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Read this tweet now…er… today
I used to use the word “now” in my copy.
— Tatsuki Thomas (@TatsukiThomas) October 15, 2023
“Buy now”
“Join now”
“Unlock now”
Until I heard Ben Settle, one of the greatest email copywriters alive, say you should…
About that potential supply shock from the Suez:
Freight prices are set to jump Monday, while longer transit times around Africa are disrupting and delaying deliveries of products.
“The rerouting of vessels is leading to longer transit times and increased costs,” Jon Gold, vice president of supply chain at the National Retail Federation, told CNBC. “Unfortunately, the longer the disruptions occur, the more challenges will arise in ensuring supply chain reliability and efficiency.”
via CNBC
I’ve seen this idea proved out in client accounts.
UGC-like ads see up to a 29% increase in web conversions (AdWeek).
UGC content generates 4x higher click-through rates and a 50% drop in cost-per-click (AdWeek).
The overly polished Instagram aesthetic is dead. The age of “authenticity” is upon us.
via Buyology
This is interesting:
Netflix is seeing strong growth of its advertising-based plan, having recently eclipsed 23 million global monthly active users
…
The new 23 million-plus figure comes after Netflix a little over two months ago said its ad-supported tier had over 15 million monthly active users
She doesn’t grow plants.
The plants grow themselves.
Her job is to create conditions for the plants to grow.
The soil, the water, the light, the weeds… these are the conditions.
As marketers, we can’t always dictate the core conditions—the product, pricing, processes, customer care.
But we can create conditions that maximize the potential for growth and success.
You might not have picked the plants, but you can give them the best conditions to grow.
YouTube—the unofficial king of podcasts—is coming for the crown.
If you’re a podcast creator, you can use YouTube Studio to upload your podcasts to YouTube through an RSS feed.
via Google
The arc of clarity bends toward simplicity.
Hike Picasso’s Hill
Write like you’re human
Be comfortable with “I don’t know”
This: US credit card balances hit a new record as delinquencies rise in the background
+
The potential for more Fed rate hikes (could overconfidence in coming cuts actually cause the need for hikes?)
+
An election year
Could be a formula for economic performance based on ~vibes~
A still-in-progress big list of digital ad specs to maximize your creative’s usefulness, minimize your work.
Or; how to repurpose your ad assets across digital platforms without having to resize.
It’s either part of your strategy or you’re paying for your mistake.
Great customer service is expensive, but it’s also free. It’s free because delighting a customer who has an issue is the single cheapest way to not only keep that customer, but also have them spread the word.
Everything is customer service
Big List of Digital Ad Specs
As AI continues to takeover many of the tasks that marketers thought made up their "secret sauce," our creative increasingly becomes our most impactful lever for success (remember, a computer vision breakthrough sparked the current AI wave).
Problem is, every platform has their own aspect ratios, recommendations, and minimum sizes. But! That doesn't mean assets can't be used across platforms.
Here is a list of the sizes you'll get the most cross-platform mileage from.
Note: this post is a work-in-progress. It will be expanded with more platforms and recommendations over time.
IMAGES
1200x1200
- Google Ads
- Meta
- Pinterest Shopping Collection pin hero
- Spotify
1080x1350
1200x628
- Google Ads
- Meta - search and right column placements
900x1600
- Google Ads
- Meta - any messaging/context must be included in the asset (Story placements do not display any text fields from Ads Manager if the asset is fullscreen)
960x1200
- Google Ads
1000x1500
- Pinterest - with CTA and any messaging/context included in the asset (direct link clicks mean users will not see any of the Pin text)
300x60
- Companion banner asset for YouTube ads
VIDEOS
1200x1200
- Meta (can be gif or video file format. An animated gif uploaded as an image won't animate.)
- Pinterest max width video
1080x1920
- YouTube Shorts
- Meta vertical placements
- TikTok
- Spotify Video Takeover
This lesson from Inside Taco Bell’s Innovation Kitchen: “You can change either the taste or the form… but you can’t change the taste and the form.”
Customers need an anchor point in familiarity.
Vice on the trendy Stanley Tumblers
responsible for a $676 million increase in revenue, from 2019 to 2023, for the brand
dropping exclusives, like their Stanley X Starbucks collab, which led people to literally camp out outside stores.
Their most recent drop – a limited edition Valentine’s Day cup, in a fairly normal pink and a fairly normal red – has people performing citizen’s arrests in Target in an effort to cop.
A dash of (not untrue) snark:
following the rule-book of forced hyper-exclusivity typically only seen in hype bro fashion brands
The power of drops
From Exploding Topics:
Immersive dining is part of the Immersive Experiences meta trend.
Searches for “immersive experiences” have grown by 144% over the past 24 months.
Immersive experiences have become more accessible, thanks to technologies like AR, VR, and projection mapping.
Videos about immersive experiences have over 515 million views on TikTok.
The further we get from pandemic-era lockdowns, the more the consumer pendulum swings from goods to experiences.
When I started doing things just for growth’s sake and didn’t let the product simmer within the industry, I started making a lot of mistakes. With the products, with the customers, with the positioning.
About that Google kicking cookies to the curb thing…
Google is phasing out third-party cookies this fall, but some sites will be able to temporarily re-enable them until the year end.
via MarTech
It’s GA4 all over again
🍪 ☠️
The day has come, with Google activating the first stage of its cookie-removal strategy today [January 4]
via SocialMediaToday
From FedEx to airlines, companies are starting to lose their pricing power
Consumers may be regaining power in the marketplace
It’s a shift from the recent years when consumers spent at a breakneck pace — and at high prices — lifting corporate revenues to new records. But faced with weakening demand, more price-sensitive consumers, easing inflation and better supply, some sectors are now forced to find profit growth without the tailwind of price hikes.
Societal gradient descent toward that long-rumored “new normal”
The current state of shipping & returns:
Returns totaled $743B in 2023; reach 14.5% of sales
Online sales have a higher return rate, with 17.6% or $247 billion of merchandise purchased online returned
&
about 81% of merchants are now charging their customers a fee for at least some form of returns.
&
Free shipping is more important to shoppers than same-day delivery
Three-fourths of U.S. online consumers said free shipping is among the most important criteria they consider when deciding where to shop online