May 1, 2020

Figaro Digital Digest: April 2020

As social distancing has reached its peak, the world of digital has found itself in a position of paramount importance.

The developed world has spent more time online than ever before, and the marketing and digital landscape have responded in ever-surprising ways.

Find out all the latest Google, social, and brand news below.

The Latest Social News

Twitter makes it easier to find quote tweets

Ever struggled to gauge whether a tweet is controversial, or have you been unable to find people talking about it? Thankfully, Twitter appears to be introducing the functionality to make it easier to find quote tweets:

The social media platform has added a “Retweets with comments” counter, which should make it easier to find discussions around a tweet without having to wade through the search function.

Facebook introduces new chatbot AI

Facebook’s AI researchers have revealed their new open-source AI chatbot: Blender. The AI has been advertised as being more human than Facebook’s competitors, and its open-source nature could open new opportunities for chatbot marketing.

What makes it feel more human? Well, it may have something to do with the inclusion of 9.4 billion parameters and 1.5 billion learnt examples of conversations. Now, I’m not a tech wizard, but that sounds reassuring.

Chatbots, despite making modern gains, still have a reputation for being a bit awkward, so hopefully, this is a step in the right direction for chatbot marketing.

Instagram to test “DM Me” sticker to increase stories engagement

Instagram has tested a new “DM Me” sticker for Stories in an attempt to increase the rate of engagement on the platform.

Covid-19 has caused the app’s messaging use to skyrocket, so Instagram has seen this as a good time to capitalise on its Stories feature by making “sliding into the DMs” easier than ever.

The Latest Google News

Google attempts to help the news industry with free ad revenue

Despite everyone staying at home and consuming a lot of news, the industry is dealing with severe economic hardship.

As a result, Google has offered to waive any Google Ad Manager fees for the next five months to give the industry a boost.

Google has already contacted the news vendors that would benefit most, so hopefully, this will be enough to tie them over.

Google meet is now free for everyone

Since competitors like Zoom are becoming essential services during the lockdown, Google has made it’s Meet service free to claw back some users.

As more people are working from home – and perhaps working from home in the future, too – services like Google Meet are missing out if they’re not used now.

Google Meet is now free for everyone with an email address, even if it isn’t a Gmail account. The teleconferencing bubble is expanding, and Google desperately wants a piece of it.

The Latest Brand News

Research shows that the public wants brands to advertise as normal

In times like this, it can be tough to get the tone of marketing right. New research from Twitter, however, indicates the public-at-large just wants brands to advertise as normal, but expects them to make alterations to their tone of voice.

The social media company asked a number of US-based Twitter users about their views on advertising during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the results showed that:

  • Sixty-four per cent said that brands should advertise products as usual,
  • Fifty-two per cent said that hearing and seeing ads gave them a sense of normality,
  • Seventy-seven per cent said that they feel positive about brands making an effort to support society,
  • Seven per cent said brands should continue their usual tone of voice.

Sainsbury’s CEO expects the online shopping trend to stay

COVID-19 has caused a big shift towards online shopping, and Sainsbury’s CEO Mike Coupe expects this trend to stay.

The CEO is expected to leave in June, but at his final earnings call, he discussed the new trend in-depth, as well as the supermarket’s SmartShop functionality, “Almost a third of our sales are now through SmartShop and once you’ve used it once and got used to it, I suspect you won’t go back to the usual checkout. Whatever was happening anyway, which was broadly a move towards digital, will probably have been accelerated as a result of the COVID situation as customers get used to a different way of shopping.”

Hopefully, the long online queues will eventually subside!

Campaign of the Month

Budweiser brings back its iconic “Whassup” ad

Everyone remembers the classic “whassup” ad Budweiser ran from 1999 to 2002, and the company has decided to bring it back.

This time, they’ve made it quarantine-friendly. Instead of directly advertising the beer, the ad’s slogan is “Buds Support Buds” with support for the #TogetherAtADistance hashtag.

The ad manages to balance the sort of approach the Twitter research talked about: advertising as normal, but with care and reference to the current situation.

It’s nice to feel all nostalgic, too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9UahJH5r3k&feature=emb_title

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