Brands rethink their holiday campaigns amid the pandemic
Hi! Welcome to the Insider Advertising daily for November 3. I'm Lauren Johnson, a senior advertising reporter at Business Insider. Subscribe here to get this newsletter in your inbox every weekday. Send me feedback or tips at LJohnson@businessinsider.com.
Today's news: Brands rethink their holiday ad campaigns, Big Tech crushes earnings thanks to direct-response advertisers, and Gap's CMO talks about making the brand relevant in 2020.
Chipotle, Kohl's, and Peloton and other top marketers reveal how they're changing their ad strategies as the pandemic upends the holiday season
- Facing an unprecedented holiday season this year, brands and retailers are changing everything from where they're advertising to the tone of the messages themselves, Tanya Dua reports.
- Kohl's and Peloton are going for hope and community in their messaging while retailers like Banana Republic, Gap, and Macy's are doubling down on virtual events and e-commerce.
- Some like Chipotle and Peloton are also personalizing their ads, since the pandemic's impact varies by area.
Read the full story here.
Facebook, Google, and Amazon boast major Q3 growth as direct-response advertisers continue to drive ad revenues
- The triopoly credited direct-response advertisers, especially in ecommerce, as major drivers of growth, in their better-than-expected third-quarter earnings.
- Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg said the ad rebound was driven by verticals including ecommerce, education, and other industries that "lend themselves to online."
- Dave Fildes, head of investor relations, said Amazon's priorities for the advertising business include making its tools easier to use as well as building out OTT video opportunities.
Read the full story here.
Gap's new CMO has a plan to make it cool again: 'We all know that Gap has struggled over the past several years'
- Madeline Stone talked to Gap's new CMO Mary Alderete about how she's going to make the brand more relevant.
- Even before the pandemic, Gap was reporting slumping sales, and analysts were looking for more excitement to be infused into the brand. The clothing store's net sales dropped 28% in its most recent quarter, despite a 75% increase in e-commerce sales.
- Alderate said recent ad campaigns promoting civic engagement, voting, and hopeful messages are one way Gap is connecting with shoppers during the pandemic. "We're leading with the platform of modern American optimism," she said. "That's our brand positioning, no matter what. Culturally relevant expressions of that optimism is what we will do every season."
Read the full story here.
More stories we're reading:
- An Instagram influencer with about 40,000 followers explains how much money she makes and the email template she uses to turn gifting offers into paying deals (Business Insider)
- Meet the Washington Post executive working with Jeff Bezos to turbocharge the media titan's IT system (Business Insider)
- Thriving New York Times, Fox News ponder a post-Trump scenario (Bloomberg)
- Why the deprecation of cookies may not be such a bad thing (Mediapost)
- TVision raises $16M to measure attention on connected TVs (TechCrunch)
- Papa John's founder slices up ad firm's $6M 'extort' attempt (New York Post)
Thanks for reading and see you tomorrow! You can reach me in the meantime at LJohnson@businessinsider.com and subscribe to this daily email here.
— Lauren