June 28, 2022 / CPOVs

Pride: More Than Painting Rainbows in June

CP Pride

In recent years, you can tell the start of June by the consistent and ubiquitous appearance of rainbows. 

It is an incredibly positive step that in so many countries, particularly western, there is such a celebratory feeling to Pride. Major brands, both public and private, are now racing to out-rainbow each other and associate themselves with the LGBTQ+ community, the cause – and for some of us cynics, sell a few products where they can during this month-long party and celebration of diversity. 

However, the origins of Pride were anything but a party. The events at the Stonewall Inn in 1969 which were to spark Pride were brutal, bloody and an important reminder to us all that we have many more steps to take for real equality and visibility for all in society.  

Everyone, especially corporate brands, who in recent years have joined ‘the Pride party’, need to consider their support for this important cause with careful authenticity. Because with the Pride party comes the essential element of protest – for further necessary rights of the LGBTQ+ community around the world.

More steps to make

There are many countries who do not recognise their LGBTQ+ communities and many more rights to be given to LGBTQ+ communities in countries where there is at least recognition. 

  • 70 countries criminalise same-sex relationships
  • The death penalty for same-sex relationships is either ‘allowed’, or evidence of its existence occurs, in 11 of these countries
  • In more than half the world, LGBTQ+ people may not be protected from discrimination by workplace law
  • Most governments deny trans people the right to legally change their name and gender from those that were assigned to them at birth
  • A quarter of the world’s population believes that being LGBTQ+ should be a crime

(Source: Stonewall.org.uk)

Careful authenticity

An integral part of Pride is visibility. And for corporate brands, this is about true visibility and authenticity. 

The fact is that it’s only been in recent years that the wealth of major brands have really associated themselves with the party of Pride. 

The original Pride parades in the 1970s were a form of protest. They had a daring strategy – to walk the streets of major cities declaring support for a minority, and often misunderstood members of our community. Now it is considered ‘safe’ and is a positive association to launch campaigns covered in rainbows and to walk in Pride. However, it’s not just about branding and floats in a parade, as some brands are finding out. 

AT&T, Toyota and Amazon are just three organisations who have been found to be playing both sides in the LGBTQ+ rights according to a recent article in AdWeek.  The Data for Progress and Popular Information have highlighted brands for a level of marketing hypocrisy – building an extensive Pride campaign while also spending more than $1 million on political campaign contributions to state lawmakers responsible for anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.

In an age in branding, marketing and advertising, where purpose and making a meaningful difference is at the forefront of many brands and consumers’ minds, it’s crucial to go beyond past shortcomings when it comes to supporting each other. For example, just a flag, a temporarily redesigned logo or tweet as support. With transparency at an all time high and consumers more interested and knowledgeable about what’s going on behind closed doors and willingness to bring up past comments and actions, it’s critical that brands not only take a stand and speak up this month, but also genuinely show up in support.

Today, there’s so much to celebrate for what’s been done for LGBTQ+ rights. And yet, with 70 countries not recognising LGBTQ+ rights and over 300 pieces of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation passed by US State lawmakers this year alone, there is so much more to do, and it’s all not going to happen in June every year. 

So for those who are planning their corporate strategies for rainbow coloured campaigns next June, consider extending the colours to an annual campaign, and stretch to the entire annual corporate budget and culture, not just the marketing spend. 

It’s not just about painting rainbows in June.

Image Source

June 16, 2022 / News

Connelly Partners’ Wins at Hatch Awards

Nora Jerrett, Junior Copywriter

2022 Hatch Awards

I went to my very first Hatch Awards this week, and it did not disappoint. Hosted by The Ad Club, the Hatch Awards welcome professionals from across New England’s marketing industry to educate, network, and celebrate exceptional work.

During the mile walk from Connelly Partners to the Artists for Humanity venue, I recalled decadent stories from college professors and coworkers about this event. Advertising industry big fish and interns connecting, dominating the dance floor, and receiving recognition all in one night? Let’s just say, as I was crossing the bridge into South Boston, I was excited! As I entered the venue, I was met with a wall of smiling welcomers who quickly ushered my coworkers and I to the main socializing area, where vibrant light fixtures accentuated the modern art displays next to digitally displayed, winning ads. Speaking of awards, the Connelly Partners team achieved some impressive wins!

Titleist is not only the #1 golf ball, it was also our top winner. Our TV spots and print ad earned Silver in the Brands Amplified and Film categories plus three Merit awards in the Film and Print Categories— proving that when you choose to be a winner, you become one.

Our ocean-health campaign in collaboration with sleep.com for Mattress Firm won Bronze in the Work For Good Category. With the context of disposable masks taking 450 years to decompose in the ocean, this campaign urges everyone to do our part and dispose of them properly— so we can all sleep better!

Our TV spot for Kayem won a Merit award in the Film Category, in which we introduced the Kayem Butcher who is finally ready to let the world in on his delicious Kayem Bacon after being the go-to barbecue brand for over 100 years.

And our TV spot for Uno Pizzeria & Grill took home Bronze in the Film Category for a relatable post-pandemic campaign about the simple pleasures we had all been missing.

All in all, the Hatch Awards were exactly what I was expecting while also being a total surprise. Somehow, despite all my anticipation, it hadn’t occurred to me that I’d be with the winners. Between Connelly’s own to the other first timers I met in the bathroom line, the night took a whimsical turn. Watching my peers excitedly interrupt conversations to point out their winning ads like kids at a science museum was all the encouragement this junior copywriter needed to understand what makes the ad world is so fun! From the electric violin performances to the cocktail of different perfumes and mac and cheese bar, the wall-sized screen displaying both the winners and the Celtics game (because Hatch gets it) to the multitude of people from Boston’s top creative agencies, this was a five-senses experience that I’ll never forget.

Congratulations to all the winners this year.

Image provided by The Ad Club.

June 8, 2022 / News

MM+M: Connelly Partners Health Named Agency to Watch

Connelly Partners Health has been named an “Agency To Watch” on MM+M’s Agency 100 list. In under a year of operation, CP Health is one of only nine agencies to secure a position on this list. Over the past year, CP Health, led by Stephen Piotrowski, has worked with various companies in the health space, including FluidEdge, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and the Public Health Institute, for which it earned two Bronze Anthem Awards.  

Read more about the CP Health win in MM+M here and the full Agency 100 list here

Congratulations to all agencies who have been recognized by MM+M.

Image Source

June 6, 2022 / Thought Leadership

When a Coffee Turns Into So Much More…

Andrea Pappin, Corporate Affairs & Communications, ZOO Digital 

Right beside the Connelly Partners Dublin offices is an incredible place, called the Fair Play Cafe. It makes great coffee, superb sandwiches and opens early, baking its own range of fruit scones. Bliss. Yet it does so much more to help the local community here, as we found out recently. 

How the Fair Play Cafe, ZOO, Connelly Partners, Google and a whole range of local businesses all ended up working together to help (in a small way) the Ukrainian community here, all started with a decaf Americano and a leaflet. See, the Fair Play Cafe regularly runs a hospitality and barista training course for the local Ringsend community – where, over an intense two-week period, students learn coffee making, pint pulling, cocktail shaking, food preparation, top customer service skills and all the other elements you need to work in a cafe, restaurant or hotel in Ireland.   

Just how quickly a group of strangers can move to work together is simply incredible. Two days after one of the ZOO team inquired if this course could be adapted for the Ukrainian community, three people met in a room – Teresa from Google, Joe from Fair Play Cafe and Andrea from ZOO. The first question put to the group was so telling – “so, what roadblocks do we need to move to make this happen?” And happen it did, three weeks later. 

It was a real community effort to turn this initiative around with the ZOO and Connelly Partner teams giving so much. Hours of organisation were contributed, team members met our Ukrainian students on their first day at their bus stops to walk them to the Cafe so they didn’t get lost – and so many of the team contributed €10s to help pay for a lunch for the students, so there was one less thing for them to have to worry about. Thanks to the Ukrainian Matching Fund at Connelly Partners, as well as our team knocking on the doors of other local businesses in our office block, every lunch, coffee and cake our Ukrainian students needed during their course was taken care of. Other local funds help to pay for transport, and many of the trainers of the course (including baristas just back from the World Championships) all waived their fees. 

And it wasn’t just lunch or just a walk. Joe, the main organiser of the Fair Play Cafe, captured it so well in his thank you message to us: “After everyone left the building [after graduation] except for my wife and I, we just sat with them all and chatted with them for over an hour. It slowly dawned on us that they were reluctant to say goodbye to each other as they had formed a special bond of friendship and mutual encouragement, with the older ones acting as big sisters/mothers to the younger ones. There were a lot of tears among them when they finally said goodbye to each other and went their separate ways. Before they left, we assured them that we will organise a BBQ for them all again in a few weeks time when the weather improves.”

It’s the power of a coffee. And a cafe. And a community. And if you’re ever in the Dublin office, make sure to visit the Fair Play Cafe. You never know what could happen.

June 3, 2022 / Thought Leadership

The Next Chapter of Google Analytics: Preparing for Google Analytics 4 (GA4)

Brian Kastelein, Director of Data & Analytics 

So it’s official. On March 16, 2022, Google announced their intention to sunset the current version of Google Analytics, called Universal Analytics (UA), that has been the go-to web analytics tool for more than 30 million websites for the past 10 years. It will be replaced by a completely new Google Analytics environment, called Google Analytics 4 (GA4), by July 1, 2023. 

Should you care? Absolutely! Google Analytics 4 will usher in an entirely new era of web analytics that moves away from a dependence on cookies, a tracking mechanism that has come under scrutiny in recent years as concerns over consumer privacy, along with corresponding legislation, have gained traction. In Google’s own words, GA4 is “privacy-centric by design, so you can rely on Analytics even as industry changes like restrictions on cookies and identifiers create gaps in your data.”

In my August blog post, “10 Things to Know About Google Analytics 4 (GA4),” I said the launch of GA4 was a BIG deal. Now with the deadline of July 1, 2023 clearly in view, it is an even BIGGER deal and organizations need to begin to prepare for what will be a major shift in website measurement and marketing campaign tracking.

Start using Google Analytics 4 immediately

Google is making every effort to ensure that no one is caught off guard. For anyone using Google Analytics with some regularity, you’ve no doubt received multiple emails, in addition to the now persistent reminder of the approaching deadline in the blue alert bar across the top of your Google Analytics account every time you log in. 

Now is the time to heed that alert bar. There are ample technical considerations in planning the migration from UA to GA4. Everything from how to best export, store, and reference historical UA data to determining how to most effectively leverage new GA4 standards and functionality for event tagging, UTM conventions, and attribution models will need to be reviewed and configured in order to adapt to the new environment.

If you haven’t done so already, I strongly recommend setting up your GA4 property and running it in parallel to your existing UA account(s). This will allow data to begin to be collected in GA4 and provide a launching point for gaining familiarity with the new environment and exploring the many differences when comparing it to UA.

Begin to climb the steep learning curve

Beyond the technical considerations of GA4, one of the biggest challenges to be faced over the coming months is to effectively communicate to a more general and non-technical marketing audience the various impacts and implications of the shift from UA to GA4.

Complicating factors abound – and it’s going to require dedicated time, as well as a concerted effort, to navigate the UA to GA4 transition.

For instance, there is a “session” metric in both UA and GA4, however, the methodology for calculating a session in the two platforms is completely different making any year-over-year comparisons of “sessions” a bit like apples and oranges. By contrast, other standard metrics in UA, such as “bounce rate,” go the way of the dinosaurs and are replaced by new metrics, in this case “engagement rate,” in GA4.

Explaining these often nuanced differences to time-pressed and results-oriented marketing professionals, who don’t have a high tolerance for having caveats attached to their performance metrics, is going to have to be done methodically and incrementally. But the reality of a move to GA4 is that there are going to be inherent challenges to conducting cross-platform trend analysis and setting benchmarks based on historical performance levels. GA4 is truly a brand new world.

So with plenty of hurdles ahead, the upcoming months will be a true test of organizational fortitude. All marketers, from the more technical to the more creative, will need to collaborate and communicate to successfully navigate the transition to GA4. We are on the steep part of the learning curve, but the potential reward of mastering what will likely prove to be a more robust solution built for the impending cookie-less future must serve to motivate our efforts moving forward. 

It’s yet another interesting chapter for modern marketing.

Check out Brian’s article published in Siliconrepublic.com.

Image source

 

May 20, 2022 / News

Muse by Clio: Alyssa Toro on the Merging of Health and Wellness

Our Chief Creative Officer, Alyssa Toro, spoke with Muse by Clio for its Checkup series, featuring Q&A’s with healthcare marketing execs. Alyssa shares more about the launch of our dedicated CP Health practice, CP’s unique human approach to healthcare marketing, the unexpected opportunities for creative in the space and her own love of health and wellness.

Read more via Muse by Clio here.

May 16, 2022 / Thought Leadership

Keeping it Real: All Ro(ads) Point to Authenticity for Gen Z

Neal Malone, PR and Social Media Management Supervisor

Four hours. That’s the average amount of time that Gen Z users spend on social media per day.

Once you layer in working, eating, and sleeping, there isn’t a whole lot of time to do much else.

This isn’t a generation that spends time reading articles in the morning, they don’t watch a ton of TV…and the shows or movies that they do watch are through streaming platforms or YouTube. Heck, there’s even data out there now that tells us members of Gen Z are ditching their email in favor of social DMs.

Talk about a hard advertising target, right?! Let’s put it this way…if you’re a brand trying to reach Gen Z – a generation that is already playing a big role in shaping our society and culture – investing in traditional ad formats would be like setting a pile of money on fire. Sorry, it just isn’t going to work.

So that brings us back to social media – quite literally the epicenter of all things Gen Z. There are plenty of ad formats across the various social media platforms, but the more traditional ones are quickly losing their luster. Gen Z users are experts at sniffing out ads and will quickly scroll past anything that feels too promotional. Instead, these users gravitate towards edgy, raw, authentic content featuring real people, real stories, and very little “sales speak.”

Because today, consumers are tired of being sold to. They’re over logos flashing everywhere, voiceovers that cram in talking points, and hired talent that isn’t representative of them or their communities. Consumers in 2022 are savvy and the expectations they have for brands are at an all-time high.

At Social Media Week – a three-day conference hosted by AdWeek in New York City – PepsiCo Chief Marketing Officer, Todd Kaplan, may have summed it up best when he said that “brands should make consumers feel invited, not chased.” Now, you could argue that a company with the history, scale, and brand recognition of PepsiCo doesn’t really need to sell itself to consumers anyway, but Todd’s point is an important one – and all brands should take note.

It’s not that Gen Z (and younger Millennial) consumers are allergic to all marketing and advertising – they just want brands to engage them in a different, more personalized way. The word “authentic” was mentioned more than any other word at Social Media Week (to the point where it started to generate some laughs from the crowd), but the reason why it came up so often is because consumers today demand authentic, relatable content. If it’s anything otherwise, it’s not worth their time.

So what does this mean for brands who want to reach Gen Z and other like-minded consumers?

It means engaging with influencers who can bring a trusted voice to their products, it means leveraging user-generated content to power their brand channels, and it means using social listening to identify trends and keep a pulse on evolving consumer conversations. In a general sense, it means rethinking and modernizing everything we’ve been taught as marketers over the years.

Speaking at Social Media Week, Hootsuite Chief Marketing Officer, Maggie Lower, encouraged brands to be “courageously creative” with their social media strategies and campaigns. She acknowledged that it isn’t easy for some companies to take this leap of faith into a more organic and less buttoned-up content world, but it’s a critical step that brands must take if they want to grab the attention of younger consumers.

If one thing was clear at Social Media Week across all the companies and brands that presented (you may have heard of a few: Google, Meta, Twitter, Snapchat, Glossier, Anheuser-Busch InBev, PepsiCo, and others), now is the time to dive head-first into the world of short-form video, influencers, and creator-driven marketing. After all, Gen Zers will soon be the key decision makers and content curators at our favorite brands, and this type of content won’t be a choice…it’ll be an expectation.

Now, onto the Metaverse and NFTs…just kidding! Next time, maybe.

May 3, 2022 / CPOVs

We All Get Stressed. Here Are Some Tips.

 May is Mental Health Awareness month, something that can take on many definitions for different people. One of which is stress, something that everyone has experienced at one point or another. Combatting stress is an important step in looking out for one’s mental health. In an industry where things move exceptionally quickly and can change suddenly, we know firsthand how important it is to be mindful and check in with ourselves regularly. 

Fellow CPers share some of their best practices for reducing the stressors that can impact our mental health. 

Breathe 

When I’m stressed I try to remember to breathe; to check in with my body and pay attention to what’s going on around me. I try to remember to read the stories I’m telling myself about myself. I try to remember to give myself a break. 

Mostly I de-stress by walking outside, especially near water. 

Relationships are like places you can go, too. They create space. The space created through my wife is by far the purest place I de-stress. I can try to remember to do this or that, but she shows me where home and safety are without even trying. I can give myself a break, but she gives me something far more unconditional.

Paul M. Capobianco, Cultural Anthropologist 

Connelly Partners Boston

Talk it out! 

If you’re stressing about something, it can be extremely therapeutic to chat through it with a family member, a friend, or colleague who may bring a different perspective, share a solution or even just be there to listen. You know what they say, a problem shared is a problem halved!

Practice gratitude. 

Starting and ending the day with gratitude has proven benefits. Try writing down two or three things you’re grateful for. It could be the sunshine, the coffee you had on your way to work, the chat with your friend, the lunch you had. By simply taking some time to regularly appreciate the little things in everyday life, you’ll be amazed how quickly your mood will change.

Practice relaxation techniques. 

Taking the time to relax every day helps to manage stress and to protect the body from the effects of stress. You can choose from a variety of techniques, such as deep breathing and mindfulness meditation. These are quick ways of grounding yourself when your client briefs you and the due date is yesterday….yes, we have all been there! 

It’s okay to say “No!” 

To anything that is too demanding of your time and energy or that will place too much stress on you. You don’t always have to meet the expectations of others or the pressures that you put on yourself. 

Nature is nurture! 

Going for a walk around your favourite place and listening to music or a high-vibe podcast can be a great mood-lifter. Research shows that going for a swim in the sea is a great way to release endorphins and reduce stress. Even on those rainy, cold, Irish mornings, Portmarnock Beach in Dublin is one of my favourite locations to go for a dip to get some vitamin sea! 

Karla Whelan, Social and Digital Media Manager & Kelly Murtagh, Junior Account Manager  

Connelly Partners Dublin

 

April 27, 2022 / Thought Leadership

So What Does the Twitter Ownership Change Mean for Advertisers?

 ZOO Digital

With the recent announcement of Elon Musk’s deal to buy Twitter, we looked into some of the consequences this may have for advertisers who rely on the platform.

Here’s a quick summary some implications of his takeover that we know so far:

Likely changes to censorship rules to come
  • Elon Musk has previously promised to reduce censorship on the platform.
  • Describing himself as a “free speech absolutist”, Musk has spoken out against Twitter’s content-moderation practices designed to make the platform safer for advertisers, by keeping toxic and violent content off the social network.
  • According to advertisers, Musk’s switch from the constraints of censorship to online free speech could mean ads are shown adjacent to controversial content that brands would not want to be associated with.
  • However, the EU has just passed new digital content rules that will soften some of Musk’s cough when it comes to relaxing too many rules around hate speech or threats to violence. There are eye watering financial penalties for social media firms for failure to protect what is said online.
An unclear road for the role of advertising in the Twitter business model
  • Musk has previously tweeted that under his new leadership, Twitter would have “no ads. The power of corporations to dictate policy is greatly enhanced if Twitter depends on advertising money to survive.” That tweet has since been deleted.
  • Most of Twitter’s revenue comes from advertising – in Q4, 2021, the company reported advertising revenue of $1.41 billion out of $1.57 billion in total revenue during that quarter.
  • Ads account for nearly 90% of Twitter’s revenue now, while data licensing accounts for most of the rest.
  • The $5 billion-a-year advertising business model is now under the leadership of someone whose current company, Tesla, buys no advertising.
Corporate reputations again to the fore when it comes to ad budgets
  • Brian Wieser, the global president of business intelligence at ad-buying company GroupM, claims most advertisers who use the platform “strongly prefer content standards” on Twitter.
  • Advertisers will likely be reluctant to have their message in the same timeline as anti-Semitism or violence again women.
  • “The advertising industry is wary of Musk’s proposal to loosen speech rules on Twitter”, according to Mike Zaneis, co-founder of the Brand Safety Institute, a nonprofit organisation of digital advertisers concerned about objectionable material online.
  • “Nobody wants to go back to the Wild, Wild West,” Zaneis said, referring to a time when forums and social media platforms had little-to-no content moderation. “It was painful. It was harmful to brands. It was harmful to citizens. We’ve made incredible strides, and I think a reversal would be unfortunate.”
  • Ad agencies have expressed concern that Musk’s unconstrained approach to Twitter will make the social media platform less safe for brands.
  • However, some don’t expect that there will be an immediate change in ad dollar spend until advertisers see a material change in the policies.
So….

So, what we do know is that changes are highly likely in the Twittersphere. What those changes actually mean when bottom lines and reputations come into play are yet to be seen. For now, your ad budgets are operating under the current rules of conduct and corporate reputation management. However, watch this space ad buyers. Don’t know about you, but we’re putting an alert on Elon Musk’s Twitter account.

Sources: BBC, Wall Street Journal, NBC News, Yahoo Finance, Politico Europe

April 27, 2022 / Thought Leadership

The Year of the Independent Agency

Allie Pignataro, Associate Media Director

It’s early April in Palm Springs, it’s hot as hell in the desert, and media agencies, advertising agencies, and technology companies alike are strolling through the doors of the Miramonte Hotel, two years after the onset of COVID-19. Everyone is ready to embrace new and old faces, but more importantly, navigate this new era of change and uncertainty that has undoubtedly made its mark on the advertising industry.

I was lucky enough to attend this year’s Digiday Media Buying Summit where I listened in on many fireside chats and panels, as well as participated in town-halls and group discussions surrounding the hot topics in the media and marketing world. There were a lot of interesting conversations about new media channels, data privacy, etc., but there was one in particular that really struck home for me: the rise of the independent agency.

I know this idea isn’t necessarily a new phenomenon per-se. But although the pandemic has disrupted ad agencies of all sizes, it’s become clear that this ‘experience’ has really showcased the power of the independent agency model. I was very proud to be representing Connelly Partners prior to the summit, but I left feeling even more proud to be part of an organization that embodies and exhibits the unique value and strengths that independents can offer.

To highlight a few:

Agility

Surviving in the marketing industry means being able to quickly adapt to the needs of your consumer. As market demands continue to change at extremely high rates, there is an insane amount of value in the ability to be flexible. Every company knows that. Leaving wiggle room for innovation and change is a vital part of being successful. Simply put, ad agencies that are independent have less red tape. They’re free from agency network bureaucracy, allowing them to make quicker decisions and react at speed. 

Choice

Independent ad agencies make their own choices versus having them made for them. This is reflected in the talent that they hire, the various strategic business decisions they make, and having the privilege of seeking out prospective clients who are like-minded, demonstrate very similar passions, and exemplify the same philosophies and values.

Accountability 

Independent ad agencies are able to take accountability for every action they take, both good and bad. But, they kind of have to as small shops as there’s no one else to pass the blame to. While it’s easy to bask in success, it’s equally important to own up to mistakes. This type of transparency works well for both clients and employees.

Creativity 

Independent ad agencies are typically smaller and have fewer resources. This can actually be perceived as quite a large advantage as it provides departments more clarity and encouragement to be resourceful in how to think about developing and communicating new ideas, strategies and insights. The notion of “less is more” is completely suitable in this case. Independents scratch the surface to find solutions that perhaps haven’t been contemplated by others previously.

It was rewarding to hear many people share the same perspective in that independent agencies know damn well how business is run. They are laser-focused on the well-being of the client, while also taking the time to understand their bottom line. Most importantly, independent ad agencies truly care about the impact their work and dedication has on the overall business, a priceless aspect that money can’t buy.