by Tod Maffin (email • LinkedIn • social media)
Today's News
Should Brands Jump Into ‘Extremely Online’ Trends?
Meta’s Ad Share is 3x the Share of Time Spent
Political Ad Spending Surge Threatens Brands
Should Brands Jump Into ‘Extremely Online’ Trends?
If you've seen weird phrases like “Brat Summer” or “Very mindful, very demure” on billboards or in your email inbox, you're not alone. Ad agencies and brands are taking social media trends and using them in mainstream marketing. After all, jumping on board is the best approach, right?
The case for “no”
Some experts say no.
A great thinkpiece today in Digiday suggests that using super-online trends in mainstream ads can be confusing for people who don't spend all day on TikTok. It's like speaking a different language. One brand expert quoted in the piece says it's a thin line between being cool and being confusing.
Even so, other experts in the space say it’s worth the risk.
The case for “yes”
Earlier today I spoke with Breana Hampton, a social media content strategist in Atlanta.
Breana: If you're a brand, especially if you're a small business, I would suggest jumping on trends because trends show how relevant you are to social media.
If I find a brand that's supposed to be trendy or up to date with the newest things, why not showcase that by showing the fact that you are up to date with trends? Plus, trends are something that we all can relate to. Once we see a trend, we use it. It's like internet slang. So why not use it to your advantage?
The only issue comes is when it takes too long for a brand to hop onto a trend and the trend is on its way out. Then it seems a little bit cringy and you want to avoid that cringiness because the whole purpose of your brand is to remain relevant.
Tod: Is there an expiry time on TikTok trends and dances, for instance, Paging Dr. Beat was really popular as dance meme, but maybe three weeks ago. Is three weeks too long?
Breana: I don't think three weeks is too long. I think personally, it all depends on how far this message is spreading.
The demure thing went so viral in such a short amount of time versus the Paging Dr. Beats which took a little while for people to ramp up to it. And so now that it's ramped up, it's kind of coasting.
But this very demure thing has been happening for like the last two weeks and it's still going up and up and up. The creator who started this was on Jimmy Kimmel just last night.
So it's probably going to be a while before that dies down versus like a dancing trend like the Paging Dr. Beats.
Tod: Are there some brands or categories where it's just a bad idea to do this regardless? You know, I'm thinking a company that sells industrial lubricant, for instance. Are there some brands where this is just so far off brand for them to take advantage of a meme that it would be cringy?
Or is the opposite true? Is it the fact that they wouldn't usually do it, would make it stand out and and work for the brand?
Breana: The fact that you would find a very unlikely brand to do something trendy, it makes it even funnier. And that in itself can go viral because it's like “Wait, why are you like a dentist's office talking about being demure?” It's kind of like, wait, those two things don't even make any sense.
But that's what makes it even funnier. And that can increase that exposure.
So I think that if anything, it can only work the more odd or the more opposite the trend is from the brand.
Who's doing it?
Some big brands, like Lemme and PacSun, are already using these trends in their ads. But it's mostly smaller brands with a strong online presence that are doing it.
Regardless of who you ask, nearly everyone agrees if your marketing decision-making workflow takes too long, involves too many people, or has to go through too many lawyers, jumping on trends probably isn’t the approach for you.
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Meta’s Ad Share is 3x the Share of Time Spent
A new forecast from eMarketer says Meta will get a far bigger share of US digital ad spend than YouTube or Netflix this year, despite those latter platforms getting just as much share of US time spent with digital.
Meta is expected to get more than 21% share of ad dollars, whereas YouTube isn’t even expected to crack 6%. Netflix, in case you’re curious, will get less than one third of 1%.
2024 eMarketer forecast
Political Ad Spending Surge Threatens Brands
A perfect storm is brewing in the advertising world — and it’s not a good one.
With the US presidential election just around the corner, political ad spending is expected to skyrocket. Projections call for this election cycle to be record-breaking in terms of political ad spend.
This could spell trouble for brands looking to get their messages out during the holiday season.
Ad prices to rise
Martech.org has a great piece this morning about this. It says brands may find themselves priced out of the ad market as election campaigns use up ad space.
Reduced inventory
The ad spending surge could also lead to a shortage of ad space on popular platforms like Facebook and Google. This means brands may struggle to get their ads seen by their target audiences. To avoid getting squeezed out, brands may need to look for alternative ways to reach their customers, or try to book ad space early.
Getting political
As for whether brands should try to tackle some of the social and political issues at play:
YouTube Hits TV Viewing Milestone
For the first time, a streaming platform has reached a major TV viewing milestone. A new Nielsen report says YouTube is the first streaming service to account for 10% of total TV viewing time in the US.
Nilesen Snapshot, July 2024
Streaming category also breaking records
One outlier, of course, is that the Olympics began at the end of the month, so that certainly changed the numbers.
What it means for advertisers
As YouTube's share of TV viewing time grows, so does its appeal to advertisers. With more eyeballs on the platform, advertisers are likely to follow. This is already leading to a shift in ad spending, with more brands allocating their budgets to streaming services like YouTube (though, as we mentioned in the previous story, maybe not as much as their viewership would suggest they deserve).
Brands Flock to Roblox
Yesterday, we reported on how Roblox and YouTube were the top media for children. Advertising on YouTube is obvious, but how do advertise on Roblox?
In case you’re not familar, Roblox is more of a video game platform than any single game. The software offers easy-to-use building tools, and thousands of people and brands have created their own mini-game. Its these mini-games that the kids are playing. A lot.
Young eyeballs a’plenty
With nearly 400 million monthly users, Roblox has become a major player for curious brands. It’s led the platform to introduce new tools to woo advertisers, including a partner program and ad network.
Custom worlds
As for what brands are doing there, a great piece today at Digiday details some of the tactics.
Some are using custom-branded in-game experiences that integrate into popular existing games. Others are testing real-life commerce, letting users buy physical products without leaving the platform.
Partnering with creators
And there’s a creator economy within it as well. Some brands are partnering with dedicated Roblox creators to promote their virtual worlds. Walmart and L'Oreal have successfully used this tactic to reach users.
Google Ads Hit by Another Bug
Google is having a bad week — another bug with its ads platform has been found.
This one apparently attributing traffic to a match type that should not exist anymore. That type: Smart Matching.
A Google spokesperson confirmed the bug that said that advertisers would not be charged for these clicks. They say they’ve already fixed the bug, which apparently came from a small traffic test last week.
We’ve seen this bug before
Except this bug is sort of a sequel to one discovered back in 2021:
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You may have noticed that today we a more scaled-down issue — without the usual header images, trivia, bold highlights, and lots of hyperlinks.
