Lab Weekly - 12/02/2022
Holiday shopping trends by the numbers; News from the metaverse and podcasting, as well as Spotify Wrapped and the latest must-know stats
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Holiday Shopping Trends 2022: By the Numbers
Reading the tea leaves on the state of retail transformation based on early results from the Thanksgiving weekend. Overall, the 2022 holiday season is shaping up better than some of the negative headlines seemed to dictate.
In case you missed it…
The Rise of Embedded Healthcare Services
The launch of Amazon Clinics, and how the future of accessible healthcare is being embedded into every step of the patient journey
Why Uber is Expanding Its Ad Business
Examining the digital economy and the push for revenue diversification through advertising
Now Streaming: Live Sports with Ads
With Apple, Amazon, and Netflix all pursuing live sports content, advertisers gain a new window to reach cord-cutting households.
Red Wing Shoes Turns Metaverse Buildings Into Physical Homes [VentureBeat]
Footwear retailer Red Wing Shoes is taking a unique approach to capitalizing on the incessant buzz on the metaverse. The company recently launched a “Builders Exchange Program” on Roblox, which aims to turn virtual building concepts into real-world homes for people in need. Through a branded “BuilderTown experience“ on Roblox, users will build virtual homes through collecting materials and consulting with the BuilderTown experts. For every tiny home built within the virtual experience on Roblox, a donation from Red Wing will be given to Settled., an organization that houses the homeless via tiny homes. This is a clever campaign that utilizes the 3D creativity that underlines the development of metaverse platforms and channels it towards tangible social good, thus bridging the gap between the digital worlds and our offline reality.
Related: Tuvalu turns to the metaverse as rising seas threaten existence [Reuters]; NFL expands Fortnite presence with sponsor Visa [CampaignUS]; Forever 21’s Roblox shop is now influencing real-life merchandising decisions [AdAge]
Acast Launches Self-Serve Platform With Low Entry Barrier [AdWeek]
After two months of limited beta testing, podcast platform Acast has made its self-serve ad platform widely available to all advertisers, including those running campaigns as low as $250. The tool lets advertisers and their agencies set up audio at their own pace and budget. In addition to SMBs, Acast’s self-serve platform is a smart route for podcasters to also become advertisers and promote their own shows and products to relevant audiences. By 2025, more than 40% of people in the US will be listening to podcasts at least once per month, per the latest estimates of Insider Intelligence. That’s a sizable audience that more businesses, especially SMBs with niche products and services, should be tapping into, given the audiences some podcasts of niche topics and interests cater to.
Related: You can now ask Google Assistant to search and play podcasts by guest, episode [9to5Google]; American Girl unveils podcast network rooted in the brand’s characters [RetailDive]
Spotify's 2022 Wrapped Includes Word Search Murals, Trivia, And Listening Personality [AdAge]
As is yearly tradition, Spotify unveiled its end-of-the-year Wrapped campaign this week. It not only provided its 456 million users worldwide with a highly-anticipated breakdown of their personal music (and podcast) consumption habits, designed in a highly shareable fashion, it also incorporated more interactive, gamified elements this year to encourage people sharing and comparing their Spotify Wrapped results with family and friends via social media. Whether it’s the world search murals or trivia games, or even the Myers–Briggs-inspired listening personality system, all these elements are conducive to ensuring even non-Spotify users realize that this is an eventized celebration for Spotify users that they are missing out on. More marketers can learn a thing or two from how Spotify leverages its listenership data into a fun year-end recap for users that also doubles as a marketable cultural event.
Related: Spotify Audiobooks launched with 300k titles [9to5Mac]; Apple Music becomes the official sponsor of the Super Bowl halftime show [TechCrunch]
Digiday’s survey found that Meta’s Facebook and Instagram platforms came in at the top among the marketing channels brands have used so far in 2022 (tied also with influencers). 92% of brand respondents said they have used both Facebook and Instagram for marketing so far this year.
Mobile phones have been the most common device for digital video viewing for many years, and that will remain the case in the near term; 84.6% of digital video viewers will watch video via a mobile phone at least monthly in 2022, and that figure will rise to 85.3% in 2026, per the latest report on Video Users from insider intelligence.
The ratings for MLS games soared on ESPN and ABC ahead of the looming switch to Apple TV. Ratings reports showed that across both networks, the 34 regular season televised games brought in an average audience of 343,000 viewers – a 16% increase from last year’s average of 295,000.
If you find our insights valuable and would like to have a deeper conversation on technology and media innovations, or need to sound smarter in a client meeting or a pitch, please feel free to reach out to our Group Director Josh Mallalieu!
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