Do Ya Know?
Top Posts of The Week
- Final score: This year’s big-game ads were a sleepy mix of celebrities and low-risk spots.
- Here are the game’s biggest winners, according to USA TODAY’s Super Bowl Ad Meter.
- Next year’s Super Bowl LVIII logo just dropped, marking a return to the host-city homage designs of years past.
- Microsoft’s Bing chatbot is… kind of toxic?
What We Learned
Monday: Google analyzed billions of U.S. Search trends from 2022 to identify emerging shopping behaviors. The takeaways? Shoppers measure value by price AND popularity, sustainability, and other factors. Also, people pay attention to which companies align with their interests in organizing and allyship. Finally, everyone’s stressed out and searching for the cure.
Tuesday: Here’s your permission to reuse your best social content. If it worked once, it can work again. And if it didn’t pop off like you expected, give it another shot. We’re all just testing against ever-changing algorithms that fail to deliver our daily content to over half of our audience. Don’t let it go to waste.
Wednesday: You don’t have to have an XML sitemap. But when it’s easy to automatically generate and update one with the potential to boost your SEO, why wouldn’t you? Here are some best practices to keep in mind.
Thursday: Reviews establish authenticity, expertise, and trust for your brand. But how do you get happy customers to leave reviews? To get your hard-earned stars, leverage follow-ups, in-store signage, social media, staff requests, website pop-ups, and more.
Join The Conversation
Zoë asked, “Anyone have favorite tools for onsite popups / overlays that work nicely with Shopify?”
Kristin asked, “Does anyone have any tips on a great demographic mapping tool?”
Elena asked, “Favorite swag and best places to order?”
Hannah asked, “Best email marketing platforms for external communication with more extensive email lists?”
#dec0de
Designer Stephen Grace has put together a zine of HEX codes (from the 6-symbol alphanumeric color system) that seem to form English words.
“I wanted to dig deeper and discover what was hiding in plain sight,” said Grace.
We’re loving the surprising juxtapositions between some of these “decoded” HEXs and their corresponding colors—like the pale blue “#c0ffee” and the pea green “#c0bal7.”
Projects like these are a good reminder that, as creatives, there’s a lot poetry in the (sometimes mundane) work we do on the clock. You just have to pay attention.
Rosemary Gin & Tonic
Ingredients
- 2 ounces gin
- 1/2 ounce grapefruit shrub
- 4 ounces tonic
- 1 sprig rosemary
Steps
- In a rocks glass, muddle shrub with a sprig of rosemary.
- Add gin and ice.
- Top with tonic.
- Garnish with a sprig of rosemary and a grapefruit wheel.
Did Ya Know?
Answer: Tom Burrell.
Burrell was just 18 when he became one of the first Black copywriters in Chicago. He would go on to open his own consulting agency in 1971. One of his first clients was Philip Morris, at a time when the brand hoped to expand its reach to the Black community with the image of a Black cowboy smoking Marlboros.
But Burrell understood that this image wouldn’t resonate—or feel particularly safe—among the Black community, so he crafted a campaign built on authentic (and branded) portraits of Black life. His famous quote, “I had to convince clients to understand that Black people aren’t just dark-skinned white people,” continues to inform our industry today.
