Hello, Bidtellectuals! Hope you’re staying cool and safe.Congratulations to Star Bidtellectual Karl Hentschel!

Which Industries are Surviving (Thriving?) this Pandemic

MediaRadar’s Tea with Todd webinar offered some great insights into changes in consumer advertising during the pandemic. Some big takeaways: Streaming services (ad spend up 284% YoY) and food subscription boxes (up 130% YoY) are crushing it, duh. (eMarketer also forecast that food and beverage will be the fastest-growing ecommerce category this year, with year-over-year growth of 58.5%.) But RVs are outplaying us all! To save those summer travel plans, ad spend is up 400% YoY and in June, 80% of RVs sold were to first time buyers. Road trip, anyone?

High Impact Creative Guarantees Engagement

By the way, are you getting the most engagement out of your creative? For Native Ads, packing a punch with eye-catching creative assets is everything. If you haven’t yet, check out How to Refresh Your Coronavirus Ads to Connect With Consumers and Bring Hope. Then watch our video for Five ways to really up your creative assets to “high impact.” Isn’t that what we all want?

The [insert adjective] Antitrust Hearing

The House Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust grilled execs from Google, Facebook, Apple and Amazon on industry dominance at a virtual hearing on Wednesday. Words that I’ve read to describe it include “meandering” “showdown” “historic” and “ironically streamed on Google-owned Youtube.” The hearing aimed to uncover whether or not anti-trust action should be taken, as all four have exhibited common patterns of anticompetitive behavior and exploitative practices, though each in different ways and to varying degrees. As CNET points out “No single rule, law or action will likely fix them all.”

5 HIGH IMPACT Creatives for MAX Engagement: Native Ads & Digital Advertising

Other News: TTD Unied ID 2.0

The Trade Desk is building out the second iteration of its Unified ID. Unified ID 2.0 will rely on encrypted email addresses, not third-party cookies and the new version will hopefully avoid friction since it’s open-source – the entire digital industry can shape and ultimately participate in it.

Good News: Impossible Foods, folklore, and Architectural Digest

Faux-meat brand Impossible Foods will now be in Walmart stores! The deal with Walmart and other retail locations across the country increases the company’s physical footprint 50x. Taylor Swift dropped a surprise album and if you haven’t listened to it yet what are you even doing?? the last great American dynasty and cardigan are currently playing on repeat – what are your favorites? Read this interview on the process – it was all virtual! I am crushing hard on the latest “InsideAD” video of Kendall Jenner’s home designed by Kathleen and Tommy Clements and Waldo Fernandez. Does anyone else think this is basically just MTV cribs but with better editing? ~The power of marketing.~ ~Tell me I’m wrong~

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Charlotte Otremba is Sr. Manager of Communications and Marketing at Bidtellect.

Hello Bidtellectuals! We’re halfway through July – can you believe it? Congratulations to Star Bidtellectual DUO Jason Taylor and Helgi Ragnarsson! We don’t know what we’d do without you.

B2B & Coronavirus: The Digital Opportunity

B2B sales during coronavirus are holding steady thanks to ecommerce. In fact, the pandemic has accelerated a clear shift to ecommerce, online sales, and digital events due to the new work-from-home normal. This acceleration might also be due to the ease of payment provided by various online platforms. A payment provider study tends to reveal that there is a significant rise in the number of people choosing online modes of payment after the pandemic has set in. It would not only save people’s time but also diminishes the chances of contracting the virus, which may result due to visiting a store for shopping something. The problem, however, is B2Bs are spending more on content creation than on distribution: 43% of US B2B Marketers are reallocating event marketing budgets not used because of coronavirus to content creation. Speaking of, it might also be a wise idea to save up on some of that event marketing money; once things start going back to normal, there could be an explosion in the number of B2B events held worldwide. Who knows what potential a personalized tradeshow booth can hold at the time? Going by the best guess, there are chances that hybrid events, where advantages of both digital and in-person events can be put together, will start gaining popularity. Although we are seeing a rise in digitized marketing and advertising, the appeal of an in-person conversation with a vendor can never be replaced. That said, now is the perfect time to capitalize on the digital wave that plenty of B2B companies are riding. The golden opportunity is digital advertising, and experts are urging B2Bs to shift to digital advertising now more than ever. Read more and download our one sheet here.

Privacy Wars

The EU struck down the US-EU Privacy Shield, the transatlantic data-sharing framework. Europe is basically saying that their data standards can be trusted but those in the US cannot, according to Jonathan Kewley. More than 5,300 companies, most of them small or medium enterprises, rely on the Privacy Shield, and will now need additional contractual agreements directly with users to continue using data on both sides of the Atlantic.

The Latest Twitter-Gate

Ah, another social media scandal. Will these ever end? This one is kind of scary: Wednesday dozens of big names in politics, tech, and entertainment posted similar messages on Twitter: send Bitcoin and the user would send back double your money. Some of the names: Bill Gates, Barack Obama, Kanye West, Joseph R. BidenJr, and Elon Musk. Unable to stop the tweets at first, Twitter disabled the ability of verified users to tweet for a couple of hours. One theory points to a Twitter employee hacking the accounts in exchange for a payout. What if a more sinister tweet were administered from a world leader, let’s say? I mean, I feel like it might be time to switch your social ads over to a more brand-safe platform if you haven’t yet?? Download our one sheet.

5 Ways B2Bs Can Adjust Digital Strategy & Brand Messaging Based on Coronavirus Impact

The Move: Car Sales, Rideshares, and Public Transit

Uber is eyeing public transit. The OG ride-sharing app announced Thursday that it has acquired Routematch, an Atlanta-based company that provides software to more than 500 transit agencies. Routematch’s software provides trip planning, vehicle tracking, payment, and tools for fixed-route transit like buses as well as paratransit services.

And on the topic of cars, the ecommerce wand has touched car sales this pandemic, too. Including, but not limited to, looking here at how they can best generate auto leads online to help their sales. Online sales normally only account for 1% of all used car transactions, but now the number of people willing to buy a car online recently doubled, from 32% to 61%, according to a CarGurus survey in April. This is not just due to the purchase of new cars, but also because of the acquisition of pre-owned vehicles. However, it is still unclear why there is a sudden spike in the sales of the latter–possibly because new car production is temporarily halted during the pandemic. Or maybe consumers have discovered that bad credit car finance is available for second-hand cars –it can make the buying process more economical.

Anyway, whatever the reason, the logistics of buying and delivering cars online is still working out the kinks, but may this be the future?! Who knows, with this unprecedented jump in the domain of buying cars, leasing, too, might become an option for those who cannot afford to pay a lump sum as a down payment for the vehicle of their dreams. It might be that you or your company could use leasing to get a vehicle of choice for personal or business purposes.

Good News: Honeybees, Staycations, and Royal Weddings

The honeybee population bounced back after a brutal previous winter. Check out this Summer Safety Guide from “safecations“ to beach safety to camping – the hottest new vacation trend. I ordered this super cute variety pack of face masks and now my outfits & mask can coordinate! And Princess Beatrice married ancé Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi in a private ceremony in Windsor Castle. Apparently, only twenty people attended! Imagine. (Any other Crown fans out there?)

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Charlotte Otremba is Sr. Manager of Communications and Marketing at Bidtellect.

Hello Bidtellectuals! It sure does feel like summer… hope you are keeping cool! Congratulations to Star Bidtellectual Nicholas Herbst!

​Is Social Media Advertising Sustainable?

Advertisers are feeling disillusioned with social media platforms. As of this week, more than 750 advertisers have boycotted Facebook. Concerns about safety have been brewing before this (remember Cambridge Analytica?); CCPA went into force on July 1, so the big platforms might soon be held accountable. Users feel distrustful anyway: social media is the least trusted media source at 39%, according to Edelman Trust Barometer, and 42% of users distrust ads on social networks according to a study by Nielson. Just last year, eMarketer reported that advertising outside social networks and programmatic native advertising are the fastest-growing categories of native. If you haven’t yet read Edelman’s sweeping 20 Years of Trust about the shifts in the media, political, and social landscape – do. Download our one sheet on social media and adapting assets for the open web.

The Potential Downfall of TikTok and Quibi

Meanwhile, TikTok users are panicking because reports emerged that the U.S. was considering banning TikTok and other Chinese-owned social media apps, according to statements made by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo this week. On top of this, the app experienced a glitch where likes and comments were disabled, leading users to think this might be the beginning of the end. It may be the beginning of the end for Quibi, the overhyped under-performing short-form content streaming service. A report says that Quibi lost 92% of its earlier users after free trials expired, but Quibi pushed back and said its count of downloads was incorrect. Still, Quibi spent hundreds of millions of dollars on content, high-prole celebrity partnerships, and marketing on a streaming service that might have thrived pre-Covid, but is now greatly underperforming. Download our one sheet.

Unfriending Facebook: Can Native Ads Outside Social Media Deliver?

ECommerce Will Save Us All

eMarketer’s latest report shows promise for ecommerce and a permanent shift to digital, and it’s saving the retail sector’s growth trajectory. Ecommerce is poised to grow 18.0% following a 14.9% gain in 2019, reflecting a notable increase in both the number of digital buyers and the average spending per buyer. Ecommerce sales have been driven by a surge in click-and-collect, allowing US consumers to make immediate purchases while minimizing human contact; click-and-collect growth is expected to hit 60.4% – up from the initial forecast of 38.6%. These gains reflect the pandemic’s impact on new buyers joining the online retail space, including 12.2% growth for those ages 65 and older. Consumers will rely on trustworthy retailers, so the key is to communicate regularly. Messaging should provide value and offer solutions, as well as cater to frugal spending. Read more messaging suggestions here.

Cancel Culture is Coming for…Cancel Culture

And speaking of social media, cancel culture is coming for everyone. Or is it? An open letter published in Harper’s and signed by authors, editors, journalists, and others including JK Rowling, Gloria Steinem, Noam Chomsky, and Malcom Gladwell, took aim at the pitfalls of the “cancel culture” including stifling dissent, free speech, and, ultimately, prohibiting advancement of society and ideas. For those unaware, cancel culture is this effect of “canceling” an individual for true problematic actions like blackface or minimal offenses like insensitive social media posts or simple discourse like publishing a conservative-leaning op-ed in the New York Times. Cancelling refers to demanding a boycott of the person’s work and channels henceforth and can include firing. Celebrities, authors, editors, journalists, influencers, and more have been subject to it. Some actions are unforgivable and“canceling” is warranted, but it leaves no room for apology or learning and moving forward. It assumes a kind of moral authority and a rigid, unchangeable human spirit. Still, the letter itself has its own criticisms, saying that the well-respected writers of the letter are just seeking to protect themselves from criticism and itself comes off as whiney and privileged – ironic, no?

Good News: Free Wedding Gowns, Mary W. Jackson, and DadYouTube Star

Massachusetts-based nonprofit Brides Across America is giving away wedding gowns to health care heroes in communities around the country. NASA named its D.C.headquarters for Mary W. Jackson, its first Black woman engineer that was part of the computing unit featured in the movie Hidden Figures. And this Dad is a new youtube star for his adorable how-to video series called “Dad, How Do I?” The videos answer everyday questions like how to tie a tie, iron a men’s shirt, swap a car battery, and unclog a drain. My heart is warmed!

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Charlotte Otremba is Sr. Manager of Communications and Marketing at Bidtellect.