Today in Digital Marketing - Money or Morals? The Brand Purpose Hibernation

Starting point is 00:00:00 Today, has the economic downturn killed brand purpose? Not being funny may cost you. Bing takes on Google Shopping. Pinterest's big push towards live streaming commerce. And YouTube has the fix for your fixes. It's Wednesday, June 15th. I'm Steph Gunn, filling in for Todd Maffin. Here's what you missed today in digital marketing.

Starting point is 00:00:31 Adweek has a great piece up today exploring how brand purpose is hibernating as consumer priorities shift from seeking brands with morals to brands that will save them a buck. We've reported numerous studies that indicate consumers are increasingly looking to support brands that go beyond maximizing profits, whether that be through protecting the environment or fighting for social justice. But with shoppers paying nearly 9% more for everyday goods and services this year, your brand purpose may need to crawl into a cave and take a nap for the time being. New research from consulting firm McKinsey & Company revealed that 7 out of 10 consumers who tried a new brand recently did so because of its value. Meanwhile, only 15% of respondents indicated brand purpose spurred them to try something new,

Starting point is 00:01:14 down from over a third of people a year and a half ago. Well, another recent survey from Nielsen IQ found that shoppers have shifted their dollars away from national brands in favor of more affordable store brands. The piece notes that while brand purpose might be down right now, it's not dead. As Tamara Charma, partner at McKinsey, explained, the importance shoppers place on brand purpose is rising in the big picture, but at the moment, customers are changing brands based on value for money. Before you throw your brand purpose out the window, the piece suggests brands can still talk about purpose as long as they consider their price points and target audiences. Quoting Charm, matching people's beliefs and giving them

Starting point is 00:01:49 great value for money, that's going to be a great combination over the next year. As you juggle your brand purpose, price points, and an economic crisis, consumers also expect you to be funny while doing it. A new study released today found that 9 out of 10 consumers prefer funny brands, and 7 out of 10 would choose a brand that uses humor over the competition. Despite this, 95% of business leaders fear using humor in consumer interactions, as less than a fifth report using the tactic in online ads. The report also found that 9 out of 10 consumers are more likely to remember ads that are funny. In addition, humor can be critical in establishing a brand connection.

Starting point is 00:02:34 Half of the consumers said that they don't believe they have a relationship with a brand unless it makes them smile or laugh, while 4 out of 10 said that they would step away from a brand if it doesn't make them smile or laugh regularly. The brand connection extends to social media as well, with three-quarters of consumers saying they would follow a brand on social media if it was funny, yet only 15% of brands use humor on socials. According to the report, humor can also help improve email campaign open rates.

Starting point is 00:03:02 7 out of 10 respondents said that they would open an email from a brand if the subject line was funnier, yet only a quarter of business leaders use humor in their campaigns. So why are brands sleeping on being funny? 85% say they lack the data insights or tools to deliver humor effectively. Data has been provided by Oracle's Happiness Report of over 12,000 consumers and business leaders. Microsoft Bing is building a new retail marketplace to compete with Google Shopping. Bing currently offers a feature called Start Shopping, where customers can find products, click, and be taken to the retailer's website. Search Engine Land reports that the new marketplace will be called BuyDirect and lets people click on products and complete the purchase within Bing's platform. According to Search Engine Land, similar to Google Shopping, merchants will set up their storefronts and Bing will handle the

Starting point is 00:03:55 payments. Microsoft will also allow sellers to promote their products through advertising and will use Microsoft-owned LinkedIn's audience data as an additional tool to help advertisers manage ad prices. Pinterest has made a big move in its push to video. The company recently announced a new partnership with lifestyle content video platform Tastemade to scale creators, content series, and live streaming on the Pinterest platform. The content platform was already one of the largest video providers for Pinterest globally. The company noted that Tastemade pins drive 200% more saves than the average pin. As a result of the partnership, Tastemade will produce 50 new shows exclusively on Pinterest

Starting point is 00:04:39 and will be streaming new live programming for Pinterest TV in a push to help brands and creators with live streaming commerce. Brands will also have the opportunity to partner with Tastemade and Pinterest at in-person events. On top of its push to video, Pinterest announced two new ad options today. First, Idea Ads. Idea Ads are an immersive multi-page format designed for advertisers to showcase ideas in action through both video and image content. Shoppers will be able to perform actions including visiting the brand's website,

Starting point is 00:05:11 seeing step-by-step breakdowns, and viewing ingredients lists and materials. The second ad option is a new paid partnership tool. With the tool, creators can now tag brand partners directly in their content to showcase their sponsored relationship. Pinterest also says the tool will make it easier for brands and creators to connect on partnership opportunities. Do you have business insurance? If not, how would you pay to recover from a cyber attack, fire damage, theft, or a lawsuit? No business or profession is risk-free. Without insurance, your assets are at risk from major financial losses, data breaches, and natural disasters. Get customized coverage today starting at $19 per month at zensurance.com. Be protected.

Starting point is 00:05:59 Be Zen. We still can't edit a tweet, but a new feature from YouTube will be a welcome addition for marketers. Yesterday, the platform announced a new tool to fix errors in an already uploaded video. Previously, if you uploaded a video with a mistake, the only way around it was to edit and re-upload the video. Now, YouTube is rolling out a new feature called Corrections that lets creators make adjustments without losing all of their comments and engagement metrics. However, it's still not a perfect solution. After a video has been uploaded, creators can add corrections that will appear as an info card that will appear at the time of the error in the video.

Starting point is 00:06:36 Clicking on that card will expand the video description where the creator has provided a written correction or clarification. In other news from Twitter that sadly doesn't involve an edit button, the platform recently announced a new feature for brands and professional accounts called Location Spotlight. Similar to a Google business profile, the spotlight allows businesses and shops to display details on their profile, including business location, contact info such as phone number and email, business hours, and more. Twitter professional accounts in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia can now use the feature. Finally, if you felt like you're living Groundhog Day while you're scrolling Instagram stories this

Starting point is 00:07:20 week, here's why. For several iOS users, the app has been requiring them to rewatch all of someone's stories before they can see new ones. I personally am still experiencing the issue. Instagram released an update in the app store yesterday that, according to multiple sources, resolves the problem. I haven't done the update yet. On the plus side, it's likely that your followers have viewed your brand's stories multiple times this week. I had something happen to me this morning that I feel like could be on the front page of Reddit. So I was out walking my dog and I inhaled a bug through my nose. I was still about a block away from home and I could feel it wiggling around.

Starting point is 00:08:13 It was still alive, but in my sinuses. My eyes were watering. I was sneezing. It was an absolute scene. Some guy actually yelled from his porch asking me if I needed a tissue. So I finally get home and I can feel that it's no longer in my nose. It's in my throat. Eventually, I ended up coughing it out,

Starting point is 00:08:31 but it was either that or I was going to have to get the shop back out to get it out. Or I don't know, maybe borrow Todd's power washer. Almost 900 digital marketers just like you are in our Slack community. Inside, you'll find great advice on campaign setup and scaling. Jobs get posted there,

Starting point is 00:08:45 all sorts of great stuff. It's free to join. All you have to do is tap the link in the show notes or go to todayindigital.com slash slack. Thanks for listening and Todd will be back tomorrow. We'll see you next time.

Today in Digital Marketing - Money or Morals? The Brand Purpose Hibernation

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