Marketing News Roundup: August 10, 2022

Today we feature a round-up of some big events and recent industry happenings.

• Meta Introduces New Automation Tools
• IKEA introduces The Office Home Collection
• Flutter Provides Support to Canada’s Responsible Gambling Council (RGC)
• LCBO Brings the Store to Ontarians’ Backyards

Read more below!

Meta Introduces New Automation Tools

Businesses are looking for ways to overcome economic uncertainty while navigating the platform and privacy changes. Meta for Business has announced Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns, a new tool to help advertisers optimize and automate ad delivery, creation, and management with the power of AI.

Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns will help advertisers get smarter and faster on which campaigns are converting by eliminating the manual steps of ad creation and automates 150+ creative combinations at once. We’re hoping that the power of AI and automation can help alleviate the new set of challenges advertisers are facing, and while driving sales and growth.

Meta will also be bringing automation to small businesses with Advantage+ creative and Advantage audience, helping them reach the right customers with the right ads. These tools help SMBs save time while using fewer dollars to learn which ad is performing best.

IKEA introduces The Office Home Collection

For many, working from home has been a great comfort, working in our own spaces, enjoying the feeling of home during the workday and for many families and caregivers, a solution to competing responsibilities that has enabled a balanced schedule and a more balanced life.

To help Canadians weather the change of leaving the comfort and convenience of their home offices, IKEA Canada has pulled together The Office Home - a collection of everyday IKEA essentials that help Canadians bring the feeling of home back into the office with them.

The social-led campaign features short and longer form videos as well as static images and runs from August 8 through September 10.

Canadians will be inspired to give their offices a touch of home with clever posts that feature a classic POANG armchair at a conference table or a LURVIG scratching mat to make every day "bring your cat to work day".

Flutter Provides Support to Canada’s Responsible Gambling Council (RGC)

Flutter Entertainment has provided independent research funding to RGC in Canada to support first-of-its-kind baseline research to inform global marketing and advertising standards in gambling for Operators and Regulators. The RGC’s research project comes just months after Canada’s legalisation of single-event sports betting and the launch of Ontario’s new regulated online market.

This multi-phase independent research study, led by researchers at RGC’s Centre for the Advancement of Best Practices (CABP), will explore the current landscape of marketing and advertising on a global scale and provide policy recommendations that address key operating environments such as Ontario and New Jersey. This multi-phase project will assess evidence from research featuring best-practice potential for responsible marketing and advertising practices as well as insights from regulators and operators that will help identify opportunities for quality improvement. Through these processes, RGC will contribute to building a world class responsible gambling framework in Ontario and influence responsible gambling policies and practices around the globe. The completion date for this comprehensive research is set for early 2024.

George Sweny, Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, Flutter International said: “We saw an opportunity to provide cutting edge thought leadership to the industry. There is a need to better understand the impacts of increased marketing and advertising on all stakeholders. This foundational research will help us all make necessary strides towards bridging the gap between best and better practices in an area of significant importance. Leading progress is one of the key pillars of our global Play Well strategy and we are delighted to be working with the RGC to support this important research.”

Shelley White, CEO, RGC said: “Through this research, we not only have the ability to affect necessary changes to our marketing and advertising standards here in Ontario, but also the ability to make great impacts to the harm minimization efforts of jurisdictions all around the world. This comprehensive study truly highlights the culture shift that the industry is currently undergoing, and by leveraging our research partners, we can make greater impacts in protecting players and communities.”

LCBO Brings the Store to Ontarians’ Backyards

LCBO has launched its ever-popular Summer Hot List campaign – which, this year, is giving users an in-store experience right from their smartphones. A first of its kind in the Canadian market, the execution leverages Snapchat Portal Lenses to highlight new in-store products and offers suggestions on the best ways to beat the summer heat.

“Younger consumers love to be in the know and the first to try new things so they can share them with their friends,” says Julia Sousa, Senior Director, Integrated Marketing & Operations, Marketing & Customer Intelligence, LCBO. “The LCBO portal Pop-Up Shop on Snap Chat facilitates just that. It provides an innovative, immersive experience enabling customers to easily make the perfect choice with a curated collection of this season’s hottest products, demonstrating that LCBO is the go-to brand for product discovery and education.”

Historically, the LCBO’s Summer Hot List campaign was built around more traditional media options, driving consumers in-store shopping. However, this year’s high-tech iteration leverages Snapchat lenses, providing a virtual “store” stocked with the most popular summer products.

Much like traditional shopping, the experience begins with category introduction, where users are given brief overviews on beverage categories using virtual signage throughout the “store” – including how they should enjoy the beverage, and why it is a best-seller. Additionally, users are then able to interact with individual products “on shelf,” and explore specific items that the LCBO carries and recommends.

“New trends are emerging in AR, with brands delivering VR experiences in ways people have never seen before. We realize that the path to reach the young, trendy consumer in a pandemic-proof environment is clear – leveraging a platform that provides an exciting, immersive experience,” said Melissa Giorgio, Director, MediaCom Canada. “Throughout the campaign’s development, we explored options which allowed us to reach the most users, all while adhering to strict industry guidelines around underage users, and Snapchat was ultimately the perfect fit.”

In addition to the Portal Lens, the overall campaign is supported by a host of mediums, including Out-of-Home, Social, Search, Digital and e-commerce, which all drive to the LCBO’s Summer Hot List. Creative for the campaign was created by LG2.

Compiled by Emma Whiten, Editor of Marketing News Canada