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Clear Digital Digest: here comes a very different Christmas

20/11/2020

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With just five weeks until what will be a very different Christmas this year, this Clear Digital Digest examines:
  • The impact of the second lockdown on retail and online sales.
  • The increasingly spread out nature of Black Friday – plus the potential implications of massively increased online sales on deliveries; Santa will be a busy boy this year.
  • Christmas advertising is in full swing with ITV now forecasting an increase in revenue over this period so we take a look at this, plus a favourite campaign of the last week: Sony’s PlayStation 5.
  • And finally: a novel approach to strategic planning. 
LOCKDOWN 2.0

Although not the cheeriest subject, this is the first Clear Digital Digest since we went into a second lockdown on 5th November.  
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  • The huge negative impact that this will have on the general retail sector has been widely reported, with Retail Economics forecasting that non-essential retailers will experience a decline in sales of £6.8bn. 
  • With such stores closed for at least an initial four weeks, online sales will undoubtedly see another jump as happened during the first lockdown, with Retail Economics estimating an additional £2.9bn in online sales, albeit this would mitigate for less than half the decline from physical stores temporarily shuttered.
  • Early indications from IMRG indicate that this shift online has indeed started, with sales in the first week of November growing by 61% year on year, the highest such growth since June and fourth largest this year.
  • The ONS have this morning released their updated monthly online sales tracker, which shows that online sales accounted for 28.1% of all retail in October, up 9% from October last year, but also up 2% on last month’s 26.1%.  As the graph below shows, this is the first month on month increase since online sales peaked as a share of retail sales at 32.8% in May.  This is likely due to a combination of the slight restrictions from October’s tier system and general seasonality kicking in as online sales always peak from October to December.  With November’s lockdown it will be interesting to see what share of overall sales online takes this month – it would seem highly likely that as a minimum, May’s record share of 32.8% will be exceeded.
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Source: ONS
BLACK FRIDAY: ONE WEEK TO GO

As well as the lockdown, online sales in November will be further boosted to some degree by Black Friday next week.  
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  • As we reported in the last Digital Digest, this imported US event starts earlier every year, with Amazon kicking off their “Early Black Friday Deals” on 26th October, a full month before the actual Black Friday, 27th November.  
  • And it’s not just Amazon – IRMG have reported that of 320 retailers they monitor, 11.6% had already started promoting Black Friday deals by 11th November, compared to 3.6% on that day in 2019.
  • If my email inbox this morning is anything to go by, then Black Friday deals have moved up another level again today, just one week out from the day itself.
  • It has indeed been interesting to see how Black Friday has developed in the UK since being first selectively promoted a decade ago.  From its overall retail peak about five years ago, Black Friday had already started to become a largely exclusive online event (and obviously so in 2020), with key retailers such as Marks & Spencer and Next not taking part at all this year.  
DELIVERY: SANTA WILL BE INCREASINGLY BUSY THIS YEAR

One topic that we will likely hear more about in the coming weeks is the problems caused by these inflated online sales when it comes to actually delivering the orders.
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  • The peak Christmas period is always the most challenging time operationally for online retailers and delivery firms alike, all topped off by the extra emotive factor that most of these orders contain Christmas products.
  • We reported last month that to cope with this extra demand, Royal Mail are recruiting a record number of temporary workers (33,000) to fulfil such orders.
  • However, Citizens Advice this week released research which found that 47% of UK consumers have had issues with parcel deliveries since the first lockdown started in March.
  • The challenge facing all retailers is articulated well by Gary Grant, the founder and executive chairman of The Entertainer toy chain, one retailer who did start their Black Friday sales early to help spread out sales.  As Grant declares “there’s no point the whole world thinking that on 27 November we can go online and buy everything we want, and it will miraculously turn up at our front door” having stated that if lockdown results in a 50% or 100% increase “we and the couriers could not cope”.  
CHRISTMAS ADVERTISING

Of course, to many it wouldn’t feel like Christmas without the high prestige TV led campaigns we are now accustomed to expect, which have really increased in profile over the last week with the launch of both the John Lewis ad plus a new series of ITV ratings winner “I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here”.
  • Despite the general downturn in advertising this Christmas for obvious Covid related reasons, ITV are actually expecting revenues for the last 3 months of 2020 to beat those recorded last year.
  • We highlighted last month that overall ad revenue for Q4 this year was forecast to decline by 10.5%/£724m – but within that TV was estimated to fall by only 2.7% year on year, compared to the likes of cinema (-66%) and outdoor (-20%).
  • With regards to the TV ads themselves, this has undoubtedly been the most challenging year for both ad agencies and brand owners to strike the right tone creatively.  That said, I can’t help but feel somewhat underwhelmed by all the large retail campaigns I’ve seen so far, with no clear stand-outs.  That may be unfair as perhaps I’m just a little jaded by the increasing hysteria from certain quarters about the need to have a “normal Christmas” this year (spoiler alert: it won’t be).  In any case, this year’s effectiveness research will no doubt be intriguing for brand owners as it comes in.
  • After a slightly negative note there, I’ll highlight an excellent (and cheeky) campaign by Sony to promote this week’s launch of their new PS5 console, where they have replaced the traditional London Underground roundels outside Oxford Circus tube station with the iconic four shapes that have featured on all PlayStation controllers.
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  • And I say this is cheeky because of the location chosen.  While Oxford Circus is obviously one of the best known and most used tube stations, it is surely no coincidence that console rivals Microsoft’s flagship UK store is located on the corner of one of Oxford Circus’ exits…
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AND FINALLY…

As alluded to above, forecasting accurately for 2021 is going to pose more challenges than for any year in living memory.  So I liked this take on strategic planning from Tom Fishburne, the ever entertaining Marketoonist…
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Clear Digital Digest: ad spend, Black Friday, TikTok, Royal Mail and Woolworths

30/10/2020

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Today’s varied Clear Digital Digest round-up includes:
  • The launch of major Christmas campaigns is imminent, but it is predicted that advertising spend will be down 10% this year.
  • An update on the latest ecommerce sales figures, plus Black Friday getting earlier every year.
  • The latest in customer channel shift from brands as diverse as TikTok, Shopify, Royal Mail, AO, Sky and John Lewis.
  • And finally...the great Woolworths hoax.
HERE COMES CHRISTMAS: BUT AD SPEND FORECAST TO BE £724M LESS THAN LAST YEAR

With half term coming to a close this week and Christmas products all over the high street, November is typically when the large retail brand campaigns come to life, with large TV spend supported by a variety of other media.  Of course 2020 is not a typical year, so there will certainly be all kinds of challenges creatively this year, as well as with regards to available budgets.
  • The Advertising Association (AA) and Warc forecast final quarter spend will be £724m less than last year, a decline of 10.5% on last year to a total of £6.2bn.  This would be the biggest drop in the “golden quarter” since figures started to be compiled in 1982.
  • Marks & Spencer are a prime example of a retailer that will likely be drastically changing its advertising strategy this Christmas, with rumours that its TV advertising will be purely focused on food this year, with clothing only supported online.
  • TV is actually forecast to be fairly resilient this Christmas, with a decline of just 2.7% on last year.  Instead - and very understandably – it is external sectors such as cinema and outdoor/posters that will be seeing especially significant declines.
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  • Digital spend across search and online display is also forecast to fall in the fourth quarter, by almost £300m to £3.57bn in total.  However, this still equates to a dominant 57% share of the total ad spend of £6.2bn.
 
  • Of course, ad spend shifts this year vary greatly by product category, as is shown by some recent eMarketer research demonstrating that the travel and automative sectors have been hit particularly badly.
  • Looking at just digital advertising in the UK, it is forecast that travel spend will decline by 37% this year, as the table below shows.  Other sectors have been less adversely affected by the pandemic, led by technology products as we spend more time at home for both leisure and work reasons.
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  • After recording just 0.3% growth in digital ad spend this year, eMarketer is predicting growth of 15% in 2021, a similar rate to that experienced each year between 2017 to 2019.
  • These changes have obviously led to a shift in the share of digital ad spend by industry, with retail leading the way on 20% of total digital ad spend.
  • In monetary terms, this equates to 2020 spend of £3bn for retail, almost £1bn ahead of the second largest category (FMCG and related).
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ECOMMERCE: SALES UPDATE - AND BLACK FRIDAY IS GETTING EARLIER EVERY YEAR

Despite all this year’s uncertainty, one trend that can be confidently predicted for Christmas 2020 is that ecommerce sales will take a significant larger share of total retail sales, but how much larger exactly?
  • The ONS released their latest online sales tracker on Friday, showing that ecommerce accounted for 26.1% of all retail sales in September, up 8% on the 18.1% recorded in September 2019. 
  • This 26.1% was a slight decline of 0.6% on the previous month August’s 26.7%, but the pandemic driven medium term shift to increased online shopping remains.
  • Overall retail sales for September grew by 3.4% on September 2019 and edged forward by 1.5% month on month.
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Source: ONS
  • The final quarter typically sees the highest annual share for internet shopping, usually peaking in November, so it will be interesting to see how much higher this year’s figure will be than the 21.5% that was recorded in November 2019.

  • One of the boosters for November’s ecommerce sales is of course Black Friday, which (as is often said about Christmas, perhaps erroneously) seems to be getting earlier and earlier every year.
  • Having generally expanded from its one day/weekend event origins into typically running for a week or even a fortnight, Amazon have stretched the Black Friday concept again this year with the launch of their “Early Black Friday Deals” on Monday this week – scheduled to run until 19th November when the standard Black Friday offers will presumably kick in...​
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  • These early Black Friday Deals come fairly soon after Amazon’s Prime Day event that took place this year from Tuesday 13th to Wednesday 14th October, having been put back from its usual summer slot when Amazon was prioritising essential deliveries.  This additional Black Friday promotion could be due to speculation from Citi analysts that 2020’s Prime Day may have been the first in the event’s history not to record sales growth, perhaps due to its proximity to Christmas plus of course our drastically altered current shopping habits.
CHANNEL SHIFT: SHOPIFY, TIK TOK, ROYAL MAIL, AO, SKY, JOHN LEWIS

Here are a few recent stories that caught my eye regarding channel purchasing shifts, including developments from AO and Sky which demonstrate how digital first brands continue to consider the ways that a physical presence can help them engage further with customers…
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  • Intriguing news from two fast growing but diverse digital brands as ecommerce platform Shopify revealed a new global partnership with TikTok, which will allow retailers using Shopify to more efficiently target and sell to the Tik Tok audience – but perhaps more crucially will likely make it significantly easier for TikTok influencers to sell directly to their audience.  I took a more detailed look at Shopify in my recent deep dive article: “The growth of Direct To Consumer, Shopify – and developing multiple channels”.  
  • Royal Mail has this week announced that it is recruiting a record number of temp workers this Christmas to cope with the forecast additional demand driven by online shopping: a total of 33,000, which is two thirds more than usual.
  • As was fairly well publicised last week, Royal Mail has also this month started collecting parcels as returns from customer homes to see it start competing with the likes of Hermes and DPD in this area.
  • Showing that the shift from physical retail to online is not all one way, AO have this week opened their first ever store – within a Tesco Extra superstore in Middleton, Greater Manchester, the first of 5 such trials this year.
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  • Sky is also looking to expand its physical presence with the launch of a network of “social hubs for shoppers” across the UK.  With five due to open this year (the first in Liverpool) followed by more in 2021, Sky said the stores would differ from those of its rivals, going beyond simply operating as a sales point for its TV, mobile and broadband packages and aiming to bring “service, innovation and convenience all in one place, under one roof”.  Each location will boast an “access all areas” stage to host various interactive experiences for customers, clearly more suitable for future than immediate plans.
  • Repurposing excess retail space can happen in various ways – and this week saw a high profile example with John Lewis gaining planning permission to convert 45% of its flagship Oxford Street branch into office space, albeit this may be more of a medium/long term development bearing in mind the current low demand for new offices as a result of the Covid induced shift to home working.
AND FINALLY…

​One brand that won’t be returning to the high street – despite a flurry of excitement earlier this week – is the old childhood favourite Woolworths.  
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  • In yet another reminder to always tread cautiously online, on Tuesday (27th October) dozens of mainstream news outlets including the Daily Mirror and MailOnline ran stories that Woolworths was reopening stores based on nothing more than a new Twitter account with approx 1000 followers. 
  • This was later outed as actual “fake news” and then subsequently revealed to be the work of an enterprising 17 year old student, who was actually only 5 when Woolworths originally stopped trading.  Of course in these troubled times, it’s likely that many just wanted to believe the story, nostalgic for Woolies pick’n’mix in particular.
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Clear Digital Digest: subscription coffee, Amazon ads, retail sales update and cricket data

18/9/2020

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Today’s Clear Digital Digest looks at some recent stories regarding Pret A Manger and Amazon, reviews today’s new ONS retail data and learns how the data revolution is transforming the world of cricket.
  • Pret A Manger’s new subscription service
  • How Amazon’s ads service is driving its profits
  • Hot off the press: today’s ONS retail sales update for August
  • And finally…the cricket data revolution
PRET A MANGER: ALL YOU CAN DRINK

  • There’s been quite a bit of noise surrounding the recent launch of Pret A Manger’s new subscription service offering unlimited hot drinks for £20 a month, something I was actually first alerted to via a Gmail ad (see below) last week…
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  • With its ever increasing profile – and high density of London outlets – Pret is increasingly viewed as an emblematic example of the issues facing coffee/sandwich shops who continue to struggle with the unforeseen ongoing trend to work from home.
  • Within this context, this new subscription service makes sense as Pret urgently needs to try new revenue streams.  Wired had a typically insightful take on this story with their article “The rise and fall of Pret A Manger”.
AMAZON’S PROFITABILITY: INCREASINGLY DRIVEN BY ITS ADVERTISING

​Well worth a read is this fascinating article about Amazon and its profitability, courtesy of Ben Evans.
  • The article firstly challenges the initially previously received wisdom that “Amazon doesn’t make a profit”, perhaps true in years gone by, but profits jumped especially in 2018 and 2019, reaching $22bn last year.
  • More recently, the conversation has shifted a little to state “ah but all the profits come from AWS” – ie Amazon Web Services, Amazon’s highly successful cloud computing service.  Again, while this may historically have been true, the case is made that it’s now Amazon’s ad services that are really gaining in profitability, having grown hugely in revenue over the last 5 years as the graph below shows…
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  • Although these figures relate just to ad revenue (not profits), Ben Evans posits that “we can make some informed (wild) guesses. So: it mostly leverages existing technical infrastructure and engineering resource. It must have meaningful numbers of sales and operations people, but the system itself is mostly automated. It will have knock-on consequences to other parts of the business - for example, it may steer sales to product with higher or lower profitability. And it seems reasonable to assume that it has pretty high margins…it’s reasonable to suggest that the ad business is contributing as much operating income as everything else apart from AWS, and it’s not absurd to suggest it might be close to matching AWS”.
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  • Finally, the article also highlights how an ever growing amount of Amazon ecommerce sales take place through its third party marketplace, a trend that I’ve also recently explored in my “The UK marketplace sector – and the role of community” deep dive.  The graph below shows how this has evolved over the last 6 years…
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RELEASED TODAY: ONS RETAIL SALES UPDATE FOR AUGUST

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) have today released their latest retail sales figures for August.  We reviewed July’s data in a Digital Digest last month, so here’s a quick update, one month on…
  • Overall retail sales increased slightly in August, up 0.7% against the previous month, but more pertinently, up 1.7% on the previous year (August 2019).
  • Internet sales accounted for 26.6% of all retail sales in August, the second full month since all physical stores were able to trade.  This share fell back slightly from the 28% recorded in July, but is still significantly higher than the 18.1% recorded in August 2019.  
  • With the current volatility surrounding Covid, it is difficult to make any predictions about how much of this shift to online shopping will remain in the medium/long term, but it is certainly interesting to continue tracking this share.
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AND FINALLY...

When my subscription copy dropped through my letterbox this week, I was surprised to see The Cricketer magazine (now in its centenary year) highlighting “The Data Decade” on its front page. 
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​With the relevant articles exploring how increasing use of digitised data has fundamentally changed recent cricket coverage and some future predictions on how this may evolve, it’s a timely reminder than even such a traditional pastime as cricket is experiencing unprecedented change with its own digital/data revolution. 
But this also demonstrates that there is still a place for more traditional media…yes I do still read some print magazines as well…
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Clear Digital Digest:  Argos catalogue RIP, retail tie-ups, Q2 updates and soccer supervillains

3/8/2020

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Argos catalogue from 1983
Today’s Clear Digital Digest starts with a look back at the beloved Argos catalogue before looking forward to the growing impact of another Argos innovation in Click & Collect, as well as other retail partnerships.  Then we turn our attentions Stateside to review Q2 updates from Amazon, Facebook and Google plus the latest digital innovation in sports watching…
END OF AN ERA – GOODBYE ARGOS CATALOGUE
So RIP the Argos catalogue – as one wag noted, much easier to say than to actually do.  As was widely reported on Thursday, Argos have stopped producing their twice yearly catalogue, meaning that January’s Spring/Summer 2020 edition will be its final print version.  Argos now say that online shopping offers “greater convenience” than flicking through a catalogue, part of the continuing wider shift to ecommerce sales. 
Having previously spent 8 years in various roles within Argos’ ecommerce operation, during which time the catalogue’s ubiquity (estimated to have been in approx. 75% of British homes at one time) certainly helped to mutually drive web sales, there’s definitely a sense of nostalgic regret to see the “laminated book of dreams” bid farewell.  
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The Argos Spring/Summer 2020 catalogue
However, it appears that less and less were being printed, with 3.9m of the last edition down from a peak of over 10m a decade ago.  And with each catalogue costing roughly £3 to produce back when I was working there, changing shopping habits will have made ceasing production an increasingly attractive option for the huge potential cost savings; something that has been frequently reviewed over the years. 
Nostalgia for kids being able to choose their favoured Christmas presents will be partly assuaged by the news that Argos plans to continue to print its Christmas Gift Guide, still generally a sturdy 300 pages or so, albeit well down on the 1800 page behemoth that was the main catalogue.  
Before then, for anyone after a quick nostalgic fix, the Guardian pulled together a selection of vintage covers and catalogue pages, count me in for 1976’s Home Stereo Disco Unit (item 7 below…)
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Argos Catalogue, 1976
CLICK AND COLLECT/RETAIL PARTNERSHIPS
Of course, there are other retail channels that Argos pioneered which remain highly relevant and continue to grow in popularity, none more so than Click & Collect.  In line with all ecommerce sales, Click & Collect orders have been growing rapidly since the start of lockdown, with more and more brands partnering together for mutual benefit. 
​Argos have offered a collection service for selected eBay customers since 2014, while the introduction of Argos collection points into many Sainsburys stores since being bought by the grocer in 2016 meant that Argos was able to continue offering C&C services throughout lockdown.
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​Amazon entered into a similar partnership with Next last year with their Amazon Counter initiative, while John Lewis have recently announced plans to extend their C&C tie-up with the Co-op to over 500 stores. 
John Lewis have also just stated that they expect 60% of their sales to be online, up from 40% pre-Covid.  In an update to all John Lewis partners, chair Sharon White said “We have two of the best loved and trusted brands in the UK, rated highly for our personal service and expert, impartial advice. Customers are, however, shopping in very different ways – younger people especially – with the pandemic accelerating the importance of digital. We expect John Lewis to be a 60% online retailer, from 40% pre-Covid-19, and Waitrose to rise above 20%, from 5%.”
Such uncertain times do certainly seem to be leading to a much wider array of complementary brands working together, with another recent example seeing Sainsburys starting to provide a range of 3000 products to the garden centre retailer Dobbies.
Q2 UPDATES: AMAZON, FACEBOOK, GOOGLE
Three of the tech giants have provided their latest global Q2 updates in the last few days, with varying results.  Of course, Q2 2020 is the first quarter since the world has been in lockdown, so one would certainly not expect standard trends from these updates.

  • Amazon leads the way, with global sales growing by 40% to $88.9bn (£68.2bn) in what Jeff Bezos described as a “highly unusual quarter”.   Operating income increased to $5.8bn (£4.5bn) during the three months to 30 June, up from $3.1bn (£2.4bn) in 2019.  Interestingly, third-party sales grew faster during the quarter than Amazon’s first-party sales as Amazon Marketplace continues to stamps its dominance; something I explored in further depth recently in my “The UK marketplace sector” deeper dive.
 
  • Perhaps more surprisingly, Facebook ad revenue grew by 10% to $18.3bn (£14bn) in the second quarter of 2020, defying the impact of the global coronavirus pandemic.  During the three months to 30 June, the social media company grew its total revenue by 11% to $18.7bn (£14.4bn), increasing its daily active user base by 12% to 1.79 billion and monthly active users to 2.7 billion, also up 12%.
 
  • Facebook’s growth is even more notable when compared with Google’s Q2 update.  Revenues at the search giant fell by 2% during the second quarter of 2020 to $38.3bn (£29.4bn), the first year-on-year decline in quarterly revenue since Google became a publicly-listed company in 2004.  Revenue generated by Google Search fell to $21.3bn (£16.4bn) during the three months to 30 June, from $23.6bn (£18.1bn) in the same period last year.   Overall, Google ad revenue declined from £32.5bn (£24.9bn) in the second quarter of 2019, to $29.9bn (£23bn), although YouTube ad revenue rose to $3.8bn (£2.9bn) from $3.6bn (£2.8bn).
AND FINALLY…
In a week when it was announced at the last minute that planned pilot sporting events were not allowed to admit limited spectators as originally planned, technology continues to serve up increasingly sinister options instead.  After previously highlighting Japanese robotic baseball fans last month, MLS in the US have now seemingly opened applications for the world’s next supervillain…
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Clear Digital Digest: MP3, marketing spend and movies sur l’eau

17/7/2020

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Today’s Clear Digital Digest reviews a recent survey on changing customer attitudes as well as the latest IPA Bellwether marketing spend report.  The MP3 is 25 years old this week and although not widely used these days, as the key tech that paved the way for streaming its influence can often be understated, as we explore below.  Plus a look across the Channel at a new, unique way to watch films…
 
CONSUMER ATTITUDES AND MARKETING SPEND
Amongst the latest insights that emerged this week, Wunderman Thompson’s “Covid, Commerce and the Consumer” report stood out, based on a survey of 2000 UK consumers in early June.  Some key highlights include:
  • Future outlook was understandably negative, with 48% of consumers feeling less positive about the future, with an identical number feeling less positive about future finances.
  • 62% of consumers feel less positive about shopping in-store, slightly mitigated by 43% now feeling more positive about online shopping.
  • Amazon accounted for 35% of all online shopping during lockdown (up from 30% before), with a huge 94% of respondents having made at least one purchase from Amazon.
  • Grocery is the other online channel to see a significant increase in share of spend, as we also covered in last week’s Digest.
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Estimated lockdown % online shopping share, source: Wunderman Thompson
  • Some more interesting (albeit depressing) data from the IPA this week, as they reported that recent marketing budgets have been slashed by more than ever previously recorded in the 20 years plus of their IPA Bellwether report.
  • 64% of respondents had their marketing budget cut, albeit 13% saw a rising budget, leading to 51% of companies cutting their marketing budget in the second quarter of 2020, up from 6% in Q1.
  • The graph below shows the historic trend, with the credit crunch related downturn in late 2008 the only comparable slump, albeit marketing budgets did then bounce back fairly quickly in a V-curve. 
  • With this unprecedented crisis, the Bellwether report predicts total ad spend falling by 11.3% this year, followed by growth of 6% in 2021.  In 2022 and 2023 it once again expects above-average growth, before stabilising at average growth rates in 2024 and 2025.
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IPA Bellwether Report, source: IPA/Marketing Week
MP3 TURNS 25
There was an important but fairly unheralded digital milestone this week, as the MP3 file turned 25.
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  • In this typically excellent article by music industry journalist Eamonn Forde on The Quietus website, it is argued that the MP3, and not say the vinyl album, was the most revolutionary format in music history.
  • Forde breaks down the MP3’s life so far into 4 distinct phases and demonstrates how it has led to Big Tech taking the dominant hand in the music business from the traditional record labels, as MP3s paved the way for the streaming supremacy we see from the likes of Spotify and Apple Music today.
  • For further reading about the evolution in music consumption, the recent Clear Digital article “Discogs – the digital success story of the vinyl revival” covers similar ground; for example, how streaming now accounts for 60% of record label income and actual physical music products (ie CDs and vinyl) just 20%.
AND FINALLY...
With cinemas closed until recently and only gradually re-opening now, one new trend has been the emergence of drive-in cinemas to bring some US retro flavour to cinephiles who are seeking more than another Netflix binge.  Venues as varied as Brent Cross Shopping Centre car park and Alexandra Palace will be accommodating such yearnings this summer.

However, Haagen-Dazs are adding a new flavour in Paris with their “Cinema Sur L’Eau” concept: a socially distanced cinema where customers will sit in boats rather than cars.  Further investigation reveals they will be showing a film entitled Le Grand Bain (English title: Sink Or Swim), about a group of men who start their own synchronised swimming team.  Certainly a wiser choice of movie to show in this environment than Jaws or Titanic.
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    Jim Clear

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