I hope my Canadian subscribers have recovered from a fantastic Thanksgiving feast (and a devastating Blue Jays loss). This newsletter is a tad late, as I just returned from a mini-vacation in NYC. One of the highlights was a trip to MOMA, specifically the Systems Exhibit. It featured artwork including the original Google Maps Pin. It was interesting to stop and think about the artwork that goes into the everyday web, and the impact of the everyday web on art.
Returning to Toronto, we didn’t need to use the much maligned $54M ArriveCan app. Canadian tech companies are criticizing (alright, mocking) the government for its price tag, demonstrating how the app could have been built for a fraction of the cost. I thought this thread by Alistair Croll was an excellent counterbalance, highlighting the complexities of building a new government service during a global pandemic.
Social Commerce
The convergence of e-commerce and social media (‘social commerce’ for your digital buzzword bingo card) seems to be cooling. Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok have all slowed their rolls into this hyped space. Instagram has started to remove the Shop tab from its home feed for some users. Further, more brands are moving their livestream shopping (i.e., video) initiatives from social platforms to their own brand websites. Seems like social platforms are embracing their more natural role as places to discover products vs. places to also complete a transaction.
Metaverse WFT
Tim Cook made headlines last week for saying what many of us have been thinking – maybe we should stop talking about the metaverse if we all don’t know what it is. He called the term “ambiguous and hypothetical”, but was bullish on AR and VR for “set periods” – an important distinction. Looking ahead, Bloomberg feels that Apple is well positioned to launch a new AR or VR product given its success of launching niche hardware products (see AirPods). If your company is still dead set on thriving in the metaverse – Tim Cook be damned – you can always hire a Chief Metaverse Office for a cool $1M.
Longing & Shorting
Move over Simon Sinek’s “Start with Why” model, marketers now can’t stop talking about Binet & Field’s the Long and the Short of It. Tom Roach has the latest take that explores the relationship between long-term brand building and short-term sales activation – it’s worth a read. Here’s a useful summary of key points from the original work, which might be helpful for those of you doing your annual brand planning.
If your annual plans include e-commerce or retail media, check out this report on revenue metrics which includes a useful glossary of terms. And if you’re like many of my clients and are planning on more testing & learning this year – make sure that you have a standardized way of articulating your hypotheses, defining your tests, and to capturing your learnings. Below are a few templates that you can use as starting points – more can be found here.
Digital Ad Tips
TikTok: OK COOL has put together a fun and useful guide to modern advertising on TikTok with plenty of tips, hot-takes, and examples. Important to work with experts in this space.
Meta: The 2022 Creative Forecast from Meta outlines 5 creative trends for brands to consider, including case studies that demonstrate new Meta ad products.
Google: New research from Google on the evolving role that search plays in retail (including perspective from Seth Godin), and a great overview of changes to the core search product for brands.
Worth a Skim
More Google innovations, including updates to Maps to help users get a Vibe Check before visiting neighbourhoods. Google also has a proof of concept that turns text into 3D models. You can now literally speak something into existence.
Zoe Scaman has shared her slides from a recent IPA presentation on the negative impact of cynicism on the creative industry. Love her reframing of optimism as not an attitude, but a strategy for creative progress.
Has LinkedIn become Facebook? Smart article on how the content on LinkedIn has become more personal, as our definition of what is ‘professional’ has broadened and blurred. Love this initiative by the agency Walrus – sharing their dead ideas on LinkedIn instead of just repackaging them for another client. Sorry, that was cynical. Working on it.