Barbenheimer: The Stark Marketing Differences Between This Summer’s Biggest Blockbusters It’s shaping up to be a big month at the box office as the highly anticipated films Barbie and Oppenheimer gear up for release on July 21. When the initial Barbie trailer dropped this spring, we covered why the film’s online selfie generator was a nod to nostalgia marketing. As we get closer to the release date, the film’s marketing engine has gone into overdrive leaning heavily into partnerships and experiential marketing. Here are just a few (yes, a few) of the tactics deployed by the Barbie marketing team: A “DreamHouse” in Malibu hosted by Ken on Airbnb A giveaway for a Barbie-themed XBOX console complete with controllers and a Dreamhouse Barbie’s Dream Car added to the Forza Horizon 5 game A Barbie x ALDO shoe and accessories collection A Barbie-themed ad for Progressive car insurance A rug collection with Ruggable A Barbie-inspired frozen yogurt flavor at Pinkberry A “Dreamhouse” scented Homesick candle Branded beauty collabs with OPI nail polish and NYX Cosmetics A “World of Barbie” activation in Los Angeles A Barbie boat cruise in Boston Barbie-pink luggage collection by BEIS Travel The co-branded collaborations have been so extensive they’ve inspired some funny memes on Twitter.   Image Source Mattel, the company behind the film and iconic doll has good reason to invest so heavily in the film’s success. The live-action film is the...

What the Prolonged Reddit Blackout Could Mean for Marketers Reddit is in a standoff with some of its users. The platform announced plans to limit access to its API for third-party developers, charging for access to data. The decision to charge is an effort to increase profitability for the platform, which is preparing for a potential IPO. However, the change could further derail the company’s ability to go public. According to some volunteer moderators (who are critical to Reddit’s operating model), the change will price out third-party applications that help them facilitate conversations on the platform. In response, over 8k subreddits have become private since June 12, essentially going dark and causing a 6.6% traffic dip for the online forum. A number of moderators planned to shutter their subreddits for two days, however, thousands of Reddit pages remain offline. Reddit’s CEO has continued to stand firm in the company’s decision to limit access to its API, leaving the end of the strike in limbo. The events have already impacted Reddit’s reputation, the credibility of content on its forums, and trust with its user base. The company’s relationship with advertisers could be next. How Advertisers Are Approaching the Reddit Blackout Advertising is currently the primary revenue driver for Reddit, and if marketers move dollars away from the platform en masse, it could cause problems for the company’s bottom line. Nearly 49% of Reddit’s traffic comes from organic search, and having a sizeable portion of content down can limit the...

How Ozempic Ushered In the Next Wave of Wellness Marketing Every few years there’s a new buzzy fad in the wellness space that fuels industry growth. So far in 2023, Ozempic has taken the crown — and it has the potential to change marketing in the wellness industry. What is Ozempic and how did it get so popular? Ozempic, which was introduced in 2018, is a brand of semaglutide medication that was approved by the FDA for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. These injectable drugs promote insulin sensitivity to lower blood sugar levels and suppress appetite. While it’s intended to help manage diabetes, many people who take it experience weight loss as a side effect. In 2022, the medication exploded in popularity when news of its weight-loss enablement went mainstream. By August of last year, the FDA declared a shortage of the medication due to a surge in usage for weight loss. With supply unable to meet demand, some diabetes patients who took Ozempic for its intended purpose were unable to access the meds they needed. Though Ozempic is often used as an umbrella term to describe semaglutide medications, there are other drugs on the market that offer similar effects. Wegovy is another brand name for semaglutide that is approved specifically for weight loss, offering a higher dosage level than Ozempic. This medication has also experienced shortages due to popularity, causing the drug maker to limit distribution. Factors that contributed to the drug shortage include: Publicized...

How Airbnb Used Social Listening to Generate Millions of Impressions in 24 Hours Welcome to HubSpot Marketing News! Tap in for campaign deep dives, the latest marketing industry news, and tried-and-true insights from HubSpot’s media team.  If you’ve spent time on TikTok in the past year, you’ve likely heard the name Alix Earle.  In 2022, Earle rose to TikTok stardom by posting “get ready with me” videos and chronicling her experiences as a student at the University of Miami. With over 5.3 million followers on the platform, Earle is one of TikTok’s top creators earning up to $70,000 per sponsored post.  Earle recently went on a trip to Europe with a group of 11 friends, some of whom were content creators themselves. Upon arriving in Italy, the group learned the house they reserved through Booking.com didn’t actually exist, leaving them stranded with nowhere to stay. Naturally, the group took to TikTok to post about the situation.  How Airbnb Earned Millions of Impressions Through Social Listening Earle’s video about the group getting stranded racked up over 3.9 million views, and caught the attention of the social media team at Airbnb who quickly sprung into action.  @alixearle Heres the storytime … stay tuned for updates 🤣🫶🏼✈️ #positano #girlstrip #italy ♬ Young Folks - Shindig Society Within 24 hours, Airbnb arranged...

What is the Economic Impact of a TikTok Ban? Welcome to HubSpot Marketing News! Tap in for campaign deep dives, the latest marketing industry news, and tried-and-true insights from HubSpot’s media team. The possibility of a nationwide TikTok ban in the U.S. has been swirling for a few years. While several states banned the app on government devices, Montana became the first state to ban the app on all devices last week. Earlier this month a former executive at ByteDance, the parent company that owns TikTok, came forward alleging the company shared the data of U.S. users with the Chinese government among other accusations in a wrongful termination lawsuit. While there has not been any evidence to support this claim, it could fuel the security concerns surrounding TikTok and other ByteDance-owned platforms in the U.S. While many conversations surrounding a TikTok ban have focused on the security impact, today we’re going to discuss the economic impact of the proposed ban. On the surface, it appears a full ban could have a negative economic impact. Since 2019, businesses have come to rely on the app as a main marketing driver, leveraging TikTok for growth and customer acquisition that encourages spending in multiple sectors. Since its launch in 2017, TikTok has had a meteoric rise in growth and popularity and has quickly become a key platform for marketers and businesses. Per a 2022 survey by Capterra, over half of small businesses found success promoting their offerings organically on TikTok, and 78% had a...

How Taco Bell Turned A Trademark Battle Into A Marketing Campaign Welcome to HubSpot Marketing News! Tap in for campaign deep dives, the latest marketing industry news, and tried-and-true insights from HubSpot’s media team. In most cases, the pursuit of good vibes isn’t enough to overturn a trademark — but Taco Bell is certainly trying. The popular fast-food chain set its sights on the term “Taco Tuesday” which it wants to use freely to promote sales happiness among taco lovers. There’s just one problem. Though the phrase is frequently used in conversation, it’s actually a registered trademark owned by the Wyoming-based chain Taco John’s and has been since 1989. On May 16, Taco Bell filed a petition with the USPTO requesting the reversal of the trademark, claiming the term is too common and widely used for Taco John’s to maintain the rights to it. Taco Bell claims the goal in this filing is to “liberate” the term for any and all restaurants to use freely. It’s not the first time “Taco Tuesday” has been involved in trademark controversy. In 2019 Lebron James attempted to trademark the term but was turned down by the PTO because it was too widely used. Naturally, James released a statement supporting Taco Bell’s efforts to overturn the trademark and is now starring in the company’s latest ad. @tacobell We're working on it, LeBron. ♬ original sound - tacobell ...

How the Writer's Strike Could Impact Marketing and Advertising Welcome to HubSpot Marketing News! Tap in for campaign deep dives, the latest marketing industry news, and tried-and-true insights from HubSpot’s media team. Hollywood screenwriters are now two weeks into their strike against major networks and streaming companies. The strike, which is expected to last well into summer, began on May 2 after six weeks of failed negotiations between the Writers Guild of America (WGA) which represents over 11,000 working screenwriters, and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) which negotiates on behalf of major entertainment companies including Disney, Paramount, and Amazon.   According to the WGA, median weekly writer-producer pay has dropped by 23% over the past decade. A major contributor to this drop is the rise of streaming platforms that call for shorter seasons for shows and less job security for writers compared to network television. Demands of the strike include increased pay, job stability, and considerations around the use of artificial intelligence. Networks Are Bracing for Impact Live shows including Saturday Night Live and late-night talk shows were immediately impacted by the strike, airing reruns or going off the air completely. The strike has also delayed production for many scripted shows. Beyond production, this strike could have a major impact on the TV industry’s bottom line. Many television networks and streaming platforms rely on advertising for revenue, which could be threatened if there’s no fresh content to air. While some streaming services have a backlog of content...

How E.l.f. Saw A 49% Increase in Sales by Focusing On Gen Z Welcome to HubSpot Marketing News! Tap in for campaign deep dives, the latest marketing industry news, and tried-and-true insights from HubSpot’s media team. Is there anything more satisfying than getting a great deal on a more affordable version of a popular product? Fans of the beauty company e.l.f. don’t seem to think so. Founded in 2004, e.l.f. (an acronym for eyes, lips, and face) was created to offer high-quality cosmetics at a low cost. At the time of its launch, most of e.l.f.’s products cost between $1 to $3. In its first decade, the company experienced a period of steady growth, expanding its product line, opening its own retail spaces, and finding some success in digital marketing. But by 2018, e.l.f. was experiencing a plateau in sales, and closed its standing retail stores, priming the brand for a marketing pivot. E.l.f.’s shift to TikTok In 2019, the hashtag #elfcosmetics had over 3 million views on TikTok before e.l.f. even had its own presence on the platform. With this in mind, the company shifted its marketing strategy to focus on TikTok’s user base (which was overwhelmingly Gen Z), leveraging short-form video and user-generated content in its #EyesLipsFace campaign. Alongside Brooklyn-based agency Movers + Shakers, e.l.f. commissioned an original song that was catchy enough to go viral and encouraged TikTok users to feature the song and the...

Lemon8 Is Currently the Fastest-Growing Social Media Platform: What Marketers Need to Know Welcome to HubSpot Marketing News! Tap in for campaign deep dives, the latest marketing industry news, and tried-and-true insights from HubSpot’s media team. A new social media platform is in town, and it’s quickly picking up steam. Lemon8 is owned by ByteDance, the China-based parent company that owns TikTok, and it’s had a buzzy debut in the U.S. It was originally launched in Japan in 2020 and became available in the U.S. and UK in February 2023. In the past month, it’s become the second most-downloaded lifestyle app in the U.S. behind Pinterest. Speaking of Pinterest… Lemon8 is described as a Pinterest-Instagram hybrid. At its core, Lemon8 is a photo-sharing app designed to inspire users. While users and creators have been vocal about their frustrations with Instagram and its unpredictable algorithm over the past couple of years, are people looking for the next Pinterest when they could still use the original? By the end of 2022, over 450 million active users were on Pinterest. Not too shabby, though the user base is significantly smaller than the likes of YouTube (2.6 billion users), Instagram (2.3 billion users), and TikTok (1.6 billion users). Though Pinterest has a smaller user base than other social channels, its users are generally happy with the platform. In fact, 80% of Pinterest users feel positive when using it. Nine out of 10 Pinterest users refer to it as a “social media oasis,” and only three...

How Nissan Created A 4-Hour Ad Viewers Don't Want to Skip Welcome to HubSpot Marketing News! Tap in for campaign deep dives, the latest marketing industry news, and tried-and-true insights from HubSpot’s media team.  Many YouTube viewers click “skip ad” as soon as possible, but Nissan figured out how to keep viewers engaged for four hours without reaching for the “skip” button. Keep reading to learn how. The automotive industry is ripe for marketing innovation. Traditionally, outside of the occasional car commercial featuring vehicles driving through various terrains and excursions, most of the marketing happened at car dealerships. Until the pandemic. Between travel restrictions, high interest rates, and supply chain issues that caused manufacturing disruptions, the automotive industry has had major growth challenges over the past few years, and relying on dealerships alone to push sales isn’t cutting it. With more customers looking to facilitate the car buying process online, car manufacturers’ ability to embrace digital marketing tactics is more important than ever for making sales. Earlier this year, Nissan launched a new ad that is refreshingly different from traditional marketing tactics associated with car companies. The manufacturer posted a four-hour-long video to its YouTube channel featuring a custom Lofi playlist that serves as the soundtrack to an animated character’s road trip. The animated character happens to be driving a Nissan ARIYA and passes several Nissan billboards on their drive. Since launching in February, the video has racked up over 17 million...