Mediaboss Marketing

At a time where entertainers were forced to go on a hiatus due to COVID-19 preventing concerts and large-scale events, you were able to keep music going. When did you begin creating the song?

The song really isn't that old. Country Stuff (his album) was released June 4th. And I would guarantee you that Fancy Like was either written at the end of April or the beginning of May. We had finished Country Stuff and as soon as we finished we were like, all bets are off. Let's just break the rules, and so we wrote Fancy Like, I'm actually sitting in the room where we wrote it on a Monday and we knew it was going on the album that night.

The vocal that's on the track is the vocal that I cut at home that day. When you talk about bringing people together, when I think about creators, when the world is where it is right now, we all just desperately feel hopeless, but artists just want to help. You truly think to yourself How can I write something to help people? You don't think a song about Applebee's is going to be medicine that everybody needs, but you just want to help. I was home longer than I've ever been home in my life and that's what this song is about, it is what we do as a household, as a couple and I doubt I would have written that song if I had been gone doing shows. It came out of a special place and a special headspace. The song is a great distraction from all the division going on in the world.

Applebee's has hooked my family with some sick gift cards, so weve been putting those to use. I mean, why would I go anywhere else? Applebee's has been so gracious! The fact that they had a sense of humor and had fun jumping up and using the song in the commercial was like a consideration to be a part of their family, and we loved it. Applebee's is definitely who we are, so we'll take it.

This memory is priceless, it just wasnt calculated and thats a great lesson to me. My daughter is learning that there's no limit. She realized that that dance she created in a couple minutes with her dad can reach the other side of the earth in a moment and make somebody happy as they learn it with somebody they love. Lela is learning the power of music. I'll do a dance to every song if my daughter wants, to me its really about that. Sweating on the porch with her and laughing every time I mess it up. Were all just on cloud nine and were grateful.

(Laughing) No, I always see [social media apps] as an exciting challenge. You figure one out and then another one comes out. I love the fact that TikTok takes all gatekeepers out of the equation. Just like we did with Fancy Like we literally posted a video and it got to the universe and thats all you can ask as an artist.

As were coming out of it and this song is popping, Im having to say yes to really large exposures, TV spots and stuff. I have to remain true to my priorities and where this came from. This came from being with my family and so its really been challenging. I love the opportunity, but I want to be with my family.

Easy! It really is the Bourbon steak. My family is alarmed if I order something different. I love the quesadilla burger, its really a close second to the Bourbon steak. Always the Oreo Shake, it doesnt matter what I get, I always finish it off with that.

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Walker Hayes on TikTok-inspired viral Applebee's ad - AdAge.com

(Natasha Pszenicki)

Reach the tender age of 16 and a brown envelope arrives on the doorstep of your home assigning a National Insurance number our first encounter with taxes. Part of me itches to send it back to HMRC in the manner of the apocryphal recipient who wrote a note declaring: This is an interesting scheme, but I have no wish to join it.

The row currently roiling the Conservative Party on plans to fund long-overdue social care reform from a rise in National Insurance rests on the mysterious nature of NI and its position in the tax, welfare and pensions system. Its precise function is elusive, even to the majority of us who pay it and that is not incidental in the new controversy engulfing the Government, as it announced a hike in NI by about 1.25 per cent raising extra cash to fill a terrible gap in social-care provision for the elderly and adult social care.

This is intended to raise (potentially) a hefty 12 billion with a message that this will be ring-fenced for health and social care and pump 5.4 billion into an emergency NHS recovery fund to address waiting lists in cancer care and other postponed treatments in the Covid era. To address the obvious point that this is tough on younger earners who will pay a lot more NI over their lifetimes than their parents the Tories will need to take ownership of health and social territory which is historically Labours and where many advocates and staff are not natural allies.

It is a mighty gamble and it might just work. But it is also an obvious sleight of fiscal hand. NI is intended to build up an entitlement to claim benefits, state retirement pension and to support us when we are not able to work. It is all a bit mystical-maths though. National Insurance cannot even keep up with future demands of pensions and welfare, let alone fund anything else. The Commons Librarys last report says as much in conceding that the NI Fund is notionally used to finance contributory benefits, but in years when the Fund was not sufficient to finance benefits, it was topped up from general taxation revenues.

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Notionally is the word to watch. It means that any talk of hypothecating elderly care insurance is largely a political marketing trick to make the tax rise more palatable. It all relies on the same tax and revenues pot as everything else in public expenditure because NI does not raise enough to fund what it promises. In a job market in London where wages are higher than the UK average but living costs are a lot more demanding, it is also an extra burden on young workers scraping to get on the housing ladder.

In a Cabinet meeting today, the PM will remind doubting colleagues that NI was raided by Tony Blair deployed in the early 2000s to boost health spending without breaking tax pledges. And he will say that NI is that it is paid both by employers and employees which can be spun as a fair division of fiscal labour. Changes are coming to the triple-lockof pensioner benefits too. So the pain will be shared around.

Later he will hold a press conference with the holy trinity of Health Secretary Sajid Javid and Chancellor Rishi Sunak, who bore the brunt of concern about backlash last night at a reception for MPs, during which he was, as one put it, put in a headlock from the Right on those who think this will kill jobs and from the Left of the party worried about the generational inequality.

This three-line whip underlines the importance of todays announcement and also Johnsons determination to co-opt his Cabinet. It also signals a laudable determination to confront an issue which has been dodged and ducked by governments for a very long time. In a better political scenario, he wouldnt have made himself hostage to fortune with a pledge against tax rises. But the pandemic, he will claim, means resetting the clock on promises and a noisy upcoming debate with Labour will smoke out Keir Starmers equivocations.

On this calculation, the public, while grousing and reaching for the calculator and an aspirin, will grudgingly respect the Johnson-Sunak-Javid trio for taking the needs of the NHS and social-care system seriously.

It is a decisive moment for a flighty PM his first attempt at making a serious argument to voters about tax and spending, with winners and losers. A long way indeed for sloppy slogans on health spending on the side of a bus. Reality bites.

Anne McElvoy is senior editor at The Economist

What do you think about the National Insurance hike? Let us know in the comments below.

Read More

Social care reform: Boris Johnson in 36bn tax hike gamble

Boris Johnson wins Cabinet backing for social care reform plans

Johnson chairs Cabinet ahead of controversial social care funding shake-up

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Anne McElvoy: Were told NI will fund social care but this is a political marketing trick - Yahoo News UK

Looking for ways to optimize your TikTok marketing approach?

The platform continues to see high engagement and download rates, and with the holiday shopping season fast approaching (Christmas is now 115 days away), a rising number of brands are now considering the potential of the platform for their outreach efforts.

But the key to effective TikTok marketing lies in your creative, and how well you can align with the platforms aesthetic and feel.

Do you know what works on TikTok, and subsequently, what might work best for your brand?

To help with this, TikTok has added a new section into its Creative Center ad tips platform, which presents a range of data insights as to what users are responding to from brands.

As explained by TikTok:

Creative is sometimes overlooked as a core component of performance marketing, and as a result many ads don't reach their full potential in terms of ROI. To help you achieve your business goals with breakthrough creative on TikTok, we looked at the data to identify the best-performing creative attributes such as video duration and closed captioning so we could share some universal and category-specific best practices and help your ad performance soar.

It seems as though the platform is not fully fleshed out as yet, with only a selected few insights in some verticals available, but it does provide some valuable pointers as to what approaches are seeing best response, and what you should be looking to include in your TikTok ads.

Each element includes expanded detail on the flip side of the info panel, where there are also up and downvote buttons to register whether you found the data helpful in your planning.

That seems to suggest that, eventually, as more of these tips are added, TikTok will then be able to rank the listings by relative visitor value, which may make it a more helpful resource for such info over time.

Theres some helpful info here, and while it doesnt cover all industries as yet, it may be worth bookmarking as a potential resource for your future planning, and mapping out your TikTok marketing approach.

You can check out the new Creative Insights section here.

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TikTok Shares New Creative Peformance Insights to Help Marketers Improve their Strategic Approach - Social Media Today

The Impact NFT Alliance was created to bring together a global community of people interested in the role that blockchain technology can have on society.

The project was specifically designed to catalyse a cross-industry alliance that can promote, explore and discuss ideas where NFTs can be used to drive social impact in line with the UNs Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Project Ark a blockchain-powered conservation platform built between Carbonbase and the World Wildlife Fund Panda Labs is an online marketplace for ImpactNFTs that fund animal and environmental conservation efforts. Arks most recent ImpactNFTs include its WWF Egg Genesis Drop, SnarkySharkz and Purple Penguins.

NFTs are non-fungible tokens, a unit of data stored on the digital leger that represent items like photos, videos, audios and other digital files.

According to Max Song, founder of Project Ark and CEO of Carbonbase, there are clear synergies between minting NFTs and making the world better specifically between issuing NFT green bonds, payments for environmental services and NFTs as carbon credits.

Lays ImpactNFT is a first-of-its-kind for both PepsiCo and the brand, and incorporates social marketing with blockchain technology to get important messages out to blockchain newbies, conscious consumers and the general public.

An celebration of Lays Romanias efforts to unite the nation through the Share smiles with Lays campaign, Lays Smile NFT showcases the key elements of the initiative, namely, education, social and environment, with 100% of the proceeds going to four organisations recognised for their work in addressing some of Romanias biggest challenges in these areas.

Lets Do It, Romania! identifies polluted areas, organises clean up and has constructed the largest environmental education campaign in the country.

Bicycle-sharing service i'Velo, powered by GreenRevolution, has developed Romanias first and largest network of automated bike stations with a proprietary app.

The Adi Hdean Association provides those in need with nourishment through social and education projects.

And finally, Teach For Romania trains teachers to bring creative approaches to the classroom and develops educational leadership to codify their vision for future generations.

The Smiles by Lays NFT is a celebration of all the people and communities that got together through the Share Smiles with Lays campaign in Romania. Were excited to transform this campaign into digital art, said Vlad Vldescu, senior brand manager of Lays Romania.

Added Song, The Smile ImpactNFT is an example of cross-industry partnership that can drive social impact in a creative way that adds ongoing value.

To guarantee a negligible carbon footprint, Project Ark has minted Lays NFT on the Polygon network a Layer 2 protocol offering fast, economic and energy-efficient transactions, which is backed by the security of Ethereum open-source blockchain.

We are built for minting NFTs with a positive impact. Our partnership with Project Ark fits perfectly within our ethos of energy-efficiency and accessibility, said Amartya Hari Pilaka, Polygons NFT lead.

Continued here:
Lay's Romania makes an ImpactNFT by investing in miles of smiles - BakeryAndSnacks.com

Would you consider the time you spend on TikTok as time well spent?

Thats the core of what TikTok sought to find out via a new survey conducted in partnership with Kantar among more than 7,000 global TikTok users.

The results show that TikTok users are increasingly getting enjoyment and connection from the app.

As explained by TikTok:

They come to TikTok for the community, stay for the creativity, and leave feeling happy and inspired. People love the positive experience that our platform provides, so they scroll longer and dive deeper.

Which is no real surprise. TikTok usage has surged during the pandemic, with the apps never-ending stream of short video clips providing a means of escape, and light-hearted fun, away from the often depressing stream of news updates which now dominate many other apps.

Among the reports other key findings:

These are some interesting notes, which could help to shape your TikTok marketing approach. For more, you can check out TikToks full report here, or take a look at the infographic highlights below.

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TikTok Shares New Insights into Usage Trends, and its Impact on Audience Behaviors [Infographic] - Social Media Today