Marketing Minute – February 2024

Video rules the world, right? Well, it certainly seemed to in February. TV and social. New platforms and some fresh thinking on “old” platforms. People and animals. Short and long tail.  

As we finish off the shortest month of the year, here’s the February Marketing Minute. 

1. Another New Era in AI?

We don’t know when it will be available to the public, but it’s pretty clear that Sora is going to have a major impact on creative production. As you probably saw, OpenAI introduced the text-to-video generator along with some shockingly realistic video examples that showcased its capabilities. CEO Sam Altman showed off its capabilities by taking requests on X/Twitter, creating videos for prompts like “a monkey playing chess in a park,” or “a bicycle race on ocean with different animals as athletes.” This opens up amazing opportunities while furthering some real concerns around deep fakes and disinformation. While there’s uncertainty about where all of this is headed, it also seems like we’re just entering a wave of immense disruption.

2. Still Goings

One of the real values of Super Bowl advertising – or any advertising – is the extent to which you can extend a story to keep it fresh and interesting in consumers’ minds. Not sure there are a lot better examples than the spot, and campaign, from one of our local favorites — Dunkin’. The DunKings campaign is a prime example of the widespread impact a smart, well executed and, most importantly, integrated campaign can have for a brand. The initiative had everything: a creative storyline, a star-studded cast, creative social media, in-store extensions via the menu and merch to match. As our team gets ready for the next big brainstorm, we’ll be drawing inspiration from and implementing lessons learned from this campaign. 

3. TikTok for All

While most may look at TikTok as a way to connect with Gen Z, new research shows that there’s a lot more potential – particularly among adults. Pew Research’s recent study on adult TikTok usage finds that more than half of adults (those 18-49) have posted a video on the platform. That said, a minority of adult users (25%) are responsible for producing the vast majority of content (98%). Our take is to focus on active users who follow more, post more, and personalize their profiles. Don’t be casual, as TikTok requires unique content and significant effort to succeed. Brands should consider partnering with the active creator minority rather than targeting the vast majority of passive viewers. 

4. Boosting content is getting pricier. 

This month, Meta announced it will be charging a 30% fee when advertisers boost content on the Facebook and Instagram iOS apps. AKA, boosting posts just got a whole lot more expensive. This change might help Meta combat the 30% Apple tax charged every time a user leverages paid boosting on Facebook or Instagram, we wonder if we’ll start to see a decrease in paid social spending or a rise in creativity in order to avoid the hefty charge. 

5. Animals rule social media. 

Of course they do. Grumpy Cat. Noodle the Pug. Even Neil the Seal – an elephant seal stealing the show on the coast of Tasmania. But in February, two animals took the world by storm — Charlotte the stingray, whose pregnancy mystery captured millions and Miss Peaches, Barstool Sports’ newest celebrity. There’s something inherent about our collective fascination with animals, particularly on social. And Barstool leaned on that to raise more than $150k  for the charity that rescued her by selling Miss Peaches themed t-shirts. 

See you in March.