by Population Science | Oct 31, 2019 | Industry News
Industry News – October 31, 2019
In a shocking move Jack Dorsey conveniently took to Twitter and announced that his company will no longer allow political and issue-based ads (click here to view the thread). My instant reaction was disappointment. I always had Twitter in my media plan for political and cause-based campaigns when the budget allowed.
What makes Twitter such a great platform for political and issue-based campaigns? The short bits of information Twitter was designed for is great for hot takes. If we know anything about political commentary today it’s all about the hot take. I understand Twitter doesn’t have the reach of other platforms, but nobody talks about “Trump Facebook Posts.” It’s the “Trump Tweet” because that’s the place to share hot takes and spark conversation.
In my opinion the timing of this announcement is nothing more than a PR stunt. Coming on the heels of Mark Zuckerberg vehemently defending Facebook’s stance on allowing political advertising on its platform Twitter is taking a shot at its much larger social media competitor. The question everyone in the political advertising space is asking themselves is whether or not Twitter’s stance will contribute enough additional pressure on Facebook to drastically limit or pull political ads from its platform altogether.
In the short term I believe Facebook will not bow to the pressure and continue to allow political and cause-based ads for the 2020 cycle. In the long term it may not be up to Facebook whether or not they continue this policy. We have already seen the first state take measures to effectively ban Facebook from running political ads. Many other politicians (both state and federal) have floated ideas of further regulating political ads.
I believe that Facebook is one more political ad scandal away from shuttering its political and issue-based ad business (either willingly or via regulation). One of three things will likely happen when the next scandal erupts:
-
Facebook will get ahead of the fallout by voluntarily shutting down their political and issue-based ad business.
-
Major brands will start pulling ads in protest (in the name of not wanting their brands associated with the offensive/false political content).
-
Government will force the issue.
So what does this mean for political and issue-based advertising going forward?
I think advertisers will be safe sticking with their plans to use Facebook (sans Washington) in the 2020 cycle. That said, as Elizabeth Warren’s campaign recently pointed out Facebook still makes it very easy to promote fake political news on its platform.
I believe the next major scandal with Facebook is inevitable and likely will occur during the 2020 cycle. Facebook is already not complying with their ban on these types of ads in the state of Washington. Political and issue-based advertisers should start testing other channels to reach their audience now. As Twitter has demonstrated Facebook could come out of nowhere and shut down their political and issue-based paid media business.
by Population Science | Oct 29, 2019 | Industry News
Industry News – October 29, 2019
Population Science was on hand in Dallas last month for this year’s Lend360 conference. We love this conference because it showcases the latest advances in FinTech. It’s also great to see so many familiar faces and discuss new approaches to how data-driven programmatic advertising can help their businesses.
The FinTech space is not dissimilar from other B2C verticals where reengaging past customers is just as important as prospecting for new ones. Traditionally FinTech has relied on email, direct mail, and SMS to re-engage past clients. Unfortunately that isn’t enough anymore. As inboxes (and mailboxes) get more cluttered it’s becoming harder to stand out.
The biggest takeaway from this year’s conference for me was how programmatic CRM retargeting is moving to the forefront in terms of importance for financial technology marketing.
Programmatic CRM retargeting allows companies to engage past customers on all of their connected devices, across a wide variety of channels, while managing frequency across channels and devices. This omni-channel opportunity allows marketers an opportunity to efficiently maximize their opportunity to engage past customers with offers to return for more products and services.
CRM retargeting is a tactic we will be implementing or expanding for all of our clients in 2020. To learn more about how CRM retargeting can make an impact for your business contact us today for a consultation.
We look forward to Lend360’s return to Chicago in 2020 and the opportunity to review campaign successes with our clients (and maybe meet new clients in the process)!
by Population Science | Sep 10, 2019 | Company News
Company News – September 10, 2019
I’ve spent the last 12 years of my career working across all aspects of the advertising and marketing technology space, and the launch of Population Science reflects the culmination of my diverse experiences and passion for the digital ecosystem.
With Population Science, my focus will be providing programmatic media buying and data strategy services to clients who want to bring their customer acquisition practices up to speed with the latest and greatest in technology
Many of you will likely find yourself in one of these groups:
-
You work for or with a brand that doesn’t know much (if anything) about programmatic
-
You know about programmatic but have been priced out
-
You don’t have the internal expertise or resources to launch/manage a campaign
-
You feel like your data strategy could use a new perspective
If you can relate to any of these, I’d love to talk with you about how Population Science can help.
Through my time working in the space, I’ve identified a need for bringing programmatic technology to agencies who don’t have the platform or expertise to offer these services to their clients, as well as in-house marketing teams who cannot afford to find or hire direct talent to implement programmatic campaigns (or don’t know where to begin). Through partnerships with both agencies and in-house marketing divisions, I’m excited to help teams leverage new technology to bring the right message to the right audience on the right device at the right time.
I’m also passionate about sharing the power of this technology with small to medium-sized businesses who may have previously felt that they didn’t have the resources or expertise to implement something like connected TV or digital audio. As an entrepreneur myself, working with growing businesses is something I truly enjoy on a personal level, and I know from experience that even a modest budget, we can see mighty results.
I’ll be joined in this venture by my wife, Emily, who brings a wealth of experience as a brand and content strategist working for various agencies and in-house teams. Together, we look forward to evaluating your brand, marketing, programmatic and data strategy holistically and providing a seamless full-service experience from initial strategy to content creation and execution to analysis.
We’re ready to get started and we hope you are, too! Send me an email and let’s grab coffee or set up a call to chat about how we can help take your marketing to new heights.
Cheers!
Johnathan Barnes
Principal and Founder
