Hello Bidtellectuals!

When I began to draft this newsletter at the beginning of the week, the sentiment was still an excited and hopeful “Happy New Year!” Well, it feels as though 2020 is having a good laugh at us.

We send our fervent hopes and prayers to Washington D.C. for peace and safety after the week’s events, and to our representatives who upheld our democratic process in the face of violence.

Advertisers Pause Ad Campaigns, Announcements Indefinitely

Advertisers are rethinking their social media strategy, pausing campaigns, and halting planned announcements after this week’s events in Washington D.C. Announcements slated for Thursday from at least three major companies have been postponed in reaction to ongoing volatility, according to Ad Age. And brands have and continue to pause paid social advertising and TV campaigns on news networks this week.

Bidtellect recommends reallocating social media budgets to a brand safe demand-side platform that can place ads on reputable publisher sites around relevant information to avoid any chance at bad content association.

→ I know it’s “Dry January” for many, but you probably need a drink. Just saying.

Social Platforms Ban President Trump 

• Following Thursday’s events, Twitter suspended President Trump’s account for twelve hours and removed two of his tweets.
• Facebook and Instagram followed suit, with Facebook announcing a permanent ban through the final two weeks of his presidency (and Instagram is owned by Facebook).
• YouTube, owned by Google, announced more general changes that will penalize accounts spreading misinformation about voter fraud in the 2020 election, with repeat offenders facing permanent removal.
• Snapchat on Wednesday locked Trump’s account “indefinitely.”
• Twitch, the live-streaming site owned by Amazon and used by Trump’s campaign to stream speeches, disabled Trump’s account until he leaves office, saying it didn’t want to be used “to incite further violence.”
• E-commerce company Shopify shut down two online Trump memorabilia stores for promoting people or organizations “that threaten or condone violence to further a cause.” (AP News)

Start 2021 With a Growth Mindset When It Comes to Creative Messaging

Start 2021 with a growth mindset by enhancing your creative messaging for maximum engagement. Be authentic and go for an emotional response in your messaging, but the key is to utilize dynamic creative optimization (DCO) to adjust to best-performing creative assets in real time. Bidtellect CEO Lon Otremba contributes to the piece on Forbes.

Good News: How to Find Happiness During this Time

Not exactly good news per se, but I found this piece on how to find happiness during the pandemic, which could certainly be applied now, to be informative and helpful. If you’ve been glued to the news this week (guilty) and feel a sense of dread and anxious uncertainty (also guilty), this expert recommends making plans. The anticipation of seeing a friend for a walk, over Zoom, or even a phone call, for example, boosts happiness more than the activity itself. And studies have shown that control was the number one contributor to people’s overall level of happiness: Those who felt they had a sense of agency in their day-to-day lives were far happier than those who did not. So plan a virtual happy hour.

Stay safe,
Charlotte