1.PETA's first Christmas ad will run in cinemas across the UK. It features an animated turkey who is spared from being killed and eaten, instead becoming a beloved companion animal. The advert ends with the message: 'Peace begins at home, so ask your butcher to be kind to animals at this time of year too.'
2. Spam Fighting Bots destroying Metrics? Have you ever wondered why your open rates are so high and your click-through rates are so low? It's probably because of email bots. If your email campaigns follow trends, 20% of the clicks received are likely phony and bot-generated. Talk about skewed marketing and campaign metrics. 🙄 Email bot clicks (sometimes called server clicks or non-human interactions) are often associated with spam-fighting algorithms aimed at
foiling phishing scams and protecting inboxes across the world wide web. These anti-spam algorithms scan every incoming email message and, sometimes, click links to ensure that they lead to safe websites. If anything seems phishy or malicious, the algorithm flags the message as spam or blocks it altogether. These programs are used at large email services like Gmail and Microsoft Outlook, but they are even more likely to be employed on government, medical, educational, and some business servers.
Imagine your brand is A/B testing an email offer. Some recipients are shown a deep discount on in-stock goods with bulky boxes and others are shown your new green packaging that costs a little more. Overcounting clicks (and opens) can lead to loads of errors: A/B test results may be inaccurate Email automation triggers
3. The future of newsprint is bright, but it's not all sunshine and roses—yet. Digital subscriptions are growing faster than
print, according to recent reports. But it's not clear whether they can make up for the revenue losses publishers have felt due to declining print readership. Take the Dallas Morning News, which now has 64,172 digital subscribers, up 12.4% over 2021. That's great! But a recent article in the paper said, “Revenue from digital-only subscribers rose by $1 million, but was largely offset by a $900,000 decline in print subscription revenue.” In contrast, the New York Times added 180,000
digital-only subscribers during Q3, bringing its total subscriptions to 9.33 million. The revenue from these new subscriptions offset higher operating costs caused by its purchase of The Athletic during Q2, according to Zacks investment Research. But it still faces challenges with its print circulation. “Subscription revenues from digital-only products jumped 22.8% to $243.9 million," Zacks reports about the Times' performance during Q3.. "However, print subscription revenues fell 3.6% to
$138.8 million due to lower domestic home delivery revenues. (MP)
4. If you thought that the end of The Walking Dead season nine was the end of your favorite characters, think again. A new initiative has brought four characters back from the dead for a series of ads for Autodesk, Deloitte, DoorDash, MNTN and Ring. The ads were co-ordinated by Ryan Reynolds’ Maximum Effort and AMC Networks’ Content Room. Kimmelot’s Dan Sanborn also had
a hand in putting together the brand-straddling narratives. The characters making their return included Milton Mamet (played by Dallas Roberts), Andrea Harrison (Laurie Holden), Rodney (Joe Ando-Hirsh) and Gareth (Andrew West). (Campaign)
5 Twitter UK Managing Director Dara Nasr has left the company after almost decade. Nasr joined Twitter as Managing Director, overseeing sales, operations and strategy for the company's UK business. He
previously worked at Facebook and Google, where he was VP of global media partnerships. According to an email, he has taken the entire Twitter UK sales team with him, and the offices have closed down -- as there are no more employees left?
6. Magic is back." Wall Street analysts and investors welcomed Iger's return to Disney, with speculation underway of possible strategic changes that he could usher in. Disney's stock, in pre-market
trading on Monday, was up 9.3 percent at $100.29 as of 7 a.m. ET. The stock had hit a 52-week low of $86.28 earlier this month. As of Friday’s market close, it had fallen about 40 percent so far this year.
7.As the waves of recession and economic uncertainty crash around us, one advertising channel stands tall. According to eMarketer’s Influencer Marketing report, influencer marketing could even benefit from the challenges faced by paid
advertising. The report claims U.S. marketers will spend around $5B on influencer marketing by the end of the year — $1B more than they’ve spent last year. Instagram is still the major creator channel with $2.23 billion spent on influencer marketing just in the U.S. this year – mostly thanks to the “wide range of shoppable content.” But TikTok’s catching up: The platform is expected to take Instagram’s crown by 2024, as “static content takes a back seat” and marketers move to a
Reels-first approach. Here are some of the other most important takeaways: New industries are finding their place in influencer marketing such as travel and food. Marketers are using influencers to “bypass” Apple’s iOS14.5 privacy regulations. TikTok’s lower entry costs could benefit advertisers short term. (emarketer)
8.D6 is a digital customer experience agency that leverages technology, analytics, and content to create innovative
solutions that drive measured and forecasted results for brands. They partner with clients to build engaging stories that extend brands across an array of applications and customer touchpoints. D6 services its customers through a base of skilled creative and technical employees that pride themselves on producing content at scale and forecasting the specific impact they have on a client’s business through advanced analytics and a willingness to commit to a forecast across
touchpoints.
9.Twitter's expansion of verification services to paying users has been a key concern for the lawmakers, with experts noting the escalation of financial scams and disinformation as a result of the move. Numerous companies and individuals have already been impersonated using the new verification service. "Twitter knew in advance that there was high likelihood the Twitter Blue product could be used for fraud, and still it
took no action to prevent consumers from being harmed until this rampant impersonation became a public relations crisis," said the letter. The Federal Trade Commission has been urged by Senate Democrats, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., to launch an investigation on possible Twitter data security concerns since Elon Musk's acquisition of the microblogging site last month, according to CyberScoop.
10.
Oh, Twitter. Your employees are leaving you in droves. They're saying that if you can't fix the issues with your site, they're going to look elsewhere for employment. And who can blame them? You've had a rocky few years, and things just don't seem to be getting any better. You've been accused of censoring conservative voices and failing to protect your users from online abuse. And now Elon Musk has said it's time for you to take a long, hard look at yourself and decide if it's worth it
anymore. He's even offered his help—if only you'll let him! We know that this is a tough time for you, but we're here to help! We have a team of experts ready when you are; just say the word and we'll be there.
10. Google has won a significant court case against a group that had been operating a network of bots to manipulate its systems. The case relates to a Russian-based group called Glupteba, which had used bot exploits to infiltrate
millions of Windows devices and steal user credentials and cookies, mine cryptocurrencies on infected hosts, and deploy proxy components that would target Windows systems and IoT devices. The malware was primarily distributed through questionable download links for pirated software. The Glupteba system is not new and has been active since at least 2016, but the ruling could have major implications for future cybercrime cases involving botnets. (SMT)
11. The shopping season is upon us, and while consumers always keep stores busy through the long Black Friday weekend, new research from Deloitte finds that consumers plan to do more spending than in the past. On average, people will spend about 50% of their holiday budget this weekend, up from 43% last year. And that shift is present in every income category. Rod Sides, Deloitte Insights leader, Deloitte LLP insights leader "Consumers are looking for bargains
and the impact of inflation," says Rod Sides, Deloitte Insights leader at Deloitte LLP. "Comparing these findings to data we released a few weeks back shows that total spending will be pretty flat, year over year." About 80% of holiday consumers in this survey plan to shop at some point (up from 71% in 2021), with 19% planning to shop on all three biggest days: Prime Day (July 15), Black Friday (Nov. 29) and Cyber Monday (Dec. 2). "The growth among lower-income shoppers—with those earning less
than $50K saying they'll spend 19% more this weekend than last year—is interesting." (MP)