Mark Wieczorek’s Post

As a beginning to intermediate marketer, you don’t know what you don’t know. You can read the classics - but there are so many and each only covers a piece of the puzzle. The Smart Marketing Book and The Smart Branding Book are comprehensive in their scope and easy enough to read in bits between client calls.

If you want to know where the world is going, look at where people spend their money and their attention. In the past that was “the mall” and television. Today Amazon is where people spend both their money and their attention, giving them a walled garden worthy of their namesake. Flywheel’s recent acquisition is a sign that brands are also spending their money and attention on Amazon, and demanding the same of their agencies.

Join me in one week as we explore the modern consumer path to power purchase and creating a holistic e-commerce strategy.

Amazon's recent experiment into hiding review counts may reveal some interesting things about both Amazon's customers and where Amazon is heading. 1. Amazon sets "guardrails" around their experiments. If an experiment significantly reduces customer metrics such as cart size, it will get rolled back. 2. If this experiment satisfies the guardrails, it means that while "review moats" (products that are old enough to have tons of reviews) affected which product the consumer chose, it didn't affect their overall shopping experience. 3. Coupled with Momentum Commerce's recent data that up to 50% of search results are paid search spots, this has a significant impact on "Amazon native" brands (that sell primarily on #Amazon), dis-incentivizing them from trying to game their way to the top spots via techniques like buying fake reviews. 4. The Federal Trade Commission just proposed a new rule [1] imposing heavy files for fake reviews and testimonials. While far from the first time they've done this, this timing of this shift and FTC announcement seems to be intended to send a clear signal that the two are working together. 5. Dharmesh Mehta recently announced the Amazon Anti-Counterfeit Exchange program [2] in which online retailers can work together to identify & report on counterfeit manufacturers, which is meant to work in a similar way to anti-fraud tools employed by the credit cards. 6. Amazon has put work into identifying fake reviews, but admits that they remain difficult to detect. 7. Amazon has also announced [3] that they've "taken legal action against 120 [review broker] fraudsters across the U.S., China, and Europe" and that the public & private sectors should work together. This may signal that they're working on a similar knowledge-sharing project to identify fake review brokers with - say Google and Foursquare. 8. In addition to appeasing the FTC, this move may also be meant to appease brands. It's difficult to attract ad dollars if the game seems to be rigged in favor of Amazon native brands. For the past decade, Amazon has worked to create a system that was easy for 3rd party sellers to game. This created an uneasy alliance with their army of Amazon-native brands. It benefitted the consumer because they got access to a lot of cheap goods, but created an unfair game for "white hat" actors that didn't break the rules. Recently, Amazon has been rolling back this system in favor of being a brand and advertiser safe platform. Meanwhile Chinese companies like Temu and SHIEN have filled the "cheap goods" niche. At the same time, thanks to a more level Amazon playing field, Amazon native brands are moving to Shopify. [1] https://lnkd.in/egQps2ZD [2] https://lnkd.in/eN-PAMsj [3] https://lnkd.in/exttbyQJ

Ain’t nothing like the real thing, baby.

There's been a bit of talk about what #insights can or cannot do for brands and I'd like to weigh in. (Mixed metaphor warning) I find that a lot of bands put out a few really great albums and then seem to struggle to maintain the creativity in later years. I love the first 5 Led Zeppelin albums - the later ones... not so much. My theory is that the early days are fueled by insights. Each member brings something unique to the studio and the result is magic. Each feeds off the ideas of the other, inspiring everyone to new heights. In later years, bands go into the studio and they all know each other a little too well - nothing is a surprise anymore. They've run out of insights. At their best, insights are like magic tricks (first mixed metaphor). Even when the trick is described to you, it still feels magical. Every part of the trick is important - the setup, the misdirection, the reveal. And ultimately, marketers are trying to create magic. Something from nothing. Where there wasn't a campaign, there's now a campaign. The best art is like that - the magic of a great book or movie. The things that make them memorable are, often, deep insight into the human condition, or drawing parallels between two seemingly unrelated things. The insights that impress in a powerpoint can - if done well - lead to sales in the market. That feeling of "oh, interesting" in the board room, can translate to "oh, interesting" in the market. Brands that are like early days bands can often do without insights - because everyone is so in-tune with the market, the work comes naturally. Brands that are like later days bands need an infusion of Vitamin I (second mixed metaphor) - they've lost touch with their audience. Insights serve to re-align brands, to reignite creativity. An infusion of Vitamin I can propel sales, or reverse slipping sales. Are they absolutely necessary? No - not if you're already doing great work. As the industry returns to acknowledging the power of creativity, insights seem to be left behind, but I pose to you that the purpose of insights is often to inspire creativity. To (third mixed metaphor) reignite the spark of the early days. For every Led Zeppelin, there's a Nickelback. For every Oatly there's a (failed Oatly). (link dump of humorous "all pop songs are the same 4 chords" in the comments)

Does your brand pass the “thumb test?” Phillip Oakley’s brilliant way of showing that there’s more to being distinctive than “make the logo bigger” - or in this case, doubling up on the logo.

While those of us in the business world are excited by #AI and algorithms to drive productivity, people are increasingly seeking out human connection. People are abandoning Google for Reddit, TikTok and even Wikipedia for research. Why? Because the results are more authentic and human. Salient quotes from the article: “What people expect now is the type of authenticity you’d get from a TikTok like experience” “Human curation is always going to be the best way to get recommendations, we all want to connect and express and listen to other people” https://lnkd.in/eGa8HkjH

Everything I learned about #advertising, I learned from the Barbie movie. Or - why the Third Era of #Brand will be Ugly.