2023 Advertising and Marketing Predictions

2023 Advertising and Marketing Predictions

by Kurt Anagnostopoulos Advertising

Gather around advertisers, pull up a comfortable chair, and take a look at our advertising and marketing predictions for 2023! We take on some big topics, ranging from the rise of AI to the impact of the economic downturn. Oh, and TikTok and Twitter, too. Check out our predictions, and let us know yours!

The Economic Downturn Will Present an Opportunity

— Kurt Anagnostopoulos, co-founder

This is a time for companies to make smart decisions about their marketing spend. We’re clearly in an economic downturn. Over the next six months, the downturn will intensify although not to the extent of the Great Recession of 2008. When downturns occur and uncertainty happens, inevitably some businesses scale back on their marketing spend. History has demonstrated time and again that during lean times, the cost cutters lose out to the businesses that continue to invest in their brands. Companies that stay the course will come out the other side of the recession ahead. If you are smart about how you market and price yourself, you can leave your competitors behind when times are tough. It’s not necessarily about doubling down on marketing, and it’s not about cutting at the other end of the extreme. It’s about spending wisely.

A mentality of spending wisely could hurt the major ad platforms such as Google and Meta. They’ve become more expensive. With advertisers seeking to spend more wisely in 2023, Google and Meta might price themselves out of the running in favor of platforms that deliver better CPCs and performance for the money. An agency such as True Interactive can help businesses navigate the landscape by leveraging platforms in a more cost-effective manner.

The water is too murky to see too far out beyond the next six months. We need to see how things are going to play out for the second half.

Artificial Intelligence Will Need People More Than Ever

— Mark Smith, co-founder

You cannot spend a minute on LinkedIn these days without seeing someone talking about ChatGPT, the generative AI tool that makes it easy to do everything from write content to code. It’s understandable that ChatGPT has gained so much attention. OpenAI released the tool publicly in November 2022 and made it easy for anyone to use it. The public responded. But ChatGPT is just one in a growing number of AI tools being used to do everything from manage customer queries to create royalty-free music. Right now, a number of executives are experimenting with these tools to do the heavy lifting for them – the writing, image generation, and so on. But soon, the novelty will wear off. And everyone will realize what we know already: AI cannot do your work for you. People need to be involved managing AI like any other technology. If you use Google’s myriad advertising tools as we do, you likely understand. Our experience has consistently shown that automated ads powered by AI underperform without people involved to monitor and modulate them when necessary. The same is true of generative AI. These tools are slick, but they make mistakes, and they are notoriously biased. They are nowhere near the point of being self-sufficient. In 2023, some businesses will learn the hard way that AI alone is not the answer to making smart investments in digital marketing. They’ll realize that people matter more than ever.

Google Ads Will Get Costlier

— Beth Bauch, director

2023 could prove to be challenging for businesses highly invested in Google Ads. I anticipate more automation by Google, resulting in less control for marketers.

One of the most common suggestions in the “Recommendations” tab in the Google Ads platform is to convert keywords to “broad match,” away from the more traditional “exact and phrase match.” Exact and phrase match keywords are meant to only match to searches that contain your keyword, making search queries highly relevant. Broad match keywords allow your ad to show on searches that are related to the meaning of your keyword and can include searches that do not contain the keyword terms.

While we have seen some success when testing broad match keywords with Googles automated bidding strategies, we have also seen some significant failures resulting in high spend and poor conversion rates. So, you need to proceed with caution when using broad match. One of the ways we improve the quality of search queries is by adding negative keywords to prevent our ads from showing on searches that are irrelevant.

However, whereas in the past we had access to view all search queries matching our keywords, Google now limits that visibility, only showing the top search matches. This makes it more difficult to block irrelevant traffic resulting in more spend on searches with low conversion rates.

And poor-quality traffic is very costly, especially as we have seen significant increases in the cost-per-click (CPC) of both brand and non-brand keywords in 2022 – as high as 50 percent increases for brand terms alone year over year. For some clients, we saw rising CPCs even though we were not seeing an increase in competition on brand keyword bidding when reviewing the Google Auction Insights report. This is an indication that Google has raised the base price for participating in a specific auction, regardless of competition.

As Google looks to rebound and increase its profits, I expect to see even higher advertising costs for Google Ads in 2023.

TikTok Will Extend Its Influence

— Bella Schneider, senior digital marketing manager

With the increasing popularity of TikTok, I predict that the brand will expand and improve its ads manager to be more comparable to Facebook Business Manager. Currently the platform is lacking in a few areas, and if TikTok is to compete with some of the larger social channels, then it will need to make adjustments to allow for easier advertising on the platform.

Meanwhile, thanks to TikTok, I predict the world of video will dominate the advertising space. More and more video content is starting to look and feel similar to the videos displayed on the TikTok native platform. Whether it’s dances, trends, or challenges, I predict that advertising will shift towards this style of video content.

Does Twitter Have a Future?

— Max Petrungaro, account manager

I have a difficult time seeing advertisers return to Twitter as long as Elon Musk is at the helm. When Musk bought the company, things immediately started poorly with most of Twitter’s top advertisers putting their ads on pause or stopping outright. In December 2022, the situation for Twitter deteriorated, with advertising spend being slashed by more than 70 percent. Twitter tried to combat this by offering incentives to the companies that would keep advertising, but I do not believe that this will be enough to overcome the polarization that Elon brings to the table.

With most of its revenue coming from advertising, and top spending advertisers not showing ads and/or slashing budgets, there may not be a Twitter by the time 2023 is over. As long as Elon is associated with Twitter, I believe that more advertisers will start to focus their advertisements on other popular platforms, like TikTok.

Customer Data Platforms Will Have a Big Year

— Héctor Ariza, senior manager

As the push for tighter data privacy in the digital world gains momentum, I expect 2023 to be a big year for customer data platforms (CDPs). With stricter data privacy regulations being imposed by governments around the world, and the imminent cookie-less era looming, companies and advertisers are already exploring privacy-enhancing technologies in their search of a more secure, yet accurate way of tracking user activity online.

Still, whatever the alternative to cookies and existing tracking methods may be, it will likely rely heavily on data aggregation/modeling. Thus, first-party data will become ever so more important in the digital advertising world. CDPs allow companies to manage what data is used, where it is used and how it is used more easily. These systems also help with data consistency across marketing/advertising platforms and reduce the risk of mishandling customer data.

Retail Ad Networks Will Lean into Mobile Even More

— Tim Colucci, vice president

One of the biggest stories in advertising in recent years is the rise of advertising networks managed by retailers ranging from Amazon to Macy’s to Walmart. Amazon’s own ad business has become so big that it is challenging the Google/Meta duopoly. These networks have succeeded because they tap into first-party data shared by people searching and shopping on their sites. The next phase of growth will happen when they more effectively integrate consumer shopping data from physical stores into the first-party data they use to sell targeted ads. This is why retailers that operate physical stores and ad networks will invest more into their mobile apps. With self-service mobile apps, in-store shoppers give retailers data about their interests in real time in a faster and more efficient way than they do by having their purchases shared via point-of-sale technology. Look for retailers to make it easier for consumers to search and purchase on their apps – and for advertisers to run ads via self-service such as sponsored listings. Walmart has an edge on most retailers in that regard. Given Walmart’s influence and resources, I expect the company will lean into its competitive advantage while Target tries to play catch-up.

Contact True Interactive

To succeed in the ever-changing world of online advertising, contact True Interactive. Read about some of our client work here.

Why YouTube Is Turning to Shorts for Social Commerce

Why YouTube Is Turning to Shorts for Social Commerce

by Max Petrungaro YouTube

Short-form video is an important battleground for brands and consumers right now. TikTok really changed the game for video content creation by inspiring millions of people to create TikTok videos that typically last anywhere from 10 seconds to 60 seconds. Since then, a host of imitators have appeared, including Meta’s Reels on Facebook and Instagram; and YouTube Shorts.

Many businesses have quickly cracked the code for creating short-form video, and everyday users continue to up the ante, too, which has accelerated the rise of the creator economy, or everyday creators who monetize their content with the help of the host app.

Short-form video is also rapidly evolving as a format for creating ads, free content, and shoppable experiences. The latest example: YouTube Shorts is expanding shopping features.

What Is YouTube Shorts?

Shorts is a feature available to YouTube users. With Shorts, people can quickly and easily create short videos of up to 15 seconds, similar to how TikTok and Instagram Reels are used. The videos are created on mobile devices and viewed, in portrait orientation, on mobile devices. And once a person opens one Short, they get access to tons more of them (again, think TikTok or Reels playing one after another.) According to Google, YouTube Shorts now averages over 30 billion daily views (four times as many as a year ago).

It did not take long for businesses to get involved with Shorts. As we have blogged, brands everywhere are connecting with the vast YouTube audience with organic content and advertising.

For instance, Kitchen and home marketplace Food52 is posting Shorts that offer sneak peeks at its longer-form content on the traditional version of YouTube, as well as repurposing some recipe videos. Drupely’s olive-oil brand Graza says it is creating user engagement by posting how-to cooking and recipe content. According to Graza, videos focused solely on Graza products do better on TikTok than on Shorts.

Social Commerce on Shorts

If YouTube has its way, more brands will be using Shorts to sell things to people. New shopping features are being tested by YouTube in order to accelerate social commerce on YouTube. The new shopping features allow users to purchase products as they scroll through Shorts.

In the United States, eligible creators can tag products from their own stores. Viewers in the United States, India, Brazil, Canada and Australia can see the tags and shop through the Shorts. (The plan is to expand tagging for more creators and countries.)

YouTube is also experimenting with an affiliate program in the United States. This makes it possible for creators to earn commissions through purchases of recommended products in their Shorts and regular videos. YouTube says that this test is in early days. The program will be expanded in 2023.

This is just the latest in many efforts by YouTube to inject social shopping into the user experience. For instance, YouTube launched shoppable ads and the ability to shop directly from livestreams hosted by creators. YouTube has good reason to make it easier to buy and sell products on Shorts. Shorts has topped 1.5 billion monthly users. According to gen.video, YouTube ranks third overall in terms of where consumers do their product research before buying, only behind Amazon and Google directly.

YouTube Shorts is in a race with Instagram and TikTok to win attention from shoppers. Both apps have a head start on Shorts, and TikTok is testing TikTok Shop in the United States. TikTok Shop allows users to buy products directly through the app. All of them are trying to get a slice of the social shopping pie: social commerce is expected to be a $2 trillion market by 2025.

Brands are already figuring out how to sell products via Shorts. Glossier sold products through Shorts in June by creating a challenge for users to try. Glossier gave about a hundred influencers a new pencil eyeliner and encouraged them to create Shorts videos with the hashtag #WrittenInGlossier in the caption. People who tapped the hashtag were brought to the Glossier website. There, they could buy the eyeliner and were asked to recreate a look as part of the challenge. Any Shorts video that included the hashtag was shoppable.

2023 will likely be a year for more shopping features to proliferate on video platforms, with Shorts, TikTok, and Instagram duking it out for consumers’ attention amid a recessionary economy. Who will win? We’ll report progress here.

Contact True Interactive

We deliver results for clients across all ad formats, including video and mobile. To learn how we can help you, contact us.

“Why Google Is Bullish about Winning Its Fight with TikTok”

“How Brands Are Using YouTube Shorts”

“Why Google Brought Advertising to YouTube Shorts”

“Why YouTube Shorts Matters to Brands”

How Brands Are Using YouTube Shorts

How Brands Are Using YouTube Shorts

by Max Petrungaro YouTube

The rise of TikTok is one of the most phenomenal stories in the digital world. Since launching globally in 2018 through a merger with Musical.ly, TikTok has become a multi-billion-dollar advertising machine. TikTok has more than 1 billion members, has surpassed Snapchat to become the most popular app with teens, and is on course to earn more than $11 billion in ad revenue in 2022.

TikTok has succeeded by becoming the preferred app for short-form videos. Although users can post videos that are as lengthy as 10 minutes, the ideal TikTok video is about 30 seconds long. Some of the most popular TikTok videos of all time, racking up billions of views, are blink-and-you’ll-miss-them short.  As a result of TikTok’s popularity, brands are spending more money advertising on the app, which is a threat to more established apps such as YouTube and Instagram.

Because of TikTok’s popularity, YouTube and Instagram have responded in kind by launching short-form video features. For example, in 2021, YouTube rolled out Shorts globally after a more limited launch in India in 2020. Although YouTube Shorts is not yet a source of meaningful advertising revenue for YouTube, it is gaining traction with brands.

What Is the YouTube Shorts Feature?

Shorts is basically a TikTok copycat. Using the YouTube app, people can quickly and easily create short videos of up to 15 seconds. The videos are created on mobile devices and viewed, in portrait orientation, on mobile devices. And once you open one short, you essentially access the motherlode in that videos start playing one after the other. Just swipe vertically to get from one to the next.

Shorts, much like TikTok, provides editing tools you can use to flex creative muscle. Users can string clips together, adjust playback speed, and add music and text. And as YouTube has blogged, creators can play off of existing content: “[Y]ou can give your own creative spin on the content you love to watch on YouTube and help find it a new audience—whether it’s reacting to your favorite jokes, trying your hand at a creator’s latest recipe, or re-enacting comedic skits.” (Notably, creators are in control of their material; they can opt out of having their long-form videos remixed in this way.)

According to YouTube, more than 1.5 billion people use Shorts – impressive numbers that actually surpass TikTok’s user base. It was only a matter of time before YouTube made it possible for brands to get involved creating their own Shorts. And they are.

How Are Brands Using YouTube Shorts?

As reported in The Wall Street Journal, brands are increasingly experimenting with ways to engage with users on Shorts. For example:

  • Kitchen and home marketplace Food52 is posting Shorts that offer sneak peeks at its longer-form content on the traditional version of YouTube, as well as repurposing some recipe videos.
  • Drupely’s olive-oil brand Graza says it is creating user engagement by posting how-to cooking and recipe content. According to Graza, videos focused solely on Graza products do better on TikTok than on Shorts.
  • Glossier sold products through Shorts in June by creating a challenge for users to try. Glossier gave about a hundred influencers a new pencil eyeliner and encouraged them to create Shorts videos with the hashtag #WrittenInGlossier in the caption. People who tapped the hashtag were brought to the Glossier website. There, they could buy the eyeliner and were asked to recreate a look as part of the challenge. Any Shorts video that included the hashtag was shoppable.
  • Danessa Myricks Beauty used a short to promote its launch in Sephora. The Short built excitement for the launch by featuring the sending off a package of its product to be sent to Sephora stores.
  • NBC’s The Voice relied on Shorts to feature hosts for its most recent season. The ad included a banner at the end with clear directions for viewers on when and where to watch the show.

This is all encouraging for Shorts, but the feature is not yet a revenue generator, and YouTube is under pressure to staunch the flow of ad dollars to TikTok. On top of that, Instagram is turning up the heat with its own TikTok challenger, Reels.

Even so, YouTube is striking a note of optimism.

Philipp Schindler, senior vice president and chief business officer at Google, said during second-quarter earnings call in July. “…[E]arly results in Shorts monetization are also encouraging, and we’re excited about the opportunities here.”

It’s early days for Shorts and brands. Meanwhile, Shorts has one big advantage over TikTok: integration with YouTube, which has 2.6 billion active users. This is important because YouTube can promote Shorts to the built-in user base, and brands can connect Shorts content to their already established YouTube presence.

What Brands Should Do

  • Know your audience. YouTube appeals to the 15-25-year-old demographic. It is also very popular among 26-35-year-olds. TikTok skews younger: it is most attractive to 16-24 year-olds.
  • Be ready to capitalize on Shorts ad formats when they become available widely. For instance, brands will be able to connect their product feeds to their campaigns and make video ads on YouTube Shorts more shoppable.
  • Understand how to integrate Shorts ad formats into a broader YouTube advertising strategy that includes skippable video ads, bumper ads, overlay ads, and others.

Contact True Interactive

We deliver results for clients across all ad formats, including video and mobile. To learn how we can help you, contact us.

Why In-Game Ads Are Taking Off

Why In-Game Ads Are Taking Off

by Max Petrungaro Gaming

eMarketer recently forecast that U.S. mobile gaming ad revenues will reach $6.26 billion in 2022, up a muscular 14.0 percent from $5.49 billion in 2021. And that’s not all: robust double-digit growth is predicted to continue through 2024. What does this news mean to brands?

What eMarketer Reported

According to eMarketer, the pandemic has given mobile gaming a boost. The most popular device for gaming appears to be smartphones — good news for advertisers, as casual smartphone gamers may not feel the need to pay for ad-free platforms. Media companies have certainly taken note of the inherent opportunities in this arena: consider Netflix, which acquired mobile game studio Next Games and mobile game developer Boss Fight Entertainment. Significantly, the gaming trend appears to be staying strong: eMarketer projects that mobile gaming is poised to reach $7.87 billion in ad revenues in 2024. That’s a total of 2.5 percent of all digital ad spend. Long story short: gaming isn’t going anywhere, and marketers stand to benefit.

The Netflix Effect

It’s likely that Netflix’s deep dive into gaming will boost the in-game advertising market over the next few years. The company also stands to draft a blueprint as to how gaming can revitalize a stagnant, even suffering, brand. Netflix, under tremendous pressure to boost its revenues after reporting a disappointing first quarter of 2022, has plenty of motivation — it lost 200,000 subscribers in the first three months of this year, with a forecasted further loss of 2 million subscribers.

But gaming could help the subscription streaming service find its groove again. As reported by the Washington Post, Netflix plans to make 50 games available before year’s end, some of which may be tied in to shows. The company is hardly starting from scratch, having already dipped a toe into gaming waters by licensing intellectual property or adapting already popular games. But now it’s clear that Netflix will be leaning even harder into gaming—and all the opportunities that will subsequently come their way.

Handle with Care

As exciting as those opportunities may be, it’s important for advertisers to proceed with caution when it comes to in-game ads. As eMarketer notes, gamers are anxious about ads possibly interrupting their play. What format the ads take is part of the issue: while in-game billboards in racing or open-world games may be unobtrusive, the prospect of ads served up between game matches or, even worse, obscuring the screen mid-match, have consumers worriedly gnashing their teeth. To be fair, ads have been part of the gaming experience since gaming first became a thing. But as eMarketer points out, “ads still aren’t baked into the medium the way they are for TV, and advertisers should be mindful of players’ wishes for a non-disruptive experience.”

What Advertisers Should Do

 So, what is the best way for brands to capitalize on the gaming phenom? We recommend that you:

  • Know your audience. Gamers are a diverse bunch. Know their habits, know their passion points. Above all, understand what games your target audience enjoys. You’ll find moms playing games like Home Sheep Home, while 18-to-24-year-olds reliably gravitate to Fortnite. Understand the trends, and who’s where, before attempting to advertise on a gaming platform.
  • Know gaming. Make sure you understand the medium. Furthermore, really understand the game itself. It’s not enough that a game is popular—or even popular with your chosen demographic. Is it a good match for your brand? A game like Doom, well liked if admittedly violent, may or may not be consistent with the messaging your brand hopes to impart.
  • Know your limits—and the limits of your audience. Returning to the point made above about proceeding with caution: make sure that your ads aren’t ruining the gaming experience for your potential customers. Respecting the integrity of a game represents a win/win for gamers and marketers alike.

Contact True Interactive

Eager to learn more about the opportunities gaming—and in-game ads—can afford your brand? Contact us. We can help.

What Does Meta’s Big Move with Horizon Worlds Mean to Brands?

What Does Meta’s Big Move with Horizon Worlds Mean to Brands?

by Max Petrungaro Meta

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has announced that the company will help individual creators generate income in Meta’s Horizon Worlds platform. This is a significant sign that the so-called metaverse will open up ways for people to monetize the metaverse as it takes shape.

What Is the Metaverse?

The metaverse is a shared virtual world where people can work, play, and live through digital twins, or avatars. Aspects of the metaverse are here already: every time we use a digital currency, every time we hang out on Fortnite or Roblox (gaming is currently a big slice of the metaverse), we’re engaging with parts of the metaverse. They’re just not connected seamlessly yet.

Businesses such as Meta aren’t waiting for all the details to get sorted, though: they are staking a claim to this nascent world by building their own virtual worlds.

What Is Horizon Worlds?

So, what exactly is Meta trotting out? Horizon Worlds (formerly Facebook Horizon) is a free virtual reality, online video game that allows people to build and explore virtual worlds on the metaverse. In short, Horizon Worlds is one potential access point into the metaverse via a gaming platform.

Meta first published the game on its virtual reality Oculus VR headsets in the United States and Canada on December 9, 2021. This approach meant that the audience for Horizon World was necessarily limited to people who could afford a virtual reality headset (specifically, Oculus VR). But Meta is now making Horizon Worlds available even if users do not have virtual reality headsets.

What Did Meta Announce about Horizon Worlds?

Mark Zuckerberg said Meta is testing new tools that allow creators to expand their reach—and create some lucrative opportunities—within the worlds they build on Horizon Worlds. In a video, he said, “The ability to sell virtual items and access to things inside the worlds is a new part of [the] e-commerce equation overall. We’re starting rolling this out with just a handful of creators and we’ll see how it goes but I imagine that over time we’ll get to roll it out more and more.”

If there’s anything Meta wants you to take away from this development, that would be:

  • Meta is testing a way for creators to sell virtual items and experiences within their worlds.
  • Meta is also testing a Horizon Worlds Creator Bonus program.

While Meta is currently working with a handful of creators to get feedback on this initiative, the long-term plan is to create an environment in which creators can earn a living in a world of digital goods, services, and experiences. The overall vision is that the metaverse will crack possibilities for entrepreneurs—wide open. And it’s not a matter of creators being thrown into this world without a safety net or guide: a $10 million Horizon Creators Fund, announced last October, is meant to provide resources to Horizon Worlds creators.

The opportunities are certainly compelling: Meta is rolling out a test with a few creators that facilitates the selling of virtual items within their worlds. This might manifest as attachable accessories entrepreneurs create for a fashion world, say, or paid access to a new part of a creator’s world.

Meanwhile, the Horizon Worlds Creator Bonus program, meant for participants in the United States, offers bonuses in the form of goal-oriented monthly programs that reward creators with a pay-out at month’s end. The bonuses honor progress made towards the creator’s goals, and are not subject to fees (read: creators will be paid in full). While rewards may evolve, creators are currently rewarded (in the limited test) for building worlds that attract the “most time spent.”

What Does All This Mean?

This is how we read this news:

  • Horizon Worlds is yet another sign that the metaverse is getting bigger with extraordinary speed. For confirmation, one need look no further than JP Morgan, which says the metaverse is a “trillion dollar industry” in which it acknowledges “explosive interest.” They aren’t just talking the talk: the investment bank has opened a lounge in the blockchain-based virtual world Decentraland. The Onyx lounge, named for JP Morgan’s Onyx blockchain unit, includes a roaming tiger that greets visitors and a portrait of CEO Jamie Dimon, not to mention a suite of Ethereum-based services. JP Morgan’s claim to fame? That it is the first major lender to enter the metaverse.
  • It’s also an example of how businesses are empowering the so-called creator economy, a class of businesses comprising millions of independent content creators and influencers. We’re hearing about creators more partly because apps like TikTok have granted them more power and more influence.

But the creator economy stands to become even more powerful. That’s because collaboration networks are proliferating, networks that give creators an all-in-one platform to create communities and build influence. In addition, gaming sites such as Roblox and Twitch offer creators opportunities to monetize their work with potential brand partnerships, even as crypto currency sites like Rally.io empower creators to mint their own currency.

It’s a rich vein to mine, and big social networks such as Meta are responding by making themselves more attractive to creators (that brings us back to the news about Horizon Worlds and the resources Meta is making available). Going forward, more businesses will tap into niche networks to partner with emerging creators who are lesser-known but possess tremendous street cred. Will big-name partnerships with stars still thrive? Sure, but the social media icons are going to need to make room for the new kids in town.

What Brands Should Do

What does this mean for your brand? As you consider the opportunities inherent in the metaverse, we recommend that you:

  • Remember your audience. Do they care about the immersive worlds that the metaverse makes possible? That is, will marketing and advertising in the metaverse even matter to them—much less reach them? The biggest audience for the metaverse currently skews young, although some brands are making a concerted effort to reach out to older consumers. Ask yourself who your audience is, and if you have the resources and energy to reach out to them if their engagement with the metaverse represents a tougher sell.
  • Reflect on your appetite for experimentation. This is a new frontier that is already evolving. Are you ready to pivot—and pivot again—as conditions change?
  • Learn from businesses that have already found their marketing access point in immersive gaming worlds, which are, as noted, a popular segment of the metaverse.

Contact True Interactive

Want to learn more about the metaverse? Eager to dip a toe but looking for some guidance? Contact us. We can help you map a way in this new world.

How Brands Are Winning March Madness

How Brands Are Winning March Madness

by Max Petrungaro Advertising

March Madness means great basketball. It also means creative brand activations. And this year, perhaps inspired by the returning energy of in-person fans (because of Covid, fans hadn’t been present at the games since 2019), the campaigns seem more innovative than ever. The slate of advertisers is certainly robust: “We’ve written more revenue in this tournament than we ever have before, record-setting revenues for this year,” notes Jon Bogusz, the executive vice president of CBS sports sales and marketing. Let’s take a closer look at what brands are doing for this event—and what that means for you.

Gaming Online

Video game streaming platform Twitch is embracing March Madness with two new brand activations. /TwitchSports, Twitch’s sports streaming service, has revived two shows—“Let’s Go! College Hoops” and “SuperFan FaceOff”—with sponsorships by Wendy’s and Philips Norelco. It’s a win-win (no pun intended!) for both the brands and the platform: the brands help Twitch expand its reach and popularity in the sports community, even as the brands benefit from /TwitchSports’s huge viewership. “With hours watched of sports content on Twitch growing in the triple-digit percentages last year, we’re thrilled to open up some of our original content on /TwitchSports to both returning and new advertisers on Twitch,” notes Sarah Iooss, head of sales for the Americas at Twitch. As Iooss explains it, /TwitchSports gives brands exposure to sports fans in the powerful Millennial and Gen Z demographics.

The campaigns capitalize on the power inherent in the Twitch platform. Philips Norelco, which is sponsoring “SuperFan FaceOff,” makes use of Twitch’s integrated chat feature. Meanwhile, Wendy’s returns to Twitch to feature a segment of “SuperFan FaceOff” in which hosts call out their fave daily menu items from the fast-food chain. Branding from both sponsors will appear on the Twitch platform and livestreams.

Gaming in Person

Wendy’s has also pursued an in-person activation at the Entertainment Capital of the World. Partnering with Adult Swim’s “Rick and Morty” animated series, the chain participated in “Morty’s Mayhem,” an immersive LED experience housed at Resorts World Las Vegas. Running from March 17 through 20, “Morty’s Mayhem” featured games, an area to watch the basketball tournaments, swag from both sponsors, and the not-to-be-missed Pickle Rick Frosty, a salty take on Wendy’s Frosty graced with dried pickle garnish. The Pickle Rick confection was offered for free; Wendy’s also got the chance to promote treats such as the new Hot Honey Chicken Biscuit. As Tricia Melton, chief marketing officer for Warner Bros. Kids, Young Adults and Classics, notes, “It’s a perfect trifecta. You’ve got Vegas, you’ve got college basketball at its apex and you’ve got this ‘Rick and Morty’ partnership with Wendy’s that brings this other whole layer of surprise and silliness and fan experience altogether.”

A New Look — and New Products

For Coldwell Banker, the basketball tournament represents an opportunity to unveil not only a new website but three new tools: CB Estimate, Move Meter, and the Seller’s Assurance Program. Called “Dream,” the campaign aired March 15 during March Madness, and leaned into the idea that Coldwell Banker can help make people’s dreams of home . . . come true. As the real estate franchise sees it, even our fondest dreams may require a jumpstart from data, and Coldwell Banker aims to help with its seller-focused tools.

They do address a need. As reported in MediaPost, almost half of American homeowners don’t know the current value of their home. The campaign also underlines the seismic changes that have taken place in brand outreach. As David Marine, CMO of Coldwell Banker Real Estate, says, “The pandemic changed some aspects of media with the surge in streaming, and the fact that early on some media outlets that we wouldn’t ordinarily focus on, like cable news, all of a sudden became really efficient.”

Hitting the Road

Meanwhile, Nissan, an official partner of the NCAA March Madness basketball tournaments, has launched its “Road 2” campaign featuring mascots from 27 teams. The message? The path to the Final Fours can be . . . unpredictable. The campaign, which embraces media like TV as well as onsite activations at both the men’s and women’s tournaments, features eight new spots and incorporates new Nissan models like the all-electric Nissan Ariya crossover. And fans who complete both the men’s and women’s online bracket challenge, created in partnership with CBS Sports, may have a chance at winning some brand-new wheels in the form of the new Nissan Frontier.

Lessons Learned

What can we learn from the brands who have hitched their wagons to the March Madness star? Some takeaways as we see it:

  • Know your audience. Brands like Philips Norelco surely understand that a platform like Twitch is frequented by Gen Z and Millennials. By making themselves visible on Twitch, they are increasing exposure to these key demographics.
  • Don’t be afraid to have fun — and take some chances. Wendy’s pulled out the stops with a fun take on an old favorite. While we may not immediately associate pickles with a Frosty, Wendy’s made the leap, and it’s been a successful one: this isn’t the Pickle Rick’s first rodeo. It first debuted in Los Angeles in 2021.
  • Give your audience a little gift — and a lift. Free Pickle Ricks. Free tools like Coldwell Bank’s CB Estimate. Consumers the world over respond positively to getting something at no cost.
  • Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Nissan’s “Road 2” campaign reaches out to consumers in different ways, from the television commercials to social and onsite activations.
  • Stay flexible — and informed. Coldwell Banker’s understanding of how the pandemic has shaped advertising helped them formulate a campaign that makes sense for how consumers connect with messaging in 2022.
  • Finally, think about what annual events might represent a good opportunity for your brand. Is there a connection to what you sell or do? Does the event draw the same audience you hope to woo?

Contact True Interactive

March Madness illustrates how brands can harness the power of popular events to reach a broad audience. Want to learn more? Contact us. We can help.

Advertising and Marketing in the Metaverse

Advertising and Marketing in the Metaverse

by Max Petrungaro Advertising

The metaverse is hot. One need look no further for proof than the fact that Facebook changed its company name to Meta in October 2021. Consequently, the metaverse is one of the most talked-about topics in business right now. Companies are already figuring out how to make the most of what it has to offer. How might the metaverse help them make money? How might brands embrace advertising and marketing there?

The Metaverse Defined

As was the case with the internet back in the day, new definitions of the metaverse are constantly cropping up, from all quarters. There is a lot of speculation about the metaverse arriving in the future. But the term was actually coined decades ago in Neal Stephenson’s 1992 science-fiction novel Snow Crash. Aspects of the metaverse — a shared virtual world where people can work, play, and live through digital twins, or avatars — are here already. Every time someone uses a digital currency, every time someone hangs out on Fortnite or Roblox (gaming is currently a big slice of the metaverse), we’re engaging with parts of metaverse (they’re just not yet connected seamlessly).

As the metaverse takes shape, savvy brands are already planting a flag in this rich terrain. And to do so, they are looking at things a tad differently. Brittan Heller, counsel with the American law firm Foley Hoag, puts it this way: “When you think about advertising in XR [extended reality, one of the building blocks of the metaverse], you should think about it as placement in the product instead of product placement.” Heller may be thinking of luxury brands like Louis Vuitton or Marc Jacobs, which have designed digital products for the game Animal Crossing. Or Balenciaga, which has collaborated with Fortnite to drop exclusive wearable skins for in-game characters. She notes, “An ad in virtual reality may look like buying a designer jacket for your digital avatar [but] that’s an ad for a clothing company that you are wearing on your body.” Coveted digital fashion sometimes bests even real-world counterparts: in Roblox’s virtual world, for example, a digital-only Gucci bag sold for more money than the bag would have netted in the physical world.

Some metaverse advertising, of course, falls back on real-world models. Consider games like Tiki-Taka Soccer and FIFA Mobile, which are already incorporating billboards as part of the game universe. The billboards are meant to raise awareness —just like the billboards we pass on the highway — and if players wish, they can access more intel about the product.

But there is also a concerted effort to create advertising unique to the metaverse experience. The day when users can interact freely with embodiments of a brand — an avatar for a celebrity or an existing character from, say, Disney — is not far off.

The takeaway: there are already opportunities for brands to flex advertising muscle in the metaverse, and those opportunities are growing exponentially.

What Businesses Should Do

What does this mean for your brand? Does delving into the metaverse make sense for you? As you consider these questions, we recommend that you:

  • Remember your audience first. How attuned are they to immersive worlds such as the metaverse? Is marketing and advertising in the metaverse a good fit for them? Currently, the biggest audience for the metaverse skews young: Gen Zers who have grown up gaming and for whom the intricacies of a virtual world are already familiar. But some brands are addressing this divide by reaching out directly to an older cohort. Roblox, for example, has developed features to appeal to older users. And so, the attendant question to ask yourself is: do you have the energy and resources to think outside the box and woo your audience, no matter what generation they inhabit?
  • Assess your appetite for experimentation. This is a brave new world that’s constantly changing. How comfortable are you with that dynamic?
  • Learn from businesses that have been getting involved in advertising and marketing in immersive gaming worlds, which are, as noted, extremely popular in the metaverse. A really good example consists of brands that have been embracing in-game ads, as we blogged here.

Contact True Interactive

True Interactive knows how to make online advertising deliver measurable results on all platforms and apps. To learn how we can help you, contact us. Learn more about our services here.