Mediaboss Marketing

The spring cohort of strategists concluded their projects with a two-day event, where each team presented their research and recommended business plans to their partnering organizations. Former Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, who joined UTSA in a non-faculty role in January, and local entrepreneur and philanthropist Harvey E. Najim, the centers namesake and primary donor, were also in attendance to support the students.

This program is so much bigger than just the projects, and we can see that these students are transforming from the first week to the last, said Erica Clark, associate director of the Najim Center. Students gain real-world work experience through these projects, but they also learn lessons in real time about conflict resolution, communication, empathy and how to effectively collaborate with diverse peers to succeed as a group. It's truly a holistic developmental experience, and seeing these students grow as individuals throughout these eight weeks is amazing.

The Najim Strategists worked with seven local organizations this semester. One partnering company was Eat Drink Local Texas, which showcases local eateries, bars and events happening in San Antonio and across the state. Students working with the company were tasked with expanding its audience and increasing its collaborations with local restaurants.

The strategist team proposed selling a marketing services package to target small businesses and food trucks. The package would include services like advertising and social media management.

This program really pushed me out of my own comfort zone. I was involved with a project based around marketing, and I never had any marketing experience in my life, said Pranav Pillai, a first-year student in University College who worked with Eat Drink Local Texas. At first, I didnt know how this would help me in my prospective career of data analytics, however I realized that the skills I learnedlike communication with executives and curating a well-presented ideawould be helpful in many corporate jobs including data analytics. Overall, it did teach me skills that I never knew I needed to learn.

Other area organizations that participated in the strategist program include:

The strategist team that worked with Community First Health Plans helped audit the insurance companys phone systems, informing an updated call flow and scripts that will improve the overall customer experience.

We had a great experience working with the Najim students. We were impressed with their professionalism, collaboration, varied perspectives and the fresh eyes they brought to our corporate challenges, which in itself was a big help, said Judy Razo, executive director of corporate communications and experience at Community First Health Plans. The Najim students presented real-world solutions to complex challenges. We were very happy working with them and look forward to applying again in the future.

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Growth in Najim Strategist program expands experiential learning ... - UTSA

Its not difficult to persuade people to visit the Douro Valleyan almost comically picturesque wine region in northern Portugal. But if youre a dog lover with an appetite for vintage Port, Quinta da Crtes Instagram may inspire you to book airfare immediately.

Amid photos of the cobblestoned wine cellar and gnarled grapevines of the Douro Valley-based winery are shots of the owners dogs, Boris, Vicky, Lori and Tinto Co. These faithful companion[s] are pictured roaming the grounds and gazing soulfully into the camera in front of trellised vineyards.

Theyre among a new breed of wine dogs whose responsibilities go beyond traditional farm duties and into the digital realm. Photos of pets are increasingly common on winery and wine shop social media feeds as ways to develop brand identity and build connections with far-flung audiences.

But as tempting as it may be to sniff at the artifice of platforms, like Instagram, few businesses can survive without a digital community. In the social media era, were all brands. Why shouldnt our dogs help us build them? Whether this strikes you as adorable, opportunistic or inevitable depends on your relationship to social media, and how these companies approach it.

But theres no denying the power of a post featuring a four-legged friend.

Dog posts tend to perform very well across Jordan [Winerys] social media channels, says Kendall Busby, the director of marketing and communications at Jordan Winery in Healdsburg, California. She notes that pup posts receive 3-4% more interactions per follower on social media compared to the industry average. The dog-focused content is also seen by followers about 1,000 more times than the average.

Metrics aside, dogs are an important part of the success of a winery and can even help carry out a winerys mission. Like Jordan Winery Owner, John Jordans, four-legged companion.

Johns black labrador retriever rescue dog, Halsey, joins us at the winery every morning and is a beloved member of our staff, says Busby. Jordan himself is an animal rights activist who has raised funds and awareness through dog-centric social media posts for groups like Canine Companions, an organization that matches service dogs with people who have disabilities, and Soi Dog Foundation, an animal rights group.

Dogs are similarly prominent at Troon Vineyards in Applegate Valley, Oregon. Beau and Belle are a brother-sister pair of Grand Pyrenees who guard the biodynamic winerys sheep and chickens, and periodically appear on its Instagram account.

It almost feels like cheating, says Craig Camp, Troons general manager, of Beau and Belles social media marketability. Theyre these giant, adorable white dogs, and people love them.

Still, Camp notes, the dogs are first and foremost working team members of the winery and crucial to Troons commitment to biodiversity. Our mission overall is to try to convince other people to farm this way, not just our 100 acres. If we really want to change agriculture, we have to get out there and tell that story, Camp says.

Storytelling is how many brands differentiate themselves, whether its via social media posts, the anecdotes sales representatives share with investors or an earnest mission statement in a company handbook. All of those messages can be thoughtfully or inauthentically crafted, and its up to the audience to decide whether to engage or unsubscribe. Dogs can help appeal to followers and tell these stories.

Along with doing vital work in the vineyards (both on and offline), dogs are also hard at work in wine shops.

Family is woven into the foundation of New Yorks Beaupierre Wine & Spirits, a boutique bottle shop that Yannick Benjamin and Heidi Turzyn opened in 2022.

Benjamin and Turzyns dog, Amelie, often accompanies them to the shop and appears on its social media channels. The posts that get the most views are of Amelieby far, Benjamin says, laughing.

It makes sense to him that Amelie is a fan favorite on and offline. I think people see it as a connection. People enjoy that theyre supporting a family-owned business and that its from someone who grew up in the neighborhood, Benjamin says.

Besides, for some people, the wine world can seem intimidatingly opaque. If you open your social media feed and see Amelie sitting in Benjamins lap on Beaupierres sales floor, or Boris the beagle searching for snacks in the Douro, it makes the entire endeavor more approachable.

Sometimes, having the dog in the shop helps break down barriers, says Vince Tillotson, the manager and buyer at Grapefruit Wines, a bottle shop in Hudson, New York. His dog, Augie, is often in the store with him and makes cameos on the shops Instagram feed.

Its not just a tech sheet as a caption. There are so many ways to have conversations about wine, Tillotson says.

The word authenticity is often overused in conversations about branding, but its why pictures of Amelie, Beau, Belle and all the other pups resonate with audiences. Sure, some of us mindlessly scroll our feeds and like pictures of cute animals. However, many social media users are savvier than cynics expect. They can tell the difference between a soulless algorithm grab versus posters who treat their communitiesincluding the four-legged memberswith respect.

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The Best Wine Influencers Are Paid in Treats - Wine Enthusiast Magazine Online

Background

The ASAs investigation relates to CAP Code rule 22.12, which states that, except for media targeted exclusively to the trade, marketing communications with the direct or indirect effect of promoting nicotine-containing e-cigarettes and their components which are not licensed as medicines are not permitted in online and some other forms of electronic media. The ad investigated promoted e-cigarettes and should not have appeared on a public TikTok account and in this case, the ASA has not assessed the content of the ad under any other CAP rules.

A TikTok post from the account @Panaxhe_ promoting Elf Bar, an electronic cigarette brand, posted on 18 May 2022, featured scenes of a young man going through his day, which included referring to and smoking Elf Bar vapes, showing the product, and stating some Elf Bar brand flavours such as "blueberry" and "kiwi passionfruit". He had written in a notebook Why I Love My ELF BAR Rechargeable Disposable Pods. On-screen text stated RICH FLAVOUR and Rechargeable pods save a lot of money with a heart eyes face emoji.

Text underneath the video stated Best vapes out there, dont let the fiends get to it @elfbar_official_global #ELFA #ElfaEcoChoice # SavingMoney #ad Paid partnership.

Imperial Tobacco challenged whether the post breached the Code by promoting unlicensed, nicotine-containing e-cigarettes and their components on TikTok.

Green Fun Alliance Ltd t/a Elf Bar said they had contacted the content creator and TikTok and asked them to remove the post. They said they had found the video content was inappropriate, did not comply with the brands content guidelines, and they believed it did not comply with the Code. They said they monitored and reviewed video content about Elf Bar on online platforms to ensure it met guidelines and regulations.

Elf Bar said they would improve their internal review and monitoring mechanisms to ensure that all online content complied with regulatory requirements. Elf Bar said that as a result of the complaint, they had stopped TikTok content and communications marketing in the UK.

Elf Bar said they had conducted an investigation in-house and with their outsourced marketing operations to understand how the video came to be produced. They said that their outsourced marketing provider had released the video without conducting the necessary checks with Elf Bar. Elf Bar recognised that advertising and marketing content promoting their products produced by third parties was their responsibility. They would review and address their monitoring processes for future video content to ensure compliance with UK laws and regulations.

TikTok noted the video did not appear in paid-for ad space. But because it violated their branded content policy and community guidelines, it had been removed from their platform.

TikTok also said the mechanics of the platform was such that the content might have appeared on an algorithmically driven "For You" feed so that users who did not sign up to follow @Panaxhe_'s account may have seen it (but the content had now been removed). They said users posting on TikTok had the option to restrict content to be seen only by themselves, their "friends" (i.e., people who followed the user), or to "everyone", which would be seen by anyone on the platform (before it was removed).

Upheld

The ASA understood that Elf Bar outsourced their marketing to an external provider who created and distributed promotional marketing content on their behalf and sent gifts of free e-cigarettes to social media influencers. We considered that the gifting of free e-cigarettes constituted a payment to the individual featured in the post. Elf Bar also said the post had been released onto TikTok without the necessary checks being conducted by them. We considered that the existence of those checks demonstrated that they exercised a degree of editorial control over the posts content. Text below the video stated @elfbar_official_global #ad Paid partnership. We considered that the relationship between the parties, along with the references to #ad and paid partnership, established that the post was a marketing communication falling within the remit of the CAP Code.

CAP Code rule 22 .12 reflected a legislative ban contained in the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations (TRPR) on the advertising of unlicensed, nicotine-containing e-cigarettes in certain media. The rule stated that, except for media targeted exclusively to the trade, marketing communications with the direct or indirect effect of promoting nicotine-containing e-cigarettes and their components that were not licensed as medicines were not permitted in newspapers, magazines and periodicals, or in online media and some other forms of electronic media. It further stated that factual claims about products were permitted on marketers own websites and, in certain circumstances, in other non-paid-for space online under the marketers control.

The CAP guidance on Electronic cigarette advertising prohibitions (the Guidance) explained that the prohibition on ads in online media and some other forms of electronic media reflected the legal prohibition on ads in information society services. The Guidance indicated that ads placed in paid-for social media placements, advertisement features and contextually targeted branded content were likely to be prohibited.

We considered whether TikTok was an online media space where such advertising, using factual claims only, was permitted. We understood that, while promotional content was prohibited on retailers own websites, rule 22 .12 specified a particular exception that the provision of factual information was not prohibited. The basis of the exception to the rule was because consumers had to specifically seek out that factual information by visiting the website. The Guidance stated that, in principle, there was likely to be scope for the position relating to factual claims being acceptable on marketers websites, to apply to some social media activity. A social media page or account might be considered to be analogous to a website and able to make factual claims if it could only be found by those actively seeking it.

We understood that public posts could be seen by anyone who visited the TikTok website on a web browser and by any users of the app. It was possible for public posts from a TikTok account to be distributed beyond those users who had signed up to follow the account due to TikToks algorithms and account settings. We considered that was consistent with content being pushed to consumers without having opted-in to receive the message it contained and therefore it was not equivalent to actively seeking out information about e-cigarettes. Given that characteristic, we considered that material from a public TikTok account was not analogous to a retailers own website and that material posted from such an account was therefore subject to the prohibition on advertising of unlicensed, nicotine-containing e-cigarettes, meaning that neither promotional nor factual content was permitted.

We considered that advertising content from @Panaxhe_s TikTok account was similarly not analogous to a retailers own website and that material posted from that account was therefore subject to the prohibition on advertising of unlicensed, nicotine-containing e-cigarettes, meaning that the restriction that applied to online media under rule 22 .12 was applicable and neither promotional nor factual content was permitted.

We considered whether the ad directly or indirectly promoted a nicotine-containing e-cigarette. Unlicensed e-cigarettes were prominently featured throughout the ad. We considered that the ad was intended to have the appearance of a day in the life social media post and that it focused on featuring the man using and referring to e-cigarettes during the day. On-screen text stated rechargeable pods save a lot of money and rich flavour. We therefore considered that the ad contained promotional content for the product and consequently the restriction that applied to online media under rule 22 .12 was applicable.

Because the ad had the direct or indirect effect of promoting e-cigarettes which were not licensed as medicines in non-permitted media, we concluded that it breached the Code.

The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 22.12 (Electronic cigarettes).

The ad must not appear again in the form complained about. We told Green Fun Alliance Ltd t/a Elf Bar that marketing communications with the direct or indirect effect of promoting nicotine-containing e-cigarettes and their components which were not licensed as medicines should not be made from a public TikTok account.

22.12

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Green Fun Alliance Ltd - ASA | CAP - Advertising Standards Authority

Asked if he sees the share of digital in the overall spends plateauing, he replied in the affirmative.

In a February news report, a senior company executive was quoted as saying that the overall ad spends by the company will be about Rs 800 crore in FY23, of which Rs 200 crore will be on digital.

continued below

On the digital side, there is a lot of traction for short form video content which is less than 30 seconds long and the company is also looking at reels on a case-to-case basis.

Meta's country head Sandhya Devanathan said India is already home to the largest base of social media creators who create reels and the number of such creators is estimated to grow to 100 million by the end of this year.

Launching the campaign christened 'Made on Reels', Devanathan said surveys commissioned by the company have shown the importance for brands to use the reels format to reach out to their target audience.

She said the survey pointed out that 77 per cent of Indians ended up purchasing a product or service after watching it on reels, and added that three of every four Indians surveyed said they reached out to a brand after watching reels.

In the times of macroeconomic headwinds, brands need to invest for efficient growth, Devanathan said, suggesting that reels can be the medium of choice.

Niharika NM, a digital creator who has over 3 million followers, said brands need to trust the creators while collaborating for mutual benefit. Her peer Viraj Ghelani said a viewer's attention span is only 1 second and you stand the risk of being scrolled out if a brand comes upfront.

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Maruti Suzuki sees digital share in ad spends stabilising at about a third: Company official - ETAuto

The role of chief marketing officer (CMO) is changing dramatically. When I think about marketing leaders in my networks and our customerswhether its B2C or B2Bour roles encompass so much more than bringing awareness to our brand and positioning.

A CMOs charge is to show up as a clear mirror for the organization in terms of where we are succeeding, where we are failing and what our customers want. We are the lens into how we can better position ourselves, our company and our product for future growtha viewpoint that depends on social media.

In the current climate, whether youre a CMO with a background in strategy or demand generation, you will be called upon to communicate the value of social media to your CFO.

But regardless of your background or experience, there are steps you can take to communicate the value of your social strategy to your CFO and other financial peers to help protect critical marketing dollars, even in a down economy.

Before you can successfully advocate for the value of social to your CFO, you need a solid working relationship. Here are four ways to build a collaborative, trusting partnership.

The first step is to understand how your marketing plan, strategies and teams ultimately support the business plan. CFOs are highly attuned to the overall business metrics, so you need to understand their quantitative definition of success in terms of the business plan, revenue and margins.

What are you trying to accomplish? Are you trying to expand into new markets? Are you launching a new product? Are you going to acquire a company?

Once you define what is important, you can attach all of your marketing efforts (and budget requests) to those broader goals.

For example, say one of your goals is to enter the APAC market by 2024. To do that, you will need to invest in social listening to really understand whats happening in that market, and accumulate data that will help the launch with relevant positioning, competitive insights, the right message and pricing.

Social data is a critical source of audience and competitor insightsdata which can give your company a clear edge in the market. These insights can help identify areas of the business that could potentially be at risk, or emerging opportunities your business should act on, which will be meaningful intel for your CFO.

There are some CFOs that get marketing, the brand and the longer tail ROI investments that we need to make for future growth.

If youre working with that type of CFO, explaining the value of social is straightforwardyoure already having quarterly and monthly business reviews and your overall marketing KPIs (including social) are one component of that. Its more nuanced when you are collaborating with CFOs who arent as close to marketing, dont understand its value or even the role of marketing to the business.

You dont need a finance degree to make your case (although taking some classes may help), but you do need to speak in their language. Understand what they think success looks like, and leverage the data that only CMOs have access to help illustrate how your marketing efforts are paying off.

One of the biggest mistakes Ive seen marketers make is when they only speak in marketing terms. No CFO, no matter how marketing savvy they are, will be swayed by impressions or ad conversions.

CFOs are most interested in revenue and cash flow. Aligning your marketing efforts with how youre growing top line revenue, or minimizing operating expenses, will establish rapport and position you as a partner for improving shareholder value. We do that easily at Sproutits why Joe Del Preto, Sprouts CFO, and I have such a trusting relationship.

When you have that relationship, it allows you to raise new ideas or big bets confidently. For example, I know what we have done is working because Ive been able to attribute our previous efforts to revenue. And, I am up front when Im uncertain about the exact payoff of a new campaign, and if it might even be a sunk cost, but its still a learning and growth opportunity for the team.

You wont have all the answers. I think thats where Ive seen peerseven me in younger yearsget tripped up. Theyre trying to create a perfect business case that doesnt exist. As long as the trust is built, we can be up front that we dont know but its a bet we stand behind.

As mirrors into the marketing organization, one of the most important things CMOs can do is provide a lens into what our competition is doing.

Joe and I recently talked about how marketers win in two ways: executing the strategy we know works and testing risks in areas were unsure about, but could be the launchpad for our next stage of growth.

Unless we, as marketers, are taking some of those small risks while continuing to do what works, we will stagnate as a business.

In those types of situations, you need to strike a balance between leaning on your sure-fire strategy and justifying bold moves.

For example, you may allocate your budget accordingly. 60% of the marketing budget and resources are going to be spent on the best practices that we know are going to support growth. Maybe 10 or 20% can be allocated to risks today, but next year we need to move that to 40% because we know we need to prepare for our next level of growth.

This is also another opportunity to demonstrate the power of social data and social listening. For example, with the right platform, we can review audience sentiment and perception compared to our competitorsall in real time. Bringing powerful insights like this to the CFO can help identify risks.

Remember as you continue to build your track record, you will become more confident in admitting the unknown because you will have the data and insights to back up your claims.

Its not uncommon for CFOs, especially in B2B, to push back on awareness-related spend, especially if budgets are tight or the market is uncertain, given its a long-term investment that doesnt have direct, immediate revenue attribution.

Social media investments can fall in this camp, so sometimes we need to identify and communicate an alternative timeline. Consider if this is the right time to make an investment in these longer term brand equity, brand awareness solutions or can we push that off because we have short-term goals that we need to meet first?

Even having an open conversation about prioritizing short-term goals or managing a volatile economy is valuable and important.

You might have to recognize that its a tough market right now, so you will pull back on this investment thats less directly attributable to revenue. But you will come back in six months because we need to get this back on the table, otherwise, were going to have a hard time in 2024 or 2025.

Be realistic when you know something isnt going to have a direct impact, but be confident about making the investment at a later date.

Maximizing the impact social media can have on an organization requires investments in people and the tools. When presenting these line items to your CFO, you need to be prepared with an airtight, data-driven case.

Pinpoint and present how a new approach to social media management can cut costs for the bottom line. Whenever its time for our executive team to begin annual planning and review budgets, I try to identify cost savings that will benefit both the marketing organization and the business as a whole.

I will also bring productivity savings to our CFO. I may say, With this investment, its going to save my team 50 hours a month that we can dedicate to other areas that we werent able to reach before.

For example, we recently commissioned a Total Economic Impact study conducted by Forrester Consulting which found that Sprout drove $973,000 in productivity and efficiency over three years for a composite organization. Over that same time period, brands were also able to eliminate manual data aggregation for monthly reports by 75%giving social teams more time to act on insights rather than compile them.

Presenting potential cuts and productivity savings like these show you understand the full business perspective, not just the marketing perspective, of your spend.

Marketing tech stacks are always under scrutiny, especially if there are many solutions under a budget. Proposing investments that consolidate or simplify your existing stack can help demonstrate the value of a new solution.

According to the Total Economic Impact study, the composite organization saved $473,000 over three years by consolidating legacy solutions into Sprout Social. The organization was able to stop paying fees and eliminated two legacy solutions to save nearly $200,000 annually.

Any sort of consolidationwhether thats consolidating a public relations platform, a listening platform or a publishing platformis powerful. Having a tool that is compatible with other pieces of your tech stack, like your CRM or business intelligence solution, will drive even more savings.

To prove the ROI of social, you need to be fluent in your CFOs language. Framing your efforts and communicating how they are connected to larger operational goals is the fastest way to break through.

Download the Total Economic Impact study today to learn why we believe Sprout is the best solution for making a swift impact across your business.

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Demonstrating the value of social to your CFO - Sprout Social