Consumer Marketing Roundup: November 26, 2019

By: Eddy Goldberg | 2,687 Reads | 4 Shares

Gen Z Writer Identifies 3 Coming Online Platforms To Reach His Peer Group

So you thought you were getting the job done reaching Gen Z (they're the ones aged about 7 to 22) using YouTube, Instagram, and Snapchat. Well, maybe you were (emphasis on past tense), at least according to Michael Pankowski, a student at Harvard and the head of Crimson Connection, a Gen Z marketing consulting firm run by Harvard students. Writing in AdAge, Pankowski suggest 3 new places to find – and engage with – Gen Zers:

TikTok – Calling this the "new Vine," he notes that the app has about 800 million active worldwide users, more than 30 million of them in the U.S.; and that it's the number-one app in the free entertainment category of Apple's App Store, "ahead of Gen Z faves Netflix and Hulu."
Twitch – This online live-streaming platform (owned by Amazon), says Pankowski, is thriving today and poised to become more mainstream in the future. And, he says, while video games and their best players have fueled its popularity, Twitch has grown to include more than just gaming streams. For example, the site hosts a variety of live streaming categories, including talk shows and podcasts – along with its most popular non-video game category, "Just Chatting," where viewers can chat with the streamers in real time.
Mixer – Possibly the "new Twitch," he says, this video game live-streaming platform was called Beam when Microsoft acquired it in 2016 and renamed it the next year. According to CNN, Mixer's hours watched more than doubled YOY in Q3 2019 to 90.2 million. While that seems puny in comparison to Twitch's 2.55 billion hours watched, Pankowski says Mixer "has a chance to make big gains."

Finally, as any experienced marketer knows, knowing which new platform will garner the attention of the next generation is nearly impossible. "However," writes Pankowski, "you can count on these three platforms to keep us captivated for the foreseeable future. If you want to find us, that's where we'll be."

"Techlash" – Have Consumers Had Enough of Technology Already?

Businesses are turning to technology more and more, while customer experience experts worry about the loss of emotional intelligence in an increasingly digital world. This Q&A in MediaPost with Craig Charney, founder and president of Charney Research, discusses the growing phenomenon of "techlash" – which the writer defines as the tipping point of consumers' engagement with technology.

The article focuses on a recent study of this issue undertaken by the American Marketing Association. Says Charney, "We wanted to take a look at the next 3 to 10 years of marketing – not just next year's ad spend or CMO headaches. This is unique. We took a thorough look at social media trends, attitudes to ad tech, and economic nationalism in the world's two biggest markets, America and China.

Among the takeaways from the study, Charney cited the following trends:

Social media and gaming seem to have peaked in the U.S.
Americans are very skeptical about innovations in martech — including personalization, micro-influencers, smart speakers, and IOT — while many marketers are unaware of this.
Americans and Chinese are very concerned about privacy, hacking, and misinformation as a result of martech.
Economic nationalism is on the rise in both countries. Americans and Chinese both say they are likelier to buy their own country's products.

Odds & Ends, Here & There – Consumer Marketing Bits & Pieces

Within the Consumer Marketing Roundup, we're introducing a new section to give you a sampling of recent developments in consumer marketing. Here we go!

FastSigns Welcomes New CMO Jennifer Herskind

Your Pie Pizza Hires Lisa Dimson as Its First CMO

Burger King CMO Fernando Machado Devotes More Time to Healthier Ingredients

Sweden: Employees Don Cinnamon Bun Contact Lenses for National Cinnamon Bun Day

Burger King Tweaks U.S. Tourists with Spicy "Only for Mexicans" Burger

Fair Trade: Krispy Kreme's Turnabout with a 21-Year-Old Reselling Its Doughnuts

Marketoonist: "Four Horsemen of the Brainstorm"

A Year-End Look at Independent Ad Tech Firms and What's Ahead for 2020

How Google Uses Its Search Algorithms To Affect Your Brand's Results (WSJ)

5 Steps to a Successful Digital Ordering Strategy (Paytronix)

Environment: Dunkin' To End Double Cupping for Its Iced Coffee

Mooyah Burgers To Debut New Design, Logo for 2020