Marketing News Roundup: November 30, 2022

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

• Meta: Supporting Indigenous-owned SMBs ahead of the holidays
• GoDaddy and Canadian Shoppers Agree that Value for Money is Important
• This Trending Kid’s Compound Gets GranulaR WITH Niche Creators
• Frito Lay Canada & Bauer X Unite Canadian Creatives for New Capsule Collection
• AdsWizz signs exclusive agreement with Sonos to sell audio advertising on Sonos Radio
• EPICA Awards 2022 Online Ceremony Announced

Read more below!

Meta: Supporting Indigenous-owned SMBs ahead of the holidays

Meta is launching a new installment of We Create, an initiative that pairs three digital-first, Indigenous-owned businesses with Indigenous creators, creative professionals and digital advertising experts to help them build innovative campaigns and create valuable Instagram-first content.

Each business was partnered with Indigenous creatives across the country including three creators, a videographer and a creative agency. Collaborating closely with Meta’s Creative Shop and marketing experts, the teams helped each business boost their marketing efforts by showing them how to build effective campaigns and create valuable content using Instagram’s Reels.

We’re launching each campaign ahead of the peak shopping season to help each business connect with new customers and drive online sales.

Meet the We Create Businesses

• MINI TIPI: Trisha Pitura and Mélanie Bernard started the company in 2016 to create stylish, small-batch home and family goods inspired by Canadian and Indigenous heritage. They’re known for their beautiful textiles, woven in tradition, and designed, cut and sewn in Gatineau, Quebec.
• Shades of Gray Indigenous Pet Treats: Based in Ontario and founded by Keri Gray, Shades of Gray Indigenous Pet Treats sells single-ingredient pet treats manufactured in Canada. Their goal is to share the health benefits of raw and dehydrated pet food products to help pets live a long and healthy life.
• Standing Spruce Farm & Apothecary: Standing Spruce is a wellness company steeped in traditional Indigenous values and customs, founded by Lesley Assu. As one of the only Indigenous farmers in Campbell River, British Columbia, Standing Spruce varies a wide range of wildcrafted products, remedies and skin care products that are all harvested sustainably.

Learn more about We Create and the businesses!

GoDaddy and Canadian Shoppers Agree that Value for Money is Important

Financial experts had been predicting a downturn in spending on Black Friday and Cyber Monday as consumers and small businesses continue to cope with inflation, rising interest rates and other post-pandemic challenges, instead, businesses saw a 2.3% increase in sales on Black Friday alone. While this sales data highlights how inflation is continuing to impact consumer spending, GoDaddy revealed new survey data which found 95% of Canadians agree that value for money is the most important factor when shopping this holiday season - ranking higher than convenience and accessibility - making Black Friday discounts an exciting shopping day for consumers!

GoDaddy commissioned Maru/Blue to explore how the purchasing behaviour of Canadians has changed. The new survey found that price and affordability is the most important factor to consumers when making purchasing decisions, additional key findings include:

• Younger Canadians aged 18-34 are more likely to indicate that convenience and accessibility (online shopping and delivery) are more important factors when making purchasing decisions
• Over half of Canadians (53%) are decreasing spending on leisure and entertainment in response to the current economic climate
• 72% agree that changes in interest rates impact their spending - 18% have started a second job or side hustle as a second source of income
• 57% of Canadians agree that a business is more trustworthy if they have a website
• Nearly half of Canadian small business owners attribute growth to digital tools and their online presence

This Trending Kid’s Compound Gets GranulaR WITH Niche Creators

Dubbed 98% sand and 2% magic, Kinetic Sand is the mesmerizing compound that has taken over playrooms and social media feeds alike. With billions of views on #kineticsand recorded each year, the brand is digging deeper, putting sand in the hands of famous creators to further penetrate cultural relevancy and get people thinking about Kinetic Sand in new ways.

Baking guru Buddy Valastro a.k.a. The Cake Boss first kicked off the Creators Series, serving up something sweet and sandisfying as he tested his limits with ‘one of his most ambitious cakes yet’. The result: his iconic five-tier, six-layer Rainbow Cake made entirely out of the one and only Kinetic Sand.

Next, Jordan Ferney, curator of celebratory moments (Chief Happy Officer at OhHappyDay) and color expert (mastermind behind ColorFactory), orchestrated a party using her signature style in honor of the magical medium.

Most recently, Toronto-based artist Briony Douglas created an 8-foot long, 300 lb Kinetic Sand interpretation of ‘The Great Wave’, an iconic woodblock print by the Japanese Artist Katsushika Hokusai. “With Kinetic Sand I am able to use so many colour and create so many shapes,” said Douglas. “I had no idea that the sand would blend so well, it’s literally like mixing paint. It’s exceeded my expectations.”

The Kinetic Creators have amassed over 50 million impressions to date, complementary to the ongoing drumbeat of organic, often ASMR-inspired content that floods social media feeds.

“Spin Master has grown and established Kinetic Sand as a quintessential children’s activity, a staple creativity toy that both parents and kids know and love,” said Jennifer Skewes, Spin Master’s VP and Global Business Unit Lead for Activities and Building Sets. “With Kinetic Creators we set out to give them a reason to think of us more often and in new ways. We’ve engaged some of the most artistic and imaginative people in the world, getting their hands in the sand and simulating their senses to see what they can create.”

With one last creator tapped for 2022, LA based filmmaker and digital creatorZach Kingwill work his magic with Kinetic Sand, set to debut Dec 7th.

Frito Lay Canada & Bauer X Unite Canadian Creatives for New Capsule Collection

Canada surprised the world by making it onto soccer’s biggest stage, and that surprise meant that Canadians were uniting to celebrate our achievement. So, Frito Lay Canada enlisted the help of iconic Canadian brand, Bauer X, along with artists from coast to coast, to create a jersey made for this historic moment.

Introducing the Made For The Moment Capsule, made possible by Frito Lay Canada and Bauer X. A first-of-its-kind collaboration made exclusively for Canadians by one of Canada’s most storied brands in sports.

The heart and soul of the collection starts with our jersey. It’s a symbol of what we are made of and what we can do when we come together as a community—all united by a common thread: a love for our home. From the shores of Vancouver to St. John’s, the creative community came together to tell the story of Canada through this one-of-a-kind piece. Created by Canada, for Canada, made specifically for this moment.

To top off all the happenings, Frito-Lay opened an immersive pop-up store in Toronto called See Thee Rise: Our Made For The Moment Store! The pop-up featured a chip display of international flavours, a customization station for personalized swag and also took the visitors through the story behind the capsule collection and the contributing creatives.

AdsWizz signs exclusive agreement with Sonos to sell audio advertising on Sonos Radio

AdsWizz Inc. has announced an expansion of its relationship with Sonos, becoming the exclusive programmatic sales representative of Sonos Radio advertising inventory. This expansion of the parties existing relationship builds on Sonos' current use of AdsWizz's campaign management, supply-side platform (SSP), and other digital audio advertising technology while providing marketers with access to millions of engaged listeners. The markets covered by the exclusive agreement include the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, France, Netherlands, and Australia.

Founded in 2002 in Santa Barbara, California, Sonos is a leading sound experience company. The inventor of multi-room wireless home audio, Sonos empowers listeners with effortless, immersive experiences and exceptional sound that connects them more deeply to the sounds that move them. Sonos Radio, which debuted in 2020, is a free streaming radio service for Sonos customers that provides listeners access to expertly curated music stations, original shows, and tens of thousands of live broadcasts from around the globe through the Sonos app.

The global smart speaker market experienced a compound annual growth rate of 7.1 percent between 2021 and 2022, according to The Business Research Company, and Sonos is a leader in the premium segment of this market. The number of households using Sonos’ products increased by 1.4 million to 14 million in fiscal year 2022. Sonos Radio is the number one most-listened-to service on Sonos, accounting for nearly 30% of all listening and attracting an affluent and educated audience—70 percent have a household income of $100,000 or more—and 87 percent live in urban and suburban areas.

“Sonos is a leader in sound experience. We share a commitment to making things easier for listeners. It’s empowering to be able to connect advertising exclusively with Sonos Radio's inventory, which consists of expertly curated music stations, original shows, and more than 60,000 live broadcasts,” said Marsha Fischer, VP of Strategic Partnerships at AdsWizz.

The expanded relationship combines the power of AdsWizz’s state-of-the-art audio technology with leading sales channels, including SXM Media, the combined advertising sales group of Sirius XM Holdings Inc. This pairing of technology and sales expertise is expected to provide Sonos with a more streamlined approach to monetizing its content.

Amanda Dwyer, Head of Commercial for Sonos Radio at Sonos added: “AdsWizz has proven to be a powerful ad tech provider, which made it an easy choice when considering monetization opportunities. AdsWizz and its extended sales team really get it when it comes to the premium nature of the Sonos Radio audience, our content offering and our differentiation in the audio entertainment market.”

EPICA Awards 2022 Online Ceremony Announced

In order to reach a maximum number of viewers – and all the winners – the Epica Awards ceremony will once again be shown live online this year. It will take place on December 8 at 6 PM CET and will be streamed on Linkedin and Youtube.

Tune in to see all the Grand Prix and Gold-winning work, as well as extracts from the Grand Prix jury debate in London. The Silver and Bronze winners will be posted to the Epica Awards site the following day, December 9.

All the winners were chosen after careful analysis by our unique jury of leading journalists from the specialist press.

The jury President this year is David Griner, the former international editor of Adweek and co-founder of the non-profit Creative Ladder, which aims to bring more diversity to the advertising industry.

Epica Awards editorial director Mark Tungate commented: “In recent years we’ve found that a live-streamed event is an efficient and democratic way of reaching a large audience, allowing everybody who watches to celebrate the winning work with us. So on the big day please feel free to pull up a chair, make yourself comfortable – and soak up the inspiration.”

Since 1987 The Epica Awards have been judged exclusively by journalists who are specialists in their field, providing valuable PR exposure while ensuring objectivity. Congratulations in advance to all the winners.

Compiled by Emma Whiten, Former Editor of Marketing News Canada