An Ignoble Experiment: Social networks offer brands more opportunities for NFL tie-ins

Social networks offer brands more opportunities for NFL tie-ins | How online clothing retailers are winning millennials' loyalty | Villanova students helped the pope start tweeting

Created for ignoble.experiment@arconati.us | Web Version

September 8, 2015

CONNECT WITH SMARTBRIEF

The Big Story

Social networks offer brands more opportunities for NFL tie-ins

Google, Facebook and Twitter are among the online giants that are offering advertising products tied to the National Football League, offering a digital route for marketers to engage football fans. "The opportunities that we're seeing this year are really about wrapping brands more tightly around the real-time conversation," said Jill Sherman of DigitasLBi.

The New York Times (free-article access for SmartBrief readers) (9/7)

New Marketing Ebook: The Pursuit of Social Persuasion

What's love got to do with it? If you're a social media marketer, everything. Find out how today's top marketers are using social persuasion to build brand love and grow business. Plus, get ideas to help you create engaging social media marketing campaigns that drive measurable results. Download Now

Connecting & Collaborating

How online clothing retailers are winning millennials' loyalty

Millennials are turning to online retailers such as Everlane and AYR for their wardrobe basics, preferring the online experience over more traditional outlets such as Gap and J.Crew. "A lot of brands we grew up with -- really great brands -- haven't grown up with us. It's not just the digital piece, although that's a big part of it -- it's an intimacy and authenticity that feels like it's missing with many big legacy brands," says Maggie Winter, co-founder of AYR.

Adweek (9/7)

Villanova students helped the pope start tweeting

Students from Villanova University have served as social media interns at the Vatican in recent years, and some of them helped Pope Francis post his first tweet. Young people help the Vatican stay abreast of social media technologies, says communications major Tatum Murray, one of the interns. "The team is a group of people who are middle-aged or older, so they aren't really as up on Instagram," Murray says.

National Public Radio (9/7)

Video: Pictures are Worth 1,000 Words
The Picture Superiority Effect says concepts are much more likely to be remembered if they are presented as pictures rather than words. But is there a superior picture approach that maximizes the effect? Dr. Zak Tormala of Stanford Business School created a research study to find out. Watch the video

Marketer Moments

Can marketers take advantage of late night's digital turn?

Late night shows are finding success by posting clips on YouTube and other online channels, but that poses a challenge to advertisers, who are seeing TV audiences erode and can't easily predict which clips will take off, observers say. "If you ask people if they watch Jimmy Fallon, the answer is generally yes, but that doesn't mean they are watching it at 11:30 on NBC," said Michael Law of Dentsu Aegis.

Advertising Age (free access for SmartBrief readers) (9/4)

Smithereens: The Marketing Fragmentation Problem
Marketing's got a fragmentation problem. It's making marketing data hard to use, marketing operations hard to manage, and customer experiences with your brand hard for your customers to enjoy. Something's got to give. Find out why we're in this mess and what you can do to get yourself out of it. It's a short read, but an important one.

Platform News

WhatsApp closes in on 1 billion users, but monetization doubts remain

WhatsApp says it has 900 million users active each month and is shooting for a billion, but while parent company Facebook is happy about the traffic, doubts remain over the messaging service's commercial viability. "WhatsApp hasn't disclosed how much money it's making currently, but it's almost certainly less than some of its Asian peers," Josh Horwitz writes.

Quartz (9/4)

How to Master Remarketing in an Omnichannel World
Right now, prospects are visiting your website and calling into your contact center. Most of them won't convert. In a week, 40% will lose interest. Download the MAKING IT WORK: Mastering Remarketing in an Omnichannel World eBook to learn how to quickly re-engage hot leads and prospects, across multiple channels!

Measurement Matters

Snapchat's skippable ads put focus on completion rates

Snapchat says its skippable ads will lead to more engaged users, but according to one brand's data, 70% of users skipped the spots within three seconds. Snapchat charges for all views, which makes completion rates a key metric, observers say. "It's a pretty big concern depending on the goals and what you're buying the ads for," said Orli LeWinter of 360i.

Digiday.com (9/7)

The Beginner's Guide to App Marketing
Move beyond downloads: learn how to engage, retain and convert your app users to increase loyalty and lifetime value, and drive app ROI with this introductory guide to app marketing. Plus: get real-world examples of app marketing campaigns that work! Download the Guide Here

Social Shareable

West Point pillow fight ends in injuries

Freshmen at West Point have held a pillow fight going back as far as 1897, but this year, the clash got a little out of hand. Some cadets put helmets and other objects in their pillow cases, resulting in numerous injuries. "West Point applauds the cadets' desire to build esprit and regrets the injuries to our cadets," spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Kasker says.

The New York Times (free-article access for SmartBrief readers) (9/4)

The Sophisticated Marketer's Guide to LinkedIn
The one-stop shop for everything a sophisticated marketer needs to know about getting the most value from LinkedIn for themselves and their company. It's not an instruction manual, but more of a strategic guide full of interviews and tips from marketing thought leaders combined with expert insights from the LinkedIn Marketing Solutions team. Get the guide!

Snapchat is where ads are pure, 100% in view of the screen, not hidden anywhere. That's a lot better than advertisers totally paying for things no one is ever seeing.

Jeff Lucas of Viacom Media Networks, as quoted by Digiday

Andy Sernovitz, Editor at Large
Andy Sernovitz is the New York Times best-selling author of "Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking" and the blog "Damn, I Wish I'd Thought of That!" He runs WordofMouth.org, where marketers and entrepreneurs learn to be great at word of mouth marketing, and SocialMedia.org, the community for social media leaders at the world's greatest brands.