Apple and Google's app stores.
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