Three Takeaways from Cyber Monday 2022

Three Takeaways from Cyber Monday 2022

Retail

The numbers are in: Cyber Monday was a success. And not because inflation made purchasing volume seem bigger than what it was. No, demand fueled a big day for anyone selling online.

According to Adobe Analytics, Cyber Monday generated $11.3 billion in sales online. This is 5.8 percent more than consumers spent on the same day last year and a reversal of fortune. Consider that in 2021, Cyber Monday generated $10.7 billion, which was actually a drop from 2020. Meanwhile, Salesforce said Cyber Monday online sales hit $12.2 billion in the United States, representing an 8.3 percent increase over 2021.

Cyber Monday SalesAll told, about 196.7 million shoppers made purchases during the five-day holiday period from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday known as Cyber Week, the National Retail Federation said on Tuesday.

Adobe said that the Cyber Monday figures were based on more transactions overall – not spend boosted by inflation. At the peak, people were spending $12.8 million per minute on Monday.

According to Adobe, top sellers included games, gaming consoles, Legos, Hatchimals, Disney Encanto, Pokémon cards, Bluey, Dyson products, strollers, Apple Watches, drones, and digital cameras. Toys as a category saw a 452 percent boost in sales versus a day in October.

Wait a minute. Wasn’t this the year when inflation-wary shoppers were going to rein in their holiday spending? Wasn’t this the year when Amazon’s Prime Day I and II, Walmart’s Deals for Days, and Target’s virtual Black Friday sales throughout November were going to cannibalize Cyber Monday sales?

Not so fast. As it turns out, consumers were spending during the holiday promotions before Cyber Week but also holding out for deals – as they always do. And they did something else: they did their homework. Consumers knew that retailers were carrying excess inventory after two years of experiencing inventory shortages. They knew the deep discounts were going to happen. And so, they waited. As Tech Crunch reported, “Deep discounts — retailers perhaps anticipating needing to have something more to lure shoppers — have played a big role, too, as have the sheer availability of goods after shortages of the years before.”

Vivek Pandya, lead analyst, Adobe Digital Insights, said, “With oversupply and a softening consumer spending environment, retailers made the right call this season to drive demand through heavy discounting. It spurred online spending to levels that were higher than expected, and reinforced e-commerce as a major channel to drive volume and capture consumer interest.”

In addition, mobile influenced Cyber Monday shopping, accounting for 43 percent of all online sales. But it should be noted that the 43 percent share was much lower than Thanksgiving Day, when mobile accounted for 55 percent of purchases. That’s because people are back to work in Cyber Monday and using their desktops more.

So, what can retailers learn from the results?

  • The retailers that stayed committed to their online ad spend won. By keeping their brand names and merchandise visible, they were best positioned to capture the Cyber Monday traffic. Retailers that scaled back their online ad spending because they feared consumers were going to spend less ended up missing out.
  • As always, a strong blend of desktop-based and mobile ad spend was key to winning Cyber Monday traffic. True, the mobile traffic fell from Thanksgiving Day, but 43 percent is still a sizable number, and a well-balanced ad strategy was the way to go.
  • Winning Cyber Monday requires a strategy for winning Cyber Week. Demand was uniformly strong for the entire period of Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday. Advertisers that managed their budgets with an eye toward driving traffic and sales for the entire Cyber Week captured a “Cyber Monday bonus.”

Bottom line: if you kept your holiday advertising strong and ignored the naysayers, you won Cyber Monday.

Contact True Interactive

True Interactive has deep experience helping clients plan and implement holiday shopping campaigns online. We can help you, too. We understand how to create nimble search campaigns and multi-channel ad outreach to target consumers with the right message at the right time. Contact us to learn more.

Lead image source:
https://pixabay.com/vectors/cyber-monday-neon-sale-ecommerce-5240883/

Why Mobile Is Soaring — and What That Means for Advertisers

Why Mobile Is Soaring — and What That Means for Advertisers

Mobile

Back in 2020, we blogged about the rise in mobile marketing. At that time, all signs pointed to the wisdom of advertisers embracing mobile. Two years down the line, we’re here to report that businesses worldwide appear to have gotten the memo: according to App Annie’s State of Mobile in 2022 report, the pandemic has changed the way we work and play—and projected mobile ad spend for the year ahead reflects that sea change.

Consumers Are Online

According to App Annie, consumers are spending more and more time online. 2021 broke records for time spent on mobile: as reported by prnewswire.com, people spent a jaw-dropping 4.8 hours a day on mobile in the top 10 mobile markets. Downloads reached 230 billion, a figure that represents a five percent leap year over year.

Users certainly had plenty of options from which to choose: publishers have released two million new apps and games for a cumulative total of twenty-one million! That’s a lot of apps, although certain trends are apparent. Apps like TikTok tend to dominate: the report reveals that seven of every 10 minutes spent online was devoted to some sort of social, photo, and/or video app. TikTok ranked the No. 1 most-downloaded app globally, followed by Instagram and Facebook.

Consumers Are Spending

Users aren’t just passively watching. They are spending. App Annie notes that time spent in shopping apps jumped 18 percent year over year, reaching 100 billion hours. Fast fashion, social shopping, and big box players were the winners here. According to Marketing Dive, “Consumer spending across app stores grew 19% in 2021, hitting $170 billion.”

Dating apps also flourished, in part because meeting people in person has gotten thornier thanks to Covid. According to Business Standard, people relied more on dating apps to navigate the social distancing imposed by the pandemic, a practice some users have said they’ll continue even after Covid is in our rearview mirror. The numbers certainly tell a compelling story: worldwide consumer spend on dating apps has barreled past $4.2 billion, a whopping 55 percent increase from 2019.

Mobile Ad Spend Is Growing

Brands are taking note and responding accordingly. Compared to 2020, advertisers are investing in mobile ads 23 percent more, an approach that can take many forms:

  • Consider Snickers, which partnered with Spotify to reach out to users listening to music genres outside of their comfort zone. The “You’re Not You When You’re Hungry” audio campaign used Spotify’s consumer data to target users branching out beyond their everyday listening. When a user streamed an atypical (for them) song, Snickers delivered an audio message—with a link to a branded “Hunger List.” The ads were customized to match the consumer’s favorite music genre.
  • The Pond’s beauty brand, on the other hand, navigated a saturated market to promote a new line of acne face wash in Indonesia. They leaned into augmented reality to do so, using the front-facing cameras on users’ phones to scan faces and determine which areas were prone to acne. The unique campaign was, in fact, the first AR face-detecting ad. That’s a feather in Pond’s cap.

According to App Annie, mobile app spend is only going up, with “mobile ad spend on track to hit $350 billion in 2022.”

What Does This Mean for Advertisers?

What can we learn from the stats, not to mention the brands that have already thrown their hat into the mobile ring? We recommend that you:

  • Consider the type of mobile advertising that makes sense for your brandEach type of advertising—from videos to banner ads to pop-ups—has its own platform, design, and strengths. What type of mobile advertising will help you accomplish your goal?
  • Which brings us to the next point: understand your goals. Do you want to boost sales? Promote brand awareness? Increase traffic to your site? Knowing your objectives will help you craft the most effective campaign.
  • You also want to identify, and understand, your target audience. Knowing where they like to spend time online, and what type of messaging they respond to, will help make your outreach meaningful. Gen Z, for example, wants to interact with their favorite brands via online games or sponsored events. Boomers, on the other hand, tend to spend a lot of time on Facebook. To reach your target audience, you have to speak their language.
  • Finally, don’t skimp on design. Use high-resolution and high-quality designs and graphics in your outreach. And the design should align with your message and your brand. This may seem like common sense, but it’s a big sticking point: users won’t linger if your advertising is amateurish or seems phoned in for the sake of having something—anything—online.

Contact True Interactive

The App Annie report underlines that mobile advertising is exploding. Not sure how to bring mobile into your advertising strategy? Contact us. We can help.

Photo by Rami Al-zayat on Unsplash

Why TikTok Is the Most Visited Site in the World

Why TikTok Is the Most Visited Site in the World

TikTok

Cloud-infrastructure company Cloudflare has been tabulating the world’s most-visited sites since 2020, creating its rankings by following global internet traffic patterns like app usage or when a person visits a site on their web browser. While Google held the crown for most-visited site that first year, it was a short reign: in 2021, TikTok took the throne. What does TikTok’s great leap forward mean for your brand?

The News: TikTok Is King

According to Cloudflare, TikTok didn’t waste any time gaining traction: by February 2021, the platform had already started racking up massive views. And from August on, it consistently ranked Number One, every month, for the rest of the year. That alone is a feat, one that gains even more resonance when you consider that back in 2020, TikTok ranked a respectable — if relatively humble — Number 7.

Why TikTok Rules

To what can we attribute TikTok’s ascendance? A few factors play a role. For one thing, TikTok has helped inform a global interest in short-form video. Short-form videos have been around for a while, of course, but it is arguably TikTok that has made it easy for users to create, enrich, and share videos. And the platform’s user base is diverse: while the site attracts would-be creators, it also appeals to everyday people who find the clips both informative and just . . . fun. Video is hot, and TikTok has helped make it that way. TikTok also has a superpower in its hip pocket: it’s insanely viral. Remember Nathan Apodaca, the skateboarder whose TikTok clip incorporating Ocean Spray juice, his deck, and the Fleetwood Mac tune “Dreams” catapulted him to fame? Apodaca and the way his creative efforts went viral underline just how influential TikTok can be. And brands have taken note. Consider Pepsi’s #ThatsWhatILike TikTok campaign, which inspired people to post videos of silly, fun moments that usually featured Pepsi in some fashion. The hashtag challenge encouraged fans to engage with the brand in a likable, playful way—and it placed that likable persona squarely in front of a huge audience. The campaign netted more than 13 billion views. Finally, TikTok is especially favored by the Millennial and Gen Z demographics: a whopping 42 percent of the U.S. population. And that’s just one country! TikTok is grabbing eyeballs—and a youthful demographic—all over the world.

What Brands Should Do

Given these factors, it’s no surprise that brands are embracing TikTok and striving to create their own content there. What does this mean for you? We recommend:

  • If you want to take up with TikTok, make sure you understand the platform. Know how to speak the language. Overt ads? That would be a No. As Pepsi demonstrated, playful content that takes its cues from user-generated content, on the other hand, is a huge Yes.
  • Stay current and informed. Short-form video is not exclusive to TikTok: one need look no further than Instagram’s Reels to see that there are alternatives. Stay on top of how TikTok, and its competitors, are innovating. By understanding what’s out there, you can make an informed choice for your brand.
  • Make sure you formulate a strategy for collaborating with TikTok influencers, who can be especially powerful (and helpful). We discuss this topic here.
  • If appropriate for your brand, understand how to incorporate social commerce on TikTok into both your advertising and marketing strategies. Curious? We blog about that here.

Contact True Interactive

TikTok can play a robust role in a brand’s marketing strategy. And we know the ropes. Contact us. We can help.

How Video Advertising Delivers Results

How Video Advertising Delivers Results

Video

The digital advertising industry is picking up steam, and one reason is the growth of video advertising, according to a new research report from PQ Media. Anyone who works with video advertising can attest to this growth. Video ads are delivering more benefits because:

  • The formats and placement channels are expanding. Look at how TikTok has exploded in popularity. It didn’t even exist five years ago.
  • In the age of TikTok and YouTube, consumers love video as a content format.

At True Interactive, we’re definitely seeing the results of video’s popularity. Recently, one of our clients experienced a challenge: its share of branded search was dropping. The client, a photo curating and sharing company, naturally wanted to improve. So, we launched a video-based awareness campaign that spanned display, YouTube, Google Display Network, connected TV, Yahoo Online Video, Facebook, and Yahoo Display. Our focus: mobile and connected TV. We also ensured that YouTube ads could target connected TV screens. 

Our ads consisted of continuous promotions with six-to-seven offers consisting of aggressive pricing and deep discounts across multiple products. We ran:

  • 10 different 15-second videos specific to a product (trimmed from a master 30-second video).
  • Four 30-second videos.

The ads also focused on mobile users in order to drive downloads of the client’s app.

As a result, our client enjoyed significant improvements in both awareness and also revenue – showing how powerful video can be as a direct-response format in addition to brand awareness:

Year-over-year sales results

Meanwhile, the client’s search share increased noticeably for three consecutive months. Mobile and TV screens typically accounted for 65 percent-to-70-percent of video views/Impressions.

So, why did this campaign deliver results? A few reasons stand out:

  • We began with a large audience (women aged 25-54) with the purpose of hitting as many eyes as possible. That’s because the brand’s low levels of search volume told us that it lacked brand awareness more broadly. Targeting an audience would have been premature.
  • Incorporating mobile video to drive downloads of the client’s app was well timed with the popularity of in-app usage.


Mobile app usage

  • Our approach allowed us to keep CPMs down. The more targeted you are, the more expensive the ad becomes; your CPMs increase when you narrow your audience.

We recommend that businesses take a closer look at how you are using video advertising. How much are you investing into video ads? If you’re not deploying video ads, what’s holding you back? If it’s a lack of in-house creative and media expertise, then a partner can help you.

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.

Photo by CardMapr on Unsplash

How Snapchat Keeps Innovating with Augmented Reality

How Snapchat Keeps Innovating with Augmented Reality

Social media

As we’ve blogged, Snapchat has been demonstrating a profound appetite for investing in augmented reality (AR). It could even be argued that Snapchat is the most AR-driven platform out there, continuing to reimagine what AR experiences might be on mobile and beyond. Let’s take a look at how Snapchat is leading the pack when it comes to AR innovation.

AR: the “Ace in the Hole”

AR is such an area of strength that it might be considered Snapchat’s “Ace in the Hole.” As Medium observes, “One of the reasons that Snapchat is able to carve out its own niche in the increasingly combative social media arena is its singular focus on AR-powered visual communication, which differentiates Snapchat from its competitors.”

Snapchat Data

Recent Developments with AR at Snapchat

That’s a message Snapchat has energetically promoted, and underlined with a commitment to new AR features. Consider the following additions:

  • The Connected Lens allows two Snapchat users to share an interactive AR experience, whether they are sitting side-by-side in the same room or located miles apart from one another (in a demo, Snapchat partnered with Lego to show how two people can build a virtual Lego set together using the AR lens). In a post-pandemic world where social interaction has become a sort of Holy Grail, AR facilitates connection. And that makes AR more relevant than ever right now.
  • Snapchat has also worked to improve Scan, its built-in visual search tool. Scan, which helps users ID everything from songs to car models, now has a new feature, Screenshop, which recommends clothing purchases based on photos of outfits.
  • Snapchat also hasn’t forgotten the importance of sometimes . . . just having fun. The Cartoon 3D Style by Snapchat lens scans your face and then imposes upon it a 3D cartoon look — as if the user has just stepped out of a Pixar film. The lens uses AR technology, and results are impressively realistic.

Calling All Creators

Snapchat isn’t just expanding its AR features willy nilly; its investment in AR is informed by the desire to grow a vigorous creator community. It does this by giving creators useful tools—and the possibility of rewards.

Consider the standalone iOS app, Story Studio, which provides a suite of vertical video editing tools. Or the new Gifting feature, which attracts creators with the promise of monetization. Gifting gives users a way to tip their favorite Snap creators. Also new: a Creator Marketplace, which allows businesses to locate and pair up with Snapchat creators. 

AR Platform for Brands

So, are businesses spiking an interest? There’s certainly reason to: according to Medium, Snap has said its users “are two times more likely to make purchases if they have interacted with a product via AR lens than not.” That’s a powerful incentive for brands.

 

Snapchat data

Some, like Estée Lauder, have already risen to the challenge. According to Medium, the cosmetics giant has been recognized as “one of the first companies to integrate their product catalog through Snapchat’s API, which makes it easy to create and publish new Dynamic Shopping Lenses that include price, availability, and a path to purchase.” Other brands that have successfully employed AR try-ons and shoppable lenses include Gucci, American Eagle, and the eyewear brand Clearly.

What Should Advertisers Do?

Could your brand likewise benefit from a partnership with Snapchat — and an exploration of AR? Ask yourself the following:

  • Might AR provide some fresh opportunities for your advertising? If so, Snapchat is an excellent platform to try it on.
  • What do you know about AR? According to Threekit, a tiny one percent of retailers are currently using AR or virtual reality in their customer buying experience. And yet a whopping 61 percent of consumers indicate that they prefer retailers that incorporate AR experiences. Does it make sense for your brand to get in on the ground floor?
  • Finally, are you hoping to reach the Millennial and Gen Z audiences? The Threekit stats also note that 70 percent of consumers aged 16 to 44 are at least aware of AR. Snapchat — and AR — can be a meaningful way to reach this group.

Contact True Interactive

 AR can be a powerful go-to in a brand’s toolkit. Contact us to learn more. We can help.

Why Triller Is a Thriller

Why Triller Is a Thriller

Mobile

Have you heard of Triller? The video-making social app has been around since 2015, but only recently has it started to show signs of becoming a genuine rival to TikTok. Should marketers care? In a word: yes. Read on to learn why.

What Is Triller?

Like TikTok, Triller is deeply connected to music; introduced as a video-editing service by co-founders David Leiberman and Sammy Rubin, Triller has always employed artificial intelligence (AI) to create music videos. But by 2016, the app had also become a social-networking service that allowed users to follow one another and share the videos they created. Today, users can film different takes of themselves rapping to songs (hip-hop is particularly popular on the app), and then use the AI to cull the best clips and make a professional-looking music video. The editing is pretty painless: as refinery29.com notes, “[Y]ou perform and the app edits your video for you.”

How Does Triller Compare to TikTok?

While similar to TikTok, Triller is trying to position itself as being all about the music. The app has raised investment from artists like Snoop Dogg, and music fans are considered the prime audience for the app. Though some critics point to the fact that Triller has recently permitted users to share a wider range of content, such as quirky videos, the fact remains that the app is music friendly. One example of the emphasis on music: Triller allows users to pull complete songs from their Apple Music or Spotify playlists, as compared to the 15 seconds allowed by TikTok.

Who’s on Triller?

As noted in Fortune, Gen Z is currently “establishing the winners and losers online,” and Triller, which has started to gain traction with Gen Z, may be one of those winners. The app has certainly been flexing its muscles of late, having poached some of TikTok’s influencers. Former TikTok creators like Josh Richards have made the switch (Richards is now also Triller’s chief strategy officer). Other former TikTok luminaries—Noah Beck, Griffin Johnson, and Anthony Reeves—have jumped to Triller and signed on as investors. And performers like Alicia Keys and Eminem have used the platform to create music videos.

Advertising on Triller

According to Digiday, “Triller’s commercial model revolves around letting influencers raise money from fans, advertisers and partnerships with music labels.” The approach can be a lucrative one. As noted in Influencer Marketing Hub, influencer marketing allows brands to reach a young, urban audience through influencers who have already cultivated the kinds of relationships that make marketing successful.

In October, Triller also partnered with ad tech start-up Consumable to sell digital and video format ads meant to be placed between videos on the app. Mark Levin, CEO of Consumable, shared, “This is an exciting partnership given our collective focus on delivering innovative, bite-sized content. It combines Triller’s short-form entertainment with Consumable’s short-form digital advertising to deliver the first social video discovery platform on media publisher websites.” As noted in Business of Apps, the partnership will give marketers a crack at new audiences.

Also notable: advertising on the app can be nothing short of groundbreaking. E.l.f. Cosmetics, which set trends in late 2019 with an innovative TikTok campaign, redefined cool yet again in late 2020 by working with Triller. As e.l.f. CMO Kory Marchisotto noted, the cosmetics brand ended the year with “a big music bang,” partnering with Triller to release an entire holiday-themed album featuring not only danceable electronic beats but also plenty of “e.l.f.-isms.”

Meanwhile, Triller is going to do some advertising on its own in a big way: reportedly, Triller is gearing up for its first-ever Super Bowl ad.

We Recommend

There are lessons to be learned from apps like Triller, as 2021 ushers in a new era of music, advertising, and innovation. We recommend that you:

  • Don’t get complacent. Stay attuned to new apps and new ways of communicating.
  • That means staying in tune with your audience. Are you reaching out to Gen Z? Know what language they speak. As Triller demonstrates, music can be a key way to connect. And ad length may differ depending on your target market.
  • Finally, understand how relationships with influencers can elevate your brand. Influencers can get your product in front of users in an authentic and meaningful way. Think about which influencers might have an organic connection with your brand.

 Contact True Interactive

Triller, of course, is just one way to connect with audiences. Eager to expand your reach in a fresh way that rings true? Contact us. We can help.

Clubhouse: An Exclusive New App Powered by Audio Chat

Clubhouse: An Exclusive New App Powered by Audio Chat

Mobile Social media

Oprah Winfrey is a fan. So is Drake. But the new social media app Clubhouse, developed by Paul Davison and Rohan Seth, is not just for celebrities. Why does Clubhouse matter to brands invested in digital? Read on to learn more.

What Is Clubhouse?

Clubhouse, an audio app that facilitates live conversation, is self-described as “a new type of social product based on voice [that] allows people everywhere to talk, tell stories, develop ideas, deepen friendships, and meet interesting new people around the world.” Conversations are not recorded or saved; when a Clubhouse cyber “room” ends, the conversation is done and gone. Participants can opt to just listen in, or they can spontaneously host their own rooms. And the topics under discussion are eclectic, ranging from talks about music to chats about film, beauty, culture, tech, and more.

Clubhouse is distinguished by the fact that it is an audio-only app. There is no feature for private messaging, and there are no written comments. It’s a conversation that just happens to take place online.

What Is the Clubhouse Experience Like?

As Michael Stelzner describes in Social Media Examiner, when you enter a room you hear the conversation going on. Participants can “raise their hand” (using the raised hand emoji) to participate, and might subsequently be invited “on stage” to join the discussion. Those who contribute to the conversation may even become moderators, which allows them to call others up on stage.

Some users find Clubhouse to be like a podcast: something they can listen to while doing other things. Some liken it to a panel discussion. The rooms cover a wide range of topics, something like AOL chat rooms from back in the day. Depending on your interests, you will find rooms devoted to, say, investment strategies for Bitcoin or daily habits for high performers, film talk, writing sessions, mindfulness tips, and much more.

Like any interactive experience, certain protocols are observed and expected. The understanding is that participants will mute themselves until they are called upon, or until they have something germane to add to the dialog. Moderators control the conversation, and rooms can run for hours.

Who’s in the Club?

The app brings a wide range of individuals—and interests—to the table. Celebs like Kevin Hart, Oprah, and Drake are already on board, drawn by the relative privacy the app affords. The app is currently invite-only; each participant is granted limited invites to extend, though the more active a participant is on the platform, the more invites they are able to share. Stelzner recommends downloading the app and setting up your account, then . . . waiting patiently. As he notes, “Someone who knows you might be notified in-app automatically and grant you access.”

Why Clubhouse Matters

Stelzner has asked other Clubhouse members to highlight reasons the app keeps drawing them back (he notes that “[n]early everyone I interviewed was a creator, marketer, or business owner”). Among the responses:

  • It’s viral. When someone you follow goes onstage, the app sends you a notification. You can click on the notification and immediately join the room as a passive listener.
  • You don’t have to be ready for your glam shot. There’s no camera; it’s just your avatar and your voice. So you can join the conversation with that shaggy Covid hair, or even while you are running errands.
  • It helps build business connections. Think the conversations that start at business conferences; this is the same thing, but online.
  • It’s a place to test ideas. Got an idea for a podcast? Clubhouse is a forum to throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks.

What We Recommend

Clubhouse, currently in beta, is only available to iPhone users; the invite-only protocol also limits availability. That said, according to wfmynews2.com, “Clubhouse claims it will eventually open up for everyone, but is attempting to ensure it takes the proper steps in doing so. They also want to make sure they can incorporate features that will be able to handle large chat rooms.”

In the meantime, the app’s very existence is a reminder of the myriad ways brands can plug into culture, understand the trends, and stay connected, even as the pandemic continues to minimize in-person contact. Clubhouse demonstrates yet another way to engage—and the importance of staying current and thinking outside the box—not just during Covid, but beyond.

What can be learned here? We suggest that you:

  • Stay abreast of the opportunities apps offer to connect with a new, diverse audience.
  • Don’t forget the power of audio in digital.
  • Understand the power of crowdsourcing new ideas or feedback on your brand.
  • Get involved. Download the app and request membership individually. Then start exploring the app in your role as your company’s brand ambassador. Network with experts in other industries. Never underestimate the value of learning from diverse startups, CEOs, tech giants—whether on an app like Clubhouse, or in other venues.

Contact True Interactive

To succeed with online advertising, contact True Interactive. Read about some of our client work here.