COMING AT YOU WEEK OF 4.20.21

Weekly catch up

4 things to make you sound real smart

1. Google’s FLEDGE (First “Locally-Executed Decision over Groups” Experiment) is planned to start later this year, just another step toward a new world of user privacy and innovative tracking/targeting.
2. Speaking of innovative targeting, Verizon Media has a way to “[use] content and real-time signals like weather and device type to serve targeted ads to people when no traditional identifier…is available.” Wait, what? Weather?
3. Here are Google ads industry benchmarks, adjusted for COVID.
4. Tired of maintaining brand exclusion lists? Google Ads is releasing a dynamic exclusion list. 

Interview

Elizabeth Ostler

We talked with Elizabeth Ostler from NBCUniversal about what it looks like for a legacy company like NBCU to adjust to digital, including their launch of Peacock. Elizabeth acknowledged that in the case of streaming services, it can feel like consumers just follow the content. But, we all agree that marketing is a game-changer. Here’s a reminder:

• ​53% of trackable site traffic comes from organic search.
• Email marketing has a 4400% ROI.

So, yes, marketing is powerful (we know you knew). But how is NBCU promoting their streaming service and other apps?

For one, they’re leveraging cross-promotion.

Elizabeth mentioned how this strategy makes sense for them. For conglomerates like NBCU, the usual barriers like cost and partnership-negotiation are low because (hopefully) all the brands under your umbrella get along. However, even within a multi-brand company, and definitely when cross-promoting with a separate organization, communication can only thrive with effort. Elizabeth pointed out how we spend too much time guessing how to communicate, but it can improve relationships quickly to directly ask what kind of communication works best for your partners.

NBCU is also tapping into a marketing platform their competitors are underutilizing.

​An eMarketer’s article found that NBCU was “the largest podcast advertiser in the US” and that most of their ad spend promoted Peacock. The other streaming services using podcast ads didn’t take advantage the way NBCU has.

Cross-promoting can be crazy fun (not to mention, effective), also identifying and adopting underutilized platforms is sure to impress your marketing director. So have at it, marketers.

Wordless Wisdom

Is your brand recognizable across the room?