Welcome to the latest issue of Cuppa, a quick-fire newsletter for internet-first brand builders. Filled with analysis on the art, science and culture of building breakout brands in a digital age, it's quick enough to read over a cuppa. (Or something stronger if you need it...no judgement!). To get it direct to your inbox every other Wednesday, subscribe here.
ART
From Maybelline's CGI tube stunt to countless billboard mock-ups, has anyone else noticed an increasing number of brands posting OOH campaigns on LinkedIn that aren't actually live? It's an interesting marketing behaviour as it seems to be less centred around talking to consumers, and more so done to “peacock” at competitors and industry folk.
Mr. Beast's winning YouTube formula
What happens when you spend 7 days straight analysing every single video and interview from the biggest YouTuber in the world? You decipher their formula. And in Mr. Beasts case, apparently he applies the same successful formula to every single video he publishes.
Customer reviews in the wild
I noticed this ad from Method on the tube yesterday and thought it was a fabulous way to transform bold, and funny reviews from customers into simple, yet impactful OOH creative.
3 Tips for Better Ad Creative
Did you know that creative accounts for 80% of social algorithms, making it key a lever in ad performance? In our latest Cuppa video series, Sasha unveils our top 3 tips for better ad creative 👇
SCIENCE
Beauty Industry Musings
Farfetch recently announced they're exiting the beauty category, just a year after entering it.
In the last 10 or so years, new beauty brands and retailers have been springing up with whitelabel products, cut price margins and riding on the back of the social ad golden age. But with a pandemic, TikTok, and a whole new generation of beauty buyers, things have changed.
Consumers shop differently now (hello TikTok shop), loyalty has fallen, and competition has increased.
As always, the brand which prioritise the customer experience, building community, and providing wider holistic value will win.
After a prosperous period for the beauty industry, if feels like we're entering a time of redefining the category; revisiting what it means to be an authoritative, value-adding brand or retailer in the space that will stand the test of time.
TikTok provides increased insight to Shopify Merchants
TikTok is about to expand its events API for Shopify merchants - this means more data points for advertisers when tracking campaign performance, which should make it easier Shopify users to optimise their marketing efforts. The integration will allow businesses to share data directly, improving accuracy in audience targeting, campaign performance measurement, and marketing attribution. It's being reported that advertisers using the TikTok pixel and events API together have seen a 19% increase in captured events + a 15% improvement in CPA - this could be of particular interest to us, and others in the industry, for a number of reasons:
- Greater Ability to Leverage TikTok's Events API
- Feeding TikTok with more data will mean a richer dataset to measure the performance of campaigns
- Enhanced Optimisation of Marketing Initiatives
- Expanded integration means improved match quality, and better quality data from which to inform decisions, optimise, and refine strategy
- Simplification of Tracking
- No need for third-party code on your website, reducing reliance on cookie tracking and potential data limitations
