2016 has delivered a series of political and social curveballs and that’s why ads like John Lewis’ Buster the Boxer have been so warmly received. We’ve seen a distinct shift from the 'sadvertising' of 2015 to this year’s positive campaigns. Featuring a little girl and her pet dog, and following criticism that last year’s ad was too much of a tearjerker, the ad capitalizes on the happiness, comfort and fantasy that is traditionally associated with Christmas. Spread the cheer.
Facebook, which has long relied on other people to provide it with content, is going to start paying for its own stuff, too. Facebook is starting to talk to TV studios and other video producers about licensing shows, with the hope of boosting the social network’s video efforts. The talks, which include discussions for scripted shows, game shows and sports, seem similar to Facebook’s attempt to boost live video earlier this year, when it struck deals with various publishers, including Vox Media, to produce live content exclusively for the company. So much for not being a media company.
Scott Davis, Partner and Chief Growth Officer at Prophet, speaks about what trends, changes, and challenges the latest Brand Relevance Index reveals– and which brands from a relevance standpoint are on top and which are not. Technology takes the top.
The early narrative was that Westworld is not ‘the next Game of Thrones.’ But maybe it can be. Between the show’s October premiere and last Sunday’s Season 1 finale, 15 percent of all HBO digital content engagement was Westworld-related. Season 6 of Game of Thrones, by comparison, accounted for 45 percent of all HBO digital content engagement while it aired. This world doesn’t belong to you.
It's been an undeniably rough year, but at least we had some brilliant advertising along the way to inspire, amuse and delight us. Adweek's picks for the 10 best ads of 2016 are an extremely varied collection, from comedy to drama and everything in between. And they represent many of the year's cultural touch points. The year's best work.
Eight months ago, Elite Daily was “the voice of Generation Y,” in the words of a presentation it made to advertisers. Two weeks ago, the Daily Mail General Trust, its parent company, wrote down the entirety of its investment in the millennial-focused publisher, a tacit admission that the site was worthless to the company and its investors. That plunge is the latest turn in a wild ride Elite Daily’s been on since it launched in 2012. Forty million down the drain.
Because cultural diversity was a big theme to the 2016 race for the White House, there are predictions that "inclusive economy" will be a buzz term to understand next year. Marketers are going to have to include cultural listening and predictive modeling to identify white space for brands to step in and fill the gaps that are being left by the political system. Listen and learn.
Snapchat might be a hard nut to crack for many brand marketers because of its lack of metrics. But Birchbox knows how to turn its Snapchat followers into buying consumers through a simple trick: Vanity URLs. Over the Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend, Birchbox created a simple URL — birch.ly/Steals — exclusively for Snapchat to showcase its special holiday deals like Kiehl’s skincare set. The company saw more traffic to its site from this hack than organic Facebook posts. Short, simple, snap.
“SEO is changing. SEO is evolving. SEO isn’t bad. It’s just different.” There are hundreds of little things that go into the bigger picture of doing SEO and it takes many years of experiencing what works and what doesn’t to truly do a good job. The most seasoned SEO experts understand that each individual business requires a different set of SEO tactics to succeed and knows just where to funnel the most resources for maximum effect. This is where John Liu, our expert SEOer at BLITZ, steps in. Part science, part art.
Whether it’s a custom keyboard or an email subject line, brands are using emojis more than ever. But for consumers, they’re still getting it wrong. According to a YouGov survey this month, 58% of 18- to 34-year-olds said brands using emojis are “trying too hard.” It’s no surprise: Brands have eagerly jumped on the emoji bandwagon, whether it’s to laud their causes, promote competitions or stick them anywhere they can. Is this noise or value?
