Marketing Minute | August 2022 | SizzleForce Marketing

Disneyland, moldy burgers & one memorable mom

Welcome to the marketing minute, a carefully curated rundown of our favorite things sizzle-worthy in marketing news. Check out the marketing trends and headlines that made our heads turn this past month… 

In this edition: 

Mark Zuckerberg is turning up the heat on his employees. 

Facebook is having to add Zuckerberg to the meeting minutes these days, it seems. As he accrued megalithic CEO status, he sorta went MIA from the daily minutiae–like office meetings. But it seems this CEO has a fire under his butt. He is back in the Zoom office, so to speak, and has a lot to say. What’s got a bee in his bonnet? Facebook has lost a lot of ad revenue because of iPhone privacy settings. An estimated $10 billion in ad revenue, in fact. It appears Zuckerberg wants to make sure his peeps are taking this loss seriously. So he is showing up on Zoom more often these days. 

What are they going to do about it? The popularity of TikTok has hit both Facebook and Instagram hard. It seems that they want to make their platform more like TikTok. Which will probably not make the Kardashians very happy (more on that in a minute)…

Key Takeaways:  

Our intrepid Marketing Strategist & Operations Director, Amanda Jones, is in a Facebook Group that lives and breathes all things Facebook ads. The teeming masses there have noted that, collectively, Facebook ads are in the toilet. Apple’s new privacy policies mean Facebook can’t track what you are doing anymore, which messes with ad targeting, conversion, and ad revenue… 

But take heart! If your ads aren’t working well for you anymore, try using lookalike audiences. This method doesn’t depend so much on tracking your activities off-app–but still has the potential to boost the effectiveness of your ads. 

Howard Johnson Captures Disney Magic On Their Instagram In The Most Brilliant Way

Most true-blue Disney fans already know about the Howard Johnson in Anaheim–the family-friendly hotel is practically a landmark, with its proximity to the park (it is only an 8-minute walk from the hotel to the gates), its famous Mattercam, and its mini “water playground” called Castaway Cove. 

But you might not know that HoJo has an Instagram account with a mind-boggling 42.8k followers. Not bad for an Anaheim hotel, if you ask us!

How do they do it? Each day, they hand over their Instagram account to a different guest attending the park and let them have at it.

Soon the feed is filled with a Disney-day created by that hotel guest–from corndogs on Main Street to pictures with Red the Pirate and everything in-between. To top it off with a cherry on top, at the end of the day, the attendee posts a Reel summarizing their magical Disney day. 

Key Takeaways: 

Our team thinks that whoever does social media for Howard Johnson needs a pay raise. They have come up with a way to have fresh, creative content made for them–for free. This is GOLD. 

And not only that, but they have done it in a way that naturally creates word-of-mouth marketing that positions them smack dab in front of their target audience–families that want a more affordable option than the nearby Disney properties that will cost you a pretty penny (hundreds of dollars a night, in fact). 

Take note from HoJo. Don’t be afraid to allow user-generated content–you will save money on your own social media activity, you are more likely to go viral, and you will have authentic, genuine content that is different and entertaining. 

Wendy’s High Fry’ve Ad 

Wendy’s serves up pretty delicious fries, and they want to make sure you know it. But they tackled the challenge from a different angle. Their recent ad features their employees serving up fries and having fun doing it

Key Takeaways:  Everyone is going to start saying High Fry’ve. If you can get something related to your brand in the everyday vernacular, you’ve struck marketing gold. Make sure it is short, quippy, and something your 5-year-old will say for years to come. You know–of the “Got Milk?” or “Where’s the beef?” variety.  

This Mom Keeps It Real When It Comes To Back-To-School Time

Forget your Pinterest-perfect Mom with her handcrafted origami sandwiches and designer lunchboxes. This Mom is relatable–and tells it like it is (because there is no back-to-school item too cheap for your kiddos, folks). 

Key Takeaways:  Tapping into a pain point is a POWERFUL THING. Relate to your customer through common woes, and you are onto something. Do it with humor? Even better. 

The great thing about this ad is that it shows there is a real place for smaller brands willing to double down on authenticity in their messaging. Use your genuine take on something related to your brand to let people know you aren’t afraid to depart from cookie-cutter ads presenting a fake, idealized world. 

Bigger! Better! Moldier?… Burger King! 

Ok, technically this ad didn’t come out in the last month. But some ads are just so buzzworthy that they are worthy of a good old-fashioned throwback. 

Burger King sure made news with this ad campaign. And we don’t want to say too much about it. It bears watching for yourself. 

 

Key Takeaways: 

Thanks to Zoom recording, our reaction to this was beautifully captured and says it all… 

(Forgive our casual appearance. Yes, we dress up and brush our hair when we know we’ll be Zooming with you, but the rest of the time, we find our brilliance strikes more often when we’re in our PJ’s. It’s a work-from-home thing. We know you do the same thing. Now you know you’re not alone.)

Ok, but really….

We get what Burger King was trying to do. They wanted to demonstrate that their burgers don’t use artificial preservatives–that’s something we can get on board with. But perhaps this ad requires too much thinking–if your boldness is causing too much confusion, you’re definitely doing something wrong. 

Also, we have to wonder–are health-conscious people that care about ingredients in their food–eating at Burger King? This is where knowing your customer avatars is key. 

In ‘n Out probably nails this point the right way. Show people what they want to see. If you are trying to sell a new shampoo, you don’t show people with bad hair–you show the ideal. People want to see the good, the vision of “after” the improvement–how this product will improve their lives. 

Nobody wants to look at a moldy burger. Nobody. 

These influencers want Instagram to be Instagram again. 

 Kim Kardashian, Kylie Jenner, and a few other influencers have some thoughts on Instagram’s pivot towards video. 

“We just want to see cute pictures of our friends!” seems to be their collective wish. 

CEO Adam Mosseri has responded to the unabashed increase of video content on Instagram. And his response feels something like a “sorry, not sorry” to us. While he says there is room for improvement on the platform–video isn’t going away anytime soon. 

Key Takeaways: 

As we reviewed this news byte, our Senior Copywriter & Account Manager Stefanie Cosman admitted she is one of those people that are not on TikTok. So she gets her cutesy video snippets from Instagram. 

In other words, people like her ruin Instagram for Kim, Kylie, and the rest of us. 😉

To sum it all up? Video content is where it is at, folks. It isn’t going away; it might become even more prevalent on your favorite platforms. So if you aren’t posting Reels–is your Instagram content Reel-y worth it

This ad boldly goes THERE. Yes, THERE. 

LUME sure knows how to create an eye-grabbing ad:

Key Takeaways:  LUME sure knows its audience and what it can get away with. So they went for the shock factor. But they still adhere to some basic copywriting principles. This ad campaign addresses pain points like, “My butt used to smell through my pants until…” 

The most curious pain point we’ve ever seen at SizzleForce Marketing. But a pain point, nonetheless. 

Have these marketing campaigns inspired you to ramp up your own marketing game? If you are not sure where to start or where to put your energy when it comes to marketing, this free quiz can help. 

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