Each week, the experts on our strategic services team summarize articles and trends they’re seeing for our clients. We think they’re fascinating — and bet you will too! Here is a peek into what they’ve been talking about lately.
Industry news
Cheetah Digital by Marigold | Former FBI Agent talks cybercrime and the 3 privacy must-haves for orgs
Chief Security Officer Jill Knesek helps brands assess and protect their security vulnerabilities around data. Stay tuned to hear how brands can navigate the current privacy legislation landscape and the security advice organizations need to know.
ClickZ | What to do if Coronavirus puts the brakes on experiential marketing?
Coronavirus is threatening to dramatically alter the way people experience things in 2020. Liveclicker’s Gretchen Scheiman looks at this timely issue and provides some ideas for how brands may create new plans, or alter those that they’ve already invested in.
Digital Commerce 360 | How to get online reviews and use them build trust
Nearly all online shoppers read reviews when considering buying products. And smart retailers are finding creative ways to gather and squeeze more out of customer opinions.
Marketing Dive | Artificial intelligence rejected by a growing number of marketers, study says
One reason marketers are moving slowly to embrace artificial intelligence (AI) could be that there is no central authority within organizations to oversee the tech.
Standout email campaigns
M.A.C. — Collab with Barbie
M.A.C features the global icon and influencer Barbie to design and promote a new lipstick; an attempt to target a specific segment from the audience, catch its attention, and raise interest. The campaign’s narrative and ornaments generate a sense of exclusiveness and strive to attribute a high-end perception of the product.
Characters in marketing are commonly used to sustain the attention span in a fun and engaging way. Barbie’s image typically appeals to fashion and beauty, themes that align with the marketing efforts for these products.
Aeropostale — 4 days of deals
Aeropostale created a series of promotional mailings sent this week to advertise its spring break collection. The brand used a daily-deal type of approach that engages the audience with each offer and generates a sense of anticipation towards the next thing.
The discount is applicable with the purchase of specific product types in the first campaigns and becomes more extensive in the last ones. It is an arrangement to control and drive sales based on strategic goals while feeding the audience interest with broader options throughout the series.
L’Occitane — Sweepstakes
L’Occitane proposes a week-start sweepstakes to motivate its audience, which consists of a chance to win a free order that does not require any purchase to participate. The registration process contains a checkbox to subscribe to email; an effort to acquire non-subscribers interested in the sweepstakes. Contests are a good tactic to build interest, grow email lists, and engage participants with brand programs and offers.
Bumble and bumble — Post-workout mist
Bumble and bumble promotes new products designed for women’s post-workout hair care. Two soccer stars demonstrate the product use and results in videos and animated photos. These dynamically highlight the products’ appeal.
Animated content is a good choice to leverage the readers’ interest, encourage click-throughs, and increase overall engagement.
Email trends
CEO notes on Coronavirus
We’ve seen more direct emails from CEOs in the past week, and for good reason. Sending a plain text email directly from a CEO sends a message of importance and seriousness. We’ve seen a handful of videos linking out from emails, but for the most part, plain text with minimal imagery is the clear preference.
International Women’s Day
Special female-centric collections and features stood out to us supporting International Women’s Day.
Easter’s almost here
Bunnies, gingham, and grass-dominated the creative around Easter this week. Easter falls mid-April this year, so expect more fluffy tails to come.
In-stores and online
Whether it’s in response to the pandemic or just a coincidence, we’re definitely seeing more retailers pivot to online options in lieu of an in-store experience.
Want to see more? Get in touch with us. We’re happy to help and talk about how we can best work together.