What Brands Should Say After the Death of a Monarch

Meta stays silent on why they're running confusing ads for brands without their permission. Also: What does your brand say when a monarch dies? Some industry analysis on TikTok's latest ad placements.

September 09, 2022

Meta's Phantom Ads Update

We start with an update on a story we've been following this week — Meta, as you may remember, has been running real ads under the Facebook page of other brands. 

⏪ A Recap

What seems to be happening is they're picking brands which have advertised in the past, then — without the brands' knowledge or permission — running ads for them. With creative they didn't approve, body copy they didn't write, and metrics they don't have access to.

It's not clear why they're doing this, or why they didn't communicate this to brands before, or — most importantly — why they didn't ask brands if it was okay to do this. There's been no formal announcement — only a help page on their site. We're not even sure if this help page is related to all this.

When we contacted Meta's media relations, they told us they thought it was a bug.

So absent of any official word, we turn to two places: Meta's account managers and Twitter.

✏️ Some Changes Coming (We Think. Maybe. Or Maybe Not.)

On the former, unofficial word is that some changes to this program may be happening:

  • First, they might be changing the ads to show as coming from the brand's page, rather than from Facebook's page — which was terribly confusing for consumers.

  • Second, they might be seeking approval to run these ads on a case-by-case basis

  • Third, they might be adding in basic UTMs to their ads so you will be able to see performance in external tracking

You'll notice I said "might" a lot because Meta remains completely silent on this. We get these tidbits through a source I trust, who spoke off-the-record to their account manager.

😡 Meta Doesn't Like Criticism

Second, Twitter. There are some Meta engineers on Twitter. And the tweets I saw yesterday from those people were, well, less than helpful.

One Meta person, who didn't seem to understand the concerns about brand perception or creative control, said "It’s great for clients. Free demand generation."

 

I replied, telling him about the advertiser we interviewed yesterday who told us this move by Meta, which they didn't want, caused them to breach a contract with an influencer. 

 

That Meta engineer responded by blocking me.

We again asked today for a spokesperson to provide details about what they're doing, or even some speaking points about this apparent program. We did not hear back by deadline.

👑 Your Brand Doesn’t Need To Say Anything

By now, you've probably seen some stark marketing examples of how NOT to respond to the queen's death.

In this time of national mourning, many brands, influencers, and celebrities are tempted to make a statement, whether royalists or not. But, is it necessary? 

According to Tanya Joseph, a Marketing Week columnist, it's not. 

Quoting Joseph:

... In my opinion, a period of dignified silence is required when it comes to public communication. Do we really need to see a social post from a pet grooming service or manufacturers of toothpicks expressing sorrow at the loss of Her Majesty?

I think for holders of the Royal Warrant with her household, or organisations of which she was a patron, it is slightly different; there is a relationship which can be acknowledged.

A "royal warrant" is an indication that the organization provides services to the royal family.

🗣️ How Brands Are Responding

In response to yesterday's news, Royal Warrant holder and department store John Lewis announced it is temporarily halting its advertising campaigns.

Other companies closed their doors early, and lowered flags at half-mast, while Burberry cancelled its upcoming spring/summer 2023 runway show, as a sign of respect. 

For brands and businesses which do not claim a special connection to the Queen, Joseph advises focusing on internal communications, such as:

  • Communicating with staff about the loss 

  • Asking how employees want to mark the occasion 

  • While also being aware of how a formal period of mourning might impact operations

However, her main advice is to “avoid big public displays”.

▶️ Moving Forward

While the death of Her Majesty may not resonate as strongly outside the Commonwealth, for British brands, of course, there's a lot to think about.

The British trade body for brand owners recommends that agencies discuss the appropriateness of campaign plans with clients during the mourning period.

While the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) is encouraging advertisers to stay up-to-date on government mourning guidelines.

Brands are not required to suspend business during the national mourning period, according to official guidance. But may consider postponing or cancelling events on the day of the Queen's state funeral.

TikTok Placements: A Holiday Recap

Can TikTok's new ad suite save Christmas? We recently reported that TikTok is releasing a suite of advertising options ahead of the holiday season. 

If you need a refresh, the three new shoppable ad formats are:

  1. Video Shopping Ads

  2. Catalog Listing Ads

  3. LIVE Shopping Ads

Digiday has a great piece up today looking at what this means for brands, advertisers, and social media influencers. 

Quoting Digiday: 

The new shopping ads provide advertisers with a way to promote one or more products in their in-feed video ads to amplify their products, similar to the way Facebook approaches its in-feed ads. 

Using the tool, called Video Shopping Ads, brands can showcase their shoppable videos to users who are more likely to buy them. As well as creating a landing page for those advertised products, the ads will generate a score that determines how likely a user is to purchase.

Marketers told Digiday that the platform's new ad offering can help navigate rough holiday seasons, especially after last year when a number of issues plagued the shopping season, such as: 

  • Supply chain shortages

  • iOS updates

  • Platform volatility 

The article also points out that this holiday season, marketers predict inventory issues will be a big problem, which is something they should consider with shoppable ads.

Roblox Testing Dynamic Ads in the Metaverse

From TikTok Ads to Roblox.

The online gaming platform just announced it will launch an advertising platform next year, and will soon start testing new types of 3D immersive ads.

According to Adweek, the company will be experimenting with a couple of new ad formats, including:

👀 Billboards

Which will be static images dynamically placed on billboards or plastered onto buildings within a world.

🌀 Portal Ads

Which will function as portals that transport users to a separate branded experience. The company has already begun testing this with Vans and Warner Bros. 

According to Richard Sim, Roblox's senior product director for monetization, the ad platform's creators worked to make its ads blend seamlessly into the worlds in which they're placed while making it easy for developers to use. The platform will also offer advertisers some basic targeting parameters.

🔒 Brand Safety

Sim also explained some plans for brand safety:

  • First, the ad platform will function as a walled garden, never directing users to websites outside its virtual worlds. 

  • The company is also vowing not to use third-party tracking or data gathering like other social networks. 

  • Finally, ads will also only be shown to those who are 13 or older.

💰 Revenue

In terms of revenue, Roblox said it will share ad revenue with the developers of the experiences and games within which they are placed, but declined to reveal exact terms.

Image: Roblox

🔁 Instagram Reposts

You might finally be able to get rid of that third-party repost app now... 

Instagram confirmed it is working on a repost feature that lets brands and social marketers reshare other users' posts and reels, TechCrunch reports. 

The platform says it's "exploring the ability to reshare posts in Feed — similar to how you can reshare in Stories" and by using the tool original creators will be credited for their work.

According to screenshots, the new tool features a Reposts tab alongside other tabs on your profile, including:

  • Posts 

  • Reels

  • Tagged photos 

It's likely this new tab will be home to all the content that users have reshared on their accounts.

Instagram said it will start testing Repost with select users soon.

Twitter: New Classes in Session

New to tweet campaigns or need a refresher? Twitter announced a new series of business marketing workshops yesterday, as part of its "Flight School" education program. 

The courses are free, and will focus on two areas:

💼 How to Establish Your Business on Twitter

This class looks at how to make the best use of Twitter’s more recent business additions, such as Professional Profiles, Shops, etc.

🎄 Get Holiday Ready on Twitter

The focus here is, of course, on holiday marketing trends in the app, and how you can use them to maximize your Christmas sales efforts.

RSVPs are required to attend, which can be done at twitterflightschool.com

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