NO PRICE IS TOO LOW FOR YOUR CHILDREN

With a recession looming, more advertising channels than ever and decision fatigue, it's hard to know how much to invest or where to invest your spend when it comes to back-to-school advertising.

There also comes the question of balance between advertising to the consumer vs. the decision-maker. Child or parent? Create the want with the former and seal the deal with the latter. Obviously, finding the perfect middle between the two is the best option but it can be hard to take a leap to ensure that the message resonates and will do what you need it to do.   

Apparel Industry Trends

Let's talk about general trends in the apparel industry for advertising. I took a small sample to compare digital advertising trends in the industry in July 1-August 5, 2021 to July 1-August 5, 2022. With these two periods, the overall advertising spend hasn't fluctuated much, however, allocation across channels has. 

Display Ads → From $39.5M to $18.5M (-53%)

Video Ads → From $32.6M to $17.5M (-46%)

Facebook Ads → From $104M to $87.4M (-16%)

Instagram Ads → From $107.8M to 89.2M (-17%)

Twitter Ads → From $3.3M to 2.3M (-30%)

With access to new data this year, we are seeing spending in the following channels from July 1-August 5, 2022: 

TikTok Ads → $32.4M

OTT Ads → $20.1M

Snapchat Ads → $19.8M

Spend is a directional approximation and does not include retargeting, or behavioural targeting. (USD Dollars) 

Price Conscious 

Back to the looming recession... brands are opting to show their audience how they are going to support them through this tumultuous period. 

Old Navy: Price on Lock

From July 1-August 5, 2022, Old Navy has lowered their overall ad spend by -15% compared to their spend in July 1-August 5, 2021 (from $5.7M to $4.8M). A reduction in ad spend could come from the fact that Old Navy has promised their customers a price lock, refusing to increase prices on back-to-school essentials regardless of inflation.  

This ad features a storyline that was "written by the internet" as a way to connect with their online viewers, including visuals from comments of what people wanted to see in a back-to-school ad. This enables a full-circle piece of content that allows the adult audience to see their ideas in fruition, with an age-appropriate audience demonstrating back-to-school looks while ultimately wrapping up the ad for the parent with the tag "Price on Lock". 

Amazon: Spend Less on Your Kids

From July 1-August 5, 2022, Amazon has already spent $2.1M on variations of this ad which has generated 86.6M impressions. The ad features actress Kathryn Hahn talking about how expensive it can be to get your kids ready for the back-to-school season. The ad uses humour and content specifically targeted at parents to say they know things are getting pricey. The ad is wrapped up perfectly as Hahn ends on the note "No price is too low for your children".

Figuring out what steps to take this back-to-school and looming holiday season can be overwhelming - the RightMetric team just let me know American Eagle has spent roughly 53% of their digital advertising budget on TikTok in the past month... who would have thought? Figure out what stance you're taking that is relevant to the pain points and worries of your customer base and show them how you're adjusting to meet them in the middle.

Pstttt... if you're looking into your Black Friday and Winter Holiday planning, check out what a few of our favourite brands did last year, linked above.

WHEN IT COMES TO IDOLIZING INNOVATION...

Marketers seem to idolize innovation but innovation is overrated. Here's why...

If you ask marketers what the No. 1 ingredient is for business growth, odds are half of them (or more) will say "innovation" which is a flawed belief.

When you drill down into market leaders, it becomes obvious that sometimes "boring" = sexy and that marketing intelligence counts for more than marketing creativity.

Oftentimes the very best marketing strategies don't revolve around doing something new, but nearly always revolve around doing something well.

It's not always a matter of being first to market, the key is being the best in the market.

That usually means coming in second, analyzing the best practices and missteps of a predecessor, and then optimizing accordingly.

Innovation for the sake of innovation is often counterproductive. An emphasis on mastering best practices is where you get the highest ROI.

THREE TWEETS

Here are three Tweets you should check out this week:

1. Social platforms used for influencer marketing (estimate) 2019-2024

2. An anecdote on the peak-end rule

3. 5 resources to help your overcome e-comm headwinds

In case you missed any previous versions, check them out via the links below.

1. Just Let Go – What's Working in Marketing

2. Social as a CRO Tactic? – What's Working in Marketing
3. Are You Ranking on TikTok? – What's Working in Marketing