2021 was a great rebound year for advertising after the catastrophic one that preceded. Now that some of the dust has settled, we’ve been seeing inflation; interest rates increasing at sizable rates and stocks dropping significantly. A recession is now predicted and feared to be here sooner than later. But what does that mean for the advertising industry?
Connecting Authentically with Black Americans
Do you know the difference between race and ethnicity? A lot of people are unaware that there is a difference between the two. Race is the division of different groups of people based on physical characteristics, such as skin color, eyes, etc. Ethnicity is a social group of people that share a common and distinctive culture, religion, language, etc. For this reason, African American is no longer an accepted term for people of color. Actually, 1 in 10 Black Americans are foreign born from many countries around the world and therefore, black is a more inclusive, widely accepted term now.
Digital Marketing Trends 2022
Now that we’re at the end of the pandemic we can thankfully say that overall, this year been increasingly better than the previous two. Don’t you agree? Although we’re well into the summer, we’ve put together a quick list of things that are expected to be trending all year. They’ve been gaining steam and aren’t going anywhere. Here are our top 5.
Happy 4th of July
It was July 4th of 1776 when Congress approved the Declaration of Independence. It’s been quite some time since then but every year we all celebrate the independence of our nation. How did it all begin? Why did it all begin? Well, “taxation without representation” started a rebellion that would last 10 years. Richard Henry Lee stated the famous words that, “these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States.” Basically, the colonies wanted independence from the taxed imposed by Great Britain. This was the beginning of the drafting of the United States Constitution. July 1st was technically the date that Thomas Jefferson completed the document and 12 of 13 colonies voted. 9 in favor, 2 against (PA & SC), Delaware was undecided and New York abstained. Therefore, the Declaration of Independence was officially voted in on July 2nd 1776. However, the date that Second Continental Congress voted independence from Great Britain was July 4th to finalize it for approval.
Friday Fun Fave 7/1/22
This week’s Friday favorite isn’t very fun but in light of recent events of the overturning of Roe vs Wade, we though it appropriate to choose one that shed some light on what this may mean for American women. Planned Parenthood did an ad predicting the “Dark Storm” of the Supreme Court decision. The ad background has the news reporting abortion rights and recent decisions of the Supreme Court as the narrator states, “we’ve all felt this storm coming. It’s been building for a long time.” After this the narrator states that, “Together we’re a force of nature!” as women take to the streets protesting. “We’re built for this. We don’t stand by, we walk into the storm and turn its raw force into something transformative!” It’s a powerful campaign that promotes action! We stand behind their “ Bans Off Our Bodies” movement! This link is where you can find resources on how to support abortion moving forward. This compelling advertisement was created by Virtue Worldwide.
The Power of Email Marketing
Performance Marketing vs Affiliate Marketing
A hot topic right now is performance marketing. It’s somewhat similar to affiliate marketing but has a lower risk involved and encompasses a wider umbrella that includes affiliate marketing as its sub category. It’s not something that is new but is now rising to the top as a new way to market. Let’s define each for some more clarity. Affiliate marketing is where a relationship is set up between a brand and an individual or organization where partners will receive a percentage commission of the sales they help create. Performance marketing where brands only pay when a certain objective has been met, such as clicks, leads or a sale. Here, advertisers connect with agencies, publishers or influencers to design and place ads on their company channels.
Marketing on a Budget
Inflation is here and it’s having an effect on every industry today. There’s no denying it. With the current state of economic affairs, we thought an article on how to maximize marketing on a budget was beneficial. Here’s a quick bullet point list.
1. Harness the POWER OF UGC. Of course, we’re bias on this topic since this is what we do. That being said, this is one of the best ways to market on a budget. It can cut the costs of production and according to Hubspot, production takes up to 24% of the marketing budgets. Pre-production and post-production come in at the second highest costs.
Advertising Effectiveness Contributors
What makes an advertisement effective? Take a second to think about it. We’ll wait…. Now that you’ve thought about it, we’re going to give you a hint. It’s not a cut and dry answer. As we’re sure you’ve guessed, it’s not just one thing that will make an advertisement effective, it’s multiple aspects. That being said though, turns out that creativity is still the most important part of advertising effectiveness. There are 5 other important contributors to advertising effectiveness. According to a study done by Nielson Catalina Solutions, creative lands on top at 47% but the other 5 include reach at 22%, brand at 15%, targeting lists at 9%, recency at 5% and lastly, context at 2%.
Friday Fun Fave 6/24/22
This week’s favorite is titles Liquid Billboard by Adidas. This amazing advertisement aims to make women feel more comfortable with their inclusive swimwear collection. “32% of women globally say they don’t feel comfortable swimming in public,” according to the ad. We recently wrote a blog that talked about audience engagement. This is the perfect example of that! Women of all shapes and sizes jumped in for a few laps instead of the typical models that we see on these types of ads. Their swims were visible to all and streamed live online. How cool is this interactive advertising!?!? Not to mention that it promotes body positivity on so many levels.
Emotional Advertising
Of course, we all buy things out of necessity or want! However, as it turns out a lot of us buy things driven by emotions. A study done showed that “70% of viewers who experienced an intense emotional response to an ad were very likely to buy the product” (Unruly). This brings to mind that overly drawn out commercial for the SPCA. In the ad you’re shown sad faced, pitiful looking animals while Sarah McLaughlin sings in a melancholy tone the background. Yea, you know exactly which one I’m talking about. They’re really selling it home hard with triggering the emotional response here. This is the text book example of an emotional ad. Makes sense to advertise this way. IPA Research showed that, “ads with purely emotional content perform twice as well (31% vs. 16%) compared to those with only rational content.” It appears we are emotional beings rather than rational.
Multicultural Advertising
Gen Z is the most multicultural generation to date and it’s expected that multicultural advertising budgets are going to increase in the coming years. It’s estimated that the white population in the U.S. will actually be the minority by 2043 according to the U.S. Census. Large cities all across America are now enmeshed with loads of diversity and with the social justice movements during the pandemic, inclusion is now necessity in conducting good business. Yesterday we wrote an article on cross-cultural advertising, so today we’re going to focus on the importance of multicultural advertising. As essential as it is today, it is still no easy feat to create multicultural ads that resonates with its audience and does not offend or alienate them. Thus, we thought we would put together a tips list to help you get started.
Cross-cultural Advertising
First off, let’s note that cross-cultural and multi-cultural advertising are not the same. Multi-cultural advertisements are created with a specific ethnic group(s) in mind where cross-cultural advertising is created in order to reach many different cultures simultaneously. Although it may seem straight forward, multi-cultural advertising is a little easier to achieve than the broader spectrum audience of many cultures. Specific ads that may do well in one country may not always do well in another and in countries that are melting pots, such as the U.S., you want to make sure your message gets across the way you intend. Thus, cross-cultural advertising brings with it certain challenges. That being said, cross-cultural advertising has never been more important in today’s global society. Different cultures are more accessible in every part of the world with technology and transportation. It’s imperative that agencies adopt a cross-cultural approach to their advertising strategies. It’s not straight forward but the work will be worth it! Here are some things to consider when creating cross-cultural advertisements.
Ethical Advertising
We’ve written about bridging the trust gap between consumers and brands previously. However, another way to strengthen trust in this way is through ethical advertising. The Institute for Advertising Ethics was established to ensure that brands are advertising in a truthful, fair and equitable way. We’re pretty certain that if you’re an advertising agency you already know this, but even though this organization exists to keep brands and agencies in check, it’s interesting to note that when creating advertisements, “most professionals are only influenced by legal considerations; ethics exerts a relatively minor role,” according to a research study.
Friday Fave 6/17/22
Father’s Day is a few days away, so what better ad to spotlight this week than one that promotes celebrating dad’s day everywhere! Our Friday favorite this week is for Oreo titled, “Milk’s Favorite Cookie!”
Efficient Marketing Campaign Planning & Management
Marketing campaigns by definition are an organized, strategized effort that promotes a specific company or brand goal. This could be done for a number of reasons. It could be to promote a new product/service, increase brand awareness, gather feedback, get new leads, increase revenue, boost engagement or promote an upcoming event. Whatever the reason, it is important that the campaign be planned and managed properly. Here are some steps to help your brand efficiently plan for their next marketing campaign.
The Rise of Interactive Advertising
Did you know that there is a term called ad blindness? It is a term to explain the phenomenon in response to how people have begun to cope with being subject to constant advertising. People have developed a coping mechanism to subconsciously and sometimes consciously tune out advertisements. In fact, 82% of Gen Z skip or ignore ads completely according to A List Daily. You can check out our article from yesterday on tips to make your advertisements more engaging but there is another kind of ad emerging that seems to increase engagement; interactive advertising. Actually, interactive advertisements have been shown to increase consumer attention by 47% and 32% more memorable according to a study conducted by Magna Global. So, let’s talk about some different types of interactive advertisements.
Social Media Stats 2022
Upon all our blog research here at Locomotive, there is always a recurring theme in advertising with social media. It’s now one of the most important parts of an advertising strategy in today’s world. We found some really interesting stats that we wanted to share with all of you. We know it helps us see a clear picture of who is watching what and where. It’s important to know where your target audience is to better serve them.
Ways to Engage Consumers for Advertisements
Whether on a streaming service, online or when watching a video, at some point we’ve all been just waiting for the “skip ad” button to pop up so we can click on it to get to what we’re there for. It occurred to me that I do this almost 100% of the time and I’m not alone. A study done by IPG showed that 65% of people skip video ads as soon as they get the chance. Some even stated that it is purely habit at this point.
Friday Fun Fave 6/10/22
This week’s Friday favorite is from Liquid Death water brand. The brand did a bold ad where they have people do a blind taste-test that had people vomiting… Literally! This one is not for the faint of heart but man it’s a belly laugh kind of ad. In order to hype up their new sparkling water the put it next to “The Most Expensive Beverages on Earth.”
