My Five #412

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 Kerry.

1. Burger King tells people to order from McDonald’s. Social media goes crazy

Earlier this week, Burger King extended an olive branch to McDonald’s, encouraging customers to order from its fast food rival, as well as numerous others in a Tweet claiming “restaurants employing thousands of staff really need your support at the moment.”

In the long-standing competition between McDonald’s and Burger King, the latter often feels like a bitter ex who can’t let go, so it was nice to see a show of togetherness.

Of course, the more cynical among us could suggest that this was just an empty gesture to get more people talking about them, but if people’s jobs get saved, does it really matter? Either way, with over 40,000 retweets in just a few days and over 170,000 likes, it did exactly what a great bit of marketing should do.

We know, we never thought we’d be saying this either. pic.twitter.com/cVRMSLSDq6

— Burger King (@BurgerKingUK) November 2, 2020

2. Ad spend increases during Covid-19

And, perhaps, because of it. Facebook, Google and Amazon have all reported significant ad revenue growth during the pandemic, as more and more companies rely on advertising to help them through what has been a difficult year.

Google has reported just over $37 billion (about £28 billion) total revenue, of which paid search contributed $26.3 billion (£20 billion).

Meanwhile, almost 99% of Facebook’s revenue in Q3 ($21.5 billion) came from ad spend, of which the majority was generated by mobile user engagement. The platform now claims to have 10 million active advertisers, up from 9 million in the second quarter.

3. LinkedIn launches a new tool for job seekers

With a record 40 million job searches now occurring on LinkedIn per week, the network has introduced its new ‘Career Explorer’ tool, designed to help people find new jobs using their existing skills.

It’s expected to help job seekers identify the right career path for them, and the learning opportunities to help them acquire any additional skills they might need.

With 140 million people expected to lose work thanks to the pandemic, this couldn’t come at a more welcome time, and it’s not all doom and gloom; LinkedIn also revealed that 3 people are getting hired on the platform every minute. There are also currently over 14 million available job postings.

4. Google shares Christmas Shopping search data

Is it too early for the C word?! (not that one… or the other one). The search engine shared some stats on search terms spiking in popularity among Christmas shoppers.

The trends show a shift towards local and affordable gifts. Searches for ‘best affordable’ have grown globally by over 60% year-on-year, whilst queries for ‘available near me’ are up 100% year-on-year, and searches for ‘support local businesses’ has grown by over 20,000 since last year.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, searches looking for online products have also increased.

Companies keen to stay ahead of search trends can use Google Trends to see the popularity of any given keyword over time.

5. Brands reveal Christmas ads

The anticipation of the first Christmas TV ads was always going to be a little different this year. The usual competition to see who can pump the most budget into their campaigns has been toned down a touch, along with a need to navigate the season a little more sensitively than before.

Nevertheless, we’ve seen festive goats (thanks TK Maxx), ballet performances, magic shows, and you’ll be pleased to know (spoiler alert), that Kevin the Carrot does in fact make it home in time for Christmas (phew).

Some brands, like Argos, are attempting to distract viewers from the pandemic, in order to offer ‘some escapism, and a little dose of nostalgia.’ And quite frankly, who can forget the joy of circle of bringing home an Argos catalogue that weighed more than a small child.