Five things worth sharing from the last week or so, brought to you by a different member of the Browser Media team every Friday.
This week’s My Five is by Alex.
1. Americans boycotting Bud
Vic wrote about the Super Bowl earlier this week, taking a look at the infamous advert break. To reach the 118.5 million people watching the competition, brands cough up ridiculous amounts of money, so it stands to reason that a lot of creativity and effort goes into making sure that advertisers get the most out of their investment.
That said, it seems that several brands found themselves on the receiving end of a lot of negativity and even calls for boycotts from Super Bowl fans via Twitter for the political themes in their adverts.
When it came to Budweiser, there was a double fail. The ad featured the story of how the Busch-Anheuser brewing partnership was formed after German-born Busch legally immigrated to the US in the early 1850s. Cue projection of the present day political situation and outraged viewers were Tweeting about how the company is pro-illegal immigration, anti-Trump, and anti-American.
However, the credibility of whole boycott campaign falls down thanks to the misspelling of the brand name – schoolboy error.
Refresh your memory of the Budwiser Budweiser advert and then hop over to Twitter to read more of the reactions.
2. Facebook and Video
Facebook has been pushing the importance of video since 2014, encouraging users to share their own clips and live videos. However, the social media platform has now taken this a leap further by making a hire dedicated to creating original video content for the channel.
Perhaps this is no surprise; video has been increasing in importance on Facebook for two years, and as recently as December, Facebook announced that it was in talks with TV studios and video producers about the potential for licensing shows which would be shown on the mobile app’s Videos tab.
This latest move – the hire of the former head of scripted development at MTV, Mina Lefevre, to “help lead its efforts in original video content” – however, shows a bold intent to attempt to pit the social media channel against major video streamers like Netflix, YouTube, and Snapchat.
3. Facebook Rolls Out Weather App
More Facebook activity this week, with the launch of a new weather app, which will bring up-to-date meteorological info to both mobile and desktop. Although the data it delivers is, at the moment, pretty basic, it does mean that you’re one step closer to never having to leave Facebook to find anything elsewhere on the web, ever.
The new feature is an extension of the ‘weather greetings’ newsfeed updates which were rolled out a year ago. Now you’ll see similar messages at the top of your newsfeed but with a link to a full five-day forecast. There will also be a Weather section in the app, where you can go if you miss these handy updates and don’t have a nearby window to look out of.
One of the main USPs of the new weather feature seems to be that little cartoon-style header images at the top of the page will update according to the forecast. Rain on the way? A picture of a deer taking cover under a tree appears. Cloudy? Puffy clouds and little birds hiding in bushes are shown. Cute!
4. @POTUS #Insurance
Everyone knows that social media can have a tremendous impact on a company’s brand and reputation, whether it be good or bad. However, there’s now a new threat to companies on the loose… The President. Not known for his factual accuracy, the impact of his Tweets can have such a dramatic (read: ‘catastrophic’) effect on companies that some organisations have started forming packages which essentially act as an insurance policy against losses caused by decreases in share values and lost sales thanks to boycotts – all caused by his negative (and positive) Tweets alike.
One global strategy firm told Quartz it had issued a company-wide directive saying that Trump’s tweets should be treated the same way as an earthquake or flood. “We are putting them in the same class as a natural disaster: a random event, out of the blue, with a really massive cleanup,” said a senior consultant.
“It’s simply a risk of being pulled into his orbit,” says Andrew Paven of the media and government relations firm O’Neill and Associates.
5.National Pizza Day
Yesterday was National Pizza Day. Today is Friday. It’s been a long week. Say no more…
https://www.facebook.com/kreatepizza/photos/a.1069252296426161.1073741825.859303744087685/1426889160662471/?type=3&theater
