Time to catch up on what caught my eye in marketing this month. As always there is so much going on so please leave your comments with things you saw that grabbed your attention (we know how hard that is to get!). If you enjoy this newsletter please do feel free to share it with your friends and family (ok that is probably a big ask, maybe people you work with though!).
As always TLDR links here
Audio https://open.spotify.com/episode/7hKlRRvmSBB5NwD31R7m5B?si=f2e965b967f1444a
NotebookLM - I used NotebookLM to create a discussion of the newsletter https://open.spotify.com/episode/3gSGtqwneYFE4OgVP0jpIm?si=aab4dec3343342e0
Attribution: Is it doing more harm than good?
This white paper from Analytics Partners, Inc. explores the growing inadequacies of traditional attribution models in marketing, especially in an evolving digital landscape. Attribution models have long been used by marketers to determine the effectiveness of advertising channels by assigning credit to specific touch points that led to consumer purchases. But as you well know, as digital platforms become more complex and privacy regulations limit data collection, marketers are finding it increasingly difficult to get a full view of the consumer journey, thus weakening attribution models.
One provocative viewpoint the paper presents is that attribution models might be actively harming marketing strategies. Marketers are often optimising based on perceived rather than actual performance, creating what the paper calls the "measurement triangle of doom." This cycle of bad data leads to poor decision-making, wasting marketing investments. While attribution offers real-time insights, it’s no longer the reliable tool it once was, leading to over-attribution of some channels. The facts are well known, missing data (due to ad blockers, privacy frameworks, and platform walled gardens) significantly distorts attribution results, yet we still use these models.
The paper raises a the (controversial?) argument as to whether marketers should just abandon attribution altogether. Traditionalists resist this notion because of the substantial investment in attribution tools and the difficulty in switching systems. However, the paper advocates for supplementing attribution with more comprehensive tools like Marketing Mix Modelling (MMM) that account for incremental sales and offer a broader, cross-channel view. Les Binet ’s criticisms of attribution further fuel this debate, arguing that attribution often claims credit for sales that would have occurred anyway, misleading marketers.
Ultimately, the paper encourages marketers to embrace new measurement approaches, including controlled experiments and econometric models, to capture true incrementality. It recommends a shift from over-reliance on attribution models to adopting a more holistic toolkit. While attribution is not without value, I think we all know that it has to evolve (right?), and we need to discover the real drivers of sales. I suspect the "challenging" C-suite are up for figuring this out with you though, surely they are?
What to do when you end up in 500 audience segments
I was talking to Jon Lombardo & Peter Weinberg about Paul McIntyre & Mi3Australia and explaining my fandom to them. So you will not be surprised to see a few Mi3 references again this month. This article really grabbed by attention.
In the article Jon Bradshaw critiques the effectiveness of data-driven targeting in advertising, despite the booming $700 billion martech industry. The article kicks off by reminding us of the insight from Arielle Garcia, former chief privacy officer at UM in the US, who got her own data from a broker and found that she was in 500 different audience segments, both a man and a woman. Let's read that again, she was in 500 different audience segments, both a man and a woman.
Bradshaw argues that the foundations of data are flawed, leading to poor ad performance. He references three studies that challenge the assumption that data-driven targeting improves advertising. The first study suggests that the costs of targeting often outweigh the benefits, while the second finds that broad reach is more effective than narrow targeting in generating incremental sales. The third study reveals that second and third-party data perform no better than random samples in reaching target audiences, while first-party data is only marginally better, and contextual advertising outperforms all.
Bradshaw highlights a fundamental issue: the prevailing belief that refined, data-driven targeting leads to better ad performance may be misguided. He calls for evidence, not opinion, to refute the findings that contextual ads and broader reach often deliver better results than targeted campaigns. While programmatic and martech-driven advertising have been hailed as the future, Bradshaw questions whether these methods are worth the investment given the poor quality of data and the high costs of targeting. He also points out that despite the widespread use of personalisation and programmatic ads, the foundational data often fails to live up to its promises.
As Prof. dr. Koen Pauwels said when he spoke to That's What I Call Marketing, the studies Bradshaw references point to the broader conclusion that: advertising is a weak force that works best when it simplifies decision-making for consumers. Instead of hyper-targeting based on flawed data, placing ads in the right context and using broader reach tactics can be more cost-effective and yield better returns. Bradshaw urges marketers to reconsider their heavy reliance on data-driven targeting, suggesting they focus on the places where consumers are already engaging with their product categories rather than trying to reach them through intricate data segmentation.
So what can you do? Well here are three things:
Three Actions Marketers Can Take to Improve Media Spend Decisions:
Test Contextual Advertising: Instead of relying solely on data-driven targeting, explore contextual advertising to place ads where consumers are already engaging with relevant content.
Prioritise Broad Reach: Shift focus from narrow, conversion-focused targeting to broader reach strategies that can generate incremental sales and reduce the costs associated with hyper-targeting.
Evaluate Data Sources: Scrutinise the quality of first, second, and third-party data being used for targeting. Consider simpler, less costly methods, such as random sampling or contextual placements, for better accuracy and performance.
Please stop letting Gen-Z write the marketing script
Poor Homer Can't Cope!
So last month I talked about the Currys social piece "when Gen-Z writes the marketing script" - it was so fresh, funny, well delivered. But wow, can we please move on from this "trend". I have seen countless versions of this, from Airfield Estate to B&Q, Northumberland Zoo to East Midlands Airport. Ok everyone, it is done. Thank you very much.
A.I.didas
AI always shows up in these newsletters. I work with AI tools a lot and am experimenting where I am not familiar to get my head around it. Recently I was looking at Viant and was watching the video from the launch of ViantAI with our Co-Founders Tim Vanderhook & Chris Vanderhook have launched an AI tool, I was drawn to it as Dr. Augustine Fou commented on it saying very cool, now this is a man that is as vocal about the problems with digital advertising and has shone a light on it for years, so for him to think this is very cool, well it is one I want to watch.
Meanwhile Mi3Australia Aus (Yet again) did an amazing analysis from Year End Reports (Rememebr AU end of Fiscal year is June 30th) looking at how Australia's biggest companies using AI today. Worth a read, what was interesting to me was there was only one clear mention of it being used in/for Advertising
Then there was the Adidas AI ad, spec ad. There are lots of these happening aren’t there. I don’t see anything wrong with it. I can’t recall who said it, but someone made the comment that “I have to remind myself that this will be the worst that AI will get” . The piece is created by RABBITHOLE who say they are pushing the boundaries of AI. I cant tell if any of their work is for clients or just spec work? The Film director Blair Vermette may let us know?
Back to Mi3 who have reported that Eric Schmidt says AI's impact over two years will be profound. But he warns 'there's not enough electricity in the US' to meet OpenAI's US$300bn investment ambitions!" - I have mentioned it before and as much as I love AI I do worry about the impact on the environment, anyone else?
Broom-Broom
I was drawn in by a Linkedin post by Aditya Oza sharing work for Emotorad here. Clearly showing an understanding of the attention economy and the need to draw people in, they cleverly use a huge star doing something unexpected to draw attention in the hope of retaining audiences to know what it is about. Could/should the brand be in the piece sooner? That’s a risk for sure. But if the celeb is strongly associated with the brand then it could be doing the job. The sound effect is great and clearly can be used in other areas, they can have lots of fun with it too. Also the part of the ad where he is going Weeeee, Whooooo, is, on its own fantastic. For me this works because we have fame, attention, strong role for the brand, entertaining and enjoyable for the most part throughout. Wonder how it is performing Aditya Oza ?
Homewares Fashion Shoot
Bringing fashion to your kitchen
Tesco launched has revamped its homewares range and has gone all fashion housey with their OOH. This is great work by BBH London and Tesco. Always wonder why it is called F&F and not Tesco Home? I imagine this was a pretty big shoot to organise and the more I use AI tools, I wonder how long until this work could be created using AI and not a shoot?
An offer to make you smile
I forgot to add this to my last newsletter. this is a great offer from the SmilingCFO . So they have lots of data about brands mental availablliy and if you are heading for a job interview, especially in the FMCG space, they are happy to talk to you about data they have for the brand you are interviewing with. Giving you a leg up on your competition. They have taken me through their data and it is great. Worth checking this out if you are a jobseeker. Probably worth checking them out regardless. (not paid for this!) Mark E.C. Smith, MBA nice one for this offer.
A star for G-Star
G-Star doesn’t even make it into the UKs top 200 most popular fashion brands. That is a lot of brands ahead of them. I follow Rhys McClenaghan , the Olympic Gold Medal gymnast. He was an ambassador when we sponsored Team Ireland for the Tokyo Games. His dedication then was just incredible, such passion, drive and focus. He was only 21 when we met him to film content and he was sound (Im a big fan of sound), so lovely to my kids and my niece who met him. Of course we know what happened at Tokyo and to see him bounce back and achieve his dream, his goal, was incredible. Anyway since then I have always followed Rhys on social and this month saw him promote his partnership with G-Star Raw with a wonderful piece of content. It felt like an ad for a mens fragrance, had that pace and edge to it, he looked effortlessly cool in it and it allowed the brand look cool too. (Am I ok to use the word cool!). Great work and great to see Rhys capitalise on his fame (he is also a red bull athlete now)
Bingo calls
I really enjoyed the new work from Tombola, The UK’s biggest online bingo brand. This is a packed category, not just competing with online bingo but a huge variety of online games, both paid and free. So getting cut through is hard. So Tombola have partnered with agency Meanwhile , which was founded in 2022 by former BBC Creative CDs Tim Jones and James Cross and Chapter MD Alastair Marchant , to do just that. Starring stand-up Jo Griffin, the ad illustrates all the random moments of downtime that are well-suited to a spot of bingo, starting out with more mundane examples before swiftly descending into the surreal. It is all put together with an original track written by The Midnight Beast – the comedy music group most famous for their YouTube parody cover of Ke$ha’s classic noughties track TikTok. It wonder was there any inspiration taken from Yorkshire Tea and back yer bags from last summer, another great combination of an original music track and fun creative. This is definitely fun and a change in tone for Tombola.
Office Drama
You hear the word(s) KitKat and you just hear Have a Break, right? This brand has been consistently building DBAs for over 80 years. I did see recently they changed packaging in the US, but it was more subtle changes than total pack re-design. I’d have been surprised if they had done that, but would love to have an insight into why it was needed. Meanwhile KitKahas launched a global campaign highlighting the need for better-quality breaks in today’s busy world. “Break better", created by VML will launch in the UK and later roll out across Europe, Canada and Australia. Clearly the days of remote working are coming to their end as we are firmly back in an office setting where the main character is overwhelmed by the struggles of office work and is relieved when he sits down, opens that kitkat and breaks off a finger of the biscuit (or is it a bar!) soon to be joined by another worker. The ad is topped off by I Want to break Free by Queen.
Research by KitKat and Kantar across five markets found that while most people thought they took enough breaks, only 34% reported taking high-quality breaks. Many said their breaks were often interrupted or filled with distractions, whether due to busy schedules, multitasking or simply being unable to fully switch off. The campaign will be across TV, online video, out of home, social media and influencer collaborations. It will be great to see what activations and collaborations look like with this. I saw Chris O'Donnell post about a month ago and he shared the version of this for the Indian market, it is interesting to see the subtle differences in that execution, even down to the breaking of the bar, where the silver wrapper is still on. This is classic KitKat work and this idea just continues to give.
It is the sort of idea that you could run with in AI and generate 100's of executions against. Here is something I did in about 4 minutes, not saying they are wonderful, but they sort of work?
Where do you rank?
The Lions Creativity Rankings are out, well the start of them, Simon Cook Chief Executive Officer, LIONS, said that this isn’t just about recognising work that won awards, but it is there to act as a tool to learn and fuel future success. The first report out are the global rankings and then five subsequent reports will feature awarded work, insights from Jurors and winners and highlights from the Cannes Lions stages. The reports will focus on the core Festival streams: The Creativity Toolbox, Creative Impact, Innovation Unwrapped, Talent and Culture and Insights and Trends. If you have a paid subscription you can go deep into the work and get insights, so without that it is somewhat informative, but just a list really.
Sound crew getting together
Amazing line up for Sounding Out in Dublin next week if you are around, definitely one worth checking out. This Radiocentre Ireland event has fast become one of the must attend events of the year. What I love about this event, yes it is audio focus, but Ciaran Cunningham curates a list of speakers that bring broad expertise and knowledge to the audience. I am not sure if they have any space left, but worth checking it out to see and if you are there in the day, come say hi.
Robert Heath Craig Mawdsley Andrew Tindall Ralph van Dijk Bridget Angear Steve Keller Sarah McInerney Jess Kelly Penny Browell Rob Timony Sandra Alvarez Finola Geraghty Ciaran Cunningham
Stunt to land a message
I love clever marketing stunts that are cheap to activate and get attention. This campaign by Dad Shift is all of the above. The new campaign which aims to improve paternity leave in the UK attached lifesize model babies in slings to bronze statues of men across central London and called on the government to improve the UK’s parental leave options, which are ranked the least generous in Europe for fathers. As a result, recent research found one in three UK fathers took no paternity leave after the birth of their child. This is terrible and it gets worse because one in two families where the fathers took paternity leave reported struggling financially afterwards - this just highlights the pay gap issue that exists. Smarter people than me, like Jan Gooding , have talked about this and the need to change the narrative for maternity leave or paternity leave to parental leave that is equal. I have seen first hand the impact maternity leave has had on my much smarter wife and honestly it drives me nuts. Good on Dad Shift for highlighting the issue in the UK in a clever way, but it feels like this is the tip of the iceberg of the issue for parental leave.
Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian
Standing out
75% of resumes sent are never read, but an office pizza is hard to ignore. Now this seems like something that a job platform would want to fix, for some reason none of them have bothered in fact I would argue they often make it worse, using generic AI screening tools and re-posting old or irrelevant jobs for you to waste your time on. But, for some reason, Pizza Hut in the New York have decided they should help job seekers grab the attention of employers and differentiate themselves in a crowded job market. by printing applicants’ resumes directly on a pizza box and hand-delivering these specially crafted boxes to corporate headquarters of customer’s choosing – all for free. “We know finding a job can be daunting especially during this key hiring season, so we wanted to lend a hand to our job seeking customers and help them break through the clutter,” said Pizza Hut’s Chief Marketing Officer, Melissa Abola Friebe . “By combining Pizza Hut’s iconic pizza boxes with job seekers’ resumes, we are hoping to help resumes drum up the same excitement as office pizza and help the applicant make a lasting impression. Who could possibly ignore a resume when it is delivered as a delicious pizza?” Hey Melissa, any chance I could get some of those pizza resumes over here??
Is it Christmas Already?
John Lewis & Partners is not known for its advertising outside of the big Christmas ad that it has become famous for. Now things haven’t gone brilliantly for John Lewis in the past few years in terms of the Christmas Ads hits. It looks like John Lewis are doing a big lead into Christmas this year, the “through the decades” TV advert is the first in a three-part campaign which will culminate with the department store’s highly anticipated Christmas spot. The Christmas period is highly competitive and very expensive (about ¼ of all media spend in the UK is focussed in the weeks leading up to Christmas) so perhaps what John Lewis are doing here is spreading their spend to be more always on and top of mind and not relying on the big hit to work. The first ad features archive footage and focuses on a single store window changing over a century as it is dressed and redressed with products such as fashions of the roaring 1920s and a toaster so innovative that that it took centre stage in 1925.
Scenes are also shown during the outbreak of the Second World War, when the retailer’s Oxford Street store – the first John Lewis – provided a temporary war bunker and was hit during the Blitz. The end of the ad features the Never Knowingly Undersold pledge, which began in 1925, reinstated on the shop window.John Lewis brought back the pledge on September 9 in a major U-turn after ditching the commitment two years ago over concerns it was less relevant to shoppers.
The retailer said sales had “increased significantly” since the pledge’s re-launch, and organic visits their website – or those that are unpaid via search engines – had increased by more than 50,000 a day.
As is the way with John Lewis they have also focussed on investing in a great soundtrack, a version of Paul Simon’s I Know What I Know, is sung by Laura Mvula, while Bafta-winning actress Samantha Morton provides the voiceover. John Lewis customer director Charlotte Lock said: “We’ve looked to our heritage to inform our refreshed value promise to customers, making it relevant for today by matching not only high street retailers but also online competitors – and we are backing it with the biggest marketing campaign in our history”. The work has been developed by creative agency Saatchi & Saatchi.
Insights by Kantar has released some results from the campaign, reported in Marketing Week “In a survey of 1,300 adults conducted by Kantar, an “encouraging” proportion of people watched the entirety of new TV advert ‘The Window’, On average, people were skipping at around 14 seconds, with short-term sales effects found to be in line with the retailer’s previous Christmas ads. However, John Lewis customers were found to respond much more positively to the ad, compared to non-shoppers” Now the rest of that article is behind the Marketing Week Paywall, but as we know to grow the market you need to engage non buyers, so this may create some early concerns for John Lewis, but they are a smart team so I am betting they are all over this.
The fight is over, it is official brand building and performance marketing work better together!
Thanks to Tracksuit and TikTok the battle lines are faded and we can all just get along. Time to go hug your BFF on the performance or brand team, make them a Taylor Swift Friendship bracelet and a cup of tea (probably herbal) and read the Awareness Advantage study aloud to each other. In some ways it is astounding that we need this report, but we actually do. Definitely go and download the report, but some highlights for you are:
on TikTok high awareness brands achieve 2.86x the conversion rate of low awareness brands.
a brand with 40% prompted awareness is 43% more efficient in driving conversions than one with 30% awareness.
while brands consistently benefit from increased awareness, the incremental gains in conversion efficiency become more subtle as awareness rises above this 37% threshold.
It’s the little things that count
A wonderful article for Dr Grace Kite about the cumulative effects of channels in your marketing mix, in the article Grace points out that while the modern media stack is a lot of complexity and fragmentation, it is also full options and variety. Years ago, while the landscape was fragmented but not maybe as fragmented, I ran a team that ran 100’s of experiments and this was one we tested. Maybe less scientifically than Grace, but we found the same results, as you go from using one channel to five, econometrics reports a huge 35-65% more ROI, and according to Kantar, you can more than double the effect on your brand. No single media channel gets everyone for 30 glorious seconds, but together, the stack delivers a critical mass of smaller exposures.
No single media channel gets everyone for 30 glorious seconds, but together, the stack delivers a critical mass of smaller exposures. Importantly Grace calls out the need for some sort of matching luggage approach “for a lot of little campaigns to work, creative has to be samey enough that it gels together in the audience’s mind” but you need to consider the platform as Tom Roach has told us about, for a while now! Grace reminds us that “The platforms that people scroll through, only catching a glimpse of your ad, are here to stay” so we need to think about and plan for the cumulative effect of our marketing. Read the post here.
If you were jet lagged this would have caught you!
This ad, by Specsavers, was in Melbourne airport, and is a such great example of a campaign that travels well across borders. "Should’ve gone to Specsavers" has become more than just a catchy slogan; it’s embedded itself in everyday language. Since its launch in 2002, the brand has held onto these four words and has continuously used them as a Distinctive Brand Asset and a vehicle for a unique style of humour.
From witty out-of-home campaigns to engaging banter on Twitter, Specsavers has continually captured attention has transcended traditional advertising embedding itself into popular culture. So why has it worked?
🪐Simplicity and Universality: The slogan is easy to remember and straightforward. It taps into the universal experience of making mistakes or misjudging something because of poor vision. This universality makes it relatable across demographics and geographies.
🤪 Humour and Playfulness: Specsavers has cleverly paired this tagline with light-hearted humour. By focusing on everyday blunders and using self-deprecating wit, the brand avoids being preachy or overly technical. Humour makes the message approachable, and people like funny!
🏛️ Cultural Flexibility: The slogan can be adapted to different cultures and markets without losing its core appeal. Whether it’s in Ireland, Australia, or the UK, the essence of the joke – that someone’s made a mistake due to poor eyesight – is universal, and this flexibility allows Specsavers to craft campaigns with local relevance while maintaining global consistency. AND this could work in any market, if Specsavers ever went to Brazil, India or Singapore this campaign can work.
💥 Integration into Popular Culture: What makes this slogan transcend advertising is its integration into everyday conversations. People use "Should’ve gone to Specsavers" to comment on any error, whether it’s related to vision or not. It has become a punchline for mistakes of all kinds, creating a viral loop where the public does the brand’s work by keeping the slogan in circulation.
❤️ Emotional Connection: At its core, "Should’ve gone to Specsavers" plays on a gentle form of schadenfreude – laughing at someone’s minor misfortune. This emotional connection, grounded in humour rather than negativity, makes people feel like they’re in on the joke. The brand becomes not just a service provider but part of a shared cultural experience.
🔄Consistency and Longevity: Specsavers has remained committed to this slogan for over two decades. While many brands pivot to new messaging frequently, Specsavers has doubled down on a single, clear identity. This consistency has helped build trust, as people know what to expect from the brand – clever, funny, and reliable. Their marketing is not just about selling glasses but about making the brand part of everyday life.
HT to Zara Seidler ☕️ for the picture! Bravo to Peter Wright Nicola Wardell and all the Specsavers team for their consistently brilliant work
Get up from behind your desk
Succession star Brian Cox fronted a new ad for ASICS EMEA , well turns out it actually wasnt for asics, just funded by asics in partnership with Mind , the mental health charity. Why is this important, well if this was an ad for asiscs, it is really terribly branded. But actually the point of this ad is not to sell asics it is about getting you moving, so the message of the piece of comms is to change behaviour. And so it works really well because of that. This is a great piece of content, is it purpose, meh maybe, but it works because you have a brand that is all about people moving.
Some Hot Ads
My kids love hot sauce, so I felt compelled to watch an ad about a Hot Sauce bar. What was this thing, where could it be. I am so glad I did because Firehouse Subs have created these really funny ads that mark the return of the hot sauce table. I love when brands pursue humour, it is hard to get right, but I think these are wonderful. Now I want a sub with hot sauce. I came across the work via David Kolbusz.
People love the Liquid Death brand. But do they drink it?
More from the wonderful team at Tracksuit where Jen Tang has written this article about Liquid Death.
Now we all love Liquid Death don’t we, it is THE marketing success story, it is after all just canned water, and the numbers seem great, In march, Liquid Death announced “triple-digit growth” for the third year in a row, earning $263 million in global sales at 113,000 U.S. and U.K. retail outlets and it is valued at $1.4Billion. Now you may recall, when I interviewed Mark Ritson at Cannes (there was no need for the Cannes part was there!) he had a few things to say about Liquid Death. You can check that out here, but you may need to listen a few times to get between the lines of what Mark really thinks, you know how subtle and indirect he is! To summarise Mark doesn’t have a go at Liquid Death, he does have a go at all the marketers that use Liquid Death as THE brand success story. Joking aside, do listen to the nuance of what Mark says when we talk.
Tracksuit are questioning, or at least asking, if Liquid Deaths brilliant and creative marketing is enough to sustain this triple digit growth. Now I truly hope that Liquid Death lasts longer than Prime and Mr.Beast’s products, I wont even give them any more air time. So what is the problem? They have 6M followers on TikTok, 4M on Instagram and it influencers love it, they have partnered with E.L.F. BEAUTY and Yeti, are giving away a nascar themed car to a loyalist. And the good news seems to continue as Jen lets us know, “Liquid Death has grown its awareness from 26% to 34% in the last year in the US (an 8% increase). If we’re talking numbers, that means ~73.6M people now know what Liquid Death is – an additional ~17M more than the year before. Liquid Death also knows exactly how to play to their target consumer base, with awareness amongst the 18 to 34-year-old age group a considerably higher 46%.”
So again, whats the problem! Well the brand has great levels of fame and awareness and even, dare I say it, brand love. The problem is this doesn’t seem to be translating into people liking and considering the product. “drilling down into the detail, though, you’ll find that Liquid Death’s top of funnel conversion (that is, converting people from merely being aware of it to actually considering drinking it) is 41%, below the competitor average number of 50% and much below the market leader, FIJI water, where 57% of people move down from awareness to consideration.” and head further down the funnel and it gets worse “It’s a similar story with the bottom of funnel conversion (from consideration to preference). At 21%, this metric is below the competitor average of 25%. Liquid Death’s preference metric has also not shifted in the last year, remaining steady at 3%.”
The 'problem' seems to be the brand and it's ads are talked about but the product isn’t (enough….yet). Did you know it uses clean water from the Alps, or that there are environmental benefits of being in aluminium cans vs plastic. Now the risk here is it sounds like we are saying Liquid Death should do ads that are all product benefits focussed and we know how awful that creative is. This is a brand that is relatively new compared to the category leaders mentioned, it has also leaned into Fame as a strategy and has built upper funnel awareness.
What this is, is probably a great moment for Liquid Death to actually take a look at what they are doing and some of this data from Tracksuit (Im sure they have tonnes themselves) and do a rebalance, ensuring that some of the benefits are there and people trust the brand, see it as sustainable and as for them so consumption increases. Perhaps they have to also work on physical availability.
The Liquid Death debate will roll on no doubt, or at least using Liquid Death to ask great questions about marketing and marketers. I am fascinated to see what they do next, because this is a brand with ambition, and I love that.
Meta announces an AI translation tool that could change the way you watch Instagram and Facebook Reels forever
Meta has unveiled a cutting-edge AI translation tool that could significantly alter how global audiences experience Instagram and Facebook Reels and your content. Announced at Meta Connect 2024, this new feature automatically translates Reels’ audio into different languages, using AI-powered dubbing and lip-syncing to create a seamless, natural experience for viewers.
This new tool has the potential to revolutionise how users engage with Reels by eliminating language barriers. Instead of relying on traditional subtitles, Meta’s AI tool translates the audio and syncs the speaker’s lips with the dubbed voice, providing a much more immersive experience. Currently, Meta is testing the tool with English and Spanish Reels for creators in the US and Latin America, with plans to expand to more languages and regions soon. For marketers, this feature presents an exciting opportunity to reach new global audiences in a way that feels personal and accessible. This capability allows brands to maintain a global presence while also tailoring content for local markets. What impact will this have for those in transcreation and localisation?
The AI translation tool could also give Meta’s platforms an edge over competitors like TikTok, particularly for creators seeking to reach a global audience. For marketers, this means influencers and creators from various regions can participate in global campaigns with ease, making partnerships more flexible and effective. Now this probably works only when those influencers have a global reach and then this begs the question are you better investing all your money in that or are you better connecting with local influencers that better connect with your audience.
Of course automated translations aren’t always perfect, and there may be occasional inaccuracies or cultural misinterpretations, so there will be a indeed to o monitor the quality of translations, especially for nuanced messaging, to ensure that their brand's voice and tone are maintained across different languages - perhaps this is the space for transcreation and localisation companies?
CEO Series
I am working on a CEO Series, if your CEO loves or hates marketing, but loves to talk about it, get in touch.
Latest Episodes
It was international podcast day on Sept 30th...who knew! And there were amazing guests on That's What I Call Marketing in Sept
S3 Ep34: The Marketing Scientist with Peter Hammer here
S3 Ep35: Advertising. The Weak Force with Prof. dr. Koen Pauwels here
S3 EP36: Total Brand Value with Shane McGonigle MMII & Damian Devaney here
S3 EP37: Living Your Brand Promise with CMO Greta Hammel here
And coming up in October I will be joined by Pete Markey, Andrew Haussegger, Dr. Marcus Collins & Mark Kingsley
That's it for this month, thanks for checking out the newsletter. Please do leave a comment with your thoughts on what we missed out on or what you agree or even better disagree with.
If you are tuned into That's What I Call Marketing and can leave a rating or review, it goes a long way to help us reach a new audience, so those few seconds are appreciated. You can do that wherever you tune in
Comments