Monthly brandtech blend – August 2019

Home Blends & Trends 1 August 2019

Every month, the fifty-five team features a selection of worth reading news and trends for you. So what’s been going on in the brandtech ecosystem recently?

How D2C brands influence consumer behaviour

The IAB recently published a new study about direct-to-consumer brands, and their impact on consumer habits, both in terms of brand choice and purchase journey. D2C consumers actually see these brands as a lifestyle choice, reflecting their values and personalities. In the US, 48% of shoppers buy from D2C brands — a younger and more committed pool of consumers, open to innovation.

Read the full study here.

CMOs are having a moment

This recent study from McKinsey shows that 83% of CEOs around the world feel that marketing can be a major growth driver. Dividing CMOs’ role within companies into three categories – unifier, loner, and friend – the study points out the various levels of implication for the CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) in companies’ growth strategies, and how the ongoing shift in marketing practices opens up a new space for CMOs to leverage their influence.

Will “Harry Potter: Wizards Unite” be a worthy successor of Pokemon Go?

On June 21st, VR studio Niantic launched its long-awaited game “Harry Potter: Wizards Unite”. Although the mobile app seduced 3 million players and recorded a million dollars in revenue in just three days, it has not yet come close to the outstanding success of the studio’s previous VR game, Pokemon Go. Nevertheless, it is worth mentioning that the brand managed to forge some impressive partnerships for the launch. For instance, 10,000 AT&T and Cricket Wireless stores have become “fortresses” in the game, hosting wizard challenges and offering special prices.

Read more on Forbes, or download the game here.

It’s that time of year again: Amazon Prime Day

Once again, Prime Day was Amazon’s biggest shopping event of the year – and, this year, the biggest day in its history! It again exceeded its combined Black Friday and Cyber Monday revenues. Repeating and reinforcing efforts of previous years, the e-commerce giant was able to avoid any website crash or other hiccups thanks to careful preparation, and even extended the event to 48 hours this year compared to 36 hours in 2018. The company ended up selling over 175 million items… Impressive, to say the least!

Read more on CNN Business, or on eMarketer.

Let’s talk about FaceApp

By now everyone knows that, the AI-powered selfie editing app has gone from viral to scary in no time. And yet, people just can’t stop talking about it. FaceApp is being accused of uploading users’ pictures to its cloud for processing, without getting explicit consent. Yaroslav Goncharov, the app’s Russian founder, responded to those concerns claiming that “most pictures are deleted from the servers within 48 hours” and that they “don’t sell or share any user data with third parties”. So, real threat or no sweat? Hard to say.